Google won a crucial victory on Thursday night after a top US regulator ruled it does not unfairly manipulate its search results in a decision that will come as a heavy blow to major rivals. Jon Leibovitz, chairman of America's Federal Trade Commission (FTC), said Google was "one of America's great companies" and that accusations by web rivals such as Microsoft were a result of "hand-to-hand combat", rather than a fair representation of its practices.

"We followed the facts where they lead," Leibovitz said. "Although some evidence suggested Google was trying to eliminate competition, Google's primary reason for changing its look and feel or [search] algorithm was to improve search results". He added that the practices of which Google was accused were also used by those alleging unfair behaviour.

The FTC conceded that its verdict would be criticised. "Many of Google's competitors wanted the commission to go further and regulate the intricacies of Google's search engine algorithm," said the FTC chairman.

Despite the ruling, Google has voluntarily agreed to look at both how it "scrapes" content generated for other websites and at its use of patents. The Institute for a Competitive Marketplace said it was "deeply disappointed" and called for Europe to demand more meaningful concessions from Google.

In its own response to the FTC, Google said: "The conclusion is clear: Google's services are good for users and good for competition. "We've always accepted that with success comes regulatory scrutiny. But we're pleased that the FTC and the other authorities that have looked at Google's business practices have concluded that we should be free to combine direct answers with web results."

Meanwhile, Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman, faced criticism from the US State Department on Thursday for his plans for a private trip to North Korea. "We don't think the timing of this is particularly helpful," the Department said, citing North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket in December, which raised tensions in the region.

Facebook on Thursday issued an update to its Messenger app for iOS and Android, bringing voice over IP functionality to the social network's alternative to Google Voice and Apple's iMessage.

With the newly introduced voice capabilities, Facebook Messenger users can record and send voice messages up to one minute in length in lieu of simple texts.

To operate the data-driven voice function, users simply press the "+" button to the left of the text input box to bring up the emoticon and photo attachment menu, which is now home to "Record Voice." In recording mode, users press and hold a record button and speak into the iPhone's mic. A generic equalizer display to the left of "record" shows when volumes levels are too low or are clipping, while a running message timer counts up to 60 seconds. Once the voice snippet is complete, users release the record button and the message is sent.

In addition to the voice message function, Facebook is also working on true VoIP calling through the Messenger app, which the company says will be rolling out over the "next few weeks." As of this writing, the free calling service is being beta tested in Canada.

While other dedicated VoIP apps like Skype are already available, Messenger grants access to users' Facebook friends lists, which may be more appealing to some. If all goes well in Canada, Facebook is reportedly planning to bring the VoIP service to the U.S. and Europe.

The standalone Facebook Messenger iOS app is a free downloaded from the App Store.

Mobile internet penetration is set to grow by 50 per cent by March 2014, according to a 'Mobile Internet Report' published by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB.

The report says India will have 130.6 million mobile internet users by March 2014. Going by last reported numbers, there were 87.1 million mobile internet users in India in December 2012.

 The same report stated that 78.7 million mobile users had accessed internet in the month of October 2012. These included laptops and tablets with data cards / dongles to connect to the internet.

Out of these, 61 million were off-deck users (accessing sites other than sites of the operator), 15 million on-deck (accessing only sites specified by the operator) and 2.7 million accessed internet using dongles (through 2G, 3G or high-speed data cards).

The report also found that the average monthly bill of a mobile internet user is Rs. 460. Of this, she/he spends Rs. 198 on internet. The rest is spent on voice services.

E-mail, social networking services (SNS) and messengers have high usage among mobile internet users, the report says. It further reveals that users accessed online videos, games or read online news approximately two to six times a week. Nearly 50 per cent mobile internet users accessed online games, while less than 30 per cent users read online news and watched online videos.

The IAMAI-IMRB survey for the this research report covered all the eight metros as well as 27 other cities across India, and nearly 21,000 households were interviewed before December 2012. The report has also extensively used the previous rounds of the I-Cube reports that have laid down the universe of the internet users in the country.