Defensive shift: The New Orleans Saints and veteran cornerback Elbert Mack have agreed to a one-year contract. General manager Mickey Loomis, who announced the acquisition of Mack today when the Saints opened minicamp, also says the club has waived defensive tackle Mitch King. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound Mack, who was a free agent, has spent his first four NFL seasons with Tampa Bay. He has five career interceptions and 77 tackles in 58 games and also has been a special teams regular.
War all the time: Since they got together in 2007, the iPhone and Google Maps have seemed like ideal digital bedfellows. Google’s blockbuster map service—which allows Web users to find businesses, check traffic conditions and get directions—has helped Apple’s iPhone become wildly successful. Surging iPhone use has, in turn, driven tons of Web traffic to Google’s search engine through Google Maps. But not for long. Mobile map technology is about to become the latest battleground in the two tech giants’ escalating war over who dominates the future of computing. Read the full story from The Wall Street Journal here.
Twit for tat: China told foreign embassies today to stop publishing their own reports on air quality in the country, escalating its objections to a popular U.S. Embassy Twitter feed that tracks pollution in smoggy Beijing. Only the Chinese government is authorized to monitor and publish air-quality information, Wu Xiaoqing, a vice minister of environmental protection, told reporters, adding that data from other sources may not be standardized or rigorous. China has long taken issue with the U.S. Embassy’s postings of hourly readings of Beijing’s air quality on a Twitter feed with more than 19,000 followers since 2008. State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the United States has no plan presently to stop providing the service. Read the full story by The Associated Press here.
