Apple TV will be bringing HBO and ESPN to its set-top box, along with three other content providers to beef up its offerings, Apple announced.

Along with the two apps, HBO Go and WatchESPN, there will also be Sky News, Crunchyroll and Quello. Crunchyroll is an anime and Asian culture video service, Quello shows concerts, and Sky News is a 24-hour news feed. Those users who are already subscribed to HBO and ESPN likely have been streaming video already.

However, the problem is that HBO Go won't be available for DirecTV or Charter subscribers, while the ESPN app also can't be used on Dish or DirectTV. So, for some Apple users, this isn't much of an announcement. If you are lucky enough to be able to use the apps, they are now part of the 14 providers on Apple TV. So far, that doesn't seem like enough content to cut the cord, but Apple doesn't seem concerned with that.

Apple TV, which seems to be a kind of afterthought to Apple's more lucrative iPhone and iPad products, has recently been rumored to be spending a $3.9 billion in component investment to make TVs. Foxconn has even been lobbying to create them, but so far Apple has been quiet on the matter. Could this new lineup be a way to launch the device? Or will Apple likely just work on the box, which is probably easier and cheaper? We're thinking the latter, especially since it doesn't see itself as having competition.

This may change if Google finally strengthens its cable power. Although Google TV has been widely considered a turkey, (although it's fully integrated with Google Play and is selling) it could be Google's broadband experiment, Google Fiber as Apple's biggest rival. Google is working on original content and hopes to place it on paid subscription YouTube channels which can be accessed through Google TV. Some of those channels will be "cable channels with smaller audiences" that will head to the Web and  be available on an "a la carte" basis. Essentially, Google is getting into the $150-million-a-year cable business.

And that's why Apple should be working harder on Apple TV.

Facebook's million-dollar video ads were supposed to be launched soon, but now the social network is shelving them until later this year.

Facebook is delaying the ads to add more features that will be launched "concurrently with video ads," according to AdAge. The decision is made by the higher-ups, but sales execs want the ads sooner than later, according to unnamed sources. Facebook declined to comment on the issue.

Video ads are lucrative, with advertisers spending more than $4 billion on video ads this year, and predicted to spend $5.7 billion in 2014, according to eMarketer. So Facebook pushing the ads back could mean a loss of revenue -- something not likely to be forgiven by Wall Street and shareholders.

Shareholders should prepare for a Google stock split later this year and a drop in share value.  

The stock split comes after Google settled a shareholder lawsuit  about the stock split, and now the tech titan will launch a new class of non-voting shares this year, according to the Associated Press. 

We all have that friend who posts something a bit too outrageous on Facebook (if not, you are likely that person -- sorry!).

Maybe it's a sexy pose, a duck-lipped photo with a friend, or drunken shenanigans, but either way it's getting likes or comments.

Zeynep Tufekci, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, called it the "amplification of the potential audience" that seems to have changed the game of photo posting, according to the New York Times.  

Google is fighting child porn by tagging images, creating a new database for child protection agencies and making a $2 million fund for  developers who can produce new software to fight the dissemination of these images.

The new database, which will be up and running within the year, can wipe the tagged images from the Internet, according to The Telegraph (U.K.). Google reported spending $5 million on the database and is offering $2 million in a Child Protection Technology Fund for developers willing to create software to battle child porn online.

Google also reported that it has been "fighting child exploitation since as early as 2006," in an effort to gain credibility in the fight against child pornography -- likely springing from leaders demanding Google and other Internet companies do something to stem the proliferation.

Google did not place child pornography on the Internet, but it can lead users to place where it can be seen.

Because of this, the search titan has a responsibility to the public and children everywhere by tracking and reporting it to the authorities in a more efficient and expedient way.

Earlier this week, Apple chief Tim Cook announced a new record of 575 million iTunes accounts. Since Apple announced in 2009 it had reached 100 million, that means that Apple would have had to add an average of 500,000 new iTunes accounts per day in the last three years.

Asymco's Horace Dediu plotted out the numbers since 2009 to calculate its growth rate, according to AppleInsider. If the numbers are correct, Apple will add another 100 million accounts by the end of 2013.  

Android's next operating system may be geared to souping up old Android phones so they can be sold in emerging markets.

