Members of Congress denied access to basic information about NSA  —  Documents provided by two House members demonstrate how they are blocked from exercising any oversight over domestic surveillance  —  • Morgan Griffith's requests for NSA information  —  • Alan Grayson's requests for NSA information

Facebook Hires First CMO Gary Briggs from Google  —  Mr. Briggs Replaces VP-Product Marketing Eric Antonow  —  Facebook has tapped a seasoned technology marketing executive most recently with Google to be its first-ever CMO.  —  Gary Briggs, who'd previously been chief marketer …

Microsoft cuts Surface Pro price by $100 following Surface RT reductions  —  Microsoft is discounting its Surface Pro tablet this weekend, following heavy reductions to its Surface RT costs recently.  The 10 percent price cut to Surface Pro reduces the cost of the 64GB and 128GB models by $100 each in the US.

Spotify's new Browse feature surfaces the best of its billion playlists  —  After spending the last several months rolling out Discover and Radio, two big pieces of its music discovery puzzle, Spotify is today introducing a critical third piece: Browse, a collection of the service's best playlists on iOS and Android.

The idea maze  —  The pop culture view of startups is that they're all about coming up with a great product idea.  After the eureka moment, the outcome is preordained.  This neglects the years of toil that entrepreneurs endure, and also the fact that the vast majority of startups change over time, often dramatically.

How “one weird trick” conquered the Internet: what happens when you click on those omnipresent ads  —  What happens when you actually click on one of those “One Weird Trick” ads?  —  You've seen them.  Peeking out from sidebars, jiggling and wiggling for your attention …

The Moto X proves Google still needs the Nexus program  —  Nexus is a critical platform for Google to develop and advance Android  —  The Moto X has finally been revealed and although it's the first phone that truly reflects the new company's post-Google philosophies, it's thoroughly a Motorola phone, not a Google phone.

Did Goldman Sachs Overstep in Criminally Charging Its Ex-Programmer?  —  A month after ace programmer Sergey Aleynikov left Goldman Sachs, he was arrested.  Exactly what he'd done neither the F.B.I., which interrogated him, nor the jury, which convicted him a year later, seemed to understand.

Veto of Apple Ruling Likely to Upend Big Patent Battles  —  Ruling Promises to Alter Strategies Some Tech Giants Use to Defend Inventions  —  By - IAN SHERR and - BRENT KENDALL -  —  The Obama administration's decision to overturn an international trade ruling against Apple Inc. …

Making TVs smart: why Google and Netflix want to reinvent the remote control  —  Making TVs smart is a three-part series that looks at why smart TVs have failed to take off — and what needs to happen for these devices to realize their vast potential.  You can read part one here and part two here.