By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Microsoft has signed a new licensing agreement for the ARM architecture, extending the two companies' relationship that has already spanned 13 years. ARM's major intellectual property is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer (RISC) architecture that is commonly used in embedded and mobile processors.

ARM-based processors were most common in low power computing environments, and more powerful consumer computers used the x86 architecture. But as smartphones have become more powerful, and larger devices based on mobile operating systems are becoming more common, ARM is moving out of the low power sector and into the mass market.

In January, ABI Research senior analyst Jeff Orr predicted that ARM-based processors would begin to overtake x86 in the netbook, ultraportable, tablet, and convertible PC market this year. In 2009, nearly 90% of devices in this category had processors using the x86 architecture.

Certainly, the "pad craze" has a lot to do with this shift. The Apple iPad's A4 processor is indeed ARM-based, and current speculation is that HP's acquisition of Palm may yield an enterprise-facing WebOS tablet in Fall 2010.

Microsoft's principal offerings that utilize the ARM architecture are Windows Embedded CE and Windows Mobile/Phone, and it hasn't made any major moves extending these into the netbook and tablet space.

"Microsoft is an important member of the ARM ecosystem, and has been for many years," Mike Muller, CTO of ARM said in a prepared statement. "With this architecture license, Microsoft will be at the forefront of applying and working with ARM technology in concert with a broad range of businesses addressing multiple application areas."

The details of the agreement were not disclosed today.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Microsoft published its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2010, and the software company reported revenue of $16.04 billion, a 22% increase over the same period last year, and $340 million ahead of Apple which also had a record-setting quarter.

Apple exceeded Wall Street's estimates and primed suspicion that the company may finally overtake Microsoft in revenue, but Microsoft also beat Wall Street expectations this quarter, so Microsoft remains the leader.

Wall Street estimated that the software giant would record $15.3 billion in revenues, but enterprise uptake of Windows 7 and Office 2010 and strong performance of Windows Server, Xbox 360 and Bing all contributed to the quarterly improvement. "This quarter's record revenue reflects the breadth of our offerings and our continued product momentum," said Peter Klein, chief financial officer. "The revenue growth, combined with our ongoing cost discipline, helped us achieve another quarter of margin expansion."

Microsoft set records for the full year as well. Revenue was a record high of $62.48 billion, 7% higher than last year, and operating income, net income and earnings per share were up 18%, 29%, and 30% respectively, to $24.10 billion, $18.76 billion and $2.10.

Microsoft is holding its quarterly earnings call in the next few minutes, and we'll update with statements from the company.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Twitter on Wednesday announced that it is relocating its technical operations infrastructure to a custom-built data center in the vicinity of Salt Lake City, Utah later this year. The move is expected to help the site's reliability and availability.

Popular microblogging site Twitter is estimated to have over 75 million users, and to be growing at a rate of about 6.2 million new accounts per month.

When the site was at its growth peak one year ago, it became a newsworthy event every time the site went unavailable for more than a matter of minutes. After countless instances of the site going unavailable, Twitter's unreliability has become par for the course. Even after Twitter had its worst month for stability and service outages in nearly a year, due in no small part to The 2010 World Cup, it is still attracting some 300,000 new users a day.

At the heart of it, Twitter needs to accommodate the steadily increasing user base. With dedicated data centers, it should be able to support the high level of activity on the site, and give Twitter more room for infrastructure development.

"Twitter will have full control over network and systems configuration, with a much larger footprint in a building designed specifically around our unique power and cooling needs," Twitter Engineer Jean-Paul Cozzatti said yesterday. "Twitter will be able to define and manage to a finer grained SLA on the service as we are managing and monitoring at all layers. The data center will house a mixed-vendor environment for servers running open source OS and applications."

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Palo Alto, Calif. based Flipboard launched what it called the "first social magazine" for the iPad Wednesday, however it quickly found out that a much-hyped launch can lead to trouble in keeping the service online for its users.

Tech luminary Robert Scoble twittered incessantly in the hours leading up to the launch, giving few details on the product other than calling it the "killer app" for the iPad and "revolutionary."

Perhaps Scoble was right -- the application appears to take the concept of the RSS reader and combine it with the power of social media in a way that has yet to be done.

Content from the user's social networks such as Twitter and Facebook are combined with Flipboard's preset content sections, and are displayed in a format akin to a magazine. The application also works like the traditional news reader: the user would be able to add their own feeds into the application to further personalize the content.

