Google takes on Instagram and Facebook by acquiring top iOS photo app Snapseed  —  Google has agreed to acquire Nik Software, the German developer of photography app Snapseed, for an undisclosed amount.  Sources close to the deal tell The Verge that while Nik Software produces all sorts …

iPhone 5 Pre-Orders Top Two Million in First 24 Hours  —  Apple® today announced pre-orders of its iPhone® 5 topped two million in just 24 hours, more than double the previous record of one million held by iPhone 4S.  Demand for iPhone 5 exceeds the initial supply and while the majority …

Nokia confirms: Amazon has licensed its Location Platform for maps and geocoding  —  It's not that a big surprise anymore, after Reuters earlier reported that Amazon teamed up with Nokia for mapping services, but to my knowledge the Finnish smartphone and mobile software maker has never actually confirmed this to date.

Square Finally Closes $200 Million Round at a $3.25 Billion Valuation  —  Square has finally closed its fourth round of funding, which values the three-year-old company at a jaw-dropping $3.25 billion.  —  The payments company is perhaps best known for allowing small businesses …

Asus Windows 8 tablet pricing comes in high; Demand likely low  —  Summary: Asus' Windows 8 tablet pricing will start at $599 and run to $1,299.  In other words, tablets will be more than laptops in some cases without any enterprise heft to justify a premium.  —  Larry Dignan

Office 2013 packages start at $139.99 or $99.99 per year for a subscription version  —  Microsoft is revealing the final pricing structure for its Office 2013 packages today.  After introducing a preview of Office 2013 in July, Microsoft is planning to offer a subscription version of Office 2013 …

Microsoft confirms October 25 launch for Windows 8  —  Summary: Microsoft officials are now confirming the Windows 8 — and Surface RT — launch will be on October 25 in New York City.  —  Mary Jo Foley  —  It's not a big surprise to readers of this blog, but Microsoft officials confirmed …

Apple's Stock Price Breaks Through $700, Sets New All-Time Records for Price and Market Cap  —  Following today's news that the iPhone 5 has set a record with over two million pre-orders during the first 24 hours of availability last Friday, Apple's stock price is rising once more.

JetBlue to roll out in-flight Wi-Fi in Q1 2013, will launch free of charge  —  JetBlue travelers, the wait for in-flight W-Fi is nearly over: an internal company email today revealed the airline intends to roll out high-speed wireless networking in the first quarter of 2013.

Sorry, Developers: Don't Expect Facebook's F8 Conference This Year  —  Last year around this time, Facebook was gearing up for F8, the social giant's conference in San Francisco to address the thousands of developers creating applications and Web sites that work with Facebook's ecosystem.

H-P Tries On a Sleeker Look  —  Taking a Cue From Apple, CEO Whitman Makes Better Design Central to Turnaround  —  When Meg Whitman took over as chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. a year ago, she got a company-issued laptop.  —  “They gave me a brick,” she said, referring to the device's weight and chunky appearance.

Appeals court halts proceedings in Google Books case  —  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today granted a stay in the long-running copyright case between the Authors Guild and Google over the search giant's book scanning project.  —  In its order, the New York court agreed …

New Fitbits can sync with iPhones, Androids via Bluetooth 4.0  —  Fitbit users: ever think to yourself, “I wish this thing would just sync wirelessly with my phone and be done with it?”  Your wish has now been granted.  Fitbit has announced that it's offering two new products targeted …

Skype preparing to launch video messaging and ‘Metro’ design  —  Skype is preparing to update its range of clients to support a new video messaging option, The Verge has learned.  The feature will launch in time for the holidays, possibly as early as next month — according to sources familiar with Skype's plans.

AMD CFO Thomas Seifert calls it quits, Devinder Kumar takes his place on an interim basis  —  Advanced Micro Devices' Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer, Thomas Seifert, has decided to leave the AMD three short years after joining the company.  As you may recall, Seifert briefly took …

Critical zero-day bug in Internet Explorer under active attack  —  Remotely triggered vuln can affect a wide variety of IE and Windows versions.  —  Researchers have uncovered active malware attacks that exploit a critical and previously unknown vulnerability in the latest versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser.

Kindle Fire HD Teardown  —  The Kindle Fire HD has landed on the doorstep of iFixit.  Naturally, we've embarked on the epic voyage of exploring the electronic innards of the Kindle Fire HD.  What will we find?  Follow along as we methodically break down each component.

Pegatron reportedly nabs 50 to 60 percent of iPad mini orders, breaks up Foxconn's monopoly  —  While folks are waiting for their precious new iPhones to arrive on their doorsteps, word has it that the leaky iPad mini has unsurprisingly entered mass production, but with a twist.

As predicted, Google+ passes 400M registered users, now has 100M monthly active users  —  As part of Google's announcement to acquire Snapseed's creator Nik software, Vic Gundotra, the Senior Vice President of Engineering for Google, just announced a new milestone for Google+ …

App-controlled LIFX bulbs reinvent the humble household light  —  For years and years, the dimmer switch was about as fancy as it got for lightbulbs — but a team of designers is intending to change all that.  —  The LIFX lightbulb (pronounced “life ex") is a Kickstarter project that seeks to “reinvent” the humble household light.