New full-sized iPad with improved internals, Lightning connector to be announced next week at current prices  —  .  —  Apple will announce a refreshed version of its full-sized, 9.7-inch Retina display iPad at its media event October 23rd, according to our sources.

Zuck's Advice To Startups: Explore Before You Commit, Listen, Build Something Fundamental, Don't Copy  —  Facebook didn't guess that users wanted to share photos.  It learned it, Mark Zuckerberg explained in his talk at Y Combinator Startup School.  “We really listened to what our users wanted …

Initial Surface US pre-orders sold out, some UK orders delayed to November 2nd [update]  —  Microsoft's initial stock of Surface RT devices has sold out in the United States.  The 32GB base model, at $499, sold out earlier in the week, but all stock has now been depleted with a wait …

In Silicon Valley, Perks Now Begin at Home  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Phil Libin, chief executive of Evernote, turned to his wife last year and asked if she had suggestions for how the software company might improve the lives of its employees and their families.  His wife, who also works at Evernote, didn't miss a beat: housecleaning.

Facebook, Twitter apps no longer on Xbox 360 marketplace [Update]  —  The Xbox 360 Facebook app featured a design that hadn't been updated in years.  —  When Microsoft began rolling out the new version of its Xbox 360 dashboard earlier this week, two things it didn't bring along for the ride …

In Victory for Common Sense, Minnesota Will Allow Free Online Courses After All  —  In a win for common sense, Minnesota has decided to allow universities to offer free online courses to its residents after all.  —  Courtesy of Coursera  —  For one day, Minnesota's Office of Higher Education felt …

To Turn The Crowd Into Venture Capitalists, FundersClub Raises $6M Seed Round — Biggest In YC History  —  If you need more proof that FundersClub wants to radically change startup funding by letting non-VCs invest, it just closed a $6 million seed round, the largest ever from a Y Combinator company.

Google Books Ngram Viewer Gets A Larger Dataset, Now Understands Parts Of Speech  —  Google's Ngram Viewer for Google Books, a tool that lets you see how the usage of specific words has increased and decreased over time, just got an update.  The Ngram Viewer now draws upon a larger dataset …

Motorola confirms which phones won't get Jelly Bean, will get $100 upgrade discount instead  —  When Motorola announced its new Droid RAZR lineup in September it said it would be providing a $100 discount to some customers whose older Motorola phones weren't getting bumped up to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.