Google has come out with another interactive doodle to celebrate the 78th birthday of Robert Arthur "Bob" Moog. The doodle consists of playable recordable Moog synthesizer.

Users can create music by clicking the keys of this virtual synthesizer with their mouse/touchpad or via the number keys. There's an option to fiddle around with various settings of this keyboard in order to get the best audio output. If that was not enough, the doodle also offers users the option to record their musical creations and play them back. If you are happy with what you hear and want to share with friends, then Google gives an option to share the recorded compositions through Google+.

This is not the first time that Google has come out with a playable doodle. It had done that on June 9, 2011 to celebrate the 96th birthday of Les Paul, a famous American guitarist and song writer, who has a guitar famously named after him.

Coming back to today's doodle, Robert Moog is best known for his invention of the Moog Synthesizer. It was one of the first electronic instruments that allowed musicians to mimic any musical instrument, voices or natural sounds by flipping a switch or twisting a dial.

After waiting months for the go-ahead to say so, Google CEO Larry Page today announced that his company now officially owns Motorola Mobility.

Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in August. Upon doing so, the companies had to clear regulatory hurdles to get the deal done. Regulators in both the U.S. and the European Union approved the acquisition back in February, but the companies were forced to wait for China. Over the weekend, China approved the deal, paving the way for Google to close it.

As part of the acquisition, Page announced today that Motorola Mobility chief Sanjay Jha has stepped down from his post. In his place, Google has named "long-time Googler" Dennis Woodside to be the mobile firm's new chief executive.

"I've known Dennis for nearly a decade, and he's been phenomenal at building teams and delivering on some of Google's biggest bets," Page wrote in the blog post. "One of his first jobs at Google was to put on his backpack and build our businesses across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Russia. More recently he helped increase our revenue in the U.S. from US$10.8 billion to US$17.5 billion in under three years as President of the Americas region."

It has been widely believed that the main reason Google acquired Motorola Mobility was for its patents. The search company and its vendor partners are currently waging legal battles around the world with a host of companies over claims that Android violates patents. Motorola Mobility holds thousands of patents and patent applications that could come in handy for any future legal proceedings.

For Motorola Mobility, the deal made perfect financial sense. The company is not the leading Android vendor, and has faced some trouble competing against Apple. When Google came along with a US$40-per-share offer, representing a 63 percent premium on its share price at the time of the deal, it just made sense.

Google has made it clear that Motorola will operate independently from its own operation, and the search giant/Android maker will not show any favoritism. However, according to reports, China was not so convinced of that, and forced Google to agree to keep Android open and free for a period of five years to ensure it didn't change its stance and give Motorola preferential treatment.

Still, Motorola's competitors haven't expressed any displeasure with the deal. In fact, J.K. Shin, Samsung's mobile head, said back in August that he was pleased with the acquisition, and believed that it "demonstrates Google's deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem".

But what about Motorola employees? TechCrunch reported yesterday, citing sources, that Google is planning to launch a "listening tour" at Motorola to see what the mobile company's employees actually do. Based on that information, the company could decide to lay off some Motorola employees. Although TechCrunch didn't say how many employees might be terminated, its sources said that the layoffs could come down "imminently".

Google declined CNET's request for comment on the matter, and Page made no indication in his blog post whether layoffs would be coming. Instead, he touted Motorola's success over the last several decades.

 Following industry leader Bharti Airtel move to cut tariff, Aditya Birla Group firm Idea Cellular on Tuesday announced slashing charges for 3G services by up to 70 per cent.

Idea prepaid and postpaid customers will now have to pay 3 paise per 10 KB of data against the earlier rate of 10 paise per 10 KB.

"The new tariff plan aims to make internet usage within the reach of rural, mid-town customers at home and will help first time users to experience the benefits of 3G. Idea's objective is to drive mobile internet usage for the mass market," Idea Cellular said in a statement.

Last week, Bharti Airtel had announced similar cuts for its third generation (3G) high speed internet services.

Another operator Aircel offers unlimited 3G plans with tariffs starting at Rs 8 per day.

The price war comes at a time when operators are up in the arms over sectoral regulator Trai 's recent recommendations on spectrum auction.

They have warned that mobile bills could increase by up to 100 per cent in certain circles if the proposals are accepted.

Industry experts are of the view that the brewing price war in 3G tariffs may be an effort to cash huge investments made by telecom operators.

The government had received over Rs 67,000 crore from the 3G auctions held in 2010. With operators taking huge loans to pay for the 3G licences, experts say operators are under pressure to recover the investment, which could see more operators slashing tariffs in the coming days.

Idea Cellular, which has 3G licences for 11 telecom circles, including Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala, has also increased usage limits across different plans for prepaid and postpaid users.

Idea's Rs 10 pack will offer 30 minutes of high speed internet surfing instead of 20 MB data usage (one day validity), while its new Rs 25 plan will give 100 MB data with 3 days validity.