Federal judge rules against NSA phone metadata program; HTC offers discounts online

More wireless news from across the Web:

> The U.S. Supreme Court chose not to review an appeal and decide whether police need to obtain search warrants to examine cellphone location information held by carriers. Reuters article

> A federal judge called the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' telephone metadata records likely unconstitutional, and ordered a halt to the surveillance program three weeks before it is set to be phased out. Washington Post article

> HTC is offering online shoppers significant discounts on its website and said those who spend $650 or more at HTC.com can save 30 percent, those who spend $500 or more can save 20 percent, and those who spend $200 or more can save 15 percent. PhoneScoop article

> Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi plans to sell as many as 2 million smartphones tomorrow as the company looks to China's version of Cyber Monday to spark growth. Bloomberg article

> AT&T Mobility will offer the cellular model of the iPad Pro. Release

> Apple has started exploring some new in-store concepts, such as "The Avenue," which has the company's accessories repositioned from the wall into an experience that feels more like walking down the street of a "small town and looking into each window." Fast Company article

> Apple Music is now available on Android. Article

Mobile Developer News

> The brief mobile career of Miranda July, the artist-turned-app developer. Editor's Corner

> Nearly 2,000 app and mobile game developers make more than a million dollars a year, according to a report from Pollen VC and Priori Data. Article

Telecom News

> Rumors about the sale of Verizon's remaining wireline and enterprise assets have emerged in recent days, but CFO Fran Shammo maintains that it plans to hold onto the assets. Article

> CenturyLink has chosen Nuage Networks' SDN technology to serve various networking functions for its Programmable Services Backbone (PSB) network architecture. Article

Cable News

> MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett has upwardly revised his estimate of third quarter pay-TV customer losses from 226,000 to 357,000, based on what he said were satellite TV subscriber losses by Dish Network that were masked by its IP-video service, Sling TV. Article

> Cox Communications is set to throw its hat into the ring full of online video services offered by pay-TV operators. Article

And finally… President Obama launched a personal Facebook page yesterday and used it to send out a message about climate change. Article