Google to reveal 'new treats' on Sept 29

Google fans, pencil Sept 29 into your calendar.

The tech giant has sent out invites to the media for "some tasty new treats and much s'more" in an event happening in San Francisco that day.

This points to a probable release of operating system Android Marshmallow, and perhaps announcements that could shed some light on rumours that both LG and Huawei are making Nexus phones.

Call Of Duty will have '1 or 2' S'pore levels

The next Call Of Duty game, Black Ops III, will start in a Singapore setting. Players will have to investigate a secret CIA site here that mysteriously goes dark.

But we knew all that already, as details have been coming out since April.

The question really is - how much of the game will take place in Singapore?

Not much, it seems. At the Tokyo Game Show, Mr John Rafacz, director of communication at Treyarch, told The Straits Times: "I believe, in all, you'll have one or two levels in Singapore. Singapore is a place where events really begin to unfold."

He did not say how many levels there would be in total, but added: "In typical Call Of Duty fashion, there are other hot spots around the world that you have to navigate your way through."

Ad-blocking app taken down

Mr Marco Arment, the creator of ad-blocking app Peace, has taken it off the iOS App Store.

He released it last Wednesday with the launch of iOS 9, and it became the best-selling app overnight, rocketing to No. 1 on the paid apps list.

But he pulled it just two days later, writing on his blog that it "just doesn't feel good".

"Ad blockers come with an important asterisk: While they do benefit a ton of people in major ways, they also hurt some, including many who don't deserve the hit," he said.

A lot of small publishers and sites generate revenue from ads, and blocking the ads could inadvertently harm them.

Microsoft faces gender-bias suit

Former Microsoft security expert Katie Moussouris is bringing a class-action suit against Microsoft that alleges gender discrimination against women. It was filed on Wednesday.

She worked for the company's Trusted Computing Group for seven years, and said that women in technical and engineering jobs face "systemic and pervasive discrimination ... with respect to performance evaluations, pay, promotions, and other terms and conditions of employment".