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When the iPhone arrived six years ago, it was the hot commodity. It didn't take long for Apple's sleek, powerful smartphone to dominate the mobile phone market -- and one of its greatest draws was a rapidly growing software marketplace, curated and quality controlled, bringing extraordinarily useful features to what was essentially a pocket-size computer.

However, competitors weren't far behind. Some have continued on, others have failed, but by far the biggest is Internet giant Google's mobile operating system, Android. In fact, the number of Android devices activated outnumbers iOS devices by a mile -- 750 million Android to 600 million iOS.

Nevertheless, as we and many of you well know, the iTunes app marketplace seems vastly superior in quality of content, in spite of Apple's barriers to entry, such as a registration fee for app sellers, and the fact that Google Play is rapidly catching up in terms of quantity and downloads. Apple has pipped 50 billion downloads across over 900,000 apps, while Google Play is currently counting down to that number across 750,000 apps. But there's an even greater discrepancy in app revenue. A massive 76 percent of the entire revenue generated by apps goes to iOS -- leaving the other 24 percent of the pie to all other operating systems.… Read more

Google's controversial Chrome Frame, a secure Internet Explorer plug-in that fought to bring the modern Web to legacy versions of Internet Explorer, will soon be going the way of Reader, Wave, and other Google projects not deemed worthy of a future.

Chrome engineer Robert Shield wrote in a blog post on Thursday that Chrome Frame had outlived its usefulness. Basically, it wasn't being used. Google said that its lack of appeal was because the use of browsers that support modern Web site technology has advanced far enough beyond where it was in 2009, when Chrome Frame launched.

Gary … Read more

Life is filled with trade-offs, and when it comes to keeping the country secure against terror attacks, Americans largely trust the government with broad access to personal data. Indeed, a recent Pew Research Center survey found that 56 percent of those polled favored the National Security Agency's previously undisclosed phone tracking activities compared with 41 percent who opposed letting the spy agency surveil phone records.

In making their case to the public, government officials tend to put the issue in black-and-white terms: Do you want to be responsible for a terrorist attack because the intelligence community failed to connect … Read more

Of the virtues of travel, Mark Twain once wrote, "The gentle reader will never, never know what a consummate ass he can become until he goes abroad."

Google updated Maps on Thursday with 1,001 places previously not in Street View, from the wildlife of Singapore to the interiors of the concert halls of Canada to, yes, tours of the Mark Twain House and Mark Twain Museum in Hartford, Conn.

The company did not release the full list of new locations, but pointed out highlights that could appeal to hikers, people planning their next vacation, or mere "… Read more

The big news today for Google+ is that the service is getting some notable improvements to its notifications system, the biggest of which is syncing across all devices. With this improvement, when you read or dismiss a notification on one device, the same action will be reflected across all of your devices, so you won't be bothered with repeat clicks and swipes.

Other updates include a new bell icon for notifications and an updated notifications tray, which separates new items from previously read items. According to Google's Vic Gundotra, the notifications improvements will be rolling out gradually starting … Read more

NEW YORK -- Megan Boken was on her phone checking in with her family as she got into her car when the line went silent.

The 23-year-old former volleyball star was back at her alma mater, St. Louis University, as part of an alumni-student game. A popular and likeable person, her parents assumed she ran into an old friend and got distracted.

Boken, however, had been shot twice and killed in a robbery. The only item missing: her phone.

Boken's father, Paul, and sister, Annie Palazzolo, shared the details of Megan's death, which occurred in August last year, … Read more

Would you like to disappear?

No, I am not threatening you. I am merely wondering whether you might be happier to be anonymous, private, tucked away so that random entities cannot find you.

Of course, I am moved to this suggestion by the avalanche of debate following the revelations from Snowdenia that have rendered idealists and libertarians simultaneously insensate.

You mean everyone can view everything we do? Even governments? Even Russian governments?

This seems to be the case. Which is why those who like to be meta before there's even a norm are striking out by hiding from the … Read more

Google should be investigated by the U.K. tax authority HM Revenue and Customes over its tax affairs, according to a parliamentary watchdog.

The search giant came under heavy criticism from the U.K. Public Accounts Committee today for only paying $16 million in tax to HMRC on turnover of $18 billion between 2006 and 2011.

Google achieved this by basing its operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa in Ireland, which has a corporation tax rate of 12.5 percent, less than half the 28 percent rate in the U.K. It then reduced its Irish tax liabilities … Read more

Android users now can print photos, documents, and other files directly to certain printers with Google's Cloud Print app.

Landing in Google Play on Wednesday, the app allows you to print from any compatible Android phone or tablet to any Google Cloud Print connected printer. You can also share photos and documents from the built-in Gallery and other Android apps to Cloud Print and check on the status of your print jobs.

You can see if your printer is compatible with Google's cloud printing through the Cloud Print Web site.