Defining the new military-industrial complex, Darpa director Regina Dugan has accepted a “senior executive position” at Google. According to a Darpa spokesman, Dugan couldn’t say no to an offer from such an “innovative company.” Despite what Wired calls a “controversial” tenure at Darpa, Dugan’s focus on cyber security and next-generation manufacturing reportedly earned her strong support from the White House. “Her push into crowdsourcing and outreach to the hacker community were eye-openers in the often-closed world of military R&D,” Wires writes. “Dugan also won over some military commanders by diverting some of her research cash from long-term, blue-sky projects to …

Hoping to upgrade its content sharing features, Twitter has acquired blogging site Posterous for an indisclosed sum. Posterous’ “team has built an innovative product that makes sharing across the Web and mobile devices simple -- a goal we share,” Twitter explained in a blog post, this week. “Posterous engineers, product managers and others will join our teams working on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better.”  Twitter assured Posterous users that there are no imminent plans to shut the site down. “However, it hinted, via its company blog, that the site could be changed at the some point,” The …

Showing mainstream media’s growing interest in digital dealings, CNN is reportedly in advanced talks to buy Mashable. “Mashable, which specializes in stories about technology and social media, could bolster CNN.com, which is one of the most popular news Web sites in the United States,” reports The New York Times’ Media Decoder blog. “An acquisition of Mashable would make a statement about CNN’s interest in startups and social media.” Without any knowledge of a purchase price, Media Decoder is confident that the would-be deal would represent CNN’s biggest acquisition to date. Last fall, CNN.com acquired Zite -- maker of an iPad …

About a year ago, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves says he was approached by Steve Jobs about providing content for Apple's long-rumored TV service. His answer? No thanks. “I told Steve, ‘You know more than me about 99 percent of things but I know more about the television business,’” Moonves said at the UCLA Entertainment Symposium on Saturday. Moonves saidhe was chiefly concerned about providing content to a service that could disrupt CBS’ existing revenue streams, writes The Hollywood Reporter. “Moonves said Jobs, in characteristic fashion, strongly disagreed with his assessment,” THR reports. More broadly, Moonves has demonstrated his openness …

The holidays are long gone, but tablets are on everyone’s wish list. Thanks to pent up demand and a broad consumer embrace -- for which Apple is chiefly responsible -- the new iPad is a hot commodity. "Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts and the quantity available for pre-order has been purchased," Apple tells USAToday in a statement. "Customers can continue to order online and receive an estimated delivery date." Apple is synonymous with exciting product debuts, and quickly selling out of its devices. Preorders for the iPhone 4S, USAToday recalls, sold out in less …

As Google Maps continues to lose big name clients, experts are asking what it means for Google, and the future of digital mapping. The most obvious answer is that Google competes directly with the same companies that have recently announced plans to cut back on Google Maps, including Foursquare and Apple. Also, as Digital Trends reminds us, Google unveiled plans to begin monetizing Google Maps nearly a year ago. The move included a requirement that any new services forward display ads in Google Maps along to end users, so Google could start generating ad revenue from the service. “The hammer …

Thought blogs were a fading fad? On the contrary, the category has continued to flourish in recent years, escalating. “If the trajectory of growth is any indication, the saturation point for blogs doesn’t seem to be anywhere in sight because the study speculates that consumer interest is still on the rise,” reports WebProNews, citing the research. Women make up the majority in the blogosphere, while the study also found that one in three bloggers are mothers and that 52% are parents with children under the age of 18 living in their household. Beyond just being curators and authors of blogs, …

Google is reportedly pressuring app makers and mobile game developers to use Google Wallet. Driven by its desire to rival Apple’s iOS platform, Google could be engaging in anti-competitive activity and actually hurting developers’ bottom lines. “Google warned several developers in recent months that if they continued to use other payment methods -- such as PayPal, Zong and Boku -- their apps would be removed from Android Market, now known as Google Play,” reports Reuters, citing several anonymous developers, executives and investors. Some, however, see Google’s efforts as merely a way of simplifying consumer payments. "Although this move by Google …

The Justice Department reportedly plans to sue Apple and five top book publishers for allegedly colluding to raise the price of e-books. The five publishers facing a potential suit include CBS Corp.'s Simon & Schuster; Lagardere SCA's Hachette Book Group; Pearson PLC's Penguin Group; Macmillan, a unit of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; and News Corp.’s HarperCollins Publishers Inc., the Wall Street Journal reports, citing sources. “Several of the parties have held talks to settle the antitrust case and head off a potentially damaging court battle,” WSJ reports, noting, however, that not every publisher has helped settlement discussions. As WSJ …

Is Apple right about the post-PC era? Well, in 2011, worldwide PC shipments totaled 352.8 million units -- which translates to a 0.5% increase from 2010 -- according to new data from Gartner. According to Gartner, last year "redefined the landscape of the device market," with more people turning to tablets and smartphones to do things they've traditionally done on a PC, such as emailing and Web surfing. But don’t count the PC out, writes The Seattle Times. Indeed, Gartner is forecasting worldwide PC shipments to reach 368 million units by the end of 2012 -- a respectable 4.4% increase …