Zynga game changers: new games, friend network, API  —  SAN FRANCISCO — As Facebook has been colonizing the planet, approaching a billion users for its social network, Zynga has been drafting in its wake.  The social-gaming company, which launched July 1, 2007, with a poker game …

Kindle Fire 2 may hit as soon as July  —  Last year, Amazon launched the Kindle Fire in September.  The next-generation Kindles are expected to launch a little earlier this year.  —  (Credit: CNET)  —  What's next for Kindle hardware?  —  Well, a credible source has told CNET that Amazon …

As the battle for the living room heats up, Brightcove bets big on Apple TV  —  “The mythical Apple television set that everyone talks about is already here,” said Jeremy Allaire, CEO of Brightcove, sipping an iced cappuccino with The Verge on a particularly hot New York morning.

Apple Offers New Dedicated Podcast App for iOS  —  Earlier this month, it was rumored that Apple would be launching a standalone podcast app in iOS 6.  Instead of waiting for the next version of iOS, Apple posted the Podcast app on the App Store today.  [App Store]

Apple looking to open facility in downtown Reno, east of Sparks as part of $1B, 10-year investment  —  Apple is planning on opening a data center east of Sparks and a business and purchasing center in downtown Reno, part of a $1 billion investment the company plans to spend in Northern Nevada over the next 10 years.

Spotify, Yahoo Link Up in Distribution, Revenue Sharing Deal  —  Earlier this year Spotify rolled out a plan to get its “play” button on a host of Web sites, which let the streaming music service broaden its reach beyond Facebook.  —  Now it's making the same move, but with one very …

Why RIM Won't Be Bought: There's Not Much There There  —  There's been rampant speculation that the rescue strategy for Research In Motion would be for someone to buy the company.  There has been, at various times, idle speculation about a wide-range of intriguing but highly unlikely potential suitors.

McAfee discovers $78 million worth of sophisticated cyber attacks against banking systems  —  Security firms McAfee and Guardian Analytics have published a joint fraud report, dubbed Operation High Roller, on new methods of siphoning money from banking systems.

U.S. charges 24 people in massive hacking sting  —  (Reuters) - U.S. law enforcement officials on Tuesday said 24 suspected hackers had been arrested on four continents in a sting operation targeting online financial fraud involving stolen credit card and bank information.

Dropbox Bans BitTorrent Startup Boxopus Over Piracy Concerns  —  On Saturday we covered Boxopus, a new startup that allows people to download torrents directly to their dropbox folders.  —  The news was quickly picked up by many other technology sites and as a result the service's member count surged to more than 50,000.

For Samsung, Galaxy halo effect comes with supply crunch  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics' struggle to keep pace with rampant demand for its new Galaxy S III smartphone may have cost the South Korean firm some 2 million units of sales in just a month.  —  For a company that has never stirred …

Wallaby Combines All Your Credit Cards Into One, Makes Sure You Earn The Most Rewards  —  Wallaby, which is launching its beta today, reminds me a bit of banking startup Simple.  Just like Simple automatically manages your finances for you and automatically shuffles your money between …

EXCLUSIVE: BBM for BlackBerry 10 First Look  —  Have you been wondering what BlackBerry Messenger on BlackBerry 10 could possibly look like?  Now you get the very first glimpse ever!  BBM in BlackBerry 10 will be taking full advantage of the OLED screen.  How will it be doing that you ask?

Hail A Fellow Human, Not A Taxi With “SideCar” - The New P2P Uber  —  You need a ride, someone else has a car and could use the cash, SideCar is the app that will bring you together.  New instant peer-to-peer rideshare-finding app SideCar turns anyone into a taxi / Uber driver …

Best Buy Founder Weighs Buyout  —  Best Buy Co. founder Richard Schulze is working with a Wall Street bank to explore taking the electronics retailer private, according to people familiar with his thinking.  —  Mr. Schulze, the company's largest shareholder with a slightly more than 20% stake …

Dell introduces new XPS 14 and XPS 15 laptops  —  Naturally, with the added processing power and the inclusion of a disc drive, the XPS 15 gains a little heft over the XPS 14, carrying a thickness of 0.91-inches and a starting weight at 5.79 pounds.  It also shaves three hours off …

Scientists crack RSA SecurID 800 tokens, steal cryptographic keys  —  Scientists crack RSA SecurID 800 tokens, steal cryptographic keys  —  Scientists penetrate hardened security devices in under 15 minutes.  —  RSA's SecurID 800 is one of at least five commercially available security devices susceptible …

Social-Mobile-LOCAL: “Local” Will Be The Biggest Of The Three  —  While “Social-Mobile-Local” is certainly an overused buzz phrase, most of the attention has been placed on the “social” and “mobile” parts of the phrase.  In social, the spectacular rise of Facebook and Twitter is clearly a disruptive and critical trend.

EU Commissioner Reveals He Will Simply Ignore Any Rejection Of ACTA By European Parliament Next Week  —  The day before the EU's International Trade committee (INTA) recommended that the European Parliament should reject ACTA, the EU commissioner with responsibility for the treaty, Karel De Gucht …

VIDEO: Hands on with Windows Phone 7.8's amazing new Start Screen  —  Yesterday I snuck over to the engineering building and “borrowed” a Nokia Lumia 900 running a VERY early build of Windows Phone 7.8, so I could shoot a video of the amazing new Start Screen.

The face and the brand  —  In the five years since the iPhone launched, Apple created a total of 35,852 retail jobs.  —  Some of those jobs came from new store openings.  The total store count went from 172 to 361, more than doubling.  But the growth in employment was faster: from about 6400 to 42,200, more than quintupling.

Cisco announces the EA6500, its first 802.11ac router, and launches Connect Cloud platform  —  For those looking for 801.11ac gigabit wireless when they buy their next router, Cisco will soon have a suitable option.  The company today announced its forthcoming Linksys EA6500 router …

Sprint iPhone Sales Stronger at Big-Box Retailers Than at Apple Stores  —  The iPhone is a big seller at Apple's retail stores, but not necessarily Sprint's version of the device.  A new study by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) has found that Sprint iPhones sell far better …

Vizio Announces The Co-Star, A $99 Google TV Box With OnLive Gaming Built In  —  Watch out, Sony, Vizio is chasing your tail.  Just yesterday Sony revealed its latest Google TV hardware, a $199 remake of the company's first GTV products.  And now today, Vizio took to the wires and announced …