Why did Apple hire Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch?  —  Just hours after word leaked that Apple had poached Adobe's chief technology officer, the Internet is ablaze with the question of what, exactly, the iPhone maker plans to do with Kevin Lynch.  —  Source: Adobe  —  No Flash in the pan

Amazon Rumored To Be Working On A $99 7-Inch Kindle Fire HD  —  How low will Amazon's tablets go?  We're now hearing that a $99 Kindle Fire 7″ tablet is in production, and will be shipping this year.  At a price that low, the Kindle Fire would be able to more easily compete at the tail end …

South Korea network attack ‘a computer virus’  —  Staff at broadcaster YTN were faced with error messages on computer screens  —  Disruption that paralysed the computer networks of broadcasters and banks in South Korea appears to have been caused by a virus, an official close to the investigation has told the BBC.

Microsoft pokes at Samsung Galaxy S3 in high-profile Windows Phone ad  —  Microsoft is getting more aggressive in its attempt to drum up attention for Windows Phone.  —  The company announced today that it's planning to air the “Windows Phone Challenge” ad above starting this week during …

Amazon launches “Send to Kindle” button for web publishers and WordPress blogs  —  Amazon is now allowing publishers to add “Send to Kindle” buttons to their websites and WordPress blogs, the company announced on the Kindle blog Tuesday.  It can be integrated into WordPress blogs as well.

Twitter gets a patent on... Twitter  —  Although Twitter famously has a pending patent on the familiar “pull-to-refresh” gesture, the company may have just acquired something more valuable: a patent on the Twitter messaging service itself.  The new patent issued today with Twitter founders Jack Dorsey …

Disconnect: why Andy Rubin and Android called it quits  —  Rubin created Google's mobile operating system and outgunned the iPhone.  So why is he moving on after almost a decade at the helm?

T-Mobile ‘UnCarrier’ plans possibly leaked, make unlimited talk and text a given (updated)  —  T-Mobile made much ado at CES of its desire to become the “UnCarrier,” with steps away from subsidies and the usual complexities of smartphones.  Thanks to tipsters, we have a better sense of what the provider meant.

Google's NCAA bracket demonstrates how far it has strayed from its original promise  —  Once upon a time, Google was the best search engine in the land.  It cut through all the other Web portal noise to just give you plain results.  Along the way, Google realized that there are actually nice benefits …

Microsoft confirms ‘high-profile’ employee Xbox Live accounts hacked  —  The hack used SSNs in a “stringed social engineering” attack involving another company  —  As more of the story about the simultaneous cyber attack and real-world “Swatting” carried out against security researcher Brian Krebs comes …

Google to Offer Internet Service in Olathe, Kansas  —  Google Inc. said Tuesday it would offer high-speed Internet service in the city of Olathe, Kan., a Kansas City suburb with around 125,000 residents.  —  The plan marks the first expansion of Google Fiber, an Internet and video service …

Inside Oculus: a tour of virtual reality's would-be savior  —  A small California-based team is burning the midnight oil to put goggles on your head  —  On the fourth floor of a fourteen-story California skyscraper, a stone's throw from UC Irvine, a tiny startup named Oculus is trying to bring the idea of virtual reality back to life.

Cisco switches to weaker hashing scheme, passwords cracked wide open  —  Password cracking experts have reversed a secret cryptographic formula recently added to Cisco devices.  Ironically, the encryption type 4 algorithm leaves users considerably more susceptible to password cracking …

Yahoo in Talks to Buy Stake in Video Site Dailymotion  —  Yahoo Inc. is in talks to buy a controlling stake in France Telecom SA's online-video site Dailymotion, according to people familiar with the talks, in what would be Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer's first major acquisition since taking over the Internet pioneer last year.

Amazon in talks with record labels about subscription music service  —  Subscription music is all the rage with the big Web music stores  —  Subscription music services have yet to profit but that hasn't stopped some of the internet's biggest media distributors from jumping into the business.

ReadWrite Editor-In-Chief Dan Lyons, A.K.A. Fake Steve Jobs, Is Leaving For Hubspot  —  Dan Lyons, the editor-in-chief at tech blog ReadWrite, is leaving for a position at marketing software company Hubspot.  We heard the news from knowledgeable sources, and the part about Lyons' departure …

The Nielsen Family Is Dead  —  From Game of Thrones to the new Arrested Development, television is better than ever.  And it's not just a lucky accident.  Turns out that networks and advertisers are using all-new metrics to design hit shows.  Under these new rules, Twitter feeds are as important …

Yahoo acquires personalized recommendation startup Jybe, started by five former Yahoo employees  —  Yahoo on Wednesday announced it has acquired personalized recommendation company Jybe, which aimed to help people find new interests based on what's trending in their social circles.

Jawbone Takes Next Step in Fitness-Tracking Race, Launches UP for Android  —  Four months after its re-launch on iPhone, the Jawbone UP activity tracker is finally coming to Android.  —  The Jawbone UP wristband and compatible mobile app will now work the with the Samsung Galaxy SII …

BlackBerry, UK government reject claims of failed BB10 security certification  —  Both BlackBerry and the U.K. government have denied reports that the new BB10 software has been rejected for use in sensitive government communications.  —  Tuesday evening, UK newspaper The Guardian reported …

Self-Reliance  —  The mobile market, everyone agrees, is the technology industry's future.  What's not so clear is which company is best positioned to thrive in that future.  —  For smartphones in particular, the traditional metrics are confusing.  Android has 70% market share, but Apple is taking 70% of the profit.

Microsoft tempts Windows developers with $100 cash for new apps  —  Microsoft wants Windows 8 and Windows Phone developers to create apps for its platforms, and it's tempting them by offering up hard cash.  In a new US marketing effort, Microsoft is offering developers $100 per app …

Our Commitment to Compliance  —  Today, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. government is reviewing allegations that Microsoft business partners in three countries may have engaged in illegal activity, and if they did, whether Microsoft played any role in these alleged incidents.

Sources: Amazon and CIA ink cloud deal  —  In a move sure to send ripples through the federal IT community, FCW has learned that the CIA has agreed to a cloud computing contract with electronic commerce giant Amazon, worth up to $600 million over 10 years.  —  Amazon Web Services will help …