Verizon Reaches Agreement to Acquire Vodafone's 45 Percent Interest in Verizon Wireless for $130 Billion  —  Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE, Nasdaq: VZ) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Vodafone Group Plc (London, Nasdaq: VOD) to acquire Vodafone's U.S. group …

Acer announces 6-inch Liquid S2, ‘first 4K-recording smartphone’  —  Compared to many other companies, Acer's taken a rather cautious approach to super-sized phones.  Its first attempt was the 5.7-inch Liquid S1, a rather straightforward Android handset unveiled back in June at Computex.

CBS and Time Warner Cable reach deal, will end blackout by 6PM ET  —  CBS channels have been missing from Time Warner Cable for a full month now, but the companies have finally solidified a deal.  In a press release, the companies report that they've reached a retransmission agreement …

Drug Agents Use Vast Phone Trove, Eclipsing N.S.A.'s  —  For at least six years, law enforcement officials working on a counternarcotics program have had routine access, using subpoenas, to an enormous AT&T database that contains the records of decades of Americans' phone calls …

Which Start-Up Could Be the Next Big Thing?  —  When it comes to technology start-ups, there are a lot of paths to success.  —  Some successful start-ups sell for a billion dollars, as Tumblr did this year to Yahoo.  When that happens, it's a windfall for the founders of the start-ups as well as for the investors and some employees.

Windows 8 rockets to 7.41% market share as Windows XP falls below 35% mark  —  Just before the results of back-to-school sales and way before the holiday season, Windows 8 appears to have made a significant jump in market share.  At the same time, Windows 7′s hold remains strong …

Happy 10th birthday Skype.  You changed everything; too bad you didn't change Microsoft  —  Very quietly today, Skype turned ten years old.  Ironically, I didn't even remember its 10th birthday.  I forgot, mostly because ever since it was acquired by Microsoft, Skype as we know is slowly losing its identity.

Video Site Viki Had Talks With Google And Yahoo Before It Took A $200M Deal With Rakuten, Which Plans To Use The Translation Platform In E-Commerce  —  Rakuten's $200 million acquisition of Viki — the video streaming site where users worldwide contribute subtitles to premium content …

Facebook vulnerability that allowed any photo to be deleted earns $12,500 bounty  —  An Indian electronics and communications engineer who describes himself as a “security enthusiast with a passion for ethical hacking” has discovered a Facebook vulnerability that could have allowed for any photo …

Hey, startups: Pretty soon you'll be able to talk about your fundraising efforts  —  The world changes for startups on September 23.  How?  On that date, thanks to the JOBS Act, it will become legal for startups to “generally solicit” and “generally advertise” their securities offerings.

PlayStation 4 does voice recognition with new PlayStation Camera  —  PlayStation On?  —  Sony has confirmed that the PlayStation 4 does voice recognition through the new PlayStation Camera.  —  However, the extent of its voice recognition features remain under wraps.

More details on Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch: those images are of a prototype  —  Venturebeat caused a holiday weekend stir with what appeared to be pictures of Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch, which will be formally unveiled this Wednesday.  However, the model of the watch reported …

Nintendo in Crisis  —  When Apple was on the ropes sixteen years ago, there was no shortage of advice about what the company should do to save itself, much of it fueled by a deep love for Apple's products.  It takes a diehard Apple fanatic to create something like the iconic “Pray” …