Locals Race to Save HackerDojo; Google to Improve Search Engine

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

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

Over 40 runners will don nothing but their underwear on Saturday in order to raise funds for HackerDojo, a local community center for coders. The event, which is still open to the public for registration, is part of a larger effort to raise the $250,000 needed for the building to comply with fire safety codes. 

Google is working on perfecting a "semantic search," which will be better able to analyze users’ intent behind their searches, and provide more accurate results. It’s doing that through the help of Freebase, an open database on people, places and things. Last fall, the company also updated its search algorithm, making about 35 percent of searches more timely.

People are less likely to lie about their previous work experience and responsibilities on , according to a study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking. These claims are more easily verifiable on an online forum, so people stray away from lying, the study concludes. Still, they are more likely to fib about their interests and hobbies.

The FBI obtained a search warrant for to unlock the Android phone of Dante Dears, a convicted pimp of a San Diego prostitution ring. Dears refused to provide any information about the phone himself, and an FBI computer forensics lab was unable to get past the phone’s "pattern lock."

Skyfire introduced a new mobile browser–Skyfire HotSwapTM–which allows up to four users to save and preset their browsing preferences onto an Apple iPad. Each person sets up a seperate account within the browser, eliminating the log in, long out, and set-up process for websites every time a another user of the iPad comes on board.

Mountain View-based Synopsys, Inc. and Applied Materials are collaborating to develop technology computer-aided design (TCAD) models for next-generation semiconductor devices. This will speed up process development for the models, lowering costs and reducing the time-to-market.