Obama Vetoes Ban on Sale of Some Apple iPhones, iPads  —  Concern Cited Over Patent Holders Gaining ‘Undue Leverage’  —  The Obama administration on Saturday vetoed a U.S. trade body's ban on the sale of some Apple iPhones and iPads, a rare move that upends a legal victory for smartphone rival Samsung Electronics Co.

Your TV might be watching you  —  Today's high-end televisions are almost all equipped with “smart” PC-like features, including Internet connectivity, apps, microphones and cameras.  But a recently discovered security hole in some Samsung Smart TVs shows that many of those bells and whistles aren't ready for prime time.

Chinese Hacking Team Caught Taking Over Decoy Water Plant  —  A Chinese hacking group accused this February of being tied to the Chinese army was caught last December infiltrating a decoy water control system for a U.S. municipality, a researcher revealed on Wednesday.

US congress looks to rein in NSA  —  Proposals signify major shift in political opinion as laws would represent the first rollback of the NSA's powers since 9/11  —  Members of Congress are considering 11 legislative measures to constrain the activities of the National Security Agency …

Why Microsoft isn't going to dump Windows RT  —  Summary: Is there any chance Microsoft is going to do a 180 and dump its Windows RT operating system?  My bet is no, and here's why.  —  In the days following Microsoft's $900 million Surface RT write-down, many have been questioning Microsoft's stated plan …

Hashtag Inventor Chris Messina Leaves Google to Join Small Startup NeonMob  —  Chris Messina, known for bringing the hashtag to social media, has left Google after more than three and a half years.  —  An advocate of open social Web technologies, Messina had first joined Google …

Twitter updates rules in clampdown on abuse  —  Social networking site Twitter has issued new rules to help clamp down on abusive behaviour.  —  Co-founder of the Women's Room, Caroline Criado-Perez faced a deluge of hostile tweets  —  The company has updated its rules to make it clear …

Who's offering developers cash to secretly promote Samsung?  —  An Android developer claims a Korean PR agency representing Samsung offered him $500 to mention the company's upcoming developer competition on the community Stack Overflow.  In a blog post, Delyan Kratunov details …

Google Releases 4.3 OTA for HTC One and Galaxy S4 Google Play Editions  —  It's been a busy week in the Android space, and this evening Google appears to have hit the button on the Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean MR2) update for the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition phones.

University Of California Approves Major Open Access Policy To Make Research Free  —  Good news for fans of the scientific method: the largest and most influential university system on the planet will be giving out its research for free.  After 6-year-long fight with the for-profit academic publishing industry …

BT and Vodafone among telecoms companies passing details to GCHQ  —  Fears of customer backlash over breach of privacy as firms give GCHQ unlimited access to their undersea cables  —  Some of the world's leading telecoms firms, including BT and Vodafone, are secretly collaborating …