Google bids for patents, Android surges ahead in smartphone wars - top tech topics

(All rights reserved)

Hot topics in the tech blogs for the week ending April 8 include Android's growing lead in the US smartphone market, Google's bid for patents with the hope of not getting sued, Verizon iPhone 4 owners having less dropped calls, Facebook open-sourcing its data center technology and Microsoft releasing visually rich Bing for iPad app.

ComScore mobile subscriber market share report
Phones running Google's open source Android platform account for one in every three smartphones in the US market said market researcher comScore. While Android is surging ahead in terms of market share, the report revealed Apple’s iPhone 5 was the most acquired handset for the month of February.

Google bids for Nortel patents
Google bid $900 million for patents owned by bankrupt telecommunications company Nortel.
Nortel’s approximately 6,000 patents span the fields of wireless, wireless 4G, data networking, voice, internet and semiconductors and would 'create a disincentive for others to sue Google.'

ChangeWave iPhone survey
Verizon iPhone 4 owners have less dropped calls than their AT&T counterparts said a new survey released by ChangeWave. The survey also found that 82 percent of Verizon iPhone 4 owners and 80 percent of AT&T iPhone 4 owners were very satisfied with their device.

Facebook reveals the technology behind its data centers
After sharing the data center 'secrets' that have helped Facebook 'build one of the most efficient computing infrastructures at the lowest possible cost,' the company has started recruiting collaborators for its open source Open Compute Project. Facebook hopes the new technology initiative will 'spark a collaborative dialogue' and encourage others to collectively work towards more energy efficient data centers.

Microsoft launches Bing for iPad
Microsoft hit the launch button on a full screen touch version of its internet search engine Bing for iPad users. The visually rich app offers unique features like explorable search trends plus voice search, turn-by-turn directions and weather alerts. Business Insider commented that the app" makes Google's seem boring by comparison."