“For those of us who live outside of Apple’s distortion field, we know that 7-inch tablets will actually be a big portion of the market, and we know that Adobe Flash support actually matters to customers who want a real web experience.”
— RIM CEO Jim Balsillie (Fortune Tech)

• 
  Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz defended her direction for the company during yesterday’s third-quarter earnings conference call. “Advertisers are clearly impressed by the science, art and scale we can bring to their campaigns,” Bartz said of companies like CBS Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC’s Dodge brand. (Seeking Alpha)
• After Steve Jobs lambasted competitors like Google and RIM during Apple’s most recent earnings call, Android VP Andy Rubin took to Twitter for his first and only Tweet to date: simple instructions for developers to download and install Android Open Source OS on a device. (Fortune Tech)
• Does Intel have an actual tablet strategy?  Besides its upcoming veritable Atom-refresh, “Oak Trail” platform, not so much, says Fortune writer-reporter Shelley DuBois. (Fortune Tech)
• House Committee of Energy and Commerce representatives Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Joe Barton of Texas wrote Mark Zuckerberg a letter requesting more information regarding the latest privacy concerns surrounding Facebook. “Given the number of current users, the rate at which that number grows worldwide, and the age range of Facebook users, combined with the amount and the nature of information these users place in Facebook’s trust, this series of breaches of consumer privacy is cause for concern,” they wrote. (The Daily Caller)
• The latest weapon in the cable licensing fight: the Internet. News Corp. temporarily blocked Cablevision Internet customers from accessing content on company-owned sites, including Fox content on Hulu. (Media Matters)
• Though GPS-maker TomTom says it’s gained market share in the U.S. and Europe, company net profits were down 37% for its third quarter. The explanation? The weakening dollar. (The Canadian Press)
• Hot on the heels of its iPad bundle announcement, Verizon will also introduce another general data plan option: $15 for 150 MB a month. (Broadband Reports)