Microsoft unveils “most significant” update to Bing in history

Today, Microsoft took the wraps off of what it is calling the "most significant" update to the search engine Bing since the service launched three years ago. The company has integrated social features into a new three column design that allows for interacting with friends on social networks, such as Facebook, while searching. The right sidebar displays social activity related to the specific search, while the two left columns display actual search results and extended information.

The new Bing should be rolling out the world sometime in the coming weeks.

Pandora surpasses 150 million users

Earlier this week, Pandora announced via its Facebook Page that it has surpassed 150 million registered users. The service, which was founded back in 2000, is designed for music discovery. It allows users to type in the name of a song or artist, find similar tracks, and then listen to those similar tracks.

Pandora's largest competitor at this time is likely Spotify, which recently introduced its own service similar to Pandora, dubbed "Spotify Radio." Spotify launched in the United States last summer, and allows users to stream music for free.

Facebook announces “App Center” for all platforms

Today, Facebook announced to developers that it will be launching its own "App Center" over the coming weeks that will act as a centralized place to discover new apps. The app center, which is designed to compete with Apple's App Store and Google Play, includes ratings and details for each app. Developers will also be able to charge for apps for the first time on the social network. The app center will work on Facebook.com, and the iOS and Android versions of the mobile app. Developers will be required to use Facebook's login system if needed.

There isn't any word on when the service will be launching to the public.

Yahoo announces plans to investigate CEO’s academic credentials

Yahoo announced yesterday that it will be forming a committee that will investigate the academic credentials and background of CEO Scott Thompson. The committee will also look into the process of how Thompson was hired at Yahoo just five months ago. This news comes just days after Yahoo shareholders unveiled evidence that Yahoo's recently hired CEO lied on his resume, claiming that he received a computer science degree from Stonehill College that he never actually obtained.

The Board of Directors of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) today announced that it has formed a special committee to conduct a thorough review of CEO Scott Thompson's academic credentials, as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials in connection with Thompson's appointment as CEO.

The special committee is chaired by Alfred Amoroso, an independent director who joined the Board in February of this year. The other members of the special committee are John Hayes and Thomas McInerney, independent directors who joined the Board in April of this year.

Twitpic releases official iOS app

Yesterday, popular third party Twitter photo upload service Twitpic announced the release of its official iOS app for the iPhone (App Store link). The app allows users to take photos, edit them, upload them to Twitter, and see photos taken by other users of the app.

The first ever photo sharing site for Twitter comes to the iPhone! Twitpic is the easiest and best way to share your photos and videos with your Twitter followers.

• Quickly and seamlessly share your photos and videos with all of your Twitter followers
• Edit your photos with beautiful filters and easy to use enhancement tools
• Browse your Twitter photo timeline with photos from people you follow in a beautiful interface
• Browse photos from the most popular Twitpic users
• Manage your Twitpic photos and videos in your own timeline

In addition, Twitpic confirmed that the Android version of the app will be coming out in about a month.

Apple testing iOS 5-esque notifications on iCloud.com

According to a report from AppleInsider, some users who logged into iCloud.com this afternoon found that Apple has begun testing a notification system for its cloud service that launched late last year. At the top of the screen, users saw a message with the title "Default Title for English" and a description of "English - this is a test message description." The notification has a very similar design to the notifications found in iOS 5.

It's not clear how Apple is planning to use notifications on iCloud.com, but it's possible we may see some sort of syncing of notifications across all devices through iCloud.

Yahoo board member who was in charge of hiring CEO to step down

According to a report from All Things D, Yahoo director Patti Hart will not "stand for reelection" at the company's next annual meeting that will take place in June. Hart was most recently in charge of hiring Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson, who reportedly lied on his resume by claiming to receive a computer science degree from Stonehill College. Hart was in charge of running background checks on potential candidates for the position. Hart's own academic background has also since been brought into question by Yahoo shareholders.

Hart is the CEO of International Game Technology, whose board is asking her to step down from her position at Yahoo as well.

Investment firm Third Point just yesterday demanded that Yahoo release information into how it hired CEO Scott Thompson, who has been on the job for a mere five months.

Yahoo shareholders demand investigation into hiring process of CEO Scott Thompson

Last week, news broke that recently hired Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson lied on his resume, stating that he obtained a computer science degree from Stonehill College. Thompson, however, never received the degree and as a result, activist shareholder Dan Loeb and his firm Third Point demanded that Yahoo fire its CEO by this afternoon. As of today, however, Thompson is still in charge at Yahoo.

