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.

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 …

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 …

‘Chinese Google’ Opens Artificial-Intelligence Lab in Silicon Valley  —  It doesn't look like much.  The brick office building sits next to a strip mall in Cupertino, California, about an hour south of San Francisco, and if you walk inside, you'll find a California state flag and a cardboard cutout …

Google has a single towering obsession: It wants to build the Star Trek computer  —  I first came across Google's interest in Star Trek back in the summer of 2010.  A company spokesman wanted to show me the firm's rapidly improving visual search and speech-recognition technology.

The second coming of Facebook  —  Back in 2010 Mark Zuckerberg made a very bad decision.  Instead of building separate apps for iPhones, Androids, BlackBerrys, Nokia devices, and, yes, even Microsoft phones, he put his engineers to work designing a version of Facebook that could operate on any smartphone.

Bitcoin Miners Are Racking Up $150,000 A Day In Power Consumption Alone  —  There's a gold rush going on these days, or a Bitcoin rush, at least.  Driven by the recent swings in the value of a Bitcoin, more and more people are learning about and becoming interested in the currency.

Iterations: How Five Real Economists Think About Bitcoin's Future  —  There isn't just a bubble in the Bitcoin economy, there's a bubble in the number of posts about Bitcoin.  I'll pile on, even after this week's mini-crash, but with a twist.  A few weeks ago, I wrote some brief notes …

Intel Tries to Find a Foothold Beyond PCs  —  SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the last several months, Andy Bryant, the chairman of Intel, has been trying to put steel in the backs of the company's employees.  At meetings, he tells them that Intel must fundamentally change even though …

The VC World Returns to Its Operating Roots  —  “You can't go into Compton to rehabilitate gang members if you haven't been a Crip.”  — Ben Horowitz, co-founder of fast-rising venture outfit Andreessen Horowitz.  —  Twenty years ago, the typical VC looked like a traditional banker, complete with an MBA and a background in finance.

Computer Security Legend Mudge Leaves DARPA for Google Job  —  Peter Zatko, the computer hacking expert better known by the handle Mudge, says he's leaving his job as a program manager at DARPA to join Google.  He announced the change overnight on Twitter.  —  Zatko joined DARPA …

Cyber security bill pits tech giants against privacy activists  —  The two groups joined forces last year to fight the Stop Online Piracy Act.  Now the battle over the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, will show each side's clout.  —  Cyber Intelligence Sharing …