Showing posts with label Tech News. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Tech News. Show all posts

Upcoming improvements to Custom Search Engines

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Xtreamer

If you use a Custom Search Engine to power search on your site, you may already be familiar with the advanced Custom Search Element launched in 2009. Since then we’ve improved the results pages of these search engines with new features like mobile compatibility, more layout options, and new ad formats. We’re excited to announce that we’re now also taking steps to update the look and feel of traditional Custom Search Engines that embed results in an iframe on publisher sites, or that host results pages on Google.

Over the coming months you’ll see changes in the presentation of your search results pages for a richer, cleaner, and easier to use experience for your users. If you monitor the earnings from your search engine through AdSense for search, you may also see changes in your ad performance. We’re working towards improving ad relevance for users with new layouts and ad formats, while continuing to prevent accidental clicks. No action is required on your part for these updates.

If you’d like to add search functionality to your site and get started with Custom Search, sign in to your account and create a new Custom Search Engine under the “My Ads” tab of the new AdSense interface.

Source : http://adsense.blogspot.com/2011/07/upcoming-improvements-to-custom-search.html?utm_source=facebookEN&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=ww-ww-et-facebook2011-07-21

74 % Pakistanis on Mobile Internet Users Use Nokia Phone Device

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Xtreamer

Out of estimated 5 million mobile phone users, availing GPRS/EDGE facilities in Pakistan, 74 percent are on Symbian powered Nokia phones.

Over last one year, market share pattern has remained almost the same, where Apple powered devices, mostly the iPhones, share 8 percent market of mobile internet users. Nokia has lost its market share with a slight margin, from 76 % in February 2010 to to 74 percent in February 2011, however it looks that Nokia’s dominance in Pakistan can’t be compromised in near future.

IE9 coming soon to Windows Phone 7

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Xtreamer

Internet Explorer 9 {IE9} for Mobile support HTML5 and speed test with iPhone. And Is Faster Than Iphone

Windows Phone 7, the new mobile operating system that Microsoft brought to shelves in October last year, is expected to become more appealing before the end of 2011, through the addition of new features and applications into the mix.

Among the enhancements that the mobile platform is expected to receive during 2011, we can count the inclusion of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) web browser for mobile, which was already officially confirmed.

However, some of the latest reports on the matter suggest that the web browser in Windows Phone 7 might be upgraded earlier than that, and that users would be able to taste IE9 on their mobile devices before fall.

On top of that, it has been suggested that the upcoming browser will not only support HTML5, as already confirmed, but it would also include Silverlight support.

On desktop computers, the IE9 browser is currently touted as one of the fastest, if not the fastest, browsers available, and it might arrive on mobile devices with the same performance capabilities, providing users with a great experience.

Skype Introduce Skype To Go a new way to save on calls abroad from any phone

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Xtreamer

Skype To Go

Skype To Go is an exciting new way to call friends

Skype To Go is an exciting new way to call friends, family and colleagues abroad at great Skype rates from any mobile or landline. Yes, that’s right, even your 10-year-old mobile or antique landline phone. You don’t need an Internet connection, and you don’t need to be in a 3G coverage area.

More Info:Skype Official Blog

Google Announcement about Auto Blogging

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Xtreamer

Google Policy about Auto Blogging

Publishers can put ads on auto-generated pages or other copied content that was not created by them.

Fact: We don’t allow sites with auto-generated or otherwise unoriginal content to participate in the AdSense program. This is to ensure that our users are benefiting from a unique online experience and that our advertisers are partnering with useful and relevant sites.

In the past, we’ve talked about tips for maintaining an AdSense-friendly site with user-generated content (UGC). Today's topic is not only applicable to UGC sites, but also to all websites affiliated with AdSense for content.

Sometimes we come across sites that are using software to generate automated content. These sites might look like normal news sites, but the information is completely plagiarized. Scraping content and passing it off as one’s own is not only wrong, but it also happens to be a serious violation of our policies. AdSense depends on maintaining a balance between user, publisher, and advertiser experience. We strive to protect that ecosystem as much as possible by encouraging and protecting unique and relevant content.

