Mountain View, California -- As our lives increasingly move to the cloud, hardly a day goes by that some high-tech nerd coolly breaks into our digital lives and is getting easier by day, hence, the need for stronger passwords is more important than ever. In its quest to counter this malicious act, tech juggernaut Google seems to be preparing to move away from passwords, which have long been a weak point of digital security, in favor of dedicated devices. But side from avoiding easy-to-guess passwords, first it just has to convince the rest of the Internet to go along with their scheme.
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Redmond, Washington -- Bad news if you want to upgrade to Windows 8 but are yet to do so. When Microsoft announced last year a “limited time offer” for Windows 8 upgrade pricing, it was pretty obvious that it would not last for long, but some thought--or at least hoped--that the discounted price might be indefinite. Now, on the heels of “good momentum with Windows 8,” Microsoft has announced its promotional offer will only last till January 31. From then on, in the US, instead of costing $40 to upgrade to Windows 8, it will set you back $120, or $200 for Windows 8 Pro.
London - In a surprising turn of events taking place over the weekend, search and technology giant Google has finalized a new site for its British headquarters at King Cross Central, a multi-billion pound mixed-use property development located in the heart of London and move into new 2.4 acre complex by 2016. (more…) 
San Francisco - In an attempt to outsmart the social media juggernaut that is Facebook - especially after the latter's latest efforts in the search arena - The Mountain View company, over the weekend has made a small but important step in that direction by making available its Google+ iOS apps to 48 more countries and territories, according to a Google+ post by engineer Frank Petterson.
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Los Angeles -- In a fresh move to further expand its Certified Product program, micro-blogging outfit Twitter on Thursday gave its official blessing to another nine new companies to its Certified Products Program, adding to the 12 already given Twitter's TCPP stamp of approval.
Last year, Twitter introduced a Certified Products Program, a sort of list of companies using Twitter data in approved ways. So now, Shoutlet, Adobe Social, Percolate, and others can keep selling their Twitter services without fear of being shut down.
However, today, the micro-blogging company said that it separated those companies into three sections including engagement, analytics and data resellers, and has appointed Zach Hofer-Shall as head of the program. He will be heading up the continued expansion of product certification and adding new categories to the three above.
Moving forward, the new group include companies in two of the program's key verticals: Engagement and analytics. There are nine new partners with today's announcement, including companies like Spredfast and Sprout Social, as well as Adobe Social and Percolate.
In short it means: The TCPP is basically Twitter's way of saying, “Hey! We like what you are doing with our data. Here is a gold star.” Sorta like Facebook's Preferred Developer Program.
But, otherwise it means , it is Twitter's way of signaling to every other developer out there that this is the sort of stuff you should be doing with Twitter's data. Helping businesses figure out how to make good tweets, or creating products that help with understanding the mess of data flowing through Twitter's pipes on a minute-by-minute basis.
A list of new partners was announced today as well:
Especially, these restrictions is equally important for the entire ecosystem of folks who rely on Twitter's data. After Twitter made it clear that it does not want developers creating third-party Twitter clients--like, say, Tweetbot--the company has been making an effort to guide developers in the “right” direction.
Not surprisingly, the Certified Products Program is more than just a marketing tool for these partners and for companies looking to use Twitter data more effectively, it is a signaling device used by Twitter to point developers at the kinds of products that it wants them to be building.
New York -- Barely two days after accomplishing a big partnership with Facebook's new Graph Search, Bing on Thursday announced that it is expanding its social sidebar with more robust Facebook integration with Microsoft's search engine to the already social-heavy Bing experience launched last year.
At present, when you search on Bing, the right-hand sidebar provides “Social Results” with your Facebook friends' “Likes,” photos and profile information, given that your Facebook account is linked. But with today's expansion, Microsoft claims significantly more content from your Facebook friends' is now searchable in Bing's sidebar, assuming you link the two services together.
For example, Microsoft asserts that this appended social data will make it easier for Bing users to see who and what is related to their search, In short, the company is further hoping Facebook friends can help you add even more context to your search.
“Beginning today, each person will see an average of five times more Facebook content from their friends in the sidebar,” a spokesperson for Bing said in a statement. “This includes the addition of status updates, shared links, and comments from your friends, so it is easier to see who and what they have shared related to your search.”
Emphasizing on some handy features of this update, the company executive said, “With the inclusion of status updates, shared links and comments to the sidebar, it is now easier to see who knows and what they have shared related to your search. So when your friends are not around, Bing is the perfect stand-in,” says Bing Corporate Vice President Derrick Connell in a blog post.
For instance, if you do a search for “Seattle Seahawks,” you will be able to see comments, pictures, posts and much more from your Facebook friends. This includes being able to discover something new with Bing's “Friends' Photos experience” in full-screen.
Below is how it looks:
“Bing also entitles you to control all your search experience,” says Connell. “We honor all of your existing Facebook privacy settings, nothing is shared automatically, you only see what your friends give you permission to see (through their Facebook settings) so you only share what you want to share.”
Moreover, Bing has also removed the need to hover over a friend to view more info. Everything is now laid out in the sidebar and there is a “+” icon that lets you see more information if needed.
Apart from the above, there a couple more tweaks that Bing made. Microsoft also underlined that its social sidebar features enthusiasts from Twitter, Foursquare, Quora, Klout, and Google+ and more on the sidebar. The idea is to “surface people who may have valuable insights” on whatever you are searching for.
As a matter of fact, this continues a strong relationship between Facebook and Microsoft, a partnership that dates back to 2007 when Microsoft invested $240 million in the social network.
Briefly, if you want to search Facebook, you will be using Graph Search in the future. If you want to search the Web, you can find Bing's results blended in with Facebook, or you can search Bing and get Facebook results mixed in.
Here is the new social sidebar in action:
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Video: Bing Social Updates Arrive Today: For Every Search, There is Someone Who Can Help{/iframe}
Redmond, Washington -- In a fresh move, the Redmond Vole continues to march toward the launch of its new Office 2013, which is still-unconfirmed but imminent launch date is only a few weeks away, but Microsoft has made it available to certain customers as part of its Home Use Program (HUP), a scheme it uses to sell cheap software to folks whose employers have a Software Assurance deal and cost just $9.95.
