Latest News Stories and Headlines

AFP – A video cartoon featuring Google’s chief giving away ice cream to snoop on children aired on a giant screen in Times Square as a privacy group continued to hound the Internet giant.

Macworld.com – As youâ??re aware, Apple just released iTunes 10. With that release has come some changesâ??both expected and not so.

AP – THE DEAL: Under a new five-year agreement, Google Inc. will continue to provide the search results on AOL Inc.’s websites. The companies signed the deal this week.

NewsFactor – When Microsoft launched its Bing decision engine in 2009, it may have held out hope for an alliance with AOL. In fact, there were even rumors that Microsoft would buy out the struggling Internet service provider. But AOL has shunned Bing in favor of Microsoft’s online nemesis, Google.

PC World – Ping is Apple’s music-centric social network that is integrated into iTunes 10. From a privacy standpoint, it’s pretty straightforward–as opposed to Facebook’s multitude of privacy settings–but then again, Ping is also very limited as to what services it offers. In either case, here’s a quick run-down of the privacy features present in Ping.

AP – Google Inc. will continue to provide the search results on AOL Inc.’s websites under a new, five-year deal the companies signed this week.

Macworld.com – Looking to catch the most recent season of Lost, but donâ??t want to succumb the baggage of having to buy a bunch of episodes that youâ??ll only watch once? Relax, friend, because if youâ??re an iTunes 10 user, you can now rent TV shows from the comfort of your very ownâ?¦computer.

PC World – Microsoft on Thursday started featuring a small advertisement on its Bing home page for Internet Explorer 8 in an apparent effort to encourage more people to migrate to the latest version of its browser.

Mashable – Late last evening, Apple released iTunes 10 and its new Ping social network to the public. Assuming you were able to access the service, you may have noticed the ability to add friends via Facebook Connect, a feature we mentioned in our first-impressions post last night.

AFP – Google released an improved version of Chrome on Thursday as the Internet titan’s Web browser turned two years old.

AFP – Mexico will change from analog to digital television by 2015 to promote competition and help convergence with telephone and Internet services, President Felipe Calderon said Thursday.

AFP – Hot microblogging service Twitter launched an application for the Apple iPad on Thursday to rave reviews from technology blogs.

Macworld.com – Apple has mentioned Facebook Connect support for new social network Ping in Wednesdayâ??s keynote, the iTunes 10 how-to video, on the Ping Website, and even in a conversation with All Things D. So why is the feature apparently no longer available?

PC World – Google and AOL have renewed a long-term partnership that gives AOL Web properties access to Google search and advertising services.

PC World – It’s official. iOS 4.1 is “coming soon” for iPhone and iPod Touch users. While the Apple Web site devoted to announcing the update focuses on new bells and whistles, the importance of iOS 4.1 is that it will hopefully resolve the remaining issues that make the iPhone 4 dysfunctional for many.

PC World – Despite all the hardware Apple introduced at its press event Wednesday, the most radical news was Ping, a social network for music that’s launching as a feature of iTunes 10. I’ve taken a brief test drive of Ping to see what it’s about, but even before updating iTunes, I knew Apple’s new social network was not for me. Here are five reasons I won’t be using Ping:

AFP – A Malaysian journalist was charged Thursday over a satirical blog which made fun of the state power firm Tenaga, and faces a year’s jail if convicted.

AFP – Agence France-Presse, one of the world’s top news agencies, aims to stream its news direct to web users via hand-held devices and direct-access Internet content, not solely via its media clients, its chief executive Emmanuel Hoog said in comments published Thursday.

AFP – Google will power Internet search across AOL properties and AOL video will appear on YouTube under an agreement reached on Thursday between the Web companies.

PC Magazine – Apple wants the new iTunes social network to be the Facebook of music.

Reuters – AOL Inc said on Thursday it has renewed a search agreement with Google Inc, further cementing a decade-long partnership as AOL tries to turn around its business.

Mashable – Banksimple has just raised $2.9 million in a Series A round to fund their ambitious alternative online banking startup for full-service, fee-free banking. The round includes investments from First Round Capital, IA Ventures and Village Ventures, a collection of industry veterans with extensive startup portfolios.

PC Magazine – There’s a new version of iTunes out to provide lots of new features and services from Apple, but it’s got another surprise under the covers: security vulnerability fixes.

Mashable – Google and AOL have signed a deal that extends the search and advertising partnership between the two companies for another five years. The agreement also includes mobile search and adds a content sharing partnership with YouTube.

Reuters – A booming market of tweens is changing the landscape of online games.