Amazon merchant caught bribing customers for five-star reviews (Digital Trends)
Digital Trends - As reported by the New York Times earlier today, an Amazon merchant known as VIP Deals issued a letter to all customers that purchased the Vipertek black leather, case folio cover designed for the newly released Kindle Fire. As detailed in the correspondence here, the merchant offered a full refund of the $10 case in exchange for a review on Amazon. While the letter didn’t specifically ask for a positive review, it stated “Please share your experience to help others learn more about the specific features and qualities of the product, what you liked about it and the benefits to owning the product.” Later in the document, the seller went on to state “Please also rate your 5-star experience, we strive to earn 100% perfect perfect ‘FIVE-STAR’ scores from you!” The letter was dated December 16, 2011.

Ubuntu moves beyond the desktop with new TV interface, menu-killing navigation system (Digital Trends)
Digital Trends - Late last year, Ubuntu announced it would bring the open source operating system to mobile devices. Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said Ubuntu will soon be found on “tablets, phones, TVs and smart screens from the car to the office kitchen, and it will connect those devices cleanly and seamlessly to the desktop, the server and the cloud.”

Apple-fan cop uses app to catch iPhone thief (Digital Trends)
Digital Trends - A quick-thinking cop used his knowledge of Apple products to lead him to an iPhone thief within 30 minutes of the device being stolen.

Hacker group Anonymous targets Mexican websites (Reuters)
Reuters - The activist hacker group Anonymous attacked three Mexican government websites on Friday in protest at a proposed bill that seeks to toughen local laws about online file-sharing.

Samsung 4Q profit rises 17 pct on smartphone sales (AP)

AP - Samsung Electronics Co. reported a 17 percent jump in fourth quarter profit on the strength of smartphone sales even as the company battled claims it had copied Apple's iPhone.

Apple CEO Tim Cook responds to criticism about iOS device factory working conditions (Appolicious)
Appolicious - Apple CEO Tim Cook responds to criticism about iOS device factory working conditions

Twitter's new censorship plan rouses global furor (AP)

AP - Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.

Does the new 3G/WiFi PS Vita bundle make 3G worth it? (Digital Trends)
Digital Trends - With the North American PS Vita launch coming to a February 22 near you, Sony has unveiled two Vita bundles, hoping to drum up interest in the 3G version.

RIM CEO eyes "significant" plans for BlackBerry (Reuters)
Reuters - Research in Motion's Thorsten Heins plans to waste no time in his new job. The BlackBerry maker's chief executive said he will present the board with his plan for company's future in just a matter of weeks.

Poll: Over 50 percent of users are worried about Facebook Timeline (Digital Trends)
Digital Trends - As detailed by a Sophos Security post earlier today, the IT security blog conducted a poll of over 4,000 Facebook users in order to determine a general consensus regarding Facebook’s new Timeline feature rolling out to profiles over the next few weeks. Over 50 percent of respondents claimed to be worried about Facebook Timeline and an additional 32 percent responded “I don’t know why I’m still on Facebook.” Only 8 percent declared positive emotions towards Timeline and another eight percent stated that they will have to get used to it.

DoCoMo to ask for changes in Android -Nikkei (Reuters)
Reuters - NTT DoCoMo Inc (9437.T) will ask Google Inc to modify its Android operating system so that smartphones using it would put less pressure on networks, a move that could spark wider protests against the leading mobile software platform, the Nikkei reported.

Jobless man builds a house out of $1.82 billion worth of shredded money (Yahoo! News)
Yahoo! News - What would you do with $1.82 billion worth of shredded money? In Ireland, people build houses out of it — at least that's what Dublin-based artist Frank Buckley did. The unemployed artist originally wanted to create a gallery for his series of ?

Twitter's new censorship rules face opposition (Reuters)
Reuters - It was only two weeks ago that Twitter was protesting online censorship in the form of anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA. Now the social networking site faces a surge of opposition to its own censorship practices.

15 Killer Quotes From 'Sh*t People Say' Videos (Mashable)
Mashable - This meme is certainly making a strong case to be one of the biggest of 2012. Sure, the first episode of "Sh*t Girls Say" was uploaded at the end of last year, but who's counting really? The results that Google yields when you start typing "Sh*t People Say" are as far-ranging in quality as they are in topic. SEE ALSO: 15 Best ‘Sh*t People Say’ Videos

Apple CEO responds to allegations of Chinese worker abuse (Yahoo! News)
Yahoo! News - Is Apple finally getting tough on their abusive Chinese suppliers? Maybe. Intent on stemming the increasing complaints from the public and investors alike, Apple CEO Tim Cook fired off an email yesterday to combat claims from "people questioning Apple's values," detailing what ?