Qualcomm absent from Microsoft's Surface announcement; Huawei names Ming He as GM of U.S. operations

Quick news from around the Web.

> Spotify said it now counts 10 million international paid subscribers. Article

> T-Mobile will sell the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and the new gold Samsung Galaxy S5. Release

> Microsoft ditched a plan to release a smaller Surface mini tablet running Qualcomm chips and instead announced the Surface Pro 3, which sports a 12-inch screen and chips from Intel. Article

> Samsung and Apple are blaming each other for their failure to reach an agreement on patent infringement. Article

> Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee is gradually improving after a heart attack. Article

> Huawei appointed Ming He the general manager of the company's U.S. operations. Release

> Google is reportedly buying the former headquarters of Palm. Article

> Truphone said its customers can now use their mobile devices in 66 countries "in exactly the same way as they do at home." Release

> Mimosa Networks raised $20 million in funding for its Wi-Fi technology. Article

> Google could spend up to $30 billion on international acquisitions. Article

> The head of Samsung's mobile business said the company's Galaxy S5 is selling better in the United States than the S4 did last year. Article

> According to a new report, Apple will announce new hardware products at this year's WWDC conference starting June 2. Article

> Apple is reportedly building  a content delivery network via interconnection agreements with Internet service providers. Article

> Gogo is releasing APIs the company said it hopes developers use to build better in-flight apps. Article

Online Video News

> Even as Netflix announced it was expanding to six more European countries in late 2014, its chief financial officer, David Wells, told investors that the online video provider would stay in line with or slightly behind its overall revenue while continuing to expand its reach and content offerings--and that Netflix's international operations would be profitable by the end of 2014. Article

Telecom News

> CenturyLink has added Minneapolis-St. Paul to its growing roster of data center locations, a move that it says will help it address the region's growing demand for colocation, cloud, managed hosting and network services. Article

> AT&T is feeling encouraged by its initial rollout of its 1 Gbps fiber-based broadband service and a more favorable permitting process from local communities.  Article

Cable News

> FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on Tuesday told congressional lawmakers that the trend among programmers to block access to their websites during carriage disputes with pay TV companies is "something we should all worry about." Article

> Why is AT&T pushing DirecTV to renew its NFL deal? It's the broadband potential, according to analysts. Article

European Wireless News

> Vodafone Group succeeded in driving up data traffic in its financial year to the end of March, but analysts say the operator is failing to cash in on this growth despite reaching almost 5 million subscribers on its LTE networks. Article

> Nokia said it has deployed the first commercial LTE network in North Africa after rolling out the high-speed mobile infrastructure for state-owned Algerian operator, Algérie Télécom. Article

And finally… Google has replaced Apple as the world's most valuable brand. Article