Governments around the world made nearly 21,000 requests for access to Google data in the first six months of this year, according to the search engine. Its Transparency Report indicates government surveillance of online lives is rising sharply. The US government made the most demands, asking for details 7,969 times in the first six months of 2012. Turkey topped the list for requests to remove content. Government 'bellwether' Google, in common with other technology and communication companies, regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to have access to content. It has been publishing its Transparency Report twice a year since 2009 and has seen a steady rise in government demands for data. In its first report in 2009, it received 12,539 requests. The latest figure stands at 20,939. More»

Verizon Wireless said on Monday that its board agreed to pay a total dividend of $8.5 billion to its two parent companies, Verizon Communications (VZ.N) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L). The announcement follows months of investor speculation as to whether Verizon Wireless would pay a dividend this year. Verizon Communications, which owns 55 percent of Verizon Wireless and is dependent on wireless operations for growth, could put the cash toward its capital spending, debt interest or its own shareholder dividends, Barclays analyst James Ratcliffe said. "It's driven primarily by the cash needs of Verizon Communications," said Ratcliffe, who had expected a distribution in the range of $10 billion to $12 billion. Verizon declined to comment on the size of the pay-out or how it plans to use the cash. The pay-out is down from the $10 billion dividend that Verizon Wireless announced in July 2011 and paid in January 2012. More»

Google will increase the cash it allocates to its venture-capital arm to up to $300 million a year from $200 million, catapulting Google Ventures into the top echelon of corporate venture-capital funds. Access to that sizeable checkbook means Google Ventures will be able to invest in more later-stage financing rounds, which tend to be in the tens of millions of dollars or more per investor. It puts the firm on the same footing as more established corporate venture funds such as Intel's Intel Capital, which typically invests $300-$500 million a year. "It puts a lot more wood behind the arrow if we need it," said Bill Maris, managing partner of Google Ventures. Part of the rationale behind the increase is that Google Ventures is a relatively young firm, founded in 2009. Some of the companies it backed two or three years ago are now at later stages, potentially requiring larger cash infusions to grow further. More»

A Telecommunications Ministry report issued Friday said Internet connection speed in Lebanon has significantly increased between June 2011 and June 2012. “[Telecom Ministry] initiatives have started to bear results. [Internet connection] speed has improved by 15 and 18 times on the fixed-line and mobile networks respectively,” said Telecoms Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui in the introduction of the report dubbed “One Year Progress Report June 2011-June 2012.” “International connectivity has increased 11 times and will soon be redundant with the purchase of an 800 Gbps [Gigabyte per second] capacity on the Alexandaros submarine cable,” the minister added. The report said submarine cable capacity increased 11 times to reach 33 Gbps up from 3 Gbps a year ago. The report said Internet prices for companies and private individuals have decreased by 80 percent as the number of DSL and mobile broadband subscribers has risen 20 percent and 158 percent respectively. Mobile service prices decreased by 40 percent between June 2011 and June 2012. It added that 4th generation mobile networks are ready for deployment. More»

Facebook has moved quickly to shut down a loophole which made some accounts accessible without a password. The bug was exposed in a message posted to the Hacker News website. The message contained a search string that, when used on Google, returned a list of links to 1.32 million Facebook accounts. In some cases clicking on a link logged in to that account without the need for a password. All the links exposed the email addresses of Facebook users. Throwaway account The message posted to Hacker News used a search syntax that exposed a system used by Facebook that lets users quickly log back in to their account. Email alerts about status updates and notifications often contain a link that lets a user of the social network respond quickly by clicking it to log in in to their account. More»

A law that aims to protect children from harmful internet content by allowing the government to take sites offline has taken effect in Russia. The authorities are now able to blacklist and force offline certain websites without a trial. The law was approved by both houses of parliament and signed by President Vladimir Putin in July. Human rights groups have said the legislation might increase censorship in the country. The law is the amendment to the current Act for Information. The authorities say the goal is to protect minors from websites featuring sexual abuse of children, offering details about how to commit suicide, encouraging users to take drugs and sites that solicit children for pornography. More»

The site, on which users seek money for creative or product-based ideas, has so far raised more than $340m (£211m) - with 5% of each successful pledge going to Kickstarter. Until now, new businesses using the site to raise cash for projects had to set up an account in the US. Founder Yancey Strickler told the BBC that he planned to expand the site to other countries soon. "The request to expand internationally has long been one of our most requested features," he told the BBC. "We certainly are interested. We're going to see how the UK launch goes and figure out the next moves from there. There's a lot of places that will be interesting." Perks Since launching in 2009, more than 70,000 projects have been pitched on Kickstarter - with a success rate of just over 40%. More»

Today, Google celebrates the alignment of the sun on the face of King Rameses II’s statue in the inner sanctuary of the temple of Abu Simbel - a bi-annual event which occurs on the date of his birth (22nd of February) and the date of his coronation (22nd of October) - the latter also signifying the start of the harvest season for Ancient Egyptians. The Abu Simbel temple was carved into stone after being commissioned by Pharaoh Rameses II between 1279 and 1213 B.C as his piety to the gods as well as his own deification and in order to celebrate his domination of Nubia. It is located 275 kilometers southeast of the city of Aswan. The original temple was positioned on the bank of the Nile, but it was raised up 60 meters by an international relocation project supported by UNESCO in the 1960’s to save it from flooding. The spectacle of the solar alignment draws thousands of tourists every year to Abu Simbel to watch this unique phenomenon unfold. The doodle depicts the inner sanctuary of the temple being lit by the sun rays as they hit the faces of the statues of Rameses II alongside the statues of the gods Amun-Ra, Ra-Horakhty except for that of Ptah - god of the underworld - whose statue always remains in darkness. Doodles are known as the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo  to celebrate different people, events or special dates such as holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists.  Over the years, doodles on the Google homepage have made searching on Google more fun and enjoyable for its users worldwide More»

Reports of a large explosion emerged on Twitter at 2:49 p.m. Friday afternoon, with people hearing it from Mar Mikhael to Downtown Beirut, before the news of the deadly bomb blast had reached mainstream media. But the initial picture was hazy with little more than images of a huge smoke cloud billowing from the direction of Sassine.As soon as it became clear a car bomb was behind the huge explosion, and before confirmation later in the evening that Information Branch chief Wissam al-Hasan was the target, speculation soon abounded as to the motive of the attack, which killed at least four others and left at least 110 wounded. Several politicians initially took to Twitter expressing hope that everyone was okay and as phone networks were down across the city, Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui tweeted that mobile transmissions stations were being moved to the bomb site to “facilitate rescue efforts.” However, many on Twitter soon condemned the way in which some politicians appeared to be using the attack to extend certain agendas, urging restraint and a need for calm reflection in the wake of a tragedy. “The last thing I want to hear right now is what some Lebanese politician thinks about this,” Iyad El-Baghdadi tweeted. More»

Twitter has blocked access to a neo-Nazi account at the request of the German government. The tweets will no longer be visible to users in Germany although the rest of the world will be able to view them. It is the first time the social networking site has implemented its local censorship policy, which came into force in January. That policy allows it to block content in specific countries if tweets violate local laws. Announcing the decision, Twitter's general counsel Alex Macgillivray said: "Never want to withhold content; good to have tools to do it narrowly and transparently." In the tweet, he published links to the letter sent by German police, requesting the account be closed. The letter outlined how the government had banned the organisation Besseres Hannover, a right-wing extremist group from Lower Saxony. "It is disbanded, its assets are seized and all its accounts in social networks have to be closed immediately," the letter read. More»