Facebook came under regulatory radar again  in Germany on Thursday after authorities reopened a probe into the website’s facial recognition software which they say violates the privacy of its users.   The head of the data protection office in the northern city of Hamburg, Johannes Caspar, said in a note posted to his website  that  he would resume an investigation launched against Facebook [...]

Facebook has lost almost $50 billion in market capitalization, or just under half, of its value since its IPO. The Social Network giant’s shares sank 6.3 percent to a record closing low after the lockup period ended and the early investors were able to sell for the first time since Facebook went public. Facebook stock, which debuted at $38 on May 18 this year, fell as much as 7.1 percent to a [...]

Android dominance of the smartphone market continued during the second quarter, majorly powered by Samsung’s Galaxy 3’s success.  Apple in contrast struggled somewhat as consumers unexpectedly held out for the next version of the iPhone according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users reached 419 million units in the second quarter of 2012, a 2.3 percent decline [...]

Microsoft’s recently launched webmail service – Outlook.com now has 10 million users according to an announcement by the company. In its first day of launch, the service hit the 1 million mark. The Metro/Windows 8 look of Outlook.com, with large fonts, tiles and other new design elements is now also starting to appear in other Microsoft products and today, SkyDrive.com, Microsoft’s online [...]

The soon to be launched Microsoft Surface has the same general curved design as the iPad which also is the case with Samsung  tablets, unlike Samsung, Microsoft will not get sued over this, this is perfectly legal for Microsoft. Apple has licensed some of its design patents to Microsoft, under the condition of an “anti-cloning agreement” that prevents Microsoft from releasing clones of iPhone [...]

Social Networks are one of the first mediums through which people announce important news and dates, to make announcements more simpler, Facebook rolled out a new “Life  Event” for Timeline , enabling future parents to announce that they are “Expecting a Baby.” Gender, due date, second parent, photo and location and story could be listed. “Life Events are easy and expressive ways to [...]

The US  Federal Trade Commission closed a final settlement with Facebook on Friday after Facebook was accused of deceiving customers telling them their information is private, then sharing it with the public. The settlement requires the company to give consumers clear and prominent notice and obtain their express consent before sharing information beyond their privacy settings. Unlike Google, which [...]

Google will start adjusting search results so that websites accused of copyright infringement appear further down in the list. In a blog post Google on Friday the Search Engine behemoth announced the potentially drastic change in its search engine which will start to take affect next week. As Google’s senior vice president of search, Amit Singhal, eloborated in the blog post “Starting next [...]

Google Inc. has agreed to pay $22.5 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges for misleading users about its tracking activities on Apple Inc.’s Safari browser. Federal Trade Commission’s penalty  is the largest FTC penalty for violating a commission order so far. Google was allegedly  using a special code to bypass the settings and install cookies on users’ computers even [...]

Red hot social network Pinterest has just opened registration to the public after two years of requiring an invite to join. Anyone can now sign up with Twitter, Facebook, or just an email address according to a blog announcement. “We’re really excited to have the capacity to offer Pinterest to more people and if you’re a Pinner with friends who’ve been waiting on the sidelines, we hope [...]