Facebook for the time being has put a hold on participating with Google’s recently launched Friend Connect. The Facebook developer blog details the technology employed by Google violates Facebook’s terms of service.

Google, earlier this week, released a preview Friend Connect, a system that will allow web site owners to easily add social applications to their sites with out much coding. These “social gadgets” include ways to access users on social networks like Facebook and MySpace. However, Facebook has been quick to suspend participation due to the lack of control over user information being redistributed without Facebook users’ knowledge.

A Facebook employee, Charlie Cheever, brings light to why Facebook is suspending its participation in the Facebook Developer blog. “We’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology. We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service,” Cheever said. “Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance.”

Facebook claims the company was never officially participating with Google’s new venture, and the company was only merely briefed on the new technology. Facebook has already reached out to Google in hopes of solving the issues.

Google Friend Connect provides a set of social gadgets for users to implement one his or her’s website. One may sign-in into Google, Yahoo, AIM or OpenID accounts, invite and show activity to friends, browse profiles and the ability to connect to new friends all across social networks. The current social networks listed by Google include Facebook, Google Talk, hi5, orkut, and Plaxo.

Earlier this month Facebook ran into user privacy issues as it accidentally published a hand full of scanned copies of driver’s licenses.

Financier Carl Icahn on Thursday launched a proxy battle to force Yahoo to reopen buyout talks with Microsoft, saying the Yahoo board had acted "irrationally" in refusing its $47.5 billion offer. Icahn harshly criticized Yahoo for the breakdown in talks, and said he had accumulated 59 million shares and options in Yahoo and assembled a 10-member dissident board slate for election at Yahoo’s annual meeting on July 3.

Read the complete story here.

Effective June 1, Amazon will begin collecting sales tax on all items shipped to New York despite a pending lawsuit that challenges the state’s new law.

Earlier this year, New York enacted a new law that will require companies with affiliates in the state that direct or help refer business is required to collect sales tax from state residents. Amazon filed suit against the state last month in effort to reverse the new law, deemed by Amazon as “unconstitutional.” According to Amazon’s website, “Amazon has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this provision. However, as required by the law, we must still begin collecting New York sales tax beginning on that date.”

“Nothing is changing with regard to Amazon’s relationships with Affiliates in New York state,” said Patty Smith, Amazon spokeswoman. As of right now, it appears Amazon may be the only one abiding by New York’s new law, unlike some competitors.

Overstock, an online outlet store, will be axing its New York affiliates to avoid collecting taxes. An estimated 3,400 affiliates will be cut off, as the company cites financial reasons as the cause. “There are affiliates in New York who will see their business go away because of a not-so-thoughtful action by the New York State legislature,” said Jonathan Johnson, Overstock senior vice president of corporate affairs.

Johnson added, “We believe the law is unconstitutional and won’t stand the test of the courts, but in the meantime we have been very careful to keep our footprint just in Utah. We can’t afford to have our New York affiliates up online if it subjects us to New York sales taxes.”

New York original hoped the new law would assist in generating over $50 million a year. Earlier this week, the state of Texas began an investigation of Amazon for back taxes the company may owe to the state, as Amazon has been operating a distribution center in the state since 2006.

Munich (Germany) - Today’s iPhone rumor comes from Intel’s 40th birthday bash in Germany, which was held yesterday night. The German ZDnet guys reported that Intel Germany boss Hannes Schwaderer confirmed that the Apple’s iPhone will be available with Intel’s Atom chip. There is a lot of interest in Apple’s new iPhone these days, so it is no surprise that the news spread like wildfire. Intel soon denied the report as false, but the author stands by his story. In the end, Intel’s claims do not "entirely" contradict what we have heard before from the company - that Intel is aiming for the iPhone in the future.

There is quite a bit of speculation and very little actual information about upcoming iPhones on the Internet at this time. I can just imagine how much fun Apple’s PR department has these days and the fact that they are simply sitting still, while the web is going nuts over potential product launches. With all that information, which admittedly can create a ton of traffic for a website, it is pretty much certain that details get confused and published earlier than they should.

The latest iPhone news from ZDnet could be such a case and I invite you to share your thoughts on this. Apparently, the word "iPhone" was dropped in Schwaderer’s presentation and, according to the publication, the executive said that there will be "an" iPhone with Atom chip. However, that iPhone will be a bit larger than the current version, which he claimed was due to a larger display and not due to the size of the Atom chip.

