Greece's Data Protection Authority (DPA) has banned Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) from gathering detailed, street-level images within the country for a planned expansion of its panoramic Street View mapping service until additional privacy safeguards are provided. DPA would like clarification from Google on how it will store and process the original images, and safeguard them from privacy abuse.

The decision was announced earlier this week, despite assurances by Google that it would blur faces and vehicle license plates when the images are displayed online. Google also said that they would promptly respond to removal requests.

DPA is also seeking clarification on how the U.S. internet company plans to inform the public that its camera-mounted vehicles are being used to take photographs.

"Simply marking the car is not considered an adequate form of notification. The authority has reserved judgment on the legality of the service pending the submission of additional information, and until that time will not allow (Google) to start gathering photographs," said a DPA statement.

Facebook, Google and Microsoft have all been interested in acquiring Twitter at some point or another. But according to the latest rumors, it's Apple that is actually closest to finalizing a deal. And it could be for as much as $700 million.

Apple and Twitter are reportedly in seriously negotiations, with a goal of unveiling the deal by June 8, which is when Apple holds their annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, Calif.

While Twitter seems like a decent fit for Facebook, Google and Microsoft, who've all dipped their toes into web apps, an Apple acquisition just doesn't make as much sense. They're known for their hardware and their software, but not so much their web development. Maybe Apple has finally realized that it is time to begin competing in this realm as well.

Whoever buys up Twitter, let's hope it's soon. I was hoping for a Google acquisition simply because of the server power they have that would ensure the dreaded "over capacity" messages at Twitter were a thing of the past. I don't see any reason why Apple couldn't get that worked out as well, however.

The Associated Press would love to conquer the web, but there's one little problem: they're not quite clear on how it works. The AP recently demanded that a radio station in Tennessee take down videos embedded from the AP's very own YouTube channel.

A vice president from the AP's office in Chicago sent WTNQ, which also happens to be a member of the AP, a letter asking them to stop posting the AP's YouTube videos on its website. Frank Strovel, and employee at the radio station, gave an interview in which he describes how he called the executive, a VP of affiliate relations, who he discovered was not even aware that the AP had a YouTube channel.

By posting a video to YouTube, the copyright holder must grant a license that allows anyone to embed the video on their own website, unless they choose to disable the embed function. The AP has not disabled the embedding function.

Paul Colford of the Associated Press sent out this email explaining the situation:

The search giant Google is reportedly in talks to buy Twitter, the free micro-blogging web site that has exploding in popularity this year. Just what Twitter might go for isn't exactly clear, but it is likely to be above the $250 million mark, according to TechCrunch.

TechCrunch says that Twitter is just something that Google doesn't have - a real-time database and search engine - and that is why it is so appealing to them. It would really add something to their empire. According to unnamed sources close to the investigation, Google would pay for the Twitter purchase in cash or stock, or a combination of the two.

After failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the Performing Rights Society, YouTube has decided to stand by its decision to block and remove all premium music videos to UK users. On Monday March 9, thousands of videos were made unavailable to UK YouTube users.

YouTube's director of video partnerships, Patrick Walker, said that the company remains committed to reaching some kind of agreement, but that such agreement needed to be done "at a rate which is sustainable to all."

Walker said that the move was "regrettable", but that YouTube was continuing to talk to the PRS. He said:

"The more music videos YouTube streams, and the more popular those music videos are, the more money YouTube will generate to share with the PRS and its song writers. It's a win-win arrangement.

YouTube, however, cannot be expected to engage in a business in which it loses money every time a music video is played - that is simply not a sustainable business model."

The New York Times newspaper is still struggling to make ends meet, but just managed to raise the salaries of their web staff by an average of 12 percent. Sounds like a nice increase, doesn't it?

12 percent is quite a jump, but keep in mind that the web staff weren't getting paid nearly as much as their print counterparts to begin with. According to a report from Bloomberg, the Times made the adjustments to put web staff on more equal footing, at least pay-wise, with print staff. The icing on the cake is that the raises are retroactive til March.

The Newspaper Guild negotiated a three-year contract which covers about 100 online staff members, who'll all now be receiving the nice raises. "The Times wants to have a first-class Web site to go with the first-class newspaper. It would be not good to have a big disparity between the staff of the digital operation with the staff of the newspaper," said the Guild.

This move is indicative that the Times is beginning to see the value in online operations, as the web is the real battleground for news these days.

The downside? Web staff still work more hours than the print staff, and they had to give up their bonuses. While the print staff work just 35 hours, the web staff work 40.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has decided his health concerns are too much to handle and will take a leave of absence from his post. The co-founder of the company, who had said just last week he would remain on board despite losing a substantial amount of weight in the past year, said he plans on returning this summer to his job. He wrote in a memo:

Team,

I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.

In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.

I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple's day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.

In The Who’s The Song is Over, Pete Townshend wrote,

…I’ll sing my song to the wide open spaces

I’ll sing my heart out to the infinite sea

I’ll sing my vision to the sky high mountains

I’ll sing my song to the free, to the free…

What Mr. Townshend couldn’t have known when he composed this rather prophetic song was the dawning of a new way of enjoying music. You can now listen to your downloaded and internet music where you want it, when you want it. It is called the Sonos Multi-Room Music System, and it may be the key for opening the door to the next generation in the home theater industry. For those who desire an innovative, effective, and attractive wireless home theater, this is worth a second look.

I love free Wi-Fi and abhor any establishments that continue to cling to the antiquated idea of a paid service. I can get Wi-Fi at McDonalds, the city park, local libraries, and even the Jiffy Lube down the road has Wi-Fi. Now everyone's favorite green and yellow gas station - BP - is joining in the fun, offering free wireless access at select locations.

Ruckus Wireless and HarborLink have reached a deal with the North American sector of BP to hook up their gas stations with free Wi-Fi access. The companies have been introducing Wi-Fi to a number of BP stations for the past several months, and plan to formally announce their partnership on Monday.

Eventually, they hope to equip nearly 9,000 corporate and franchised BP stations in North America.

So what's in for them? By offering free wireless internet access, BP hopes that their customers stick around a little bit longer and spend more money. Maybe you'll hang out in the car a little longer, surf the web and check your email, and then discover that you're thirsty and pop in the store for a drink and a snack.

The service is ad-supported, so when you log-in you aren't required to have purchased gasoline to get access. Instead you'll be shown various ads and promotions.

Google has announced that it will scrap its social networking tool Lively.com at the end of the year. The project went live in July and was seen as the search giants answer to the popular Second Life. While users seemed to like the site, there just wasn't enough of them to make the project succeed. Here is what Google said when the announced the decision on their blog:

In July we launched Lively in Google Labs because we wanted users to be able to interact with their friends and express themselves online in new ways. Google has always been supportive of this kind of experimentation because we believe it's the best way to create groundbreaking products that make a difference to people's lives. But we've also always accepted that when you take these kinds of risks not every bet is going to pay off.