Google is denying reports online Friday that say the company started blocking Windows Phone users from accessing Google Maps amid tension in its relationship with Microsoft.

Nothing has changed with the Google Maps service, the company told The Times. Google Maps simply was never designed to work with the Internet Explorer browser on the Windows Phone, according to Google.

The company’s specific technical explanation: “The mobile Web version of Google Maps is optimized for WebKit browsers such as Chrome and Safari. However, since Internet Explorer is not a WebKit browser, Windows Phone devices are not able to access Google Maps for the mobile Web."

Top 10 embarrassing tech flops of 2012

Reports that Google may have started cutting off Windows Phone users from Google Maps seem to have originated from a user post in the forums for the Verge, a tech news website.

A user wrote a post titled "Google maps disabled on wp8." He said attempts to reach the Google Maps website...

If you're waiting for an official launch date for the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet, you might not have to wait much longer: Jan. 26 could be the day.

A report by CNET says several salespeople at Microsoft stores across the U.S. have confirmed the upcoming tablet will launch late this month. One of those stores said Jan. 26 was the exact date.

Microsoft has previously said January would be the month the Pro version of its tablet launched, but the Redmond, Wash.-based company has not given an exact date.

PHOTOS: Tech we want to see in 2013

The closest Microsoft has come to giving a specific day happened in June when it said the Surface Pro would launch "about 90 days" after the Surface RT. In case you can't recall, the Surface RT launched on Oct. 26 -- so Jan. 26 would certainly qualify as "about 90 days" later.

Besides running a more complete version of Windows 8 than the Surface RT, the Surface Pro tablet will also have a higher resolution, 1,920-by-1,080-pixel display than its...

A photo of what is alleged to be the Galaxy S IV has hit the Web, giving an early look at what might be Samsung's next flagship phone.

SamMobile, a blog about Samsung phones, posted the photo Friday morning. The site says the image comes from its "insider" source at Samsung, though SamMobile says it's not 100% certain that the pictured device is indeed the rumored Galaxy phone.

The phone in the picture looks very similar to the Galaxy S III, which is perhaps the most popular Android phone on the market. The one major differences is the lack of physical buttons on the Galaxy S IV's front side.

Top 10 embarrassing tech flops of 2012

Another noticeable difference is that the screen on the Galaxy S IV appears to be larger and closer to the edges of the phone than the one on the Galaxy S III.

SamMobile said its source did not reveal any of the phone's features or specifications, though it does offer a summary of its rumored specs.

The Galaxy S IV is expected to be announced by Samsung some...

A Google employee this week revealed some of the early versions of the Android mascot on his Google+ account, giving users a peek at what could have been.

Dan Morrill, an Android engineer, revealed that at one point in 2007 he and the Android team were getting ready to present Android to other Google employees. The Android team wanted other Google employees to start playing with the software and giving them feedback.

"I had no eye candy for the slides we were putting together," Morrill said. "Hence these guys."

The top 10 embarrassing tech flops of 2012

Morrill is referring to pictures at the bottom of his post of four robots in the colors of Google with swirly eyes and cone heads.

The engineer said he believes that his drawings were the first proposed Android mascots, and gained a little bit of popularity with the team, who dubbed the bots "Dandroids." Morrill's mascots stuck around for a bit until the "bugdroid" mascot that would become the official face of Android.

"Funny how the...

"jOBS," the first of two Steve Jobs biopics, is scheduled to hit theaters in April.

The film stars Ashton Kutcher as the iconic founder of Apple and depicts key moments in his life from 1977 to 2000.

It is slated to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this month.

QUIZ: Test your Apple knowledge

Open Road Films, which is distributing the film, describes it as "an intense dialog-driven story that is as much a sweeping epic as it is an immensely personal portrait of Steve Jobs' life."

Parts of the film were shot in the Palo Alto garage where Jobs and his partner, Steve Wozniak, worked in the early days of Apple. The filmmakers also had access to Jobs' childhood home.

Josh Gad, whom you may (or may not), remember from "The Rocker," plays Wozniak. 

The second Steve Jobs film is still in development. Aaron Sorkin was tapped to write the script using Walter Isaacson's definitive biography of Jobs as his source material.

The two movies sound very different. At an event for Newsweek and the...

The latest smartphone figures show Apple and Android phones have taken nearly complete control of the U.S. smartphone market, with almost 90% combined market share.

A report by comScore shows that as of November, Apple and Android devices accounted for a combined 88.7% share of the U.S. smartphone market.

