"Google's fourth-quarter earnings rose 7 percent as online advertisers spent more money in pursuit of holiday shoppers. The financial results announced Tuesday were a mixed bag. While the company's earnings topped analyst estimates, an accounting quirk caused net revenue to fall below the projections that guide investor expectations."

"If you consider NetApplications' data set, then Linux owns only about 1 percent of the desktop OS market and Windows has almost 92 percent. But if you consider all computing platforms, including mobile, than Windows has only 20 percent and Linux has 42 percent - and that would be in the form of Google's Android alone." No more or less legitimate than claiming Windows owns 92% of the market. It's all a matter of perspective.

Microsoft has announced the launch date of the Surface Pro, as well as widened availability of the Surface RT. The Surface Pro will launch in the US and Canada only, 9 February, for a starting price of $899. Surface RT's market availability, in the meantime, will expand to Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, also 9 February. Considering I was planning on ordering one from Germany, they're just in time so I can order from The Netherlands.

"This week we are announcing our new Firefox OS developer preview phones because we believe that developers will help bring the power of the web to mobile. These developer phones are being developed by Geeksphone in partnership with Telefonica and Geeksphone." Loving the orange.

The Verge has a learned a few interesting things about Google deprecating EAS and how this will affect Windows Phone users. As it turns out, Google informed Microsoft it was planning to remove EAS in the summer of last year, but without giving a firm date. Microsoft has been trying to get a six-month extension from Google, but so far with no luck. In the meantime, Microsoft is also working on adding CardDAV and CalDAV support to Windows Phone - so yay open standards.

The words 'Facebook' and 'open' don't necessarily go well together, until they do. And while they may hoard your data, they've contributed to openness in other ways. "In 2011 Facebook began the Open Compute Project, an effort among technology companies to use open-source computer hardware. Tech companies similarly shared intellectual property with Linux software, which lowered costs and spurred innovation. Facebook’s project has attracted many significant participants, including Goldman Sachs, Arista Networks, Rackspace, Hewlett-Packard and Dell." An interesting read over at the New York Times.

"With BlackBerry 10's official launch just around the corner, we happened upon a few photos of the final gold master version of the operating system running on a BlackBerry Z10 handset. Well, thanks to a close source at BlackBerry, we actually can show you about 100 photos of the phone's operating system in full detail. Every screen, every option menu, every app - let's take a ride together." Eh. Let's hope using it is a better experience than looking at it.

Ever since I bought my HTC HD7 way back in October 2010, I have been hooked on Windows Phone. Without even being able to test-drive the new operating system (The Netherlands didn't get Windows Phone 7 until a year later), I imported the HD7 from the US - the minimalist, stark, clean, flat, and textual interface spoke to me, and I just knew I would like it. And like it, I did.

"Never mind the fact that the iPod turned the entire music industry on its head. Never mind the fact that most successful notebooks today resemble designs first popularized by Apple. Never mind the fact that the blueprint of the modern day smartphone remains the original iPhone. Never mind the fact that competitors are scrambling wildly to copy the success and design of the iPad. Forget all of these things, because when it comes to Apple, the 'what have you done for me lately?' mentality reigns supreme."

"In December, the Google Nexus made by Taiwan's Asustek Computer Inc. accounted for 44.4% of all tablet sales by volume electronics retailers. That's according to a survey of 2,400 stores nationwide by market research firm BCN Inc., released Wednesday. Google's figure beat Apple's 40.1% share, dethroning the iPad for the first time since it went on sale in May 2010." Just as I and many others with me predicted, what happened in the smartphone market will also happen in the tablet market: Android will take the numbers, iOS will take the figures (i.e., profit). As far as I know, this is the first time this has actually materialised fully in a market, though. Also, while it was inevitable that Android would overtake iOS on tablets (even if it is just a single country, for now), I don't think anyone predicted it would be a single model? Colour me impressed (which is pink).

"Linux fans hope that the interface changes in Windows 8 will drive more users to Linux. But the open source operating system is facing interface challenges of its own. Part of the problem is that - after so much controversy within the Linux community - there are so many interfaces to chose from. But the new version of Fedora - a desktop focused version of Red Hat’s distribution of Linux - is offering users an easier way to choose between the many flavors of Linux GUI."

Wired's Steven Levy got to interview Google CEO Larry Page, and it's a good read overall. When asked about how he feels about Jobs' infamous remark that he would go 'thermonuclear' on Android, Page defiantly responds "How well is that working?" He's got a point. He's even harsher on Facebook, stating that the social network does "a really bad job on their products". My favourite quote from the interview is in response to questions about Google X, and projects like Google's self-driving cars. "If you're not doing some things that are crazy, then you're doing the wrong things."

Pokki is a start menu replacement for Windows - and it has already been downloaded 1.5 million times for Windows 8. "Since the launch of Windows 8, we've seen over 1.5 million Pokki downloads on the new OS itself and users opening the Pokki Menu an average of 10 times a day. These early numbers demonstrate that users enjoy being able to instantly access and discover apps, straight from the desktop." And this is just one of the countless replacements. Microsoft should've never kept the traditional desktop in there - they've given users the ability to escape Metro, and this will only hurt the new environment.

"In early January, Facebook began testing free calling over Wi-Fi and cellular data for all Messenger for iPhone users in Canada, and said that a US launch could be coming soon. Apparently, the test went well - a new free calling button has appeared in the app. Facebook has confirmed to The Verge that the feature began rolling out to US users today, and requires no update through the App Store. To make a call to another Messenger for iPhone user, all you need to do is open a conversation with that person, tap the 'i' button in the top-right corner, and tap Free Call." Imagine every Facebook user being able to call every other Facebook user for free. This could be very big.