The plan is to put the latest version of Android on smartphones less than $100, according to Quartz. The rumor that Android 5.0, also called Key Lime Pie, will be a slimmed down version is still unconfirmed, but it's possible that Google engineers might respond to the fragmentation accusations and help out older Android users as well.

Many older Android users have been left out in the cold in Android upgrades. Most of the Android phones in the world are using Gingerbread (2.3), while newer Android phones are using Ice Cream Sandwich (4.1) and Jelly Bean (4.2). That means that most Android users are using the same 2010 operating system because their phones are not advanced enough (or their manufacturer doesn't care to upgrade an old phone).

Apple is considering creating iPhones with 4.7-inch and 5.7-inch screens as well as creating cheaper models in a range of colors likely to appeal to the global market.

Apparently the decision was prompted by competition from Samsung and its popular Galaxy smartphones, according to Reuters, Apple has sought suppliers in Asia to build the new devices, but it's unknown if it will still have the iPhone name attached to it. It seems odd that it wouldn't, given that Apple has already created the iPad Mini. 

Google takes more than half of the market share of mobile ads, crowding out other media companies such as Facebook and Twitter.

In contrast, Facebook has only 13-percent and Twitter has about 2-percent, according to eMarketer.

However, it should be noted that both Facebook and Twitter's mobile ad numbers were nonexistent in 2011 and have consistently grown in the next two years.

In 2011, Google had 38-percent of the mobile ad market.

Across all digital platforms, Google continues to reign as not only the largest beneficiary of digital ad spending in the US, but worldwide as well, eMarketer estimates.

Facing angry shareholders, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg attempted to lessen the tension by admitting that the company stock price was frustrating, but that didn't stop the barrage of questions at the social network's first annual shareholders meeting.

With shares about 40 percent less than its initial public offering last year, Zuckerberg had to expect some negative feelings from the roomful of investors.

"We're disappointed with the performance of the stock over the last year," Zuckerberg told the crowd. "We expect there's going to be fluctuations."

Apple controls 20 percent of the e-book market, according to an Apple executive testifying in trial where the U.S. Department of Justice accused Apple of colluding with publishers to set e-book prices.

The news, first reported in Publishers Weekly, is larger than had been previously estimated. If the statistic is valid, then other shares of the market would be shifted downward. Apple's Keith Moerer's testimony from the trial:

“The government called the iBookstore ‘a failure,’ and charged that ‘Apple pricing was unfair to consumers,’ and that ‘Apple sold fewer books because of the higher price caps.’ Moerer challenged that characterization, ‘I disagree. Ebook sales grew 100 percent last year at the iBookstore and it had over 100 million customers.’ The government countered that ‘when you drop prices you sell more books,’ and Moerer said, ‘sometimes, yes.’”

However, since last year the iBookstore doesn't match lower prices part of the "most-favored nation" clause.

The news that Apple controls 20 percent of the e-book market is surprising, causing some critics to wonder about the veracity of the statement. If the numbers are correct, then Apple had a lot more skin in the game than previously thought.

Video-sharing app Vine is growing so much it's now surpassed Instagram on Google Play.

The app already had 13 million downloads for iOS before launching on Android last week, according to TechCrunch. The demand is apparently high in the Android marketplace because it's the No. 4 free app at Google Play, surpassing No. 5 Instagram. The Twitter-owned app has also had about 3 million downloads on Google Play since June 6.

Vine lets users shoot creatively-edited, six-second looped videos to share with others -- usually via social networks such as Twitter. Its use is growing faster than Instagram, likely because of its release and its novelty factor.

For teens and young adults, we can't underestimate the power of being new. However, we'll see if this continues or like Instagram, Facebook or MySpace, it will be replaced with something more sparkly.

In the last 24 hours of its announcement, the blogosphere lit up with criticism of the new Apple iOS, with critics calling it "confusing" and "ugly."

Most of the criticism is spent on the redesign, which has been called "childish" and akin to "clip art", according to The Verge. It also managed to capture tweets from similar-minded folk which praised the ease of the iOS 7 but also said, "But, wow, the ugly stick."

The problem is that the new icons are simple, primary-colored buttons -- not exactly the artistic pieces that users are used to seeing. The other problem, according to The Verge, is that the icons vary widely from app to app which causes confusion for the user. Other problems are that the new version of  the operating system doesn't lessen the annoyance of new message notifications at the top of the screen -- instead it makes it harder to find the X to close it. The new Control Center seems like a place where Apple threw everything it couldn't fit anywhere else. While useful, it can also be seen as a junkpile that a user has to sort through.

