Cisco Acquires Enterprise Wi-Fi Startup Meraki For $1.2 Billion In Cash  —  Networking tech giant Cisco has just agreed to acquire cloud infrastructure startup Meraki, and my industry sources confirm the purchase price was $1.2 billion, all in cash.  I've also gotten ahold of the letter to Meraki employees from CEO Sanjit Biswas.

Nintendo Wii U Teardown  —  When Nintendo announced the Wii U there was a lot of interest in its hardware specs.  The new console could very well end up the fastest kid on the block thanks to the sheer age of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  I wasn't all that interested in the Wii U …

Yahoo and Facebook Not in Search Alliance Discussions  —  Yahoo and Facebook are not currently in talks about forming a search alliance, according to my sources, who scoffed about such a deal reported in a thinner-than-tissue-paper post by the Telegraph earlier today.

Apple Can Finish What Microsoft's Sinofsky Started  —  In 2007, Microsoft introduces a new version of Windows called Vista, a grand name for what turns out to be an embarrassing dud.  (Memories of my first and determining interaction with Vista can be found here.)

Android 4.2 bug omits December from the People app, makes end-of-year birthdays even less bearable  —  The launch of Android 4.2 brought a welcome smattering of extra features to the mobile world, but a recently discovered bug omits something slightly important: namely, the month of December.

Automated Bidding Systems Test Old Ways of Selling Ads  —  Publishers and broadcasters have long tried to offer advertisers the right audience for their products.  Want to sell pick-ups to people who like sports?  Buy ads at halftime during a football game.  Selling luggage or airline tickets?

Israeli government websites under mass hacking attack  —  (Reuters) - More than 44 million hacking attempts have been made on Israeli government web sites since Wednesday when Israel began its Gaza air strikes, the government said on Sunday.  —  Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz …

Windows Phone 8 users report random reboots and battery issues  —  Windows Phone 8 devices have been available since the beginning of the month and users are starting to report early issues across HTC and Nokia handsets.  In a thread over at WPCentral with 143 replies, a variety …

JUDGE APPROVES FTC'S $22.5M FINE OF GOOGLE  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge has approved a $22.5 million fine to penalize Google for an alleged privacy breach, rejecting a consumer-rights group's plea for tougher punishment.  —  The blessing from U.S. District Judge Susan Illston came late Friday.

The Hackers of Damascus  —  Taymour Karim didn't crack under interrogation.  His Syrian captors beat him with their fists, with their boots, with sticks, with chains, with the butts of their Kalashnikovs.  They hit him so hard they broke two of his teeth and three of his ribs.

Making Cents  —  I'm sure each generation of musicians feels they've lived through a time of tremendous change, but the shifts I've witnessed in my relatively short music career— from morphing formats to dissolving business models— do seem extraordinary.  The first album I made was originally released …