Google Chrome surpasses Internet Explorer as world’s most popular web browser

According to new data released by StatCounter this morning, Google Chrome has surpassed Internet Explorer as the world's most popular web browser (in terms of usage), a spot Microsoft's browser has held every week of the year since 1998. IE has been on a steady decline over the past several years, with web browsers such as Chrome and Firefox taking up market share left behind.

According to the data, Chrome now holds a 32.76% market share worldwide, while Internet Explorer controls 31.94%. In a distant third is Mozilla Firefox at 25.47%.

YouTube celebrates its 7th birthday

Today, May 21, 2012, is the seventh birthday of the Internet's most popular video uploading website, YouTube. Seven years ago on this date, YouTube opened its doors to the public. Following a significant amount of popularity from users, YouTube was sold to Google and has been under Google control since.

YouTube announced as part of a birthday blog post today that over 72 hours of video is collectively uploaded to the website every minute.

Yahoo announces plans to sell half of its stake in Alibaba

Yahoo today announced that it will be selling half of its stake in Chinese Internet company Alibaba back to the company. Representing about 20% of Alibaba's stock, Yahoo will receive $7.1 billion in total, with a minimum of $6.3 billion in the form of cash. In addition, the two companies have reached licensing agreements. Yahoo has agreed to let Alibaba run its Yahoo! China division for at least the next four years at a sum of $550 million.

First, at the time of an initial public offering (IPO) of Alibaba in the future, Alibaba will be required either to repurchase one-quarter of Yahoo!'s current stake at the IPO price or allow Yahoo! to sell those shares in the IPO. Second, following such an IPO, Yahoo! has registration rights and rights to marketing support from Alibaba to enable Yahoo! to dispose of its remaining shares, at times of Yahoo!'s choosing following a customary lock-up period.

Spotify launches in Australia and New Zealand

Popular music streaming service Spotify launched in two new locations today - Australia and New Zealand. The service, which launched in the United States back in the summer of last year, is available in Australia and New Zealand beginning today. It allows users to stream music (over 16 million tracks) for free. Subscription plans are available for users looking to ditch the periodic ads and limits on music streaming per month.

Some Motorola Mobility devices banned from import into U.S. following ITC ruling

The United States International Trade Commission (ITC) announced (PDF) a ruling last week that bans the import of certain Motorola Mobility devices into the United States following the company being found of infringing upon a Microsoft-owned patent. The patent in question deals with "generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device." The ban will likely go into effect within the next 60 days, unless Motorola Mobility is able to address the issue quickly. Affected devices include the Motorola Droid RAZR, the Motorola Droid 4, and the Motorola Droid Bionic.

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg ties the knot

One day after Facebook officially became a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ under the ticker "FB," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg married longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan yesterday in a private service at his Palo Alto, California home. Zuckerberg announced the news by adding a new life event on his Facebook Timeline, along with an accompanying picture of him and his new bride.

Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility could close as soon as next week

According to a report from The Associated Press, the Chinese government has approved Google's proposed $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, possibly opening the opportunity to close the deal that was initially announced in August of 2011 as early as next week. China was the last country that needed to approve the merger, with both the United States and European Commission approving the deal back in February.

Chinese regulators had one condition for the deal being approved: "That Google's Android operating system for mobile devices remain available to all at no cost for the next five years."

Modern Warfare 3 Content Collection 2 set to be released on May 22

Earlier this week, Infinity Ward announced that the second "Content Collection" pack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 will be released this Tuesday, May 22, 2012 (Xbox LIVE customers only). The collection pack will include the content that has been released to Call of Duty Elite members since the last collection pack and will cost $15.

Content Collection 2 will include the following:

• Getaway (map)
• Lockout (map)
• Foundation (map)
• Sanctuary (map)
• Oasis (map)
• Iron Clad (spec ops mission)
• Kill Switch (spec ops mission)
• New achievements

Facebook hit with $15 billion privacy lawsuit on IPO day

Today, Facebook officially became a publicly traded company when it launched under the ticker "FB" on the NASDAQ. Also today, Facebook was hit with a class action lawsuit that claims it continues to track users' web browsing activity even after they logout of the social network. The lawsuit, which was filed in San Jose, California, is seeking nearly $15 billion in damages from Facebook.

The full press release follows:

Stewarts Law acts for facebook users who have filed a Consolidated Digital Privacy Class Action

18 May 2012 (San Jose, Calif.)

Facebook users today filed an amended consolidated class action complaint in federal court in San Jose, California in the case In re: Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation, No. 5:12-md-02314-EJD. The class action asserts federal statutory and California State causes of action related to the revelation in September 2011 that Facebook was improperly tracking the internet use of its members even after they logged out of their accounts. The action consolidates 21 related cases filed in more than a dozen states in 2011 and early 2012.