Phil Ryu, an app developer, did say that it appeared "cluttered" and the icons were harder to read with its pencil-thin typography, but that it the whole design was meant to be "minimalist" and for users to concentrate on content rather than pretty pictures, according to Wall Street Journal. Many also noticed that Apple may have been emulating competitors such as Google and Microsoft (we didn't see Microsoft.)

The primary colors do remind us of a little of Google, especially for its well-used Gmail and Google Maps apps on the iOS. But is the criticism a bit shallow? Should critics be hammering Apple for using "clip art" when they're supposed to be dealing with functionality? Or is this all because Apple set the bar so high for itself, that its fans always expect a little more even in typography and images? We think it's the latter.

A Cuyahoga County prosecutor was fired after admitting he posed as an accused killer's ex-girlfriend on Facebook to persuade witnesses to change their testimony.

Former Assistant County Prosecutor Aaron Brockler said he did nothing wrong, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. 

"Law enforcement, including prosecutors, have long engaged in the practice of using a ruse to obtain the truth," Brockler, 35, a county prosecutor since 2006, told the Plain Dealer. "I think the public is better off for what I did."

County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty disagreed. "This office does not condone and will not tolerate such unethical behavior," McGinty said. "He disgraced this office and everyone who works here."

McGinty also said that "creating false evidence, lying to witnesses" also has hurt the prosecution's credibility in the murder case. 

The murder case concerned Damon Dunn, 29, of Cleveland, who was to stand trial for the shooting death of Kenneth "Blue" Adams on May 18, 2012, at a car wash. Dunn gave the names of two women as his alibis during the time of the shooting.

Brockler said "breaking the alibis" was the key to his prosecution strategy and that he had to "act fast." So Brocker posed as Dunn's fictitious ex-girlfriend and mother of his supposed child to chat with both of the women. Brockler said the news caused the women to change their stories. He kept a log of the chats in a file and then went on a two-month leave. While away, he received a call from another prosecutor taking his place on the Dunn case and questioned him about the Facebook transcripts found in the file.

Brockler was removed from the case and then "gave contradictory statements" that caused his dismissal, McGinty said. The prosecution said that his actions were not "standard operating procedure."

Brockler said that he's not sorry for what he did, and sees his firing as a "massive overreaction."

In the seemingly neverending saga of Waze, Google reportedly has beaten out Facebook and Apple to buy the crowd-sourcing app for $1.3 billion.

The Israel-based Waze, which uses GPS data and crowdsourcing to create "social mapping," had been wooed by Apple, Facebook and now Google, according to the Independent and Press:Here's previous reports.

Our previous reports indicated that Facebook had been in talks with Waze for six months, supposedly beating out Apple's $500 million offer for the startup. It was rumored that Apple wanted the mapping startup to beef up its in-house Apple Maps after its previous Apple Maps fiasco. Facebook was reportedly offering $1 billion -- the same price given to purchase Instagram -- but became entrenched in a bidding war with Google. If the deal goes through, Google obviously outbid its competitors. 

Reports also say that Facebook lost interest in Waze when it insisted on keeping its headquarters in Israel.

But is Google possibly buying Waze to keep others from its mapping dominance? It could be likely. Waze's social mapping, which has users sharing their whereabouts while driving, would enhance Google's offerings. It would help party hosts see how close their guests are or if they are lost, for instance, and suggest an alternate route. 

Apple really wants its users to upgrade to the newest iPhone, so it's starting an iPhone trade-in program to do just that.

Apple is partnering with Brightstar Corp. to run the trade-in exchange, according to Bloomberg News. The news comes from an unidentified source "familiar with the matter."

Mobile-phone distributor Brightstar also does trade-ins for AT&T, T-Mobile and other carriers, likely because of demand for refurbished iPhone 4s in the global market. Apple's stake is obvious -- it wants users to spend money on new models to goose sales and dropping shares. Neither Apple nor Brightstar commented on the story.

It seemed as if every large tech company in Silicon Valley was part of  the U.S. surveillance program known as PRISM. At least, all of them except San Francisco-based Twitter. 