In addition to personalization, users would also be able to interact with content posted by friends and displayed in Flipboard without leaving the application, making the experience more interactive.

"We believe the timeless principles of print can make social media less noisy, more visually compelling and ultimately more mainstream," CEO Mike McCue said.

Flipboard has also announced the acquisition of Ellerdale, a Menlo Park, Calif. company which uses semantic analysis to cull through data and extract relevant information. This technology will be used to make it easier for Flipboard to create a relevant experience for its users, and be able to introduce them to trending topics on social networks.

While Ellerdale's technology did not make it into the first version of Flipboard, the company said the next version will include the technology. Right now the service is free, and the company says it plans to monetize the service by offering interactive magazine-like ads interspersed among the content, GigaOm reported.

There is the possibility that subscription models could be introduced in the future, as well as revenue-sharing for those content providers whose content is featured through Flipboard's preset channels.

So far, it appears that the application is pretty much an instant hit. It is already the #1 free app in the App Store, and the company has had to throttle new user registrations by switching to an invitation system where it can control the flow.

"We want to ensure people who have Flipboard have a great experience, and also give new users more immediate access. Thanks for your patience," the company said in a tweet sent Wednesday afternoon.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Today, to celebrate the 500 million user milestone, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch of Facebook Stories, a new application dedicated to all the stories of people using Facebook in unique and inspirational ways.

These stories are arranged either by geographic location (as shown on a Bing Map) or by theme. The themes include: Crime Fighting, Movements, Causes, Grief, Rescues, Small Business, Support Groups, and many more.

"Our mission at Facebook is to help make the world more open and connected. Stories like these are examples of that mission and are both humbling and inspiring. I could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started 6 years ago," Zuckerberg said today.

There is really no criteria for submissions, and for Facebook users to submit a story, there's a simple blank field on the new site marked "Your Facebook Story" with a dropdown menu for themes.

There are a significant number of outwardly serious stories on the site already, but naturally, the lax nature of story submission has already been exploited by users for comedic purposes.

One user submitted: "I'm from West Philadelphia, where things are somewhat rough. One day, after school, I was just hanging out with some friends and playing some basketball on the playground. But then, on this particular day, some guys decided to cause some trouble in the neighborhood. We had a skirmish, and it frightened my mother. She informed me that I was moving in with my aunt and uncle in Bel Air, California."

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Google's image search service will be getting a revamp this week, aimed at making the search function easier to use, and to provide more relevant results. The redesign is essentially the service's first major makeover since Google Images went live in 2001.

At that time, only 250 million images had been catalogued by the Mountain View, Calif. search company. Now over 10 billion images are indexed. With such an increase in volume, obviously the search functionality will need to improve, as does the way the site displays ever larger results.

"We hope [the changes] not only make it easier to search for images, but also contribute to a better aesthetic experience," product manager Nate Smith said. "We see images as a major source of inspiration, a way of connecting the world--and their growth is showing no signs of slowing down."

Such is the focus of the changes. The image page will take on a decidedly Bing-like look, where text in the results are eliminated, and image results are spaced more tightly together. Also "infinite scroll" has been introduced: more results would load as the user scrolls down, up to 1,000 images per page.

Interactivity is also increased. Hovering over an image will give the user a larger preview, along with information on that specific image and possible similar ones. Clicking on it takes the user to a preview of the image overlaid on a cached version of the page that it came from.

At an event at Google's Mountain View campus Tuesday, officials said other features will be on their way, such as timeline-based searching of images. It also said that only 10 percent of users would be able to see the changes starting today: it expects a full launch by the end of the week.

With the new Google Images comes a new advertising format, which for the time being would appear exclusively on the Images section. The new option would allow advertisers to place a thumbnail image beside their ad text.

It is not clear whether the search giant has plans to expand this format elsewhere.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Social networking company Foursquare is in talks with Microsoft, Google and Yahoo over using its data to help enrich search results, UK paper The Telegraph reported on Monday. According to co-founder Dennis Crowley, the data would be anonymized and then shared.

Foursquare is one of the most rapidly growing social networking services on the Internet. Last week, it signed up its two millionth user, just three months after signing up one million. Word of mouth seems to be driving a lot of the growth, as friends sign up to follow one another.

