Strange bedfellows: Microsoft could bring Android apps to Windows  —  Of Microsoft's many challenges in mobile, none loom larger than the app deficit: it only takes a popular new title like Flappy Bird to highlight what the company is missing out on.  Windows 8 apps are also few and far between …

Apple Said to Plan New Set-Top Box Amid Time Warner Cable Talks  —  Apple Inc. (AAPL) is planning to introduce a new Apple TV set-top box as early as April and is negotiating with Time Warner Cable Inc. and other potential partners to add video content, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Steve Jobs time capsule dug up after 30 years: Exclusive video  —  Lost Steve Jobs mouse found after 30 years  —  For 30 years, a potentially priceless piece of technology history was lost somewhere beneath Aspen, Colo.  —  At the Aspen International Design Conference in 1983 …

IDC: Android and iOS accounted for 95.7% of global smartphone shipments in Q4 2013, and 93.8% for the year  —  Android and iOS accounted for 95.7 percent of all smartphone shipments in Q4 2013, and for 93.8 percent of all smartphone shipments for the whole year.

Nokia Lumia Icon coming to Verizon February 20th for $200 (hands-on)  —  Yes, Windows Phones are finally keeping up with the Joneses.  Thanks to the latest update, smartphones running Microsoft's mobile OS can now have top-of-the-line components.  We got a good taste of how this feels …

Google's $3.2 Billion Nest Acquisition Is Now Final  —  Google said in a regulatory filing this morning that it closed its acquisition of Nest on February 7.  —  The $3.2 billion cash deal brings the smart thermostat and smoke-detecting hardware company and its team — led by Apple's former iPod head …

A Snapchat Hack Is Sending People Pictures of Smoothies  —  This happened to me about an hour ago: I started getting texts from friends asking if I had intentionally snapped them photos of smoothies festooned with the URL of a scammy website.  I had not.  Honest mistake; I get weird on Snapchat.

Slack, Flickr Co-Founder Butterfield's Business Collaboration App, Exits Beta & Goes Freemium  —  Stewart Butterfield, the co-founder of Flickr who eventually left its acquirer Yahoo and started TinySpeck (and an ill-fated multiplayer game called Glitch), last year decided to take a different turn …

The Day the Internet Didn't Fight Back  —  So much for mass protest.  —  A consortium of Internet and privacy activists had long promoted Feb. 11 as the day the Internet would collectively stand up and shout down surveillance by the National Security Agency.

The Rise of the Facebook Truthers  —  Journalists will believe anything about the social network, as long as it's totally outlandish.  —  Something about Facebook makes journalists lose their minds.  How else to explain the seemingly unending procession of stories based on wild speculation and implausible conspiracy theories?

Betaworks unveils Alphaworks, a new equity crowdfunding platform  —  The New York “startup factory” has invested $1 million alongside SV Angel and Lerer Ventures to make equity crowdfunding easier for startups.  —  FORTUNE — Since forming in 2008, Betaworks has launched dozens of its own products and invested in 130 startups.

Supercell Revenue and Profit Soars  —  LONDON - Supercell, the Finnish gaming company behind the popular Clash of Clans and Hay Day franchises, has pretty good reason to be happy.  —  On Wednesday, the tech company announced that its revenue had risen almost ninefold last year, to $892 million, compared with 2012.

White House pushes cybersecurity framework for critical infrastructure  —  A new cybersecurity framework released Wednesday by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration aims to help operators of critical infrastructure develop comprehensive cybersecurity programs.

PayPal-owned StackMob to shut down on May 11 so team can focus on mobile payment technology  —  We now know what PayPal is going to be doing with the StackMob team.  In a blog post, co-founders Ty Amell and Will Palmeri announced that the platform-as-a-service company will be shutting down in order to …

IBM's Watson Group Makes First Startup Investment In “Social Health Management” Pioneer, Welltok  —  Remember Watson?  Yes, the artificially intelligent, question-answering computer system developed by IBM that trounced two former champions on Jeopardy like they were a couple of kindergartners.

Email Attack on Vendor Set Up Breach at Target  —  The breach at Target Corp. that exposed credit card and personal data on more than 110 million consumers appears to have begun with a malware-laced email phishing attack sent to employees at an HVAC firm that did business with the nationwide retailer …

Dropbox Outlines Its Principles For Handling Government Data Requests  —  Joining other leading technology firms, Dropbox today detailed the number of national security requests it received in the preceding 12 months for user data of its customers: 0-249.  —  While Dropbox applauded …

Continuing Local Efforts, Yahoo More Deeply Integrates OpenTable Reservations Into Search  —  Yahoo has begun integrating OpenTable reservations more deeply into its local search results, in a move that looks very much like its recent one with Yelp.  —  But, unlike Yelp, it is not due …

Samsung Push Into U.S. Government Sector Threatens BlackBerry  —  TORONTO—Samsung Electronics Co. is revamping its push into the U.S. enterprise and government sector, adding further pressure to the new leadership at the company that once dominated that space, BlackBerry Ltd.