Google has today launched an online marketplace for business applications, called the Apps Marketplace, which is in similar vein to Apple’s AppStore and Salesforce.com’s AppExchange. All of the tools available in the marketplace integrate with Google’s online desktop productivity suite and are themselves web-based.

NewsFactor – On the heels of the big 3-D television presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, Sony and Samsung are joining Panasonic, LG Electronics, and others in promoting the new technology.

AP – Dish Network’s aggressive advertising blitz grabbed more subscribers for the third straight quarter, the company reported Monday, though that cut into profits during the final three months of the year.

Reuters – Software giant Microsoft Corp has won a U.S. court approval to deactivate a global network of computers that the company accused of spreading spam and harmful computer codes, the Wall Street Journal said.

Reuters – It’s been more than six years since then-Microsoft CEO Bill Gates admitted that Apple caught the company “flat-footed” in the digital music market and directed his team to make up for lost ground, according to recently surfaced internal e-mails.