One Billion People on Facebook  —  This morning, there are more than one billion people using Facebook actively each month.  —  If you're reading this: thank you for giving me and my little team the honor of serving you.  —  Helping a billion people connect is amazing, humbling and by far the thing I am most proud of in my life.

Microsoft to launch Surface at midnight on October 26th  —  Microsoft has started sending out invites to a special “Surface Reception” event on October 25th.  Alongside a Windows 8 introduction, the software giant will launch its highly anticipated tablet at midnight on October 26th — according to a company spokesperson.

Google Street View Goes Live in the Google Maps Web App  —  Earlier today it was noted by Walt Mossberg Google Street View would be coming to the Google Maps web app on Thursday, essentially confirming what we were earlier told by the New York Times.  Well, it looks like Google Street View has gone live late Wednesday night PDT.

Sprint Said to Eye MetroPCS Bid to Rival T-Mobile Offer  —  Sprint Nextel Corp. (S), the third- largest U.S. mobile-phone carrier, is in the early stages of evaluating whether it should make a counter offer for MetroPCS Communications Inc. (PCS) to top Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE) …

Facebook confirms it is scanning your private messages for links to increase Like counters  —  Yesterday I spotted a video submitted to Hacker News by the Polish startup Killswitch.me that clearly showed sending a link in a Facebook private message increases the Like counter on the link's originating third-party website.

Google warns of more cuts at Motorola, third-quarter cuts to cost $340 million  —  (Reuters) - Google Inc said planned job cuts at its Motorola Mobility mobile phone unit will cost about $340 million in severance and other costs in the third quarter and it warned of further restructuring.

TomTom navigation apps finally arrive on Android, incompatible with many popular devices  —  International Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, HTC One X, Galaxy S III, and Galaxy Note are all excluded  —  TomTom's popular offline navigation apps have finally made their way over to Android, right on schedule.

HP smartphone not coming in 2013, says CEO Meg Whitman  —  But HP will need one within five years to avoid missing out on a big segment of the market, its CEO said  —  HP has no plans to launch a smartphone next year but will need to sell one eventually to avoid missing out on …

AT&T announces Nokia Lumia 920 exclusive, launches in November with Lumia 820  —  AT&T has revealed today that it plans to carry Nokia's latest flagship Lumia 920 Windows Phone 8 handset as well as the mid-range Lumia 820.  The addition, alongside HTC's Windows Phone 8X …

Acer Iconia W700 Windows 8 tablet launching on October 26th for $799.99  —  An 11.6-inch tablet with a 1080p display  —  It has been over four months since Acer first revealed its Windows 8 lineup, but now that the launch of Microsoft's next operating system is closer than ever …

Microsoft, Barnes & Noble joint venture finalized and named  —  Summary: The Microsoft-Barnes & Noble joint venture, formerly called NewCo, is now officially known as Nook Media LLC, and is a subsidiary of B&N.  —  The “NewCo” venture formed by Microsoft and Barnes & Noble back in April 2012 …

‘Big data’ startup Trifacta comes out of stealth with $4.3M in Accel funding  —  Trifacta is coming out of stealth mode today as the latest “big data” startup.  Accordingly, it has raised $4.3 million from Accel Partners' Big Data Fund.  Trifacta is creating productivity platforms that make data analysts more productive.

Tumblr gets its first analytics tool by way of Union Metrics  —  Tumblr will get its first analytics platform, its marketing and revenue consultant Rick Webb announced today on stage during his keynote at Advertising Week's OPS conference, alongside Union Metrics's CEO, Hayes Davis.

First 2012 Presidential Debate Saw 10.3M Tweets And Gave Politics A New Dimension  —  Yes, we know that tonight was a record-setting night for Twitter.  The first 2012 Presidential Debate was the most tweeted about political event in company history.  Whether you care or not, this is significant and worth noting.

Group says it hacked systems at 100 major universities  —  Harvard, Stanford, Penn among those hit; breached data mostly innocuous, analyst says.  —  A hacking group that calls itself Team GhostShell this week claimed credit for breaking into servers at 100 major universities from around the world …