Announcing Microsoft Ventures for startups to build, innovate and grow  —  The following is a post from Rahul Sood, general manager of Microsoft Startups.  —  Entrepreneurship is an increasingly global phenomenon.  We know that the barriers to turn an idea into a business have never been lower.

Source: Snapchat Cofounders Unloaded Personal Stock for $20 M.  —  A source familiar with Snapchat's recent round of funding said that the teen sensation's two twenty-something cofounders, Evan Spiegel and Bobby Murphy, each received $10 million in secondary funding as individual shareholders.

Barnes & Noble Reports $118.6M Loss On Revenue Of $1.3B In Q4, Plans To Open Nook Brand To Tablet OEMs  —  Barnes & Noble reported its fiscal fourth quarter earnings this morning, and the financials make it clear that the company is still struggling to figure out how it fits into the larger digital reading ecosystem.

What It's Really Like To Work @Fab  —  Readers of this blog know that we pride ourselves on our transparency here at Fab.  —  To that end, I wanted to take a moment to clear up some misconceptions about how we work at Fab.  —  A Bloomberg article yesterday put forth some blatant misrepresentations about Fab.

Exclusive: Samsung in talks to settle EU antitrust case -sources  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics is in early talks with the EU regulator to settle charges that its use of injunctions against arch rival Apple breached antitrust rules, two people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Microsoft to launch web-based version of Xbox Music next week  —  When we first heard Microsoft's plans for Xbox Music, there was a mention of web, iOS, and Android versions.  Next week the software maker will launch a web version of Xbox Music so that subscribers can access the service across various platforms from a browser.

First Look: OS X Mavericks  —  After Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference ended, Apple supplied me with a 13-inch MacBook Pro and a copy of OS X Mavericks to evaluate and post my thoughts on The Loop.  The version of Mavericks I tested was newer than the one released at WWDC, but not as new as the one released on Monday.

LA sides with taxi companies, sends cease-and-desist letters to 3 ride-sharing startups (poll)  —  Disruption may be the name of the game for tech startups, but it also guarantees there will be pushback from the disrupted.  Three companies that aim to change the way we think about taxis …

Digg Reader Is A Promising, But Still Incomplete, Google Reader Alternative (Hands On)  —  For a subset of the Internet's population, Google's March announcement of its intention to shutter its dated, rusting RSS feed-reading service Google Reader was met with a large outcry.

New Google report shows malware by country: highest rates in India, Central Europe  —  Google's Transparency Report is a document that shines light on threats to the internet, including copyright takedowns and government surveillance requests.  On Tuesday, the search giant announced a new section …

From The Team Behind Branch, Potluck Is A New Link-Sharing Service For The Internet's “Lurkers” Who Don't Tweet Or Blog  —  The team behind the social conversation platform Branch is today launching a new venture with Potluck, a service which seems almost the complete inverse …

Big Apple, Bigger Google  —  Google has passed Apple as the most valuable technology company in the world—on one measure.  —  The search giant eclipsed the iPhone maker last week, actually.  Few would have noticed because the metric by which Google jumped ahead isn't the widely-watched one of market capitalization.

How A Great Google Workplace Turned Into A ‘Nightmare’  —  One December day last year, an email went out to a group of Google employees and contractors.  —  The email explained how, just more than a year after Google acquired guidebook company Zagat, the division was going to be re-organized.

Windows 8.1 includes options to shut down from Start button and disable hot corners  —  Microsoft is just days away from releasing its Windows 8.1 preview, complete with the return of the Start button.  The software maker has started to distribute final preview copies of Windows Server 2012 R2 …

Mozilla launches Firefox 22 with 3D gaming, video calls and file sharing to court developers  —  Mozilla has released a new version of its Firefox Web browser today that offers support for 3D gaming, video calls, and file sharing.  With these integrations, developers will be better able …

Pandora and musicians to discuss royalty settlement as war of words heats up  —  Talks are preliminary, but sources say formal negotiations are expected soon  —  Pandora, the web's top radio service, has held preliminary discussions with groups representing music artists as well as indie …

A Year After Microsoft Bought It, Yammer Nears 8M Users, Deeper MSFT Integration... And Klout  —  One year to the day after Microsoft announced that it would acquire enterprise social networking tool Yammer for $1.2 billion, the pair are today publishing some updated usage numbers and news …

FTC Updates Search Engine Ad Disclosure Guildelines After “Decline In Compliance”  —  In 2002, the US Federal Trade Commission issued landmark guidelines to search engines, to ensure they were make a clear distinction between their paid and unpaid listings.  Now, the FTC has updated those guidelines …

Oracle Forges Cloud Deal With Salesforce.com  —  Salesforce.com and Oracle on Tuesday unveiled a nine-year technology alliance under which the two companies will align their cloud operations.  —  Salesforce.com, known for offering sales and marketing software through an online service …

Exclusive: Documents Illuminate Ecuador's Spying Practices  —  The country where anti-surveillance hero Edward Snowden wants to take refuge spent half a million dollars on an Israeli-made “GSM interceptor” through a U.S. middleman.  Seeking the capacity to “intercept text messages …

AT&T CEO compares Facebook's HTC First to Apple's failed ROKR experiment  —  AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega has told CNET that the carrier has sold all of its HTC First Facebook phones.  While he declined to say exactly how many phones AT&T has sold, our sources revealed the phone was …