Now, Third Point announced today that it has sent Yahoo a letter demanding that under "Section 220(b) of the Delaware General Corporation Law to inspect books and records relating to the hiring of CEO Scott Thompson..." The letter also requests an investigation into the appointing of other Yahoo board members.

Third Point believes that Yahoo! shareholders and employees will be best served if the Board accepts responsibility quickly for this latest debacle.  If the Directors are truly interested in "working in a constructive manner with Third Point", they should provide answers promptly.  We believe that this internal investigation by this Board must not be conducted behind a veil of secrecy and shareholders deserve total transparency.

Adobe releases Flash Player 11.3 beta 3

Yesterday, Adobe announced the release of the third beta version of the upcoming Flash Player 11.3 release. The newest version of the company's Web browser plugin brings low latency audio support for streaming audio through NetStream, full screen keyboard input, background updating on Mac OS X, and a "Protected Mode" for Firefox users.

At this time, it's unclear when Adobe will be releasing the final version of Flash Player 11.3 to the public.

Explaining Facebook and its record-breaking IPO in 150 seconds

On February 1, 2012, Facebook filed for a $5 billion initial public offering (IPO) with the United States SEC, giving the company the ability to sell Class A Common stock. The IPO, when launched, is largely expected to be the largest in the technology industry history. Yesterday, Facebook filed its fifth amendment to the initial filing, revealing that the stock will be around $28-$35 on launch, giving a valuation between $85 billion and $95 billion.

In order to better explain how the Facebook IPO will work, a two-and-half minute video has been created Kapitall:

Google to face more than $10 million fine over breaching Safari web browser cookie system

According to a report from Bloomberg, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing to slap Google with a fine totaling more than $10 million as a result of the Web giant's recent breaching of Apple Safari's cookie system. Google was caught inserting certain cookies into Safari on iOS devices that circumvented privacy restrictions and tracked users' activity on the Internet.

At this time, no official fine has been given.

Yahoo shareholders demand firing of CEO by Monday over fake resume

Earlier this week, it was revealed that recently hired Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson included fake information on his resume that ended up getting him hired at the struggling Internet company. Thompson reportedly included that he received a computer science degree from Stonehill College, but there is no evidence of him actually receiving that degree.

Now, according to AllThingsD, activist shareholder Dan Loeb and his firm Third Point are demanding that Yahoo fire CEO Scott Thompson by Monday afternoon. In addition, Loeb is asking Yahoo to conduct a full investigation into whether its board of directors knew about Thompson's fake resume information, and how the hiring process took place. Third Point is also requesting Yahoo to fire director Patti Hart because questions into her academic background have also been raised now.

Third Point will consider it grounds for further action if the Board does not take the following steps by Noon EDT on Monday, May 7th:
1) Publicly reveal the process by which it vetted Mr. Thompson as a potential CEO candidate. This disclosure should include the release of all minutes of any meeting at which Mr. Thompson’s candidacy was discussed and any reports or other materials upon which directors relied to evaluate Mr. Thompson’s candidacy.
2) Disclose whether any Board member, including Maynard Webb, who has long-standing ties to Mr. Thompson, and Ms. Hart, who headed the Search Committee, was aware of Mr. Thompson’s deception prior to receipt of Third Point’s letter yesterday.
3) Provide shareholders with all information regarding the director nomination process, including the so-called “skills matrix” referred to in the Company’s preliminary proxy statement, which the Board purportedly used to determine the qualifications of various candidates, including Third Point’s nominees.

LinkedIn to acquire content sharing website SlideShare

Professional social network LinkedIn announced today that it plans to acquire community content sharing website SlideShare for about $118.75 million. Expected to close sometime in the second quarter of this year, the deal would bring SlideShare under LinkedIn control. SlideShare was founded in October of 2006 and recently surpassed over 29 million unique visitors. The website allows presentations and other content to be uploaded and shared with others on the Internet.

Facebook confirms $28-$35 per share price for IPO

In its fifth amendment filing with the SEC, Facebook today announced the price of its upcoming initial public offering (IPO) at $28 to $35 per share. At that price range, Facebook should have a valuation between $85 billion and $95 billion, beating the previous technology record currently held by Google at $23 billion. The world's largest social network plans to offer 157,415,352 shares of Class A common stock at a later date.

