TECHNOLOGY

Australian Xbox users were given an early Christmas present when Foxtel declared that there will be no data charges for Telstra BigPond customers who are signed up to the Xbox 360 service. The pay subscription service also announced that BigPond TV channels which include the AFL and NRL channels, TVN and BigPond Sport TV will become available to Xbox gamers who use Foxtel's Xbox package.

Just when you thought it was safe to trade in your cash and credit cards for Google Wallet, PayPal and eBay launch a lawsuit to stop Google in its tracks. A day after Google launched its new mobile e-payment service, PayPal and eBay filed a lawsuit alleging that Google's new payment service was the result of some shady corporate dealings.

Twitter's acquisition of TweetDeck was finally made official this week. Twitter will buy the popular feed organizer for $40 million US dollars. The move has users in a twitter if their beloved third-party client could be stripped clean by Twitter.

Trolley thieves beware. Woolworth has launched a new mobile application that will allow people to report a lost trolley via GPS. The retail store giant hopes this move will reduce the $50 million lost every year in trolley collection and replacement costs.

Xcel Energy announced today it has launched its first-ever iPhone application called "Bulb Blasters," a game with a mission to conquer energy inefficiency.

Google finally unveiled its long-awaited mobile payment application the Google Wallet this Thursday. After months of hinting at the application, customers were at last introduced to the mobile application that will allow users to "tap, pay and save" for goods and services.

Sony Ericsson's security troubles continue as hackers breached Sony Ericsson's eShop website this Wednesday. This time the attack was aimed at Canadian users of the website with potentially 2,000 user names, e-mail addresses and passwords taken.

Vodafone announced today their new prepaid recharge plan; the Vodafone All-Time prepaid which brings unlimited calling and messaging to its prepaid customers. The prepaid option also allows access to bonus bank- a loyalty program that gives users rewards for every recharge.

Australian consumers in regional areas will soon be able to enjoy access to new digital subscription channels, as long as regulators approve a new proposal to merge FOXTEL, Australia's largest pay-TV operator, with Austar United Communications Ltd. (AUN)

Facebook and Spotify are joining in a collaborative effort to provide a streaming music service to Facebook users. Business magazine Forbes reported that in the next two weeks, Facebook users will be able to see a Spotify icon on their news feed. Clicking on the icon will allow the service to install on the user's computer.

Australia leads other Asian Pacific countries in adopting cloud computing. In a recent report from Frost and Sullivan titled State of Cloud Computing in Australia: 2011, 43% of enterprises are now using cloud computing in some form and 41% of IT decision makers agreed that cloud computing will continue to be a top priority.

Google has long been a thorn in Microsoft's side especially in the search engine market. When Microsoft launched Bing in 2009, the company thought it could easily catch up with Google. It didn't quite succeed as well as it hoped.

A new development in Apple's legal suit against Samsung has a federal court forcing Samsung to hand over samples of their new Android smart phones and tablets for Apple to examine.

Galaxy S smartphones from Samsung outsold Apple iPhones in Japan during Q1 2011, which places Samsung in the ranks of the top four handset vendors of Japan for the first time, according to Strategy Analytics. Android smartphones are now outselling iOS smartphones in Japan.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announced the next version of Microsoft Windows will arrive sometime next year. The new operating system, billed "Windows 8", will be available for PCs, slates and tablets.

Sony Corp. said it expects the costs arising from the online security breach to hurt operating profit by about 14 billion yen (US$170 million) in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012.

There's a sucker born every minute. And for every sucker out there scammers are working hard to create newer and more elaborate scams. The newest breed of phishing scam involves malware, IP telephony and an offshore call center.

Apple stores have a basic set-up. You go in the pristine environment and everything is neatly organized by each product. The iPods, iPhones, MacBooks and iPads are all arranged in their own sections and next to each product is a small piece of paper enclosed in plastic that shows the product's specs and price. Apple has decided to do away with this piece of paper and is now going hi-tech by replacing this with iPad 2s.

Australia's James Packer's Consolidated Press Holdings, Seek co-founder Andrew Bassat and American hedge fund Tiger Global have invested some $80 million in online retail giant called Catch of the Day.

SAP AG (NYSE: SAP) and Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) have announced an expansion of their long-standing relationship that will deliver new cloud and in-memory computing offerings to help organizations transform their businesses.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is rolling out today an expansion to features on its Bing search engine that would display personalized results based on what trusted friends recommend on Facebook, the world's most popular social network.

Japan's Sony Inc has resumed the partial operations of its leading PlayStation Network and Qriocity entertainment services in the U.S. and Europe after more than three weeks that they were attacked by hackers, the company said in a statement.

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and Chinese Internet company Alibaba Group tried to present a united front Sunday as they worked on a dispute relating to Alibaba's online payment service.

Google led the explicit core search market in the United States in April with 65.4 percent of search queries conducted, according to comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR). Yahoo! and Microsoft took the second and third spots with 15.7 percent and 13.9 percent of the U.S. market, respectively. Ask Network had 3.1 percent of the searches while AOL, Inc., was fifth with 1.6 percent.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit May 12 to block the proposed acquisition by VeriFone Systems Inc. (NYSE:PAY) of Hypercom Corp. (NYSE:HYC) The department said that the proposed deal would substantially lessen competition in the sale of point-of-sale (POS) terminals in the United States, resulting in higher prices and reduced innovation, quality, product variety, and service.

Defunct peer-to-peer service file-sharing network LimeWire has reached an out-of-court $105 million settlement with major record companies.

Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) said Thursday it was notified just two months ago that Alibaba Group had moved ownership of an online-payment unit to a separate entity in August last year without approval or knowledge of Alibaba's board or shareholders.

Google Inc. (GOOG) has been under criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for earning millions from accepting ads from illegal online pharmacies.

American pop star Lady Gaga has invaded the virtual farms of Farmville and has her own GagaVille to promote her singles included in her album "Born This Way," online games producer Zynga has announced.