China's Alibaba files for IPO that could be tech industry's biggest ever  —  Chinese e-commerce colossus Alibaba on Tuesday filed for an initial public offering that is poised to be one of the largest in history and will create a mighty rival to Silicon Valley's tech giants.

Google Maps apps add lane directions, ability to save maps for offline use, Uber integration, more  —  Get on the road, go off the grid, or plan the perfect weekend with the Google Maps app  —  When your life is moving fast, you need tools to keep up with your pace.

Apple Jumps to Second Place in Online Retail … In the crusade to capture clicks and pull in dollars from online sales, Amazon remains the clear frontrunner.  But 2013 e-commerce sales data from trade publication Internet Retailer reveals that the race is heating up.

US patent office ultimately approved 92% of applications in 2013, up from 68% in 2009  —  Getting patents is preposterously easy under Obama  —  When Apple first tried to patent the “slide to unlock” feature of its forthcoming iPhone in 2005, the US Patent and Trademark Office …

H.P. Makes $1 Billion Bet on Open Cloud  —  Hewlett-Packard is making its big bet on cloud computing, with a significant change of its own products and business, and the biggest endorsement yet of an open source alternative to the systems of Amazon and Google.

App.net is “profitable and self-sustaining”, but will no longer have any full-time employees  —  App.net State of the Union  —  As many are aware, the first major round of subscription renewals from the original App.net launch happened a few weeks ago.

ARM Expects ~1B Entry Level Smartphones in 2018, $20 Smartphones Coming This Year  —  When we first started covering mobile, nearly every silicon vendor I spoke with issued the same statement: eventually, all phones are smartphones.  Continued scaling on process technology …

Tech Leaders Call on California to Boost Computer Science  —  High-profile technology executives and investors are asking for a meeting with California Governor Jerry Brown to discuss augmenting computer science education in the state's public schools.  —  In a letter they circulated to the press …

Nintendo reports third consecutive annual loss as Wii U sales fizzle out  —  Nintendo made an annual operating loss for the third consecutive year in 2013, ending up ¥46.4 billion ($457 million) in the red as Wii U sales failed to pick up following the holiday season.

Google debuts Classroom, a free Apps for Education tool to help teachers create and collect assignments  —  Google today launched a new free tool called Classroom as part of its Google Apps for Education suite.  In short, Classroom helps teachers create and organize assignments …

The Norwegian Military Wants to Use Oculus Rift to Navigate Tanks  —  Parallel parking is really difficult.  If you practice enough, you can get to a good place with it, but even the most expert parkers can cut too early or too late sometimes.  But when you're driving a military tank …

Former Angry Birds creators raise $3.6M for Boomlagoon game studio  —  Boomlagoon, a Finnish game studio created by former Angry Birds creators, has raised $3.6 million in funding to build mobile games.  —  Helsinki-based Boomlagoon is one in a series of Finnish game startups …

Microsoft Said to Use Qualcomm Chips in Smaller Surface  —  Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is planning to introduce a new, smaller version of its Surface that will use Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) processors for the first time, according to people with knowledge of the companies' plans, a move that ends Nvidia …

Foresighted?  Epson Moverio Smart Glasses Go on Sale for $700 … Google Glass may be the most widely known wearable tech today, but Google isn't the only company trying to convince you that wearing a computer on your face is a good idea.  Epson, best known for its printers and projectors …

Secret Is Working On A Private Chat Feature  —  Anonyfish has been the only way to move a Secret conversation offline or somewhere with real names.  But anonymous sharing app Secret plans to release its own native private chat feature, founders David Bytow and Chrys Bader-Wechseler confirmed today on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt NY.

FCC commissioner says FCC “invented” new authority to regulate Internet  —  FCC Commissioner Michael O'Rielly.  —  The FCC's Michael O'Rielly, one of two Republican commissioners since being sworn into office last November, today warned against the commission using what he called “newly invented authority to regulate the Internet.”

Iran bans WhatsApp due to ‘Jewish ownership’  —  The ban seems to have triggered an open dispute with the government, which has been attempting to implement moderate social policies.  —  An Iranian censor has banned the use of the WhatsApp messaging application because it is owned by an “American Zionist, according to news reports.

App Annie Now Lets App Developers Track Ads, App Store Optimization  —  Mobile app analytics platform App Annie is expanding itself product lineup today with features designed to help publishers better analyze their advertising and App Store Optimization (ASO) efforts.

Microsoft kicks off Office Mix customer preview  —  Summary: Microsoft is opening up a customer preview of its newest Office app, a PowerPoint-based app known as Mix, to more testers.  —  Microsoft has opened the testing floodgates for its newest Office app, known as Office Mix.