Gesture In The Picture, As Intel Reportedly Picks Up Omek But PrimeSense Dismisses Apple Acquisition Rumors  —  Yet more exits for Israeli startups, with the latest two developments a throwback to the hardware and engineering muscle that raised the tech profile of the region in the first place …

Exclusive: Apple Pitches Ad-Skipping for New TV Service  —  Apple has a new trick up its sleeve as it tries to launch a long-awaited television service: technology that allows viewers to skip commercials and that pays media companies for the skipped views.  —  For more than a year …

AT&T counters T-Mo's Jump with Next, its own phone upgrade program.  Is it a better deal?  —  Not to be outdone by T-Mobile's new smartphone upgrade program Jump, AT&T is launching its own plans next week that will let customers trade up to new handsets before their contracts are up.

FBI Ransomware Now Targeting Apple's Mac OS X Users  —  For years, Windows users have been plagued by ransomware demanding several hundred dollars to unlock their computers.  —  The bad guys know there is a growing market of Apple consumers who, for the most part, feel pretty safe about browsing …

Airbnb Slows Hiring Overseas, Shifts Strategy  —  Airbnb Inc. is trying not to become another cautionary tale in international expansion.  —  One of technology's hottest startups, with a valuation of $2.5 billion, the online-accommodation rental service has recently slowed down hiring …

Yahoo wins court order to release records of its fight against PRISM  —  Yahoo, initially vilified for being part of the PRISM program, which allows the NSA to tap it and other companies for users' information, is about to be vindicated.  A court ruled Monday that the Department …

Apple Launches Logic Pro X with Virtual Drummer and Flex Pitch  —  Apple today announced the launch of Logic Pro X, the next-generation version of its professional audio software.  The release brings a completely revamped Logic Pro application including a new virtual drummer and integrated pitch editing …

Bill Gates on the future of education, programming and just about everything else  —  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has thoughts on a lot of things, from the demise of lecture halls to the awesomeness of the patent system.  He took the stage at the company's annual Faculty Summit …

A bird's eye view of the AT&T-Leap Wireless merger  —  I've already taken one crack at explaining why AT&T would want to buy regional carrier Leap Wireless.  This deal is clearly about spectrum.  AT&T wasn't able to get it by purchasing T-Mobile so it's hoping to pick up airwaves …

A Secret Surveillance Program Proves Challengeable in Theory Only  —  WASHINGTON — On Oct. 29, about seven months before the recent revelations about secret government surveillance programs, Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. made a commitment to the Supreme Court.

Capital market climate change  —  “Hope that you feel this Feel this way forever You can plan a pretty picnic  —  But you can't predict the weather.  FORTUNE — If you run a startup and are currently raising money, you probably planned for a somewhat different fundraising environment than the one you find yourself in today.

Intel's Thunderbolt remains high-end rarity as Acer drops out  —  Windows computer maker Acer decides USB 3.0 is a better deal than Intel's high-speed communications technology.  And despite notable newer fans including Dell, HP, and Asus, Thunderbolt remains scarce.

Opbeat Nets $2.7M From Facebook, Instagram Founders And More To Give Developers A Control Center For “Web Ops”  —  While it's apparently becoming easier and easier to become a developer — judging, at least, by the number of “learn to code!” platforms popping up by the month …

Rocket Internet Raises $500M From Kinnevik And Access, Plans More E-Commerce In Emerging Markets  —  Rocket Internet, the Berlin-based e-commerce incubator that has been behind dozens of startups around the world, is preparing to spin out a few more.  The company today is announcing …

Funding for VC-backed companies dropped slightly in Q2, but number of IPOs rose  —  This past quarter represented the first drop in VC deal activity in five quarters, and funding levels were down 14 percent over last year, but we still saw a dramatic increase in the number of tech IPOs this quarter alone …

Apple-Samsung phone battle to hit appeals court in August  —  A court's decision not to prevent multiple Samsung handsets from being sold in the U.S. despite their being found to infringe Apple patents will go before an appeal's court in early August.  —  The U.S. Court of Appeals …

Pay with friends: Uber lets you split fares  —  Restaurants are getting better about splitting checks between parties—typically nowadays you can just throw down a pile of credit cards, request an even split, and most servers won't bat an eye.  Now try doing that in a typical taxi cab and see how the driver reacts.

Two weeks in Silicon Valley: Startups from many nations join together at Blackbox  —  Entrepreneurs have transformative power to build great products and companies that change our communities and improve our lives.  With Google for Entrepreneurs, we're working in more than 100 countries …