Apple May Meet Tablet Competition With a Smaller iPad  —  The tech companies are at it again — trying to catch the blockbuster iPad in a race to win the tablet market.  —  Google on Friday began shipping its Nexus 7, which is smaller and less expensive than Apple's iPad …

Apple Store overnights happening July 24.  Mountain Lion launch the next day?  —  We've heard a few whispers (3 and counting) that Apple Stores both in the United States and overseas have planned overnights for Tuesday, July 24th.  With OS X Mountain Lion launching “in July”, according to Apple …

MSNBC.com Renamed to NBCNews.com as Microsoft and NBC Divorce  —  On Sunday night, MSNBC.com did something that successful Web sites almost never do: it renamed itself.  —  The site became NBCNews.com, signifying the end of a relationship between NBC and Microsoft that dates back to the earliest days of the commercial Web.

Skype confirms ‘rare’ bug that sends messages to unintended contacts, promises fix soon  —  Only a handful of Skype users have reported this problem over at the support forum, but what they're complaining about is pretty hair-raising.  They say that, following an update in June …

An iPad Lover's Take On The Nexus 7  —  Trolls, feel free to skip to the bottom of this column and post your comments immediately without reading a word.  Actually, who are we kidding — you didn't make it this far.  —  Everyone else, brace yourselves.  You may want small children to leave the room.

Tax Break Nears End For Online Shoppers  —  Republican Governors, in Need of Revenue, Drop Opposition  —  Republican governors, eager for new revenue to ease budget strains, are dropping their longtime opposition to imposing sales taxes on online purchases, a significant political shift …

Apple begins bid to block in-app purchasing flaw, but service remains operational (for now)  —  Apple has begun taking steps to limit the impact of a flaw in its iOS in-app purchasing mechanism that allows iDevice owners to download free in-game content, but despite its initial efforts, the service remains operational.

Steam store search shows categories for non-gaming apps  —  The Steam app for Android shows a number of new categories that have little to do with gaming, which could be a shred of evidence that Valve is considering different kinds of apps for its popular game distribution service.

Microsoft Hits Back as Google Muscles In  —  Microsoft Corp. has publicly dismissed Web-based Google Apps as a competitor to its Office software suite.  But, behind the scenes, Microsoft is stepping up its efforts to halt Google Inc.'s encroachment on its business-software turf.

Microsoft's new Office: More strategic than Windows 8?  —  Summary: With the latest Office on deck, Microsoft aims to create its own business tech halo effect even if the enterprise uptake for Windows 8 is slow.  —  Larry Dignan  —  Follow @ldignan  —  Microsoft is expected to take the wraps off …

Here is why Facebook bought Spool  —  Over the weekend, news reports emerged that Facebook was buying Spool, a mobile-oriented social bookmarking service started by Avichal Garg and Curtis Spencer.  At the surface, this seems like yet another acqua-hire but scratch a little deeper and you start …

How Google is becoming an extension of your mind  —  SAN FRANCISCO — It's time to think of Google as much more than just a search engine, and that should both excite and spook you.  —  Search remains critical to the company's financial and technological future, but Google also is using …

U.S. Venture Capital Has Its Biggest Quarter Since Dot-Com Days  —  U.S. venture capitalists put $8.1 billion into 812 deals in the second quarter of 2012, their single largest quarter in more than a decade, according to CB Insights.  —  It's clear factors like the greater American economy …

Sky's pay-as-you-go online Now TV service launches tomorrow on PC, Mac and Android  —  We knew that BSkyB was launching its pay-as-you-go Internet TV service this summer, but the exact details around the launch, including the date, weren't known until now.  —  At a launch event in London today …

Anonymous hackers target oil industry giants, more than 1,000 email credentials exposed  —  More than 1,000 email credentials from five multinational oil industry companies, including Shell and Exxon and BP, has been dumped online by hackers associated with the Anonymous movement.

The Most Important Tech Company You've Never Heard Of  —  Information about every cell phone in the country is in a Neustar database.  Which is why it's kind of weird that 400 or so companies trust them to deal with law enforcement surveillance requests.  —  A Delaware-based company …

Sprint details full list of 15 cities with live LTE service  —  While Sprint may have turned on its LTE service a little early over the weekend, the carrier has officially announced the 15 total cities where users can get on its new network.  While we already knew about the main metropolitan areas …

Samsung widens lead over Apple, says survey  —  Samsung appears to be widening its lead over Apple in the titanic battle over smartphone sales, according to a recent survey.  —  Analysts forecast that thanks to its flagship Galaxy S III, Samsung sold about 50 million smartphones in the second quarter, according to a survey by Reuters.

Creamery is deal central for SF techies  —  Miguel Raimilla (l to r), executive director Telecentre.org, and Rebecca Masisal, co-CEO Techsoup Global, who both work for community technology companies discuss work over lunch at The Creamery on Friday, July 13, 2012 in San Francisco, Calif. Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle / SF

Apple Releases iOS 6 Beta 3 to Developers  —  Apple today released the third beta of iOS 6, the company's next-generation mobile operating system set to launch “this fall”, presumably alongside new iPhone hardware in the September-October timeframe.  —  The third beta comes three weeks …