Nokia CEO Stephen Elop: Google is making its open ecosystem ‘more closed’  —  Speaking at a press conference to discuss Nokia's Q4 earnings, company CEO Stephen Elop said that Google is trying to close its “open ecosystem.”  —  Despite name-checking Android, it seems likely that when saying …

Microsoft reports middling FQ2 revenue of $21.46B on surprisingly solid Windows performance  —  Today Microsoft reported its fiscal second quarter 2013 results, including revenue of $21.46 billion, and earnings per share of $0.76.  Analysts had expected revenue of $21.6 billion, and earnings per share of $0.75.

Google's “confidential” test might be a super-dense LTE network using Clearwire's spectrum  —  Google filed an application at the FCC last week seeking permission to conduct testing of an experimental radio system.  Portions of the application and accompanying exhibits have been designated confidential …

AT&T's Q4 2012 Beats Street With $32.6B In Revenue, Misses With EPS Of $0.44, Smartphone Subscriber Base Jumps To 47.1M  —  AT&T shared its Q4 2012 earnings results today, reporting overall quarterly revenues of $32.6 billion (an increase of 0.2% year over year), and earnings per share of $0.44 …

First Video Clip of Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs  —  Following yesterday's news that the independent film JOBS starring Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs will open in theaters on April 19, ETonline.com has released the first video clip from the film.  The brief clip shows Kutcher as Jobs speaking with Josh Gad in the role of Steve Wozniak.

Mark Zuckerberg Will Hold Fundraiser For Chris Christie  —  The tech mogul and his wife “admire [Christie's] leadership on education reform and other issues and look forward to continuing their important work together on behalf of Newark's schoolchildren,” a spokesperson tells BuzzFeed.

French court says Twitter must identify racist tweeters  —  PARIS — A French court ruled Thursday that Twitter, which has steadfastly refused calls to police its millions of users, must hand over data to help identify the authors of racist or anti-Semitic tweets.

Twitter introduces Vine for iOS, an app for sharing six second looping videos on the service  —  Twitter has today introduced Vine, an app that allows you to share six second looping videos on the service and in embedded tweets.  The app is simple, allowing you to tap the screen to record video and lift your finger to stop.

Automattic Buys Simperium, Maker of Simplenote  —  Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, has bought the small synchronization startup Simperium, which makes a syncing platform for developers and a well-loved synced note-taking app for iOS called Simplenote.

Lenovo Mulls RIM Deal as a Way to Boost Mobile Business  —  Lenovo Group Ltd. (992) is assessing potential acquisition targets and strategic alliances, including a deal with BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM), as the second-largest producer of personal computers tries to bolster its mobile-device business.

Amazon Gets Into Voice Recognition, Buys Ivona Software To Compete Against Apple's Siri  —  Amazon today announced that it is acquiring Ivona Software, a Polish-based specialist in voice technologies that competes with Nuance and is already used in the Kindle Fire for services covering text-to-speech …

Imagining a 5-inch iPhone  —  Never mind rumors of an awkwardly named 4.8-inch “iPhone Math”, the concept of a much larger iPhone has been floating about ever since the realities of early LTE chipsets — and the batteries that came with them — forced Android and Windows-based competitors to break the size barrier.

A Free Database of the Entire Web May Spawn the Next Google  —  Common Crawl supplies a database of over five billion Web pages in the hope that it will inspire new research or online services.  —  Why It Matters  —  A freely available copy of billions of Web pages could create competition for established giants such as Google.

The Apple paradox  —  Lots to mull over in Apple's results - not least rebuilding my model to reflect the changes in reporting, which is always a joy.  —  However, these charts illustrate what I think is the paradox in the Apple story: it is so strong that people wonder how much more growth there can be.

Samsung Gets Review of Apple Victory in U.S. Trade Fight  —  Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the world's largest smartphone producer, persuaded a U.S. trade agency to review a preliminary ruling that more than a dozen models of its mobile phones copied Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s patented features.

Letter From Forty-Four Digital Rights Groups Demands Skype Detail Its Surveillance Practices  —  Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer with Skype president Tony Bates at the announcement of Skype's $8.5 billion acquisition.  —  Skype has long been a stubborn whipping boy for the privacy community …

In his own words: Tim Cook on Apple earnings and more  —  Sequentially we increased over 70 percent from the September quarter, which was 3.5 times the market, and so we could not be happier with that.  In terms of geographic distribution, we saw our highest growth in China, and it was into the triple digits.