Apple and Google Go Head to Head Over Mobile Maps

For many people, phones have become an important way to navigate the world, and mobile maps are at the core of the journey. They are often the critical element in commerce, socializing and search. So far, Google has reigned supreme in the mobile map world, with its maps on every iPhone sold so far — and, of course, on every phone based on its own Android operating system.

Google reveals government censorship requests are on the rise

Google's updated its transparency report to show how many times governments worldwide sought to censor search results, drop YouTube videos or look at user data in the second half of last year. Each request is logged and detailed, with the most filings coming from the US, UK and India. The requests varied from censoring a video where a Canadian citizen creatively destroyed his passport (not complied with) through to blogs promoting hate speech and violence (complied with). Mountain View's list makes for interesting reading, but it's not all bad news: where videos were merely critical or satirical of the local authorities, the search giant refused to pull 'em, respecting private citizens right to free speech in a great majority of cases.

U.S. regains supercomputing crown, bests China, Japan

New IBM water cooled systems, which use warm or hot water, dominate top 10 of Top 500 supercomputer list

The U.S., once again, is home to the world's most powerful supercomputer after being knocked off the list by China two years ago and Japan last year.