Business

This is what we read in latest post from VirusTotal in their blog: Our goal is simple: to help keep you safe on the web. And we’ve worked hard to ensure that the services we offer continually improve. But as a small, resource-constrained company, that can sometimes be challenging. So we’re delighted that Google, a long-time partner, has acquired VirusTotal. This is great news for you, and bad news for malware generators, because: ...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Google just took your phone a step closer to replacing your wallet in the mobile payment revolution. The company expanded its mobile payments platform, Google Wallet, to accept multiple credit cards. Users can now connect their Visa , MasterCard, American Express, or Discover cards with the new version of Google Wallet. It’s an update from the company’s previous partnership with MasterCard, Citigroup and Sprint. ...

Time Techland wrote: When I learned this morning, via Twitter, that the small company behind Mac/iOS e-mail app Sparrow was being bought by Google, I almost didn’t need to read the startup’s announcement to know the upshot. Google and Facebook buy itty-bitty web companies all the time. And the acquired businesses typically convey what’s happening in an eerily consistent five-step ritual: Announcement of thrilling acquisition Reiteration of startup’s wildly ambitious founding notion Explanation that either Google or Facebook is the best place to change the world Acknowledgement (or sometimes non-acknowledgement) that the startup’s product is being discontinued or is going into limbo Expression of heartfelt gratitude to various supporters, usually including the consumers who are losing their something they liked So it seems to be going with Sparrow: Its five-person team will be working on Gmail henceforth; the existing Sparrow apps aren’t being discontinued, but they apparently won’t get any updates, either. ...

Eric Jackson in Forbes Wrote: There are so many intriguing aspects of Marissa Mayer‘s hiring at Yahoo! (YHOO). However, what intrigues me the most is the what the future strategic direction of Yahoo! will be under her watch and what this means for the company’s future relationships with Google (GOOG) and Facebook(FB) (not to mention Microsoft(MSFT)). Presumably, Marissa already has the start of a strategic vision. And she said as much in a leaked memo yesterday: ...

An Iranian hacker published the information about some 3 million debit cards of 10 Iranian banks, including codes and passwords. The information has been published by someone named “Khosrow Zare Farid” who was the manager of a company which operates SHETAB payment network in Iran and produces and installs POS devices. “Around one year ago I found a critical bug in the system. Then I wrote and sent a formal report to all the CEO of banks in Iran but none of them replied to me. Now I decided to publish the information. Governments tried to catch me by Iran Cyber Army but they failed,” he said, according to Kabir News website ...

The H-Security: Business appears to be booming for those who trade in unpatched (zero-day) security holes: according to a report by Forbes magazine, a US company that works for the US government recently paid $250,000 for a vulnerability in Apple’s iOS operating system. The report says that the deal was arranged by a hacker who goes by the name of “the Grugq” and who has brokered agreements between those who discover vulnerabilities and government agencies over the last year. If negotiations are successful, the hacker retains a 15 per cent commission; he’s reportedly on track to earn about a million US dollars this year with his brokerage business. ...

Mashable: Google planned to open its first-ever public store at its European headquarters in Dublin, if you believed a rumor reported by Bloomberg. But according to a company spokesperson, no plans are definite right now. A Google planning application for an expansion of its Dublin office indicated plans for an employee swimming pool, a restaurant and a store. But Google says the company doesn’t have plans to get into the retail business right now. ...

Mashable: Yahoo‘s chairman of the board, Roy Bostock, is leaving the company. Bostock has been chairman since 2008. Bostock revealed the news to shareholders in a long letter describing the company’s recent re-strategizing. A far cry from a resignation letter, Bostock is upbeat about Yahoo’s future and its recent moves, saying that, since the company is in a position to “drive innovation and growth going forward,” he will not seek re-election at the next shareholders’ meeting. ...

Google Operating System Blog: Google found a way to solve the problem of Android patents and it’s only three times more expensive than acquiring the Nortel patents: buying Motorola for $12.5 billion. “Motorola has a history of over 80 years of innovation in communications technology and products, and in the development of intellectual property, which have helped drive the remarkable revolution in mobile computing we are all enjoying today. (…) In 2008, Motorola bet big on Android as the sole operating system across all of its smartphone devices. It was a smart bet and we’re thrilled at the success they’ve achieved so far,” says Google’s CEO, Larry Page. ...

BetaNews: Google thoroughly rocked the smartphone world on Monday morning by announcing it will be acquiring Android phone maker Motorola Mobility for approximately $12.5 billion. Motorola Mobility has existed as a standalone entity for just 8 months, and has produced some of the most successful Android smartphones such as the first Droidwith Verizon Wireless. Most importantly, though, Motorola Mobility holds one of the most valuable wireless patent portfolios in the business, and this acquisition serves as a follow up to the Nortel Patent auction where Google placed bids, but lost out to a consortium of bidders that included Apple, EMC, Microsoft, Ericsson, Research in Motion, and Sony. ...