Samsung's Galaxy Gear is a smartwatch like no other  —  On sale for $299 in the United States from early October  —  The Galaxy Gear, Samsung's latest foray into the smartwatch category, is now official and it's quite unlike anything you've seen before.  Yes, it's a smartphone accessory …

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 makes official debut with 5.7-inch 1080p screen and faux-leather back, available September 25th  —  Samsung's annual IFA presser is typically its Galaxy Note coming-out party and this year is no different.  JK Shin, the Korean company's President and CEO …

Qualcomm Shows Off Toq Smartwatch Due in October for Around $300  —  As expected, Samsung is showing off its Galaxy Gear smartwatch at an event in Berlin.  In a surprising twist, though, it isn't the only company announcing a wrist computer today.  —  Qualcomm is showing off a wearable known as Toq.

BlackBerry Pushes for Speedy Sale Process  —  The Board Aims to Wrap Up Auction by November  —  BlackBerry Ltd., the beleaguered smartphone maker that has put itself up for sale, is aiming to run a fast auction process that could be wrapped up by November, according to people familiar with the matter.

Surface Pro 2 Details Emerge  —  Surface Pro 2 will include an improved kickstand and internal changes  —  A Neowin post this morning details a few of the features in the next generation Surface Pro, which Microsoft will indeed call Surface Pro 2.  Here, I'd like to expand just a bit on the information Neowin provided.

Sony Xperia Z1: 5-inch 1080p display, 21-megapixel snapper and Android 4.3  —  Sony has officially introduced the Xperia Z1, a 5-inch smartphone that will arrive running Android 4.3 and is made out of a solid one-piece aluminium frame.  It can also survive being dropped in the sink.

Xbox One to launch in major markets on 22 November  —  Microsoft positions the arrival of its next-gen console between the US and European launch dates for Sony's PS4  —  This is it: the battle for the next generation console market is on.  Microsoft has finally revealed the launch date …

Apple's DRM on iTunes was not an illegal monopoly, court confirms  —  Apple, which has been hammered by a New York judge over its ebook pricing practices, got some good news this week when a California appeals court ruled that a music rights management system known as FairPlay did not break antitrust laws.

Acxiom Gives Consumers Control of Their Data  —  Hoping to keep regulators at bay, Acxiom, one of the world's largest data brokers, today launched a portal that shows consumers the data that the company has on them and lets them make changes or opt out.  —  Consumers that enter aboutthedata.com …

NSA Laughs at PCs, Prefers Hacking Routers and Switches  —  The NSA runs a massive, full-time hacking operation targeting foreign systems, the latest leaks from Edward Snowden show.  But unlike conventional cybercriminals, the agency is less interested in hacking PCs and Macs.

Label Sues Spotify Because Some Of Its Users Create Playlists Of Authorized Music In The Same Order It Did  —  Another day, another wacky copyright lawsuit.  Ministry of Sound, the well-known nightclub/record label in London that puts together various compilations of dance music is suing Spotify …

MyOpenID to shut down.  Will be turned off on February 1, 2014  —  MyOpenID, a service created by user management platform Janrain as a free OpenID Identity registrar/server, has announced it is shutting down.  The service will completely shut its doors on February 1st 2014.

Intel Targets Cloud Data Centers with New Atom C2000 Chips  —  Wafers for the new Intel Atom C2000 processor, which was launched today and is available in 13 different configurations for specialized computing tasks.  (Photo: Intel)  —  Intel is bringing its low-power Atom chips to the cloud.

Sony betting big on 4K, launches Video Unlimited 4K download service  —  Technology is a fickle mistress and no-company knows it better than Sony.  There was a time when its television sets were a fixture in every upwardly mobile household.  Sony game consoles were on every teenage boy's Christmas wish-list …

Gov't settles with marketer of home security cameras after hack exposes people's homes online  —  WASHINGTON — The government is requiring the marketer of Internet-connected home monitoring cameras to come up with a better security design after feeds from people's homes …