Apple to Release New Tracking Tool for App Developers  —  Apple Inc. is planning to release a new way for mobile app developers to track who uses their software, according to people briefed on Apple's plans, the company's latest attempt to balance developers' appetite for targeting data with consumers' unease over how it is used.

Setting the record straight: competition in search  —  Search is about helping people find the right answers to their questions when and where they need them.  We work hard every day to figure out the most useful results for our users, and we're working to create new and better ways to answer your questions.

Facebook App Center: Hands On  —  Here is a first look at Facebook's App Center, the social network's take on an app store offering a centralized place to find more than 600 Facebook and Facebook-related apps.  —  Facebook recently launched App Center, the social network's take on an app store offering …

Exclusive: Metro-style Hotmail UI revealed via new Microsoft account login screen  —  So we've shown you exclusive screenshots of the new Microsoft account website, as well as the new Profile page, both in their Metro-style glory.  This time we were able to discover a new Microsoft account login screen …

Whopping .038% of Facebook users vote on data use policy change  —  Facebook's grudging institution of a vote fizzles, as the site hoped it would.  —  Facebook closed the vote on its new data use policy and new statement of rights and responsibilities Friday, with a paltry 342,632 ballots cast as of a minute before closing.

Can Phil Schiller Keep Apple Cool?  —  Steve Jobs always oversaw Apple's (AAPL) blockbuster product launches, but he was never a one-man show.  Phil Schiller, the company's longtime senior vice president of product marketing, often hammed it up onstage as the lower-brow counterweight to Apple's cool, polished chief executive officer.

Porn, gambling, and malware: Bitcoin as the Net's Wild West  —  Porn, gambling, and malware: Bitcoin as the Net's Wild West  —  A year after the bubble popped, we check on the cryptocurrency's progress.  —  On June 8, 2011, the same day Ars Technica ran its first story about Bitcoin …

Twitter: Yes, we've added photos, hashtags, usernames and more to our Facebook integration  —  Earlier today (or last for those in the western hemisphere) we discovered that Facebook status updates have started to include links for hashtags and usernames.  The exact reason behind the change was …

Rogue Amoeba to Phil Schiller and Apple: reverse-engineering isn't against the law  —  As we've noted previously, Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil app was removed from Apple's App store amidst quite a bit of confusion.  We accurately pointed out that the company behind the app reverse-engineered encryption …

Apple Campus 2 plans show massive underground auditorium for pressers and exhibitions  —  The City of Cupertino has released a new set of high-resolution technical drawings for Apple's upcoming ring-shaped Campus 2 facility.  The official documents depict the iSpaceship building …

No-cost Windows 8 desktop development returns with Express for Desktop  —  Microsoft responds to the Windows developer community with a fifth Express SKU.  —  In response to pressure from the community, Microsoft has announced Visual Studio 2012 Express for Windows Desktop …

Microsoft details how it's improving Windows 8's movie and music players  —  Microsoft is promising that Windows 8 will look and sound better than its predecessor on any hardware because of a series of tweaks it's made to the operating system.  In an extensive blog post …

Dish Chief: TV Needs to Change  —  Dish Network Corp. Chairman Charlie Ergen said a new ad-skipping feature that has infuriated major broadcast TV networks is a “competitively necessary” response to the explosion of cheap Internet video.  That Web video threatens the pay-TV ecosystem …