As earlier reports predicted, SocialCode -- a social media advertising firm and subsidiary of The Washington Post Co. -- has confirmed hiring away 15 engineers from social news site Digg. Rubbing it in (or just making an accurate assessment of the situation), WaPo writes: “Digg was once one of SiliconValley’s most promising start-ups. But the service, which allows readers to vote on stories and displays the most popular, has declined in recent years as users turned to services such as Reddit or Twitter to distribute news to their friends.” In 2010, Digg downsized its staff from 67 employees to 42, …

Mozilla Corp. has accused Microsoft of hampering its ability to distribute its Firefox Web browser on devices being designed for the next version of the Windows operating system. The contention “focuses on future tablets and personal computers that exploit chip designs licensed from ARM Holdings PLC -- which are being supported for the first time in the next version of Microsoft's flagship Windows software,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Microsoft has been openly encouraging companies to create apps designed for a new interface it has developed for the operating system. However, Mozilla says the software giant isn’t letting developers …

Despite reports to the contrary, TechCrunch says it’s not being sold by parent company AOL. “Instead, we’ve just hired a bunch of brilliant writers and a new COO,” writes Alexia Tsotsis and Eric Eldon in a co-authored post -- and referring to the recent appointment of veteran media exec Ned Desmond. Among other measures of health, Tsotsis and Eldon point to “a resurgence of community support,” and a traffic increase “with regards to unique visits year over year,” while they promise to be “working on getting our pageviews up to pre-awful redesign levels.” Regarding the sale rumors, meanwhile, TechCrunch says …

Microsoft is boasting that its Smoked by Windows Phone ad campaign has been a big success, generating over 100 million consumer impressions across a variety of media. For the campaign, consumers were encouraged to test their smartphones against Windows Phones in various speed contests. “It’s a good sign for Microsoft, which received a lot of flack for a recent incident in which one Android user was reportedly cheated out of the contest by MS store employees,” writes VentureBeat. Microsoft evangelist Ben Rudolph, also known as Ben the PC Guy, has since apologized to that user, and offered up a free …

Foursquare is reportedly getting into the coupon business, and soon plans to let merchants buy special placement for promotions of personalized local offers via a redesigned version of its app. Any Foursquare user will be able to see the specials, although they’ll need to “check in” to specific venues to redeem them. “This is just one prong of Foursquare’s new money-making strategy,” according to BetaBeat. “Though the actual revenue it will produce is rather questionable, the company also announced last week that it would charge $10 to businesses for instant verification of their accounts.” Bigger picture, BetaBeat remarks on Web …

Perhaps overshadowing a mixed Q1 earnings report on Wednesday, word is that AOL is exploring the sale of key technology properties, including Engadget and TechCrunch. “The two would likely be sold together as AOL Tech, possibly including smaller assets like TUAW and Joystiq,” reports PandoDaily.com, citing two independent sources. And how much is AOL asking for the lot? What Pando considers to be “a hefty” $70 million to $100 million. At $70 million, AOL would actually turn a profit on the price it originally paid for TechCrunch and Engadget. As one source tells Pando, AOL management has been seriously considering …

Apple this week partnered up with Pirq to develop an iPhone app that will offer food and drink daily deals to its Bay Area employees. A source tells TechCrunch that this is the first part of a potential “four phase” implementation that could see Apple offering a deals service out to all iPhone users. “As device makers like RIM, Samsung and Nokia incorporate NFC technology into their mobile devices, Apple has been radio silent on what its plans will be in mobile commerce and payments,” TechCrunch writes. This deal with Pirg, however, “could be a clue to one area where …

A federal jury on Monday found that Google infringed copyrights held by Oracle, but failed to answer a key question that Oracle will need to press its case for nearly $1 billion in damages. Needless to say, “The result was a blow to Oracle's quest for a share of profits in the world's leading smartphone operating system,” MercuryNew.com writes -- referring to Google's Android mobile software. Indeed, "You could say it's a setback for Oracle," Edward Naughton, a Boston attorney who specializes in technology cases and has been following the trial closely, tells MercuryNews. Yet, added Naughton, "The situation is …

Finally! Without copping to an overt lie, Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson has officially apologized for the furor created by his factually-loose resume. “This kind of move is, of course, PR 101, but it still took Yahoo several days after activist shareholder Daniel Loeb uncovered the resume problem, which the Silicon Valley Internet giant said was an ‘inadvertent error,’” writes AllThingsD. In a new memo, Thompson says he was upset by how the controversy has impacted the company. “As I told you on Friday, the board is reviewing the issue and I will provide whatever they need from me. In the …

When is Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market) going to surpass 15 billion app downloads? Oh, right, that happened “a few weeks ago,” Google tells TechCrunch. “Way to blow your own horn, Google.” In January, as part of its fourth quarter 2011 earnings announcement, Google said its app marketplace had seen more than 11 billion downloads. In April, meanwhile, when Google reported its first quarter 2012 earnings, it didn’t mention downloads on Google Play. By contrast, Apple reached 15 billion app downloads in July 2011, and the most recent number for Apple is 25 billion downloads in March …