Robert Scoble

Comcast is donating heavily to defeat the mayor who is bringing gigabit fiber to Seattle

One of Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn's big policy initiatives has been expanding the quality and quantity of high-speed Internet access throughout the city. A public-private partnership plans to offer higher speeds at lower prices than most broadband providers currently offer. And incumbent providers, particularly Comcast, have invested heavily in defeating McGinn in Tuesday's mayoral election.

http://wapo.st/1aJiKrg

It's time for Silicon Valley to ask: Is it worth it?

A hand-drawn emoticon ought to be enough to push Silicon Valley over the edge. The goading smiley-face sketch on a leaked NSA slide, courtesy of the prolific Edward Snowden, which pinpointed a weakness in the connection points of Google's and Yahoo's data centers, was published in yesterday's Washington Post alongside revelations that the spy agency has been doing more than just demanding that tech companies hand over personal data so it can monitor foreign suspects.

http://pndo.ly/1agtB9L

Google's Nexus 5 won't come to Verizon, but 'a set of projects for 2014' will

Google and Verizon haven't had the closest relationship in recent years - the Verizon-specific Galaxy Nexus was held back by the carrier's long software review process, making it feel like a second-class citizen in the Nexus family. And, of course, the Nexus 4 didn't support LTE and only worked on GSM-based networks, leaving Verizon customers out in the cold.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/10/31/5051304/google-nexus-5-wont-work-on-verizon

KitKat

(Credit: Google) Google today finally revealed the full details for Android 4.4 KitKat, the next version of its mobile operating system. But instead of delivering a raft of flashy new features to advance the mobile OS arms race, KitKat's most notable promise is to really fix the age-old Android problem of fragmentation.

http://cnet.co/19JzMoP

Google officially announces the Nexus 5

After a million and one leaks, the Nexus 5 has finally been announced. There's not too many surprises on the hardware front: the device packs a 4.95" 1080p IPS LCD, a 2.26 GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, and a 2300 mAh battery.

http://ars.to/H8TBh8