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.

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 …

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 …

That Horrible Tumblr Memo Was Actually a Fired Editor's Secret Revenge  —  Tumblr founder David Karp's abrupt farewell to his Storyboard team earlier this month was so disingenuous, so thick with noxious doublespeak, that it hardly seemed real.  That's because it wasn't …

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 …

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.”

Google Now comes to iPhone and iPad with new Search app update  —  Google's iOS app offensive continues  —  After a promo video let the cat out of the bag last month, Google is making it official: with an update to the Google Search application, Google Now is available on iOS.

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 …

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).

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Microsoft creates an Apple vs. Samsung wedding fight for its new Windows Phone ad  —  Microsoft has tried a number of ways to advertise Windows Phone handsets, but the latest pits two rivals against each other.  In a new minute long spot that's due to air on US national TV, a wedding reception is interrupted by Apple and Samsung fans.

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 …

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 …

Yahoo rolls out six original shows and new TV partnerships  —  Aiming to bring users more content, the company is launching Web shows, starring Ed Helms, John Stamos, and Cheryl Hines, and debuting programming from WWE, ABC News, CNBC, and Conde Nast.  —  Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is working …