Dropbox was apparently described in an NSA presentation as “coming soon.” Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo have all denied flatly that they allowed the government direct access to their servers or even heard of PRISM.

 

One of the reasons it might not be on the list is that a lot of its information is basically public. Twitter users don't have that much privacy data to mine as Facebook or Google. Although it does comply with government requests 57 percent of the time, the numbers are fairly low with only 1,009 requests in the last six months of 2012. Google had 21,389 requests in that same time frame and provided information 66 percent of the time.

Foreign countries are looking to poach a few tech start-ups from Silicon Valley, according to a new report today.

A new billboard over U.S. 101 seems to illustrate this by baldly stating, "H-1B problems? Pivot to Canada. New Start-Up Visa, Low Taxes," according to the New York Times. H-1B refers to temporary U.S. visas given to skilled foreign workers. Canada's new "start-up visa" offers a possibility of permanent residency.

Google co-stars with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in the new film, "The Internship," where its product placement was given the OK by Google execs.

The movie is a comedy about two forty-something, tech-inept salesmen who go through Google's internship program in hopes of a landing a job there.

The film depicts Google as an idyllic workplace filled with games, cycling and free gourmet food -- and Google founder Sergey Brin makes a cameo.

Apple released an economic study that says its new headquarters will inject $2.1 billion into the local economy and that it will ad 7,400 full-time jobs.

The $2.1 billion will be spent on neighboring businesses in Cupertino, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale, according to the San Jose Mercury News, citing Apple's report. It's new campus is also supposed to generate $13 million annually for Cupertino, about $3.8 million more than last year's tax bill. Not surprisingly, the study came out just before an environmental impact report on Apple's new HQ.

Facebook shares have taken a beating despite a decent earnings report and two positive analyst notes, causing some to wonder if Wall Street just hates Facebook.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster told Marketwatch that Wall Street's skepticism is based on two factors: ad growth slowdown and worry that teens are tiring of Facebook.“There have been an increasing number of reports suggesting Facebook’s momentum among teens is slowing,” Munster wrote.

As Wired points out, even a good earnings report last month had Facebook stock rise an anemic 4 percent. The two upbeat broker notes published this week, one from Piper Jaffray and one from Goldman Sachs, didn't prevent another drop of 5 percent.

“Teenager are using other things more. At the same time, they continue to be very active engaged Facebook users,” Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said at the recent D11 conference.

Apple is rumored to be pushing to complete deals with music companies to bring an Internet radio service online by next week.

Licensing deals are being made with music companies in hopes of creating a Pandora-like app for Apple users, according to the New York Times. We reported in September that Apple has been working on the service -- dubbed iRadio -- since last year, but it hit obstacles along the way when it reportedly was paying half of Pandora's fees (12 cents per 100 songs) to music companies. Negotiations fell apart as the music companies felt cheated by a company sitting on a dragon's hoard of cash.

Apple’s service, like Pandora, would tailor music to the user, but it's still in talks with Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV. Apple reportedly signed a licensing deal with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group and wants the deal ready for its annual developers conference June 10.

If this report is true, we can only assume that Apple has decided to up its fees to at least compete with Pandora. If it's truly being business savvy, Apple would pay a little more to get exclusive content and lure even more users to its music service.

Google Glass has no tolerance for porn and it says it now in its developer guidelines.

“We don’t allow Glassware content that contains nudity, graphic sex acts or sexually explicit material,” Google’s Glass platform developer policies stated this week. The news comes just as a sexually explicit app from Seattle-based MiKandi, a mobile app store for adult content, launched Monday for the new eyewear.

Facebook signed a 10-year lease that will nearly double its New York City office space.

The new office will be two floors at 770 Broadway and designed by architect Frank Gehry, who is also building the social network's Menlo Park headquarters, according to TechCrunch. Facebook is expected to move into the building in early 2014.

Currently, Facebook has 55,000 square feet on Madison Avenue that it originally opened in 2008 for sales and marketing. Since then, its engineering, design, and communications team joined the group. The new lease is in the East Village in a space called "Silicon Alley," where tech companies settle in the Big Apple.

Gehry was chosen for his "cutting-edge" design at a good price. Facebook told TechCrunch, "We expect the space to be very similar to our West Campus plan. This will include open floor plans, natural lighting, and an emphasis on space for collaboration.” 

