Reports of Google acquiring Slide emerge

Search engine giant Google has reportedly acquired online entertainment company Slide. Slide is a San-Francisco based manufacturer of social apps for sites like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Friendster and Orkut.

Sources suggest Google made a payment of $228 million to seal the deal. However, the companies have not yet made any comments on the deal. According to TechCrunch, a confirmation of the deal from the companies' end may come by Friday.


Slide was founded by Max Levchin, a co-founder of PayPal. Some of the apps developed by Slide include SuperPoke Pets, Top Fish, SPP Range and SuperPocus Academy of Magic.

If this deal is confirmed, Google will take another step toward its foray into social gaming. Google, last month, had invested an amount of $150 million in Zynga, the social gaming giant, renowned for the creation of popular games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Now it remains to be seen whether all these acquisitions will lead to the creation of the rumored Google social network, Google Me.

Tips to make your browser secure

Web browsers are the key to the internet. Without them the internet is an impenetrable black box.

Browsers may be among the most commonly used applications, but they also offer the greatest number of attack options for dangerous content on the net. To keep viruses, worms and other malware away from your computer when surfing, it's crucial to configure your browser for security.

The firewall on a DSL router is a good first step for protecting the computer during surfing, says Marco Rinne from the computer portal chip.de. But that doesn't hold true if your browser is out of date: “Internet Explorer 6 and 7 or Firefox 2 no longer satisfy current security standards,” he says. For optimal protection, he therefore urges users to keep their browsers updated.

There are numerous security tools already present in Firefox and Internet Explorer. The pop-up blocker, for example, prevents more than just annoying ads. It also throttles other windows that can be used to sneak malicious software onto PCs. Phishing filters protect personal data against theft.

Firefox offers additional configuration options under the Settings item in the Security tab of the Options dialog box: this includes the ability to block risky or forged websites. It's also a good idea to prohibit websites from installing add-ons on their own. Similar settings are possible under Internet Explorer in the Security tab of the Internet Options dialog box, accessible from the Tools menu.

Computer owners should also activate all options for warning against attacks, advises Markus Linnemann, managing director of the Institute for Internet Security (ifis) at the Polytechnic University of Gelsenkirchen in Germany. This applies in particular to warnings about suspicious content to be displayed using ActiveX, Flash, or JavaScript.

Yet the warning mechanism on most browsers alone isn't usually enough, Linnemann says. Those who wish to be especially careful can, for example, use the Firefox add-on 'No Script,' which blocks all active content of a website by default and allows the user to decide which should be permitted. The problem is that most users are unable to determine which content represents a threat to their computer, Rinne msays.

Oracle sues Google for patent infringement

Oracle Corp. said on Thursday it has filed a patent and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google Inc.

Oracle said in a statement that Google?s Android system for mobile phones infringes on its patented Java technology.

Google spokesman Andrew Pederson said the company cannot comment because it has not yet reviewed the lawsuit.

Oracle, which makes database software and other technology, acquired the Java computer programming language and related technology when it bought Sun Microsystems. That deal that closed in January.

Java can be used as a platform for building applications for computers, websites and smart phones and other mobile devices.

In its complaint, filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Oracle said Google?s Android operating system software consists of Java applications and other technology. As such, it infringes on one or more parts of seven different patents ? something Google should know, Oracle argues, because it has hired former Sun Java engineers in recent years.

Oracle also said Google?s Android also infringes on Oracle?s copyrights in Java.

Oracle is seeking an injunction to stop Google from further building and distributing Android, plus higher monetary damages for wilful and deliberate infringement.

Google says about 200,000 Android-powered phones are being sold each day.