13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display confirmed for Apple event  —  Alongside the smaller iPad, Apple will debut a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, according to a consistently reliable source at a high-profile U.S. retailer.  —  This new 13-inch MacBook Pro with a Retina Display …

Microsoft To Compete Against Spotify With Xbox Music, Available Soon On Xbox, Windows 8, And Windows Phone Devices  —  Microsoft will soon become the next player to enter the streaming music business, with a service that will see it competing against the likes of Spotify and Rdio.

Softbank Confirms It Is Buying 70% Of Sprint For $20.1B  —  Softbank has confirmed the news that it is buying Sprint, the third-largest wireless carrier in the U.S., for $20.1 billion (¥1.571 trillion).  The announcement comes just ahead of Sprint holding a conference call to also announce the news.

Google ‘to be told to unravel privacy policy’  —  French data protection commissioner's ruling that web giant must separate user data could have global impact, say sources  —  Google will be told on Tuesday to unravel the controversial changes introduced in March to its European privacy policy, legal sources have told the Guardian.

Amazon in talks to buy Texas Instruments' smartphone & tablet OMAP chip activity: Report  —  Texas Instruments (TI), which recently announced that it will wind down its operations in smartphone and tablet oriented OMAP chips and instead focus on embedded platforms, is engaged in 'advanced negotiations …

Muslims protest ‘age of mockery’ as thousands descend on Google HQ  —  Thousands of Muslims have pledged a series of protests against Google HQ for a “hateful and offensive” anti-Islam video, saying they now live in an “age of mockery”.  —  A protest by 10,000 Muslims outside the offices …

Samsung official cites serious chip rift with Apple — report  —  Samsung has probably been the largest single component supplier to Apple and has collaborated with Apple on chip development.  That relationship may be coming to an end, according to a report.

Boxee Welcomes FCC Rulemaking That Opens Door for Innovation  —  The FCC issued its rulemaking regarding encrypting the Basic Tier of Cable on Friday and we were pleased to see that many of the recommendations made jointly by Boxee and Comcast were adopted in the final order.

Circa's New iOS App Will Change The Way You Consume News  —  The way that we consume information on the Internet has changed dramatically over the years.  The main reason is because there is simply more content available to us than we could ever consume during our time on Earth.

Amazon Quietly Discontinues the Kindle DX  —  About a week ago I posted about how Amazon had cut the price of the Kindle DX from $379 to $299.  As expected it was indeed a final sale to eliminate stock, because the Kindle DX is no longer available for purchase from Amazon; it's only being sold used through third party merchants.

Zynga Files Suit Against Former Staffer, Claiming Theft of Trade Secrets  —  Following the departure of several high-level employees, Zynga is striking back by filing a lawsuit against one of its former general managers, alleging “the wholesale theft of some of its most sensitive and commercially valuable data.”

Yahoo Loses Government Relations Head to Airbnb (Internal Memo Time!)  —  Yahoo's David Hantman, who has been its deputy general counsel and VP of global public policy, is taking a similar job at the online rentals start-up Airbnb, according to an internal memo he sent today.

Raspberry Pi Mini Computer Now Shipping With RAM Upgraded To 512MB (From 256MB); Same Tiny $35 Price-Tag  —  The Raspberry Pi mini computer just got a RAM upgrade - from 256MB to 512MB — but the $35 price-tag is staying the same.  Eben Upton, chip design and founder of the Raspberry Pi Foundation …

Foursquare Takes On Yelp With New Homepage Search Box  —  Perhaps it was always inevitable that Foursquare would shift its emphasis from location-based social networking to local search.  Indeed, the site has been moving in this direction for quite some time, and very self-consciously for the better part of the past year.

Google rolls out improved developer console, adds user ratings analytics, automatic translations  —  Google has rolled out a revamped version of the Google Play developer console.  —  Originally teased at the I/O developer conference earlier this year, the new version of the Google Play …

SimpleTV Begins Shipping Its $149 Box For Streaming Live Or Recorded TV To The iPhone, iPad, Roku, And Web  —  Well, it's taken a while, but SimpleTV is finally shipping its $149 streaming TV box to users.  After previewing its hardware and CES, and following a successful Kickstarter campaign …