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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.”

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.

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:

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

Target will now price-match Amazon, other retailers year-round  —  Matching Amazon's pricing during the holidays is one thing, but Target today announced it plans to continue the practice on a year-round basis.  The extended policy will apply to competitors other than the internet retailer …

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.

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 …

Hands-on with Razer's Edge, a $999 gaming tablet / home console  —  The PC ecosystem is no longer as simple as it once was — first there were desktops, then laptops, then tablets, then all-in-ones.  Buying a PC now is more nebulous than it ever was.  You could build your very own rig …

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.

Panasonic shows off 20-inch Windows 8 tablet with insane 4K resolution  —  4K's unquestionably the buzzword of CES 2013, but it's typically used in conjunction with “TV.”  Panasonic's taking it a different direction, though, using its keynote at the show to introduce a 20-inch Windows 8 tablet with 4K resolution.

Hulu Debuts Previews Of Its 2013 Original Programming And Exclusive Series  —  Continuing its expansion into original content and exclusive third-party content, Hulu is today offering previews of its new programming for 2013, which includes its first animated Hulu Original Series, “The Awesomes …

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, Google CIO To Unveil Free WiFi In NYC's Chelsea Neighborhood  —  Google has slowly been building up its service provider cred, with an ambitious fiber project in Kansas City and free WiFi initiatives through a partnership with Boingo.