Microsoft releases Office for iPad, subscription required for editing docs  —  Rumors have been circulating for years that Microsoft was working on a version of Office for the iPad, with speculation getting so intense at one point that the company went out of its way to categorically deny it.

Twitter and Billboard announce Real-Time Charts, lists of music that is being talked about and shared on Twitter in the US  —  ComingSoon: Billboard Twitter Real-Time Chart  —  Today Billboard is announcing a partnership with us to create the Billboard Twitter Real-Time Chart …

The Inside Story of How Facebook Got Oculus VR  —  A 19-year-old hacker set out to invent a gaming headset.  He ended up reviving a dead technology and creating an idea worth $2 billion  —  To understand why Oculus Rift matters, it helps to know who John Carmack is.

Spotify is planning an IPO for this fall  —  Spotify could take itself public some time in the fall of 2014.  —  The popular music-streaming company has participated in informal chats with some of the investment banks likely to fight for a role in a potential IPO, sources familiar with the process said.

Twitter rolls out photo tagging, ability to share up to four photos in a tweet  —  Photos just got more social  —  We're rolling out two new mobile features that make photos on Twitter more social.  One is photo tagging, which lets you tag the people in your photo; the other is the ability to include up to four photos in a Tweet.

Intel to ditch its Hadoop software and support Cloudera instead  —  Intel is set to cause a tremor in the big data market tomorrow.  —  The chip maker will announce tomorrow that it will stop pushing its own distribution of open-source Hadoop software for storing and processing lots …

Amazon to launch set-top box in April 2 event  —  Amazon Launching Video Box Next Week  —  Amazon's entry into the set top box world, which has been delayed for months, is coming next week, according to people familiar with the company's plans.  —  The e-commerce giant has invited reporters …

Apps with millions of Google Play downloads covertly mine cryptocurrency  —  Researchers said they have uncovered two apps that were downloaded from the official Google Play market more than one million times that use Android devices to mine the Litecoin and Dogecoin cryptocurrencies without explicitly informing end users.

New images reveal an overhauled Store for Windows Phone 8.1, includes automatic app updates and more  —  The Windows Phone 8.1 core has been finished today, so it seems appropriate to take a look at an area that is need of some improvement: the Windows Phone Store.

Turkey blocks access to YouTube after alleged leak of recordings of key security meeting  —  Turkey blocks access to YouTube after leak recordings of key security meeting  —  Less than a week after a notorious ban on Twitter went into effect, the Turkish government blocked access to YouTube on March 27.

Russian government officials switch from iPads to Samsung tablets over spying fears  —  Russian officials dump iPads over spy fears  —  Moscow — Russian government officials have swapped their iPads for Samsung tablets to ensure tighter security, the telecoms minister told news agencies on Wednesday.

Microsoft Paid Up To $150M To Buy Wearable Computing IP From The Osterhout Design Group  —  Earlier this week, Facebook announced that it had acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion, and it turns out that this isn't the only recent piece of M&A in the category of head-mounted wearable computing.

Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Twitter launch WebScaleSQL, a custom version of MySQL for massive databases  —  Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, and Twitter today announced WebScaleSQL, a collaborative project bringing the engineers from these companies together to solve challenges working with massive databases.

Lithium Confirms That It Has Acquired Klout  —  At a press event today, Lithium Technologies confirmed reports that it has closed its acquisition of Klout.  —  Re/code first reported on the deal back in February, saying that it was “signed but not closed”, then Fortune reported yesterday that the price was nearly $200 million.

Government requests to Google have more than doubled in the past four years  —  Google released its latest transparency report today, revealing tens of thousands of law enforcement requests from across the world.  In the second half of 2013, the report lists more than 27,000 requests …

The Other Facebook News: One Billion Mobile Users  —  Facebook followers could be forgiven for being fixated by the $2 billion deal to acquire the virtual reality company Oculus.  —  But another disclosure from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday is also worthy of attention …

Pew Report: 30% of US adults get news from Facebook, 10% from YouTube, 8% from Twitter  —  STUDY: Facebook's Role In Pew Research Center's ‘State Of The News Media 2014’  —  Facebook and other social networks continue to become further intertwined with the media, as the State of the News Media 2014 report …

Judge tosses lawsuit against Facebook over use of minors' photos  —  (Reuters) - A California federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit against Facebook Inc that had accused the company of misappropriating the names and likenesses of minors who use the social network.

UK ad watchdog clears Microsoft ad campaign attacking Gmail privacy standards  —  Microsoft wins battle over ads attacking Google privacy standards  —  Advertising Standards Authority agrees Gmail's scanning of email contents to target ads sets it apart from Outlook.com

Yahoo Japan buys SoftBank's eAccess for $3.2B to set up new mobile Internet service  —  Yahoo Japan buys SoftBank's eAccess to set up new mobile Internet service  —  (Reuters) - Yahoo Japan Corp said on Thursday that it would buy mobile and broadband provider eAccess Ltd from its parent SoftBank Corp …