News

• At Google I/O, developer services hogged the spotlight

  Forget Glass, self-driving cars or a smartwatch. Developers, not physical consumer products, were Google's darlings at the company's annual I/O conference this week.

• Yahoo calls press conference amid Tumblr acquisition rumors

  Yahoo has called a mystery press event in New York City on Monday afternoon, hot on the heels of rumors that it plans to buy Tumblr for US$1 billion.

• Mozilla postpones default blocking of third-party cookies in Firefox

  Mozilla has postponed blocking third-party cookies by default in the Beta version of Firefox 22, "to collect and analyze data on the effect of blocking some third-party cookies."

• At Google I/O, Glass wearers say 'trust us'

  Google is facing some tough questions from Congress over the privacy concerns raised by Glass, its fledgling augmented reality system for recording and receiving information on the fly. But on the ground at the company's I/O conference for developers, attendees are largely enthusiastic about the technology.

• Yahoo wins appeal of $2.7 billion suit in Mexican court

  An appeals court in Mexico has overturned an approximately US$2.7 billion judgment against Yahoo and Yahoo Mexico in a breach-of-contract suit concerning online directories.

• Microsoft responds to Larry Page remarks, but Oracle is quiet

  Microsoft has responded to a high-profile put-down by Google CEO Larry Page, but Oracle, at least for now, won't be drawn into a public fight with the executive.

• Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr try out social networking apps for Glass

  While Google promotes its Glass head-mounted display as a new way for people to receive and document information on the fly, several social networking companies including Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr now want a piece of the action, by offering social applications on the device.

• SAP builds out HANA platform and ecosystem

  Anyone remotely within the orbit of SAP lately knows that its number-one focus is the HANA in-memory database and development platform. At this week's Sapphire conference in Orlando, the vendor sought to show the progress it is making in both building out HANA's capabilities as well as attracting developers and partners to HANA.

• Copyright owners denied class status in YouTube suit

  A federal court in New York has denied class certification to copyright owners in an infringement lawsuit against YouTube over unauthorized hosting of content, stating that copyright claims have only superficial similarities.

• Mt. Gox accused of violating US money transfer regulations

  The seizure of funds of the largest bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, was triggered by an alleged failure of the company to comply with U.S. financial regulations, according to a federal court document.

• Google to boost speed, cut data use on mobile devices

  Google has shown off new features that can reduce data consumption and improve Web performance on Android-powered mobile devices, drawing partly from capabilities already supported in the Chrome desktop OS.

• A soft-spoken Larry Page makes surprise appearance at Google I/O

  Google CEO Larry Page made a surprise appearance Wednesday at the Google I/O conference, where he overcame problems with his throat to take questions from developers in the audience for almost an hour.

• Google previews upcoming Maps features

  Google is adding a new level of personalization and a cleaner interface to its popular Maps product.

• Google brings voice-enabled search to the desktop

  Just by saying "Okay Google," people will soon be able to search using voice commands on their Chrome-powered desktop and laptop computers, Google said Wednesday.

• Google improves interface, photos in Google+ social network

  Google is adding 41 new features to its Google+ social network on Wednesday, including a richer interface that works better on mobile devices and some major enhancements to photo sharing.