“I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger. Dick’s [Drive In] has not raised their prices enough … But being ambitious is good. You just have to pick what you enjoy doing.” — Bill Gates (Geek Wire)

* HP (HPQ) backtracked on an announcement back in August declaring that it was considering selling or spinning off its PC business, among other options. “It’s clear after our analysis that keeping the Personal Systems Group within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees,” CEO Meg Whitman said in a statement. (CNNMoney)

* Samsung became the largest smartphone vendor last quarter, with 27.8 million smartphones shipped, beating Apple (AAPL) and Nokia (NOK). (Bloomberg Businessweek)

* Redbox is raising the price of its DVD rentals from $1 a night to $1.20 starting next Monday. (GigaOm)

* Facebook exec Ethan Beard on why Google (GOOG) and other search engines need to “go social.” (The Telegraph)

* Amazon (AMZN) may be ramping up talks with the Chinese government to sell its Kindle e-readers in the country. If that’s the case, China could be come the first country in Asia to do so. (paidContent)

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