TechBiz

By Chris Ciaccia

 

Despite Zynga's (ZNGA) recent sharp share price decline, the company is "rolling the dice" on its future: online gambling.

 

The San Francisco-based social gaming company is exploring the potential online gaming market, according to Mike Gupta, Zynga's vice president of finance and treasurer.

 

Apple's (AAPL) new MacBook Pro is inspiring a noisy chorus of superlatives: Apple's Phil Schiller called it the "most beautiful MacBook Pro" ever made. Sam Biddle at Gizmodo one-upped that with "[it's] the most amazing laptop we've ever seen." And over at Slate, Farhad Manjoo says it's "the greatest, and perhaps final, version of the personal computer."

With a host of new features like a super-lean chassis, dazzling innards, and a startlingly crisp Retina display, the new MacBook Pro sparkles brightly enough to give even curmudgeonly anti-Apple folks gadget-lust. But the groundbreaking laptop does have its share of downsides. 

Here, five things you should know before you hit your local Apple Store (and endure a four-week waiting period for the in-demand machine). 

By Nathalie Pierrepont 

 

Despite all the concerns about Facebook's (FB) business model, the social network will deliver significant results for advertisers, according to a research report released this week by comScore, a digital marketing research company.

 

"We found Facebook fans had significantly higher percentages of purchasing," Andew Lipsman, comScore's VP of industry analysis, told Forbes on Tuesday. "It proves Facebook earned media and advertising are driving purchase behavior."

 

By Richard Saintvilus

 

After search giant Google (GOOG) encroached on Apple's (AAPL) territory with the creation of Android, the late Steve Jobs was quoted as saying he intended to go "thermonuclear" in efforts to retaliate.

 

It goes without saying that there is no love lost between the two companies as seen by their constant battle for technology supremacy. In fact, I would venture to say that whether they have realized it or not, both firms have performed exceptionally -- solely from their mutual hatred.

 

By Dana Blankenhorn

 

The biggest "tell" in what was otherwise a pretty boring Apple WorldWide Developers Conference Monday came during the iOS6 portion of the presentation, when Apple (AAPL) announced full integration with Facebook (FB).

 

Unlike most of what happened at the event, this went beyond what was rumored. A system for letting developers integrate their own apps with Facebook is also coming out, and it's now accessible directly from inside the App Store.