Antitrust: Commission fines Microsoft for non-compliance with browser choice commitments  —  European Commission  —  The European Commission has imposed a €561 million fine on Microsoft for failing to comply with its commitments to offer users a browser choice screen enabling them to easily choose their preferred web browser.

Carl Icahn Takes Up to a 6 Percent Stake in Dell: Sources  —  Carl Icahn appears set to enter the fray over the leveraged buyout of Dell.  —  Trading sources said they were confident that Icahn had amassed a position in Dell that may approach 100 million shares, and would bring him to a roughly 6 percent ownership.

Big layoffs at T-Mobile headquarters, ahead of merger  —  A significant round of layoffs is happening at the Bellevue headquarters of T-Mobile USA just ahead of its merger with MetroPCS, according to people inside the company.  —  Employees are expecting the cuts, which may affect …

Google-Apple Valuation Gap Widest Since 2005 on Ads  —  Google Inc. (GOOG)'s prospects haven't looked so promising to investors relative to Apple Inc. (AAPL) since before the iPhone was introduced.  —  Google's shares, which climbed to a record yesterday, are now trading at 25 times profit …

comScore: Apple debuts 2013 as top US smartphone maker, Samsung gains but Android falls for the first time  —  In the US, Apple ended 2012 as the top OEM and it has only further increased its lead with the start of the New Year.  Samsung is gaining as well, but not quite as quickly.

T-Mobile Responding To AT&T's Newspaper Ad With Their Own Creative Responses  —  Let me be the first to say, that if these ads developed for T-Mobile in response to AT&T's one-page attack ad last week don't run in newspapers everyday for the next year, I'm going to be disappointed.

Path Hires Ex-Google, Lytro Finance Head as New CFO  —  A little more than two years after launch, Path, the self-proclaimed “private social network” startup, is beginning to focus more on monetization.  —  Hence the hiring of Kim Jabal as the company's first CFO, who will spearhead …

Microsoft restores transfer rights for retail Office 2013 copies  —  Summary: As part of its shift to a subscription model, Microsoft introduced a controversial “no transfer” restriction with Office 2013.  Now, after an intense outcry from customers, the company has reversed course and agreed …

Ebay Shuts Down Instant Sale Service For Cash Trade-Ins On Phones And Other Gadgets  —  Ebay, the online marketplace that recently added a redesign reminiscent of Pinterest to enhance a personalized experience for its users, is paring down in other areas.  Among them, the site has discontinued …

Microsoft to update its core Windows 8 apps well before ‘Blue’  —  Summary: Microsoft may have refreshes of its Mail, Calendar, Music and Games apps for Windows 8 and Windows RT in its app store as soon as this month.  —  There's been some worry that Microsoft's Windows team may be waiting until the …

Samsung-Sharp Deal Could Reshape Tech Alliances  —  South Korea's Samsung Electronics is in talks to invest about $107 million in struggling Japanese electronics firm Sharp Corp. , a deal that not only highlights Korea's ascendancy over Japan as a global electronics giant, but could well reshape alliances in the competitive industry.

The Check In Is Dead; Long Live The Check In As Foursquare Adds Quick Glide Feature On iOS  —  Depending who you ask, Foursquare could be in a great place as far as growth.  Or in a bad place.  We've heard about potential acquisitions, difficulty fundraising and everything in between.

Bug allows complete lock screen bypass on Samsung Galaxy S III  —  Summary: Following a brief lock screen bypass that had ‘limited scope’, another Samsung owner has found that the lock screen on Galaxy S III handsets can be bypassed completely.  —  Michael Lee

Yammer's David Sacks offers to create $250k Launch fund to support five startups from the festival  —  At the 2013 Launch Festival, Yammer co-founder David Sacks took part in the conference's third fireside chat.  During the conversation, Sacks offered to help fund five of the startups presenting …

Yahoo Says New Policy Is Meant to Raise Morale  —  SAN FRANCISCO — When Marissa Mayer took over as chief executive at Yahoo last summer, she confronted a Silicon Valley campus that was very different from the one she had left at Google.  Enlarge This Image Pascal Lauener/Reuters Marissa Mayer wants “all hands on deck” at Yahoo.

Sheryl Sandberg Launches ‘Lean In’ Organization As A Global Community For Workplace Equality  —  This morning Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg officially launched “Lean In,” a non-profit organization aimed at creating a global community that encourages women to continue to be active and ambitious …

Unreported Side Effects of Drugs Found Using Internet Data, Study Finds  —  Using data drawn from queries entered into Google, Microsoft and Yahoo search engines, scientists at Microsoft, Stanford and Columbia University have for the first time been able to detect evidence …

Startup Failing?  Exitround Discreetly Finds Buyers For Startups  —  The proliferation of funding for seed-stage startups has led to a glut of startup companies.  Many of them won't survive since there isn't enough venture funding to go around.  —  To address this, Jacob Mullins …

Nokia wants Instagram for Windows Phone, piles pressure on with #2InstaWithLove  —  Nokia desperately wants Instagram for Windows Phone and it's proving that this week.  The Finnish company has just released #2InstaWithLove, a new Windows Phone app for Lumia devices that's specifically designed …

Twitter improves search with ‘Top Tweet’ emphasis in apps, removes video services on iOS  —  Twitter has just released an update to its iOS and Android apps which features an improved search interface.  As predicted by us, it has also removed support for video upload via Mobypicture in its iOS app.

Google+ gets updated with new “Local reviews” tab, larger cover photos and a redesigned About tab  —  Google has just announced a number of updates to Google+ in the browser, including the addition of a new “Local reviews” tab, a sleeker and easier to edit About tab and larger cover photos.