LinkedIn to Host the President, Google+ Goes Public and 'Friendar' Launches

Every week, Mountain View makes news with technology developments, discoveries and sometimes controversies.

Today, Mountain View Patch brings you “Bits and Bytes,” where we’ll relay the past week’s news highlights from our backyard giants, start-ups and small businesses alike.

LinkedIn announced this week that it would host President Barack Obama in a town hall meeting. The event is aimed to give users of LinkedIn, and people locally in the Bay Area, an opportunity to ask questions to the president about job creation and his America Jobs Act.

Oracle seeks $1.16 billion in damages from Google, claiming the company infringed its patent for Java technology used in the Android operating system. That’s just a chunk of the $6.1 billion that the company originally sought in the case set to start Oct. 31 in San Francisco before U.S. District Judge William Alsup.

Google+, Google’s much-hyped social network, opened to the public on Tuesday, reigning in 3.58 million web visits in the U.S. Since the site’s invitation-only launch in June, it has gotten up to 321,000 U.S. visits a day. But it still has some growing to do if it wants to catch up with Facebook, which claims seven times that amount.

Once again, Google has flexed its giant philanthropic muscles, and donated 200 refurbished IMB ThinkPad laptop computers to the Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District. They donated the computers through its Goodware program, which aims to promote STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math) in local schools.

The traditional Friendster , but “Friendar” was just launched by Mountain View start-up Livingrm. The social network for good friends and family members allows users to develop scores for “closeness” in their relationships.

Intuit Inc., which makes Quicken and TurboTax software, has unveiled two new mobile phone apps. An “iPad Patient Check-in” allows patients to shortcut the traditional paper-and-clipboard registration process. A “GoPayment” app furthermore allows small businesses to process credit card payments.

Guardian Analytics, a company which helps prevent fraud through the analysis of behavior trends, has relocated from Los Altos to Mountain View. In doing so, they more than doubled their square footage catering a user base that has also doubled in the past year.