(Reuters) - Apple Inc and Google Inc are wooing game developers to ensure that top game titles arrive first on devices powered by their respective operating system, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Both the companies are trying to lure game developers by offering premium placement to these games on their app stores' home pages and features lists, the daily said. Apple had struck a deal with Electronic Arts Inc last August to promote the game "Plants Vs Zombies 2" prominently in its App Store, and had a similar arrangement with ZeptoLab to promote the sequel to its popular puzzle game "Cut the Rope", which released in December, the Journal reported.

By Sophie Knight TOKYO (Reuters) - In June 2011, when customers of now-bankrupt bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox agitated for proof that the Tokyo-based firm was still solvent after a hacking attack, CEO Mark Karpeles turned to the comedy science fiction novel "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". During an online chat, Karpeles moved the equivalent of $170 million in bitcoin at today's market rates - the virtual equivalent of a bank manager flashing a wad of cash in a wallet to establish credit. The gesture - with a sly wink to the "geek" culture Karpeles believed he shared with many of his 50,000 customers at the time, including an interest in coding, Japanese manga comics and science fiction - succeeded. By moving 424,242 bitcoins, Karpeles, then 26, evoked the random number, 42, described as the "meaning of life" in Douglas Adams' sci-fi novel.

Not sure if friends would want to venture to a new cafe or bar? Superb, an iPhone app that launched last week, lets users create lists of popular places they would like to visit and shows them a list of other people who would also like to go there. "It's all about hanging out in the real world and getting offline, and the best way to do that is to know where people want to go," said Eddy Lu, co-founder and chief executive of Venice, California-based Superb. It also reveals friends who would like to visit a venue.

By Chris Francescani NEW YORK (Reuters) - Americans with accounts on President Barack Obama's health insurance enrollment website, HealthCare.gov, were advised that their passwords had been reset to guard against the "Heartbleed" bug, in a message posted on the site on Saturday. The warning marks the latest fallout from the widespread security bug, which surfaced this month and allows hackers to steal data online without a trace. Companies from Amazon.com Inc to Google Inc. have been forced to take steps to protect against Heartbleed. HealthCare.gov, a health insurance exchange for the 36 states that opted out of creating their own state insurance exchanges, was created under Obama's signature health care law, the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

By Dan Levine SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Four large technology companies should not be allowed to limit evidence about Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs at an upcoming trial over no-hire agreements in Silicon Valley, according to a court document filed late on Thursday by employees suing the firms. Tech workers brought a class action lawsuit against Apple, Google Inc, Intel Inc and Adobe Systems Inc in 2011, alleging they conspired to avoid competing for each other's employees in order to avert a salary war. The case, which is closely watched in Silicon Valley, is largely built on emails among top executives, including Apple's late chief executive Jobs and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

A fake Android anti-virus application managed to fool many customers into buying it, even though it didn’t really have any anti-virus features. The $3.99 quickly rose through the ranks, reaching the top of the Google Play Store sales charts before Android Police discovered the truth behind it. The application was removed from the store once the fraud had been uncovered, but the fact still remained that more than 10,000 users purchased it – The Guardian says more than 30,000 buyers were duped. However it looks like Google has taken the issue into its own hands and it’s making amends to those affected. Android Police reports that Google is now refunding those Android devices users that purchased Virus Shield, and throwing on top

Nike has decided against making wearable hardware, CNET reports, as the popular sportswear company has fired the majority of FuelBand employees. Instead, Nike will focus on software in the future, with the rumored slimmer FuelBand having been canceled. “As a fast-paced, global business we continually align resources with business priorities,” Nike spokesman Brian Strong told the publication. “As our Digital Sport priorities evolve, we expect to make changes within the team, and there will be a small number of layoffs. We do not comment on individual employment matters.” As many as 55 people of the 70-employee Nike FuelBand were let go on Thursday, although the number has not been officially confirmed. Some of the team members will be staying on

Microsoft might have killed off its Messenger service in favor of Skype recently, but back in 1999 it was the centerpiece of a heated war between the software giant and AOL. At the time, Microsoft had just introduced its MSN Messenger Service as a direct rival to AOL's popular AIM instant messenger. David Auerbach, a former Microsoft engineer who worked directly on MSN Messenger, recounts his unusual role in a chat war with AOL. Auerbach had reverse-engineered AOL's chat protocol to allow MSN Messenger to sign into AIM, a process that AOL wasn't happy with when Microsoft first released its instant messaging client in July 1999.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thirty years after failing to convince the Supreme Court of the threat posed by home video recordings, big media companies are back and now trying to rein in another technological innovation they say threatens their financial well-being.

Now we feel really old.

Forget carrying a separate hotspot router to have a local network wherever you go -- what if you were the hotspot? Fashion designer Borre Akkersdijk has come very, very close to making that vision a reality with his experimental BB.Suit. The goofy-looking cotton onesie is knitted using a special 3D technique that leaves space for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC connections, turning the owner into an access point.

Joss Whedon is currently working on the next Avengers movie, but being entrusted with one of Hollywood's biggest franchises hasn't stopped the creator of TV shows Firefly and Buffy the Vampire Slayer from experimenting with smaller films and new distribution models. Whedon, who appeared on video after the premiere at New York's Tribeca film festival to confirm the worldwide release, explained the choice to put the film up for rental online.

If you asked the average American what they think about the coming crop of technologies, you'd probably get some generic optimism. According to a recent Pew Research survey found that 59 percent of Americans expected that technology would make our lives better, only 30 percent worried that we'd be worse off because of scientific progress. More than eight in 10 even expect us to be growing replacement organs in labs within the next 50 years.