LinkedIn Stocks Surge; Blue Jeans New Video 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.

Three customers have sued the company for misleading them with their new privacy policy that merged policies for 60 services into one. In a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania, the plaintiffs stated the recent change violated Google’s prior privacy policies that it "would not utilize information provided by a consumer in connection with his or her use of one service, with any other service, for any reason, without the user’s consent."

reached its highest level stock closing price since August last week after Goldman Sachs changed its buy rating. On Wednesday, LinkedIn gained 6.5 percent, closing at $97.78 in New York. The company , and now boasts 150 million members.

Cobalt Technologies, a Mountain View-based developer of next generation bio n-butantol, will provide the bio-fuel for a new contract that the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division has given to Albemarle Corporation. Cobalt converts non-food feedstock, like woody biomass, into renewable butanol for both chemicals and fuels, including jet fuel.

Over 40 people participated in Hacker Dojo’s St. Paddy’s Day "Underwear Run" fundraiser last Saturday, rounding up a total of $3,500. The Mountain View community center for programmers has raised $60,000 over the past six weeks, part of an effort to compile the $250,000 the city says it needs for fire sprinklers and fire exits. The Dojo will have to hold off hosting classes and events that bring in more than 49 people until it meets the requirement the City of Mountain View has set.

Blue Jeans Network has rolled out a new videoconferencing service it calls an “MCU Killer.” At $250 a port, it connects users of many types of services, whether free or very cheap ones like Skype or Cisco. The product itself is inexpensive, as MCUs (multipoint control units) can cost upwards of $250,000.

With tax submission deadlines are around the corner, sales of Intuit’s TurboTax tax preparation software rose by 14 percent through March 14, as compared to the year-ago period. Still, on Friday, Intuit’s stocks dropped by four percent.

Mountain View startup Egnyte, which helps medium-sized businesses sync and store their files, launched a new service Tuesday. Called Egnyte HybridCloud File Sharing for the Enterprise, the new product allows users to access the service from any device, mobile app, or the web. It also now integrates with Salesforce, Google Docs and several other services.