Dish Launches $25.5 Billion Bid for Sprint  —  Satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp. is making a $25.5 billion bid for Sprint Nextel Corp., an effort to derail the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier's acquisition by Softbank Corp. of Japan.  —  Dish is offering to pay $4.76 in cash and about $2.24 …

Apple Dominates Best-Paid as Board Retains Jobs Deputies  —  Four of the five highest-paid employees at Standard & Poor's 500 companies aren't chief executive officers.  They're Apple Inc. (AAPL) senior lieutenants receiving compensation packages designed to keep management intact in an increasingly competitive industry.

Foxconn Steps Up Hiring As Apple Readies New iPhone  —  TAIPEI—Foxconn Technology Group has resumed hiring assembly-line workers in China after a postholiday freeze, in the latest sign that major customer Apple Inc. is gearing up for production of the new iPhone.

Microsoft Working With Suppliers on Designs for Touch-Enabled Watch Device  —  TAIPEI—Microsoft Corp. is working on designs for a touch-enabled watch device, executives at suppliers said, potentially joining rivals like Apple Inc. in working on a new class of computing products.

Europeans Reach Deal With Google on Search Results  —  Google has for the first time agreed to legally binding changes to its search results after an antitrust investigation by European regulators into whether it abuses its dominance of online search.  —  After a two-year inquiry …

Mozilla Will Debut Firefox OS in Five Countries in June  —  Mozilla, the nonprofit foundation behind the Firefox browser, is bringing its engineering acumen to bear on a new mobile operating system, Firefox OS.  And it plans to debut this year.  —  But when exactly does the company plan to launch it?

How Microsoft Quietly Built the City of the Future  —  A small, covert team of engineers at Microsoft cast aside suggestions that the company spend US$60 million to turn its 500-acre headquarters into a smart campus to achieve energy savings and other efficiency gains.

IBM executives head to Washington to press lawmakers on cybersecurity bill  —  Nearly 200 senior IBM executives are flying into Washington to press for the passage of a controversial cybersecurity bill that will come up for a vote in the House this week.  —  The IBM executives will pound …

Scammers in China Exploit Apple to Turn Fake iPhones into Real Ones  —  Apple has been taking quite a bit of stick over the last month for its after-sales service practices in China, and perhaps rightfully so.  But instead of being exploited by Apple, police have discovered …

Microsoft enhances Windows 8 News, Maps, and other apps  —  The Bing News, Maps, Finance, Travel, and Sports apps for Windows 8 and RT have all received their own share of handy updates.  —  The updated News app for Windows 8 and RT.  —  Microsoft has enhanced its various Bing apps …

Facebook and State Attorneys General Team Up to Educate Teens and Parents about Privacy  —  While some reports indicate that teen Facebook use is on the decline, Facebook along with the National Association of Attorneys General are about to become laser focused on educating that younger demographic …

EA backs off from Facebook in a big way  —  In a surprise announcement, Electronic Arts today revealed that it is retiring a number of its biggest Facebook games, including The Sims Social.  —  The Sims Social in particular has been extremely popular in the past, with 10 million daily active users recorded towards the end of 2011.