Mobile Devices

Couch potatoes take note: YouTube has found a new way to send videos from a mobile device to the TV -- starting today. The updated YouTube mobile app pairs phones, tablets and Internet-connected TVs that share the same wireless Internet connection. This wireless link allows users to browse YouTube from their mobile devices, click a TV icon and watch videos on their living room TVs. The feature, which has been under development for about two years, will be offered initially on Android devices and on Internet-connected Google TVs. A growing number of applications, including Zeebox, IntoNow and Shazam, seek to harness the mobile phones and tablets in the living room to provide content that supplements the programs playing on TV. The new YouTube feature essentially turns mobile devices into a sophisticated remote control that a viewer can use to pause, scroll or skip to the next video as it plays on your TV. ALSO: ICM talent agency partners with maker of second-screen apps Not enough 'NCIS: Los Angeles?

Google Inc. upended the Internet with its search engine. It launched its own email service, made roads and highways easier to navigate, developed the world's most popular operating system for mobile devices and took a shot at Apple Inc.'s iTunes with its own Google Play store. Now the technology giant is cranking up the volume with the debut of a subscription music service that provides access to millions of songs for a monthly fee, taking on the likes of Spotify and Pandora and going after the next big wave in digital music: streaming on mobile devices.

Security researchers Nick DePetrillo and Don Bailey have discovered a seven-digit numerical code that can unlock all kinds of secrets about you. It's your phone number. Using relatively simple techniques, this duo can use your cellphone number to figure out your name, where you live and work, where you travel and when you sleep. They could even listen to your voice messages and personal phone calls — if they wanted to. "It's really interesting to watch a phone number turn into a person's life," DePetrillo said.

MENLO PARK, Calif. - Mark Zuckerberg has set into motion his most ambitious plan yet to make Facebook Inc. the world's dominant form of communication. Facebook's chief executive on Thursday unveiled Facebook Home, software that transforms smartphones and tablets into devices ruled by the giant social network. It digitally shoves aside every other app on the device and allows Facebook to take over the home screen with status updates, photos and messages. For years it was rumored that Facebook - spurred by a firestorm of doubt about its ability to make the business leap to mobile devices - would design and manufacture its own phone.

The amount of time young people spend consuming media has ballooned with around-the-clock access and mobile devices that function practically as appendages, according to a new report. Young people now devote an average of seven hours and 38 minutes to daily media use, or about 53 hours a week -- more than a full-time job -- according to Kaiser Family Foundation findings released today. A few years ago, the same researchers thought that teens and tweens were consuming about as much media as humanly possible in the hours available.

Apple Inc.'s new Mac operating system, Mountain Lion, comes with more than 200 new features, which can make it slightly intimidating. But don't fret. With time, you'll learn many of them, and for now, just focus on its best features. Here are 10 of the coolest new additions to Apple's Mac OS X. Check them out, and point out any we've missed in our comments below. Messages By far my favorite new feature, Messages replaces iChat, and with it comes all the functionality of iMessages, which lets you send free SMS-like messages to and from most Internet-connected Apple devices.

To help cellphones, tablets and other mobile devices further take over your life, Quirky has released the Pivot Power Mini, a power outlet attachment designed to charge as many as four pieces of electronics at the same time using only outlet. The Pivot Power Mini has two traditional grounded outlets and two USB ports. The design folds for easy travel. The price: $24.99 through Quirky's online store . Designed by 23-year-old Jake Zien, the Pivot Power Mini is an after-market version of built-in USB wall outlets now being installed in some homes.

HBO is going mobile. The pay TV network on Monday will begin offering its subscribers access to watch HBO programming on Android mobile devices and Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iPad tablet. "That device has changed television," HBO Co-President Eric Kessler said this week, pointing to an iPad during an interview at the company's Santa Monica offices. HBO hopes the iPad will kick-start HBO Go, the online viewing option for current HBO subscribers that the network launched last year.

For Facebook Inc., the No. 1 challenge is making money from mobile devices. And it's warning investors that so far its ad business is not keeping up with the shift to mobile devices, a crucial point as Facebook heads into the last stretch before its initial public stock offering. The Menlo Park, Calif., company's executives have been fielding questions about its mobile advertising strategy during the roadshow this week. Facebook flagged the potential slowdown in advertising growth in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Might we see iPads popping up in the hands of hospital staff? Well, it depends. Ottawa Hospital in Canada, is distributing hundreds of iPads to doctors and nurses to view X-ray and MRI images and access other medication information, according to "The electronic health record meets the iPad" posted by IT World Canada. However Dr. Satish Misra, writing earlier this year for iMedical Apps, expressed concerns about the use of iPads in hospitals: Can they be properly disinfected?

