Webware

Visually splashy Google+ for Android catches up to iOS

Google has released the Android version of an overhauled Google+ app, part of the company's attempt to move to a "simpler, more beautiful Google," in the words of Vic Gundotra, the company's senior vice president of engineering.

The new app catches up with the iOS Google+ app that Google released a couple of weeks ago with a new visually rich, photo-first interface. And in some ways it surpasses it, for example in its support for tablets.

Google trails Facebook by far when it comes to the magnitude of membership on the overt social-network Google+ site, but the company more

Investment firms warned of Facebook woes before IPO, report says

As more details emerge on the behind-the-scenes events surrounding Facebook's initial public offering, the more upsetting the revelations might become to individual investors.

Just before Facebook went public, a large investment firm named Capital Research & Management indicated to the social network's underwriters that it wanted to take a significant investment in the company. However, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources, Capital Research was warned by one of Facebook's underwriters about the social network's declining revenue forecast, leading the investment firm to buy far fewer shares than initially anticipated. Some of the firm's fund more

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

Microsoft gives Flash a reprieve in IE10

It appears that ditching Adobe System' Flash Player wasn't as easy as Microsoft thought earlier this year.

Because screenshots from WinUnleaked show the browser plug-in working even in the Metro version of IE10 where Microsoft had earlier said plug-ins would be barred.

Microsoft and Adobe declined to comment for this story. But a source familiar with the plans said IE10 will build in a version of Flash Player optimized for Windows 8 matters such as touch-screen interfaces, power consumption, and security.

The reason, the source said: browsers just aren't ready yet to ditch Flash, so Microsoft will give more

Silicon Valley big shots to pay $36,000 for dinner with Obama?

President Barack Obama will be the special guest at a dinner tonight in Silicon Valley that will cost attendees a sizable sum to brush shoulders with the commander in chief.

Details on the dinner party and how much it will cost attendees have been mixed. However, the event is scheduled to take place at the Atherton, Calif., home of Lisa and Doug Goldman, well-known Bay Area philanthropists. According to reports, attendees will pay $35,800 for a ticket to the event. The Mercury News reported earlier this month that President Obama's campaign will receive $5,000 of that contribution, more

Browser choice: A thing of the past?

Like to pick your browser? Beware, because new mobile devices threaten to stifle the competitive vigor of the market for Web browsers on PCs.

On personal computers running Windows, Macs, and Linux, you can pick from a variety of browsers, finding the best combination of user interface, performance, expansion, customization, and other attributes.

There are real differences between browsers, and the shifting share of browser usage shows that millions of people aren't content with whatever came with their computers. IE6 security flaws getting you down? Firefox to the rescue! Firefox seeming bloated? Chrome to the rescue! Chrome invading your more

Internet Explorer 9

With Internet Explorer 9, you can pin websites to your Windows 7 Taskbar so they are one-click away. Just drag the tab down to the taskbar to pin

Get to your favorite sites faster

Google's Page: Our search was pretty bad five years ago

Google CEO Larry Page has taken aim at his own company's search platform.

Speaking at his company's Zeitgeist conference this week in the U.K., Page acknowledged that about five years ago, Google Search was not operating as well as it could have, news site TechRadar reported. But since then, Page said, his company has made it much better.

"I think if you used Google five years ago you'd be astounded by how bad it is, or how bad it was right?" Page asked during the conference, according to TechRadar. "And you know search has got a more

Mozilla pushes for stronger 'maker' philosophy on Web

Mozilla whisked the covers off Webmaker today, a new development initiative intended to encourage Web-based development across the globe.

The company stated that Webmaker's goal is to, "move people from using the Web to making the Web," in a blog post. Mozilla is encouraging people to participate in a series of coding events it's calling the Summer Code Party, and has partnered with some notable organizations and individuals to further its agenda, including author Cory Doctorow, OKGO musician Damian Kulash, Tumblr, Creative Commons, the London Zoo, and the San Francisco Public Library.

Firefox flirts with Blekko for 'instant' search

Mozilla may not have a dedicated in-house search engine division the way that Google and Microsoft do, but it does have a new partnership with alterna-search Blekko.

The Blekko add-on (download), developed by Mozilla Labs' Prospector team, aims to cut down on the repetitive search behaviors of many Firefox users. Mozilla says that its research indicates that people often search for the same term, not because they're looking to find it again but because they're attempting to navigate elsewhere. This add-on, like Google's Instant search feature, cuts down on the extra steps by pre-caching sites, showing preview more

Spend money in the real world, get cash in the Zynga world

Zynga and American Express have come up with a plan to combine physical and virtual commerce.

The companies today announced a program called Zynga Serve Rewards. The program allows FarmVille players to earn rewards after making purchases with a prepaid card from American Express.

In order to take advantage of the offer, users will need to jump through some hoops. To kick things off, FarmVille players will need to plant a Serve Money Tree on their farms. After doing so, they will need to register for Zynga Serve Rewards to receive the prepaid card in the mail. After adding money more

YouTube users uploading 72 hours of video each minute

YouTube might not be getting all of the attention Facebook gets nowadays, but that doesn't mean it isn't growing.

The Google-owned online video site announced its seventh birthday in a blog post yesterday, and to help celebrate the milestone, it announced that users now upload 72 hours of video to its service each minute. To put that into perspective, just one year ago, YouTube users were uploading 48 hours to the site every minute.

Just in January, YouTube said that 4 billion videos are viewed on the site each day. At the time, it also said 60 hours more