Technology Updates

Google Cries Wolf as Outage Disrupts China Operations

After assuming the worst with its China operations, Google on Thursday evening backed off accusations of censorship in the communist nation. Google said earlier Thursday that the Chinese government was blocking its search engine, Google Mobile, and Google Ad products. Google also said its news and image services were being "partially blocked."

However, Google apparently rushed to judgment. Later in the day, Google officials said the blockage levels were misreported by the company's internal tracking system.

"Because of the way we measure accessibility in China, it's possible that our machines can overestimate the level of blockage," Google said Friday. "That appears to be what happened last night when there was a relatively small blockage. It appears now that users in China are accessing our properties normally."

The Dramatic History

Thursday's snafu is the latest twist in the ongoing saga featuring Google and China. It all began in January, when Google made a strong move against communist China by refusing to continue censoring search results on its Chinese site. In the wake of cyberattacks it linked to China, Google also said it would consider shutting down operations in the Asian nation.

Google revealed a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on its corporate infrastructure that originated from China in December. That attack, Google said, resulted in theft of the search giant's intellectual property. In its internal investigations, Google discovered it wasn't the only target. Large companies from many industries were also hit. Google is working to notify those companies and is working with U.S. authorities.

The cyberattacks, which largely targeted the Gmail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists, seem to have fueled Google's decision to stand up for freedom of speech in the communist nation. Two days after Google threatened to stop doing business in China, the nation's leadership signaled it would not compromise.

Google's response was to redirect...

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FCC Approves First LTE Phone for MetroPCS

The Federal Communications Commission has approved what could be the first phone in the U.S. market compatible with a Long Term Evolution network for high-speed, 4G data. But there are more questions than answers about the handset and when it will reach consumers.

About all that is known so far is that the Samsung SCH-r900 will be offered by MetroPCS, use the standard CDMA voice network as a backup when 4G is unavailable, be Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capable, and be able to browse the Internet and download music. It will operate at the spectrum of 1700/1900 megahertz.

When South Korea-based Samsung announced the phone at the CTIA Wireless show in March, it said "Samsung Mobile's commercial LTE network products leverage years of 4G orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) commercial network experience and have flexible bandwidth support of 1.4 to 20 MHz standards."

Details Are Secret

Neither Samsung nor MetroPCS has revealed which operating system will power the SCH-r900, how much memory it will have, or what kind of processor, keyboard and camera it will use.

"It's all being shrouded in secrecy," said IDC Research wireless analyst Ramon Llamas, who has tried in vain to get more details about the phone. "They've been tight-lipped about this. I've tried numerous ways to get some read on it, but we still don't know if it's a feature phone or a smartphone, or where the coverage will be. Since it's not coming out until December, why tip your hand now?"

One of the biggest questions, Llamas said, is how MetroPCS -- known for flat-rate voice-calling plans -- will handle data-hungry 4G users. "This is a totally different ball of wax," said Llamas. "How do you price a phone that is all data?"

Richardson, Tex.,-based MetroPCS, formerly General Wireless, is the fifth largest cellular carrier in the United States...

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RIM BlackPad Expected To Compete with Apple's iPad

Research In Motion will introduce its own tablet computer, called BlackPad, in November, according to news sources. The BlackBerry maker is moving to compete with rival Apple, which currently dominates the tablet market with its iPad.

RIM is also expected to introduce the BlackBerry Bold 9800 smartphone with a sliding QWERTY keyboard next month to recover market share lost to Apple's iPhone. According to IDC, RIM's share of the global smartphone market was 19.4 percent in the first quarter, down from 20.9 percent a year earlier, while Apple rose to 16.1 percent from 10.9 percent.

News sources said RIM's BlackPad will be about the same size as the iPad and include both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth so users can connect to the Internet through smartphones. The price is expected to be close to the iPad, which currently starts at $499.

The operating system for the BlackPad is not known, but could be the upcoming BlackBerry 6. RIM and AT&T could discuss that operating system at a press conference next week expected to focus on the Bold 9800.

Canada-based RIM recently acquired the domain blackpad.com.

Even with a tablet, RIM will have to scramble to compete with the more than 225,000 apps available for the iPad and iPhone on Apple's App Store. RIM's BlackBerry App World had a bit more than 9,000 apps as of Friday.

The BlackPad will reportedly have front and back cameras for videoconferencing. News sources said it will also be tied to the BlackBerry e-mail system used by many enterprises.

With more than three million iPads sold, Apple has a tremendous market lead and RIM will be playing catch-up along with tablets expected from Hewlett-Packard, LG Electronics, and Samsung. Dell has already introduced its Android-powered Dell Streak tablet and smartphone in the United Kingdom and has a large volume of pre-orders for its U.S. debut.

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Windows 7 Is Being Retooled for Tablet Market

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told industry analysts Thursday that the software giant is working in cooperation with device manufacturers to develop a customized version of Windows 7 for tablets. Although Apple has created an entirely new tablet market without Microsoft's participation, Ballmer noted that much the same thing happened with netbooks.

Microsoft went from having no Windows penetration on netbooks in the early days to seeing Windows become "the guiding piece of software" in a market subsegment that now accounts for 15 percent or so of all PCs shipped worldwide, Ballmer observed.

"Just like we had to make things happen on netbooks, we've got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates" in cooperation with Microsoft's hardware partners, Ballmer said. "We are in the process of doing that as we speak."

Developing Unique Apps

It's clear that Microsoft understands both the threat and opportunity presented by Apple's iPad, but the company's consideration of all the outstanding issues still appears to be in the early stages, said Al Hilwa, director of applications development software at IDC.

"The idea of devices based on Windows is a good one, as we see a world of many form factors competing," Hilwa said. "But if the machine looks and smells too much like Windows, it will mostly cannibalize Windows PC sales and not necessarily affect the growth of phone-derived tablets."

From a competitive perspective, Microsoft has a lot of good software relevant to the emerging tablet market, and has already done a considerable amount of work on relevant technologies like touch, Ballmer said. "We've got the application base, we've got the user familiarity, we've got everything on our side if we do things really right," he added.

To hit the iPad market squarely, however, Microsoft will need a content-consumption strategy that is iTunes-like, an application development...

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YouTube Videos Now Give Users 15 Minutes of Fame

In what appears to be a competitive move against emerging video sites, YouTube on Thursday announced an unexpected improvement to its video platform. The Google-owned company is increasing the upload limit from 10 minutes to 15 minutes.

Joshua Siegel, product manager for YouTube's Upload and Video Management department, said the company made the change because "without question, the number-one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes."

The Copyright Connection

The upload limit for non-partners was 10 minutes for many years, so why is YouTube making this change now? Beyond the "because you've been asking for it" answer, Siegel offered a deeper explanation of the timing.

"We've spent significant resources on creating and improving our state-of-the-art content ID system and many other powerful tools for copyright owners," Siegel said. "Now all of the major U.S. movie studios, music labels, and over 1,000 other global partners use content ID to manage their content on YouTube. Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today."

Loosely translated, that means Google has a better handle on determining who owns the video clip, so it has loosened the restrictions on the length of the videos. Siegel said YouTube will continue to provide advanced technology tools for copyright holders and work on incremental improvements to the site.

The Twitter Threat

That's YouTube's official stance. But Brad Shimmin, an analyst at Current Analysis, suggested the video site's timing could be a quiet response to speculation swirling around Twitter's rumored video plans.

"Timing-wise, my wonderment here is that this follows pretty close on the heels of Twitter opening up its own data center in Utah so they could handle video and image uploads more completely. I am sure Google would see that as a threat," Shimmin said.

"Upping the video length...

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