Edward Snowden: ‘Let Hong Kong people decide my fate’  —  Edward Snowden says he wants to ask the people of Hong Kong to decide his fate after choosing the city because of his faith in its rule of law.  The 29-year-old former CIA employee behind what might be the biggest intelligence leak …

Aiming for the Real-Time Interest Graph, Facebook to Introduce Hashtags  —  Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery.  And Twitter should be very flattered right now.  —  As we reported in March, Facebook plans to introduce the hashtag symbol to its network …

Google Glass Teardown  —  What is this Glass thing anyways?  Google's latest and hottest gadget needs little introduction.  Since its public unveiling in April 2012, the tiny head-mounted Android computer has been collecting controversy and sociological analysis.

Rubinstein on HP's purchase of Palm: ‘Talk about a waste’  —  with former Palm chief Jon Rubinstein … FierceWireless: What are you doing now?  How do you spend your time?  —  Rubinstein: I'm on two boards.  I'm on Amazon and Qualcomm.  And there's a logic behind those two boards.

Time Warner Cable Content Incentives Thwart New Web TV  —  Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) and other pay-TV operators are offering incentives to media companies that agree to withhold content from Web-based entertainment services such as those pursued by Intel Corp. (INTC) and Apple Inc. (AAPL), people with knowledge of the matter said.

Xbox chief: we have a product for people who can't get online, it's called Xbox 360  —  Did you think the Xbox 360 was being kept around just for the budget market?  It turns out Microsoft's got another sort of customer in mind for the revamped last-gen hardware: the crews of nuclear submarines.

IBM Said to Start U.S. Job Cuts Today Amid Global Reduction  —  International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) began cutting U.S. jobs today as part of a plan announced in April to spend $1 billion globally to trim its workforce, according to a person familiar with the move.

This is the HTC One Mini  —  The leaks are true: HTC's rumored M4 is indeed the One Mini.  We know because a trusted source in possession of the “petite” 4.3-inch handset has fed us a direct image, while also confirming some specs.  From what we've seen, the few renders and blurrycam shots …

ESPN Is Killing 3D Broadcasts By the End of the Year  —  ESPN will kill 3D TV by the end of the year.  We reached out to ESPN, and the company confirmed rumors, citing lackluster adoption of the technology.  This is huge news considering the huge investment that TV manufacturers and broadcasters have made to try to bolster the tech.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 Zoom official: 16-megapixel cameraphone with 10x optical zoom  —  Samsung is taking the wraps off its new Galaxy S4 Zoom variant today, the latest in a series of spinoffs for its flagship handset.  The phone features a 10x optical zoom lens in front of its 16-megapixel CMOS sensor …

Apple's Rising Star: Craig Federighi  —  Software Chief Impresses in the Spotlight at Developers Conference; Now He Must Maintain Loyalty  —  A new frontman for Apple Inc. is emerging.  —  At the company's annual developers conference Monday, little-known executive Craig Federighi got …

Yahoo Acquires Advanced iOS Photography App Maker GhostBird Software  —  Yahoo has just quietly announced that they've acquired GhostBird Software, the creators of advanced iOS photography apps, KitCam and PhotoForge2.  Though details of the deal are still underwraps, Yahoo is explicitly saying …

Ashton Kutcher's ‘Jobs’ to open nationwide on August 16th following a four-month delay  —  Early impressions of the Ashton Kutcher-led Jobs were decidedly mixed, but you'll soon get an opportunity to judge the Steve Jobs biopic for yourself.  According to Deadline, Open Road Films has announced …

The new, new Myspace leaves beta; launches a revised design, new features, & a mobile app  —  Myspace is unveiling its latest version today, with some new features and an iOS app that hopes to pull in users despite the multitude of other music-focused services already vying for attention.

TechStars NY Fires Their Managing Director Right Before Demo Day  —  It sounds like the accelerator bubble is constricting right on schedule.  According to an email obtained by Valleywag, Eugene Chung, who was hired to replace David Tisch as managing director of TechStars New York in January, has been fired.

Live in Lulea: Facebook Goes Global and Gets Greener  —  Some of the racks of Open Compute servers inside the new Facebook data center in Lulea, Sweden.  The facility is Facebook's first data center outside the U.S. (Photo: Facebook).  —  Facebook has gone live in Lulea.

Fertile Ground  —  One of my favorite patterns in our industry is when the old and established are wiped out by disruption, irrelevance, or changing fashions.  Like a forest fire, clearing out the old is very destructive and shouldn't be taken lightly.  But what's left behind is a clean slate and immense opportunity.