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If you're looking for the technology industry's most popular company, look no further than Mountain View, Calif.

ABC News and the Washington Post recently joined forces with Langer Research Associates to poll more than 1,000 Americans between March 28 and April 1 on their attitudes toward some of the tech world's most successful companies. The researchers found that a whopping 82 percent of respondents have a "favorable" opinion of Google, making it the most popular tech company. Just 9 percent of respondents expressed an "unfavorable" opinion toward the search giant, while 10 … Read more

Yahoo is commencing its long-anticipated reorganization, per a memo this morning from CEO Scott Thompson.

Effective May 1, Yahoo will operate in three groups -- consumer, regions, and technology -- all supported by Yahoo's established corporate teams, the memo says. Thompson said the move is designed to organize Yahoo's activities around its customers, not its employees.

"It's time for Yahoo to move forward, and fast," Thompson reportedly wrote to employees, a copy of which CNET has seen. "And as we do, I want every one of us to keep one thing top of mind: … Read more

Developers now have a new way to monetize their applications in Amazon's Appstore.

The e-retail giant announced today that the Amazon Appstore now allows developers to integrate in-app purchasing. Amazon plans to take 30 percent of the revenue generated from each transaction, matching Apple's App Store revenue share.

Amazon's in-app purchasing platform takes advantage of the accounts Amazon customers have already set up both online and on their Kindle Fire. In addition, Amazon says that the in-app payments will support the one-click purchasing that its online customers are already familiar with.

"In-App Purchasing is simple to … Read more

Samsung's Galaxy S III has yet to be revealed. But that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from churning out new reports on what the device might offer.

South Korea newspaper Korean Digital Daily is reporting today (Translate), citing sources, that the Galaxy S III will come with Samsung's familiar home button under the display. There has been some speculation that the device would ditch the home button, since its functionality is replicated in Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), the operating system believed to be coming to the handset.

The decision wasn't so easy, according to … Read more

Nokia's Lumia 900 is now available to Canadians.

The device, Nokia's flagship Windows Phone 7 model, has been released for Rogers Communications customers, Nokia Canada announced today. The Lumia 900 retails for 99.99 Canadian dollars ($100.03) -- nearly identical to the $99.99 price tag in the U.S. But Rogers customers will only get that pricing with "select" three-year plans.

The Lumia 900, which is available to AT&T customers in the U.S., has gotten off to a stellar start. Just yesterday, the device became the top seller on Amazon, beating … Read more

The bad news just keeps coming for Sony.

The company informed investors today that a February forecast indicating the company would lose 220 billion yen ($2.7 billion) during the fiscal year that ended March 31 has been revised downward. Sony now expects to post a loss (PDF) of 520 billion yen ($6.4 billion).

Although the steep loss might worry investors who think things are worse than expected at Sony, the revision will not have an impact on the company's operations or cash flow. Instead, Sony has been forced to write off deferred tax credits due to the … Read more

Well, at least one part of Research In Motion's business is on the rise.

Speaking to Bloomberg in an interview published today, Scott Totzke, RIM's senior vice president of BlackBerry Security, said that his company's revenue on sales to the federal government "on whole is up."

"The employee base is shrinking, so if we're looking at a market with fewer employees and our install base is stable to slightly up, that would seem to indicate that we have an increasing market share," Totzke said.

Totzke's comments seem to underscore the unenviable … Read more

Well, this is different: Apple's stock, which has been soaring over the last several years, has been downgraded from Buy to Neutral by BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk.

Piecyk has now pitted himself against countless analysts who believe Apple's shares will continue to soar. And although he thinks Apple will post a strong fiscal second quarter, he thinks the company is facing three major issues that could stunt its growth: changes afoot in the post-paid wireless industry, the possibility of an iPhone price cut, and the prospect of Apple not launching a "revolutionary product into the market&… Read more

Rob Schmitz, the public radio journalist who cried foul on Apple commentator Mike Daisey's statements related to Foxconn working conditions, is now reporting from the factory floor.

Schmitz, who has been a longtime correspondent for American Public Media's Marketplace, is only the second Western journalist to be granted access to Foxconn facilities, and today offered his first report on what he observed at the company's factory in Shenzhen, China. Not surprisingly, his first takeaway was comprehending the vast number of people working on Apple's iPad.

"In this factory, on the iPad assembly line, what first … Read more