News has it that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is planning on launching a new payment method, Pony Express. Users can pay their bills for all the utilities directly from their Google account, using this service. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) will be entering into partnerships with third parties in order for the service to work properly. This service will not only notify the users as to what bills they need to pay but it will also outline a way for them to do so.

According to a number of market analysts, this feature will be quite beneficial for the users. Not only would they be able to pay their bills but they could also keep a track of all their past and future payments. Customers would not have to go all the way down to their stores or visit their respective credit card company websites, they can simply log in to their Gmail account to make the payments via Google Wallet.

Rumor has it that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) will be releasing this software in the last quarter of fiscal 2015. The exact name of the service has not been made known yet, for ‘Pony Express’ can just be a code name of the project.

It is important to mention here that there are a number of payment services that users can utilize in order to make payments via email accounts. The feature that makes Pony Express different from others is the fact that all the bills would be tied together, thus making it easier for the user to make payments and to keep track of all previous payments.

Another feature that this service will offer is the splitting of bills; this feature can be used by people who share their apartments and utilities with roommates. In case a user has an issue with a certain bill, he or she can contact customer support information.

Moreover, another distinguishing feature of this service is that it permits users to save information in the form of snapshots. Users can take snapshots of their bills or any other information in order to archive them on their Pony Express account, thus keeping track of specific bills. It is worth mentioning here that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) is not the first company that has come up with the idea of making the payment method simple and easier for the users.

What gives Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) an edge over the other companies is its huge user base. Since millions of people are already on Gmail, chances are that they would prefer Pony Express over any other service. Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) will have access to a person’s financial information, and that makes the job a little tricky. In order to use the service, customers will have to provide their credit card information and social security number.

Coming to the stocks of Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG), the company, on the last trading day of March 25, 2015, started its stocks at a price of $570.50 and closed at a price of $558.79. The company has a beta of 0.69 and an EPS (earnings per share) of $21.03.

Sources within Wall Street Journal claim that Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has assigned the task of initiating its virtual reality project to a group of engineers working as a team. Sources also claim that the number of engineers and other personnel working on this VR project is worthy of consideration. Furthermore, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) also has plans of launching this VR Operating System just like it has previously released its original version of Android system. This strategy of the company will bring this OS within easy access of the public, thereby allowing more apps to be made, and as a consequence a myriad of tests could be conducted on this new operating system.

Although there is a great potential in VR for the development of game, but since at present, the technology is at the initiation of its progressive journey, therefore only a few games possess Virtual Reality compatibility. Another important issue in this regard is that majority of the companies have still not launched their devices powered by Virtual Reality appliances. A probable reason for this is that, they are still in the process of further investigation into this technology. Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) is the only company which has come forward with its Virtual Reality Gear Headsets.

Yet, this doesn’t imply that no projects are being developed on VR. A lot of work has been done and is still in process, on VR, by Oculus. Moreover, there are also speculations that Sony Corporation (NYSE:SNE) would soon be launching its Morpheus headset, powered with VR, to be used with Play Station 4.

A conference was called in San Francisco, by International Game Developers, in which both these headsets were scrutinized. Oculus had more developers on its board, and owing to this reason, it had a preference. However, it was asserted that still more work had to be done on Morpheus. This was because, its developers were apparently not compatible with PS4. Furthermore, doubts were also voiced regarding the compatibility power of PS4’s present engine and other specifications, to virtual reality technology.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has also not lagged behind in this race of virtual reality, since it is also in the process of development of its own device, called as ‘Hololens’.

On the other hand, Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has launched a full-fledged project on virtual reality. It is working on a tablet which deploys this technology of virtual reality. It has also come up with a game called ‘Ingress’. This game enables its players to complete their aims by visiting various locations of the cities and interacting with various objects.

Jeremy Doig and Clay Bavor head this team which has been put together by Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) to work on its virtual reality project.