Based on what we heard from the Atom developer team in Austin, Texas, this statement makes no sense at all. They told us a few weeks ago that Atom and especially its chipset are simple too large and too power hungry to fit in the current or the next iPhone, which we all expect to launch by the end of June. Following the publication of today’s iPhone article, Intel denied that Schwaderer referred to the iPhone in his speech, but to MIDs in general. A PR representative for Intel also said that Schwaderer could not have poossibly known about an Atom-iPhone, given the fact that Apple isn’t talking about the future of the device. That explanation does sound a bit cheesy: Intel does not know about an Intel Atom-iPhone that is expected to be released within a few weeks? We buy a lot, but we don’t buy this one.

TG Daily had a chance to catch up with the author of the story, ZDNet Germany editor-in-chief Kai Schmerer. Despite the fact that other journalists who attended the event said they did not hear Schwaderer refer to the iPhone, Schmerer said he did explicitly and noted that his colleagues from PC Games confirmed his claim. What makes Schmerer’s story a bit delicate is the fact that he quoted Schwaderer saying "an iPhone" and not a specific model as well as Schwaderer telling the party crowd that the Atom-iPhone would be larger due to the display and not due to the CPU. Schmerer told us that he had no idea why no one else heard these words from Schwaderer, but noted that the claims came during the executive’s closing remarks in the late evening of the day.

According to Schmerer, Schwaderer was referring not to "an iPhone", but to the iPhone 1.x and the iPhone 2.x during his speech. Looking at what we know today, an Atom iPhone for generation 1 and generation 2 is physically impossible and if Schwaderer in fact dropped these claims, he most likely was wrong. However, if he really meant to say "an iPhone", he could have been right. We know that Intel will be updating Atom with the Moorestown chip, which integrates graphics, in 2010 - very likely in a 32 nm package. Intel confirmed to us before that Moorestown will be small and power-efficient enough to be aiming for smartphones. Plus, the Inquirer posted an Intel presentation that connected Moorestown to the iPhone. So, perhaps Schwaderer was really referring to hopes that a future Atom CXPU could be part of the iPhone 3 or 4.

Current Intel presentations covering the Atom processor do not show the iPhone anymore and if you ask executives about the fact why the iPhone image has been removed and whether the iPhone will be a future Intel customer, you won’t get a clear answer, but you will receive a smile in return.

We may be a bit picky with this story. But the tension surrounding the iPhone is simply fascinating.

Fujitsu has showcased its second generation 5.6-inch UMPC U2010 with Intel’s 45nm Atom processor. The UMPC will focus on the high-end market with a price of $1295 and will be launched in Taiwan in July.

More here at Digitimes.

The growing use of mobile broadband services by handsets, laptops, MIDs, and mobile CE devices will place ever-increasing demands on 3G networks. In the end, 4G networks will be required because people use devices wherever they are. Meanwhile, one way to reduce the stress on network capacity is through the use of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), which routes traffic through customers’ wired broadband connections when they are at home. New data from ABI Research suggests that capital expenditure by mobile operators on 4G base station gateways and FMC-related carrier equipment will approach US$850 million in 2013.

More here at Digitimes.

Los Angeles (CA) - Last month US Federal Courts ruled that Customs agents didn’t require probable cause to search laptops and other electronics. But how do you secure your laptop against nosy agents and indeed anyone else who gets a hold of your laptop? Computer security expert Bruce Schneier gave the Guardian UK paper some basic tips on protecting your data.

Schneier says encryption is the main defense, but that scrambling the entire hard drive is probably a bad idea. Agents will likely hold you even longer and demand that you give them the password, according to Schneier. Instead, he suggests that people use open source programs to encrypt portions of their drives using a strong password.

Most people just leave all types of junk on their drives and Schneier also suggests cleaning all that crap up with a secure file deletion program.

For more tips read Schneier’s article at Guardian UK.

Broadcaster CBS has announced that it is to acquire online publisher CNET for $1.8 billion in a deal valuing CNET shares 44.6% higher than their close on Wednesday.

The move is an attempt by the broadcaster to make a signifigant move into the online world, where rivals News Corp and others are already making good headway. CBS has purchased an established but ailing internet stalwart in CNET, unlike rivals who have bought up bright young things like MySpace and Bebo.

CNET has required restructuring, something its current owners in the hedge fund JANA has been attempting to do. That restructuring is far, far from complete, but the near 45% premium on the share price should appease them from attempting to hold out, restructure the company and add value to it. Better to forego the expense and time that would take and run with the money CBS is offering.

CBS will now take on this job whilst pushing itself onto the web in a major way, in a move that it says will provide the combined company with 54 million unique users in the U.S. and brands ranging from CNET News to MP3.com and CBSSports.com

The deal should be finalised by the third quarter of the year, with CBS predicting headline growth in revenue and profits in the mid to high-teens.

In August 2006 a Texas gaming company by the name of Anascape Ltd filed a patent infringement suit against Microsoft and Nintendo alleging that the companies infringed on patents Anascape holds on analog sensors, tactile feedback, and vibration mechanisms in it’s game controllers.

