Microsoft Corp. slammed search rival Google Inc. with full-page newspaper ads Wednesday, saying that recent changes at Google that allow it to internally merge the data it collects on user activity across services such as YouTube and Gmail are meant to allow advertisers to better target customers.

Google has touted the overhaul it announced last week as a simplification of detailed but obtuse policies and a way to provide a better user experience.

Microsoft offered up its own Web-based alternatives, saying for instance that users of its free email service, Hotmail, don't have to worry about the content of their emails being used to help target ads.

The attack ads appeared in newspapers including USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

"Every data point Google collects and connects to you increases how valuable you are to an advertiser," Microsoft says in the ad.

In response, Google published a blog post in which it refuted what it called "myths" about its new privacy policy, saying, "Our privacy controls have not changed. Period."

The company does not dispute that it serves up ads based on words in private emails written by users of Gmail, but says such scanning is automated and is similar to how many email providers filter out spam. It has operated that way since Gmail's introduction in 2004.

Both companies offer several controls to prevent advertisers from tracking users' online activity.

Online expert Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the Web site Search Engine Land, said that Google's privacy policy simplification has turned into a public relations "nightmare," but only because it again focused attention on the kind of data that Google has collected for years.

He said Microsoft is in no position to point fingers, since it also collects a lot of user data from its search engine, Bing, and will adjust search results based...

Mozilla has unleashed a new Firefox 10 browser that marks the organization's first implementation of a new schedule that will give businesses and their vendors enough time to certify each new Firefox release while maintaining a high level of Web security.

Many enterprises, SMBs, academic institutions and government agencies have found it difficult to deploy Firefox to their users in a managed environment. To address their concerns, Firefox 10 will be Mozilla's first extended support release, or ESR.

Though future ESRs for business environments will occur at 42-week intervals, enterprises and other organizations will continue to receive security updates in the interim -- but without Mozilla making any other changes to the Web or its Firefox add-ons platform.

The new ESR schedule is key for enterprise adoption, said Al Hilwa, director of applications software development at IDC.

"Mozilla does not have a big base of enterprise customers at this point, but does have a few who have found rapid, forced updates a problem," Hilwa said in an e-mail Thursday. "This should help these customers and also potentially win over others."

Keeping Developers in the Fold

Thursday's release of Firefox 10 comes at a time when the upward trend for Google's Chrome browser on desktop PCs and laptops has come to a halt, according to Net Applications. The bad news for Mozilla is that Internet Explorer's market share rose 1.1 percent last month to 53 percent, while Firefox slipped one percentage point to 20.9 percent. Google's Chrome declined 0.17 percent to 18.9 percent of the browser market.

Going forward, however, Mozilla will be able to distinguish itself by offering "a more customized browser that supports a broader range of operating systems -- and one that can help enterprises protect their privacy," Hilwa said. "I think this is a win for Mozilla, which stands to...

Samsung is flooding the mobile market with a galaxy of Galaxy products. From the original Galaxy S phones launched in March 2010 to the Galaxy Tab tablets, Galaxy S II phones and the new Galaxy Note, the South Korean manufacturer is making the most of its grandiose brand name, which has been well received by critics and consumers.

Now the company is gearing up for the third generation of its powerful, large-touchscreen handsets, with the Galaxy S3, and its launch may well coincide with the expected launch of archrival Apple's eagerly awaited iPhone 5 this summer.

Samsung raised some eyebrows by announcing Wednesday that it will not showcase the Galaxy S3 at the annual Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, later this month.

Galaxy Far, Far Away?

"Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012," the company said in a statement first reported by the Web site TechRadar. "The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product."

The U.S. versions of the Galaxy phones, with a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, 1-GHz processor and 5-megapixel camera were first announced in June 2010 as T-Mobile's Vibrant, AT&T's Captivate, Sprint's Epic, and Verizon Wireless's Fascinate. U.S. Cellular later added a variant called the Mesmerize, and MetroPCS added the Galaxy Indulge.

The Galaxy S II was unveiled almost a year ago at the Mobile World Congress with upgraded features such as a 1.2 GHz, dual-core processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM, a 4.3-inch WVGA Super AMOLED Plus screen display and 8-megapixel camera with flash and 1080p high-definition recording.

The Galaxy Nexus, the first to run Google's Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system and with a 4.65-inch screen and near-field communication technology for...

A major TV component manufacturer revealed that Apple contacted it about providing TV display components, Piper Jaffray analysts said in a note to investors Tuesday.

"We continue to believe Apple is preparing to launch a television and is likely targeting a late calendar year 2012 launch," said analysts Gene Munster and Andrew Murphy. "But the timeline and scope of a revamped content solution is more uncertain."

The comments are the latest indication that Apple intends to fulfill the late CEO Steve Jobs' vision of delivering a simple but elegant user interface for revolutionizing the mainstream TV market.

App Developers Key

Munster and Murphy believe that Apple's strong iOS developer community would likely jump at the chance to build apps for an Apple Television, and that millions of users of Apple products based on the iOS platform would be intrigued by an Apple TV offering. However, the launch of an entirely new platform is not without considerable risks.

"If you lead a developer ecosystem then you have to keep feeding them and you also have a responsibility to take them to the Promised Land or at least ever higher patches," said Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.

On the other hand, Apple may believe it is even more risky to cede the television market to rivals. "If Apple does not crack the TV or living room entertainment nut, then Microsoft, Google, Amazon or maybe even Facebook may get there before them," Hilwa said.

Apple TV Options

Apple could simply enable the Apple Television platform to manage a consumer's live TV service from within a unified interface much like TiVo does today. To avoid the high cost of market entry, however, Apple would need to rely on Multiple Services Operator partnerships.

"While this would be the easiest and most likely option, it would also be the...