Live Central

According to an interesting revelation by social media data platform DataSift, the much-hyped Facebook IPO was the most hotly discussed topic on popular microblogging site Twitter on May 18, with the Twitter sentiment clearly mirroring Facebook's stock price.

All through the day, DataSift monitored the comments of Twitter users about the Facebook IPO, and reported some interesting conclusions. The company found that the highs and lows which the Twitter users voiced about the Facebook stock largely corresponded to the price of Facebook's stock at different points of time during the day.

Oracle and Google have agreed to copyright ceasefire for the time being, a development that will help accelerate the trial into the patent infringement case in Java dispute.

The Jury is now deliberating on Oracle’s accusations of patent infringement. Software maker Oracle accuses Google of infringing on its Java patent to develop Android OS, while Google argues that it used only those parts of Java software that didn’t require license.

Oracle acquired rights to Java software through its $7.4 billion-acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010.

Revealing that gas prices in the US are down for the fifth week in a row, AAA said in the Mid-Atlantic Weekend Gas Watch report that a 7-cent drop in the countrywide average price for regular gasoline this week had brought down the gas prices to $3.73 per gallon on Friday.

Apple's iOS 6 will reportedly not have Google Maps as a feature; rather it will include a new in-house 3D Maps application.

According to a recent report from Apple enthusiast site 9to5Mac, the iOS 6 will come equipped with a new maps app which will include a powerful new 3D mode and will run natively from the home-screen.

Finland-based mobile games giant Rovio has confirmed that it is working on a new game, called Amazing Alex, which will follow its really popular Angry Birds franchise.

In an interview with Finland's YLE breakfast TV show, Rovio Chief Executive Mikael Hed said that Amazing Alex, which will feature an educational element, will be launched in two months.

Amazing Alex is a Rube-Goldbergesque physics puzzler that is based on the intellectual property "Casey's Contraptions," which the Finnish games firm recently acquired from Snappy Touch and Myster Coconut.

According to new statistics shared by research firm IDC, the shipments of the aggressively-priced $199 Amazon Kindle Fire tablet have witnessed a sharp fall in the January-March quarter, after having seen stupendous success during the holiday shopping season.

Going by the IDC figures, the market share of the Kindle Fire - which was released by Amazon amid a lot of fanfare in November last year - came down sharply to barely 4 percent in the 2012 first quarter, from a 16.8 percent market share in the 2011 fourth quarter.

In a security bulletin announced on Friday, May 4, Adobe released an emergency update to patch a `critical' security vulnerability which affects all the versions of its ubiquitous animation software, Flash Player.

The flaw which Adobe has patched in its latest security bulletin is dubbed as "object confusion vulnerability" (CVE-2012-0779); with the bug essentially tricking the users into opening a malware-laden file sent in an email message. The malicious file can lead to the crash of Flash Player, thereby giving the hackers a potential control of the affected computer.

An inquest has heard that an overdose of morphine led to the death of twin boys at the Stafford Hospital.

The nurse who has been accused of delivering the doses is Lisa Lucas and the twins have been identified as Alfie and Harry McQuillan. The dose that is reserved for terminal cancer patients was injected when these twins were born three months early.

Their death happened two days later after suffering lung injuries, bleeding on the brain and other health problems.

China's non-manufacturing sector suffered a month-on-month decline in growth in April, figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing (CFLP) revealed.

The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector slipped 58 in March to settle at 56.1 in April. However, the reading was still considerably above the threshold of 50, which separates contraction from expansion.

A PMI reading of below 50 indicates contraction, while a reading of above 50 represents expansion in the economy.

The UK Government's drastic increases in beer tax have forced pubs to close at an unprecedented rate over the recent years, the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) warned.

According to the CAMRA, a total of 300 pubs closed between September 2011 and March 2012, which is equivalent to a dozen a week.

An average of eight pubs in suburban areas and four pubs in rural areas are shutting down each week. The worst hit area was Lancashire, which saw the closure of 68 pubs over the six-month period to March 2012.

The West Midlands saw a total of 37 pubs closing during the six-month period.