Describing himself and Ballmer as “self-critical”, he praises the work on Windows 8, Surface, and Bing. However, Gates admits the recent products aren’t enough. “He [Ballmer] and I are not satisfied that in terms of breakthrough things that we’re doing everything possible,” says Gates. The honest and frank interview is a rare glimpse into Gates’ role at Microsoft after he stepped down as CEO to focus on his philanthropy.

Next Sony PlayStation to stream games [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]

The streaming technology is one of the new features and enhancements expected to be offered with the new console, which Sony plans to unveil at an event in New York. Sony’s new PlayStation, for example, may control the action with higher fidelity cameras for its “Move” motion-sensing technology and touch-sensing pads on new controllers, according to people who have seen and been briefed on the devices.

The newest overhyped mobile industry word: LTE-Advanced [GIGOM]

There are no true LTE-Advanced networks, chips or devices in the market today and there won’t be for many years. The mobile industry is playing an old game: technology inflation.

You may remember that a few years back T-Mobile and AT&T magically transformed their HSPA networks from3G systems into 4G systems by waving their marketing wands. That technology inflation, however, began years began years before when Sprint first attached the 4G moniker to its WiMAX networks.

Tech industry sets its sights on gambling [THE NEW YORK TIMES]

Silicon Valley is hardly discouraged. Companies here believe that online gambling will soon become as simple as buying an e-book or streaming a movie, and that the convenience of being able to bet from your couch, surrounded by virtual friends, will offset the lack of glittering ambience found in a real-world casino. Think you can get a field of corn in FarmVille, the popular Facebook game, to grow faster than your brother-in-law’s? Five bucks says you cannot.

China knocks off U.S. to become world’s top smart device market [FLURRY]

We also conclude that the U.S. will not take back the lead from China, given the vast difference in population per country. China has over 1.3 billion people while the U.S. has just over 310 million. Considering that the U.S. has the world’s 3^rd largest population, the only other country that could feasibly overtake China sometime in the future is India, with a population of just over 1.2 billion. However, with only 19 million active smart devices in India, China will not likely see competition from India for many years.  Below, we show the top 12 countries by active iOS and Android installed base through the end of January 2013.

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