Google TV: Now faster and easier  —  Last year, your Google TV received an update which added Google Play and simplified the entertainment discovery experience.  Our next update makes finding whatever you want on Google TV even faster and easier.  The update starts to roll out this week to LG devices and to other devices thereafter.

Samsung plans no settlement with Apple: executive  —  SEOUL — A top Samsung executive said that the South Korean electronics giant had no plans to follow Taiwanese firm HTC in seeking a settlement over its patent disputes with arch-rival Apple.  —  Samsung and Apple are currently embroiled …

Skype plugs security hole letting anyone hijack accounts, says ‘small number’ of users affected  —  A number of hours after The Next Web revealed a flaw in the way Skype handled password resets, allowing third-parties to hijack accounts using just an email address, Skype has said that it has now fixed the issue.

Gartner: Android Accounted For 72% Of Smartphone Sales In Q3, Overall Sales Of Mobile Handsets Down 3%  —  Gartner has this morning published its numbers on the performance of the mobile handset industry in Q3.  The topline figure is that the mobile industry overall continues to see pressure …

Facebook Stock Price Up 10.3 Percent On The Day And Climbing As Biggest Lockup Expires, Irrational Changes Are Over  —  Facebook share prices are up today, with shares at 21.07, 6.1 percent above yesterday's level — and still climing.  Today the company is experiencing its biggest stock-lockup expiration …

Papa John's faces $250 million spam lawsuit  —  NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Popular U.S. pizza chain Papa John's faces a $250 million class-action lawsuit for blasting customers with illegal text messages.  —  The plaintiffs allege that Papa John's ( PZZA) franchises sent customers a total of 500,000 unwanted messages in early 2010.

New BlackBerry Messenger will offer free voice calls over Wi-Fi, open beta starts today  —  RIM may be focusing most of its energy on the upcoming launch of the BlackBerry 10 OS, but it's also getting ready to roll out a major new feature to BlackBerry Messenger users.

Yoga PC Flips and Bends, but as a Tablet, It's Clumsy  —  Windows 8 presents a dilemma for PC makers.  It contains two very different user interfaces: a touch-oriented, tablet-like one with clusters of tiles, full-screen apps and an on-screen keyboard; plus the traditional Windows desktop and apps …

TaskRabbit Acquires Kids' Clothing Startup One Jackson To Add Marketplace Expertise  —  TaskRabbit, the online marketplace that lets people outsource small jobs and tasks, has acquired One Jackson, an e-commerce site for kids' clothing.  —  Financial terms of the deal haven't been disclosed.

Surveillance and Security Lessons From the Petraeus Scandal  —  When the CIA director cannot hide his activities online, what hope is there for the rest of us?  In the unfolding sex scandal that has led to the resignation of David Petraeus, the FBI's electronic surveillance and tracking …

Google Fiber is live in Kansas City, real-world speeds at 700Mbps  —  Mike Demarais posted this to Twitter during the first few minutes that Google Fiber went live in his Kansas City home.  —  Mike Demarais  —  After months of fanfare and anticipation, gigabit home Internet service Google …

Panasonic prepares for “garage sale”, to axe 10,000 jobs  —  (Reuters) - About a fifth of Panasonic Corp's (6758.T) 88 business units are losing money and only half so far meet a target for at least 5 percent operating margin, the Japanese electronics group's finance chief said in an interview on Wednesday.

Understanding Like-gate  —  Several prominent people are up in arms about Facebook charging for access to users who have already Liked their page.  —  I believe this debate is missing the big picture, and what we are in fact witnessing is the unfurling of the full-fledged Facebook business model.

Chinese Authorities Putting Pressure on Businesses to Help Censor the Web  —  BEIJING — As the Chinese cyberpolice stiffened controls on information before the Communist Party leadership transition taking place this week, some companies in Beijing and nearby cities received orders to aid the cause.

Google Foretells Big Switch to Networks of the Future  —  In the summer of 1998, when Larry Page and Sergey Brin were drafting an official business plan for the company they hoped to build around their Google search engine, they asked Guido Appenzeller for a little help.

Google opens up on seven years of its data center history  —  Google's head of data center operations provided a seven-year look at how the search giant's data center strategy has evolved during the 7×24 Exchange conference on Tuesday in Phoenix, Ariz.,providing a new look at the secretive search giant's operations.

Pinterest Removes Ban on Commercial Use as It Adds Business Accounts  —  On a site where people share pictures of stuff they want to buy, it makes sense that people who make stuff would share it themselves.  And so Pinterest is full of businesses posting their own content and products.

Samsung reportedly denies iPhone and iPad processor price hike  —  A Samsung official has reportedly denied claims that the company has raised the price it charges Apple for its iPhone and iPad processors by almost 20 percent.  Speaking with Korean newspaper The Hankyoreh …

Apple confirms first store in Rio de Janeiro Brazil as Istanbul, Turkey also preparing for Apple retail  —  Apple today emailed several Brazilian outlets to confirm the news that it would open an Apple retail store in the city.  Translated: … The news comes after it was recently discovered …

Vuzix Smart Glasses M100 takes on Google Glass in 2013  —  Vuzix has revealed its challenge to Google's Glass, the Vuzix Smart Glasses M100, a wearable Android computer set to hit the market in early 2013.  Resembling an oversized Bluetooth headset, the Ice Cream Sandwich-based M100 consists …

Corbis Acquires Crowd-Sourced Photo Agency Demotix, After Its Move Into Apps  —  Image giant Corbis has acquired Demotix, the crowd-sourced, breaking news picture and video agency which launched in 2008 and recently hit the milestone of a million images uploaded.

Icahn vs. Hastings: The Fight for the Future of Netflix  —  Corporate raider Carl Icahn called Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Reed Hastings on Halloween with a message that no executive wants to hear: His company was about to be put in play.  —  During the brief call, Mr. Icahn told Mr. Hastings …

Adobe investigates alleged customer data breach  —  The information, published on Tuesday on Pastebin, includes hashed passwords, names and email addressses  —  Adobe said Wednesday it is investigating the release of 230 names, email addresses and encrypted passwords claimed to have been stolen from a company database.

Percolate Raises $9 Million to Help Marketers Use Twitter, Facebook  —  Publishing on social media is all about speed and simplicity: Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Instagram et al are designed to let you push out a message with a couple clicks.  —  But even that process can be too cumbersome …

Microsoft's former Windows Phone chief shifted to head of corporate development and strategy  —  Microsoft's Andy Lees, who was moved out of the top Windows Phone job less than a year ago, has been shifted to the head of corporate development and strategy at the software giant, a company spokesperson has confirmed.

Google: No 4.2 Support For Nexus S and XOOM, Keep Using Android 4.1.2  —  A couple of hours ago, as 4.2 hit AOSP, Google's Jean-Baptiste Queru (JBQ) took to the Android Builders group and announced that there would be no official Android 4.2 support for either the Nexus S or Motorola XOOM.