It's Not a Church, It's Just an Apple Store  —  Attention fanboys and fangirls: Your favorite tech hardware, software and services are not religious objects.  And the companies that make them aren't cults or faiths.  They are capitalist enterprises, out to make a profit, grab market share, and, if they can, make products you will buy.

Nest Raising Huge New Round From DST, Valuing Smart Home Startup at Upwards of $2 Billion  —  Nest Labs, the innovative smart home startup, is close to completing a deal to raise upwards of $150 million in a new round of financing that values it at more than $2 billion, according to sources close to the situation.

YouTube goes 4K, Google signs up long list of hardware partners for VP9 support  —  YouTube will be demonstrating 4K video at CES in Las Vegas next week, with a twist: The Google-owned video service will be showing off ultra high-definition streaming based on VP9, a new royalty-free codec …

NYT editorial board calls for clemency or a plea bargain for Snowden  —  Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower  —  Seven months ago, the world began to learn the vast scope of the National Security Agency's reach into the lives of hundreds of millions of people in the United States and around the globe …

Mandiant, which rooted out Chinese hackers for the NYT, is being snapped up for nearly $1 billion  —  The past year saw the dramatic rise of information security firms in the face of sustained foreign spying against U.S. corporations.  One of those firms, Mandiant, became a household name …

Moto G coming to Verizon Wireless on January 9th for $99.99 off-contract  —  Verizon Wireless prepaid customers will be able to order the Moto G starting January 9th for $99.99.  Motorola's budget handset will be available first online and will appear at the carrier's retail stores “in the coming weeks.”

Samsung's Galaxy Camera 2 starts to refine the Android point-and-shoot  —  Samsung is unveiling the Galaxy Camera 2 today, its second take on the idea of a truly smart point-and-shoot.  Like its predecessor, the Galaxy Camera 2 runs Android, has wireless connectivity, and is operated primarily …

Surface, Kindle Fire are likely holiday winners, but iPad still rules the web surfing roost  —  It's a safe bet many people bought or received a new smartphone or tablet for the holidays.  Which ones did they get?  That's difficult to say for sure, but with some data from Chitika, we can get a pretty good idea.

Coinye West, a Kanye West-themed cryptocurrency announced by unknowned persons nonetheless gathers attention  —  Kanye West Now Has His Own Cryptocurrency and It's Called Coinye West  —  “We ain't minin, we pickin”  —  By Jessica Roy @jessicakroyJan.  02, 2014

Singer Alicia Keys to leave BlackBerry after year-long collaboration  —  WATERLOO, Ont.  — BlackBerry is parting ways with singer Alicia Keys, after a year-long collaboration with the smartphone maker.  —  The Waterloo, Ont.-based company says Keys will be leaving her role as its global creative director on Jan. 30.

Replacement and new Surface Pro 2 devices being sent out with upgraded specs, includes newer CPU  —  Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 has been the center of attention since the December 2013 firmware update release.  Numerous Surface Pro 2 owners were facing issues installing the update, poor battery life, and various other issues.

Groupon Finalizes $260 Million Deal for Ticket Monster, LivingSocial's Korean Business  —  Groupon announced Thursday that it had closed its acquisition of Ticket Monster, the Korean deals company owned by LivingSocial.  Groupon said it paid $260 million in total for Ticket Monster — $160 million in stock and $100 million in cash.

Happy Re/new Year!  —  We are thrilled to announce that we are forming our own new and independent media company, Revere Digital, with a pair of respected investors and partners — the NBCUniversal News Group and Terry Semel's Windsor Media.  Revere will be operating news sites and apps, as well as a series of conferences.