Twitter's New Music App Launches Friday  —  Next up on the jukebox — Twitter Music.  —  The microblogging service plans to launch its new, standalone music application on Friday, according to sources familiar with the matter.  —  Update 7:59 pm PT: Of note — another source claims the app …

Never Mind Facebook; Winklevoss Twins Rule in Digital Money  —  The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler — Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg — are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls.  —  The Winklevii, as they are known, have amassed since last summer what appears …

Apple and Universal Music agreement on streaming iRadio service imminent  —  Apple is expected to sign the largest record label perhaps as soon as next week, sources say.  Warner Music is right behind.  —  Apple is expected to sign its first internet radio licensing agreement …

Apple Agrees to Pay $53M to Settle iPhone Warranty Lawsuit  —  Apple is agreeing to pay $53 million to settle a class action accusing the company of failing to honor warranties on iPhones and iPod Touches, according to an agreement obtained today by Wired.  —  The settlement, (.pdf) …

Yep, LinkedIn Acquires Newsreader Startup Pulse for $90 Million  —  LinkedIn announced on Thursday it has acquired mobile news aggregation startup Pulse, as Kara Swisher reported last month that it would, signaling another step by the massive professional network toward becoming an online content powerhouse.

Microsoft Launches GeoFlow 3D Data Visualization Tool For Excel  —  Microsoft has released a public preview of GeoFlow today, a new 3D visualization tool for Excel which allow users to create, navigate and interact with time-sensitive data applied to a digital map.

Letter To Jennifer Allen Regarding False And Defamatory Statements  —  The following letter from my attorneys was delivered to Jennifer Allen this afternoon, in response to her previous claims.  I believe the letter speaks for itself.  —  Eric M. George  —  Browne George Ross  —  Via E-Mail and U.S. Mail

Trends in 160+ locations  —  Today, we're introducing Trends in more than 160 new locations.  Included in that list are a number of countries that will be getting Trends for the first time: Belgium, Greece, Kenya, Norway, Poland, Portugal, and Ukraine, plus more than 130 new cities in countries that already have Trends.

Opinion: Antitrust complaint against Android is an attack on open source  —  Microsoft and Oracle say it's “predatory” for companies to give away software.  —  On Tuesday, we reported on a new complaint filed by “Fairsearch,” an anti-Google group that counts Microsoft, Oracle, Nokia …

Bing Delivers Five Times as Many Malicious Websites as Google  —  Searches on Bing returned five times more links to malicious websites than Google searches, according to an 18-month study from German independent testing lab AV-Test.  Though search engines have worked to suppress malicious results …

Google Secures YT.be Domain, For Even Shorter URLs  —  Google has secured a new domain name, YT.be, which it started forwarding to its goo.gl URL shortening service today.  —  Presumably, Google will use the domain name for shortened links to YouTube videos.

France threatens EU action over Apple App Store ban  —  (Reuters) - France plans to ask the European Commission for tighter regulation of Internet companies following Apple's decision to remove a French-designed app from its App Store.  —  Last Friday, Apple banned AppGratis …

BlackBerry 10 launch by the numbers: Over 50% returns, 71% of people don't want under any circumstances, 83% of Americans unaware it even launched (Updated)  —  Six years after Apple took the smartphone industry by surprise with its release of the iPhone, former market leader BlackBerry Limited …

Reid Hoffman Invests In A Startup Building A Simpler, Better, Mobile Version Of eBay  —  A new startup named Sold is building an application that offers a better way to sell your old stuff than eBay.  —  Take a few photos, answer a few questions, and they find a buyer, send you a box and pick up the item at your door.

Mark Zuckerberg's political wingman: Fwd.us founder Joe Green  —  Joe Green is founder and president of Fwd.us, a new political advocacy group funded by Mark Zuckerberg and other prominent Silicon Valley executives.  (Peter DaSilva / For The Times)  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Joe Green …

If Netflix Were on TV, It Might Be the Biggest Network on Cable.  But About That New Show ...  Good news for Netflix!  The company streamed more than 4 billion hours of video in the first three months of the year, according to a Facebook post from CEO Reed Hastings.

Nvidia returns $1 billion to shareholders, mobile flat  —  (Reuters) - Nvidia Corp plans to return $1 billion to shareholders this fiscal year, the company said on Thursday, helping its shares trim earlier losses caused by worries about its mobile business and a slumping PC market.

UK government investigates in-app purchases in games  —  High bills generated by children using freemium games under scrutiny  —  A United Kingdom government department has launched an investigation into in-app purchases aimed at children.  The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) …

Production Challenges to ‘Delay’ Launches of iPhone 5S, Lower-Cost iPhone and New iPad Mini?  —  Back in January, reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo laid out a thorough roadmap of his expectations for Apple's product launches in 2013, pointing to a very busy third quarter for the company …