Top 3 Stories in Tech This Morning

Top 3 Stories in Tech This Morning

This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America’s first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The “First to Know” series keeps you in the know on what’s happening now in the world of social media and technology.

Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.

Google Celebrates Its 12th Birthday

It’s Google’s 12th birthday today, and the company’s regular logo has today been replaced by an image of a cake, created by American painter Wayne Thiebaud.

Google has expressed some uncertainty about its founding date in previous years, sometimes celebrating as early as September 7. The Google.com domain was registered on September 15, 1997.

Sharp Announces E-book Service, Devices in Japan

Sharp Corporation today released details about its forthcoming cloud-based media service, dubbed “Galapagos.”

The service, which launches in December, will begin by offering 30,000 newspapers, magazines and books to the Japanese market. Like Amazon’s Kindle subscription service, the most recent editions of newspaper and magazines can be subscribed to and automatically delivered to user’s e-readers when they become available. In addition, free trial versions of recommended e-books can also be delivered to devices as a way of triggering further sales. A social network application allows readers to discuss books and compare reading lists.

To accompany the service, two Android ()-based, Wi-Fi-enabled, full-color e-reading devices have been developed: a portable, 5.5-inch LCD tablet, and a 10.8-inch, high-resolution LCD version that allows users to peruse magazines in a two-page spread format, aimed for home use. Prices and exact release dates for the two devices have not yet been announced.

Sharp’s biggest competition will be Apple, which introduced the iPad to Japan four months ago, and Sony, which plans to launch its own e-book service before the end of the year.

Apple Dominates Tech News Coverage, Study Finds

A new study from the Pew Research Center found that Apple commanded the lion’s share of coverage in the technology news sector over the last year.

The study, which examined news coverage from 52 newspapers, broadcast stations, and websites from June 2009 through June 2010, revealed that 15.1% of tech articles were primarily about Apple, 11.4% were about Google () and a mere 3% were about Microsoft [via The New York Times].

• In November, Twitter () plans to begin advertising in third-party clients such as TweetDeck () and Hootsuite (), in addition to the ads (such as Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends) it currently serves on Twitter.com [via AdAge].
• Salesforce has acquired enterprise chat startup Activa Live for an undisclosed amount.
• Online textbook rental service Chegg has raised another $75 million from Asia-based Ace Limited, AllThingsD reports.