News: HTC Desire 610 launches on AT&T, Apple acquires Booklamp, Google has “forgotten” 100,000 results

HTC is releasing a new device in the USA, Apple has acquired a new company and Google is staying busy “forgetting” people. Catch up on your news before heading out the door for your adventurous weekend!

HTC Desire 610 released on AT&T

Those in need of an affordable, mid-range smartphone on AT&T’s network need to look no further. The HTC Desire 610 has just been launched with an incredible $199.99 price point. You can also grab it for $0.99 on a 2-year contract, if that is your preference.

As expected, the device is no beast, but it will please the casual user with a Snapdragon 400 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal storage, a 4.7-inch 480x854p display and a 2040 mAh battery.

Opinion: You really can’t go wrong with that price and specs. The only major competitor here would be the Moto G.

Apple acquires Booklamp

Apple has been very quiet about this, but if Tech Crunch’s sources are right, the manufacturer has acquired a startup called Booklamp. As its name suggests, this acquisition would probably benefit iBooks and help Apple compete with Amazon.

Booklamp is mostly known for the Book Genome Project, a service that acts almost like a “Pandora for books.” It gives you suggestions on what books to read, based on the book or author’s general style, mood or feeling.

Opinion: We are not sure why Apple is being so quiet, but they are not making any fuss about this.Booklamp’s website does give users a notice, but they also don’t mention a thing about Apple.

Google has “forgotten” about 100,000 search results

Google’s right to be “forgotten” has become quite popular in Europe, where citizens where given the right to request personal information to be taken off search results. People must file their requests, but that is not slowing them down.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Google has removed “tens of thousands” of search results, possibly reaching over 100,000. Google is still processing these requests, but it is claimed they approve about 50% of them.

Opinion: Bing has recently started allowing users to file these requests, as well, but I wonder how much attention they are getting.