Apple Working On a Less-Expensive iPhone  —  Apple Inc. is working on a lower-end iPhone, according to people briefed on the matter, a big shift in strategy as its supremacy in smartphones has slipped.  —  While Apple has explored such a device for years, the plan has been progressing …

T-Mobile appeals with free 4G in laptops; no-contract unlimited smartphone data  —  T-Mobile is making a bid to get new customers trying its mobile broadband network: The company is including free wireless data services in select new Windows 8 laptops.  Dell and HP are the first to partner …

Qualcomm's insane CES 2013 keynote in pictures and tweets  —  A night of cringeworthy conversations, product demos, and music  —  2013 was the first time in many years that Microsoft didn't host the opening keynote for the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas.

Google Withdraws Patent Claims Against Microsoft  —  Google today filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission to terminate its attempt to stop Microsoft from using video compression technology on the Xbox.  —  Microsoft wants to license two standards-essential patents for H.264 …

Exclusive interview: Valve's Gabe Newell on Steam Box, biometrics, and the future of gaming  —  A rare and candid talk with Valve's boss  —  We just sat down for a rare and wide-ranging interview with Valve CEO Gabe Newell, who opened up to The Verge with details about the company's upcoming …

Improving Twitter search with real-time human computation  —  One of the magical things about Twitter is that it opens a window to the world in real-time.  An event happens, and seconds later, people share it across the planet.  —  Consider, for example, what happened when Flight 1549 crashed in the Hudson River:

Student Suspended for Refusing to Wear RFID Tracker Loses Lawsuit  —  A Texas high school student who claimed her student identification was the “Mark of the Beast” because it was implanted with a radio-frequency identification chip has lost her federal court bid Tuesday challenging her suspension …

Could Verizon, AT&T Follow T-Mobile in Ending Subsidies?  —  The biggest U.S. wireless carriers are watching T-Mobile USA's experiment with ending smartphone subsidies, but they aren't sure if subscribers are ready to make the change.  —  Major wireless carriers tend to subsidize the cost …

Microsoft confirms Messenger will be retired and users migrated to Skype on March 15  —  Microsoft on Tuesday mass emailed its 100 million+ Messenger users to let them know that the service is officially being retired on March 15, 2013.  On that date, all users will be migrated to Skype …

Microsoft: 60 million Windows 8 licenses sold to date  —  Summary: Microsoft has sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses to PC makers and those upgrading as of early January, officials said at the Consumer Electronics Show.  —  Microsoft officials said the company has sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses to date.

Aereo Raises $38 Million to Take Its Cord-Cutting Service to 22 More Cities  —  Right now you can only watch Aereo, the Web TV service the TV networks hate, if you live in New York City.  —  That will change soon, Aereo says: The startup plans to roll out 22 more U.S. cities this year, starting in “late spring.”

iPhone 5 coming to Walmart's Straight Talk prepaid plans January 11th  —  Customers have been able to enjoy the iPhone experience on Walmart's Straight Talk “BYOD” phone plans for quite some time now, but the prepaid provider will begin directly selling the iPhone 5 — as well as the iPhone 4 — on January 11th.

Broadcom chip ushers in H.265 and UltraHD video  —  The H.265 video standard, aka HEVC or MPEG-5, squeezes more pixels over a network connection to support new high-resolution 4K TVs.  Broadcom's chip supports both and is due to arrive in volume next year.  —  As product names go, BCM7445 is as boring as it gets.

Hands-on with Kingston's 1TB USB Stick  —  We get up close and personal with Kingston's new baby.  —  While CES is known for bringing a storm of new gadgets, just a few products really stand out each year.  On Monday, Kingston announced one such device.  In Las Vegas this week, the company unveiled the world's first 1TB USB stick.

Dell introduces HDMI stick that turns any screen into a thin client PC  —  Dell acquired Wyse last year and launched a line of cloud computing products that lets you access software data on a remote server.  Most of the products in this line look like tiny computers which you can connect to a keyboard, mouse and display.

Improved sharing & new HTML5 features for SkyDrive.com  —  We're ringing in the new year with a few improvements to SkyDrive.com.  You now have a single, unified view into how each of your files is shared so you can more easily control who has access to your files.

Facebook invites press to 'see what we're building'  —  Facebook just pinged members of the press with an invitation for a big event on January 15th, which immediately follows the madness here at CES this week.  Facebook doesn't host many large events at its corporate headquarters — a hint that something big is likely in the works.

Gawker expands into India as part of Nick Denton's plan for world domination  —  Gawker Media is starting the new year off with a bang: founder Nick Denton announced on Tuesday that the blog network is expanding into India by way of a partnership with the Times of India, one of that country's largest media entities.

Kickstarter's best of 2012: 2.2M backers, $319M raised, 18K projects funded  —  Kickstarter released its “best of” list for 2012, and the numbers are impressive: 2.24 million people funded at least one project and pledged a total of $319 million.  That's more than $600 per minute over the course of the year …

Is Facebook worth it?  Film execs confide they may cut movie ads  —  Some movie executives are increasingly skeptical that Facebook ads and promotional campaigns that ask users to ‘like’ a movie can deliver big box-office returns.  —  Major studios are taking a hard look at the cost of winning friends on Facebook.