Facebook will now create verified pages and profiles for celebrities who want their identities authenticated on the social network.

Facebook announced the move this week, which some say follows in Twitter's footsteps albeit much more belatedly, according to the New York Daily News. Now these authentic accounts or pages will be labeled with a blue badge next to their names.

Google announced that in order to help you "make smart choices" it will be giving nutrition information on more than 1,000 foods on its search engine.

"From the basics of potatoes and carrots to more complex dishes like burritos and chow mein, you can simply ask, 'How much protein is in a banana?' or 'How many calories are in an avocado?' and get your answer right away," writes Ilya Mezheritsky, a Google product manager for on Google's official InsideSearch blog. 

Mezheritsky continues that the nutritional information will give the information "under an expansion," and users will be able to look up related food or serving sizes. We tried it this morning and received no such "expansion," but apparently the launch begins today, so perhaps we'll have better luck on the weekend.

The new service is basically highlighting Google Search's new conversational search ability, with the search engine now answering questions, that it debuted in March. 

Apple chief Tim Cook told reporters that Apple isn't hoarding its pile of cash, it's buying companies -- nine since the fiscal year started in October.

Cook told an audience at the D11 Conference Wednesday that Apple has bought nine companies and has "picked up the pace," according to AllThingsD. Despite the nugget of information, Cook declined to disclose what companies and why.

However, Cook did say that Apple would likely continue to buy. "I think, if anything, we would do more of that in the future," he said. But when asked if Apple had anything big deals in the works, Cook indicated no, but that  "we're not opposed to doing that, if it makes sense."

Cook denied making an offer for Waze, the crowdsourced mapping service that both Facebook and Google have allegedly been in negotiations with recently. But Cook did say that Apple is looking for new services for its iPhones to gain traction in the competitive market.

"We are making tons of investments in services,” he said. “I don’t want to announce something today, but it is an area that we are very focused on.”

Like his last appearance at D10, Cook gave little away and cleared up nothing about Apple's plans. Part of the interest in Apple is that it's corporate goings-on are such a mystery. We believe that Apple is constantly on the lookout for small companies with nifty ideas that will appear eventually in their devices. The only surprise was how many Apple admitted to buying so far.

Google loves and wants to promote the integration of its products, but is it what users want? The tech titan is revamping its Web-based email system, Gmail to include tabs for Google+, Google Offers and Google Play.

The tabs will be called Social, which will include Google+ updates, Promotions, from Google Offers and Zagat, and Updates from Google Play, according to Itamar Gilad, product manager for Gmail. The tabs also offer Forums, which will likely include information from those groups.

Although Gilad writes in a blog post that users can always revert back to Classic View or get rid of the tabs, the tabs are the default for now. While the look of Gmail will be a little different on a laptop, it will be much more different on a handheld. Mobile users will receive Primary email, then navigate to get to the other tabs -- essentially making it easier to ignore.

The roll-out is happening slowly, but Gilad writes that most users will start seeing it in a few weeks.

If anyone has visited YouTube recently, Google has been strongly trying to consolidate Google identities into a single Google+ identity, which is also linked to a Gmail account. It's obviously a way to keep track of its users and their online actions -- as well as selling ads to them -- but users don't have to play the game if they don't want. Users can choose to back to Classic View and refuse to consolidate identities if they don't agree with the new changes.

Google is working on a plan to connect a billion people in emerging markets in Africa and Asia to the Internet by using special balloons.

The new Wi-Fi would serve far-flung places like sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asia where Internet connection is unavailable, according to unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal reported. The search titan will team up with local carriers in emerging markets to develop the networks, but it was unclear how many of these projects were ready to go.

Google has also been working on creating a new ecosystem of microprocessors and low-cost Android smartphones, like to benefit from the new connections. Google's Wi-Fi will be achieved by making special balloons or blimps, to transmit signals to an area of hundreds of square miles.

When Facebook first began, a feature was Notes, a kind of bloggy way to write ideas or thoughts as well as post photos. However, since that time, it has lost prime real estate in the redesign, but could be the key to battling Tumblr.

Facebook could refresh Notes and make it a real competitor for Yahoo's new acquisition, Tumblr, according to TechCrunch.  Apparently Facebook already has the people to make it happen, by acqui-hiring the staff of Storylane, a blogging platform in March.