Obviously publishers and Google are concerned with revenue generation, and when original traffic encounters quality content, it’s a match made in heaven. The best way to engage users in the long term is to engage users. Provide your opinion on the news, offer a different service, organize your site in a way so that a user is captivated and moved.

Take some time to familiarize yourself with these webmaster quality guidelines, and if you find sites within our network that are clearly violating these guidelines, feel free to report it to us.

Auto Blogging Is Google’s Next Target!

An auto blog is basically a blog that has it’s content posted automatically

& the afore mentioned content is more often than not, taken from RSS feeds (syndicated content) and also from large retail sites such as Amazon, Commission Juction, eBay etc.

The Auto Blogging Software

You may have noticed a couple of articles I did not too long ago “Auto Blog Samurai” & “WP Robot”, either program can & will create blog entries on auto pilot, however if you have read the two articles you will know my thoughts on “Auto Blog Samurai” and although “WP Robot” does a far superior job, it is around twice the price & does have one hell of a steep learning curve.

Auto Blogging Googles Next Target! WP Robot Horizontal

The Sales Pitch..?

As is the case with most products, the sales pitch sounds great and if it is to be believed, you could have 100 websites up & running in no time at all. However there is one side to all this auto blogging that I have not heard mentioned, yet it strikes me as being of major importance & that is simply that if you use Adsense, you will be running the risk of having your account terminated for operating outside Google’s terms of service! Now I bet that made a few of you sit up & take notice, as it did me, when I read a headline on one of Google’s recent newsletters. Basically what it says is;

Unoriginal Content
“Did you know that sites using software to generate automated information or otherwise unoriginal content is a serious violation of our policies? Read our webmaster quality guidelines, and if you find violating sites within our network, feel free to report them to us.”

Now it just so happened that at the time this was published, I was setting up some minor alterations to one of my other sites, a site that has been running for just over 2 years now. The alterations are to included content being posted automatically from one of the big online retailers. This content is a complete match with the subject / topic of the site and I do believe it to be of benefit to the readers. Because of this I have decided to take a chance and see what develops, especially as the unoriginal content (as Google calls it), will only account for 2 of the 7 category boxes on the home / index page, plus I have gone to great lengths to ensure that this new content actually passes a test on Plagium.com which is a similar site to Copyscape & checks for duplicate / unoriginal content on the Internet.

A Friendly Warning

Auto Blogging Googles Next Target! Google SEO

So my friends, the point of this article is to bring to your attention, the risks you could be taking, should you decide to delve into the realms of auto blogging and yes I do realize that it could be that your Adsense account only pays you peanuts & therefore you would not be unduly concerned about losing your account! But the problem is, would Google’s wrath stop at termination of your Adsense account or could it also extend to having your website de-indexed or at the very least sandboxed or relegated to the supplemental cache. Let’s face it, there is not much point in having 100 websites, if you cannot get any decent ranking and web traffic, so before parting with your hard earned bucks, please give this some serious thought.

Google Declares War

Now you may be wondering what is going on with Google, especially as auto blogging has been around for quite some considerable time now. Well it seems that Google are once again flexing their muscles & declaring war on those low life scum bags, the “Spammers” & once again it will be the case that innocent parties will suffer. What really gets my goat with all this war on spammers rubbish, is having to wake up each morning to an mailbox full of the same old spam that I’ve been deleting for the last 3 years. If Google manage to figure out that it is actually spam (which they do), then it should not be a major task for Google to see what I do with it i.e. TRASH IT!

Google Science Fair 2011 is live!

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Xtreamer

Google Science Fair, a global, online science competition, is live today.

Google, in partnership with CERN, LEGO, Scientific American, and National Geographic is sponsoring this contest. Students aged 13-18 from around the world can enter singly or in groups of up to three students. Prizes include internships and scholarships and finalists will be flown to Google's Headquarters in California for the finale. Students have until April 4th, 2011 to complete their entry.

Students who enter will need to create a Google account first if they don't already have one. Students then complete the sign up form, plan our their project, conduct their experiment and write up their results. They then create either a two minute video or a 20 slide presentation giving an overview of the project and embed it in the project submission.

The Google Science Fair site has information and resources for the students and educators to help them with their projects. There are examples of the entry and project submissions to give students assistance in entering the contest.