Nest Lab specializes in reinventing home appliances such as smoke alarms and thermostats. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) had some stake in the company even before the acquisition offer was made; the tech giant had an ownership interest of 12% in Nest Labs. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) believes that this alliance will enable the company to improve its products and allow Nest Labs to continue its innovative product building. It seems this acquisition will be an important step towards “smart homes”.

According to Fadell, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s financial support has been invaluable; it has allowed him to focus on his business instead of investing his energies in raising money for the company. Fadell says he can now work towards building products and his team instead of worrying about financial issues. Fadell also says that he is working hard in trying to find talent within Google and make them work together with Nest to reach even greater heights.

This acquisition deal worth $3.2 billion is not only beneficial to Nest, but it also lets Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) develop its very own ecosystem, which could help the company create a new line of home appliances driven by innovative softwares. The market for such products is somewhat still untapped; however this area seems promising and is likely to offer tremendous growth in the future.

When it comes to software driven products it is natural to worry about security issues related to hackers; Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has given assurance that the company is taking all the measures to prevent unwanted hacks and security breaches.

Tony Fadell further said that it is important to have all the pieces in places in order to get the best results. He thinks that he is lucky because he has all the teams at his disposal and this is where Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) gives them another valuable advantage. He says that Google’s security teams are doing their best to attend to all the possible areas that could lead to security breaches. Fadell said that so far the company hasn’t had any unpleasant security issues such as data theft.

Nothing can be said for sure that what this alliance will produce; however knowing Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) the market must prepare itself for something out of the ordinary.

Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) stock kicked off the morning trading session at $567.47 and took a dip by 0.82% to land at $566.11 at 11:13 am EDT.

Here is a comparative review of the top contenders in the list, which also states the statistical data changes in the months of July and August.

Google websites, inclusive of YouTube brought more than 233 million unique visitors and topped the list. Yahoo Inc (NASDAQ: YHOO) followed closely to take the second position on the list, boasting more than 217 million visitors. The top two position trends have been similar in July and August, however, the rest of the top five have had a slight change in their rankings. Desktop and mobile properties have also made an appearance into the comScore count.

Although Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) received 35 million more hits than last month, it couldn’t maintain its position at third place on the list and went down to fifth position with a total of 179 million users. This has shifted AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) to the fourth place on the list, where the increase in number of visits was from 104 million in July to 181 million in August was observed. Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), with a total of 207 million visitors in August, up from its last month’s count of 144 million users is at third place.

In advertising the list of top 10 properties goes as follows. AddThis tops the list with 97.7% reach and claimed the position of being number one in line. Second in line is Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) with 81.2% reach, followed by ShareThis at number 3 and Outbrain being the 4^th in line. On 5^th position is Yahoo with 73.8% reach, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) stood 6^th with 63% reach and YouTube being 7^th with 54.6% reach. AOL, Microsoft’s bing and Amazon.com (NYSE:AMZN) completes the list by claiming the 8^th, 9^th and 10^th positions with 48.9%, 38.1% and 37.7% reach respectively.

In terms of advertising reach, AddThis, with 97.7% is at the top of the list. Google takes second place with a total of 81.2% reach and is closely followed by ShareThis and Outbrain which are ranked at third and fourth positions respectively. Yahoo and facebook take the next two positions with a reach of 73.8% and 63%. The last three positions are bagged by AOL, Microsoft’s Bing and Amazon.com (NYSE:AMZN) with individual reach percentage of 54.6%, 38.1% and 37.7%.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) claimed the top position among the non-tech, non-media entities. The number of visitors more than doubled from July’s 34 million to August’s 72 million. NFL Internet Group, a new competitor in the list, bagged nearly 50 million unique users in August and was placed at 48^th position. Tradition retailer Target Corp. (NYSR: TGT) took the 49^th place by attracting just under 50 million visitors. Townsquare Media Inc. (NYSE: TSQ) claimed the last spot on the list with a total of 49.45 million unique visitors.

