Start-Up BlueStacks Raises Cash to Bring Android Apps to Windows PCs

A couple years back, Rosen Sharma, Suman Saraf and colleagues had founded a startup, BlueStacks, to work on virtualization. They just hadn’t figured out the right use of the technology on which to focus.

At least, they hadn’t until the summer of 2009 when Saraf took a trip to Switzerland with his family. Throughout the trip he allowed his then six-year-old daughter, Mahi, to play games on his Android phone. Of course, when he got home, Mahi wanted to keep playing the same games on the family computer–a Windows PC. And, with that, Saraf and team had their idea.

Now, they are ready to share their idea publicly. BlueStacks plans to show off its technology at the Citrix Synergy conference on Wednesday, as well as detail its ambitious plan to convince PC makers to load their software on new computers, ideally enabling tens of millions of Windows computers to run Android apps over the next couple of years.

Mac Sales Outpace Market… Again

There’s really no other way to say this: The Mac is kicking ass. Not only is its growth outpacing that of the broader market, it’s doing it in virtually every segment from government to enterprise.

March marked the 20th consecutive quarter that Mac shipment growth exceeded that of the PC market.

ElcomSoft Breaks iPhone iOS4 Encryption

That certainly did not take them long. ElcomSoft, a Russian company, managed to crack the iOS4 encryption. With Apple's iPhone 3GS, the company introduced a hardware encryption chip. Following the release of iOS 4, Apple brought Data Protection feature, a 256-bit hardware encryption for all the devices featuring the chip, which is also why your device feels (and is) slower after the iOS 4 update.

The press release of the company states:

"ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. enables enhanced and near-instant forensic access to encrypted information stored in iPhone devices, and updates Elcomsoft Phone Password Breaker with tools that can access protected file system dumps extracted from iPhone devices, even if the data is hardware encrypted by iOS 4.

Google invests $55 million in wind farms in California's Mojave desert

Google announced today that it will invest $55 million in a large Mojave Desert wind energy farm. The LA Times reports that the search giant is partnering with Citibank, "which is also shelling out $55 million to help finance part of the Alta Wind Energy Center, one of the world's largest wind installations," and that the move is seen as a "key step in California's efforts to regain its once enviable title as the world's capital for wind power." When the project is complete, it will be capable of generating 1.5 gigawatts, enough to power 450,000 homes.

Google invests $55 million in Mojave Desert wind farm (LA Times)

Zynga Preparing to File for IPO [REPORT]

Less than a week after LinkedIn’s spectacular IPO, social gaming juggernaut Zynga is preparing to cash in with its own offering.

According to Kara Swisher at AllThingsD, the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission is likely to come in the next two weeks, though other reports claim the company will file for IPO in late June. Goldman Sachs could be one of the lead bankers in the deal, butMorgan Stanley, T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments also have investments in Zynga and would likely be involved in an IPO.

The gaming company is worth around $10 billion on the private markets — a figure already higher thanLinkedIn’s $9 billion IPO. So a Zynga IPO would likely trump LinkedIn’s strong showing on the markets. It makes $500 million to $1 billion per year in revenue, thanks to big partnerships and virtual goods. Zynga has also been on an acquisition spree as of late, acquiring 14 companies in the last 12 months alone.

Watch Out, Nook: Amazon Launches $164 Kindle 3G With Ads

Watch out, Nook: Amazon has just launched a 3G version of its ad-supported Kindle for $164.

The new device, officially called the Kindle 3G With Special Offers, is almost identical to the $114 ad-supported Wi-Fi Kindle except for the addition of 3G functionality. The device is a 6-inch device that displays the occasional advertisement. In return, users get special offers and a $25 discount on the Kindle 3G’s $189 price tag. In a statement, Amazon Kindle director Jay Marine called it “the lowest price for any 3G ereader.”

The special deals associated with the 3G Kindle are similar to the Wi-Fi version. Some of the special offers Amazon will launch “in the coming weeks” include $10 for a $20 Amazon gift card, 20% discounts on 200 HDTVs, and $1 for select Kindle books.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO, Wants to allow children under 13 to sign up or social networking

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said it makes sense to find a safe way to allow children under 13 to sign up for the social network, but the company isn’t currently working on such an effort.

“We haven’t gone there yet, but over time it’s an important dialogue to have,” said Zuckerberg at the eG8 meeting of web giants and policy makers in Paris.

Mark Zuckerberg

Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the eG8 forum in Paris.

Current legislation in the U.S. and Europe makes it difficult for children under 13 to access web services such as Facebook. The company’s own policies prohibit children under 13 from using the site.

Zuckerberg said at this stage, he isn’t saying that children under 13 should be allowed on Facebook but that whether they should or not is a question that will need to be discussed some time, especially in relation to education.

“If children under 13 ever were [allowed to get on Facebook] we’d need to find a way for them to be safe,” the 27-year-old Facebook founder said.

Zuckerberg will be part of a delegation of six people attending the Group of Eight meeting beginning in Deauville Thursday to present a number of resolutions from the two-day e-G8 meeting which discussed the role of the web in society.