Amazon.com Announces Fourth Quarter Sales up 22% to $21.27 Billion  —  Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2012.  Operating cash flow increased 7% to $4.18 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $3.90 billion …

Microsoft's Steve Ballmer Does Not Fear Dropbox or an Office-less IPad  —  When Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer does his bounding these days, it's often in front of an 82-inch interactive display mounted to the wall of his office.  Ballmer gets to poke at the screen—a Perceptive Pixel LCD—like a more-energetic version of Wolf Blitzer.

Exclusive: Nest has raised another $80M, now shipping 40K+ thermostats a month  —  Learning thermostat maker Nest has closed on $80 million to keep growing, and we've heard it's shipping 50,000 thermostats per month.  The round was raised at an $800 million valuation and the company could reach …

YouTube Set to Introduce Paid Subscriptions This Spring  —  A New Revenue Model For TV Networks and Video Producers  —  A new chapter in online video is about to begin.  YouTube is prepping to launch paid subscriptions for individual channels on its video platform in its latest attempt …

Reed Hastings on Arrested Development, House of Cards, and the Future of Netflix  —  The quirky little start-up that once printed money by mailing you DVDs is hell-bent on morphing into the HBO—and the network, and the any-show, any-time streaming service—of tomorrow.

Dell Founder Said to Seek Majority Control Using Personal Funds  —  Michael Dell is seeking majority control of Dell Inc. (DELL) under the buyout that would combine his 15.7 percent stake in the company with as much as $1 billion of his personal funds, said people familiar with the matter.

Samsung did not willfully infringe on Apple's patents, U.S. judge says  —  Apple v. Samsung Judge Lucy Koh on Tuesday handed down some of the first rulings in the case's post-trial proceedings, granting an Apple motion to invalidate certain claims of a Samsung patent and denying five others, including a request for a new trial.

Microsoft's 64GB Surface Pro will only have 23GB usable storage  —  Microsoft's Surface Pro tablet, due on February 9th, will have a smaller amount of storage space than expected.  A company spokesperson has confirmed to The Verge that the 64GB edition of Surface Pro will have 23GB of free storage out of the box.

FCC filing reveals Apple TV model A1469 with slightly smaller dimensions  —  We don't generally find surprises from Apple in the daily stream of FCC documents and test reports, but a new filing published today seems to suggest that a new Apple TV model of some sort could be on the way.

As Music Streaming Grows, Royalties Slow to a Trickle  —  Like plenty of music fans, Sam Broe jumped at the chance to join Spotify two summers ago, and he hasn't looked back.  —  Spotify, which began streaming music in Sweden in 2008, lets users choose from millions of songs over the Internet free …

Twitter Now The Fastest Growing Social Platform In The World  —  tom  —  Contrary to popular perception, Twitter has always been more of a niche social network in most countries around the world.  In our first wave of research in July 2009, we estimated that Twitter had just 35.47 million …

Peak Mac?  —  Was 2012 a one-off year of treading water for Apple's Mac business?  Or has the Mac peaked for good?  —  After years of impressive growth, Mac shipments declined in 2012.  During the December quarter, Mac shipments dropped a conspicuous 22% from the year before, their biggest decline in at least 10 years.

How Google Is Putting Mass Torture On The Map  —  A Google Maps search for “concentration camps in North Korea” will now find you actual, working prison camps.  A new form of activism?  —  How do you label a notorious international human rights violation on a map?  Here's how Google did it: