Google Maps is now available for iPhone
People around the world have been asking for Google Maps on iPhone. Starting today, we're pleased to announce that Google Maps is here—rolling out across the world in the Apple App Store. It's desig...
Exclusive: Google Set to Release iOS Maps App Tonight
Google plans to release its much-awaited iOS Maps app tonight, according to sources familiar with the matter. — The app should be a welcome addition for many iPhone users, who have been unhappy with...
Zeitgeist 2012: What piqued your curiosity this year?
As 2012 comes to a close, it's time for our 12th annual Year-End Zeitgeist—an in-depth look at the “spirit of the times” as seen through the billions of searches on Google over the past year. — On o...
Apple Tests Designs for TV
TAIPEI—Apple Inc. is working with component suppliers in Asia to test several TV-set designs, people familiar with the situation said, suggesting the U.S. company is moving closer to expanding its off...
Facebook Year in Review 2012
Today we're releasing Facebook's Year in Review, a look back at the people, moments and things that created the most buzz in 2012 among the billion people around the world on Facebook. — We took the...
Facebook Changes Privacy Settings, Again
Stop me if you've heard this one before: Facebook is making changes to its privacy settings. — First, it is improving some privacy protections. The company is adding a new top-level control, called...
Google tweaks image search to make porn harder to find
The company says the move is designed to ensure adult content is shown only to those who explicitly request it. — Search for porn using Google Image Search today and you might come up empty-handed.
Table Stakes Are Dangerous
Much has already been written about Twitter and Flickr's recent forays into photo filters. In particular, my friend MG wrote today that adding filters to Twitter and Flickr is a misguided attempt to ...
Yahoo launches Instagram-inspired Flickr iPhone app update, adds simple sign-ins, 16 filters and more
Confirming Marissa Mayer's commitment to a mobile-first strategy, Yahoo has announced the second major overhaul of one of its apps in as many days (following its Yahoo Mail refresh) …
The Redbox Verizon Movie Service Is Almost Ready to Take On Netflix
Here comes the next video service that wants to take on Netflix: Redbox and Verizon are finally ready to launch their long-awaited joint venture. — Well, almost ready: “Redbox Instant by Verizon” …
Google Chairman Says Android Winning Mobile War With Apple: Tech
Google Inc. (GOOG)'s Android is extending its lead over Apple Inc. (AAPL) in the mobile-software market at a rate that compares with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s expansion in desktop software in the 1990s...
Guatemala deporting software pioneer McAfee to U.S
(Reuters) - Guatemala said on Wednesday it would deport to the United States software pioneer John McAfee, a former Silicon Valley millionaire who is wanted for questioning in Belize over the murder o...
“Dexter” malware steals credit card data from point-of-sale terminals
Enlarge / Administration panel for Dexter, a malicious application that steals credit card data from point-of-sale systems. The malware was recently found on hundreds of computers around the world. ...
Google rules out Gmail and Drive apps for Windows 8
Google has revealed that it has no plans to develop dedicated apps for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 for its business app products such as Gmail or Drive. — Speaking to V3, the firm's product managem...
First OS X fake installer malware spotted, as SMS scams are ported from Windows and Android to Mac
A new Trojan for Mac has been discovered that mimics the actions of an installer. The malware attempts to monetize the attack by having users enter their mobile phone numbers for the purpose of “acti...
SnapChat is getting funded. By Instagram backer Benchmark
Yesterday, Dan Primack pointed out that like Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, Matt Cohler, who backed Instagram for Benchmark Capital, hasn't done a deal in 2012. Well, that is all set to change...
The LeWeb Conference Sold to Reed Midem
Reed Midem, an international trade show organizer, has bought a majority stake in the well-known European Internet conference, LeWeb. — The event, which now has two annual gatherings, recently attra...
In War of Smartphones, The Russians Are Coming
MOSCOW—In a country whose best known contribution to global technology may well be the Kalashnikov rifle, a new mobile-phone company once tied to Russia's state-run defense corporation hopes it will h...
