US Correspondent
Incisive Media
Google will take home more than half of all mobile advertising dollars this year as the company is poised to see record revenues for 2013. EMarketer said Google is on pace to set a new record after more than tripling its mobile revenues in 2012.
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) has been named in a massive surveillance operation which includes monitoring activity on multiple U.S. carriers and service providers. Companies deny giving the government direct access to their servers.
The application describes a device that would be placed on a wristband and would include one or more touch displays. The watch would include both clock hardware and a data line, suggesting the device will be capable of connecting to the internet.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's annual Who Has Your Back? report lauds a number of major companies for their efforts to help preserve user privacy and report to the public the extent of their cooperation with government groups.
Google is bringing its Now predictive search platform to Apple's mobile operating system as a feature on the new version of Google's Search application for the iPhone and iPad. Users will be able to access Now through the Search app itself.
An Android-Chrome merger seems unlikely now that Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt has publicly stated that there are no plans to combine the divisions, despite recent speculation that a merger was on the cards following personnel changes.
The settlement ends a case against Google which dates back to 2010, when it was revealed that the company's Street View camera units had been illegally snooping in on local Wi-Fi networks while the vehicles were taking pictures for the service.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Google said that Schmidt would be selling 3.2 million shares of Google stock - more than 40 percent of the 7.6 million shares of Class A and Class B stock controlled by Schmidt.
YouTube is reportedly working with a group of channel producers on a platform that will allow channels to charge users to access to the channels by paying fees ranging from $1 to $5 each month, as well as one-time pay-per-view video purchases.
Quarterly search revenues climbed by 4 percent year-on-year, while paid clicks climbed by 11 percent over the same period. Yahoo's display ad revenue was down and the total number of ads sold dropped compared to the same period in 2011.
Google has signed a deal to provide in-flight YouTube videos on Virgin America airlines. The company said that it had agreed to provide videos from several popular series as part of the airline's in-flight entertainment package.
Google has slammed an upcoming meeting of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), set for Dec. 3 in Dubai, which the company says will give governments the chance to set new regulations without input from citizens and user advocacy groups.
Twitter has posted a set of guidelines designed to help users understand how it handles copyright takedown requests. The company said that the page will provide clear insight into the company's handling of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Google's Android platform has reached record worldwide sales numbers, according to analysts. Research firm IDC said that the Google mobile operating system is the first to surpass 100 million quarterly shipments in a single quarter.
Google has released its Play software and media service to the Google TV platform. The update will allow Google TV users to access the Play app store as well as download and view content from the Play television and movie services.
A new Facebook wishlist-type feature improves businesses' ability to advertise products targeted at user interests. Facebook Collections allows users to tag and group products, which can then then be browsed by friends or linked to purchase pages.
Google has updated the mobile version of its Maps application, which will allow users to access the Street View function on iOS devices. The mapping tool will offer Street View as an optional presentation method alongside the traditional Maps layout.
Google has announced it is to acquire imaging platform Nik Software and reports that Google+ now has more than 400 million members (100 million of whom are monthly acitve users), still less than half that of key social networking rival Facebook.
The company said that the feature, which is still in being tested, would be available as part of the latest 'Canary' build of the Chromium. The feature could be included into the general release build of Chrome by the end of the year.
Google has bought web-based security tool developer VirusTotal. Google will continue to maintain the VirusTotal online malware scanning tool and the VirusTotal team will operate as an independent entity. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
