BlackBerry 10 Launch Event to be held on January 30th, 2013  —  One of my favorite things about working as a community and blog manager for BlackBerry ® is getting to talk to you and provide updates on our products.  Each day on our social channels fans, followers and readers ask, when will BlackBerry ® 10 launch?

Changing Channels: YouTube Will Pull the Plug on at Least 60 Percent of Its Programming Deals  —  YouTube has helped fund about 160 “channels” as part of a new strategy to make the video site more TV-like.  —  And just like the TV world, YouTube isn't going to renew all of last season's programs.

Samsung reportedly raising iPhone and iPad processor prices by a fifth  —  Samsung has made no secret of the fact that it provides a number of the key components inside Apple's flagship iPhone and iPad devices, even while actively competing against them with its own Galaxy line of Android competitors.

Minding The (Apple)Store  —  As I've written many times in the past, I'm part of the vast chorus that praises the Apple Store.  And not just for the uncluttered product displays, the no-pressure sales people (who aren't on commission), or the Genius Bar that provides expert help, but for the impressive architecture.

HTC to Pay Licensing Fees to Apple  —  TAIPEI—HTC Corp. will have to pay licensing fees to Apple Inc. as part of its settlement agreement with the California-based company, a person familiar with the situation said Monday.  —  Although it is unclear how much the Taiwanese smartphone maker …

AT&T to offer Samsung's Galaxy Camera for $500 starting Nov. 16  —  AT&T just announced the Samsung Galaxy Camera would land Nov. 16 for $499.99 with or without a data plan.  —  The Galaxy Camera is Samsung's first 4G-connected camera to marry point-and-shoot technology with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean software.

Steve Ballmer: Initial Surface Sales Off To A ‘Modest’ Start (Update X2)  —  The Surface running Windows RT is available for purchase by all those that want to experience Microsoft's latest operating system on a tablet (powered by an ARM processor, since this particular OS is tailored for the slower processors).

Exclusive: John McAfee Wanted for Murder (Updated)  —  Antivirus pioneer John McAfee is on the run from murder charges, Belize police say.  According to Marco Vidal, head of the national police force's Gang Suppression Unit, McAfee is a prime suspect in the murder of American expatriate Gregory Paul …

Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 preview coming tomorrow  —  Last month, Microsoft finally broke silence and announced that a preview version of Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 7 will be coming in mid-November.  It appears that tomorrow will be the day when Microsoft releases the latest IE10 browser for Windows 7 users.

Samsung ATIV Odyssey Windows Phone 8 leaked with Verizon branding  —  Federal filings aside, what we're staring at here is the first look at Samsung's initial US-bound Windows Phone 8.  The ATIV Odyssey's certainly not going to be confused for the [Galaxy S III] ATIV S we've already taken for a test drive …

With Kim Dotcom's Me.ga plans scuppered, soon-to-relaunch Mega goes online at Mega.co.nz  —  After his dreams of a Me.ga domain were shot down by Gabon's government, Kim Dotcom's soon-to-relaunch Mega service has finally found its place online after the German confirmed that the Mega holding site …

Some LTE iPads getting delivered as early as Friday, Nov. 16  —  Late last week, Apple started notifying customers that orders of LTE iPad minis would begin shipping within 5 business days.  Those same customers were also reporting updated shipping times ranging from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23.

Verizon confirms Droid DNA on its Droid Does portal, promises ‘unboxing’ on November 19th  —  Last we checked, there are about six days between Verizon / HTC's press event in New York City and November 19th.  Which, by most counts, should be just enough time for the two companies …

Skype Preview for Windows Phone 8 is now available!  Hands on video.  —  Oh what a weekend it has been.  With the launch of Windows Phone 8 on AT&T and Verizon and T-Mobile expected in the next week, it has been quite exciting but now it is coming to full steam with the release of Skype for Windows Phone 8.

Cray's Titan system takes supercomputer crown  —  Summary: Titan is a Cray XK7 system that hit 17.59 Petaflop/s on the Linpack benchmark.  Titan features 560,640 processors, including 261,632 Nvidia K20x accelerator cores.  —  Larry Dignan  —  The Oak Ridge National Laboratory …

DirectX 11.1 exclusive to Windows 8, Microsoft confirms  —  DirectX 11.1 is exclusive to the divisive Windows 8 operating system, Microsoft has confirmed.  Microsoft's Daniel Moth wrote on the Microsoft Answers forum that DirectX 11.1 is part of Windows 8, as DirectX 11 was part of Windows 7 when it launched.

Microsoft's Skydrive website kills Opera browsers by sending 2 million NULL characters to visitors  —  A curious oversight in the source code of Microsoft's Skydrive website is making the service almost unusable for users of Opera's desktop browsers, after it was revealed that the code includes …

Apple Stomps On Tapjoy's App Download Circle Jerk (Again)  —  Memories of Scamville have faded, and we don't see the brazen customer ripoff schemes from the big gaming companies these days.  —  But the main company behind Scamville, Offerpal (the company renamed as Tapjoy after the Scamville disaster) …

Demonoid Is Back, BitTorrent Tracker is Now Online  —  When Demonoid went down at the end of July the site's admin blamed a DDoS attack.  This initial attack resulted in a series of problems that were not easy to fix.  —  However, at the time the tech admin of the site was determined to get the site back online.

A billion dollar software tech company is founded every 3 months *in U.S.  —  Ron Conway once said: “There's a billion company created every 3 months.  Now, it is every 2 months”.  I finally got the chance compile “The Billion Dollar” list.  I tried to limit this list to only software tech companies.

Pirate Bay co-founder suspected of serious fraud and another data intrusion  —  Despite being detained since September, Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg has not been officially charged  —  Swedish authorities now suspect Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg of serious fraud …