Xbox Surface: Microsoft's 7-inch gaming tablet  —  Microsoft's secret project for a mini Xbox  —  Microsoft is building its own 7-inch gaming tablet.  Multiple sources familiar with plans within Redmond have confirmed to The Verge that initial hardware planning for an Xbox Surface is underway.

Will Apple Switch the Mac to ARM?  Why the Rumors Do, and Don't, Ring True.  —  You have to wonder if Apple and Intel are in some kind of negotiation phase right now.  —  That's at least one cynical way to interpret the story from Bloomberg News saying that Apple is exploring ways to move …

Amazon Testing a $7.99 Per Month Prime Subscription  —  Reader Scott noticed that Amazon is now testing a $7.99 per month Prime subscription (instead of $79 per year), a price that is very familiar to Netflix and Hulu Plus subscribers.  I was able to confirm the pricing on the Amazon website and capture a screen shot:

Exclusive: EU regulators to accept Apple, publishers e-book offer  —  (Reuters) - EU regulators are set to accept an offer by Apple and four book publishers allowing Amazon and other retailers to sell e-books more cheaply than Apple to end an antitrust investigation and avoid fines, two sources said on Monday.

If You Want to Stay out of Jail, Don't Instagram Your Ballot  —  A not-so-surprising thing happened this morning: My Instagram feed morphed from photos of dogs, kids, fancy coffees and food porn into a stream of people's voting ballots.  —  Photo courtesy of Instagram.

Mary Meeker Gives Mid-Year Internet Trends Report: Android Adoption Ramping Up 6X Faster Than iPhone  —  KPCB partner Mary Meeker usually publishes her famed Internet Trends report once a year, but gave a small San Francisco crowd a mid-year update tonight.  The biggest new facts?

Google Voice experiencing major SMS problems, sent messages displaying wrong phone number  —  Complaints are flooding in at the Google Voice help forums regarding major issues with the service's SMS functionality.  Multiple users have reported that outbound text messages sent from the same account …

Yep, It's Coming: Google Wallet's Help Site Mentions The “Google Wallet Card”  —  Just in case you needed more proof that the leaked news revealing a forthcoming physical Google Wallet Card is indeed legit, you can just visit Google's own Help section on its Google Wallet website to catch a reference to the yet-to-be announced addition.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin takes to Google+ to call for an end to party politics on election eve  —  On the eve of the US presidential election, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has taken quite the political stand on his Google+ account by pleading for the winner to withdraw …

AT&T prices Lumia 920 and 8GB HTC 8X at $100, Lumia 820 at $50, Nokias due on Friday  —  AT&T is finally spilling the beans on how much its Windows Phone 8 handsets will set you back if you plump for a two-year deal.  Nokia's Lumia 920 costs $99.99, $50 less than previously speculated, and will come with a free wireless charging plate.

E-Mail Voting Fails Some New Jersey Residents  —  Bouncing e-mail addresses, personal Hotmail accounts.  “It's really maddening,” says Tanz.  —  New Jersey's last-minute offer of e-mail voting to displaced residents was greeted by concern by security experts, who warn that e-mail offers a fast track to voter fraud.

Confirmed: Microsoft to retire its Messenger IM service in Q1 2013, moving 100M+ users to Skype in single act  —  Today Microsoft announced that its Messenger service will be discontinued in the first quarter of 2013.  Part of that move is the integration of Messenger's 100 million+ users …

Imagination buys chip design firm MIPS for $60m, 498 patents sold to industry consortium for $350m  —  More M&A activity in the wonderful world of chips.  MIPS Technologies has been for sale for quite a while, but now things are finally moving: the semiconductor design company formerly known …

Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works  —  Today, Google's services experienced a limited outage for about 27 minutes over some portions of the Internet.  The reason this happened dives into the deep, dark corners of networking.

Facebook For iOS Gets Photo Filters And Multi-Shot Sharing, Beating Twitter To The Punch  —  Don't trust the release notes.  Facebook has just added photo filters to its iOS app, though the feature wasn't announced in the version 5.1 “What's New” that highlights multi-photo uploads, slide-out chat buddy list, and Gift giving.

Microsoft Surface RT More Profitable than iPad, Teardown Analysis Reveals  —  The Surface RT model with the minimum 32 gigabytes of NAND flash memory and an optional black Touch Cover carries a bill of materials (BOM) of $271.00, according to a preliminary estimate from the IHS iSuppli Teardown Analysis Service.

Microsoft Surface tested as balloting device in Virginia  —  Here's an interesting milestone for Microsoft Surface: One of the tablets is being tested in Virginia this week as a balloting device for state and national elections there.  —  The test is being conducted by Democracy Live …

Apple already catches up with fourth-gen iPad demand, now ‘in stock’  —  Last time we checked in, the new fourth-generation iPad with Retina display was listed as shipping in “3-5 business days” from Apple's U.S. website.  That was down from the estimated one-week shipping time Apple had listed …

China Most Threatening Cyberspace Force, U.S. Panel Says  —  China is “the most threatening actor in cyberspace” as its intelligence agencies and hackers use increasingly sophisticated techniques to gain access to U.S. military computers and defense contractors, according to the draft of an annual report mandated by Congress.

AOL beats expectations in Q3: Revenue flat at $531.7m, net income of $20.8m  —  Internet media and services company AOL this morning reported its financial results for the third quarter of this year, reporting earnings of 22 cents per share compared to a loss per share of 2 cents in Q3 2011.

Powered By Nokia, Yandex Rolls Out Maps Of US And Europe  —  Yandex is rolling out maps of the US and Europe, powered by Nokia's mapping division Navteq.  The company is also introducing a Turkish mapping site.  —  Yandex says that its maps have an audience of 16.5 million on the PC and an additional 6.6 million users in mobile.

Proposal to Bolster Online Privacy Rules for Children Draws Opposition  —  Washington is pushing Silicon Valley on children's privacy, and Silicon Valley is pushing back.  —  Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter have all objected to portions of a federal effort to strengthen online privacy protections for children.

India Faces iPhone 5 Shortage … Just days after the iPhone 5 went on sale in India, most retailers are already out of stock.  —  “We were sold out within 24 hours of launch.  It's all gone,” said Himanshu Chakrawarti, chief executive of The MobileStore Ltd., a retailer that stocks iPhones and which has 900 outlets across India.