Microsoft today wrapped up a three-day campaign against rival Google by claiming its newest browser, Internet Explorer 9 (IE9), is superior in stopping users from being tracked by online advertisers.

“We had some fun this week,” said Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s head of corporate communications, in a blog post Friday.

Earlier in the week, Microsoft ran full-page advertisements in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today that took advantage of controversy over a recent announcement by Google of changes to its privacy policies.
Read more »

LG is now the latest Android handset vendor to begin paying royalties to Microsoft for the ability to use the Android operating system on its handsets.

The agreement allows LG to make use of Microsoft patented technology in phones, tablets and other consumer electronics running either Android or Chrome OS.

This latest agreement brings the total number of vendors paying Microsoft royalties for Android use to 11, with other licensees including Samsung, HTC and Acer.
Read more »

Here is a little bit of trivia – did you know that Google and Mozilla do talk to one another, so much so that they have come to an agreement where the former pays the latter $300 million annually? All that moolah did not exchange hands for nothing, don’t get me wrong, but it is there so that Google will be the default choice in Mozilla’s Firefox browser as part of the search royalty agreement for three more years. Not bad for $300 million a year, no? We do know that this sum is far higher than what was originally agreed on, due to competing interest from Google’s other two rivals, Yahoo! and Microsoft.
Read more »

Facebook has reportedly acquired Gowalla, according to a CNNMoney report. The report attributed the development to “a source close to Gowalla” and mentioned that most of Gowalla’s employees will move to Facebook’s offices in Palo Alto. The team will work on Facebook’s Timeline feature.

In September this year, Gowalla revamped its offering into a social tourist guide. The company, which began as a check-in app, chose to push check-ins to a secondary function of its service. Gowalla decided to allow users to create “stories” around their experiences, grouping together photos and comments from different users who are interacting at the same location.
Read more »

Google Monday unveiled an expanded Google Wallet that adds coupon redemption and other features to its mobile payments capabilities.

Google said several retailers at select locations will let Google Wallet users make mobile payments, redeem coupons and earn rewards points with a single tap of an NFC-ready Nexus S phone.
Read more »

With a new CEO finally at the helm, AMD can begin to move forward in what has become an Intel world.

The chip maker announced on Thursday that its board of directors has appointed Rory P. Read, the former president and chief operating officer of Lenovo, as the president and CEO of AMD.

Read, who took the reins on Thursday, has also been appointed to AMD’s board of directors.

The company took about seven months to find a new chief executive, and analysts say finally filling that post will give stability and new direction to AMD, which has been trailing rival Intel in the semiconductor industry.
Read more »

You might want to read the fine print the next time you download a so-called ‘free’ iPhone game.

In the long run, chances are it will end up costing you more than a game that has a price attached to it.

In fact, according to analytics firm Flurry, iPhone games that use what’s referred to as the “freemium” model rake in a whopping two times as much money as those that charge a price on the outset.
Read more »