Top tech headlines: Facebook phone, Tim Cook talks Siri and TVs at D: All Things Digital, Windows 8 release preview

Facebook phone rumors resurface
This week there were new rumors about a Facebook-made smartphone. The New York Times said “the company hopes to release its own smartphone by next year” and added that Facebook was hiring ex-Apple employees to work on the device. Business Insider said elements of the Facebook phone are already in plain view: the company recently unveiled Facebook Camera, plus it has a stand-alone Facebook Messages app and a Facebook app store. There are also rumors Facebook is looking to buy web browser Opera. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/facebook-tries-tries-again-on-a-smartphone/

Apple CEO Tim Cook talks about Siri and TVs at D: All Things Digital conference
Bloggers dissected every piece of information Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed to The Wall Street Journal’s Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg at the D: All Things Digital conference. He said Apple has big plans for its intelligent voice recognition service Siri, and divulged that TV “is an area of intense interest for us.”
http://allthingsd.com/20120529/live-apple-ceo-tim-cooks-first-time-in-the-hot-seat-at-d/

Microsoft Windows 8 release preview
Microsoft released an almost complete version of its next generation operating system called Windows 8 release preview. Microsoft said it is working towards the “goal of having PCs with Windows 8 and Windows RT available for the holidays.” The company said consumers who purchase a Windows 7 PC between June 2 and January 13, 2013 will be eligible for an upgrade to the new software at a discounted price of $14.99.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-preview

Google Places becomes Google+ Local
Google announced it was replacing Google Places business listing with its more social and relevant Google+ Local service. The new Google+ Local listings are integrated with Google’s social network Google+ and feature more comprehensive ratings, Zagat scores and summaries. The new pages are being rolled out across Google’s properties.
https://plus.google.com/local

Google unveils new Chromebook and Chromebox computers
Google and Samsung unveiled the new Chromebook laptop and Chromebox compact desktop PC. The two cloud-based, web-centric computers run Google’s Chrome operating system -- an app-centric user interface based on Google’s Chrome web browser. Both the new Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook and Samsung Series 3 Chromebox have Intel Core processors and are close to three times as fast as their Chromebook predecessors.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/chrome/devices/buynow.html