What Has Changed  —  As I read this post in the WSJ about the changing nature of VC funding of consumer web companies, I thought that we may be looking at the symptoms and not the disease.  As the WSJ notes, VC funding of consumer web and mobile companies is down 42% in this first nine months of 2012 (vs the first nine months of 2011).

Japan's Masayoshi Son Picks a Fight With U.S. Phone Giants  —  In Japan, Masayoshi Son is known as the eccentric Internet billionaire who upended the country's telecom industry.  In the U.S., he is about to become the cash-strapped underdog who picked a fight with two corporate giants—AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless.

Bullet points on Ev's new startup  —  I listened to a podcast interview between Evan Williams and Jeffrey Zeldman yesterday.  It had a few bits about Medium, which is his new startup.  I am interested in know what his thinking is on this — as we've been exploring the same territory for a number of years …

Microsoft commits to Surface with Windows RT for at least four years  —  Summary: Nearly a month after its initial release, Windows RT still has no official support policy.  But Microsoft has declared its support lifecycle for the Surface hardware powered by Windows RT.

E-Commerce Spending On Black Friday Tops $1B For The First Time; Amazon Is The Most Visited Retailer  —  We've seen the reports that Black Friday online sales increased this year, but the numbers are finally in. comScore is reporting that U.S. retail e-commerce spending was $1.042 billion on Black Friday …

Square Puck  —  There's a famous/trite expression, commonly cited in the venture business, about how you want to skate to where the puck is going, not to where it is right now.  As I watch the payments industry grapple to deal with the phenomenon of Square's micro-merchant processing business …

Legality of Warrantless Cellphone Searches Goes to Courts and Legislatures  —  Judges and lawmakers across the country are wrangling over whether and when law enforcement authorities can peer into suspects' cellphones, and the cornucopia of evidence they provide.

Google shuts down dedicated Motorola Mobility sites for Asia, Europe, Middle East, and Africa  —  Soon after purchasing Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion, Google announced it would make deep cuts into the company's staff, reducing headcount by some 4,000.  As part of that effort …

Scientists See Promise in Deep-Learning Programs  —  Using an artificial intelligence technique inspired by theories about how the brain recognizes patterns, technology companies are reporting startling gains in fields as diverse as computer vision, speech recognition and the identification …

Fighting Sandy debris-removal crooks: There's an app for that  —  A devastating storm like Sandy can bring out the crooks - and not just opportunistic looters and burglars.  Officials dealing with the destruction in the U.S. Northeast say one of their biggest headaches is debris-removal fraud committed …