Xbox Surface: Microsoft's 7-inch gaming tablet  —  Microsoft's secret project for a mini Xbox  —  Microsoft is building its own 7-inch gaming tablet.  Multiple sources familiar with plans within Redmond have confirmed to The Verge that initial hardware planning for an Xbox Surface is underway.

Talk to your Messenger Contacts on Skype  —  We've got good news to share!  Skype and Messenger are coming together.  Millions of Messenger users will be able to reach their Messenger friends on Skype.  By updating to Skype, Messenger users can instant message and video call their Messenger friends.

If You Want to Stay out of Jail, Don't Instagram Your Ballot  —  A not-so-surprising thing happened this morning: My Instagram feed morphed from photos of dogs, kids, fancy coffees and food porn into a stream of people's voting ballots.  —  Photo courtesy of Instagram.

Romney-Loving Voting Machine “Recalibrated” and Back Online  —  An electronic voting machine in Perry County, Pennsylvania, that changed a President Obama vote to one for Mitt Romney is now back online, after officials received a complaint and recalibrated the machine, Mother Jones has confirmed.

Where to watch the 2012 presidential election live online  —  Millions of people all over the U.S. will flock to the polls Tuesday to make their vote count; and later, everyone will be glued to the screen to find out how the country has voted.  Pretty much all the big news organizations …

Exclusive: EU regulators to accept Apple, publishers e-book offer  —  (Reuters) - EU regulators are set to accept an offer by Apple and four book publishers allowing Amazon and other retailers to sell e-books more cheaply than Apple to end an antitrust investigation and avoid fines, two sources said on Monday.

Yep, It's Coming: Google Wallet's Help Site Mentions The “Google Wallet Card”  —  Just in case you needed more proof that the leaked news revealing a forthcoming physical Google Wallet Card is indeed legit, you can just visit Google's own Help section on its Google Wallet website to catch a reference to the yet-to-be announced addition.

New Jersey Gives Its E-Voters — and Voting Officials — More Time  —  Voters in New Jersey who have been displaced by Hurricane Sandy now have until 8 pm Friday to return their email and fax ballots under a directive issued by the state's lieutenant governor.

Why Google Went Offline Today and a Bit about How the Internet Works  —  Today, Google's services experienced a limited outage for about 27 minutes over some portions of the Internet.  The reason this happened dives into the deep, dark corners of networking.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin takes to Google+ to call for an end to party politics on election eve  —  On the eve of the US presidential election, Google co-founder Sergey Brin has taken quite the political stand on his Google+ account by pleading for the winner to withdraw …

Mary Meeker Gives Mid-Year Internet Trends Report: Android Adoption Ramping Up 6X Faster Than iPhone  —  KPCB partner Mary Meeker usually publishes her famed Internet Trends report once a year, but gave a small San Francisco crowd a mid-year update tonight.  The biggest new facts?

AT&T prices Lumia 920 and 8GB HTC 8X at $100, Lumia 820 at $50, Nokias due on Friday  —  AT&T is finally spilling the beans on how much its Windows Phone 8 handsets will set you back if you plump for a two-year deal.  Nokia's Lumia 920 costs $99.99, $50 less than previously speculated, and will come with a free wireless charging plate.

Amazon Offers $7.99 Monthly Subscription To Amazon Prime [Update: Amazon Confirms It's Only A Test]  —  Amazon is now offering users a monthly option for its Amazon Prime service, priced at $7.99 per month, as an alternative to the $79/yearly subscription.  It's the same service as before …

Apple Says Samsung's Galaxy Note, Jelly Bean Infringe Patents  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) told a judge that Samsung Electronics Co. (005930)'s Galaxy Note 10.1 device infringes its patents, and sought to add the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system to an existing lawsuit against Samsung in California.

Google releases Chrome 23: the last major browser finally gets Do Not Track support  —  Google today released Chrome version 23.0.1271.64 for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  You can update to the latest release now using the browser's built-in silent updater, or you can download it directly from google.com/chrome.

India Faces iPhone 5 Shortage … Just days after the iPhone 5 went on sale in India, most retailers are already out of stock.  —  “We were sold out within 24 hours of launch.  It's all gone,” said Himanshu Chakrawarti, chief executive of The MobileStore Ltd., a retailer that stocks iPhones and which has 900 outlets across India.

Is “Cloud TV” coming to Microsoft?  —  Microsoft has made a number of moves recently to bring its devices and services into the living room, extending and expanding its Xbox offerings to far more than hard core gamers (although this is somewhat of a banner day for those gamers with tonight's release of Halo 4) …

Why Silicon Valley and Hollywood Don't Get Each Other and Who Will Win the Future  —  For the past three years I have been pounding the table as loud as I can about the future opportunities in digital video.  The concise guide is here.  —  My narrative has stayed pretty simple:

Will Apple Switch the Mac to ARM?  Why the Rumors Do, and Don't, Ring True.  —  You have to wonder if Apple and Intel are in some kind of negotiation phase right now.  —  That's at least one cynical way to interpret the story from Bloomberg News saying that Apple is exploring ways to move …

Pandora Media Sues Ascap Seeking Lower Songwriter Fees  —  Pandora Media Inc. (P), the biggest Internet radio service, sued the organization representing songwriters and composers to seek lower license fees for playing their songs.  —  Pandora, which is also lobbying the U.S. Congress …

Cable industry seeks out Silicon Valley pizzazz  —  (Reuters) - The U.S. cable industry, hoping to revive innovation and beat back the emergence of online video, is turning for ideas to Silicon Valley.  —  Leading players from Time Warner Cable to Comcast Corp will next year set …

Imagination buys chip design firm MIPS for $60m, 498 patents sold to industry consortium for $350m  —  More M&A activity in the wonderful world of chips.  MIPS Technologies has been for sale for quite a while, but now things are finally moving: the semiconductor design company formerly known …

Apple already catches up with fourth-gen iPad demand, now ‘in stock’  —  Last time we checked in, the new fourth-generation iPad with Retina display was listed as shipping in “3-5 business days” from Apple's U.S. website.  That was down from the estimated one-week shipping time Apple had listed …