SAN FRANCISCO -- Is mobile clicking for Facebook Inc.? Facebook's initial public stock offering in May was dashed after the social network said it wasn't making "any significant revenue" from mobile even though more than half of its users checked the service on mobile devices. With its stock price plunging, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in September: "We've had a bunch of missteps" in mobile. But in the background, Facebook has already powered up the turbo boosters.

SAN FRANCISCO - Get ready for the Facebook phone. The company is close to unveiling a smartphone whose software keeps the social network front and center. It is part of an overall strategy to advance Facebook's ambitions to dominate mobile devices the way it has desktop computers. Facebook Inc. has scheduled a news conference Thursday at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters to show off an HTC smartphone that operates on software called Facebook Home. The social network's News Feed, messaging, photo uploading and other features will be integrated into the phone, according to reports.

The prospects of Twitter's highly anticipated initial public offering just got a little brighter. Research firm eMarketer increased its forecast for Twitter's ad revenue this year and said the popular social media company could haul in close to $1 billion in 2014. The upward projection comes as Twitter's mobile advertising skyrockets, eMarketer's report said. Mobile devices will account for about 53% of Twitter's ad revenue this year, eMarketer estimated. By 2015, Twitter is expected to pull in $1.33 billion in worldwide ad revenue, more than 60% of which will come from mobile advertising.

WASHINGTON - The departure of Julius Genachowski as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission has some public interest groups hoping his successor will fight harder for consumers against the growing clout of telecommunications giants. On Friday, Genachowski, a former venture capitalist and technology executive, said he would step down in the coming weeks after nearly four years on the job. He said his biggest accomplishment was focusing the agency on expanding high-speed Internet access.

SAN FRANCISCO - As HBO adapts its television empire to the digital age, it's rolling out the red carpet to Silicon Valley. The pay TV network put on showy "Game of Thrones" season premiere parties this week in Silicon Valley and Seattle, ground zero for the revolution underway in television viewing habits. Digerati turned out by the hundreds to immerse themselves in the fantasy realm of Westeros, some wearing Twitter logo T-shirts, others Google Glass, the Internet giant's yet-to-be-released futuristic eyewear.

Google has released Keep, a convenient note-taking app for Android smartphone and tablet users. The app, which is available now on Google Play , is designed to make it easy for users to take notes and sync them across their mobile devices and on the Web with Google Drive, the company's service for storing files in the cloud. "With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what's important to you," Google said in a blog post Wednesday announcing the app. "Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said her top priority is to get the company serious about mobile. And she was clearly not joking. On Tuesday, Yahoo snapped up a five-person mobile start-up called OnTheAir. It was the second deal Mayer struck to beef up Yahoo's ability to target smartphones and tablets. The acquisition, like that of New York mobile start-up Stamped before it, was mainly aimed at picking up engineering talent. OnTheAir, a San Francisco start-up, enables users to hold live online video chats.

There are already a number of laws on the books in various states designed to thwart so-called distracted driving and teens and texting. But one California lawmaker thinks those laws must change to keep up with technological developments. Under current California law, drivers younger than 18 are already prohibited from talking on their mobile phones, even if they use a hands-free device or mobile service device. Another state law already prohibits texting while driving. But California state Sen. Cathleen Galgiani (D-Stockton)

Amazon.com has introduced a way for users to quickly save and send news articles as well as other items to their Kindle devices for later, off-line reading. "The Send to Kindle Button lets people easily send that content to their Kindle so they can it read later," Amazon said in a statement. "No more hunting around for that website or blog that caught your eye - just open your Kindle and all the content you sent is right there. " The new feature can be added by users in a variety of ways . Amazon has made it possible for users to send items to their Kindles through Web browser extensions for Google Chrome and Firefox, as a feature that can be installed on Macs or PCs, from Google Android mobile devices, or from users' emails.

SAN FRANCISCO -- With consumers increasingly connecting to the Internet on their phones and tablet computers, advertisers got a reminder from the federal government Tuesday that they must still abide by consumer protection laws when putting ads on mobile devices. The rules that apply to ads in newspapers, radio and television also apply to ads on mobile devices and social media, the Federal Trade Commission said, warning that it would take enforcement action against companies that violate consumer protection laws.