Google's decision to kill its Google Reader service has caused some collateral damage: the end of a related Chrome extension that let the browser handle RSS feeds. RSS and the similar Atom technology make it easier for people to subscribe to regular updates published on Web sites, and Google Reader was a popular way for people to read that content. Google announced that it's scrapping Google Reader on July 1, but it's already gone ahead and withdrawn the feed-finding Chrome extension.

Samsung is set to begin manufacturing its eight-core phone and tablet processor in the second quarter. That's a problem for Apple because Apple is both competing with Samsung and getting its A6 from the South Korean company. Think Apple's A6 chip packs a punch? It appears to have some stiff competition from Samsung's Exynos 5 Octa, slated for commercial production in the second quarter, the company announced yesterday.

Google has announced that it will kill off its RSS reader application Google Reader as of July 1, 2013, citing a slowdown in usage since the service launched in 2005. Google Reader allows users to subscribe to content from their favorite news and blog sites from a unified web interface similar to an email inbox. The internet giant's senior vice president of Technical Infrastructure Urs Hölzle announced today that after eight years, the service will be brought to an end.

Apple and its manufacturing partner are readying the next-generation processor expected to land in future iPhones and iPads. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, or TSMC, is expected to tape out - one of the final steps before manufacturing - Apple's A7 chip this month, according to a report in Digitimes.

In a surprise reversal, Microsoft has changed the default behavior of Flash content on websites viewed using Internet Explorer in Windows 8 or Windows RT. Previously, sites had to be on a whitelist before Flash would work. The new behavior effectively turns the Compatibility View list into an exclusive blacklist of badly behaved sites.

Further whetting appetites for its new smartphone, Samsung tweeted an image this evening that is presumably the Galaxy S4, which is expected to be unveiled Thursday. The very dark image, depicting only the upper left corner of what appears to be a smartphone with the familiar Samsung brand at the top, appeared on the South Korean electronics giant's official U.S. Twitter feed

Mozilla's Firefox browser will have no place on Apple devices so long as Apple continues its unfriendly attitude toward third-party browsers, Jay Sullivan, vice president of product at Mozilla, said. The nonprofit Mozilla, which pulled Mozilla Firefox Home from Apple's App Store in September 2012, is not currently building a version of its Firefox browser for iOS, nor does the company plan to, said Sullivan.

Android's Gingerbread operating system has sticking power, but it's finally starting to loosen its hold. New numbers from Google show that nearly half of all Android devices are running versions of 4.0 and above - surpassing Gingerbread's individual installed base. Ice Cream Sandwich, 4.0, and Jelly Bean, 4.1 and 4.2, combined run on 45.1 percent of Android devices, according to numbers from the two week period ending on March 4. This is a 2.5 percent increase over last month.

Google yesterday pushed out its first update to its mapping software on Apple's iOS, adding a few new features. Chief among them is integration with a user's Google contact list, a feature that will pull up any addresses you have stored with Google, and not just on your phone. The update also adds a new option in the search menu that will quickly look for nearby points of interest, including restaurants, gas stations, movie theaters, and coffee shops. You could search for these things before, but the new menu means you don't actually have to type out the search.

Ever wanted something specific from the Google Play store but didn't want to fork over the cash for it? Well, maybe this is the week to do it. Google announced yesterday that in honor of Google Play's first birthday, it was offering a week of deals and discounts in its media and app store. The Web giant is giving special deals on music, movies, books, magazines, TV shows, and games.