SAN FRANCISCO, April 16 (Reuters) – Google Inc
Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt predicted on Tuesday that there
will be more than a billion smartphones in use featuring its
Android software within the next six to nine months.

Schmidt also noted that Google had no intention of blocking
access to a new app from Facebook Inc, saying he was
“phenomenally happy” with the app from Google’s rival, which
replaces the homescreen on Android phones.

SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK, April 9 (Reuters) – Google Inc
said on Tuesday it plans to bring its ultra high-speed
Internet and television service to Austin, Texas, next year,
prompting AT&T Inc to reveal its own plans to follow suit
- if it gets the same terms from local authorities.

AT&T appeared to be making a political point to highlight
the heavy regulations that encumber traditional phone companies,
analysts said.

SAN FRANCISCO, April 9 (Reuters) – Google Inc is
bringing its high-speed Internet and television service to
Austin, Texas, the first move to expand the Google Fiber service
beyond its initial location in Kansas City introduced last year.

Google plans to begin connecting homes in Austin by the
middle of 2014, the company said in a post on its official blog
on Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31 (Reuters) – Create personal
profiles. Build networks of friends. Share photos, videos and
music.

That might sound precisely like Facebook, but hundreds of
millions of tech-savvy young people have instead turned to a
wave of smartphone-based messaging apps that are now sweeping
across North America, Asia and Europe.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 26 (Reuters) – Facebook Inc is
expanding the advertising system that lets marketers tailor
messages to users of the No. 1 social network based on their
browsing history, in the company’s latest step to refine its ad
business.

So far, the system has been used to target graphical display
ads on the right side of a Facebook user’s page, based on
websites visited in the past, such as for products or potential
vacation destinations.

March 25 (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc has snapped up
mobile news aggregator Summly, the latest in a string of small
acquisitions intended to bolster the Web portal’s mobile
services.

Summly, founded by 17-year-old Nick D’Aloisio, sorts news by
topics in quick bites for smartphones. The start-up works
closely with News Corp and is backed by Chinese
investor Li Ka-Shing and angel investors including the actor
Ashton Kutcher and artist Yoko Ono.

March 14 (Reuters) – Google Inc’s mapping and
commerce chief is stepping down in the latest senior management
reshuffle after Android architect Andy Rubin moved on to a
still-undefined role at the company on Wednesday.

Google will split its Maps/Geo and Commerce group into two
separate units. Senior Vice President Jeff Huber, who has led
the group since 2011, is moving to Google X, the company’s
experimental projects group known for developing self-driving
cars and the Google Glass wearable computer.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google Inc will pay $7 million to 38 states and the District of Columbia to settle an investigation into a controversial incident in which its Street View mapping cars collected passwords and other personal data from home wireless networks between 2008 and 2010.

The deal, details of which were reported last week, ends a nearly three-year investigation.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 12 (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc Chief
Executive Marissa Mayer was asked at an all-staff meeting
several weeks ago whether her rigorous hiring practices had
caused the company to miss out on top engineering talent in
Silicon Valley’s hyper-competitive job market.

Mayer dismissed the complaint that she had refused good
candidates because they did not have degrees from prestigious
universities, and instead she challenged her staff to get better
at recruiting, according to an employee who was at the meeting.

SAN FRANCISCO, March 12 (Reuters) – Online scrapbook
Pinterest is rolling out new tools that will show businesses the
number of visitors it delivers to their websites, part of the
fast-growing start-up’s efforts to build a base for the
introduction of money-making features.

Pinterest does not currently display any revenue-generating
advertising on its website, but retailers and large brands such
as The Gap, Patagonia and Dell are increasingly using the site
to promote their products.