There are some great prizes for the winners too, including a trip to the Galapagos Islands, scholarships, and goodies from the sponsors (one goody bag is a Google Chrome OS Notebook and Android phone).

You can follow the Google Science Fair on Facebook, Twitter, Buzz and Blogger also to keep up with news and information.

The Teacher Resource section has downloadable information sheets and posters, a link to request and information packet (mine came yesterday with posters, stickers and information sheets), tips for getting your students started with the project, and a variety of resources for science and science fair projects.

This is a great experience and opportunity for students to showcase their science talent and excitement. Please share this information with your colleagues, students, and parents.

Newly Discovered Chinese Virus for Android Sends Private Data via SMS

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Xtreamer

NetQin Mobile, one of the leading mobile security software providers has just announced that it has recently identified a new virus on Android devices. According to NetQin, the virus known as “MSO.PJApps” is said to be causing private data leaks and to secretly subscribe users to paid services.

It seems that the virus was repackaged into some of the most popular mobile applications available for download from an application download site in China.

As soon as the user installs the application containing the virus on his mobile device, “MSO.PJApps” will connect to certain sites and start sending text messages containing the mobile device's IMEI number, as well as other data to designated numbers controlled by a remote server,

Besides the above mentioned actions, the virus receives commands from the remote server to download and install software without user's permission, which may lead to unintended service subscription charges.

According to NetQin, “the "MSO.PJApps" virus is injected into legitimate mobile applications and modifies the application entry in Manifest.xml to add certain modules. It is activated in the background with a change in signal and when the relevant program starts automatically.”

“It encrypts the domain names of the site which is connected to. The virus author disguises the malicious URLs as being encrypted with BASE64, while the URLs are actually encrypted with an algorithm designed by himself,” concluded the Mobile Security Center of NetQin Mobile Inc.

The mobile software security developer that identified the virus also found a solution to the threat within 12 hours and updated its virus database to ensure that Android device users are protected against the intrusion.

Even though the virus seems to be limited to Chinese market for the moment, there's no telling if this spreads to other application markets.

For those who wish to protect their devices against such threats NetQin Mobile Anti-virus for Android is available as a free download from Here

LAVA A10 with IPS Touchscreen Introduced in India

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Xtreamer

LAVA Mobile, a major Indian handset manufacturer, has just announced the availability of its new touch screen phone A10. One of the strong points of the device is its IPS (In-Plane Switching) screen, as well as great multimedia features.

The A10 follows the successful LAVA A9 and made the company find its place on the competitive touch phone market. Thanks to its gun metal finish body, backed with stylish look and great features, the A10 might become a best seller in the emerging markets.

Commenting on the launch of A10, Mr. SN Rai, co-founder & director, LAVA International Ltd., said:

“LAVA has always been a trend setter in the consumer insight driven innovations. Introduction of the touch screen phone with IPS Technology will carry the same trend forward. As screen is a very important element in a touch phone we have introduced IPS in A10 to provide a premium display experience to our customers.”

The A10's IPS screen provides a superior display with clear sharp images both for still and motion pictures. In addition, it allows pictures and videos to be viewed at wide angle of up to 178 degree.

Other key features of the phone include: 3.0-inch touchscreen, 3.2-megapixel camera with flash, Yamaha PA System (for great music sound), G-Sensor, microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 16 GB), Privacy lock, 3.5mm Audio Jack, EDGE support, SNS integration (Facebook, Twitter) and Maps by Map my India.

Mr. SN Rai added, “There is a segment of men who prefer metal and metallic look over plastic and colorful look. The phone has been specially designed to keep this segment in mind. The emerging Indian youth yarns for power packed performance. Lava A10 fulfills both the need.”

Lava A10 can be purchased from the Indian market for just Rs. 5499 (about $122).

BOLT browser brings Indian Language support

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Xtreamer

BOLT is a feature rich mobile browser which supports a wide variety of phones .

