This Wix graphic shows Google Apps integration into their premium-level site builder tools.

(Credit: Wix)

The popular Web-site builder Wix has inked a deal with Google to help small business customers install branded Google Apps.

Wix, which lets individuals and businesses build sites in HTML5 via an app market and drag-and-drop editor, announced Thursday that its partnership with Google will allow small businesses to sign up for Google Apps with one click. A subsequent two-click process will set up and brand apps -- including Gmail and Google Drive -- for companies.

Tesla celebrating the production of the 1,000th Model S car in October 2012.

(Credit: Tesla)

Tesla's stock is on a roll following the electric car company's blockbuster first quarter.

As of about 9:15 a.m. PT Thursday, shares had already risen almost 25 percent in trading, reaching close to $70 apiece.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Microsoft appears to be listening to its partners a bit more when it comes to Windows 8.

That's according to Acer President Jim Wong, who spoke to The Wall Street Journal for a story published Thursday.

Acer has been among the most vocal critics of Microsoft, complaining that sales of Windows 8 devices have been disappointing and knocking the software titan's attempt to get into the hardware business with the Surface tablet. Even Microsoft has acknowledged that more work needs to be done to educate consumers on Windows 8 and Windows RT -- the latter being the stripped-down version of the operating system.

It gets better.

(Credit: Windows 8/ YouKu Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

I don't know where these have come from.

I don't even know if they're official Windows 8 videos.

Morgan Stanley chimed in Wednesday with a note to investors about upcoming iPhone models.

(Credit: Apple)

A Morgan Stanley note to investors adds to the mounting evidence of new iPhones coming in the fall.

In a research note on Wednesday titled, "Systems and PC Hardware Asia Trip Takeaways Part I," Katy Huberty of Morgan Stanley said new iPhones appear to be on the way.

Nook HD+.

TechCrunch is reporting that Microsoft is mulling the idea of buying out the Nook Media venture in which Microsoft invested $300 million last year. TechCrunch says it has obtained "internal documents" that indicate Microsoft may pay $1 billion for the assets of Nook Media.

Does this make any sense? Given I thought rumors of Microsoft buying Skype and Yammer (both of which Redmond ended up purchasing) were pretty ludicrous, I'd say I'm probably not the best one to judge.

Dell Latitude 10: Expect Windows Blue tablets -- packing quad-core Bay Trail processors -- that are as slim or slimmer than the Windows 8 variety.

(Credit: Microsoft)

Analysts are upbeat about Intel's new mobile chip design due later this year. That could mean a much-needed boost for Windows 8 tablets -- where many of those chips will land.

Imagine this: an ultraslim, light tablet with roughly twice the performance of any Atom-based Windows 8 tablet on the market now. (And that's the full version of Windows, not Windows RT.)

(Credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft promoted Amy Hood to chief financial officer Wednesday, replacing Peter Klein, who announced plans to leave the software giant last month.

Hood, 41, joined Microsoft in 2002 and worked most recently as the chief financial officer of Microsoft's Business Division, a job she held for a little more than 3 years. There, she handled financial strategy for the $24.1 billion unit and was deeply involved in the acquisitions of both Skype and Yammer. Prior to that job, Hood was chief of staff in Microsoft's Server and Tools group.

"I'm excited to step into this role and look forward to working closely again with our investors and shareholders," Hood said in a statement.

In November 2011, Identified emerged out of public beta on a mission to create a better professional job search engine. Built on top of Facebook data, Identified set out to nibble at LinkedIn’s lead in this space by giving both job seekers and companies a better way to connect — and find talent. To do that, the startup offered a product that it promised would become something akin to the “Google Page Rank for people,” assigning a numerical rank (out of 100) to professionals and companies based on their education, career path, social footprint and more — a la Klout.

By the following summer, Identified had attracted three million active users and had imported 10 million profiles from Facebook, which it used to secure a sizable $21 million series B financing round, led by VantagePoint Capital and Capricorn Investment Group, along with participation from Tim Draper, Innovation Endeavors, Chamath Palihapitiya and more. After this early buzz and validation subsided, however, Identified was met with the challenge of having to convince and incentivize the younger generations to claim and fill out their Facebook-derived profiles on its platform — not such an easy task when so many people already have a litany of online profiles to manage.

But doing so is critical for Identified, because without users claiming their profiles and adding more data, an Identified profile isn’t worth much more than any other. Plus, it means the company has fewer data points with which to work when trying to assign an accurate score or effectively tracking a user’s career progress. As such, Identified has spent the last nine months in relative silence, hiring data scientists and designers and building out its team in an attempt to create technology that would set it apart from the field and enable it to begin monetizing.