Individually, the Google-owned Android operating system leads the way with 53.7% of the market, up 1.1% from August. Apple, meanwhile, accounted for 35%, which was a 0.7% increase from August.

The top 10 embarrassing tech flops of 2012

Left in the dust were Research In Motion and Microsoft, whose operating systems accounted for 7.3% and 3% of the market, respectively.

Samsung was the leading manufacturer of cellphones, with 26.9% of the market -- up 1.2% from August. Apple came in second with 18.5% of the market, up 1.4%.

Not far behind Apple was LG, which held on to 17.5% of the cellphone market but was down 0.7% from the previous period. Also down for the period were Motorola and...

Facebook has begun to test a feature for its Messenger app that lets users call each other.

For now the test is limited to users in Canada who have the most recent version of the Facebook Messenger app downloaded on an iPhone, Facebook said Thursday. 

The feature works much like a Skype call, but there is no video option. The calls can be made via Wi-Fi or on the phone's cellular network using its data plan. 

QUIZ: How much do you know about Facebook?

Separately, the social network has released a worldwide update to its Messenger app adding a "push to talk" feature that can be used on both Android and iOS phones.

The feature lets Facebook members record and send short audio messages to each other.

To access the feature, open the Messenger app and begin composing a message. Click the plus sign to the left of the text field and then click "Record Voice." Hold the red button, and record your message, letting go when you are finished.

The recording will be sent immediately.

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Apple...

Goodbye mouse and keyboard, hello air.

Leap Motion, a 3-D motion sensor that allows users to interact with computers simply by gesturing in the air -- think Tom Cruise in "The Minority Report" -- has secured an additional $30 million in funding, the  company announced Thursday.

Leap also announced that computer maker Asus will be one of the first manufacturers to bundle Leap's technology directly into some of its computers and notebooks. 

The new products with Leap Motion devices pre-installed should be available later this year.

"We're ready to make 2013 the year of the new interface," Leap Motion's CEO Michael Buckwald said in a statement. 

Leap introduced its motion controller last May. It's an iPod sized box that sits in front of your computer and gives you 8 cubic feet of 3D interaction space.

As long as you are standing within the controller's range, the Leap Motion controller can track your movements with a sensitivity said to be 200 times that of Microsoft's Kinect or Nintendo'...

The 2013 International CES electronics conference is just around the corner, so what can you expect?

Smartphones, tablets and apps are expected to once again be shown in abundance, but with thousands of companies from around the world coming, that's not all we'll see at CES.

LIVE VIDEO DISCUSSION: Join us at 2:15 p.m. today

Join The Times' Michelle Maltais, Jon Healey, Andrea Chang and me right here as we preview what we expect to see at the show.

Then next week, Sunday through Wednesday, check back with us for all the latest news as it comes.

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Light, aluminum Nokia Lumia flagship phone on its way, report says

Nokia's next flagship phone will reportedly be made of aluminum and be much lighter than its predecessor, the Lumia 920.

The Verge website reported Thursday that the Finnish phone company is set to dump polycarbonate as the body material for its upcoming top-of-the-line device. It cited unnamed sources "familiar with Nokia's plans."

By using aluminum instead, which is the material used for the Apple iPhone 5's body, Nokia might be able to achieve a lighter and thinner build.

PHOTOS: Tech we want to see in 2013

The Lumia 920, Nokia's current flagship device, has received positive reviews in general, but its weight and thickness have put off many critics.

The report on the next Nokia flagship phone doesn't say when it will launch, other than a reference to later this year. But if Nokia sticks to the timetable it used in 2012, the phone would launch in November.

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Apple reportedly in talks to buy Waze, a map app

Facebook is No. 1 social network in 127 countries, study finds

Your New...

Google scored a major victory Thursday when the Federal Trade Commission announced it was ending its 19-month antitrust probe into the technology giant's search business.

And that left FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz to explain why federal officials were not bringing an antitrust case despite what he acknowledged to be “problematic business practices.”

At a news conference, a defiant Leibowitz said the evidence did not support a case.

“The facts were not there under the law,” Leibowitz said.

Although Google does at time favor its own products in search results, it does so in the best interests of consumers, Leibowitz said.

“We found unanimously that they hadn’t engaged in illegal monopolization and hadn’t violated the FTC act,” Leibowitz said.

The FTC closed its investigation of Google without bringing any major charges. Instead Google has pledged to make voluntary changes to its search practices. Google has agreed to give online advertisers...