It supports both Flash and HTML5 video and comes with social network integration.
Today BOLT announced that the BOLT browser supports Indic aka Indian regional languages in them.
The users also can input the Indic fonts too.
This is made possible by BOLT cloud computing browsing platform and BOLT mobile browser with Indic language user interfaces, to perfectly render Indic text on a Web page, and the ability for end users to input Indic text into the browser.
The supports Indian languages in BOLT are
*.Hindi (India’s official language)
*.Bengali
*.Gurumukhi
*.Telugu
*.Tamil
*.Kannada
*.Gujarati
*.Malayalam
*.Oriya
The texts are rendered as text and not as images as in other mobile browsers.
The BOLT perfectly renders Indic text on a Web page, and allows users to scale text to larger or smaller sizes, copy and paste text from within a Web page, and interact with the content such as clicking embedded links or filling in Web forms.
Lokesh Joshi, director of research and development at Bitstream India said “Indic characters are not independent from one another the way characters are in Latin alphabets. Each letter’s size and shape is determined by the characters that surround it, making it a very complex language to work with in a mobile context.
Bitstream’s heritage is in font technologies, and we have perfected the ability to render Indic fonts on consumer electronics. With BOLT’s Indic solution for device manufacturers and mobile network operators, Bitstream has also perfected Indic rendering in mobile browsing.”
“Bitstream has engineered BOLT to maximize the utility of the Internet on mobile for end users, giving handset manufacturers an important competitive differentiator for their mobile phone lines, and providing mobile network operators another way to compete for new users as well as to better manage the data usage on their networks,” said Anna Magliocco-Chagnon, CEO of Bitstream .
“Now with the addition of Indic language support, Bitstream is introducing the mobile Internet as it was intended to be seen to millions of new users in India and surrounding regions.”
BOLT is avilable for both Java and BREW platforms and it is expected to make its way on Android very soon.

Symbian ^ 4 will not Be Updated - all updates will be available for Symbian ^ 3

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Xtreamer

Nokia shared its development strategy, its sector of mobile platforms. .
Main news: the operating system Symbian ^ 4 as such will not be any updates will be the owners of gadgets on the current version of the platform - Symbian ^ 3.

This is somewhat similar strategy of Google, providing automatic updates to the Android devaysov to the latest version.
True, it is hoped that in the case of Symbian updates with conditional Symbian ^ 3 to conditional Symbian ^ 4 will be relevant for all gadgets, not just those whose producers think about the long-term user support.
Given that almost all of Soup for Symbian makes herself Nokia, to achieve this, companies will not be so hard.

Skype Revokes Access from Nimbuzz ( Now Can Not Be Accessed )

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Xtreamer

Nimbuzz is a popular IM client for PC and Mobile. Nimbuzz posted in their official blog that they have removed the Skype support. Nimbuzz told that the folks at Skype asked them to remove their service.
Most of the readers were surprised by Skype decision and disappointed at the same time. For a lot of people Nimbuzz provided a stable connection to Skype and in some cases (i.e. Android and Symbian) it was the only way they could use their Skype account.
The same thing happens with Fring also. Skype is now removing its support for third party apps.
Nimbuzz said

Yes, it’s true. Skype will no longer be accessible via Nimbuzz starting October 31, 2010. Why? Skype asked us to remove support for their service.

Skype’s decision to ask us to stop supporting their service seems to be part of a strategy to disconnect all open third party support.

Nimbuzz users can use NimbuzzOut instead of Skype.

Yahoo! Mobile Web Messenger Now with Free SMS

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Xtreamer

A new feature has been just announced as available for mobile phone users who take advantage of Yahoo! Mobile Web Messenger on their devices, namely SMS capabilities.

The new feature does not require for users to install anything new on their mobile phones, but only to head over to m.yahoo.com/messenger to enjoy Yahoo! Messenger and all of its capabilities, SMS features included.

“Your mobile phone just got better! We’re excited to announce that Yahoo! Mobile Web Messenger now offers SMS capabilities, so whether you have a smartphone or a feature phone, you can send text messages to your friends’ mobile phones – for free,” a recent post on Yahoo! Mobile blog reads.

According to the development team, this was one of the most wanted features in the Yahoo! Mobile Web Messenger, and it was added to the usual instant messages and emoticons that were available via the solution.

With the new feature, “in addition to the usual instant messages and emoticons, you can now send text messages from Messenger to your friends’ mobile phones for free,” the development team notes.

The latest version of Yahoo! Mobile Web Messenger comes with a series of other enhancements too.