The United States government and Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:YHOO) have been secretly engaged in a discrete legal battle regarding requests for customer data that began in 2008. The disagreement was intensified to such levels that the United States government took action to levy a charge of $250,000 a day on the internet company is it did not comply.

Yesterday, Yahoo went public with the threat of the United States government, after a federal court released more than 1,500 pages of legal documents that were under a once classified court case regarding the power of the National Security Agency surveillance initiatives. These newly released documents revealed a whole new perspective on the tensions between technology companies in the United States and the intelligence agency of the country. This all comes long before Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor, began to leak information to the public in 2013.

The requests, and the long and drawn out discussions that can result from this at the court of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance, are usually kept as tight secret. Up until the summer of last year, Yahoo was not permitted to reveal that it had disagreed with and challenged the United States government’s initiatives. Other companies that have challenged the government’s requests for records include Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT), who have taken their legal woes to court.

According to Mark Zwillinger, an external consultant for Yahoo, the issues at stake in this lawsuit are the most severe issues that the country deals with today: to what extent will the rights to privacy for the residents of the United States be guaranteed in the name of protecting our national security. This statement was released in 2008.

The documents from the court case did not disclose what exactly the United States government requested from Yahoo. However, Yahoo stated that the biggest issue of the case was whether the communication activates of the legal residents or citizens of the United States are protected by the Constitution.

After the documents were unsealed and released, some portions were still redacted, such as the number of times the government requested those documents from Yahoo.

Most of the collection of records of activity on the Internet from US companies can result in the collection of data on those users in the United States.

The Department of Justice replied with a legal response, stating that the United States government uses intensive and extensive procedures to make sure that its surveillance activities are accurately and appropriately targeted.

According to the records from the court, the government began to request warranties of surveillance from select customers of Yahoo starting in November of 2007. Yahoo refused, and requested that the surveillance court prevent the government from issuing more requests. The judge refused to do so, and even responded by threatening Yahoo with a fine. The Department of Justice had requested a fine of $250,000 each day, but the judge was not specific in the amount.           Yahoo complied with the demand on May of 2008.

According to Yahoo, the company refused to comply with what they saw as an overbroad and constitutional surveillance of the people of the United States, and presented a challenge to the authority of the United States government. According to Ron Bell, the general counsel of Yahoo, the company’s challenge to the government and its following appeal did not succeed in the case.

This dispute was primarily in regards to the Protect America Act, a law that was passed in 2007 that allowed the government to monitor and eavesdrop on individuals that were believed to be associated with terrorist groups, all without a warrant. While this legislation expired in 2008, it was replaced by other laws that gave the government essentially the same authority and power.

The Department of Justice and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated that the court ruled that the government had set up substantial procedures to ensure that the rights guaranteed by the fourth amendment of targeted people of the United States were sufficiently protected. Overall, the court ruled that the requests by the United States government were reasonable.

The announcement comes as some officials from the intelligence department are clamoring for the court to open more of the legal reasoning for the controversial surveillance programs. This does not mean that the government has stopped using or slowed down in the usage of any of these programs.

Between January and June of 2013, the latest period of time that Yahoo had released its data for, the internet company said previously that it had received between zero and nine hundred and ninety nine foreign intelligence requests for user content that covered between 30,000 and 30,999 individual accounts. Yahoo did not reveal how many of those requests it had already fulfilled.

Yahoo, among many other tech companies, have pushed to make more information public about the requests from the government for data on users.

Proponents for privacy have been engaging in similar discussion with the government for a long time. It wasn’t until Mr. Snowden’s leaks that disclosed secrets of the United States government’s efforts for surveillance, that those discussions were thought to be mostly theoretical.

According to Reggie Walton, the FISC judge, he stated after his treat to fine Yahoo in 2008, that the order is sealed and will not be disclosed by either party.