Apple-Google Maps Talks Crashed Over Voice-Guided Directions  —  Google Chairman Eric Schmidt says Apple should have continued to use Google's mapping application in iOS 6 instead of swapping it out for its poorly received home-brewed replacement, and given the sour reception Apple's Maps app has been given, he may have been right.

Google Play hits 25 billion downloads  —  Whether you're looking for directions, checking email or sharing a picture with friends, apps are now an indispensable part of life.  And if you're using Android, it all starts with Google Play, home to 675,000 apps and games.  That's a lot of choice.

Google's President of Brazil Operations arrested for failing to remove YouTube videos  —  Google's President of Brazil Operations Fabio Coelho was arrested today in São Paulo, the Brazilian website G1 reports, quoting a press release from the country's Federal Police.

Google to remove exporting of old Microsoft Office formats from Google Apps on October 1  —  Google today announced a huge change for Google Apps, including its Business, Education, and Government editions.  As of October 1, users will no longer have the ability to download documents …

Survey: iOS 6 Leads To Decrease In Device Satisfaction Among iPhone Users  —  Apple's iOS 6 doesn't appear to be doing the company any favors when it comes to user satisfaction, according to a new poll conducted by mobile customer research firm On Device.  The survey of just under 16,000 iPhone owners …

Your YouTube original videos now available in Google Takeout  —  Your Takeout menu is growing.  Today's entrée: YouTube videos.  —  Previously, you've been able to download individual transcoded videos from your YouTube Video Manager.  But starting today, you also have a more efficient …

Remote wipe attack not limited to Samsung phones, Android dialer may be to blame  —  Yesterday we reported on a vulnerability on Samsung phones that could allow a malicious website to wipe a user's device, but new details are coming to light that indicate the issue extends beyond Samsung's product line …

Getting in tune; Samsung to shop for software  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics, which has vaulted the value chain on the strength of its hardware, will go out and buy mobile content providers, a senior executive told Reuters, to compete with Apple, Google and Amazon.com in a global digital music market worth nearly $9 billion.

Netflix iOS and Android apps have a remote control easter egg for PS3 owners  —  Now that the revamped Netflix interface has hit phones and tablets for both Apple and Android powered hardware, the service has quietly enabled something else: second screen remote control.

To Unlock A Full Price AT&T iPhone 5, Just Restore It In iTunes  —  If you have bought an AT&T iPhone 5 without a contract over the past few days, chances are that you want to unlock it to use it on another carrier.  The traditional process involves filling out an online form on AT&T's website …

Xbox Music pricing and features revealed through Windows 8 and leaked Xbox interface  —  Microsoft cherry-picks the best cloud music features for Xbox Music  —  Microsoft has revealed its Xbox Music service pricing through the Windows 8 Music app, at the same time as pushing …

Not All Traffic Is Created Equal  —  To build the online media giants of tomorrow, companies need models where the costs of both content and distribution are near zero.  Google, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and countless others employ this model.  These models allow scale to emerge at very low-cost.

Nest Takes Honeywell Patents Back to the Drawing Board  —  While the Apple versus Samsung patent trial got most of our attention this summer, another intellectual property suit stirred silently in the background: Nest versus Honeywell International, the designer thermostat outfit against the aerospace/consumer tech giant.

Samsung Sees Stronger Start for Note 2, Unfazed by iPhone  —  Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) expects sales of its new Galaxy Note 2 smartphone to get off to a stronger start than its predecessor even after Apple Inc. (AAPL) sold a record number of the latest iPhone in its debut weekend.

Facebook Groups get more useful for business with Dropbox file sharing  —  Here's a hot bit of news for you.  Starting today, Dropbox is rolling out a feature in conjunction with Facebook that will allow you to share your Dropbox files directly to Facebook Groups.

Twitter CEO Costolo Talks Ads, Facebook, and IPO  —  Twitter is at a turning point, trying to roll out advertising while also maintaining the user experience.  I sat down with Twitter CEO Dick Costolo at the company's new San Francisco headquarters to talk about his plans to grow the social media giant.

Netflix CEO Keeps Focus on Expansion, Price  —  Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Reed Hastings is trying to prove that his streaming-video company isn't in a state of arrested development.  —  Last year, Netflix lost subscribers and investor confidence with a debacle over a sharp subscription …

Operation Unlike Is A Go: Page Fan Counts Are Dropping Because Facebook Is Deleting Fake Accounts  —  Some Facebook business Pages lost tens of thousands of fans today, but they shouldn't fret.  Facebook has confirmed with me that it's currently purging fake accounts and Page Likes …

Amazon Starts a Shopping Site for the Environmental Crowd  —  Amazon.com is going after the environmental crowd with a new site called vine.com for buying green products.  —  Vine is part of Quidsi, the company that Amazon bought in 2010 that also runs sites like Diapers.com (baby stuff), Wag.com (pets) and YoYo.com (toys).

Airbnb Is Raising A Big Third Round, Aiming For A Valuation North Of $2B  —  It's the darling of “sharing economy” startups, Y Combinator and a good portion of Silicon Valley's top investors, and a symbol of consumer web startups moving beyond entertainment to solve real life problems.

Murdoch's Times unblocks search engines to seek new subscribers  —  In May 2010, News Corp.'s The Times newspaper said it would block search engines from indexing its stories, believing it must remove all possibility of free access as it introduced digital payments.  —  Two years later, that philosophy is being up-ended.

.xxx to launch porn search engine  —  Search.xxx is intended to give porn fans a streamlined, private search experience  —  h(f)){c=a.createElement('script'); c.type='text/javascript';c.src='http:// ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/'+ g+'/jquery.min.js';c.onload=c.onreadyst atechange= function(){if(!b&&(!(d=this.readySt ate)||

Tipping Point?  We're Watching More Web Video on TVs Than on PCs.  —  Getting Web video off your PC and onto your plasma screen used to be a niche activity.  No more: Consumer-tracking service NPD says TV sets are now the most popular way to watch streaming video.

RadioShack's Chief Executive Steps Down  —  FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — RadioShack CEO James Gooch has agreed to step down immediately and is leaving its board of directors, the struggling consumer electronics company said Wednesday.  —  Chief Financial Officer Dorvin Lively will serve …