The plaintiffs assert claims under the federal Wiretap Act, which provides statutory damages per user of US$100 per day per violation, up to a maximum per user of US$10,000. Even if Facebook’s alleged actions constitute a single violation of the Wiretap Act per class member, that implies more than US$15 billion in damages across the class. The complaint also asserts claims under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Stored Communications Act, various California Statutes and California common law.

The class action is being led by court-appointed co-lead counsel Stewarts Law US LLP and Bartimus, Frickleton, Robertson & Gorny, P.C. David Straite, Partner at Stewarts Law, stated: “This is not just a damages action, but a groundbreaking digital privacy rights case that could have wide and significant legal and business implications.” In addition to co-lead counsel, the court has appointed a Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee which includes Keefe Bartels in New Jersey; Mandell, Schwartz & Boisclair in Rhode Island; Eichen Crutchlow Zaslow & McElroy in New Jersey; Bergmanis Law Firm in Missouri; Burns, Cunningham & Mackey in Alabama; and Murphy, Falcon & Murphy in Baltimore. The court has also appointed a committee of former State Attorneys General to advise the class, including former Mississippi AG Mike Moore, former Arizona AG Grant Woods, former Hawaii AG Margery Bronster, and former Louisiana AG Richard Ieyoub.

Facebook’s first day on the stock market wasn’t amazing

Today, Facebook officially launched its initial public offering (IPO) on the NASDAQ under the ticker "FB." The company's stock began trading at $38 after a nearly 30 minute delay from when it was initially scheduled to begin trading. The delay was reportedly due to heavy load on NASDAQ's network in preparation for the launch.

After its first day of trading, Facebook's stock ended the day at $38.23, up $0.23 from the original stock price. The number is down from the high for the day, which was about $42. While the end result wasn't as high as most investors and analysts believed it would be, the IPO still put Facebook at a $104 billion valuation.

Report: HP to layoff nearly 25,000 employees

According to a report from Bloomberg, Hewlett-Packard (HP) is considering to layoff nearly 8% of its total workforce, equivalent to about 25,000 employees. The move comes as the company is going through a minor transition period and attempts to reduce costs as struggles in sales continue.

The number to be cut includes 10,000 to 15,000 from Hewlett-Packard’s enterprise services group, which sells a range of information-technology services and has been beset by declining profitability, said these people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t final and may change.

Verizon Wireless clarifies plans for axing unlimited data

Yesterday, news broke that Verizon Wireless would be axing the unlimited data plan option for existing customers. Last year, the carrier introduced tiered data plan options, but allowed existing customers to be "grandfathered" in and keep their unlimited data plan. The move would force any customer to switch to a tiered data plan.

Today, Verizon Wireless made some clarifications to the upcoming change to The New York Times. The company stated that customers who upgrade their line with a subsidized price will be the only ones forced to switch to a tiered data plan. If a customer doesn't upgrade their line or chooses to buy a new device at an unsubsidized price, they will be able to keep the unlimited data plan.

- Customers will not be automatically moved to new shared data plans. If a 3G or 4G smartphone customer is on an unlimited plan now and they do not want to change their plan, they will not have to do so.

- When we introduce our new shared data plans, Unlimited Data will no longer be available to customers when purchasing handsets at discounted pricing.

- Customers who purchase phones at full retail price and are on an unlimited smartphone data plan will be able to keep that plan.

- The same pricing and policies will be applied to all 3G and 4GLTE smartphones.

Facebook announces IPO share price of $38

Today, Facebook announced that the share price of its initial public offering that will be launching on the NASDAQ tomorrow morning will be $38. As a result, the company will be placed at a $104 billion valuation and will raise around $16 billion, both of these numbers are significantly higher than expected. Facebook will be offering a total of 421,233,615 shares of common stock. This IPO will be the largest in technology history.

The full press release follows:

Facebook Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering

MENLO PARK, Calif., May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 421,233,615 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $38 per share. The shares are expected to begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market on May 18, 2012, under the symbol “FB.” Facebook is offering 180,000,000 shares of Class A common stock and selling stockholders are offering 241,233,615 shares of Class A common stock. Closing of the offering is expected to occur on May 22, 2012, subject to customary closing conditions.

In addition, Facebook and the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 63,185,042 additional shares of Class A common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.

Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman, Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Allen & Company LLC, Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank Securities are serving as book runners for the offering. RBC Capital Markets and Wells Fargo Securities are serving as active co-managers.

The offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. Copies of the prospectus related to the offering may be obtained from: Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, New York 10014, Attention: Prospectus Department (Tel: +1 866 718 1649; e-mail: prospectus(at)morganstanley.com); J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, (Tel: +1 866 803 9204); or Goldman, Sachs & Co., 200 West Street, New York, NY 10282, Attention: Prospectus Department (Tel: +1 866 471 2526, e-mail: prospectus-ny(at)ny.email.gs.com).

