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 rules out patent talks with Apple  —  Top smartphone maker Samsung Electronics Co. does not intend to hold talks with Apple Inc. to reach an agreement on their ongoing patent tussle, its mobile business chief said Wednesday, raising views the company will rely on legal means rather than settling the issue out of court.

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.

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 want to share it themselves.  And so Pinterest is full of businesses posting their own content and products.

Class-action lawsuit filed against Uber by San Francisco taxi drivers for unfair competition  —  Uber is facing another challenge to its service and this time it's happening on its home turf.  Attorney Gary Oswald has just announced he's filed a class-action lawsuit against the transportation startup due …

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.

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 …

Facebook And Partners Launch Social Jobs App With 1.7M Listings  —  The Social Jobs Partnership — an initiative that includes The US Department of Labor, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), DirectEmployers Association, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies …

Google now allowing Google+ users to install Android apps directly from the stream  —  Google has begun serving direct links to Android apps in timelines on Google+, providing an easy way for users to share their favourite apps and games, and allow other users to download them directly to their Android devices.

Undercutting Startups, Walmart Launches Food Subscription Service, Goodies.co, For $7 Per Month  —  Walmart's experimentation with subscription-based commerce continues today, with the public launch of Goodies.co, a food subscription service featuring boxes of sample-sized treats shipped monthly.

Spotify Closes $3 Billion Funding Round  —  Spotify has closed its latest funding round, which values the company at around $3 billion, according to a person familiar with the transaction.  The Wall Street Journal had previously reported that Goldman Sachs would lead a group …

Adobe says user forum was breached, takes site offline  —  (Reuters) - Adobe Systems Inc, the world's biggest maker of design software, said on Wednesday that its Connectusers.com customer service site was compromised in a data breach by an unknown party.  —  The company said it took the site offline on Tuesday evening.

RIM's Chief Is Confident of BlackBerry 10 Success  —  Thorsten Heins, the chief executive of Research In Motion, visited The New York Times readily tells his employees, developers and customers, BlackBerry 10, the name for the new phones and the software platform running it, is a very big bet for RIM.

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 …

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.

Apple co-founder Woz to star in iOS game with ‘Machete’ actor  —  Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has been on TV numerous times, and is branching out into video games now too.  —  Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is set to appear as a playable video game character alongside the likeness of …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

Ex-Windows Chief Seen as Smart but Abrasive  —  On a warm night in late October, Steven Sinofsky stood on a platform in New York's Times Square, smiling as a huge crowd roared at the unveiling of a Microsoft retail store, where Windows 8 and the company's new Surface tablet were about to go on sale.

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 …

China cyber espionage threatens U.S., says advisory group  —  In its 2012 report, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission urges Congress to fully investigate China's cyber espionage campaigns.  —  Congress needs to act to probe the growing threat of Chinese cyber espionage against the U.S.

Origin Accounts Hacked - Maybe Change Your Password  —  Uh-oh.  Eurogamer are reporting that a number of people have woken up this morning to find that their EA Origin account has been hacked.  Receiving emails telling them that changes have successfully been made, recipients are not too delighted since they never asked for any.