Google may have passed the antitrust review with the Federal Trade Commission last year, but Yelp Inc (NYSE:YELP) claims that Google is manipulating U.S. search results in favor of Google+ over Yelp, according to leaked documents sent to TechCrunch. The documents suggest that when people search for a restaurant name, Google Places and other Google services appear at the top even when the user includes “Yelp” in the search keywords.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has partnered with Dropbox and several other tech companies to battle patent trolls (non-practicing entities). Patent trolls are companies that buy old patents and tries to make money with them by accusing large companies of infringement. The patent trolls generally request a one-off licensing fee to end lawsuits. Many tech companies end up paying the fees because it is cheaper than defending the patent infringement claim. This is the reason why many people believe the patent system in this country is broken. Six companies have partnered to launch the License on Transfer Network (LOT Network).
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has opened its 100th Supercharger in the U.S. It was not officially announced, but Tesla fans are tracking the numbers themselves. The 100th Supercharger will be located in Tifton, Georgia. Tesla Motors started to open Superchargers in the U.S. in September 2012 — 100 Superchargers in under two years? Not bad. The 100th Supercharger worldwide to open took place in Hamilton Township, New Jersey. Now Tesla has 137 Superchargers around the world.
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This past week, a stolen Tesla Model S vehicle crashed into a synagogue before it split in half and caught on fire. The driver of the vehicle was traveling very fast and succumbed to injuries from the accident. Joshua Michael Flot, 26, of Inglewood, California died after he was thrown out from the Tesla Model S, according to Ed Winters, a public information officer at the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office.
There is a new report claiming that the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CarPlay could expand to 24 million vehicles by the year 2019. There are currently 29 auto companies that are partnered with Apple for CarPlay, including Ford, Chrysler, Toyota, Audi, Volvo, etc. Apple announced CarPlay last year at WWDC. Some of CarPlay’s features include the ability to make phone calls, play voicemails, and listen to music through the in-dashboard touchscreen. Google has launched an auto dashboard service of their own and spearheaded the Open Automotive Alliance. Google’s dashboard service is based on Android and is called Android Auto. Android is backed by car companies.
International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) is planning to spend $3 billion in research and development over the next five years. IBM will be funding two programs to create smaller and powerful chips that can be used in IBM Watson.
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When Zack Brown posted a campaign on Kickstarter, he probably did not expected to raise over $70,000 — the proceeds dropped by about $30,000 to around $46,000 for some reason. Brown wants to use the proceeds for good. The campaign had a $10 goal and it hit over 4,000 backers in under a week.
Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) has opened its first Supercharger in France earlier this month. The Supercharger is located in Auxerre. It has two spots with total output of 135 kW. It appears to be one of the temporary mobile units. There is one more charging point (3-phase AC with 2x 22 kWs) next to the Supercharger. Tesla Motors has opened 27 Supercharger stations in Europe as a whole so far.
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