Google's ex-CEO Eric Schmidt gave a speech on Wednesday at the Science Museum in which he outlined his vision for the web, and how much he believes it will change society in the future. According to Schmidt, the web is becoming “nothing and everything”. Schmidt, who now serves as executive chairman of the search giant, emphasized that there were many parts of the world that do not have access to the Internet yet. "The world wide web has yet to live up to its name. Put simply, to connect the world is to free the world."

Yahoo has announced that it will sell half of its Alibaba stake back to the Chinese e-commerce giant. The company will sell half of its 40% stake on a valuation of approximately $35 billion. Yahoo stated that the payment would be least $6.3 billion in cash, with around $800 million in freshly issued Alibaba stock. The deal also stipulates that when an initial IPO is made for Alibaba in the future, the company will be required to repurchase a quarter of Yahoo's current stake, or allow Yahoo to sell those shares in the IPO.

According to recent studies, Apple's revenue will be secured by iPad sales, as the company is working to revamp its other product ranges. Apple's tablets are expected to be among the best-selling products, as the company implements a new pricing strategy that makes the second-generation iPad more affordable. 

Samsung has managed to outsell both Apple and Nokia in the first three months of 2012. The manufacturer claims to have surpassed both smartphone makers by more than 7 million units and now claims to be in control of almost a third of the market. Samsung managed to ship over 42.2 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2012, claiming about 29% of the total market. During the same period, Apple only sold 35.1 million units, while Nokia sold 11.9 million.

According to The Publishers Association in the UK, eBook sales increased by 366% in 2011. The Association has noted that all digital formats, including eBooks, audio book downloads and online subscriptions, accounted for eight per cent of the total value of book sales last year. This figure has increased considerably from 5% in 2010. However, the total value of books sales, both digital and printed, fell slightly by 2% to £3.2 billion, while the price of the average book fell by 1.3%. 

According to Tech Fortune, Apple sold 11 million iPads in the first quarter of 2012. However, estimates of sales according to different analysts vary from 9 to 15.6 million. The new iPad alone reportedly sold 3 million units in its debut weekend. The aggressive rollout that followed pushed the third generation iPad to 35 national markets in two weeks. Meanwhile, the iPad 2's prices went down, which is also thought to have boosted sales.

Google and Paramount Pictures have signed a deal that will bring 500 movie titles to YouTube and the Google Play Store for rent. 'Renting' the available movies provided by the services will provide viewers a 48-hour pass that allows them to watch the movie as many times as they want within a two day period. Google first hinted at movie rentals via YouTube in early 2010. Their rental catalog has since grown to nearly 9,000 titles. 

According to the latest estimate from Canaccord Genuity, Apple will sell 65.6 million iPads in 2012. The firm just raised that projection from 56 million, with analysts T Michael Walkley and Matthew Ramsay informing Reuters: “With our checks indicating record pre-orders and 2-3 week wait times for new iPads, we anticipate a record iPad launch this weekend.” Apple has sold around 55 million iPad devices to date, so the total number is expected to double in 2012.