Google stocks soar to record high amidst talks of antitrust settlements

Google's (GOOG) stock rose 2.6% to close at $775.60, topping the all-time high of $774.38 it reached in October 2012. The stock went as high as $776.60.

When the market closed on Friday, Google stock had come to rest at $775.60, which broke the $774.38 record Google hit in October of last year. GOOG even managed to peak at $776.60 that day, which is $2.22 higher than the record close.

GOOG stock this past six months

The cause of the sudden confidence in Google stock may be a result of an antitrust settlement proposal that the company sent to the European Commission, where it was facing an EU probe into its search business that has lasted three years. Experts claimed that Google might find itself in a very hard position, unlike how they fared in an investigation by the U.S earlier.

The Commission has not confirmed anything yet, but they did say that they would be taking the proposal into review. This news has been enough incentive to encourage investment in Google stock apparently -- enough to keep rising stocks Facebook (FB) and Microsoft (MSFT) eating their dust.

But will it last? That's the real question. An unfavorable decision by Europe may bring dire consequences upon Google's prices, and who really knows what the future holds?

Emailed about a Facebook "Legal Notice"? It's Legit!

If you are a regular Facebook user, there's a good chance that a message was sent out by legalnotice@facebookmail.com to the e-mail address you used to sign up on Facebook. At first glance, it just seems like cheap spam, getting past the filter, but doing a little research yields some interesting results.

What next? I really am the heir to a Nigerian fortune?

More than 99.99% percent of the time, you should not open an e-mail titled, "Re: LEGAL NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION." that you do not recognize -- but many news sources on the web (spanning all the way up from dozens of rink-a-dink little blogs like mine to The Telegraph) are actually saying that you may want to take a look.

If you want, you could claim your stake of anywhere from pennies to $10 (the amount is still to be determined), but chances are so many people will try to take a slice of the $20 million pie that it gets divvied up between a few privacy organizations as per the section on the notice that ruled, "If the number of claims made renders it economically infeasible to pay money to persons who make a timely and valid claim, payment will be made to the not-for-profit organizations identified on the Settlement website at www.fraleyfacebooksettlement.com"

Why, though, are we all being compensated by Facebook?

Instagram breaks it off with Twitter

The Facebook-owned photo giant entirely removes photo integration on Twitter

Twitter vs. Instagram?

Ouch! It looks like Instagram cut its final ties in photo integration with Twitter on Sunday, effectively breaking off the relationship between the two big services. Many tweeps found out the hard way, noticing that the photos they were so fervently sharing via Instagram became suddenly inaccessible on Twitter.

"Annoyed at Instagram for getting rid of the twitter integration. I hate actually clicking the Instagram link to view a photo," tweets @AlfredoFlores, and he's not alone in the sentiment. He was retweeted almost 5,000 times in under 9 hours.