A registration statement related to these securities has been filed with, and declared effective by, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Comcast enables Skype for Xfinity in Boston and Seattle, more locations coming later this week

Today, Comcast launched a new service for its Xfinity brand - Skype. Skype on Xfinity is now available for use by customers in the Boston and Seattle areas, with Atlanta, Augusta, Ga., Chicago, Detroit, Harrisburg, Pa., Indianapolis, Miami and Pittsburgh coming by the end of this week. Customers willing to pay $9.95/month can add Skype to their Xfinity plan and use text and video chatting services. The cost also includes a camera and a Skype remote that includes a keyboard for text chatting.

Facebook adds 84 million more shares to IPO

According to a report from The Associated Press, Facebook has announced yet another update to its initial public offering that is expected to be launched this Friday, May 18. This time, Facebook revealed that it has added an extra 84 million shares into its stock pool, all of which will be coming from early investors and internal people from the company.

Facebook plans to offer each share at somewhere between $34-$38, possibly raising a much-higher-than-expected $16 billion.

HTC One X and EVO 4G LTE shipments delayed as U.S. Customs investigates possible patent infringement

According to The Verge, United States Customs officials have delayed the shipments of HTC's new One X and EVO 4G LTE smartphones into the U.S. as they investigate possible patent infringements on the devices. The patents in question are supposedly the same ones that were involved in a lawsuit Apple won last December. The ruling from the court said that HTC would have to stop importing all affected devices into the U.S. by April.

We've learned today that the One X and Evo 4G LTE are indefinitely delayed at Customs as the agency investigates patent issues with Apple, and sources have further confirmed that some shipments are indeed being held back. The One X is also currently out of stock at AT&T's online store and at most AT&T retail stores we've called — and few had any information on when more units would arrive.

HTC released the following statement:

The US availability of the HTC One X and HTC EVO 4G LTE has been delayed due to a standard U.S. Customs review of shipments that is required after an ITC exclusion order. We believe we are in compliance with the ruling and HTC is working closely with Customs to secure approval. The HTC One X and HTC Evo 4G LTE have been received enthusiastically by customers and we appreciate their patience as we work to get these products into their hands as soon as possible.

Verizon CFO says unlimited data plans to be axed, but many questions still in the air

According to Fierce Wireless, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo spoke at a JP Morgan conference, announcing the company's plans to axe the unlimited data plan option for customers. Last year, Verizon introduced tiered data plan options for new customers, but existing customers had the option of being grandfathered in and keep their unlimited data plan at $30/month.

Shammo says that Verizon Wireless customers still on 3G devices will need to switch to a tiered data plan option once they upgrade their line to a 4G LTE device. Those who remain on their 3G device will continue to use unlimited data (for the time being at least).

The questions arise, however, when talking about Verizon's plans to introduce family data plans this summer. The company is reportedly planning to force users hoping to use a family data plan to upgrade their devices to all 4G LTE, thus forcing the move to tiered data plans. It's unclear when this would happen, and whether Verizon will truly force users to switch plans.

As these 3G unlimited data plan customers migrate to 4G LTE, they will have to purchase the company's data-share plan (which Verizon plans to launch in mid-summer) and move off the $30 per month unlimited data plan. "Everyone will be on data share," Shammo said.

Google introduces “Knowledge Graph”

Today, Google introduced a new feature to its search engine that is dubbed "Knowledge Graph." The technology takes user input as a whole, rather than separate words and strings like it has been in the past. Knowledge Graph will allow users to narrow their search results down to exactly what they're looking for, get a summary of information on the right-hand side of the page, and pick out small details related to search queries.

The Knowledge Graph enables you to search for things, people or places that Google knows about—landmarks, celebrities, cities, sports teams, buildings, geographical features, movies, celestial objects, works of art and more—and instantly get information that’s relevant to your query. This is a critical first step towards building the next generation of search, which taps into the collective intelligence of the web and understands the world a bit more like people do.

Google has already begun rolling out Knowledge Graph to users, and it will soon be available on mobile devices as well.

Apple releases update to OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3

Apple has just released an update to developers running on OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3, bringing the build number of the upcoming OS to 12A206j. The update has been released via the Mac App Store and weighs in at about 1.60 GB. Apple is noting in developer release notes that this build is not compatible with "MacBookPro3,1" models (mid and late 2007 computers), but this issue will be corrected in the future.

At this time, it's unclear what changes are included in this most recent seed. Apple is expected to give a full preview of OS X Mountain Lion at its Worldwide Developers Conference next month. A public release is scheduled for "late summer."

New Google Chrome Stable release adds tab syncing across devices

Today, Google released the first Stable version of Chrome 19 to the public, adding tab syncing across multiple devices when users are signed into Chrome with a Gmail account. When a user is signed in, all their open tabs appear under a new menu on the "New Tab" page in Chrome called "Other Devices."

The Stable version update will be rolled out to existing Chrome users over the coming days.