Google is considering buying Waze, a startup that lets online communities create better driving directions, which could lead to a bidding war with Facebook, according to reports.

An unnamed source told Bloomberg News that the Israeli startup with a Palo Alto office is seeking more than $1 billion, but it could instead seek its fortune with venture capitalists. Waze declined to comment.

Two weeks ago, Facebook seemed to be the clear winner in talks with Waze, having beaten out Apple for the $1 billion opportunity. Waze's crowdsourced mapping would clearly beef up Facebook's mobile offerings, and Apple could have used the startup's abilities to strengthen its maligned Apple Maps. However, Apple was only offering $500 million. 

A federal judge said that the U.S. Justice Department will likely be able to show evidence that Apple was part of a conspiracy with book publishers to raise e-book prices -- before the start of the trial.

The federal trial is set to begin June 3, and U.S. District Judge Denise Cote will be presiding. Cote gave her tentative view in a pretrial hearing Thursday, according to Reuters.

"I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books, and that the circumstantial evidence in this case, including the terms of the agreements, will confirm that," Cote said, according to Reuters. 

After Facebook's customized Facebook Home phone, the HTC First, dropped its price from $99 to 99 cents on AT&T two-year contract, rumors began to circle about the phone being a fiasco. Perhaps it was because the handheld was unnecessary -- practically anyone could download the software and have Facebook Home without buying a new phone. Already about a million have.

For whatever reason, Facebook won't be bringing the HTC First to the U.K, according to Engadget. Apparently all pre-orders were canceled by Facebook because of "customer feedback". The social network wants to "improve the Facebook Home interface" before releasing it to other markets. 

EE, a European carrier, gave this statement to Engadget:

"Following customer feedback, Facebook has decided to focus on adding new customization features to Facebook Home over the coming months. While they are working to make a better Facebook Home experience, they have recommended holding off launching the HTC First in the UK, and so we will shortly be contacting those who registered their interest with us to let them know of this decision. Rest assured, we remain committed to bringing our customers the latest mobile experiences, and we will continue to build on our strong relationship with Facebook so as to offer customers new opportunities in the future."

In case you never take that Galapagos Islands vacation, Google has you covered. The search giant sent a team out to the remote archipelago for 10 days to photograph the rich ecosystem and share the images on Google Maps.

"Explorers and scientists alike have long studied and marveled at these islands—made famous by Charles Darwin," wrote Raleigh Seamster, project lead for Google Maps. 

This week Facebook founder and chief Mark Zuckerberg was spotted in Berlin on a tour of Germany and meeting with German politicians.

Zuckerberg traveled from Hamburg to Berlin on May 21, apparently with wife Priscilla Chan, as part of a "whistle-stop tour," according to the European site Venture Village. Apparently he was taking in the sights as well as having a rooftop meeting with politicians Burkhardt Muller-Sonksen and Peter Tauber to view the Reichstag -- the meeting place for German Parliament.

While Facebook confirmed Zuckerberg's whereabouts, the company would not confirm or deny that he met with any German businesses or startups.

A few that could be on the short list: ResearchGate, a kind of Facebook for scientists; Wooga, a social games developer that does mobile well; Vamos, an event-discovery app; and Soundcloud, a fully integrated music player.

We're not sure Zuckerberg went to Germany to purchase startups, but knowing that he's previously paid out $1 billion for photo-sharing app Instagram, the German startups are likely to seem like a steal.

Apple said last year that it planned on building Macs in the United States, but now Apple chief Tim Cook announced they will be made in Texas.  

While many Apple customers are happy with their iPhones than other smartphones, they're not as a happy as they were last year, according to a report.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index reported that Apple receive a score of 81 out of a 100, but that Apple had dropped two points from its 2012 position, according to CNET. The iPhone also seems to be the lowest-scoring Apple device, since most of its other devices scored 86 percent. The ACSI is a based on the results of 70,000 U.S. residents responding to a survey measuring customer satisfaction.

Not surprisingly, Motorola, Nokia and Samsung customer satisfaction rose. Samsung's satisfaction rose the highest at 7 percent to 76 percent. Although these numbers are good signs for other smartphone manufacturers, the ASCI is quick to dampen the mood.

