Google wins EU approval for Motorola Mobility buy  —  (Reuters) - Google Inc won unconditional EU regulatory approval on Monday for its planned $12.5 billion purchase of mobile handset maker Motorola Mobility.  —  But the European Commission said it would monitor the company and rivals' use …

VLC 2.0 arriving with all-new UI, native full screen in Lion, Blu-ray support, more  —  VideoLAN, the organization behind the open-source cross-platform VLC media player, is geared to launch VLC 2.0—a total rewrite of the program with new capabilities and an all-new user interface on the Mac platform.

Samsung's 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2, runs Android 4.0 [Updated w/ pricing]  —  Samsung has officially announce their first tablet running the latest Android OS.  The Galaxy Tab 2 runs Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) and is somewhat similar to the original Galaxy Tab.

Start-Ups Aim to Help Users Put a Price on Their Personal Data  —  Facebook's pending initial public offering gives credence to the argument that personal data is the oil of the digital age.  The company was built on a formula common to the technology industry: offer people a service …

UK's ITV denies warning Apple away from iTV name  —  ITV has denied that there is any truth in reports that it has approached Apple to warn it off using the ITV name.  The Telegraph this morning suggested that British television network ITV's CEO Adam Crozier had written a letter to Apple regarding …

Motorola Droid 4 Teardown  —  It's the dawn of a new year, and 2012 brings another update to the line of Droid smartphones by Motorola.  Will this be the best Droid to date?  Will it fall completely on its face?  Will it blend?  The only way to find out is to scroll down and check out the teardown.

PlayStation Vita review  —  Look familiar?  It should: that's the PlayStation Vita, Sony's up-and-coming challenger to the mobile gaming throne.  It's made the rounds a few times before, from E3, to Tokyo Game Show, to San Francisco's Vita Hill Social Club, and it even took …

New Updates to YouTube for Google TV  —  In the next few days we're releasing an update to your YouTube experience on Google TV making it faster and easier to find great content, adding YouTube channel pages, and giving you more control over your experience.

Fair Labor Association Begins Inspections of Foxconn  —  Apple® today announced that the Fair Labor Association will conduct special voluntary audits of Apple's final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn factories in Shenzhen and Chengdu, China, at Apple's request.

Where The Ladies At?  Pinterest.  2 Million Daily Facebook Users, 97% Of Fans Are Women  —  OMG.  Pinterest now has over 10.4 million registered users, 9 million monthly Facebook-connected users, and 2 million daily Facebook users, according to Inside Network's AppData tracking service.

The Pirate Bay Says Goodbye to (Most) Torrents on February 29  —  For half a decade The Pirate Bay has been the leading BitTorrent site, but soon its users will no longer be able to download .torrent files.  —  The first step in this direction will be taken on February 29, the Pirate Bay announced today.

Coming in 2012: Firefox for Windows 8's Metro  —  The Metro interface in an early build of Windows 8 that was shown to developers in September 2011.  —  Mozilla plans to release a concept version of Firefox for Windows 8's new Metro interface in the second quarter with alpha and beta versions to follow in the second half of 2012.

Report: Apple forcing contract manufacturer Pegatron to choose sides, give up Asustek Zenbook orders  —  The high-profile Apple business with Asian contract manufacturer Pegatron Technology is facing scrutiny as the iPhone-maker is reportedly exercising its supply chain influence by asking Pegatron …

Electronic Security a Worry in an Age of Digital Espionage  —  SAN FRANCISCO — When Kenneth G. Lieberthal, a China expert at the Brookings Institution, travels to that country, he follows a routine that seems straight from a spy film.  —  He leaves his cellphone and laptop at home and instead brings …

MySpace to Announce One Million New Users  —  When MySpace changed ownership last June, it was in free fall.  MySpace, the pioneering social media and music site, which at its peak in 2008 was attracting 75.9 million unique visitors a month, was down to about 33 million, according to comScore, and it was bleeding users every month.

Content Everywhere, But Not A Drop To Drink  —  This morning, I woke up and read Nick Bilton's weekly New York Times' column.  Nick is a friend and one of the best bloggers/writers/journalists out there.  But with today's column, he was way off base.  —  Having already said what I wanted …

Ad startup Marin Software takes a late-stage $30M  —  Marin Software, a San Franisco startup focusing on online advertising, has just announced a $30 million round of venture funding.  —  This is the company's sixth round of funding in as many years.  —  Marin offers an all-in-one platform …

Roger Martin: Defying RIM's critics  —  Five years ago, Roger Martin, the influential dean of business at University of Toronto, answered a call for help from Jim Balsillie.  —  As half of the leadership duo at Research In Motion Ltd., RIM-T Mr. Balsillie was anxious to restore the reputation …

Authorities Removing Apple iPads From Chinese Store Shelves?  —  So says this report (Chinese) from Hebei Youth Daily.  —  Apparently as a result of the Proview iPad trademark infringement verdict, some local Administrations of Industry and Commerce (AIC) have started to confiscate Apple ($AAPL) iPads they find on sale.

Improving health searches, because your health matters  —  Every day, people search on Google for health information.  Many of these searches relate to symptoms they or their loved ones may be experiencing.  You might be trying to understand why you've had a headache every morning for a week …

Social apps & doing the right thing  —  For the past week or so, our little corner of the Internet has been abuzz with news of mobile apps uploading iPhone address books without asking us — the iPhone (and address book) owners.  It all started with Path, a much talked about iPhone app that offers a very limited private social network.

Apple Beats Out Google, Amazon For Highest Corporate Reputation Score  —  Apple took the top spot from Google for the highest corporate reputation score, according to the 2012 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient, a survey which measures corporate reputation for brands and companies in the U.S …