Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) COO Tim Cook was handed a $5 million bonus just for taking over Steve Jobs’ responsibilities during the six-months the CEO was on medical leave that ended in June, according to an 8-k filing. In addition to $5 million in cash, Cook was also awarded 75,000 restricted…

Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) was selling pre-orders for the iPad at a rate of about 25,000 an hour this morning, according to a Forbes piece. The methodology is very unscientific; it’s based on differences between the order numbers assigned to early buyers. But if it is accurate, here’s how it compares…

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) has improved the way it measures the global device market, including coming up with a better way to calculate the number of unlicensed and counterfeit products being sold in the market. Given that, Nokia went back and recalculated the industry’s overall performance last year and how it…

China has now reiterated its position in its standoff with Google (NSDQ: GOOG)—and it looks like all that remains is for Google to finally make its move. China says it won’t let Google operate an unfiltered search engine in the country. The latest statement from a government minister (via CNET):…

While the NYTCo (NYSE: NYT) struggled under the weight of economic pressures and debt last year, top execs personally did pretty well, even as the company reduced its newsroom by 100 staffers. As the company’s recent Q4 results showed, cost-cutting led to greater profitability and that appears to show in…

*ABC* News Digital execs are currently putting together a formal paywall strategy with expectations of having some concrete ideas for ways to charge consumers by the summer, said Paul Slavin, the unit’s SVP, in an interview with paidContent. This isn’t the first time *ABC* News has traveled the paid content…

The first victim of the free navigation wars: Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) is shutting down Wayfinder, the Swedish mapmaker it purchased for $30 million in late 2008. It was the carrier’s goal to use Wayfinder to provide directions to both drivers and pedestrians, while overlaying location-based advertising to alert users to…

Another e-reader company is finding it more difficult than expected to deliver devices. Pre-order customers for the Plastic Logic Que proReader are getting an e-mail from CEO Richard Archuleta about an extended delay in delivering the device, highly anticipated because of its sleek form factor and large screen. During CES,…

Print publishers can’t wait for iPad to hit the streets next month, perhaps so they can once again start producing info in a similar-looking format to their core products of yesteryear. NYT’s flagship app lit the blue touch paper for iPad, Wired also got in on the act early, both…

Hearst has about 70 apps under its LMK banner in the iTunes App Store right now and it just plans to keep adding more and more. Most of the LMK apps sell for about $1.99, while a handful cost $0.99 per download. The LMK initials stand for “Let Me Know”…

On Monday morning, I helped Beet.tv executive producer Andy Plesser host his latest roundtable discussion on the future of online video, at The Guardian’s Kings Place HQ. In this video, Andy hears from The Economist executive editor Daniel Franklin that the “book-like” experience of e-readers and iPads can reboot considered,…

Twitter client HootSuite, which recently raised $1.9 million in funding, has now made an acquisition, buying up Android app developer Swift App. HootSuite says that Swift App was behind the development of HootSuite’s own Android app, which was released last week. The company says the acquisition “means quicker development for…

It’s long been known that Nokia’s had a hard time selling its popular devices in the U.S. But its latest smartphones coming have a series of enhancements that it hopes will make it more competitive. The phones will run the latest version of the open source operating system, “Symbian^3,” which…

Early adopters take note: Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) is taking pre-orders for the iPad at 5:30 a.m. Pacific on Friday. Last week, Apple announced that March 12 was the magical day for per-orders, but never specified a time. Now, it has been confirmed that electronic ordering will begin bright and early,…

Looking for real-time data of its own, the FCC (yes, the regulatory body in Washington, D.C.) has released a mobile app for iPhone and Android. Don’t worry, the feds aren’t interested in listening to your phone conversations, rather they say the purpose of the app is to provide “Americans with…

MSNBC is continuing to try make better use of social media as a distribution tool with a small effort that ties its @BreakingNews Twitter account to a dedicated Facebook page. It’s not clear how much Facebook fans want real-time news mixed with their friends’ status updates—as opposed to following @BreakingNews…

LivingSocial, which develops various social apps and also runs a group-buying service, has raised $25 million in a second round of funding led by U.S. Venture Partners. The company’s flagship app is LivingSocial, which lets users indicate and share favorite things on social networks. More recently, however, a second service—LivingSocial…

If you are holding out for a 4G phone for your next purchase, don’t bother. Verizon Wireless will not have its very first 4G handset until mid-2011. While that’s about six months earlier than the company had said before, that’s still far enough away to burn through another contract, especially…

News Corp.. (NYSE: NWS) Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch celebrates his 79th birthday with a cameo on his own Fox Business Network. Among the topics ... the newspaper ad model not dead yet (if we were Gawker we’d have to follow that with “neither am I”); iPad will attract more…