Google Begins Testing Its Augmented-Reality Glasses  —  If you venture into a coffee shop in the coming months and see someone with a pair of futuristic glasses that look like a prop from “Star Trek,” don't worry.  It's probably just a Google employee testing the company's new augmented-reality glasses.

Read Yahoo CEO's Letter to Employees About Layoffs … Yahoo today confirmed this morning it plans to cut 2,000 jobs, or 14% of its 14,000 work force.  —  Here's CEO Scott Thompson's letter to employees:  —  Yahoos -  —  Today we are restructuring Yahoo! to give ourselves the opportunity to compete and win in our core business.

Google's Page: Apple's Android Pique ‘For Show’  —  On April 3, Google (GOOG) co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Larry Page sat down with Bloomberg Businessweek to discuss his first year at the helm of the technology giant, his plans for the future, and the company's relationships with its competitors.

Just One More Game ...  Angry Birds, Farmville and Other Hyperaddictive ‘Stupid Games’  —  In 1989, as communism was beginning to crumble across Eastern Europe, just a few months before protesters started pecking away at the Berlin Wall, the Japanese game-making giant Nintendo reached across …

Randi Zuckerberg and Ben Huh Bring Silicon Valley to Bravo TV  —  Cue up the righteous anger, Silicon Valley.  Here comes a clueless effort by a big dumb TV channel to portray you world-changers as a bunch of vapid schemers.  Even worse, it's from a cable TV channel …

Lumia 900 review  —  It occurred to me that the Lumia 900 review would be one of the more important critiques of a product that I write this year.  For those of you who don't know the backstory here, the new LTE-equipped, AT&T-bound smartphone represents what could be the beginning of a new era …

How Facebook's Winning The War Against Yahoo, Patent By Patent  —  Facebook has executed a masterful response to Yahoo's patent trolling that protects it legally but still makes it look like the victim.  Here I examine how for almost every patent Yahoo claims Facebook infringes upon …

Broad Rollout of iPhone to Small U.S. Carriers Coming on April 20  —  Earlier today, we noted that nTelos Wireless, a CDMA carrier based in Waynesboro, Virginia, announced that it would begin carrying the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 on April 20.  Pricing for the device comes in at $50 below …

Swedish researchers uncover key to China's Tor-blocking system  —  Swedish researchers have discovered that Chinese officials have updated the country's ‘Great Firewall’ to make it harder for citizens to use the Tor network that provides a means of surfing the web anonymously.

Researcher: Over 1 Million U.S. Cable Subscribers Cut Cord In 2011  —  Cable and satellite TV subscription growth slowed down more than had been previously reported, and cord-cutting was a primary factor.  But don't worry about it — a revolution that will re-create the current multi-channel access paradigm is still a long way away.

Federal court tosses Colorado's Amazon tax  —  A federal court has thrown out a 2010 Colorado law meant to spur online retailers like Amazon to collect state sales tax.  —  The law had already been temporarily blocked in federal court last year, but U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn's ruling Friday permanently handcuffs it.

Flickr adopts Bezos-backed Aviary for photo editing, replacing Google's Picnik  —  The Aviary photo editor as it will appear in Flickr.  —  Flickr today is announcing a partnership with startup Aviary to roll out a new photo-editing experience for Flickr users starting later this week.

As Wall Street Points Fingers at Groupon, Three Fingers Point Back  —  Now I know how Goldilocks felt.  —  About the time Groupon was raising its $1 billion growth round and getting the big endorsement from some of the Valley's biggest names, I was bringing up all the problems …

Creativity tools: The next wave of iOS apps?  —  When Snapguide debuted last week it received pretty good reviews in the press.  But more importantly, it got a “very warm response,” as founder Daniel Raffel put it, from new users.  He's barely been sleeping, staying up to answer a constant stream …

New Swiftkey 3 removes the need for spacebar  —  Swiftkey has announced the launch of a new version of Swiftkey, the popular Android keyboard, that promises to make typing on the go even easier.  —  The crux of the new app, Swiftkey 3, now compensates for when you don't hit the space key …

Instagram for Android hits 1m downloads in under 24 hours  —  Instagram's Android launch has been a successful one, with the company hitting the 1 million downloads mark in less than 24 hours since it became available on the Google Play marketplace.  —  It app had been a long time coming.

Spanish ‘SOPA’: 79 Site Takedown Requests in First Month  —  After being threatened with a place on a United States trade blacklist, the Spanish government passed the so-called Sinde Law, legislation that allows for the blocking of allegedly infringing sites based on reports from copyright holders.

Neil Young Trademarks New Audio Format  —  Rocker developing high-def alternative to MP3's  —  Neil Young performs in Los Angeles.  —  By  —  They might sound like great song titles, but “21st Century Record Player,” “Earth Storage” and “Thanks for Listening” aren't new Neil Young tunes.

Airbnb Must Pay Hotel Tax in San Francisco  —  Airbnb and other online vacation rental brokers must pay San Francisco's 14 percent hotel tax, according to a rule published Tuesday by the city's tax collector in spite of efforts by Mayor Ed Lee to delay its implementation.