Google was last week forced to remove a set of images from Google Street View after it emerged that the photos showed the location of the SAS base in Credenhill, Herefordshire, UK.

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Cell phone maker HTC has responded to the patent infringement suit recently filed by Cupertino-based Apple.

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Google's plans to pull out of China are said to be nearly 100 percent certain.

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Google going after businesses with… netbooks?

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Google has launched a app that allows Android owners to search the device using mere gestures on the screen.

One of the daunting aspects of owning an Android-based mobile device is its ability to sync with contacts stored in Google Mail, and to pull names from Facebook, throwing everyone into one long, collective pool. The list of contacts can be enormous. Throw in the various apps and multimedia stored on the SD card, and there's quite a bit to cypher just on the phone itself. This is where Google's new Gesture Search app comes in: users simply draw a letter on the screen, and the app pulls up the associated content.

Released on the Android Market Wednesday, Gesture Search is an experimental program developed by Google Labs, and is compatible with devices using Android 2.0 and above in the U.S. The drawback to this app is that it actually is an app-- users can't simply draw a letter on the home screen and pull up the search results. Instead, users must install the app and tap on the shortcut first before performing the unique search. Still, that may be a good thing: accidentally drawing a letter on the home screen may lead to an unwanted search screen.

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Just after Microsoft launched its browser choice screen, Google and Opera release new versions of their software.

Web surfers looking for something other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer may want to check out two new releases just launched on Tuesday. Opera Software is the first out the door with an updated version of its Opera 10.50 we browser. This is the first full release since Opera 10 appeared on the Internet back in September 2009.

The company said Tuesday that Opera 10.5 brings a revamped interface to the plate, private browsing, and platform integration. «On Windows 7/Vista, we let Opera enjoy Aero Glass, as well as supporting Aero Peek and Jump Lists. Now, you can easily access your Speed Dials, tabs and more from the Taskbar,» the company said.

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Microsoft CEO is realistic but optimistic about the competition.

During an interview yesterday morning, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer talked about his thoughts on Twitter, Yahoo! and Google. Ballmer shared a lot of interesting information (including the fact that he has a twitter account under an undisclosed username for personal use), but the most interesting part of the interview was the CEO's view on Google's number one position in the search market.

As you can imagine, Steve Ballmer gets asked about overtaking Google in the search space a lot. Ballmer yesterday said that it's a hard question to answer, stating that really, there's no such thing as a 'good' response.

«There's no good answer to this question. If you say yes you seem like you're arrogant and if you say no it looks like you have no faith. So the answer is yes, someday,» Ballmer told Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Land.

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Google has acquired yet another company and this one is the owner of an online picture editing application.

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Topeka, Kansas is no longer Topeka, Kansas.

Desperate for a slice of Google's 1 Gigabit fiber, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten yesterday signed a proclamation calling for Topeka to be known as «Google, Kansas — the capital city of fiber optics.»

The Topeka Capital Journal reports that Bunten told city council members about the proclamation and none of them had any problem with it. «I support pushing the 'send' button,» Councilman Jeff Preisner said. Bunten later said that the move was, «more 'fun' than anything else,» and that he hopes it will set Topeka aside from the other cities eager to be part of the test market for Google's superspeed Internet.

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Pot calling the kettle black?

Friday Microsoft Corp. slammed rival company Google Inc. for anti-competitive business practices. In addition to two small online companies, Microsoft-owned business complained to European Union regulators about Google's action in that region. The claim is that Google is locking in business partners and content while excluding competition.

Currently Microsoft is complying with the European Commission by offering alternatives to Internet Explorer for European users of Windows. Launched today, the update installs directions on how to locate browsers offered by competitors including Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, Google's Chrome, and Opera.

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