Microsoft and Foxconn Parent Hon Hai Sign Patent Agreement For Android and Chrome Devices  —  Agreement provides broad coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio to manufacturer of more than 40 percent of the world's consumer electronics.  —  Microsoft Corp. and Hon Hai, the parent company of Foxconn …

Tech industry cautiously welcomes Senate immigration bill  —  (Reuters) - Tech industry officials welcomed a bipartisan U.S. Senate immigration bill on Tuesday, saying they hoped it would make it easier to hire highly skilled workers from abroad, while laying the groundwork to renegotiate portions they oppose.

Windows 8 touch devices to drop to $200, says Intel CEO  —  Prices of Windows 8 touch devices based on future Intel chips are set to drop like a rock.  —  Windows 8 touch devices will dive in price, according to Intel executives.  —  The price of Windows 8 touch devices will sink …

Gmail, Google Drive And Docs Currently Experiencing Partial Outage  —  A number of users and Google now report that Gmail for Google Apps, as well as Google Drive, Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations and the Admin control panel/API are currently experiencing service disruption or outage issues for some users.

ACLU asks feds to probe wireless carriers over Android security updates  —  “Defective” phones from AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile pose risks, ACLU says.  —  Civil liberties advocates have asked the US Federal Trade Commission to take action against the nation's four major wireless carriers …

First real-world usage figures suggest Chromebooks are struggling  —  Summary: When the initial batch of Chromebooks hit the market nearly two years ago, some thought these low-cost devices running Google's cloud-centric Chrome OS could be a Windows killer.  NetMarketShare just started …

Facebook Said to Hire Apple Maps Executive Amid Mobile Push  —  Facebook Inc. (FB) has nabbed another member of Apple Inc. (AAPL)'s original iPhone team, hiring Richard Williamson, the manager who had led Apple's mapping efforts, according to people with knowledge of the hire.

Apple Releases Safari and Java Updates With Plug-In and Security Improvements  —  Apple today released a series of updates for both Safari and Java, addressing continued issues with Java security.  —  The Safari updates arrive as version 6.0.4 for OS X Mountain Lion and Lion and version 5.1.9 for OS X Snow Leopard.

Funny or Die's Steve Jobs Movie ‘iSteve’ Now Available Online  —  After being delayed yesterday, Funny Or Die's Steve Jobs movie “iSteve” has now been released online.  The movie stars Justin Long as Steve Jobs and Lost's Jorge Garcia as Steve Wozniak.  —  The film is the longest video produced …

Talking heads: how a late-night hack turned into Facebook's next big thing  —  Facebook gambles on private messages as the future of mobile  —  On a Wednesday almost one year ago, Facebook product designers Joey Flynn and Brandon Walkin decided to work from home.

Amazon to expand its Android Appstore to nearly 200 countries  —  Amazon has announced the next phase in the expansion of its Android Appstore, today notifying developers that they can submit their apps for distribution in nearly 200 countries.  Android device owners in the new regions …

Logitech Harmony Ultimate Remote Pairs Up With Smartphone Apps, Mood Lighting  —  Though Logitech is looking to sell its Harmony remote division, the company is continuing to release new products like the Harmony Ultimate and Harmony Smart Control, and is still expanding the capabilities of the universal remote.

Red Hat pushes open source cloud with OpenStack distro  —  Summary: Red Hat has launched a community-led version of the OpenStack cloud platform to accelerate adoption of open source cloud.  —  Sam Shead  —  Linux software giant Red Hat has launched a community-led distribution of the OpenStack open source cloud platform.

Google's Wildfire Social Marketing Platform Cuts Standalone Plans To Upsell To Its Full Suite  —  When Google wanted to get into the game of selling social ads across all platforms, it decided to acquire Wildfire, a company that had the market on lockdown.  Since the acquisition last July …

Instart Logic Raises $17M From Andreessen Horowitz Greylock To Improve Web And Mobile App Performance  —  Instart Logic, a company that provides a cloud-based service for web publishers to improves site performance over both mobile and WiFi networks, has raised $17 million in Series B funding …

Apple Named in China Porn App Investigation … Apple Inc. is once again in the pages of the People's Daily, this time in an article listing a number of websites and app stores that have been investigated for providing pornographic content in China.  —  The Cupertino, Calif. …

Symantec: Industrial espionage on the rise, SMBs a target  —  Summary: Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat report suggests that SMBs remain an attractive target for those trying to steal intellectual property.  —  Charlie Osborne  —  Security giant Symantec's latest Internet Security Threat report …

Samsung Galaxy S4 launches on seven U.S. carriers in April [updated]  —  When BGR previewed the Samsung Galaxy S4 back in March, we called it the Android smartphone by which all others will be judged in 2013.  As Samsung announced on Wednesday morning, Judgement Day is coming this month …

Escaping PCs  —  The Windows PC market is contracting.  The market data has been showing unit shipment declining for some time with the latest quarter having perhaps the steepest decline for two decades.  —  What remains undocumented however is how the market looks when considering economic value.

CISPA vote means companies can't promise to protect privacy  —  Proposed amendment to CISPA said Internet companies' promises to protect customer privacy were legally enforceable.  But then Republicans voted it down.  —  Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other Internet companies and e-mail providers …

Founder Of Drug Site Silk Road Says Bitcoin Booms And Busts Won't Kill His Black Market  —  As the crypto-currency Bitcoin has skyrocketed in value over the last weeks and then fallen even faster, it's produced plenty of excitement and heartache for investors.

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer tries to trigger chain reaction  —  For CEO Mayer, the chain reaction starts with great people and products to spur user growth and engagement, leading to higher ad spending and more revenue.  —  Marissa Mayer is sprinting and trying to start a chain reaction.