LinkedIn Acquires Slideshare; Gmail Introduces Language Translation Service

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

In the weekly “Bits and Bytes” column we’ll relay the past week’s news highlights from our backyard giants, start-ups and small businesses alike.

On Thursday, announced that it acquired Slideshare—a presentation sharing website based in San Francisco—for $118.8 million in a cash and stock deal. The site helps professionals discover people through their content.

LinkedIn’s first quarter sales spiked to $188.5 million, higher than the $178.4 reported by analysts. The total net income increased to $5 million, or 4 cents a share, from $2.08 million a year earlier. Its shares have nearly doubled since the company .

Gmail users: ¿Puede usted leer estas palabras? If not, no problem, as just introduced a free language translation service for its popular email service. The automatic language translation was a part of Google labs for awhile, but only this week was it made into a built-in service. Users will now see a “Translate message” button in their account.

Many authors and artists are opposed to Google’s long-term plan of creating the world’s largest digital library of books. The Authors Guild and American Society of Media Photographers say Google is infringing its copyright, but in court Google argued that entire groups shouldn’t be allowed to sue the company.

Researchers from and the SETI Institute in Mountain View slowly flew over the Sierra Nevada foothills searching for meteorites. The fragments come from an explosion that took place on April 22, when a 154,000 meteor split through the atmosphere, creating a jolting sound heard from Sacramento to Las Vegas.

Evernote announced that they raised $70 million in Series D funding from Meritech Capital and CBC Capital. The company, which helps people keep tabs on data, will use the funds to grow and make strategic acquisitions.