TECHNOLOGY

Google Inc. is facing more patent litigation as it has increased its dominance in the industry, and could spend billions to buy patents or defend itself against litigation. The Palo Alto, California-based company owner of the world's most popular search engine, the most used operating system platform (Android) for smartphones, and potentially a social network (Google+) that could rival Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg divulged his "awesome" news at a press conference in Facebook's Palo Alto, California headquarters: Skype would be bringing video-chat capabilities to Facebook, which, he says, now has 750 million users.

The 36-day trial of Casey Anthony, accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, brought minute-to-minute updates to people's smartphones and computers. For many people following Twitter and the massive media coverage, Casey should have been given the death penalty. The seven-woman, five-man jury in Orange County, Florida, after deliberating for just a day, gave her a "not guilty" verdict, sparking outrage from across the globe.

Now that Apple has released the gold master for the Mac Lion OS to developers, it is likely that the final product will soon be available for the general public. The Gold Master version is the final build of the OS before the official product release -- which in the case of the Lion will be available exclusively on the Mac App Store, the first OS to do so.

The world's first no-glasses 3D laptop is being released next month and it will cost 3D enthusiasts up to $2,000. Toshiba's Qosmio F750 is hoping to cash in on the 3D fad by being the first 3D laptop but the laptop actually has other unique features that even non 3D fans will want.

Internet subscribers in Australia grew by 17 percent in 2010 while the average amount of data downloaded rose by a further 29 per cent over the same period, according to research released today by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA).

As the national broadband network overhauls Australia’s telecommunication industry, so is the largest telco in the country, Telstra Corporation, which announced on Wednesday consolidation on its services and reorganization on the firm’s leadership functions.

Hackers hit FoxNews.com's Twitter account to send fake messages that U.S. President Barack Obama had been shot dead at a restaurant in Iowa. Nokia Oyj has cut its smartphone prices in Europe by as much as 15 percent to boost sales. Zynga, maker of "FarmVille," "CityVille" and other games played on Facebook, is aiming to raise $1 billion in an initial public offering.

The Social Network, a film about Mark Zuckerberg's founding of Facebook and the resulting lawsuits, was a worldwide box-office hit last year. With Facebook's 700 million active users and other and the coming of its most serious rival yet, Google+, social networking sites are generating massive traffic. Another movie about a social network would certainly generate interest from audiences around the globe.

Users who want Google's Realtime Search will have to look elsewhere for the feature because the search engine has apparently disabled it for good. On July 2nd Google's access to Twitter's special firehose expired and it will no longer be available on the search engine.

Hackers took over a Twitter account belonging to US broadcaster Fox News and posted a series of tweets declaring that President Obama had been assassinated.

"Going on a diet? Have a Pascal Swirl" is just among the many random pages in forums and Facebook that have sprung up like mushrooms.

They claimed that President Barack Obama had been shot while campaigning, which itself is red flag something wasn't right. What president would campaign on America's Independence Day nearly 18 months before the election?

You want to know why Apple is so hellbent on stopping Samsung selling smartphones in the United Sates? Reread this post's headline.

Google's popular e-mail service is getting an upgrade. According to the official Gmail blog Google is now going to make Gmail as "beautiful as it is powerful". This is part of Google's effort to bring users a more focused and effortless experience on its products.

Apple's dominance in the smartphone and tablet markets has led to many competitors singling out the tech giant as their public enemy number one. Microsoft has been locked in battle with Apple for software and computer needs while Google's Android smartphones is going head to head with the iPhone for control of the smartphone markets. The iPad has run away from other tablets. How exactly can Apple's rivals compete with Apple?

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO promised the press last week that Facebook would be a launching an "awesome" new product on July 6 that the company's Seattle team developed. Facebook sent out the press invitations on Friday with just a vague message "Please join us for an event at Facebook" on the invite.

The RMIT research team is collaborating with CA (Pacific) Pty Ltd, the Australian/New Zealand subsidiary of international software company CA Technologies to develop methods of detecting internal threats to website security.

Attorney-General Robert McClelland today released new research which shows nearly one in six Australians have been a victim or known somebody who has been a victim of identity theft or misuse in the past six months.

The free cloud applications, particularly Google spreadsheets, are gaining popularity as a phishing platform.

On this day, 235 years ago, the Second Continental Congress voted for a Declaration of Independence.

Skype on Thursday updated its Android app to allow users of select devices to make video calls, putting Android users on the same level of functionality as their iOS counterparts. Users of the Skype for iOS app have been able to make video calls since late December.

"We're embarking on a series of interface updates to help strip out unnecessary clutter and make Gmail as beautiful as it is powerful", Jason Cornwell, Google user experience designer, writes in a blog posted late this evening Eastern Time. Changes will occur gradually over a few months.

One of the biggest problems with instant messaging is that not everyone uses the same network. Typically you'll have friends who swear by Windows Live on the one hand, while others refuse to budge from Yahoo Messenger on the other.

In terms of tech specs, it's actually quite unremarkable. It runs on Android 2.2 with what appears to be a custom Tag Heuer skin, has 256 MB of RAM and an 8GB SD card, a single 5 Megapixel camera, and an undisclosed applications processor speed.

Los Angeles Times reporters Jessica Guynn and Dawn Chmielewski claim that Google "is in preliminary talks to buy online video pioneer Hulu, people familiar with the situation said".

On July 6, Facebook is hosting an event where it will unveil an unnamed new product, which TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington says will be an in-browser video chat client from Skype.

A consortium comprised of entities like iPhone maker Apple Inc., Blackberry vendor Research in Motion Ltd., operating systems giant Microsoft Corp. is paying $4.5 billion in cash to buy 6,000 residual patents belonging to Nortel Networks Corp., outbidding Google Inc. and others.

Samsung's ongoing feud with Apple took another turn this week as the South Korean firm asked the US International Trade Commission to ban Apple from importing the latest iPhone and iPad devices. The complaint was filed Wednesday amid a growing patent dispute.