The world’s largest online search engine, Google Inc., has acquired the product search engine Sparkbuy, according to a note on the Sparkbuy website.

Google has yet to issue an official announcement concerning its latest acquisition, and at this time, the terms of the deal are being kept strictly private.

Read the full story

The maker of the popular PlayStation gaming console, Sony Entertainment, has announced the company has begun restoring PlayStation Network features after the network was brought down by a sophisticated attack from a group of unidentified hackers.

Sony President, and Group Chief Executive Officer, Kazuo Hirai, made the announcement in a carefully crafted video message published earlier today.

Read the full story

TORONTO — The Waterloo-based maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone, Research In Motion Ltd (RIM), recently launched its first tablet computer, the BlackBerry PlayBook, over six months after the company first announced the product.

RIM has largely been criticized for releasing the BlackBerry PlayBook without key features when not paired with a BlackBerry smartphone, such as a native e-mail client, BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) support, and native calendar support, among other key features that would be expected in a new high-end tablet.

Read the full story

The world’s largest social network with more than 500-million registered users, Facebook Inc., today announced via a blog post a new “Send” button aimed at making it easier for users to share content on Facebook only with a select group of friends.

Facebook says its users have created more than 50-million Groups, and the new Send button could be used to share content with select groups.

There are currently two ways to share a link on Facebook, either through the Share or Like button. The only caveat with the current share methods is a user cannot filter which friends see the shared content, rather a shared link simply appears in the Newsfeed of all friends – the new Facebook Send button simply aims to change that disadvantage.

Read the full story

The world’s largest software vendor, Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), today showcased various new web technologies at the MIX11 tech conference in Las Vegas, but most notably, the company announced the newest forthcoming features of Windows Phone.

Microsoft largely focused on the developer side by showcasing a comprehensive look at the newest development platform codenamed Mango of Windows Phone. The upcoming version will include many new features, including both under-the-hood enhancements and improvements to the user interface of the platform.

Read the full story

The Internet search giant, Google Inc., has completed its third acquisition of a Toronto-based tech company, this time scooping up PushLife Inc. with the details of the acquisition being kept private.

PushLife was founded in 2008 by ex Research In Motion employee Ray Reddy and aimed to developed software for people to organize, share, and purchase digital content across different mobile platforms from a single application.

Read the full story

The world’s largest carmaker, Japan-based Toyota Motor Corp (TMC), announced a new non-exclusive $12-million partnership with the world’s largest software vendor, Microsoft Corp, that will see telematics systems in upcoming Toyota hybrid vehicles powered by Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing platform.

From 2008 to 2009, global production of vehicles declined by 13.50-percent to almost 70-million cars manufactured in 2009, the biggest decline in over a decade, as demand fell amid the global financial crisis.

Read the full story

Google’s volatile relationship with the Chinese government doesn’t seem to be ironing out yet, in fact, it could get worse, as a new deadline from the Chinese State Bureau of Surveying looms that could see Google Maps blocked in the country.

The Chinese government requires Internet mapping websites that operate in China to receive a license to operate in the country through an approval process that is designed to protect national security, including by censoring data, among other practices.

Read the full story

The world’s largest Internet-based commerce company, Amazon Inc., is venturing into unfamiliar territory by launching a new mobile applications store, Amazon Appstore, for Google Android powered devices on Monday.

Amazon Appstore directly competes with Android Marketplace, the native application store for Android powered devices, but currently only has about 4,000 applications in its index, a number that is likely to grow exponentially in the coming weeks.

Users could access Amazon Appstore directly from their PC browser, or from an Android device.

Read the full story

In another apparent attack on its computer systems, the world’s largest search engine, Google Inc., is publically pointing the finger at the Chinese government for allegedly manipulating how some of its services function in China.

It appears many basic functions and tasks within Google’s Gmail email service, including sending messages, using the instant messaging service Gtalk within Gmail, starring or marking messages as read, all appear to be sporadically hindered for users in China.

Read the full story