The release notes for it include:

- Send SMS for free to your IM friends or to any mobile numbers
- Enhanced Searchbox allows you to look up contacts by their usernames or phone numbers in your Yahoo! Address book and IM contact list
- Easy toggle between SMS and IM conversations

Windows Phone 7 to Be Launched Today

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Xtreamer

Windows Phone 7 to Be Launched Today

It's been a long wait, but the launch day has finally arrived. Today, Redmond-based software giant Microsoft is expected to officially launch its latest mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7, and to announce when the first handsets running under it would land on shelves.

Last year this time, the company brought to shelves another OS version, Windows Mobile 6.5, which later became Windows Phone 6.5, and which was nothing more than a version upgrade for the older Windows Mobile 6.1.

Unlike 6.5, Windows Phone 7, which was unveiled officially back in February during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, brings a breath of fresh air to Microsoft's mobile offering, which lost ground lately in front of more powerful rivals like Android, BlackBerry or iOS.

With the new OS version, users would get a brand new experience from their Windows Phones, including a new user interface, redesigned menus, better integration with social networking, a new Marketplace, and more.

The new Windows Phone 7 is said to be revolutionary and, when compared to the previous versions of the platform, it cannot be seen differently, that's for sure.

However, the main attraction of the day won't be the mobile operating system in itself, but the mobile phones running under it, which should go official today, as well as the exact shipping dates for various markets around the world.

Rumors on Windows Phone 7 devices have started to emerge ever since a few months ago, and handsets like HTC HD7, HTC Trophy, Samsung Cedar, HTC Mondrian, LG E900, LG C900, and many others made it to the headlines quite a few times before.

As far as rumor goes, today's announcement should unveil the fact that Windows Phone 7 handsets are set to land on the European market starting with October 21st, while US users would receive them beginning with November 8th.

However, it remains to be seen which carriers would launch Windows Phone 7 devices first, as well as what devices would land on shelves before the end of the ongoing year.

The launch event should take place today, October 11th, at 9:30 a.m. ET, in New York, (02:30PM, London), where Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, would announce officially the upcoming release of Windows Phone 7 handsets in the US.

We'll keep an eye on the news surrounding the Windows Phone 7 launch, so check with us again lately today to learn more on what Microsoft has to unveil to the world.

Microsoft launches Internet Explorer 9 beta

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Xtreamer

SAN FRANCISCO--Microsoft launched the beta of Internet Explorer 9 on Wednesday, promising to use the whole power of the PC to set Web sites free from the constraints previously imposed on them.

"The Web is about sites," Corporate Vice President Dean Hachamovitch said at an event here. "Browsers should be too. Today, Web sites are boxed in."
The new browser features a minimalistic user interface, hardware acceleration, and broader support for Web standards including HTML 5 and CSS 3.
For Microsoft, the arrival of IE9 is an attempt to compete more fully with Mozilla's Firefox, Google's Chrome, and other browsers. Although various flavors of Internet Explorer are still used for one in three Web site visits, Microsoft has been losing share for years as rivals have moved ahead technically.
With IE9, Microsoft is trying to change that, while also bringing more of Windows 7's capabilities to the browser. The new browser allows users to pin a Web site to the Windows 7 taskbar, much as a user can do already with applications. Sites that are pinned in this fashion can then program "jumplists" that allow surfers to quickly move through various parts of the Web site.

Scenes from Microsoft's IE9 beta launch (photos)

Other features include the ability to monitor which add-ons are slowing down the browser as it launches as well as a download manager that warns users if the code they are grabbing has a bad reputation and is potentially malicious.
Much of Wednesday's launch is set to focus on various partners that have built sites optimized for the new browser. The first on stage was Microsoft's own Bing search engine, which showed both its jumplists as well as a new HTML 5-powered home page that allows Bing to show either moving pictures or a video on its home page. Microsoft said it plans within a month to offer a spiffed up Bing site in preview form, using some of the HTML5 capabilities of IE9.
The IE9 beta is available starting Wednesday and works with Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Hachamovitch typically sports a new Internet Explorer-themed black shirt at each event where he speaks. For Wednesday's launch, his shirt says "Beauty," with the greek letter beta used instead of the B.t

Zen Mobile Launches QWERTY Handset With Analog TV

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Xtreamer

Zen Mobile has launched a Analog TV mobile phone with QWERTY keypad. The name of this Analog TV phone is Z82 and support dual sim (GSM+GSM). This phone will cost you Rs. 4,799. With Zen Z82 the company has introduced a Live Telecast & News updates on a QWERTY mobile.

