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.

Valve announces Steam Machines, the Steam Box hardware beta  —  Valve is building a game console, but not just one.  The company wants to create an entirely new class of computers that brings the power of Linux and the distribution might of Steam to the living room.  That's why on Monday, it announced SteamOS.

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 …

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.

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.

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 …

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.

Nokia will announce six new devices at its October 22nd event  —  There'll be a range of new form factors as well  —  Nokia's Innovation Reinvented event in Abu Dhabi next month will host the launch of at least six new devices from the Finnish company, including at least two new Lumias.

Microsoft's Surface Mini: Not until spring 2014?  —  Summary: Microsoft may not get its first Surface Mini tablet out the door until Spring 2014 — which is looking like the same time when its Windows variants may get a refresh, sources say.  —  There's been a lot of speculation …

Hyperlocal Power: Urban Compass Raises $20M At A $150M Valuation; Adds Advance Publications And Marc Benioff As Investors  —  Urban Compass, the young New York startup that emerged from stealth mode in May with a home rentals platform and accompanying hyperlocal social network …

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.

Twitter Alerts Lets You Opt-in On Push Notifications From Emergency Organizations And NGOs During Crises  —  Twitter is rolling out a new system called Twitter Alerts today that lets you choose to receive special alerts from emergency accounts, government organizations and NGOs.

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 …

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.

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 …

Apple wins right to use iPhone name in Brazil  —  Apple can now share the name in Brazil with IGB Electronica, which wanted to retain exclusive rights.  —  The iPhone can now legally be known as the iPhone in Brazil following a court ruling.  —  On Tuesday, Judge Eduardo de Brito Fernandes ruled …

Day traders, angels and venture capital: The internet changes everything, including money  —  London is the grandfather of economic excess and perhaps an appropriate role model for New York and San Francisco, the new Babylons of the post-millennial world.  It is hard to escape the presence of money …