Motorola has a new mommy and Facebook keeps trying to be a newspaper.
I'm Bridget Carey and this is your CNET Update.
Motorola phones will no longer be made by Google.
The search giant has sold Motorola's Mobile division to Lenovo for just short of $3 billion.
Google acquired Motorola back in 2011 for a much larger sum,
paying $12 and half billion.
So, that's a big loss for Google, right?
Well, some say no, and that is was a positive investment for Google when you look at the big picture.
You see during the time Google owned Motorola, it scooped up a ton of patents to strengthen and protect the Android brand and in the process, it did create 2 very good Motorola phones, the Moto X and the Moto G. And now that Android is a stronger brand, Google is passing Motorola along to Lenovo, which is a company that is
really eager to strengthen its smartphone presence.
Lenovo is going to keep using the Motorola brand name in North American and Latin America, but Google kept a few souvenirs in the deal.
Motorola's Advanced Research and Development team stays with Google and that's the team that's working on future tech like electronic tattoos and microchip pills.
And even Samsung must be happy about the deal, because it doesn't have to compete with its partner Google anymore.
Facebook also has some interesting news.
The network said it'll be making more stand alone mobile apps.
And on Monday, it'll launch a reading app for the iPhone called Paper.
It's very much like Flipboard and it's trying to be your personal newspaper, blending your newsfeed with other stories from major news outlets.
It's all divided into categories like sports, technology, and food.
Facebook members can also write their own stories to be shared with the world.
Sony announced that a slim version of the PlayStation Vita is coming to the UK next week
on February 7th for about 180 pounds, or that's $300, which is cheaper than the original handheld console, but Sony gave no word on when this would be available in the US.
The Vita Slim has been sold in Japan and parts of Asia since last year.
It's slightly thinner and lighter, but to help increase battery life, Sony downgraded the quality of the screen from OLED to LCD.
But it's still a high resolution display.
And a very popular keyboard app on Android called SwiftKey
has found a home on the iPhone and iPad.
It's called Swiftkey Note and it's just a jazzy place to save notes with a better keyboard that predicts your next word.
It also ties into Evernote.
That's your tech news update, but you can find more details on these stories at CNET.com/update and be sure to follow along on Twitter.
From our studios in New York, I'm Bridget Carey.
