WSJ: Google breaks up maps and commerce unit, Jeff Huber moves to Google X

It looks like the shakeups at Google this week aren't over yet. Following Andy Rubin's departure from the Android team and some "spring cleaning" that stuck a fork in Google Reader, The Wall Street Journal is now reporting that the company is breaking up its mapping and commerce unit. According to the paper, maps will now be a part of Google's search unit, while commerce will fall under the advertising group. What's more, the WSJ also reports that the head of that soon-to-be-former unit, Jeff Huber, will be moving to Google X, the lab responsible for projects like Glass and Google's self-driving car.

Update: Jeff Huber has now posted a brief statement on both Google+ and Twitter. He says, "finishing up my first decade at Google, and excited to return to my startup roots and begin the next one at Google X!"

Source: The Wall Street Journal

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By: Unknown On 10:34 PM

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Opera hits 300 million users, promptly moves to WebKit

Opera is celebrating the news that it's hit the 300 million monthly user milestone with a big announcement. It's going to dump Presto, the current Opera rendering engine, in favor of WebKit. The company gave the impression that it's exhausted after swimming against the tide of an internet designed to work for Chrome and Safari for so long. Instead, the firm will devote its considerable resources toward "innovation and polish" on its browser products. Opera's already hinted at its future by demonstrating Ice, its WebKit-based experiment for iOS and Android devices, which it'll be showing off in more detail at MWC later this month.

Source: Opera, (2)

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By: Unknown On 9:53 PM

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TSMC rumored to run trials building A6X as Apple moves away from Samsung

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the company that practically gave the start to fabless manufacturing, is now rumored to be ready to start orders for Apple’s A6X chips and gradually replace Samsung as Cupertino’s chip maker.

TSMC is the biggest semiconductor foundry in the world, and the trials will test whether it will be able to meet the huge demand for Apple chips. The particular chip in question, the Apple A6X is what Cupertino introduced in the fourth-generation iPad.

Interestingly, TSMC is also rumored to be contracted to make 20nm quad-core chips for future Apple devices. Devices like the iPad are expected to use such silicon, while the iPhone is more likely to remain on a dual-core architecture.

source: Commercial Times via 9to5Mac

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By: Dilusha On 11:01 PM

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