Google released further details Monday on Google TV, which seeks to transform the television into a multimedia platform capable of browing the web and downloading content for immediate viewing.

Google first announced the project in May, promising to turn the Web and television into "one seamless experience." The services is compatible with existing cable or satellite providers and allows users to surf the Web using Google's Chrome browser from their TV screen. There is also a new search functionality that indexes not only the Web but also YouTube and various TV channels so viewers can find a piece of content anywhere, regardless of medium.

On Monday Google said the amount of interest from content providers has been overwhelming. The first devices featuring Google TV will launch in October from Logitech and Sony, which will include the service on its new Blu-Ray player.

"Since our announcement, we’ve been overwhelmed by interest from partners on how they can use the Google TV platform to personalize, monetize and distribute their content in new ways," wrote Google TV product manager Ambarish Kenghe. "Most of these partner sites already work with Google TV, but many are choosing to further enhance their premium web content for viewing on the television." Read more...

Net-neutrality rules are "most surely not" needed, according to a guide released Monday for conservative activists.

Verizon acknowledged Monday it will be repaying 15 million wireless customers that were mistakenly overcharged over the past two years.

Federal Communications Commission enforcement bureau chief Michele Ellison said the "mystery fees" date back over two years and total more than $50 million. Verizon said the customers were mistakenly charged data fees for downloads they didn't initiate. Verizon will be mailing checks for between two and six dollars to most customers, though some will get larger refunds.

"These customers would normally have been billed at the standard rate of $1.99 per megabyte for any data they chose to access from their phones. The majority of the data sessions involved minor data exchanges caused by software built into their phones; others involved accessing the web, which should not have incurred charges," said Mary Coyne, deputy general counsel for Verizon Wireless. "We have addressed these issues to avoid unintended data charges in the future."

Ellison questioned why Verizon took so long to repay customers and said the FCC will continue looking into the matter.

"Some of the policy tensions we work with are very hard to resolve," Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Julius Genachowski said in a recent interview with the Washington Post. "Getting to an optimal place where we are also driving massive private investment is hard."

"But that's the job."

Read the full profile here.

The man who made test tube babies possible won the Nobel Prize this year for medicine or physiology.

Robert Edwards developed human in vitro fertilization therapy, which made it possible to treat infertility. The condition affects 10 percent of couples worldwide, according to the Nobel Foundation.

The world's first test tube baby was born July 25, 1978 as a result of Edwards' efforts, which date back to the fifties.

About 4  million people have been born as a result of his discoveries, according to the foundation said.

In vitro fertilization is now considered mainstream and acceptable, but when the first test tube baby was born, some people objected to the moral dimension of the practice.

Edwards has retired as head of research from the Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, which he helped found.

The online advertising industry is trying to ward off tighter privacy regulations with a feature that helps Internet users spot when they are being tracked.

Under the self-regulatory program announced on Monday, companies will place an icon next to advertisements that track users. The icon will link to a disclosure statement about online tracking and give consumers the chance to opt out of being followed. 

The controversial tracking ads allow companies to collect data about a person’s Web-browsing habits in order to tailor paid content to their interests. Critics say the practice is dangerous because consumers have no idea how much information they are giving away. 

The effort at self-regulation come as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) prepares to announce new online privacy proposals in the coming weeks. The FTC is expected to recommend ways for consumers to gain more control over their online data. The agency held a series of roundtable discussions last year to inform its findings. 

Meanwhile, in the House, lawmakers are considering two online privacy bills that would mandate companies give consumers more information about how they are being tracked. Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) have each drafted bills. 

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Good morning!

FCC: 'Questions remain' about Verizon overcharging customers

FCC enforcement bureau chief Michele Ellison said Sunday the agency is gratified Verizon is "finally" repaying its customers for overcharges on their wireless bills, but FCC will continue to probe the incident. Erroneous wireless bills impacted 15 million Americans, costing them 10s of millions of dollars, Verizon said Sunday. The company has estimated the overcharges amounted to more than fifty million dollars, dating back two years.

"Questions remain as to why it took Verizon two years to reimburse its customers and why greater disclosure and other corrective actions did not come much, much sooner," she said in a statement, adding that additional penalties are a possibility "to ensure that all companies prioritize the interests of consumers when billing problems occur."

The FCC has been investigating the issue for 10 months, according to Ellison, after customers began to complain about "mystery fees."

"Our role is to protect American consumers and give them a voice," she said. "Consumers have a right to receive straight bills and to get straight answers when they question them."

Cant-miss news.

