Microsoft is counting on friends to make it a hit later this year when it crashes a tablet computer party at which Apple has been the star ever since the launch of the iPad.

The U.S software colossus turned a draining patent lawsuit with Barnes & Noble into a mutually beneficial alliance that could make Nook digital books a cornerstone of a content "ecosystem" vital to selling Windows 8 tablets.

Jawbone on Monday began rolling out an even louder version of its portable wireless speakers, which have caught fire among smartphone and tablet users.

The Big Jambox speakers could be pre-ordered online at jawbone.com for $299 ahead of their release in stores on May 15. They will roll out in other countries in the coming months.

U.S. computer giant Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary to combine the bookseller's digital reading capabilities, including its Nook tablet, and its college businesses.

Google and the IE Alumni Association invite AUB alumni and MBA students to a panel workshop and careers networking session on the topic of empowering SMEs in Lebanon through web-based technologies entitled "Deploying Technology to Empower SMEs in Lebanon". It will be held on Friday, May 4 at the Hotel Bristol and will feature a high-profile panel of tech industry entrepreneurs, including William Kanaan (Google), Maroun Chammas (IDM, Berytech), Hala Fadel (Comgest, MIT Enterprise Forum), and Elie Habib (Riyada Enterprise Development).

Registration Link : http://goo.gl/5Yrq8

Gadget giant Apple is avoiding billions of dollars in taxes by setting up small offices around the world to collect and invest the company's profits, The New York Times reported Saturdayfafp.

The report said an office in Reno, Nevada, where the corporate tax rate is zero, was one of many that the California-based technology giant uses to legally sidestep state income taxes on some of its gains.

A legal battle between Yahoo! and Facebook heated up Friday with the floundering Internet pioneer accusing the rising social network star of buying patents just to retaliate in court.

The accusation came in a 37-page response filed by Yahoo! to a countersuit Facebook filed charging that the Sunnyvale, California-based company is violating the social network's patents -- and not the other way around.

Google confirmed Friday that its online search and advertising services are under scrutiny by regulators in Argentina and South Korea.

Word of the probes came a day after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission revealed it hired former Justice Department prosecutor Beth Wilkinson to head an investigation into whether Google abused its dominance in online search.

Eighteen U.S. Olympians including swimming greats Mark Spitz and Janet Evans are suing Samsung Corporation, saying its U.S. Olympic Genome Project Facebook app misuses their names and images.

Spitz and Evans are joined as plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by diver Greg Louganis, athletics great Jackie Joyner-Kersee, beach volleyball player Phil Dalhausser and 13 other swimmers.

LinkedIn users can now access the professional social network on their iPad with an application launched Thursday.

The free app is available through Apple Inc.'s iTunes store. LinkedIn says the app helps today's increasingly mobile professionals who aren't always tethered to a desktop.

Google on Thursday confirmed that it has sold 3D computer modeling program SketchUp as the Internet titan continues streamlining its product line with co-founder Larry Page at the helm.

SketchUp technology and members of the team will join Trimble, a California company specializing in making business or government workers more productive in jobs such as surveying, construction, mapping, fleet management and public safety.