It seems to be full-speed-ahead at Apple as the company is reportedly planning to debut a new Apple TV, and at least three next-generation iPad variants, in March. “Reliable sources familiar with Apple’s upcoming product release have said that the company is in fact launching a new Apple TV alongside the next-generation iPad,” reports 9to5Mac.com. Regarding the report, MG Siegler says: “It sounds right because I’d imagine Apple will want higher quality video content to show off on the new iPad’s Retina screen.” “Based on the information out there, this looks like a fairly mundane refresh, although Apple probably doesn't …

If you can’t beat ‘em, sue ‘em -- That seems to be Yahoo’s logic as it threatens to tie up Facebook in a patent dispute on the basis that it holds the right to intellectual property central to the social network. “For Yahoo, the patent dispute could be a strategic move to raise money,” the Financial Times suggests. “The timing echoes that of a similar claim Yahoo brought against Google in the run-up to that company’s IPO in 2004.” “Like certain other tech companies that have failed to keep up with rivals’ innovations, Yahoo is resorting to a patent battle …

The mobile industry ain’t seen nothin’ yet from Google. That was the message from Android chief Andy Rubin at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Monday. To date, Rubin called the 12 million Android tablets sold "not insignificant, but less than I'd expect it to be if you really want to win," while adding that "2012 is going to be the year that we double down and make sure we're winning in that space." For context, The Verge writes: “It's no secret that Android tablet sales have lagged far behind Apple's iPad, and Google's planning to do something about …

Putting its $100 billion cash stash to use, Apple has reportedly acquired app search and discovery platform Chomp. As TechCrunch reports, the deal couldn’t have come soon enough. “With [the App Store’s] immense scale, a few problems have been revealed. The biggest one is app discovery. There are now over 500,000 apps -- how do you find anything?”  “Apple's App Store has limited search and discovery features, something Apple has worked to improve,” writes AppleInsider. A source tells Bloomberg that Apple paid about $50 million for Chomp. “Chomp is, quite simply, a search engine for mobile applications,” explains <a href="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/what_apples_acquisition_of_chomp_means_for_the_fut.php" …

News broke Wednesday that the White House plans to cooperate with Congress to enact online privacy legislation based on a new "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights." In turn, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL are committing to support Do Not Track technology in most major Web browsers. And not a moment too soon, CNet reports. “The announcement comes as Google, Apple, and other technology companies are being increasingly criticized for not doing enough to protect consumers' privacy rights online.”  “In light of such controversies, privacy groups had urged government officials to adopt the ‘do not track’ mandate, but software developers and …

Gimmick or game changer, Google appears to be moving full speed ahead with the release of heads-up display glasses. “People who constantly reach into a pocket to check a smartphone for bits of information will soon have another option: a pair of Google-made glasses that will be able to stream information to the wearer’s eyeballs in real time,” reports The New York Times. As sources tell NYT, the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year, and cost “around the price of current smartphones.” As CNet recalls, rumors that the HUD Google Glasses …

Piling on similarly inflammatory accusations on Apple’s behalf, Microsoft claims that Google has been ignoring a privacy safeguard in its Internet Explorer 9 browser, which is meant to help users prevent advertisers from placing tracking files on their computers. "When the IE team heard that Google had bypassed user privacy settings on Safari, we asked ourselves a simple question: Is Google circumventing the privacy preferences of Internet Explorer users too?" Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft's vice president of Internet Explorer, wrote in a blog post. "We’ve discovered the answer is yes." In other words, “Microsoft left a big privacy loophole in …

Coming at the absolute worst time for Google, The Wall Street Journal reports that the search giant has been tracking the Web-browsing habits of millions consumers without their consent. According to WSJ: “Google Inc. and other advertising companies have been bypassing the privacy settings of millions of people using Apple Inc.'s Web browser on their iPhones and computers -- tracking the Web-browsing habits of people who intended for that kind of monitoring to be blocked.” “More accurately, Google’s been bypassing Safari’s default privacy settings that block certain types of cookies rather than overriding what people specifically set,” Marketing Land’s …

Giving stars a better chance to shine, Facebook this week is expected to begin letting VIPs verify their accounts, and use nicknames. Sure, Facebook was “built on real names and real identities,” reports TechCrunch. Going forward, however, members with “verified accounts will gain more prominent placement in Facebook’s ‘People To Subscribe To’ suggestions.” To be clear, “verified accounts are not a departure from Facebook’s policy that users sign up with their real name, as birth names will still be shown on a user’s profile About page,” TechCrunch notes. “Instead it’s a way to ensure people don’t subscribe to the public …

Further humbling itself to the realities of the market, Apple is reportedly cutting prices on its iAd mobile ad system -- again -- while increasing the amount it pays app developers. “Advertisers will now have to spend just $100,000 for Apple mobile campaigns running in iPhone and iPad apps, down from a previous $500,000 threshold and a significant reduction from the initial starting price of $1 million in 2010, when Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's first ad product,” Ad Age reports. “Apple's mobile advertising platform iAd launched to much fanfare in 2010, promising a high-end advertising experience for users with high-end …