• Hard to move this weekend for chat about Google selling its own phone direct to customers. While nothing is confirmed yet, the independent reports all seem to point in the same direction: an HTC-built, Google-designed device that's sold, unlocked, direct to customers through the Big G. Big whoop? Perhaps not, given that there are other Android HTC devices and there are plenty of unlocked phones in the market. But it could be a big signal that the internet giant doesn't fancy playing nice with mobile networks forever.
• Talking of Google - and barely a day goes by when we don't - the trial in Italy of four executives accused of invading the privacy of a 17-year-old boy with Down's syndrome starts this week. The prosecutors argue that the company should have done more to prevent a video of the child being harassed from hitting its Google Video service. If found guilty, the quartet could face year-long prison (though they wouldn't actually serve jail time if found guilty). The New York Times trails the event by interviewing one of the accused, privacy counsel Peter Fleischer.
• Just days after it parted ways with Time Warner, AOL could be ready to sell off instant messaging service ICQ. The purchaser? Well, the suggestion is that Russian investment group DST - yes, the same company
that took a $300m bite of Facebook. That's a chin scratcher.
You can follow our links and commentary each day through Twitter (@guardiantech, or our personal accounts) or by watching our Delicious feed.
