Google has added a Latitude feature that lets people using iPhones or Android-powered smartphones get rewarded for loyalty to shops or restaurants.

The feature that Google rolled out across the United States late Thursday lets people unlock discounts by regularly using location-sharing Latitude applications to check in at a select set of establishments.

Microsoft has tailored a version of Internet search service Bing for Apple's hot-selling iPad tablet computer.

A free Bing program for iPads available Friday at Apple's online App Store was designed "from the ground up" for touch controls so tablet users can browse online offerings with finger taps or swipes, according to Microsoft.

Online travel giant Expedia announced plans on Thursday to spin off TripAdvisor into a separate publicly traded company later this year.

Expedia shares soared 12.68 percent to $25.35 in after-hours trading following the announcement.

A new, ultra-fast wireless Internet network is threatening to overpower GPS signals across the U.S. and interfere with everything from airplanes to police cars to consumer navigation devices.

The problem stems from a recent government decision to let a Virginia company called LightSquared build a nationwide broadband network using airwaves next to those used for GPS. Manufacturers of GPS equipment warn that strong signals from the planned network could jam existing navigation systems.

The electricity keeps cutting out, the Internet connection is crackly and the speakers don't always work, but Santosh Kumar knows that 20 pupils far away in eastern India are relying on him.

Once a week, Kumar uses the Skype computer program to teach maths to children in Chamanpura, a poor village in the struggling state of Bihar, 600 miles (970 kilometers) from his two-storey house in the suburbs of New Delhi.

Hackers behind what computer security experts believe could be the biggest data theft in U.S. history may be planning to sell the information to cyber criminals for targeted scams.

And while the tens of millions of names and email addresses swiped from online marketing firm Epsilon do not appear to have been used yet for cyber crime, experts said it may just be a matter of time.

Philippine leftist rebels are being pushed into oblivion by Facebook and the Internet as rebellious youths now vent online instead of taking up arms against the state, a peace negotiator said Thursday.

Chief negotiator Alex Padilla said the Internet had helped steer university students away from the rebels, whom he said had been reduced to recruiting school dropouts and the unschooled.

Twitter appeared to be grappling with technical troubles on Tuesday, disabling a new home page as well as a "Trends" feature at the popular microblogging service.

"We're disabling #NewTwitter," the startup's support team said in a message tweeted at 4 pm (2300 GMT). "Our engineers are working on re-enabling it."

Startup Reppler launched a service Tuesday to help people shine on Facebook pages that have become resources checked by employers, college recruiters and even potential mates.

Reppler warns Facebook users about pictures or written posts that might hurt their images, highlights public information best kept private and rates how members of the leading social network look online.

As startups rush to offer smartphone users coupons for discounts at nearby shops, Dealpulp.com is out to woo the bargain hunter inside online shoppers across the United States.

DealPulp is based on the premise that online shoppers have been neglected in an Internet Age fusion of smartphones and coupons so hot that it will be the focus of a first-ever Daily Deal Summit kicking off in New York City on Wednesday.