LOS GATOS, Calif. (AP) — Netflix is going Dutch.

By Noel Randewich (Reuters) - Shares of chipmaker Nvidia surged nearly 6 percent on Wednesday after the company said it plans to license its graphics technology, opening the door to new business with Apple, Samsung Electronics and other mobile device makers. Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun Huang told the Reuters Global Technology Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday that licensing graphics cores and visual patents would help Nvidia take greater advantage of the booming market for smartphones and tablets and tap markets it could not reach through selling its own chips. ...

By Michelle Sierra NEW YORK (Reuters) - Carl Icahn reiterated his interest in owning Dell Inc and said the $5.2 billion in financing he's putting together to back his bid for the company continues to move forward as planned. The comments came in a telephone interview Tuesday, echoing statements he made earlier in the day in an open letter to Dell shareholders. "Nothing has changed regarding the financing," Icahn said. "We expect to have $5.2 billion in the next couple of weeks. Our investment bank is already committing $1.6 billion and my affiliates and I would provide $2 billion, if ...

Despite numerous reports suggesting Apple’s second-generation iPad mini will ship later this year with a Retina display, one industry watcher believes the Retina-equipped version of Apple’s latest tablet won’t launch until sometime in 2014. According to NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim, Apple’s next iPad mini will use the same display as the current model, though it will feature an upgraded processor and a slimmer design. The analyst also says Apple will launch a new Retina iPad mini in early 2014, though his claims are riddled with holes. First, it seems unlikely that Apple would launch a new iPad mini this fall and then a third-generation model in “early 2014.” Apple has grouped iPad launches closely in the past, but only

In a previously unreleased, nearly 20-year-old interview, Steve Jobs made a prescient statement about the current state of the company he made so famous. "All the work that I have done in my life will be obsolete by the time I'm 50," said Jobs, who died at 56 and introduced the iPhone just weeks before his 52nd birthday (at which point the Apple 1 was very much obsolete), in a short clip (below) provided by the Silicon Valley Historical Association to promote a new, 60-minute documentary. "This is a field where one does not write a Principia which holds up for 200 years. ...

BlackBerry 10 devices may not be selling like iPhones or Samsung Galaxy phones, but BlackBerry nonetheless has to be pleased that it’s beaten many analysts’ expectations for device shipments so far. The Financial Post points us to new research from RBC analyst Mark Sue, who now projects that BlackBerry will ship 14 million BlackBerry 10 devices this year, up from his earlier projection of 11 million units. Sue also sees BlackBerry 10 performing above expectations in early 2014 and he now believes that BlackBerry will ship 3.5 million BlackBerry 10 devices in the first quarter of 2014, up from his earlier projection of 2.75 million units. Sue recently said that BlackBerry 10 sales are strongest so far in Canada, the

By Sophie Knight and Sinead Carew TOKYO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan's SoftBank Corp cleared a major hurdle in its attempt to buy U.S. wireless provider Sprint Nextel Corp, as rival bidder Dish Network Corp declined to make a new offer after SoftBank sweetened its own bid last week. SoftBank Chief Executive Masayoshi Son is now a step closer to sealing the largest overseas acquisition by a Japanese company in history, after winning support from a key shareholder by raising SoftBank's offer to $21.6 billion from $20.1 billion last week. ...

Solved!

Critics have blasted Microsoft over its used game policy for its Xbox One gaming console. Games are locked to a user’s personal Xbox Live account and require a persistent Internet connection for verification. The company also gave developers the freedom to prevent games from being shared with friends or even sold at certain retailers. In the wake of Microsoft’s bad press, gaming giant Steam appears to be preparing its own lending feature for its popular gaming marketplace. One common complaint about Steam was a user’s inability to share games with friends, but newly discovered code suggests that the company is working on a “Shared Game Library.” A member of the popular gaming forum NeoGAF spotted the line of code, which

By Ashley Lau (Reuters) - Wall Street's Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is looking at how brokerage firms supervise their use of communication outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, the industry-funded regulator said. FINRA, which conducts periodic "sweeps," or targeted checks on Wall Street brokerages, sent out letters to firms earlier this month requesting information about their use and monitoring of social media communications for the companies and individual employees. ...

