Google faces new federal antitrust probe: source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in Web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some advertising sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday. The source said that it was unlikely that the Federal Trade Commission had sent out civil investigative demands in relation to the probe, which wou

Russia's leading social network banned by "mistake"

By Douglas Busvine MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's leading online social network was briefly banned on Friday, in a move dismissed as a "mistake" but which follows intensifying official pressure on the company as President Vladimir Putin consolidates his power. VKontakte (www.vk.com), Europe's largest homegrown social network with 210 million registered users, was put overnight on a "black list" of si

Google, like Facebook, in talks to buy Waze for about $1 billion: report

(Reuters) - Google Inc is considering buying Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze Inc, which may lead to a bidding war with Facebook Inc, Bloomberg news reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Waze is seeking more than $1 billion and is fielding expressions of interest from multiple parties, said Bloomberg, citing a source. Other media have reported that Facebook Inc has h

New Xbox: What’s Better, What’s Missing

Eight years after the debut of the Xbox 360, Microsoft has announced the Xbox One.

SAP says cloud computing specialist Dalgaard to leave

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German business software maker SAP said on Friday that Lars Dalgaard, who had widely been expected to lead its cloud computing business, was leaving. Dalgaard joined the company in late 2011 when SAP bought Web-based software company SuccessFactors Inc. The acquisition was seen as a catalyst for the German technology giant to try to catch up to rivals in the fast-growing clou

Apple enjoyed Irish tax holiday from the start

By Poornima Gupta and Padraic Halpin SAN FRANCISCO/DUBLIN (Reuters) - Apple has operated almost tax-free in Ireland since 1980, welcomed by a government keen to bring jobs to what was then one of Europe's poorest countries, former company executives and Irish officials have said. Chief Executive Tim Cook faced criticism from a Senate subcommittee in Washington on Tuesday over the iPad and iPhone

Judge says leaning toward U.S. in Apple e-books case

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - In an unusual move before a trial, a federal judge expressed a tentative view that the U.S. Justice Department will be able to show evidence that Apple Inc engaged in a conspiracy with publishers to increase e-book prices. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who is set to oversee a trial on June 3, gave her view during a pretrial hearing on Thursday. ...

New Android apps worth downloading: Glide, SideCar Ride update, Men’s Room Mayhem

Make video chatting a little easier with Glide, an app that lets you to make video calls to other users. If they're not available, you can send video messages rather than texts. Following that is SlideCar Ride, an app that helps you find a nearby car and driver when you need a ride and save on taxi services. Finally, Men's Room Mayhem is a Flight Control-like management game in which you need to d

Nokia looks to ban HTC One sales with new patent suit

Nokia on Thursday filed a second patent infringement complaint against HTC with the International Trade Commission. The company has alleged that HTC’s products, including its flagship HTC One smartphone, infringe upon its protected technologies. In a statement to ZDNet, Nokia accused HTC of not taking action to prevent infringement and said the company has instead “tried to shift responsibility to

Apptitude: The joys of e-Scrabble

Virginia Heffernan had sworn off Scrabble forever. Now she's back in the game, thanks to the brilliance of a new app.

Why Waze Is Worth More Than $1 Billion

The Israeli mobile GPS startup Waze has another mega-suitor in Silicon Valley, with Google reportedly joining the bidding war and topping the $1 billion offer rumored to be coming from Facebook earlier this month. ...

Why is AT&T milking subscribers for an extra $500 million? ‘Because they can’

AT&T said earlier this week that it will add a new administrative fee to each of its wireless subscribers’ monthly bills. The fee is only $0.61, which doesn’t sound like much, and an AT&T spokesperson was quick to point out to several news sites that this new fee is lower than similar fees charged by rival carriers. Subscribers were still outraged. Now that the shouting has died down a bit, howeve

HTC One with stock Android will reportedly be announced within two weeks

Recent rumors suggested that HTC will follow Samsung and release a “Google Edition” of its flagship smartphone. According to a report from Russel Holly of Geek.com, the same person who scooped the Galaxy S4 Google Edition, an HTC One running stock Android will be announced “within the next two weeks” for a summer launch. The news is perhaps the most reliable yet, however HTC has repeatedly denied

Jony Ive’s iOS 7 redesign described as ‘black, white, and flat all over’

We’ve known for a while that Apple design guru Jony Ive would be bringing his own distinctive stamp to iOS 7 and now we’re getting some more details about what that stamp might look like. One of 9to5Mac’s sources describes the new version of iOS as “black, white and flat all over,” meaning that there will be fewer heavy textures and more interface elements that come in plain black and white. What

Dish and nTelos to jointly develop broadband service

(Reuters) - Satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp and wireless network provider nTelos Holdings Corp said they would jointly develop a broadband service within nTelos's coverage territory serving parts of Virginia, Maryland and a few other states. Dish has been trying to diversify beyond its core pay-TV business that has matured and faces tough competition from cable, telecom and Internet vide

Google reportedly eyes $1 billion-plus Waze buy, but Facebook may be blocking bids

