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Fiji seeks Google help in plot probe

Last month, police said they had contacted foreign police forces to help in the investigation, but gave no details.

The case stems from an incident in November when an internet cafe owner, Rajneel Singh, claimed to have been beaten by police after he told them about an email found in his cafe about an alleged plot to kill all government MPs.

Google is relaunching the struggling Google+ social network

Google says that the new site is much simpler and geared towards helping people connect with other like-minded users and discover content about their interests.

"Collections let you immerse yourself in content about topics like surfing (goo.gl/vvv5QD) or tiny tilt-shift photography scenes (goo.gl/nWyicL)," product manager Luke Wroblewski writes on Google Plus. "Communities enable groups of people with the same interests to join up and geek out on anything from Game of Thrones (goo.gl/aaqtgq) to Painting (goo.gl/kmlM7m)."

Google will target ads using email addresses

Google’s Senior Vice President of Ads and Commerce, Sridhar Ramaswamy, announced the new Customer Match product in a blog post on Monday. The Wall Street Journal first reported Google’s plans for the feature in April.

The tool will enable marketers to target ads to their existing customers and potentially to tailor messaging to them based on their purchase histories or other information.

Facebook and Google, two giants in digital ads, seek more

But on the first day of Advertising Week, a top industry convention in Manhattan, it was clear how much influence resides in Silicon Valley.

Facebook and Google, two digital advertising powerhouses, took the stage to introduce services meant to lure an even bigger portion of digital marketing dollars.

Google debuts mobile-pay service in 2nd try

Android Pay will be similar to Apple Pay, except it works on Android phones rather than Apple's iPhones. On some Samsung Android phones, it will sit alongside Samsung Pay. All three services let people buy goods at retail stores by tapping their phones against the store's payment terminal. The user's debit or credit card on file then gets charged.

Google introduces 'fun facts' feature

Type "fun facts" into Google and discover trivia about nicotine, Benjamin Franklin, Scotch whisky, sunburns, crayons, Mars and more.

It's a great way to discover interesting info, and it's pretty addictive too - don't say we didn't warn you!

Google also changes the text in the search bar to "I'm feeling curious" once you choose to "ask another question".

The cool little quirk works when you type "interesting facts" too.

Elsewhere, Google recently unveiled its new logo, which has a touch of Sesame Street about it.

Samsung seek piece of nascent smartwatch market

Apple Watch was the leading smartwatch in the second quarter, with an estimated 4 million shipped worldwide, for a market share of more than 75 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. Samsung was a distant second with 400,000 shipped and a 7.5 percent market share.

However, the market is still nascent, and Apple Watch isn't an option for people who use Android smartphones.

Samsung's Gear S2 will work on Android - and for the first time, not just Samsung's Android phones. Meanwhile, watches running Google's Android Wear software will now work with Apple's iPhones.

Google Redesigns Its Logo

     

Google's new logo epitomises the company as it stands today, present on myriad devices rather than its humble roots of a single browser page. Apart from the redesign of the full logo, which while retaining the same colours for the letters features a new font, Google has also reimagined its little blue 'g' icon to a four-colour 'G'.

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Google tries to woo iPhone owners with android watch app

The move thrusts Google on to Apple's turf in an attempt to boost the lackluster sales of watches running on its Android Wear software. The program uniting the devices running on different operating systems is being released Monday in Apple's app store.

Until now, Android watches only worked with smartphones powered by Android software, just as the Apple Watch is designed to be tethered exclusively to the iPhone.

Facebook users hit milestone in one day

The number amounts to one-seventh of the Earth's population.

Monday's milestone was mostly symbolic for Facebook, which boasts nearly 1.5 billion users who log in at least once a month. But CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the network in his Harvard dorm room 11 years ago, reflected on the occasion with a post.

"`I'm so proud of our community for the progress we've made," he wrote. "Our community stands for giving every person a voice, for promoting understanding and for including everyone in the opportunities of our modern world."