Microsoft is currently narrowing down its short list of potential CEOs to take over after a tumultuous tenure of current CEO Steve Ballmer. There are only a handful of potential candidates that have the skillset and experience to lead the Redmond, Washington-based company, which has more than 100,000 employees worldwide.

Ford CEO Alan Mulally was rumored to be a potential replacement, but Ford confirmed its CEO will lead the company through 2014. Meanwhile, Qualcomm COO Steve Mollenkopf was also a potential candidate, but Qualcomm announced Mollenkopf will be promoted to CEO as on March 4, 2014. Microsoft is reportedly looking for a replacement both internally and externally, and it's difficult to try and predict who will step in and lead one of the most powerful computer companies in the world.

In late August, Microsoft announced Ballmer would step down as acting CEO, which immediately put the rumor mill into overdrive. Over its 38-year history, Microsoft has only had two CEOs, founder Bill Gates and Ballmer, and the next CEO will have a very interesting task ahead - Microsoft is still a software giant, but has had trouble trying to break into the mobile market, and is adjusting to a cloud-based market.

The first video cards from the Club 3D '14Series will be the Radeon R9 270 and 270X, and should be an affordable product for PC users and gamers looking for a full-HD 1080p gaming experience.

The '13Series was introduced by Club 3D earlier in the year as an extension to its PokerSeries gaming cards - but the launch of R7 and R9 chipsets left Club 3D scrambling to upgrade. The '13Series was designed for system integrators and PC users looking for an added boost with a second GPU in their workstations - and the '14Series promises even better performance:

Club 3D Radeon R9 270 specs:

Time Warner Cable subscribers that currently own an Amazon Kindle Fire HD or HDX tablet now have access to 300 live channels and 5,000 on-demand titles via their tablets. Time Warner already rolled out VOD for Roku set-top boxes, Microsoft Xbox 360 game consoles, the Samsung Smart TVs, and Apple iOS and Google Android devices.

It was rumored the Apple TV would receive the TWC TV app, but it looks like that might have to wait until early 2014.

Time Warner, like other cable operators, continues to try and tempt users to migrate content away from the living room - and rolling out apps for devices such as the Kindle Fire is an important step in the process. In a battle against cord-cutting, Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes wants cable operators to create new and innovative ways to compete against Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, and other Web-based, streaming services.

The top Google searches of 2013 include the deaths of former South African president Nelson Mandela, 'Fast and the Furious' actor Paul Walker, and the latest generation of the Apple iPhone.

Google compiles the list based on search queries that saw the highest search volume through 2013.

Full list:

This morning the folks at Lulzbot have plenty to celebrate as the next-generation of its Taz 3D Printer has arrived and launched out onto the market in full force! The new Taz 3.0 features several major improvements over the two previous generations of the Taz including a redesigned heated bed.

Lulzbot says that the Taz 3.0 is its most refined model ever, and the use of a new 24v power supply, and injection molded parts make it the highest quality printer ever. A new heated bed is powered by 24v which is double the previous voltage, and equates to a much faster heat time than previously experienced. The Taz 3.0 also features more injection molded parts, and moves further away from using other 3D printers to build parts for the new model. This means that tolerances are tighter and that results in an even more high-quality print than before.

Lulzbot has designed the Taz 3.0 to print more than just PLA or ABS, and in fact can print a much wider variety of plastics including everything from nylon to wood infused plastics. The Taz 3.0 is also capable of printing in PVA, Polystyrene, and stone dust infused filaments such as the new Laybrick filament that simulates sandstone.

We know that there's a new Rift prototype to be unveiled at CES 2014 in just a few weeks, with the new VR headset having a reduced latency of between 10-20ms, down from the original developer kit, which has a latency of 60-70ms.

Better yet, is that Oculus CEO, Brendan Iribe, spoke with VentureBeat, where he talked about the latency: "When you put it on - the latest internal prototype, which is what Marc Andreessen and his team saw - it's a completely different experience from the previous versions. The latest one finally ties it all together. There's this switch in your head. Your brain, instead of feeling like you're looking through a VR headset, suddenly feels like you're just looking through a pair of glasses into another reality. It's much more comfortable."

He added: "We got our developer kits - the prototype that you saw way back when, at the last CES - running at about 60 to 70 milliseconds. Our most recent internal prototype is now between 10 and 20 milliseconds. Less than 20 [milliseconds] flips the switch and you cross that threshold where the brain feels comfortable with it. You're not reminded you're looking at a computer device."

Just before the holidays, Google has pushed out a new upgrade to its Glass platform, the December update, or XE12. The new update is available for Glass Explorers, just in time to take pictures from their point of view, of their Christmas dinners. The best updates seem to be the improved iOS support, Hangouts support, and the winking, which is going to have ladies across the world swooning. The full list of updates is below:

iOS app - as we noted earlier, XE12 brings along better support for iOS. Expect an update in iTunes later in the week.

Google Play Music support has been enhanced, and the new Listen menu will let you browse playlists and open radio stations if your an All Access subscriber.

Drobo has just launched the all new DroboApp platform that delivers new functionality to the Drobo 5N network storage array and provides an easy method for third-party app integration. The platform includes 15 initial apps that offer up a wide range of functionality including media servers, remote file access, cloud backup, and even BitTorrent clients.

"The Drobo 5N was designed to deliver the best file sharing experience available," said Jim Sherhart, Vice President of Product Marketing, Drobo. "Extending the functionality with fully supported applications including Plex, Barracuda Copy and ElephantDrive demonstrates our commitment to enhancing value for our existing customers."

"Plex is excited about a fully integrated NAS plus Media Server solution for users to easily store, organize and stream their media," said Shawn Eldridge, Vice President of Strategic Alliances. "Given the exponential growth in personal media being generated today, the combination of Drobo and Plex is the perfect way for users to easily organize and play their media on any screen."

The Microsoft Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 tablet models are selling out and have been difficult to find this Christmas shopping season. The devices are selling out at the official Microsoft Store and Walmart.com, while a quick look at Amazon.com shows a small supply of the surprisingly popular tablets.

It's plausible Microsoft released smaller shipments to retailers - or the devices are truly becoming popular - but we won't know until early 2014, when analysts are able to estimate sales numbers. Microsoft and the retailers aren't confirming shipment figures, so analyst groups will be left to estimate how the Microsoft tablets did against rival tablets.

Microsoft has found it difficult to compete with the extremely popular Apple iPad and Android-based tablets, but the Windows 8-powered devices are best suited to make a major impact in the enterprise. Meanwhile, analysts believe the Surface 2 tablets will continue to fight for market share in 2014, as Microsoft continues a massive marketing and advertising campaign.

Coby Electronics 32-inch flat screen HDTVs with the model number "TFTV3229" are being recalled due to potential fire risk, according to media reports.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) confirmed there have been at least six reports of TVs overheating, emitting smoke, or igniting in small fires. No reported injuries related to the faulty TVs.The TVs were sold starting in August 2011 until November 2013 at Best Buy, Fry's Electronics, H.H. Gregg, Toys 'R' Us, ABC Warehouse, P.C. Richard and Son, Sears/Kmart, and Nebraska Furniture Mart.

Coby was a Chinese-based high-definition TV manufacturer that is known for selling low-cost, entry-level HDTVs that are drastically cheaper than rival models from Samsung, Sony, LG, Sharp, and other competing companies. Unfortunately, Coby USA is no longer in operation, so the retailers are handling the recall.