U.S. Patent Office shoots down Apple’s iPad Mini trademark — for now

Arguing that the "Mini" in "iPad Mini" is merely descriptive, the U.S. Patent and Trademark office has denied Apple's trademark claim to the name.

Apple’s Find My Friends app update gives friends more ways to keep tabs on you

Apple updated its FindMyFriends app to allow you to get alerts when your friends enter or leave a custom-set radius around the location of your choice.

Apple hiring ‘ground truth managers’ to make sure iOS Maps match reality

Apple is hiring seven "ground truth managers" to oversee teams that are collecting and testing better map data, which it desperately needs.

Google issues open source patent pledge: we won’t sue first

Google pledged to not use its arsenal of patent weapons offensively today, taking a stand on open source and patents that is anti-patent troll, pro-competition, and pro-freedom to create, innovate, and code.

App Store and Google Play: who’s winning, what’s different, and generally … WhatsApp

This past month, Google Maps lost its position as the most downloaded app on Apple's iOS store -- to another Google app, YouTube.

iPhone 5 on T-Mobile LTE keeps up with AT&T and Verizon (video)

T-Mobile is finally getting the iPhone next month -- and it looks like the beleaguered carrier's customers can expect speeds similar to the competition.

T-Mobile’s bold new no-contract strategy: $99 iPhone 5, simple plans, more LTE

At a low-key press event today, T-Mobile made it clear that it's not just another carrier anymore.

Apple buys indoor-GPS startup WifiSlam for $20M

As if Apple's push to get all your data into the cloud weren't enough, the company now wants to find out exactly where you are while indoors, according to its latest acquisition.

New Apple flaw lets hackers change your Apple ID and iCloud passwords (updated)

After announcing two-factor authentication to protect your accounts yesterday, a new vulnerability that allows hackers to change your password without answering security questions surfaced today.

GamesBeat weekly roundup: EA CEO out, SimCity could have been offline, StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm review

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

Now Google’s Android unit is reportedly working on a smartwatch

With Apple and Samsung reportedly working on next-generation smartwatches, it was only a matter of time until we heard that Google was joining the party as well.

U.S. Department of Defense orders 120K iPads, 100K iPad minis, 200K iPod touches, and 210K iPhones

The U.S. military is fairly well-equipped with M16s, Abrams battle tanks, and aircraft carriers. But apparently there is a major shortage of shiny new Apple iDevices.