Apple Likely to Unveil “iPad Mini” at October 23 Event  —  October 10, the date on which Apple was rumored to be distributing invitations to a second fall product event, passed without a word from its Cupertino, Calif., HQ.  The silence from the iconic tech company left some to wonder …

Office Reaches RTM!  —  Today we reached an important milestone in the development of the new Office.  —  Moments ago, the Office engineering team signed off on the Release to Manufacturing (RTM) build.  This milestone means the coding and testing phase of the project is complete …

Windows 8 packaging and pricing revealed, standard OEM starting at $99, Pro Pack $139  —  We're almost there.  Just a few more days until the big reveal.  But that doesn't mean there aren't still a few final Windows 8 secrets to be revealed.  Two of those are the price and the packaging …

Kindle Fire HD and Paperwhite sales make Amazon no profit  —  Amazon boss Jeff Bezos discusses the Kindle Fire HD  —  Amazon has confirmed it will not make a profit from sales of its latest Kindle tablet and e-reader devices.  —  “We sell the hardware at our cost, so it is break-even on the hardware …

Exclusive: Upcoming Gmail For Android 4.2 Will Finally Have Pinch-To-Zoom, Swipeaway Delete/Archive [Video]  —  Today, we are thrilled to share some exciting news about the next version of Gmail for Android.  We may or may not be in possession of an unreleased version of Gmail …

Apple Has Quietly Started Tracking iPhone Users Again, And It's Tricky To Opt Out  —  Apple's launch of the iPhone 5 in September came with a bunch of new commercials to promote the device.  —  But Apple didn't shout quite so loud about an enhancement to its new mobile operating system …

Best Buy to Match Online Prices  —  Retailer Will Match Online Prices, Shrugs off ‘Showrooming’  —  Best Buy Co. is planning to match the prices of Internet competitors such as Amazon.com Inc. this holiday season, even as it plays down its concerns over shoppers browsing gadgets in stores only to buy them for less online.

Chip Design Luminary Leaves Samsung for Apple  —  Samsung recently raised eyebrows by beefing up its team of Texas-based chip designers, including those whose backgrounds pointed to an interest in chips for server systems.  Now one of the most prominent of those recruits has left the South Korean company for Apple .

Apple agrees on licensing terms for use of iconic Swiss clock design  —  Apple has agreed to pay the Swiss national railway (SBB) for use of its iconic clock design in iOS 6's Clock application.  Last month, Apple was accused of plagiarizing the design, made famous by watchmaker Mondaine …

Exclusive: Ellison eyes fellow billionaire's AEG empire - sources  —  (Reuters) - Oracle Corp's Larry Ellison, known for his taste for the finer things in life, is now intrigued by a multibillion dollar sports and entertainment empire.  —  Ellison, who recently bought a Hawaiian island …

Microsoft To Make Same Privacy Change Google Was Attacked For; No One Seems To Care  —  Earlier this year, Google announced a privacy policy change that was widely covered by tech blogs, the mainstream press and which generated much governmental concern.  Last month, Microsoft announced the same type of change.

As mobile rises, desktop search declines for the first time  —  Analysts at the Macquarie Group say mobile devices could account for a third of all search traffic by year's end.  —  In a sign of the mobile-centric times, desktop Web search declined in September for the first time since Macquarie Group began tracking it in 2006.

Apple rumored to be expanding iPhone production to Foxconn subsidiary  —  Foxconn International Holdings, a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology and the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world, will reportedly take orders to build certain iPhone models in the company's first-ever Apple partnership.

AMD: Third quarter unravels amid weak demand, excess inventory  —  Summary: AMD is hobbled amid weak demand and excess inventory.  Company plans a $100 million writedown of excess product.  —  Larry Dignan  —  AMD cut its revenue outlook for the third quarter for the second time amid …

Firefox readies Social API beta test with Facebook Messenger integration  —  Mozilla has revealed that it has added “preliminary support” for its new Social API to the Firefox Beta for Windows, Mac and Linux as it plans to open up testing of the tool in coming weeks in collaboration with Facebook and its Messenger product.

Google German Criminal Street View Probe Said to Be Dropped  —  German prosecutors will drop a criminal probe into whether Google Inc. (GOOG) illegally gathered wireless-network data for its Street View mapping service, two people familiar with the issue said.

Nathan Myhrvold's Cunning Plan to Prevent 3-D Printer Piracy  —  A patent that covers digital encryption of “objects” could bring copy protection to 3-D printing.  —  Sometime in the none-too-distant future, replacing your favorite coffee mug or creating a new iPhone case might be as simple …

Talk is cheap: Cell phones hit six billion worldwide  —  It's something that we all knew but perhaps didn't fully appreciate—just about all of us have cell phones now, and we use them a lot.  —  According to new figures published by the International Telecommunications Union on Thursday …

Reddit, freedom of speech and the dark side of community  —  Unless you spend a lot of time on Reddit, the discussion-forum community that more or less took over after Digg sank beneath the waves, you may have missed the latest storm of controversy over content posted on the site's various “sub-Reddits” or topic pages.