Key to Microsoft’s financial health, the company said this week that sales of Windows 8 have surpassed 100 million licenses. “And, despite … criticism, [Tami Reller, Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Windows] said that Microsoft remains pleased with the operating system,” AllThingsD reports. Microsoft also confirmed that it is readying an update to Windows 8 for later this year. 

Google’s Motorola Mobility unit of Google was abusing its market position by seeking and enforcing an injunction against Apple in Germany over patents essential to mobile phone standards. So the European Commission is claiming, Reuters reports. “The Commission said injunctions could be used to combat patent infringements, but that was not the case where a potential licensee was prepared to agree on licensing terms,” Reuters writes. 

Aereo has filed a complaint against CBS in an effort to block the network from filing additional lawsuits against its Web TV service. “After losing two [court] decisions in New York this year, a CBS spokesman said on Twitter that the CBS plans to file another lawsuit against Aereo in Boston, an area Aereo recently moved into,” The Verge reports. “Aereo says that the broadcaster are [sic] just shopping for a more sympathetic court.” 

Vanity Fair gives Kara Swisher 4,450 words to lay bare Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram, and the startup’s found Kevin Systrom. “Systrom was overwhelmed by [Facebook founder Mark] Zuckerberg’s massive offer and intensity, which blurred his focus on keeping Instagram independent,” Swisher writes. Said Systrom: “I’m not sure what changed my mind, but [Zuck] presented an entire plan of action, and it went from a $500 million valuation from Sequoia to a $1 billion [one from Facebook].” 

Rumored for months, YouTube’s paid content service is expected to debut as soon as this week. “A paid content platform could give the Google-owned video site another revenue stream while allowing channel operators to finance different content production,” CNet writes. At launch, the a la carte service could encompass up to 50 video channels, and charge as little as $2 per month per channel. 

Spotify has acquired music discovery app Tunigo. AllThingsD connects the deal to Twitter’s move last fall to buy We Are Hunted, another “music discovery” startup that made a popular app for Spotify. “The We Are Hunted and Tunigo deals aren’t exactly parallel, since Twitter used We Are Hunted to build a brand-new music app, and Spotify doesn’t need one of those,” it writes. “But they do show that digital music companies are putting a renewed emphasis on helping people find stuff they like.” 

In other gaming news, a full 72% of U.S. gamers now play games online -- up 5 percentage points year-over-over -- according to new data from NPD Research. Yes, “the number of people who play video games without an online connection is quickly dwindling,” comments GeekWire.com. Also of note, the number of U.S. gamers who use a PC for online gaming declined by 4 percentage points over the past year, to 68%. “That’s still enough to make the PC the most popular platform for online gaming but mobile is catching up quickly,” GeekWire notes. 

Google has quietly hired gaming guru Noah Falstein as its Chief Game Designer. “Yes, that’s right, the search giant, not normally known for its games development, appears to have a major gaming project in circulation, at least something that requires someone as experienced as Falstein at its helm,” TechCrunch writes. “A Google Glass-related augmented-reality game seems a possibility, though there could be something even more serious going on.” 

Responding to user feedback, Barnes & Noble issued a software update to its Nook HD and Nook HD+ devices, which brings Google Play directly to the tablets. As Engadget reports, the move represents a strategy reversal for B&N. “The company line up to now has been that walling off content allows for a sort of quality control,” it writes. “With its announcement … B&N acknowledges that, in this case, open is better.” 

Financial firms -- stocked as they are with data aces, sales sharks, and communication pros -- have become a prime recruiting ground for the tech industry. “Talent has flowed between finance and tech for decades, with tech luring more people during booms like the present one,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “But tech firms and recruiters say the trend is accelerating as the balance of power between the two industries shifts in favor of tech.”