Europe's parliament wants to split Google up

Google might be in trouble in Europe

European regulators have had Google in their crosshairs for years now over various antitrust concerns, and according to one report they might finally do something about it.

Europe's parliament is considering proposing that Google separate its search service from the rest of its commercial enterprises, reports Reuters.

The site claims to have seen a draft of this proposal that, although it didn't refer to Google by name, was clear in its intent.

The motion reportedly "calls on the Commission to consider proposals with the aim of unbundling search engines from other commercial services as one potential long-term solution."

As Reuters notes the European Parliament doesn't have the authority to force Google to split its search business off into a separate company.

But this proposal could potentially put pressure on the European Commission, which apparently does have that authority.

Meanwhile the US is losing this same battle, with a California court deciding in November that Google can re-order its search results as it sees fit under first amendment protections, despite the possibility that it might use that power to curtail competition.

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Updated: Jolla wants you to help build its new Sailfish tablet

Jolla wants your input

Update: When we originally posted this story at 10:00 GMT, the Jolla Tablet had so far raised $64,067 of its $380,000 goal. Less than an hour and a half later it has raced past its goal and is now at $418,497, and is likely to go even higher.

Original story follows…

Jolla has started an Indiegogo campaign to create the world's first ever crowdsourced tablet and in only a few hours managed to surpass its goal of raising $380,000.

People can pledge as little as $10 on the Jolla Tablet's Indiegogo page to help create the tablet. Pleding this amount gets your name on the Jolla The First Ones webpage. Pledging $20 effectively covers the postage for when you buy the Jolla Tablet.

The first 1,000 people to pledge $189 will get a Jolla Tablet when it's launched. After that the second wave of 1,000 people can pledge $199 to get a Jolla Tablet.

If the Jolla Tablet reaches its goal and gets sold at retail then the expected price is $249 (around £159, AU$287), so if you get your pledge in early you could get a nice discount.

Pledging money not only helps fund the production of the Jolla Tablet, but will also let you have your say in the direction you want the final product to take. If you have a strong idea of what you'd like to see in a tablet, you might be interested in signing up.

The Jolla Tablet will run Jolla's own open source operating system Sailfish OS 2.0. It will sport a 64-bit 1.8GHz quad-core Intel processor, 2GB of RAM and come with 32GB internal storage along with an SD card slot.

The display is only slightly smaller than the iPad Mini 3 at 7.85-inches but matches the resolution at 2048x1536 for a pixel density of 330ppi.

The Jolla Tablet will also come with a 5 megapixel rear camera capable of recording 1080p video at 60fps and a 2 megapixel front camera.

It's set to weigh less than the Nexus 9 and slightly more than the iPad Mini 3. It has a smaller capacity battery than the Nexus 9 and iPad Mini 3 at just 4300 mAh compared to 6700 mAh and 6471 mAh respectively.

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ARM wants to boost the Internet of Things with new platform and free OS

An artist's hyper-realistic interpretation of the Internet of Things

Before all our blenders and doorbells can be connected on the Internet of Things, device and software makers need to agree on certain things.

These gadgets will all need to speak a common language, for example. And that's where ARM Holdings' latest announcement comes in.

The semiconductor and software design firm has announced a new device platform and a free OS that it hopes will accelerate deployment of the Internet of Things.

Unfortunately this new platform is called the ARM mbed (not a typo) IoT Device Platform, but other than that it sounds pretty good.

The mbed device platform "has been built around open standards and will bring Internet protocols, security and standards-based manageability into one integrated solution optimized for energy and cost-constrained devices," reads a press release sent out today.

Coupled with the free mbed OS operating system for devices with ARM Cortex-M processors, the mbed platform should let device makers who choose to adopt it more easily integrate their gadgets with the existing IoT.

ARM hopes the platform will let these companies "focus on innovation and differentiation" instead of having to spend resources developing their own software and platform tech.

The platform also includes the mbed Device Server, a licensable product that provides secure server services to Internet of Things device makers, and mbed.org, a resource-filled "focus point" ARM says is used by 70,000 developers.

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Groot from 'Guardians of the Galaxy' wants to text you

I am Groot. Video screenshot by Anthony Domanico/CNET

Groot stole our hearts in the epic "Guardians of the Galaxy," and now he has a phone number so you can spend your day chatting away with the dancing tree that can summon fireflies out of thin air.

Twilio developer evangelist Ricky Robinett built an SMS chatbot that sends the message "I am Groot" to anyone who sends a text message to 866-740-4531. Considering "I am Groot" is all Groot can actually say, it's just like having an actual full-fledged conversation with the sentient tree-being. OK, so it won't be the most meaningful conversation you ever have, but it's arguably the deepest interchange you'll ever have with a chatbot.

Groot has been pretty busy responding to texts, as he'd sent out more than 100,000 messages as of Wednesday. Groot has a lot of friends out there in the world.

Arguing about who is, in fact, the real Groot. Anthony Domanico/CNET

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Exclusive: 'Nobody wants a smartwatch that looks like a calculator,' says Moto exec

Moto 360 - definitely not looking like a calculator

Motorola believes that it will remains a step ahead of its rivals in the smartwatch world, despite the first round competitors for the Moto 360 beginning to surface.

Speaking to TechRadar at the UK launch event for the 360, corporate vice president for EMEA & APAC, Magnus Ahlqvist, expressed his joy at the smartwatch's early impact and told us about the decision to back a round design that has captured the imagination.

"I think the cool thing about Motorola as a company is that it is very focused on what the consumer wants," said Ahlqvist. "Lots of companies say that they are but we actually care.

Moto 360 - a head-turner

"The early smartwatches looked like gadgets - like small calculators on your wrist - and that's not what people wanted.

"They wanted their smartwatch to look good to wear and to be proud of it, so that was the basis of what we did for the Moto 360.

"A lot of craftsmanship went into the design - to maximise the screen size and make the display so vibrant and there is a lot thought gone into the details."

Ahlqvist at the UK Moto event

Given the attention the 360 garnered it is no surprise that a number of manufacturers are now jumping on a more traditional watch shape for their next generation of smartwatches.

The LG G Watch R was announced at IFA 2014 in Berlin, and many other options are in the pipeline, but Ahlqvist is not fazed.

"First of all we are well positioned," he said. "I personally don't think there is anything as beautiful and well-crafted as the Moto 360 in the market.

"And we are not sitting still so we are a step ahead. There is a lot of competition but I don't think that's a bad thing because it spurs innovation.

"There remains a lot of room for us to continue to innovate."

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