By Andrea Shalal-Esa PARIS (Reuters) - Increased cyber espionage by China and recent leaks by a contractor working at the National Security Agency have put a sharp focus on cyber security for aerospace and defense companies showing off their wares at this year's Paris Airshow. "We, like others, are constantly being bombarded by people who are trying to get into our systems," said Mark DeYoung, chief executive of U.S. rocket engine and ammunition maker Alliant Techsystems (ATK). ...

Contrary to everything reality television has taught us, extremely lavish nuptials won't make you any happier — or, at least Internet mogul and noted partier Sean Parker does not sound too delighted after his $4.5 million ecological mess of a costume nerd wedding earlier this month. "My wife and I should be happy right now, elated to have been married," he told The Guardian's Paul Harris. That's especially true since everyone knows the dollar amount spent on a wedding directly correlates with happiness, right? And Parker spent at least $4. ...

By Jim Finkle BOSTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is looking to recruit computer geeks in its ongoing efforts to protect Windows PCs from attacks, offering rewards of as much as $150,000 to anybody who helps identify and fix major security holes in its software. Microsoft unveiled the rewards program, one of the most generous in the high-tech industry to date, on Wednesday as it sought ways to prevent sophisticated attackers from subverting new security technologies it has introduced in the latest versions of the Windows operating system. ...

While Sony’s smartphone business has been struggling for some time now, it is a company known for building HDTVs and mobile devices with stunning displays that are among the best on the market. HTC is struggling as well, but its smartphone hardware is always among the best in the world and that includes its stunning HD displays. With that in mind, it’s quite surprising that up-and-comer Huawei trounced flagship smartphone models from both major brands in DisplayMate’s latest full HD smartphone display shootout, which was published this week. The site says Huawei’s Ascend D2 “delivers superior picture quality with accurate colors and images” compared to the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z, but that’s just a small part of the story.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's nuclear watchdog formally approved a set of new safety requirements for atomic power plants on Wednesday, paving the way for the reopening of facilities shut down since the Fukushima disaster in a move critics charged was too hasty.

LG is still on pace to be the first manufacturer to mass produce flexible and unbreakable displays for mobile devices. The company confirmed in a statement to the Korea Times that it has completed development of its flexible displays and is scheduled to begin mass production in the fourth quarter. LG is looking to get a jump on the competition and plans to release a smartphone with a flexible screen later this year. Samsung is also developing unbreakable and bendable displays, however the company’s first consumer devices that utilize them aren’t expected to arrive until the second half of 2014. LG estimates that it will produce 12,000 sheets of OLED flexible displays per month when production begins later this year.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Cisco Systems will invest $15 million in Israeli venture capital funds as part of a broader plan to expand its operations in Israel and outside the United States, the company said on Wednesday. The investment will be made in funds that support integration of Israelis and Arabs and the development of innovative security technologies. ...

Welp, here's hoping you didn't have anything important stored on Megaupload's mostly dormant servers. Megaupload owner and maniacal super villain Kim Dotcom says a huge amount of their servers have been wiped in a "data massacre" for the ages. 

Spam: A Shadow History of the Internet [Excerpt, Part 2]

Google has shown that it most certainly isn’t afraid to pull the plug on services that aren’t making money. More than one out of every three Google products ends up being shuttered, and the company’s popular Google Reader RSS reader will be added to the list of dearly departed Google services in less than two weeks. Now that we have all had some time to get the panic and despair out of our systems, the rebuilding process can begin. There are plenty of options out there when it comes to finding a solid service to replace Google Reader, and it can get overwhelming. As such, we’ve narrowed it down to our five favorites and here they are in no particular order: NewsBlur