Facebook released the following statement:

Facebook, Inc. is offering 180,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock and the selling stockholders are offering 157,415,352 shares of Class A common stock. We will not receive any proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders. This is our initial public offering and no public market currently exists for our shares of Class A common stock. We anticipate that the initial public offering price will be between $28.00 and $35.00 per share.

Bing receives design refresh with stripped down search results

Today, Microsoft announced that it has rolled out a new look for its search engine Bing. The company has simplified search results pages on the search engine that sports smaller navigation links and a simple, white background color.

Bing is getting a new look. Starting today you will notice a fresh, de-cluttered experience designed to help you find the results you want faster. Over the past few months, we’ve run dozens of experiments to determine how you read our pages to deliver the link you’re looking for. Based on that feedback, we’ve tuned the site to make the entire page easier to scan, removing unnecessary distractions, and making the overall experience more predictable and useful. This refreshed design helps you do more with search—and gives us a canvas for bringing future innovation to you.

In addition, Microsoft has begun testing a design tweak on Bing's homepage: a larger version of the daily image. While not available to everyone just yet, Microsoft is asking users who come across the change to give their feedback.

Report: Facebook IPO coming May 18

According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook will be launching its initial public offering on May 18, 2012, just about three (3) months after the world's largest social network filed for the IPO. If rumors over the past few months prove to be true, Facebook's IPO will be the largest in technology history, raising $10 billion with a $100 billion valuation.

Late last month, a report came out that claimed the company's IPO would be delayed until June because CEO Mark Zuckerberg was focusing his efforts on acquisitions of other companies (most notably Instagram for $1 billion).

Facebook announces ability to add “organ donor” to Timeline

Following a tease yesterday, Facebook announced today that it will begin allowing users to add to their Timelines that they are organ donors. The feature is designed to make organ donations more social, and easier to find for the millions that need them.

Starting today, you can add that you’re an organ donor to your timeline, and share your story about when, where or why you decided to become a donor. If you’re not already registered with your state or national registry and want to be, you’ll find a link to the official donor registry there as well.

LG launches content streaming cloud service

Today, LG took the wraps off of its own content streaming cloud service that will allow users to play media content on computers, smart TVs, and smartphones. The beta version of the service is launching tomorrow, May 1, in the United States and an official release of LG Cloud is expected sometime next year.

To use the service, users need to download the LG Cloud app from Google Play or LG SmartWorld app store from their Android smartphones, LG SmartWorld store from their LG Smart TVs or the LG Cloud website (www.lgecloud.com) from their PCs or laptops. LG’s Cloud service automatically synchronizes smartphone content with the cloud server and the user’s PC and TV. Photos and videos taken with the smartphone can be viewed and streamed to the PC or TV almost instantaneously. Videos edited on a PC can be uploaded to LG Cloud for viewing seconds later on a smartphone. Unlike other cloud services, there’s very little waiting or lag time since the content is streamed to the TV, PC or smartphone, not downloaded first.

There will be a free plan for users, but also a paid option presumably with more storage capacity.

Facebook announcing new tool that “could save lives” on Good Morning America tomorrow

In a press release, ABC announced that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg will be unveiling a new tool for the world's most popular social network tomorrow morning on Good Morning America.

First on “Good Morning America” Tuesday, Zuckerberg gives Robin Roberts the first look at a new Facebook tool which has the power to save lives from their new Menlo Park, CA  headquarters. Then on “World News with Diane Sawyer,” one of America’s most powerful businesswomen Sheryl Sandberg will sit down for an exclusive interview with Diane Sawyer and discuss the personal stories that led to this new initiative and its goals.

It's unclear at this time what the tool will be. Stick with It's All Tech for continuing coverage of the announcement.

Chomp removes Android app search features following Apple acquisition

Back in late February, reports surfaced that Apple acquired app discovery and search service Chomp. Immediately after the news, many wondered what would happen to Chomp's Android OS functionalities, which includes integration with Google Play. According to GigaOM, Chomp yesterday removed all Android app search features from its website and services, and deactivated its Android app as well.

It's likely that this move is one of the final as Chomp integrates itself into Apple's corporate structure, and begins work on only iOS-related functionalities.