Marc Andreessen: We're in a tech depression
Netscape founder says tech stocks are cheap. — FORTUNE — Marc Andreessen, co-head of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and founder of Netscape, says the slump in technology stocks is as bad a...
Yellow Cab Hails via Smartphone Apps May Be Tried in New York City
With some board members still skeptical about authorizing smartphone apps to hail yellow cabs, the chairman of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission said this week that the panel might inste...
Eric Schmidt says Google Fiber 'isn't just an experiment,' company ‘trying to decide where to expand next’
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt is on stage at The New York Times' Dealbook conference today, and he's made a bit of news concerning the company's big broadband effort, Google Fiber.
A question that Twitter needs to ask itself
Yesterday, Twitter announced that it was launching its own version of photo filters and photo editing tools. And like all news around social networks — Facebook, Instagram and Twitter — it got the tr...
Zynga Bringing Free Slots to Facebook First Before Gambling Takes Hold
Casino games, like poker and slots, make up one of the most popular categories on Facebook — even though players never get to cash out their winnings. — Today, Zynga is announcing that it will soon ...
iTunes now selling and renting movies in 42 newly-opened stores
Apple on Wednesday activated iTunes movie sales for a bulk of the countries in which the online media storefront launched earlier in December, though film selection and availability is somewhat limite...
BlackBerry 10 to feature deep integration of Evernote
Developer documentation for RIM's upcoming operating system shows signs of deep integration with the online notes service. — It appears that BlackBerry 10 — Research in Motion's next operating syste...
Oppo launches Find 5, touts 5-inch 1080p display, quad-core and 13MP camera
At last, the wait is over for Oppo's latest flagship device. Launched in Beijing earlier, the Find 5 comes with pretty much all the top ingredients in the current market — many of which had been teas...
FreedomPop launches free home wireless to compete with low-end DSL
FreedomPop's new Hub Burst will begin shipping in January 2013. — FreedomPop — Just over three months after launching its free portable hotspot, FreedomPop now says its ready for the second phase ...
Google's New Data Highlighter Lets You Add Structured Data To Your Sites Without Touching Any Code
Google wants website owners to add as much structured data to their sites as possible in order to improve its search results and Knowledge Graph boxes with rich snippets like event listings, reviews a...
Acer quietly outs $300 boosted C7 Chromebook
Acer has quietly rolled out a second version of its C7 Chromebook, a $299.99 premium model that boosts the specification and almost doubles the notebook's runtime. The Acer C710-2605 keeps the 11.6-i...
McCaskill threatens legislation on airplane electronic device rules
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) called on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Tuesday to relax its rules for electronic device use on airplanes or face legislation from her forcing it to do so.
Verizon Determined to Expose BitTorrent Copyright Trolls
Two weeks ago a group of adult movie companies sued Verizon for failing to hand over the personal details of alleged BitTorrent pirates. — The Internet provider had ignored court orders and Malibu M...
Amazon finally gins up dedicated push messaging system for Kindle Fire apps, now in beta
Amazon has announced its new Device Messaging Beta today, bringing a full push notification system to Kindle Fire devices using Amazon's cloud. The messaging system is necessary as Amazon's forked An...
Google tests new Flight Explorer service to help you buy the perfect plane ticket
Google appears to be testing a new service called Flight Explorer. The company has not announced it, nor is there any documentation available via any of Google's help pages. It doesn't even have a t...
Juniper to buy SDN startup Contrail in deal worth $176M
Juniperannounced plans to purchase stealthy networking startup Contrail Systems for $176 million in stock and cash. The deal, which Juniper disclosed in an SEC filing, and tiny blog post, was struck ...
Intel next-gen Haswell CPU line-up leaked, Core i7-4770K the flagship
VR-Zone has managed to get their hands on the line-up for Intel's upcoming 22nm Haswell desktop processors, revealing that there will be initially 14 CPUs across the Core i7 and Core i5 brands.
Costanoa Venture Capital: A $100M Fund For Startups That Develop Cloud Services For Business And Consumer Markets
Sutter Hill Ventures Greg Sands has left the firm to launch a $100 million fund to invest in early stage, cloud services for businesses and consumers that leverage data and analytics.
