Despite repeated sellouts, Nexus 4 sales estimated to total just 375,000 units

Google’s (GOOG) has had trouble keeping latest Nexus-branded smartphone, the LG (066570)-built Nexus 4, in stock as hordes of Android fans would swarm Google’s website each time more units became available. According to new estimates however, the Nexus 4 stock-outs were due entirely to inventory issues rather than immense demand. The xda-developers community has done some calculations based on data...

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Microsoft’s huge R&D budget is useless if its best ideas are poorly executed or never released

PC World’s Matt Smith has a lengthy article highlighting all of Microsoft’s (MSFT) coolest research projects to show that, contrary to popular opinion, the company is a fountain of research and innovation. And Microsoft’s R&D team really is working on some cool stuff, including interactive displays that can be projected directly onto your arm and a “Magic Wall” that brings to mind the holodeck...

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Google chairman heading to North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — When he lands in North Korea, even Google's executive chairman will likely have to relinquish his smartphone, leaving him disconnected from the global information network he helped build.Eric Schmidt is a staunch advocate of global Internet access and the power of Internet connectivity in lifting people out of poverty and political oppression. This month, he plans to travel...

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Apple reportedly not looking to buy Waze after all

Despite earlier rumors that claimed a deal was in the works, CNET and TechCrunch are both reporting that Apple (AAPL) has no plans to acquire Waze. It was previously reported that Apple was considering a buyout of the social navigation startup in an effort to improve its widely-panned Maps application. A second report suggested that negotiations between the two companies were further along than once...

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Google settles on patents, other antitrust claims

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is pledging to license hundreds of key patents to mobile computing rivals under more reasonable terms and to curb the use of snippets from other websites in Internet search results in a settlement that ends a high-profile antitrust probe.In a major victory for Google, the Federal Trade Commission unanimously concluded that there isn't enough evidence to support complaints...

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French panel overturns 75 percent tax on ultrarich

PARIS (AP) — Embattled French President Francois Hollande suffered a fresh setback Saturday when France's highest court threw out a plan to tax the ultrawealthy at a 75 percent rate, saying it was unfair.In a stinging rebuke to one of Socialist Hollande's flagship campaign promises, the constitutional council ruled Saturday that the way the highly contentious tax was designed was unconstitutional....

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Berlusconi criticizes Monti's campaign about-face

ROME (AP) — Ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi sharply criticized the decision by Mario Monti to run in Italy's general elections and vowed Saturday to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the 2011 fall of his government and appointment of Monti as Italy's premier.Berlusconi spoke out after Monti ended weeks of hedging and announced Friday he would head a coalition of centrist forces, businessmen and pro-Vatican...

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4 dead in Moscow airliner crash

MOSCOW (AP) — A passenger airliner careered off the runway at Russia's third-busiest airport and partly onto a highway while landing on Saturday, broke into pieces and caught fire, killing at least four people.Officials said there were eight people aboard the Tu-204 belonging to Russian airline Red Wings that was flying back from the Czech Republic without passengers to its home at Vnukovo Airport.Emergency...

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Central Asian migrants change the face of Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) — Timur Bulgakov has a black belt in karate, two university degrees, a powerful SUV and a small yet thriving construction company. The 28-year-old's success is impressive for a Muslim migrant from Uzbekistan whose first job in Moscow 10 years ago was as a delivery boy.But his story is no longer that unusual.The old Moscow, populated largely by Slavs, is rapidly giving way to a multi-ethnic...

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Putin says he will sign anti-US adoptions bill

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will sign a controversial bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children, while the Kremlin's children's rights advocate recommended extending the ban to the rest of the world.The bill is part of the country's increasingly confrontational stance with the West and has angered some Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political...

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