Invitations to a Verizon Wireless event in New York City on Jan. 11 that went out to members of the media today have touched off speculation the carrier will announce the long-awaited launch of the Verizon iPhone. Earlier today, BGR reported Verizon could rollout the Apple device as soon as Feb. 3, based on Apple blacking out employee vacation requests between Feb. 3 and Feb. 6. You mean Steve Jobs isn't going to handle this one himself?

Best Buy says comparable-store sales fell 5% in December, with declines in entertainment software and TVs offsetting growth in mobile phones and appliances. And while the Minneapolis-based chain says the results were within the range of its expectations, the disappointing results are more evidence that tech sales weren't the Christmas present many retailers were hoping for. In fact, the NPD Group reports that tech sales weakened across all channels. The Port Washington, N.Y. based market research company says that despite the heavily-promoted specials that started early in November, it estimates the nine-week holiday period will come in with some …

Taking first jaunt through one of the CES floors reminded me how at least 25-40% of CES booths are comprised of the ecosystem surrounding consumer electronics. After market, accessories, cases, keyboards, etc. But really, how many iPad case manufacturers could there be? Seems like hundreds. Most unexpected booth so far? Trojan.

Reports are circulating that the technology giant will include incumbent Universal McCann in the review, according to a story posted at AdAge.com.

Despite inroads made by Android on its turf last year, the iPhone was the top social brand in 2010 for the third consecutive year, according to ViTrue's annual ranking of brands based on their prevalance in online conversations. Rounding out the top five were BlackBerry, Disney, and yes, Android, followed by the iPad. With "Apple" at No. 7, the tech giant had three brands in the top ten. Consumer electronics brands as a whole made up nearly a third (30%) of the The ViTrue 100, followed by fashion and retail, with 20%, transportation (17%) and media and broadcast (12%), …

These days, it seems fair to ask where Facebook hasn't extended its reach. Certainly not gadgets, as The Wall Street Journal reports from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. "Companies are showing products from cameras to video-game consoles that integrate Facebook into their core functions," writes The Journal. "They allow people to log in to the service from the gadgets and bring in and send out information about themselves and their friends, as well as their photos." Getting into gadgets is part of Facebook's broader open platform strategy, which the top social network has been building since 2007, …

Thanks to Goldman Sachs' $450 million investment in Facebook, the social network continues to reveal additional financial details. During the first nine months of 2010, Facebook earned $355 million in net income, according to Reuters citing documents distributed by Goldman. According to the document, Facebook generated $1.2 billion in revenue in the first nine months of 2010. “That valuation is high, but not outrageous based on the glimpse into the company's financial performance and the growth that it implies,” writes Reuters based on analysis from said Ryan Jacob, of the Jacob Internet Fund. "It just shows you that these …

A move that may seem as a shot across the bow of their smart phone competitor, Samsung has announce its partnership and support of Adobe Air for apps on the Smart TV. This will certainly drive scale of that app ecosystem. Wondering how many app stores I'll have to manage in the future...

No set top box needed in new parnerships with Samsung Smart TV and access through these cable providers. And watch the same content on the Samsung tablets. Interesting counter-point to the Google TV partnerships of the other TV manufacturers. This marriage though, may seems less rife with potential issues of the Google TV one. Is "over the top" dead?

Watching President BK Yoon talk about the emotional value of digital products and "digital humanism" inspired by Samsung's pico projector being used by the trapped miners in Chile. His 4 As: Access, Align, Amaze, Act. It's all about content and human experiences. Nice to see some "humanism" in this sea of tech.