Google to Combine Android and Chrome OS

Does anyone else see the irony in this?  Google is reportedly considering creating a single Operating System combing its popular Android smartphone platform with its baby Chrome OS.  I will be you dollars to donut holes that the media mavens who hate Windows 8 will LOVE this but will not admit that this is just what Microsoft did with Windows 8. …

Facebook’s new look is similar on PCs, smartphones, and tablets. The company says it wants everything to be consistent, so users don’t feel lost, or wind up with missing features when jumping from platform to platform.

At a press event at headquarters, Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly used the phrase “personalized newspaper” to describe the direction of the site’s core feature. And the Feed’s new features arguably make Facebook a better way to stay on top of current events than ever before. …

Four productivity-boosting replacements for stock iOS apps

Rick Broida

If you’re an iPhone user, you’re no doubt familiar with stock apps like Calendar, Mail, Notes, and Reminders. These are key tools in any mobile worker’s arsenal, and yet all four have room for improvement. Some would say a lot of room.

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First Yahoo, now Best Buy ends home working for staff

Best Buy has announced an end to its initiative allowing workers to telecommute — just like Yahoo. …

Patch Tuesday: Microsoft to fix four critical flaws, all versions of IE at risk again

Prepare your systems (and a strong pot of coffee): Patch Tuesday is on deck for another month. Microsoft will release patches for seven security vulnerabilities, four of them considered ‘critical.’

By Zack Whittaker for Zero Day

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Evernote Resets Everyone’s Password

One of the Internet’s most respected note taking apps was breached by hackers on Friday, March 1.  In order to avoid any possible loss of content, the site boldly reset everyone’s password. Internet Advisor co-host Foster Braun thought that his Evernote had been hacked and immediately changed his password when he discovered he couldn’t enter the app with his old password.  Turns out that everyone was experiencing the same thing and within hours this news hit the wires.

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Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Claims: Smartphones are ’emasculating’

CNet News

Lost in Translation

Mobile phones may generate the fastest-growing segment of Google’s revenue, but the experience of using them still bothers Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

Speaking at the TED Conference in Long Beach, Calif., Brin told the audience that smartphones are “emasculating.” “You’re standing around and just rubbing this featureless piece of glass,” he said.

Perhaps English is Sergei’s second language because it’s hard to imagine a definition that fits smartphones. …

Adobe issues emergency patch for zero-day Flash vulnerabilities

Cnet News

Adobe Systems released an emergency security update Friday March 1 that addresses a trio of vulnerabilities in Flash, two of which the company said were already being exploited by hackers.

Today’s surprise update — the company’s third for the browser plug-in this month — patches holes “that could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system,” Adobe said in a security bulletin. …