By the nature of the service, search engines could be able to spot trends in what people are doing by check-in data. In turn, they could use this to better results on location-based searches.

None of the companies would confirm the talks were happening, and Crowley did not specify a time frame when the deals could be signed. In any case, Foursquare would be following a similar path as Twitter did: the company's first content deals were also with search engines.

One advantage for Foursquare is Crowley's past. He also founded Dodgeball, which was sold to Google in 2005. Like Foursquare, Dodgeball was also location-driven, although was done via text message. While Google ended the service in 2009, Crowley has maintained a close relationship with many at the search giant.

Some are not as impressed with the possibility of a tie in with search. Writing for Business Insider, Nick Saint seemed non-plussed by the news.

"It's an attractive idea in theory, though it's difficult to see this data being widely useful just yet," he argued. "Foursquare's two million users are impressive, but not enough to shed much light on what places people in general are going to."

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

European telecommunications giant Nokia-Siemens announced today that it will acquire the majority of Motorola Inc's wireless network infrastructure business for $1.2 billion.

Nokia Siemens announced this morning that it will acquire Motorola's GSM and CDMA infrastructure business, while Motorola will keep its iDEN business, potentially all of its intellectual property related to the wireless network infrastructure business, and "other selected assets."

Motorola's wireless infrastructure products include Base Stations for CDMA 1X and EV-DO Rev A, a significant portfolio of GSM equipment, such as Transciever Stations, Base Station Controllers, and radio access network Controllers; UMTS HSPA radio network controllers and "Node B" solutions (similar to base transciever stations.)

One of the most promising aspects of Motorola's infrastructure business, however, is in 4G networking. Not only was Motorola a major supplier in U.S. WiMAX network, but it has 41 contracts in 21 other countries as well. In addition, Motorola has also been the largest contributer to the development of LTE's radio network standards.

Nokia Siemens Networks expects to gain new relationships with more than 50 worldwide network operators as a result of this acquisition and says it will strengthen its position with China Mobile, Clearwire, KDDI, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.

Motorola began discussing a spin-off of its consumer handset business in 2008, but the company has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity due to its total support for Google's Android mobile operating system, and the planned spinoff was pushed back until after 2011. The $1.2 billion Motorola expects from the deal could be split between Motorola's two businesses: solutions and mobility, but Motorola will not specify exactly where the capital will go until the end of the year.

The deal is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

Google moved to better its search results by acquiring Metaweb, a San Francisco based company that maintains an open database of "things," and their relationships to one another. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Metaweb's database currently includes some 12 million items, including places, notable people, companies, and movies. Queries to the Google search algorithm would return more relevant results as a result of the company's technology, the company claims.

"What about 'colleges on the west coast with tuition under $30,000' or 'actors over 40 who have won at least one Oscar?' These are hard questions, and we've acquired Metaweb because we believe working together we'll be able to provide better answers," Google product management chief Jack Menzel said in a blog post.

At first glance it appears that the technology would enable Google to handle more explicit queries accurately, akin to what Ask.com has attempted to do with its plain language support. Google can already handle some basic queries to a specific answer the searcher may look for -- for example the capital of a country -- but cannot go much further than that.

It would also improve searches where the intention of the searcher may be difficult to ascertain from the query itself. For example, some search terms may have more than one possible result: Metaweb's technologies would help the search engine return possibly more relevant results.

The openness of Metaweb's database, dubbed Freebase, means that for the first time Google would begin to rely on data that wasn't compiled or managed in-house. The search company said the two companies would keep Freebase open.

"We plan to contribute to and further develop Freebase and would be delighted if other web companies use and contribute to the data," Menzel added.

Google has already stepped into the open knowledge database field with its Knol product, however that product is separate from its search functions.

More on Metaweb's technology can be found in this YouTube video.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

In a sign that Hewlett Packard is becoming much more serious about WebOS following its acquisition of Palm in April, the company has apparently "tabled" its plans for an Android-powered tablet. The device was originally intended to come to market later this year.

Sources told All Things Digital Thursday that HP has no new timetable for the release of the device. Following a similar fate for the Windows-powered Slate, it certainly seems as if WebOS is the future at the company. It is not known whether the Android project may be restarted.

HP has said that it will invest heavily on WebOS and take it beyond the smartphone. Apple has found out that its iOS has ported nicely to tablet form, so HP may be taking a cue from an already established player in the market.

