Google last week continued its efforts to beef up its social networking offerings with the acquisition of Angstro, a startup focused on building applications that integrate with social media networks.
Rohit Khare, cofounder of the company, announced the acquisition on his blog last Thursday in a post titled, "Our work here is done."
"With the help of investors like CommerceNet and advisors such as Avery Lyford, our team shipped apps to discover hot new photos on Facebook, improve Caller ID by using LinkedIn profiles, adding style and links to Twitter, create a real-time social address book, and a slew of other services (some of which are open source)," Khare wrote.
He added, "While our work here may be done, the struggle for open, interoperable social networks is still only just beginning, and I'm looking forward to working on that in my new role at Google."
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been struggling to find its course with regard to social networks for some time so that it can remain competitive with Facebook in the advertising game. Previous attempts, which include Orkut, Profiles and Buzz, have failed to catch fire as the company had hoped. Its latest effort is Google Me, which it hopes to launch before the end of the year.
Google has been buying up companies like Angstro to fortify itself for the Google Me launch. Other recent acquisitions include microblogging service Jaiku, game-oriented virtual currency company Jambool and social networking applications company Slide. It has also partnered with social gaming company Zynga.
Meanwhile, Google's $700 million cash acquisition of travel software specialist ITA Software is going nowhere fast. The deal, announced last month, has run afoul of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which plans to review it for possible antitrust issues, according to a blog post on Friday by Google Senior Product Manager Andrew Silverman.
"While we think this acquisition will benefit travelers as well as those seeking their business, we know that closer scrutiny has been one consequence of Google's success, and we said that we wouldn’t be surprised if there were a regulatory review before the deal closes," Silverman wrote. "This week we received what's called a "second request," which means that the US Department of Justice is asking for more information so that they can continue to review the deal."
Silverman noted that Google remains confident the DOJ will conclude that online travel will remain competitive if Google is allowed to complete the transaction.
Thor Olavsrud is a contributor to InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.
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