Nokia's Q4 2012: $584 million operating profit, $10.7 billion in net sales, 4.4 million Lumia phones sold  —  Beleaguered phone maker Nokia this morning published its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2012, reporting a $584 million (439 million euros) operating profit on $10.7 billion in net sales (8.041 billion euros).

Apple Reports Record Results  —  47.8 Million iPhones Sold; 22.9 Million iPads Sold  —  Apple® today announced financial results for its 13-week fiscal 2013 first quarter ended December 29, 2012.  The Company posted record quarterly revenue of $54.5 billion and record quarterly net profit …

Google Creating Wireless Network, But For What?  —  Google is trying to create an experimental wireless network covering its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, a move that some analysts say could portend the creation of dense and superfast Google wireless networks in other locations …

Twitter introduces Vine for iOS, an app for sharing six second looping videos on the service  —  Twitter has today introduced Vine, an app that allows you to share six second looping videos on the service and in embedded tweets.  The app is simple, allowing you to tap the screen to record video and lift your finger to stop.

Amazon Gets Into Voice Recognition, Buys Ivona Software To Compete Against Apple's Siri  —  Amazon today announced that it is acquiring Ivona Software, a Polish-based specialist in voice technologies that competes with Nuance and is already used in the Kindle Fire for services covering text-to-speech …

Samsung Gets Review of Apple Victory in U.S. Trade Fight  —  Samsung Electronics Co. (005930), the world's largest smartphone producer, persuaded a U.S. trade agency to review a preliminary ruling that more than a dozen models of its mobile phones copied Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s patented features.

Imagining a 5-inch iPhone  —  Never mind rumors of an awkwardly named 4.8-inch “iPhone Math”, the concept of a much larger iPhone has been floating about ever since the realities of early LTE chipsets — and the batteries that came with them — forced Android and Windows-based competitors to break the size barrier.

Ashton Kutcher's ‘jOBS’ to Hit Theaters on Apple's 37th Anniversary  —  The film makes its worldwide premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this week ahead of its April release in theaters.  —  The Steve Jobs biopic jOBS, starring Ashton Kutcher, will open in theaters April 19 …

Automattic Buys Simperium, Maker of Simplenote  —  Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, has bought the small synchronization startup Simperium, which makes a syncing platform for developers and a well-loved synced note-taking app for iOS called Simplenote.

Microsoft Earnings Big on Windows 8 and SuperBowl Strategy  —  On the eve of Microsoft's possibly most significant earnings reports in recent history, eyes are fixed are on the Redmond giant.  The recent announcement of pricing and availability of their tablet product - the Surface Pro is no coincidence …

Can A Messaging App Beat Standalone Social Networking?  Khosla-Backed Stealth Startup Just.me Gears Up For Launch With iOS Beta  —  Just.me, the new project from Keith Teare, co-founder of TechCrunch and partner at incubator Archimedes Labs, has launched in beta as an app for iOS.

French court says Twitter must identify racist tweeters  —  PARIS — A French court ruled Thursday that Twitter, which has steadfastly refused calls to police its millions of users, must hand over data to help identify the authors of racist or anti-Semitic tweets.

Sony Fined Nearly $400,000 By U.K. Data Protection Watchdog For 2011 PlayStation Network Hack, Plans To Appeal (Updated)  —  Sony has been fined by the U.K.'s data protection watchdog for the April 2011 data breach of the PlayStation Network which compromised the personal details of millions of users.

Letter From Forty-Four Digital Rights Groups Demands Skype Detail Its Surveillance Practices  —  Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer with Skype president Tony Bates at the announcement of Skype's $8.5 billion acquisition.  —  Skype has long been a stubborn whipping boy for the privacy community …

Mark Zuckerberg Will Hold Fundraiser For Chris Christie  —  The tech mogul and his wife “admire [Christie's] leadership on education reform and other issues and look forward to continuing their important work together on behalf of Newark's schoolchildren,” a spokesperson tells BuzzFeed.

SV Angel Invested $30M In Pinterest Secondary Sale  —  Last week we reported on an SEC filing of a new $30 million raise for SV Angel, for a fund called SV Angel-III Growth P.  —  We've since heard from multiple sources that this $30 million is a Special Purpose Vehicle for SV Angel …

Tumblr streamlines post creation with revamped inline compose windows  —  Tumblr today began rolling out new inline forms for posting text, photos, quotes, videos, and more.  The new forms are incredibly sparse and modern, relegating all but the most important functionality to drop-down menus …