The tablet is killing the ebook reader: Study says shipments to fall 36% this year
Worldwide shipments of dedicated ebook readers such as the E-Ink Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook will fall by 36 percent to 14.9 million units this year, and plummet to just 7.1 million units by...
This Year, NORAD Tracks Santa With Microsoft & Bing, Not Google
Google has been helping the popular NORAD Tracks Santa site locate Santa Claus on Christmas Eve since 2007. But this year, Jolly St. Nick will be tracked on Bing Maps, not Google. NORAD is also push...
Facebook confirms it will ‘monetize’ Instagram
Since Facebook acquired Instagram earlier this year, people have wondered how the service might be changing. We're still not sure, but Facebook VP of Global Marketing Solutions Carolyn Everson has co...
Dropbox buys Audiogalaxy: next up, a cloud music service?
Dropbox has acquired Seattle-based music startup Audiogalaxy, according to a post on the Audiogalaxy blog. Details of the transaction haven't been released, but it looks like an acqui-hire that could...
Facebook helps FBI bust cybercriminals blamed for $850 million losses
(Reuters) - Investigators led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and aided by Facebook Inc, have busted an international criminal ring that infected 11 million computers around the world and cause...
Compromise emerges in global talks on Internet oversight
(Reuters) - Hopes rose on Tuesday for a compromise agreement that would keep intrusive government regulation of the Internet from being enshrined in a global treaty. — As a 12-day conference of the ...
Facebook is the best place to work; Steve Ballmer, Amazon enjoy better approval ratings
Mark Zuckerberg continues to keep his employees happy at Facebook. — The employees have spoken: Facebook is the best place to work. — Glassdoor.com released its fifth annual “Employees' Choice Awa...
Google Revamps Its Currents Mobile Newsreader App To Make It Smarter And More Scannable
Google just launched an update to Google Currents, the company's Flipboard competitor, that makes it easier to scan through categories and editions from Google publisher partners like The Guardian and...
The Google Homepage Is Now Built into Chrome - Screenshots
Google is making it official, search engines are coming to the new tab page. The only surprise is that it's not just Google, the team devised a new API which should enable any search engine to integr...
Google: Copyright removal requests spike to 2.5 million per week
Google announced Tuesday that the number of requests it receives each week to remove links to allegedly infringing websites in its search results has grown ten-fold over the past six months.
EMC follows VMware, rest of world into OpenStack
EMC has joined the OpenStack open-source cloud effort. The news hits three months after VMware — 80 percent owned by EMC — signaled its intention to back the initiative. EMC joins as a corporate-lev...
My master plan for revolutionizing the future of publishing and saving tablet-native journalism
I have a lot of respect for the publishing industry and the futurists who try to predict where it's heading. Nobody in that business has it particularly easy.
Scott Stringer Questions What New York's Tech Boom Has Done for the City's Working Class
Earlier today, Betabeat dropped by WeWork, a coworking space filled with techies diligently laboring away, to watch as Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer debuted a new report titled …
Searching without searching: Expect Labs taps Nuance for bold predictive computing tech
We're now getting the first taste of a world where our computing devices fetch us relevant information without our asking. Google Now is the most notable example, Google's Siri-esque competitor …
San Francisco 49ers Raid Silicon Valley, Hiring Former Facebook, YouTube Talent
San Francisco 49ers Aim to Change the NFL by Poaching Talent From Tech; ‘Open Source’ Scouting? — San Francisco — The San Francisco 49ers have a long tradition of borrowing ideas from Silicon Vall...
Google Maps is now available for iPhone
People around the world have been asking for Google Maps on iPhone. Starting today, we're pleased to announce that Google Maps is here—rolling out across the world in the Apple App Store. It's desig...
Announcing City Notes, A New Mobile Travel Startup By... Me!
Short version: I just launched a new company, City Notes, which I've been working on for several months. We are making what we hope will be the best and most interesting travel guides for iPhones and...