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So now we know why Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have been so busy recruiting former Google big brains: They coveted their mastery of algorithms, their sure-footedness in navigating mountains of Web-based data. The result? Facebook Graph Search, announced Tuesday by Zuckerberg. Those who were quick ...

The location-based service company Glympse has its headquarters in Redmond, Wash. You certainly don't need the company's iPhone app -- which lets people track their friends' locations on smartphones in real-time on maps or satellite imagery -- to know that. But it may seem lately as if Glympse has b...

In the technology industry, imitation has always been the sincerest form of flattery -- if not a successful business model for certain companies. It's even more so in the nascent smartphone segment, so no one seems to be particularly surprised that Verizon Wireless and Google have plans to make an A...

Turn on an Android OS phone, and that little yellow robot pops up all over the touchscreen like R2D2 on bionic steroids. A mini-chorus line of them shows up first, then just one robot decides to play hide and seek with you; there he is peeking out from the left side of the screen. Now he's upside do...

The "Like" button that's part of Facebook's new Open Graph platform depicts a miniature "thumbs up" hand gesture, and it provides a quick, easy way for those visiting certain websites to indicate they approve of the content and want to place it on their FB profiles. And like thousands of Roger Ebert...

A new attempt to offer regulations for Internet privacy may be a so-called discussion draft, but so far the discussion has been anything but promising for Virginia Congressman Rick Boucher, a man who cosponsored the 2005 Consumer Privacy Protection Act. The Democrat released the draft legislation on...

It's one of the world's most popular manufacturers of phones. It has a globally recognized brand. It's ready to show off the latest enhancements to its smartphone operating system. And as far as anyone can tell, it hasn't lost a prototype phone in a Silicon Valley bar and seen it torn apart on a tec...

Roughly six months before it bought YouTube, did Google actually share the view of the online video site that other copyright owners had -- that it was a repository for illegally uploaded content? Does Viacom have a smoking gun against Google/YouTube, and does it come in the form of statements from ...

Google isn't the only entity taking an interest in Twitter's tweets. That most venerable of government institutions, the Library of Congress, announced Wednesday it will archive every single "what's happening?" update broadcast on the short message service since it opened for business in 2006. Grant...

After months of questions about how Twitter plans on making money, the short message service and social media phenomenon on Tuesday launched its first foray into advertising. However, in doing so, the company made it clear that traditional corporate interests would take a back seat to overall custom...

The discussion so far about the iPad -- a discussion that has officially engulfed the mainstream media and leaped the shark tank to include appearances on David Letterman and Jimmy Fallon's late-night shows -- has focused on the potential for joining media-hungry consumers as a third screen on their...

Many college students have been spending the week on the beaches of Padre Island and other balmy locales, soaking up equal parts sun and alcohol. Meanwhile, the families of America are starting to think about where they'd like to dig their toes in the sand for summer vacations -- if they're not alre...

Three of the biggest names in the Internet industry are founding members of the Global Network Initiative, a consortium of companies, non-profits and academic groups formed in October 2008 to promote human rights and privacy around the world. However, now one of those companies, Google, finds itself...

Google's relationship with the Chinese government officially entered the brinksmanship phase this week with the announcement from the company that it is ending its Communist-mandated censorship of search results and directing queries to its unfiltered Hong Kong-based service. The Great Firewall imme...

"Avatar" may be the box office champ in this or any other galaxy, and the first weekend of ticket sales for "Alice in Wonderland" has certainly put a Cheshire Cat smile on the faces of Walt Disney studio executives. However, all that monetary activity stems from watching those two movies in the plus...

If competition for Google is still "just a click away" -- as its executives kept saying last summer to anybody who would listen -- then the U.S. Justice Department and the European Commission made that click easier with their decisions this week to bless the Microsoft-Yahoo search technology merger....

Just as Skype devotees use the Voice over Internet Protocol service to talk to friends and family anywhere in the world, Verizon Wireless used Skype Tuesday to send a loud message of its own to Apple, AT&T and the rest of the competition: We can play the VoIP game too. Beginning in March, Verizo...

A newly formed international consortium has claimed it can be the glue that unites a fragmented mobile applications market. However, if the Wholesale Applications Community can't deliver on its promise of an open platform that will let developers write apps for all devices -- save perhaps Apple's iP...

After enjoying a holiday bounce, the U.S. video game industry came crashing back down to Earth in January with post-Christmas double-digit drops in hardware and software sales, according to the latest figures from industry researchers NPD Group. However, new gaming categories for casual, social medi...

Two Monday technology stories, both involving China: Call them the yin and yang of that country's attempts to repair its image following Google's recent hacking allegations and the search giant's subsequent threats to end its business dealings in the country. Chinese police are trumpeting their shut...