First Google tablet now expected in July due to price cutting effort  —  Google's first foray into the tablet market with a co-branded Android device won't be with us until July at the earliest.  The current design was ready to go for May, but Google pushed back the planned release …

To Fill Out Its App Store, Microsoft Wields Its Checkbook  —  Nowadays, cellphones are all about apps.  And Microsoft is so determined to have lots of brand-name apps for its Windows Phone app store that it's willing to pay for them.  —  All an app developer has to do is sign on the dotted line.

Sequoia Set to Lead $500M Valuation Round for Instagram  —  The fact is, if you make a consumer Internet app that people actually use, you're probably raising venture capital right now.  So we try not to write about every funding round that's in the works.  But it looks like Instagram …

Security hole in Facebook iOS app doesn't require jailbreak or theft, and Dropbox has it too [Updated]  —  Earlier today, security researcher Gareth Wright revealed the discovery of a security hole in the Facebook app for mobile devices running Android and iOS.

Shutting down spammers  —  Twitter continues to grow at a record pace — we now have 140 million active users and more than 340 million Tweets each day.  As our reach expands, we become a more attractive target for spammers.  While spam is a small fraction of the incredible content you can find on Twitter …

Android Device Makers Are Mutinying, Says Insider  —  Amazon showed device makers that they don't need Google to succeed.  —  Google's Android device makers aren't happy.  They're tired of making commodity devices that are merely vehicles for Google's Android OS, each indistinguishable …

Don't Be Evil: How Google Screwed a Startup  —  After trying to go through the “proper channels” for almost a year now it's time to share this story of how Google screwed over our startup with the world. … In a nutshell: Google bid on, displayed, and then failed to pay for over $40,000 of advertising space on Hatchlings.

2012 Update from the CEO  —  Velocity, execution and focus Sergey and I founded Google because we believed that building a great search experience would improve people's lives and, hopefully, the world.  And in the decade-plus that's followed, we've been constantly delighted by the ways …

Pinterest now the third most popular social network after Facebook & Twitter  —  As if there was ever any doubt that the “pin” is winning, a new report from Experian says Pinterest is now the third most popular social network in the U.S. behind Facebook and Twitter.

We got hacked for SEO, as did other major technology sites  —  Last week we discovered that the owner of SEOnix.org hacked in to our backend and threw himself a sweet SEO party.  The only invitee was obviously his own website, but he still managed to have a good time all alone.

Exclusive: Yahoo's Chief Product Officer Blake Irving Resigns  —  According to sources close to the situation, Yahoo's Chief Product Officer Blake Irving has turned in his resignation and it has been accepted by the company.  —  The process for Irving's departure is a bit more formal since …

More on the Google Project Glass including the first spotting on Sergey Brin  —  .  —  Besides the Scobelizer spotting Google Glasses on co-founder Sergey Brin (above), we are hearing some additional information about the project.  First, the brand was changed from “Project Wingfront,” …

HTC Profit Declines 70% After ‘Dropping the Ball’ on Phones  —  HTC Corp. (2498), Asia's second-largest smartphone maker, posted its biggest drop in profit since listing a decade ago after sales declined amid competition from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Apple interested in wireless power to charge devices on store shelves  —  Apple has shown interest in wirelessly powering and charging its portable devices, allowing products like the iPhone and iPad to be powered up while sealed in packaging and on display at a retail store.

Amazon S3 - 905 Billion Objects and 650,000 Requests/Second  —  At the end of the first quarter of 2012, there were 905 billion objects in Amazon S3.  We routinely handle 650,000 requests per second for those objects with occasional peaks substantially above that number.  Here is the latest chart:

Viacom v. YouTube ruling is a bummer for Google and the UGC community  —  After five years in the courts, the Viacom International, Inc., v. YouTube, Inc. litigation has finally produced an appellate opinion.  The result is a loss for Google/YouTube and the UGC community generally.

SEC watch: Dave McClure is raising a $50 million fund for 500 Startups  —  Silicon Valley entrepreneur turned investor Dave McClure just penned a blog post on building a scalable venture capital firm.  Check it out - some interesting thoughts in there (including that most VCs are hypocrites …

Samsung estimates Q1 2012 sales of $39 billion, $5.1 billion profit  —  As it did in the fourth quarter, Samsung has released guidance for what it expects will be its Q1 2012 revenue and profit.  The company estimates that it will earn between 44 and 46 trillion Korean won in consolidated sales …

Exclusive: a behind-the-scenes look at Facebook release engineering  —  Facebook is headquartered in Menlo Park, California at a site that used belong to Sun Microsystems.  A large sign with Facebook's distinctive “like” symbol—a hand making the thumbs-up gesture—marks the entrance.

Four Types of Advertising Are Emerging in Social Games, EA Says  —  As it turns out, Electronic Arts' most popular game on Facebook, The Sims Social, is a perfect candidate for in-game advertising.  —  “It lends itself well with brands,” said Dave Madden, EA's SVP of global media solutions.