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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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.

It's official: 3D is dead  —  The tech industry's annual hot air balloon show is dead, and the world's better for it  —  There's something about 2013's Consumer Electronics Show that's different from every other iteration this decade.  You might not realize it immediately …

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 …

Justice Department against most sales bans for infringing key patents  —  (Reuters) - Companies that own a key patent, such as those that ensure mobile and other electronic devices work together, should be allowed to win sales bans as a punishment for infringement only in rare, very specific cases …

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 …

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:

Onlike Banking Attacks Were Work of Iran, U.S. Officials Say  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The attackers hit one American bank after the next.  As in so many previous attacks, dozens of online banking sites slowed, hiccupped or ground to a halt before recovering several minutes later.

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.

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: 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.

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.

U.S. Spy Law Authorizes Mass Surveillance of European Citizens: Report  —  Participants work at their laptops at the annual Chaos Computer Club computer hackers' congress in Hamburg, Germany.  They probably would not be pleased with FISA.  —  Europeans, take note: The U.S. government …

U.S. Tech Firms Facing Stronger European Data Protection Measures  —  In the end, all of those trans-Atlantic flights may not have paid off.  —  Over the last year, representatives of the United States government and American technology companies have repeatedly traveled to Brussels …

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.