The 5 Biggest Stories in Tech, Business & Social Media This Morning

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on five particular stories of interest today.

Apple Sells 7 Million iPads in Record-Breaking Quarter

One day after announcing that Steve Jobs was taking a leave of absence from the company, Apple reported record-breaking earnings, with revenue of more than $26 billion for its fiscal first quarter. During the quarter, Apple sold 7.3 million iPads, 16.2 million iPhones, 4.1 million Macs and 19 million iPods.

Comcast-NBC Merger Approved

The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department have voted to approve Comcast‘s merger with NBC Universal, giving the cable and ISP giant majority ownership of NBC and its media properties, including a piece of Hulu.

Sony To Announce New PSP Next Week

Sony will unveil a new version of its handheld game console PlayStation Portable on January 27, as well as a gaming-oriented smartphone in February, Bloomberg reports, citing two people with knowledge of the company’s plans.

Twitter Launches in Korean

Twitter has launched the Korean version of its popular service, bringing the total of supported languages to seven.

Starbucks Starts Accepting Mobile Payments Nationwide

Nearly 6,800 company-operated Starbucks stores in the U.S. will begin accepting mobile payments today. Customers using the Starbucks Card Mobile app on their iPhone, iPod touch or BlackBerry will now be able to use those devices as tender.

Further News

The entire back catalog as well as new issues of Playboy magazine will become available on the iPad in March 2011, Playboy founder Hugh Hefner revealed via Twitter.
Scribd, the popular service for embedding and sharing documents around the web, has inked a deal with investors for a $13 million Series C.
Tumblr is sending more than 20 bloggers to New York Fashion Week next month.
U.S. marketers will spend $3.08 billion to advertise on social networking sites this year, according to new estimates from eMarketer.
Smartphone-based social network Path is out with an update to its iPhone app that lets users react in-app to photos and 10-second videos shared by friends.