Jony Ive paints a fresh, yet familiar, look for iOS 7  —  According to multiple people who have either seen or have been briefed on the upcoming iOS 7, the operating system sports a redesigned user-interface that will be attractive to new iOS users, but potentially unsettling for those who are long-accustomed to the platform...

Jack Dorsey Talks Square and Wearable Devices  —  Many technology enthusiasts have had their eye on Glass, Google's monocle that looks like something out of Star Trek.  But the Internet-connected eyewear doesn't really pique the interest of Jack Dorsey, chief executive of the mobile payment system Square and a co-founder of Twitter.

Microsoft Azure Sales Top $1 Billion Challenging Amazon  —  Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s Windows Azure software and related programs have surpassed $1 billion in annual sales for the first time, a sign of progress in the effort to challenge Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) in cloud computing.

Skype video calling launches for Outlook.com, available in UK today and US in ‘coming weeks’  —  When Microsoft first unveiled its Outlook.com webmail service in July, the software maker promised Skype video calling from the web.  While Outlook.com has seen a number of updates over the months …

Nokia Invests in High-Resolution Cameras to Woo Apple Customers  —  Nokia Growth Partners, the venture- capital arm of Nokia (NOK1V) Oyj, plans to invest in California startup Pelican Imaging as the phonemaker seeks to win back customers from Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Android devices with cameras …

The irony of the French government's intervention in the Yahoo! - Dailymotion deal...  Last week, my cofounder wrote about how the French government's may potentially be slowing the deal for Yahoo to acquire 75% of Dailymotion (currently 100% owned by Orange).

Here Is How Foursquare Plans On Turning Your Life Into Ads  —  On stage at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier today (RIP, Sam Biddle's press credentials!)  Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley acknowledged the haters, before offering a confident dismissal: “I think there are a lot of people …

Cern re-creating first web page to revere early ideals  —  A team at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) has launched a project to re-create the first web page.

Under the Hood: The natural language interface of Graph Search  —  Xiao Li is an engineering manager on the natural language team for Graph Search and Maxime Boucher is a research scientist for Graph Search.  —  The Graph Search engine is built upon highly structured datain the form of a graph …

BlackBerry Rises as CEO Sees Q10 Selling Tens of Millions  —  BlackBerry (BBRY), the Canadian smartphone maker, climbed to its highest level in more than a month after Chief Executive Officer Thorsten Heins said he sees sales of its new Q10 device to be in the “tens of millions.”

Bang With Friends Is Raising ~ $1 Million To Help People Find Hook Up Buddies  —  Bang with Friends (BWF) is a Facebook app that does exactly what you're thinking it does.  It helps people on Facebook find friends to hook up with rather than date.  —  So it may come as a shock that BWF …

Apple to release OS X 10.9 with new power-user features, more from iOS later this year  —  OS X 10.9, which is internally codenamed “Cabernet,” will focus on various “power-user” enhancements and take core features from iOS, according to our sources.  Unlike operating system updates …

Why your password can't have symbols—or be longer than 16 characters  —  Why are there so many password restrictions to navigate?  Characters want to be free.  —  Daremoshiranai  —  The password creation process on different websites can be a bit like visiting foreign countries with unfamiliar social customs.

Handle Is A Priority Engine And Task Management App For Your Inbox  —  Menlo Ventures partner Shawn Carolan searched for over five years to find an investment tackling the problem of email overload.  Carolan, who led investments in Apple-acquired Siri among others, personally faced …

IBM has a new protocol (and a box) for the internet of things  —  IBM may be in talks to sell off its server division, but it's not abandoning hardware just yet.  Instead, Big Blue is introducing an appliance for the internet of things, as well as a new use case for an existing protocol optimized …

Google, Twitter, Facebook and the new global battle over the future of free speech  —  A year ago this month, Stanford Law School hosted a little-noticed meeting that may help decide the future of free speech online.  It took place in the faculty lounge, where participants were sustained …

Twitter Warns Journalists: “We Believe That These Attacks Will Continue”  —  “Please help us keep your accounts secure,” the urgent memo says.  —  In a memo sent to news organizations, Twitter warns that it expects high profile account hijackings — like the one that took down the AP's Twitter account last week — to continue.

Android Took 64% Of All Smartphone Sales Globally In Q1; Windows Phone Continues Modest Gains, Says Kantar  —  Google's mobile OS Android continues to power ahead as the world's most popular smartphone platform, according to figures out today from Kantar Worldpanel Comtech …

Best Buy will sell its half of Best Buy Europe to Carphone Warehouse for $775 million  —  As Best Buy attempts a return to financial well-being, it's decided to sell the 50 percent share it (still?) owns in Best Buy Europe to fellow joint venture partner Carphone Warehouse.

Breyer Leaving Dell Board After Facebook, Wal-Mart Exits  —  Accel Partners' James Breyer, already leaving the boards of Facebook Inc. (FB) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), won't seek re-election as a director at computer maker Dell Inc. (DELL)  —  Breyer, a director since 2009 …

A terrible idea: Samsung reworks Gangnam Style to promote the Galaxy S4 in India  —  When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S4 in New York earlier this year, the company was criticized for the rather bizarre production that it put on to demonstrate the smartphone's new software features.

After Minor Ventures, Ron Palmeri Rebuilds  —  Ron Palmeri's stealthy micro-VC firm, MkII Ventures, has made at least three new investments and attracted several new limited partners, including Pacific Partners, SV Angel and Michael Arrington's Crunchfund, VentureWire has learned.