Amazon Announces The Kindle HDX 7- And 8.9-Inch Tablets With High-Res Screens, 2GHz Processors  —  Amazon has upped the Fire tablet ante with two new HDX models in 7- and 8.9-inch sizes with brand-new, high-resolution screens and running an updated Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor at 2GHz.

Samsung Electronics to launch smartphone with curved display in October  —  (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said it will introduce a smartphone with a curved display in October, as the world's top handset maker seeks to set the pace of hardware innovation and maintain its supremacy in a fiercely competitive business.

Samsung counters iPhone 5S with a golden Galaxy S4  —  Two weeks after Apple's September 10th reveal of a champagne-colored iPhone, Samsung is launching its own golden phone in the shape of a new Gold Edition Galaxy S4.  There are two options, Gold Pink or Gold Brown, which Samsung …

Finnish media: Nokia pleads with Elop to accept smaller bonus - Elop claims he needs full $25M for his divorce  —  According to the early Wednesday morning edition of Finland's biggest newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, Nokia has pleaded with former CEO Stephen Elop to accept a smaller bonus in order …

The Myth of Steve Jobs' Constant Breakthroughs  —  Last Friday, Apple's iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c went on sale.  The company sold nine million of them in the first weekend, breaking the five-million-phone record it set last year with the iPhone 5.  I sort of thought that was clearly good news for Apple and the iPhone.

Data Broker Giants Hacked by ID Theft Service  —  An identity theft service that sells Social Security numbers, birth records, credit and background reports on millions of Americans has infiltrated computers at some of America's largest consumer and business data aggregators, according to a seven-month investigation by KrebsOnSecurity.

Google Is Going to Pay You Back for Your Unused Google Offers  —  Google has started sending out emails this week notifying its customers that it will soon start refunding their unused Google Offers.  —  The refunds signal a shift in how the Google Offers local deals platform works, as outlined in a July blog post.

Bypassing TouchID was “no challenge at all,” hacker tells Ars  —  Ars expressed surprise on Monday that a hacker was able to bypass fingerprint protection less than 48 hours after its debut in Apple's newest iPhone, but not everyone felt the same way.  The hack, carried out by well-known …

Twitter recommends accounts and tweets in notifications based on @MagicRecs algorithms  —  Stay in the know  —  We've started rolling out a new notification that recommends interesting accounts and Tweets for you.  —  If you're like me, you occasionally feel like you're missing …

How a Crypto ‘Backdoor’ Pitted the Tech World Against the NSA  —  In August 2007, a young programmer in Microsoft's Windows security group stood up to give a five-minute turbo talk at the annual Crypto conference in Santa Barbara.  —  It was a Tuesday evening, part of the conference's …

Future Firefox to deactivate most plug-ins by default  —  The Aurora test version of Firefox won't load browser plug-ins such as Silverlight and QuickTime unless the user grants permission — except in the case of Flash.  —  Mozilla has dealt another blow to the use of plug-ins to extend browser abilities …

Alibaba Said to Shift Target from Hong Kong to U.S. for I.P.O.  —  HONG KONG-The Chinese Internet company Alibaba has ended talks with the Hong Kong stock exchange over an initial public offering and is now moving forward with plans to list in New York, a person close to the Chinese company said on Wednesday.

Roku launches new TV streaming boxes and brings Roku 3 to the UK and Ireland  —  Roku, makers of the streaming TV, film, music and gaming boxes, has today launched a new family of Roku devices and is bringing its top-of-the-line Roku 3 unit which has been available in the US since earlier in the year to the UK and Ireland.

Senators Demand Answers On NSA Snooping - By The End Of 2014  —  This week nine members of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the inspector general of the Intelligence Community, I. Charles McCullough III, asking him to conduct a full review of U.S. intelligence operations, and to “make public the findings.”

Exclusive: Next for Nest: A Smoke Detector  —  Smart thermostat-maker Nest Labs has been developing a smoke detector that could go on sale as soon as later this year, we have learned from people close to the startup.  —  Why are we telling you about a potential new smoke detector?  Good question.

Ellison skips OpenWorld keynote to watch America's Cup  —  CEO cancels his keynote at the last minute to watch a crucial Oracle Team USA race against New Zealand  —  Larry Ellison had a choice on Tuesday afternoon: watch a crucial race for his America's Cup sailing team or deliver a keynote …