FBI disrupts international cyber crime ring. The FBI announced Friday it has disrupted an international ring of cyber criminals who together stole $70 million by using a Trojan horse virus. Most of the accused hailed from Eastern Europe; many were based in Ukraine, where several worked as Web developers. Ten suspects were arrested in New York on Thursday, with another 10 having been arrested previously. The FBI is still seeking 17 others and released a wanted poster featuring their likenesses on Friday. http://bit.ly/dknuCi

Market crash caused by a single sale. A mutual fund's single sale of $4.1 billion in futures contracts triggered a series of events that sent the market into a downward spiral May 6, federal regulators said Friday. The computer-automated sale that created the "flash crash" was too large and moved through the market too quickly — in less than 20 minutes. The pressure of the sale, generated by a computer program based on mathematical formulas, shifted from the futures markets to the stock market, creating a rapid drop in individual stock prices and leading investors to pull their money off the market. http://bit.ly/aYDEE1

Iran says it can fight computer worm. Iran's intelligence minister said the country has learned how to fight off the Stuxnet computer worm that some foreign experts have speculated was designed to target Tehran's nuclear program, according to state television reports on Saturday. http://bit.ly/bU23qQ

Disagreement over Free Press's role in complicating Waxman bill. A meme arose this week that the advocacy group Free Press helped sink the net neutrality bill offered by House Commerce chairman Henry Waxman (D-Cali.). Observers said it was fueled by Free Press opponents who want to paint the activists as extreme, as well as by Free Press itself, feathering its cap as a bill it did not like ran into trouble. http://bit.ly/96z4fH

'The Social Network' tops weekend box office. A fictionalized account of the founding of the social media site Facebook topped the weekend box office results, bringing in $23 million on the strength of rave reviews and Oscar buzz. http://bit.ly/9tpBkE

Industry notes

Tech firms intensify clashes over patents. "Microsoft lawsuit Friday against Motorola is the latest sign that technology giants are more aggressively wielding patents against their rivals, seeking strategic advantages and financial rewards," the WSJ reports. "The recent spate of lawsuits is mainly focused on the mobile-phone market, where relative newcomers from the computer industry are jostling for position, tangling with entrenched players." http://bit.ly/dCowIM

Deals part of AOL strategy shift. Executives and analysts say AOL's string of acquisitions last week were intended to bolster its transition from an Internet provider to a leading producer, distributor and advertiser of online content. Much of the company's revenue still comes from serving as many users' primary gateway to the Web. http://wapo.st/bcbWdF
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A fictionalized account of the founding of the social media site Facebook topped the weekend box office results, bringing in $23 million on the strength of rave reviews and Oscar buzz.

The Social Network opened as the number one film in the country on Friday as expected, perhaps proving that Silicon Valley and social network have finally been embraced by the mainstream. While some tech observers have questioned writer Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher's depiction of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg specifically and startup types in general, the movie's strong showing is proof that Web startups have finally captured America's attention in a way few would have thought possible just a short time ago.

Facebook employees were among those attending Friday's opening; the firm's official line is that the movie is fictional and a sign of Facebook's growing importance in people's lives. But Zuckerberg has said he doesn't plan to see it and a profile of him in the New Yorker last week paints a vastly different (and more sympathetic) portrait of the 26-year-old tabbed the most influential person in today's establishment by Vanity Fair.

The movie's budget was reportedly in the range of $50 million. Distributor Sony is expecting the film to eventually earn roughly $100 million.

Hewlett-Packard's selection of former SAP chief executive Leo Apotheker to replace departed CEO Mark Hurd drew fierce criticism from both technology observers and shareholders on Friday.

Apotheker spent 20 years with the German software firm but lasted only seven months as chief executive before being asked to resign in February. Critics argue he is a poor successor to Hurd, who was credited with reviving HP's fortunes following the departure of former chief executive Carly Fiorina. HP's stock fell more than three percent on Friday following the Thursday evening announcement.

Hurd resigned in August following an internal investigation of improprieties concerning his expense account and an HP contractor. He was hired earlier this month as co-president of Oracle by chief executive and co-founder Larry Ellison, who blasted HP for letting Hurd go. HP responded by suing Hurd for breaching his severance agreement, prompting a settlement between the two companies.

“I’m speechless,” Ellison wrote in an email to the Wall Street Journal. “HP had several good internal candidates…but instead they pick a guy who was recently fired because he did such a bad job of running SAP.” An H-P spokeswoman told the Journal that Ellison’s comments don’t “deserve the dignity of a response.”

In addition to the turmoil inside the executive boardroom, HP has been the focus of much scrutiny with market for acquisitions heating up and more traditional hardware and software manufacturers moving into the services arena. Some have taken Apotheker's hiring as a signal HP plans on more acquisitions like its recent purchase of data storage firm 3PAR, which prompted an intense bidding war with rival Dell.