Ed Oswald

Google expanded its commitment to providing real-time search results by introducing a new site devoted to searching live content, as well as new tools aimed at helping users parse the information collected more easily.

The live search would be available at www.google.com/realtime, which the company is launching on a rolling basis Thursday. It indexes content from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Google first introduced basic realtime search last December, allowing users to more accurately search for current trending topics.

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Netflix on Thursday introduced a version of its application for the iPhone and iPod touch, allowing subscribers of the entertainment service to watch streaming content on their portable devices. The company already has a version of its application for the iPad, designed for the bigger screen of that device.

A subscription to Netflix is required, which starts at $8.99 per month. Nearly two thirds of its 15 million subscribers use some version of its online offerings, which also are available for PCs and select Blu-ray players and TV sets. It additionally gives Netflix a foothold in an increasingly competitive mobile entertainment market.

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In an age where just about anything is shared on Facebook, employers have turned to it and other social networking sites to ensure its employee's behavior is on the up and up. In Germany, that practice may become illegal.

German news outlets are reporting that Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière is working on new privacy legislation that would outlaw corporate snooping on social networking profiles. It would restrict the amount of information that current as well as prospective employers could gather and use.

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Apple is in 'advanced' talks with News Corp, parent company of the Fox broadcasting network, over letting consumers rent its TV shows for 99 cents, Bloomberg has reported. CBS, NBC Universal, and Walt Disney, which owns ABC, are also said to be participating in those talks.

While the focus is expected to be how the new shows add entertainment options to Apple's preexisting line of products, the company is also likely to introduce the second generation of its AppleTV product. That would likely come with a smaller hard drive and a $99 price point, sources told the news service.

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While much of the focus has been on Google and Verizon when it comes to net neutrality as of late, the Wall Street Journal has reported that lobbyists began a new set of talks among a much wider group on Wednesday.

The Information Technology Industry Council is a lobbying firm which represents dozens of companies, including Apple, AOL, Cisco, HP, Microsoft, Nokia, and RIM among others. Reports indicate Microsoft is in attendance as is Cisco. AT&T and Verizon are also involved in the negotiations, but Google is not.

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The final comment period before the Federal Communications Commission makes its ruling on whether or not to approve the Comcast-NBC Universal merger ended on Thursday, and opponents made one last effort to stop it in its tracks.

Comcast fought off those complaints, calling them "nothing more than preexisting or industry-wide grievances" that should not be part of the decision to approve the merger. It also accused some of those attempting to put additional conditions on the deal were attempting "to foist unprecedented and onerous burdens on the combined entity."

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In a move likely aimed at putting it on a more even keel with Apple's App Store, Nokia on Friday announced it had acquired mobile analytics firm Motally. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, and the acquisition is expected to complete before the end of the third quarter.

Motally's metrics help developers understand how their users are interacting with their applications. Nokia would adapt the company's technologies to work with its Symbian platform as well as Meego, Qt, and Java, although it plans to continue serving current customers.

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A Texas-based researcher claimed he had discovered that about 40 different Windows apps, including the Windows shell, suffer from a critical vulnerability that could open up users to attacks by hackers. The flaw was originally discovered in iTunes for Windows, and was patched by Apple four months ago with iTunes 9.1.

Rapid7 chief security officer HD Moore detailed his findings to Computerworld in an interview on Wednesday. He said a wide range of applications are affected, and it was found while looking into another flaw involving Windows shortcuts, which Microsoft patched in an emergency update.

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Toshiba said Wednesday that it had made a breakthrough in hard disk design that will allow hard drives to have much higher capacities than what is currently possible today. The research is in something called bit-patterned media, a magnetic storage technology.

The recording surface is broken up into tiny magnetic bits, each of which can hold a single bit of data. The bits are made up of several grains, which are organized in rows. This organization is what makes it possible for data to be found easily.

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In a letter to Google chief Eric Schmidt, RIAA and 12 other music industry groups asked that any proposal on the issue of net neutrality be specific in taking steps to combat copyright infringement and child pornography. The inclusion of pornography in the industry's request is somewhat unusual considering none of the groups listed are active participants in any anti-pornography efforts.

The groups feel that any proposal should permit ISPs to take action against these issues. While the proposal put forth by Google and Verizon does address 'unlawful content,' it is not specific as to what that may entail.

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The Federal Communications Commission has said that ISPs are not truthful in advertising broadband speeds, often choosing to use maximum connection speeds in attracting customers. The finding came as part of a larger study on broadband performance released this week.

While the advertised speeds have averaged in the range of 7 to 8 Mbps, actual speeds are roughly half that. This gap was found to be about the same across all technologies, including cable, DSL, and fiber to the home. The FCC argued that the gap may cause confusion among consumers as the speeds determine the consumer experience.

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Yahoo said Tuesday that it would begin to switch over its search backend to the Microsoft platform in the US and Canada, the cornerstone of an agreement reached between the two companies last July. A "Powered by Bing" graphic would appear at the bottom of its search pages after the transition, the company said.

It would still be some time yet before other markets worldwide transition to Bing, for which Yahoo gave no timeline, although it's expected the full transition wouldn't be complete until 2012. Of course, one notable example would be Japan: that division is switching to a Google backend pending regulatory approval and any legal challenges.

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Citing manufacturer demand, Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said Monday that Ubuntu 10.10 would include the beginnings of the company's UTouch multitouch framework.

"Rather than single, magic gestures, we're making it possible for basic gestures to be chained, or composed, into more sophisticated 'sentences,'" he said in a blog post. "The basic gestures, or primitives, are like individual verbs, and stringing them together allows for richer interactions."

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The music industry is looking for a way to save broadcast radio, and may have found it: a legislative mandate to carry FM radio in personal electronics. Like the net neutrality debate, this idea was born out of two sides disagreeing and attempting to come to a compromise.

RIAA and broadcasters are at odds over the payment for the right to play songs on the radio. While satellite and Internet broadcasts must pay this fee, radio is exempt under current copyright law. The labels want this changed, obviously the broadcasters do not.

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AT&T and Verizon's net neutrality deal became a political issue on Monday as four House Democrats voiced their opposition to the plan with the Federal Communications Commission. In a letter to the regulatory agency, the lawmakers said the proposal 'reinforces the need for resolution' to the debate.

"Formal FCC action is needed," they wrote. "The public interest is served by a free and open Internet than continues to be an indispensable platform for innovation, investment, entrepreneurship, and free speech." The four lawmakers calling for the changes were Reps. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Anna Eschoo of California, Jay Inslee of Washington, and Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania.

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