MSFT, GOOG battle for Facebook

[Bloomberg] An agreement may be announced in the next day or two, said one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the talks are private. The stake will probably be about 5 percent and would value Palo Alto, California-based Facebook at $10 billion to $15 billion, the people said.

Gmail gets IMAP support

[InfoWeek] Matthew Glotzbach, product management director for Google (NSDQ: GOOG) Enterprise, held it up as an example of Google's attempts at continuous innovation, saying it's one of many new features Google has added since launching Google Applications in February. "IMAP isn't new, but bringing it together is," he said.

TJX breach just keeps getting bigger

[eWeek] Despite TJX having reported some 46 million consumers impacted by the massive data breach into its computer systems, new documents indicate that as many as 96 million consumers may have been affected, including about 29 million MasterCard victims and 65 million Visa victims, according to documents filed with the federal court in Boston Oct. 23.

Qualcomm debuts Gobi

[EDN] Qualcomm Inc. on Tuesday introduced a new embedded solution targeted for notebook computers, dubbed Gobi global mobile Internet, which the company claims will allow notebooks to use high-speed mobile Internet services offered by network operators worldwide.

Xen founder outlines virtualization vision

[InfoWeek] When XenSource founder and CTO Simon Crosby first took the stage, he made sure to point out to the audience that XenSource is the exact opposite of VMware, since the company's goal is to deliver virtualization everywhere. "We want virtualization to be a component of the enterprise IT stack," Crosby said.

Verizon gives up the open access fight

[NYT] Verizon Wireless on Tuesday abandoned its legal challenge of the Federal Communications Commission’s rules for its auction of radio spectrum, removing a potential obstacle to the much-anticipated sale.

Verizon challenges cable with FiOS

[WSJ] Two years after launching its FiOS service, Verizon has signed up half a million TV subscribers and, as of the second quarter, was adding 2,600 customers per business day, the company says. In the parts of the Dallas area where FiOS service is offered, a quarter of households are taking it, Verizon estimates.