Google Inc. has acquired a mobile social networking start-up called Zingku Inc., the search company’s latest move to provide more services through mobile phones.

Zingku aims to make it easier for people to share photos, send invitations or conduct polls among friends via mobile phone. It also provides a way for businesses to send “mobile flyers” to customers advertising products and services.

Zingku was started in 2005 and the service has been in testing with a limited number of users in the U.S. New account sign-ups have been frozen following Google’s acquisition, according to Zingku’s Web site. Existing accounts will be transferred to Google unless they are cancelled by Oct. 4.

Another lone gunman approached another campus full of students on Sept. 26, but this time there was no tragedy similar to the shootings at Virginia Tech University in April that killed 32 people and wounded many more.

Just 16 minutes after Omesh Hiraman, 22, walked on to the campus of St. John’s University, in Queens, New York, with a loaded rifle, students, faculty and staff received e-mail and text messages alerting them to the danger.

Campus police and an NYPD police cadet spotted Hiraman, wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a Halloween mask, almost immediately. Hiraman, a St. John’s student, was quickly arrested without a single shot being fired. But rumors spread that a second gunman was loose on the campus.

“From public safety. Male was found on campus with a rifle. Please stay in your buildings until further notice. He is in custody, but please wait until the all-clear,” Thomas Lawrence, St. John’s vice president for public safety, sent in a text message.

University officials said only 2,100 out of 20,000 students were signed up for the alert system. Lawrence’s text message, and two more that followed, were widely forwarded around the campus. By the end of the day, subscribers to the service had jumped to more than 6,500 students.

“I commend the administration of St. John’s University for effectively activating an innovative text-messaging system when a dangerous situation unfolded on campus,” New York Governor Eliot Spitzer said in a statement. “The alert system notified students and staff of impending danger in a timely and effective manner.”

Bowing to pressure from customers and computer makers, Microsoft plans to keep Windows XP around a little longer.

Large PC manufacturers were slated to have to stop selling XP after January 31. However, they have successfully lobbied Microsoft to allow them to continue selling PCs with all flavors of Windows XP preloaded until June 30, a further five months. Microsoft also plans to keep XP on retail shelves longer and will allow computer makers in emerging markets to build machines with Windows XP Starter Edition until June 2010.

The move indicates the continued demand for the older operating system, some nine months after Windows Vista hit store shelves.

Apple Inc. has issued a software update that creates problems for iPhones modified to work with a cellular carrier other than AT&T Inc. and disables at least some unofficial programs installed on other iPhone handsets.

Apple warned earlier this week that the iPhone update — which adds access to the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store and fixes some security flaws — could permanently disable phones running programs that untether phones from its exclusive partner’s network.

Several gadget enthusiast Web sites, including Gizmodo and Engadget, as well as online postings from hacker communities reported that, depending on which unlocking program was used, certain modified phones no longer worked after they installed Thursday’s software update. In some cases, the phones worked, but only with the original SIM card that ties the phone to AT&T.

Some sites also reported uncondoned third-party applications on the iPhones became disabled after the update.

The Motion Picture Assn. of America has filed suit against two Web sites that it claims are allowing Internet users to view pirated films, many of which are still in theaters.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday on behalf of the major studios, seeks to shutter cinematube.net (http://cinematube.net) and ssupload.com (http://ssupload.com) from further infringing on the copyrights of the MPAA members.

The sites feature links to hundreds of titles, including such recent releases as “Resident Evil: Extinction,” “The Brave One” and “Good Luck Chuck.”