Google is now activating half a million Android mobile devices every day, reports The Next Web, citing a new tweet from Google's Android chief Andy Rubin. That's up from the roughly 400,000 Android devices Google says it was activating back in May. In his tweet, Rubin also revealed that Android activations are now growing at 4.4% week-over-week. "Google's huge rise will have been helped by the launch of Honeycomb-powered tablets as Motorola, Samsung and HTC, with its Gingerbread tablet, try to make inroads into Apple's iPad dominance," The Next Web writes. Google previously announced that it had already activated …

Already a shadow if its former self, MySpace reportedly plans to layoff nearly 40% of its remaining staff -- or about 150 employees -- this week. Since confirmed by TechCrunch, the news was first reported by Gawker's Ryan Tate. How bad have things gotten at the once reigning social network? Well, "Scary as [the massacre] sounds, some employees are apparently looking forward to the layoffs," one source tells Tate. "Apparently, everyone is expecting it, and actually hoping for it," the "MySpace veteran" said. "I think the management owes the employees severance because of the terrible management mistakes they …

This weekend, HBO expected to see the 3 millionth download of its HBO Go app, despite only recently debuting on May 2. There are 28 million HBO subscribers in the United States, so, as CNET notes, the 3 million downloads would indicate that roughly 10% of the company's audience has tried out the app. "That's pretty good when you consider not all cable providers offer it (you listening Time Warner Cable?)," CNet quips. To generate even more interest in the app, HBO was expected to dangle a carrot for "True Blood" followers this weekend, during the season premiere …

Social networking is taking over the American workplace, but neither Facebook nor LinkedIn is leading the invasion. Rather, "As social networks increasingly dominate communications in private lives, businesses of all sizes -- from tiny start-ups to midsize companies like Nikon to behemoths like Dell -- are adopting them for the workplace," reports The New York Times. Although it is difficult to quantify how many companies use internal social networks, NYT finds that a number of corporate software companies are offering various systems -- some free to existing customers, others that charge a fee per user. Salesforce.com is a …

Last month, Facebook surpassed Microsoft in the UK for the first time ever, while both sites continue to trail Google. In May, Facebook claimed the second spot by notching up 26.8 million visitors, The Register reports, citing data from UKOM/Nielsen. That bested Microsoft's 26.2 million users during the month, which divided their time between MSN, Windows Live and Bing. "Google remained comfortably ahead of the pack, with 33.9 million UK visitors in May," The Register writes. "Meanwhile, worldwide usage of Facebook has reportedly shot up -- even as around 6 million Americans recently unplugged themselves from the dominant …

The International Olympic Committee has determined that all athletes at next year's London Olympics can blog and Twitter away -- as long as it is not done for commercial purposes, Reuters reports. Any found posting X-rated content, however, could be booted from the Games. In guidelines released by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) on Monday, the IOC "actively encourages and supports athletes ... to take part in 'social media' and to post, blog and tweet their experiences." Still, bloggers and tweeters must restrict themselves to "first-person, diary-type formats;" can't report on events in the manner of journalists; and must …

Psych! Just a day after deciding not to appeal the Supreme Court ruling upholding their $65 million settlement with Facebook, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss pressed their case in federal court in Boston. In a court filing Thursday, the Winklevosses and their business partner Divya Narendra said they planned to ask the judge to investigate whether Facebook "intentionally or inadvertently suppressed evidence" during litigation, reports The Los Angeles Times. "As the old saying goes, it ain't over until it's over," the paper writes. "The dramatic seven-year legal feud that inspired 'The Social Network' may have one last plot twist." …

Facebook is reportedly testing a new homepage design that allows the news feed to be scrolled independently of the rest of the page. Critical to advertisers, "This allows ads, app bookmarks, and the top navigation bar to remain visible no matter how many news feed stories a user scrolls through," Inside Facebook explains. If implemented, the Facebook-obsessed blog believes the new homepage could increase click through rates for advertisers, while also improving user retention for applications, and making the site easier to browse. Yet, the change "could come as a shock to users who developed browsing behaviors around …

Twitter is considering placing ads among the short messages that users see in the most active parts of its service, The Financial Times reports, citing sources. "The move to place 'promoted tweets' in the main 'stream' of tweets on the service is likely to be controversial with users who have seen only limited and unobtrusive marketing messages so far in Twitter's five-year history," it writes. ,br> Yet, the move comes amid increasing pressure on the microblogging leader to turn its massive user base into dollars. As FT puts it, the "service that has so far failed to make money …

In other Google news, the company is finally offering behavioral targeting capabilities to all of its advertisers. As Search Engine Land notes, Google first announced a beta test of this capability over two years ago -- way back in 2009 -- and it has slowly been introducing it to larger groups over time. Now, all Google advertisers have "the ability to target ads to users by interest -- based on their previous browsing activity, or behavior." Advertisers can choose from over 1,000 interest categories. Google says advertisers testing the capability were successful, citing one advertiser increasing brand lift …