While Microsoft chose to go the out of court settlement route, Nintendo decided to see the lawsuit though to the end and a year and 9 months later, an East Texas jury has found in favour of Anascape Ltd.

According to the Associated Press, Nintendo has been ordered to pay $21 million for infringing upon one of the company’s patents with its Wii Classic, Wavebird, and GameCube controllers. Nintendo hopes the sum will decrease significantly following the company’s planned appeal.

A spokesperson for Nintendo said while the company planned to appeal the ruling it was pleased that there were no issues with the company’s original Wiimote or Nuncheck controllers.

Microsoft said in a statement that details of the settlement reached May 1 were not going to be disclosed.

The Xbox 360 has become the first console of the current generation to reach the 10 million units sold mark in the U.S., with 19 million sold worldwide and 12 million users on Xbox Live.

"This year will be the largest in the history of the video game industry, with Xbox 360 leading the charge in the U.S. and abroad," said Don Mattrick, senior VP of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft.

"History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle. We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry."

Xbox Live Gold membership has doubled in the last year alone, and Grand Theft Auto IV is helping to fuel this further, Microsoft has said. The Xbox 360 will be receiving exclusive episodic content for the game that should spur more users to Live.

Meanwhile Sony has indicated that it is more concerned with profitability than market share and price cuts after it released its financial results yesterday. The company has sold around 10 million PlayStation 3’s worldwide so far, and it yesterday announced that it has nearly halved its losses in the video gaming segment thanks to the lowering cost of producing each PS3 unit.

"Console market share appears to be less of a priority; price cut less likely," explained Colin Sebastian of Lazard Capital Markets.

"On its earnings call, Sony management indicated the company is now more focused on achieving profitability in the PlayStation segment... Importantly, management comments also suggest that a price cut is less likely on the PS3 this year, at least in the near term."

Verizon Wireless has become the first U.S. operator to join the LiMo Foundation.

Mobile industry leaders Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Panasonic Mobile Communications, Samsung Electronics and Vodafone first launched the Linux Mobile Foundation in January 2007 as non-profit industry consortium dedicated to creating an open, hardware-independent, Linux-based operating system for mobile devices.

Verizon will fill the final seat on the LiMo board of directors joining the likes of ACCESS, Aplix, Azingo, LG Electronics, McAfee, Motorola, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Orange, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, Texas Instruments, Verizon, Vodafone and Wind River.

Several other groups including Mozilla, SK Telecom, Infineon Technologies, Red Bend Software, Sagem Mobiles, SFR and Kvaleberg AS have also joined the group.

The news comes shortly after AT&T announced its support for Google’s Linux based platform, Android. T-Mobile and Sprint are also planning to support Android phones.

This announcement comes as a bit of a surprise seeing as how not too long ago, Verizon Wireless told Business Week that it planned on using Android but later said it had no solid plans to do so. According to rcrnews.com, Kyle Malady, Vice President of network at VZW has said the company will make LiMo’s platform its preferred operating system but if Android proves to be beneficial for Verizon’s customers then the company may use it.

“Certainly there might be a segment for them [OHA] and we will continue to watch that. If there comes to be a point where we see there’s benefit for our customers (by supporting Android), we could use that.”

According the the website, LiMo is "open to all vendors and service providers in the mobile communications marketplace, including device manufacturers, operators, chipset manufacturers, integrators and independent software vendors" and many company’s are supporters of both LiMo and Google’s OHA.

Search engine Ask.com has announced a deal which will see the company will acquire parent company of Dictionary.com, Lexico.

The search engine predicts the move will expand its audience by 11 percent or 145 million unique visitors per month. Once the deal is signed and stamped, Ask.com is expected to add more layers such as video and images to entries on Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com. The deal is due to close in Q3 of this year.

Lexico last year agreed to sell to Answers.com for $100 million, a deal that fell through in March. Financial details of the deal between Ask and Lexico have not been announced.

The move comes just a couple of months after the search engine announced it would be shifting its focus to concentrate on a more specific user; the middle-aged, married woman, a decision which would see the company lay off 8 percent of its staff.

Ask.com started out as AskJeeves, a service where users would be able to ask specific questions. The company ditched Jeeves in February of 2006 but announced in March that it would return to the simple question and answer mindset, allowing married women to search for recipes, child rearing, and hobbies.

When the company buried Jeeves 2 years ago, Ask.com’s Senior Vice President of search, Jim Lanzone had big ideas for the search engine.

"People have been conditioned to think that only one brand equals search. It’s time that they realize that Ask is a serious alternative to Google.”

Despite these ambitions the company is no where near Google in terms of visitors and still trails behind the likes of Yahoo! and Live Search.

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