Apple is offering trade-ins, credit card rebates and discounts on iPhones to make them more affordable for its Indian customers.

Students can trade-in their iPhones for $144, while non-students will be given a $130 credit, according to ZDNet. Those buying an iPhone with an American Express get a 10 percent rebate for buying an iPhone 4, 4S or 5 before June 10.

About 100 million of Facebook users aren't even human -- instead they are pets, brands or companies, according to a recent study.

eMarketer, an Internet market research company, reported that only 889.3 million of Facebook's 1 billion users are real people, and the social network won't truly reach 1 billion human users until next year, according to the Daily Mail.

One famous nonhuman would be Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg's dog, Beast, who has more than a million fans. Another interesting page is of the Facebook foxes, a family of foxes that live on the Facebook campus, that has more than 8,000 likes. The page features numerous pictures of baby foxes, or kits that members of the community share. 

Animals are compelling subjects (see Biggest Loser, Doxie Edition to see what we mean), but there are probably far more companies, brands and goofy Facebook pages that would qualify as nonhuman. For every Grumpy Cat, there are probably four or five brands of liquor or shoes vying for eyeballs.

A new survey says that Facebook employees love their boss Mark Zuckerberg.

As he led his company to a widely-touted initial public offering last year, his approval rating was 95 percent, according to Mashable. However, a year later (and Facebook's IPO being a roller coaster ride of disappointment and relief)  is approval rating is 99 percent.

Glassdoor, a job site, compiled the data and found that Zuckerberg hit 100 percent in three of the four quarters, but his popularity waned in the first three months of 2013 and dropped to 96 percent, thus making an average of 99 percent.

The IPO priced shares at $38 and while Facebook stock hasn't hit that price since, it has managed to rise from the depths of the teens to a more reasonable $26.25 (as of this writing.) It seems that until recently, the company was totally behind Zuckerberg. Only the numbers for April, May and June will show us if the decline of confidence continues.

Facebook and Twitter launched applications Thursday for Google Glass even though the Google eyewear isn't even available to mainstream consumers.

If you owe someone a few hundred dollars, why not send it to them over Gmail? Now that Google has integrated Google Wallet with the web mail system, it's now entirely possible to give and receive cash.

Users can hover over the attachment link until it offers the $ icon, which means you can now attach a dollar amount you want to send, according to Travis Green, a product manager for Google Wallet. For those worried about scams and fraud, apparently Google Wallet Purchase Protection covers you 100 percent -- provided you report it within six months and it doesn't cover Google Play, Google Drive or YouTube. The new payments via Gmail will be rolled out in the next few months.

Of course, sending money via email isn't free. Google Wallet charges a 2.9 percent fee, with a minimum 30 cents, to send money from a credit or debit card. There's also a $10,000 a day transaction limit, but Google says this could change. Users also must be 18 years old.

It's certainly a convenient way to pay someone, especially someone who doesn't have a payment system in place, but with an almost 3 percent fee we feel that it may be worth a trip to visit your friend to give him or her $200 in cash rather than pay $6 to send it via Gmail.

The U.S. Justice Department is now calling Apple the "ringmaster" in an e-book price-fixing conspiracy, according to reports.

The agency found an e-mail from Apple's late chief Steve Jobs to James Murdoch of News Corporation, which said “Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99," according to the New York Times.

Google chief executive officer Larry Page decided to share his 14-year battle with vocal cord nerve problems and subsequent vocal paralysis on Google+.

Page posted on this personal page about his medical problem and that after several consultations with specialist that he's in recovery. From the post

Thankfully, after some initial recovery I’m fully able to do all I need to at home and at work, though my voice is softer than before. . . .In seeing different specialists, I met one doctor — Dr. Steven Zeitels from the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center — who is really excited about the potential to improve vocal cord nerve function.  So I’ve arranged to fund a significant research program through the Voice Health Institute, which he will lead. 

Although Page didn't reveal the donation size, sources said the gift was more than $20 million, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

A year ago, Page missed a few company events including shareholder meetings because of his vocal problems. Last June, it was finally revealed that Page had lost his voice. The reason, however, was cloaked in mystery, causing many to speculate the condition was anything from laryngitis to spasmodic dysphonia. It also caused some analysts to question his ability to lead.

Now armed with a voice, Page will be able to lead and represent Google in all its annual and shareholder meetings.