IT giants oppose Google book deal

Opposition to Google's Book Search settlement with authors and publishers continues to mount, as Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon join a new coalition to influence the Department of Justice to force Google to revise the deal, reports eWeek.

The non-profit Internet Archive group plans to announce the Open Book Alliance, a gathering of companies and library associations poised to challenge Google's settlement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers.

As part of the deal, Google agreed to scan the world's books online and charge users for access to them. With Microsoft, Yahoo and Amazon leading the way, the Open Book Alliance poses the biggest single front of opposition to the deal yet.

Online video giant YouTube has unveiled an e-commerce store, says ZippyCart.

Visitors can purchase things like a YouTube roller ball pen, socks, beanies, and a collector's edition unisex jacket for $80.55.

Many of the products also use recycled goods or organic materials to stay in line with eco-friendly shopping trends.

Twitter is developing an application programming interface (API) which will allow users to display their latitude and longitude, states Computing.co.uk.

The API, to be released shortly, can be controlled by the user and switched on when he or she is happy for their precise location to be known to other users.

"We are gearing up to launch a new feature which makes Twitter truly location-aware. Folks will need to activate this new feature by choice because it will be off by default, and the exact location data won't be stored for an extended period of time," says the company.