Today: Google (GOOG) will test its pay-with-your-phone servicethis summer in San Francisco and New York. Plus: Kabam, ProjectSlice, NetApp, Silicon Valley tech stocks. And: Your PG&E bill isabout to change.
Cash, plastic or your Google phone?
Mountain View Internet juggernaut Google -- maker of the Androidsoftware on numerous smartphones -- today revealed that it'slaunching a test of its Google Wallet service, which will let Sprintcustomers pay for goods with a Nexus S 4G phone.
Google is working with Citibank, MasterCard, Sprint and FirstData on the near field communication test, which will be availableto consumers this summer in San Francisco and New York.
Google has ambitious plans for the service. "Because GoogleWallet is a mobile app, it will do more than a regular wallet evercould," Google engineers Rob von Behren and Jonathan Wall wrote in ablog post.
"You'll be able to store your credit cards, offers, loyalty cardsand gift cards, but without the bulk," they noted. "When you tap topay, your phone will also automatically redeem offers and earnloyalty points for you. Someday, even things like boarding passes,tickets, ID and keys could be stored in Google Wallet."
Consumers will be able to use Google Wallet at such retailers asMacy's, Bloomingdale's, Jamba Juice, Peet's Coffee & Tea andWalgreens. The service will work with Citibank credit cards eligiblefor MasterCard's PayPass service -- or with a Google prepaid card.
Google stock today finished regular trading at $518.13, down$1.54, or 0.3 percent, from Wednesday's closing price.
Daily deals
Kabam: The Redwood City online massively multiplayer social gamesupstart has raised $85 million in a funding round led by GoogleVentures and Pinnacle Ventures. Joe Kraus, a Google Venturespartner, will join Kabam's board of directors, according to a newsrelease today.
That brings total venture funding for Kabam -- known for suchgames as "Kingdoms of Camelot" and "Dragons of Atlantis" -- to $125million, including investments from Performance Equity, SK telecomventures, Canaan Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Intel (INTC)Capital.
"Consumer game playing behavior is changing as a growing numberof core gamers are moving their game play to social networks," Kraussaid in the news release. "Kabam was at the forefront in identifyingand taking advantage of this trend and their rapid growthunderscores the large opportunity in the market."
Project Slice: The Palo Alto online shopping upstart has raised$9.4 million in a venture funding in an investment led by DCM andLightspeed Venture Partners.
Also participating are Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt'sInnovation Endeavors, Mike Maples' Floodgate and tech investorsMichael Birch and Rick Thompson.
Project Slice also is launching an All My Purchases app forYahoo's (YHOO) newly revamped Mail service. The app helps shopperswho use Yahoo Mail keep track of electronic receipts.
Your PG&E bill
If you're a PG&E customer, your electric bill may be going up, orit may be going down -- depending on how much power you use.
According to a Merc report, the California Public UtilitiesCommission today approved PG&E's request to charge slightly more forresidential customers who keep their energy use under Tier 1"baseline," Tier 2 and Tier 3 caps. For heavy energy users in theTier 4 range, PG&E will charge slightly less.
Regulators turned down PG&E's request to charge every household a$3-a-month service fee.
The rates will change sometime next month.
Silicon Valley tech stocks
Up: Oracle (ORCL), Cisco Systems (CSCO), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ),VMware, Gilead Sciences (GILD).
NetApp stock soared $3.58, or 6.9 percent, to $55.31. Accordingto Bloomberg News, the Sunnyvale maker of data-storage technologyreported earnings that beat Wall Street expectations.
Down: Apple (AAPL), Google, Intel, eBay (EBAY), Yahoo.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index: Up 21.54, or 0.8 percent,to 2,782.92.
The blue chip Dow Jones industrial average: Up 8.10, or 0.1percent, to 12,402.76.
And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Up 5.22, or0.4 percent, to 1,325.69.
Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, asummary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The AssociatedPress, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Frank Russellat 408-920-5876. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercspike.
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