Interest in social mapping and navigation provider Waze is reportedly heating up, with Google and several other “large tech companies” currently holding talks with the Israel-based company. Bloomberg on Friday reported that Google is considering a bid that exceeds Facebook’s earlier offer, which reportedly fell between $800 million and $1 billion. Earlier rumors suggested Facebook and Waze’s negot

3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life

3-D Printed Windpipe Gives Infant Breath of Life

Recent rulings show tide may be turning against patent trolls

Patent trolls’ days of effortlessly rolling into court and collecting licensing fees for products they don’t produce may be coming to an end. The Washington Post reports that courts have been increasingly citing the landmark 1978 Supreme Court case Parker v. Flook, which is the strongest ruling that the court has ever made against patents for abstract ideas such as algorithms. Given that courts ar

Microsoft doubles down on Xbox One games, plans to invest $1 billion

There are some concerns about gaming on the next-generation Xbox One. The system doesn’t allow independent developers to self-publish games on Xbox Live Arcade and Microsoft’s used game policy is still unclear. The company did confirm that it has big plans for its in-house gaming studio, however. Phil Harrison, a corporate vice president at Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, revealed

NASA's Plan to Lasso an Asteroid is Making Progress

Quick update on NASA's amazing plan to lasso an asteroid: they're making progress on the ion propulsion engine they'll need for the mission, one month after president Obama proposed giving NASA $100 mission to get this thing going.

Amazon brings the Kindle Fire HD to more than 170 countries, expands Appstore to nearly 200 countries

Amazon on Thursday announced expanded availability of its Kindle Fire HD tablet lineup. Both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch models are now available for preorder in more than 170 countries worldwide. The Kindle Fire HD is equipped with 1280 x 800 pixel resolution display and a 1.2GHz dual-core OMAP4460 processor, while the 8.9-inch model features a 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution display and a 1.5GHz dual-c

Microsoft’s Kinect comes to Windows next year

With all the emphasis that Microsoft is giving to its redesigned Kinect sensor as a key feature of the Xbox One, it’s not surprising that the company wants to bring it to its Windows operating system as well. And sure enough, Microsoft on Thursday announced that it will “deliver a new generation Kinect for Windows sensor next year” that will deliver several improvements to the previous version of

Is Google Street View the New Nature Documentary?

Google announced Thursday that they've taken their Street View cameras on a hiking trip around the Galapagos islands — above ground, and under water. This is great news for many nature-loving chair jockeys, especially for those of us already hopelessly addicted to GeoGuessr.

Nokia’s 41-megapixel Lumia rumored for July launch

A new report suggests that Nokia is preparing to launch its 41-megapixel Lumia smartphone, codenamed EOS, this coming summer. According to MobileGeeks, the handset will launch during the second week of July, on or around July 9th. The most recent rumors claim the Lumia EOS would be similar to the Lumia 920, with a polycarbonate case and a 4.5-inch 720p display. The biggest differentiator will repo

Hulu video site auction attracts four bidders: sources

By Ronald Grover LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former News Corp president Peter Chernin and private equity fund Guggenheim Digital Media have placed bids for Hulu, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, triggering a tug-of-war for the online video service. Satellite operator DirecTV and cable operator Time Warner Cable Inc also put in bids, one of the people told Reuters. ...

RIAA stamps its feet again, demands Google improve anti-piracy efforts

Shocking as it may seem, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) still isn’t happy with Google’s efforts to stamp out piracy. On its official blog this week, the RIAA once again bemoaned Google’s supposed lack of enthusiasm for removing links to alleged pirated content from its search results. In particular, the RIAA complained that online piracy is still thriving despite the fact tha

ITC says Microsoft did not violate Google patent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp won a round in a complex patent war on Thursday when the International Trade Commission said the company's popular Xbox entertainment system did not violate a patent owned by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility. If the ITC had found that Microsoft infringed, it could have barred the Xbox from being imported into the United States. The fight over the Xbox is

Video: Microsoft bashes iPad’s multitasking ability in latest commercial

Microsoft has released a second advertisement targeting Apple and its popular iPad this week. The company compares the iPad to an ASUS VivoTab RT, noting that the Windows RT device is slimmer, lighter and can perform more functions than Apple’s tablet. Microsoft highlights Windows RT’s multitasking ability, integration with Office, and convenience with features such as a built-in microSD card read

Angie's List eyes 'year of transition' as cashflow turns positive

By Chandni Doulatramani and Supantha Mukherjee (Reuters) - Angie's List Inc expects cashflow to turn positive this year as it spends less on acquiring new paid customers for its consumer review website, the company's co-founder said, fending off criticism of its business model by short-seller Citron Research. Chief Executive William Oesterle said Angie's List, which compiles reviews on everything

How cable companies offset cord cutters by squeezing more money from Internet customers

Yes, the major cable companies are losing paid television subscribers and yes, they have stunningly low customer satisfaction ratings. But as The Atlantic’s Derek Thompson ably explains, they aren’t going anywhere because they’re still making money hand over fist providing home broadband connections to tens of millions of households. Essentially, cable companies have been losing TV subscribers sin