It appears that in the iPhone 4.0 OS Apple has decided to remove references to "Google" in the Safari browser, changing the auto-complete button from "Google" to "Search," despite the fact that it will still use the Google search engine.

The move has started the rumor mill, with some reporting that Apple is set to change over to Bing as a default search engine, as a way to get back at Google for encroaching on Apple's smartphone territory with the launch of Android.

The tech giants are also now competing in the mobile ad market, with Apple starting iAd as a way to rival Google's potential purchase of mobile ad giant AdMob.

Pic via Electronista:

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Nokia has announced it has purchased the location services vendor MetaCarta, adding that it will use the company's service "in the area of local search in location and other services."

MetaCarta has Geosearch technology that can find content, data and information about a certain area and then "present it in a single view and its Geotag technology can be used to find geographic references in various types of content, which then can be used in other applications."

BusinessWeek gives an example of the service by saying that the "NewsMap" app searches a news article, extracts the places mentioned in the article and then can overlay that area on a digital map.

Nokia recently purchased Novarra, a mobile browsing company.

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GE has launched a new lightbulb this week, one that uses LED technology instead of compact fluorescents and that has a life expectancy of 17 years. The catch? The bulb costs $50 USD.

The new bulb uses only 9 watts and "provides a 77% energy savings" while lasting up to 25 times longer than a current 40-watt CFL (compact fluorescent).

The bulb is dubbed the GE Energy Smart LED Bulb, and will work in any normal incandescent socket.

The U.S. government recently passed new lighting efficiency standards, meaning 100-watt incandescent bulbs will soon be phased out (starting in 2012), with 75-watt bulbs getting phased out in 2013, and 60 and 40-watt bulbs getting the boot in 2014.

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