Development costs could be another consideration. When HP first announced its tablet plans, it was developing for three different operating systems. This would have meant three different slates, and licensing costs for at least two of them. Using their own in-house OS means the company would be able to save a good deal of money, and increase profit margins.

Finally, it could just be a matter of how the operating systems are built. Windows 7 was not intended for the touch-interface that tablets require, and though Android has been used in tablet interfaces, the OS has not yet proven to be a strong competitor in the market.

One thing that may concern industry watchers is webOS' application problem. Developers pretty much passed over the OS while it was a part of Palm, leaving its smartphone users out to dry with not much in the way of third-party development like Android and iOS enjoy.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Today, a select group of PlayStation Plus subscribers got access to the first preview version of Hulu Plus on the PlayStation 3.

Hulu Plus is the new subscription tier for the popular streaming TV website which lets U.S. subscribers watch their favorite programs on connected TVs, Set-top boxes, mobile devices, and now video game consoles for $9.99 per month.

"We are delighted to offer the Hulu Plus preview starting today on PlayStation 3 and that PlayStation 3 will be the only console to offer Hulu Plus in 2010," Jack Tretton, President and chief executive officer, Sony Computer Entertainment America said today.

For PlayStation 3 owners to gain access to Hulu Plus, they must also subscribe to the new PlayStation Plus service, which costs $50 per year.

Sony today said general availability of Hulu Plus will happen in the coming months on the PS3 and connected Bravia TVs and Blu-ray players, but did not specify if there will be a premium charge similar to the PlayStation Plus subscription for its other platforms.

By Ed Oswald, Betanews

French canadian online news site Cyberpresse said Wednesday that Apple had purchased 3D map making company Poly9, possibly indicating the company has plans to enter the competitive online mapping sector with an entry of its own.

The acquisition is the second mapping-related acquisition. A year ago, Apple silently acquired Placebase, a mapping software company. Together, the technology would enable the Cupertino company to produce a product that could be akin to Google Earth.

Apple nor Poly9 have responded to requests to confirm the acquisition, however evidence is mounting that the company is out of business. Its website has been taken offline, and its Twitter account has seen no activity since March.

Cyberpresse also reported that Poly9's offices are dark, and at least two employees have been moved to the Silicon Valley area.

Poly9's signature technology is a web-based 3D globe built on Javascript. One of its advantages is that it is an extremely small download -- about 303kb -- which allows it to load quickly.

One thing Poly9 is missing is mapping technology -- the globe links into the APIs of others to provide that. Thus, one could see why the Placebase and Poly9 acquisitions could add up to an Apple-branded mapping service.

Its clients still appear to be using its technology, suggesting the company is not completely defunct. Apple was a client, as was Microsoft, Yahoo, MSNBC, and even NORAD -- who used Poly9's globe to do its popular Santa Tracker service.

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Market research firm comScore released its U.S. search rankings for June 2010, and though the search business is still soundly dominated by Google, both Microsoft and Yahoo increased their market share where Google actually lost some ground.

According to comScore, Google's market share for June was 62.6 percent, down from May's 63.7 percent. Microsoft and Yahoo each increased their search shares from 12.1 to 12.7 percent and 18.3 to 18.9 percent.

The number of searches conducted across all search engines was up 3 percent from May, the data said. Google experienced a 1 percent increase in volume while Yahoo increased by 7 percent and Microsoft increased 8 percent, the largest traffic growth of any of the search services measured by comScore.

Exactly one year ago, comScore's numbers suggested that Microsoft had not experienced a significant benefit from rebranding its search as Bing after being known as Windows Live for more than three years.

However, Microsoft has strongly pushed its "decision engine" since its launch last year and has seen repeated periods of growth. Six months after launching Bing, Microsoft began to advance the search service on mobile platforms as well with the launch of its fully-featured iPhone app. A similar app is expected to launch on Samsung's line of Galaxy S Android phones in the coming weeks, and Microsoft will then have a spot in front of the fastest growing mobile audience on devices from the most prolific smartphone maker.

In 2008, Steve Ballmer said turning around Microsoft's search business was "a five-year task," and that there could be a 5 to 10 percent loss in total operating income as a result.

Even with a strong focus on brand recognition, mobile presence, and quality search results, Microsoft is not likely to upset market leader Google. But comScore shows progress is absolutely being made.