Zen Z82 enable you to connect with all the social networking sites like facebook, nimbus, yahoo along with instant chat access. The phone comes with a 2.0 MP camera. The videos will play on 2.4” QVGA widescreen offering MP4 playback. The phone is outfitted with Quad Band which supports all types of frequencies such as 850/900/1800/1900 mhz. Zen Z82 mobile facilitates the use of dual SIM cards and a storage capacity of 1000 contacts and 1000 SMS. The talk time in Zen Z82 is around 5 hours and remains functional up to 200 hours in stand-by mode.
The Zen Z82 has expandable memory up to 4GB. The handset features such as bluetooth FM and FM Recorder.

Nokia profit falls with 40% compared to last year

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Xtreamer

nokia booth

Nokia, the world’s biggest handset manufacturer, has reported a 40% year on year decline in profits for the three months ended on 30 June 2010. Profits at the manufacturer over the last three months were 227m euros (£191m). Nokia reported that gross margin on devices and services has fallen to 30%, down 34% from the same period last year and down 32% on the last quarter.

Nokia profit falls with 40% compared to last year

Net sales of devices and services grew by 3% year on year from 6 586m euros to 6 799m euros, despite the margin on sales dipping by almost 4% during the same period. The average sales price of Nokia devices declined by 4% when compared with the same period last year. In Q2 2009 a Nokia device sold for an average of 64 euros, the price dropped to 61 euros in Q2 2010.

In Europe, the handset giant saw sales of its devices remain steady. Sales in Europe increased by 1% year on year, but declined by 1% sequentially. Globally, mobile device volumes grew by 8% year on year. Nokia estimates that its global market share is now around 33%, a fall of 2% from 35% in the second quarter of 2009.
Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka-Kallasvuo said: ’Despite facing continuing competitive challenges, we ended the second quarter with several reasons to be optimistic about our future. For one, the global handset market has continued to grow at a healthy pace, led by some of the less mature markets where Nokia is strong. We are also encouraged by the solid second quarter performance of our mobile phones business, helped by an improving line-up of affordable models.

Google says China licence renewed by government

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The Chinese government has been in a long-running dispute with Google

The Chinese government has renewed Google's licence to operate in China, the internet giant has said, ending a long-running stand-off between the two.

Google gave no details of the licence renewal.
There had been speculation China would revoke the licence after Google began redirecting Chinese users to its unfiltered search site in Hong Kong.
But last month, in a conciliatory move towards Beijing, Google said it would no longer automatically redirect users.

Analysis

Rory Cellan-Jones Technology correspondent, BBC News

The battle between Google and the Chinese government appears to have ended in a score-draw.
Google can truthfully say that it has stopped censoring search results in China, fulfilling the promise it made at the end of last year. Its Chinese search business is effectively moribund in the country but it can continue to operate in other areas like music, so that Chinese citizens remain aware of its brand.
The Chinese government has made sure that its citizens cannot receive unfiltered search results because searches have to pass back from Hong Kong through the firewall where sensitive material can be removed.
A source at Google said: "We've had a lot of messages from China saying don't let Google go dark -we've managed to do that while staying true to our principles. "

Instead, Chinese users would be sent to a "landing page", which would send them to the Hong Kong site.
"We are very pleased that the government has renewed our ICP (internet content provider) licence and we look forward to continuing to provide web search and local products to our users in China," Google's lawyer David Drummond said in an e-mailed statement.
Google's share price rose 2.8% in Friday trading following the announcement.
On Thursday, Google boss Eric Schmidt said that he expected the Chinese government to renew the licence.
'Cyber attack' Google has had a long history of run-ins with the Chinese authorities, but without a licence granted by Beijing, it cannot operate in China.
"Our operations in China are completely at the discretion of the Chinese government," Mr Schmidt has said.
In January, Google said it might pull out of China following what it called a "sophisticated" cyber attack originating from the country.
The attacks targeted the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists, along with the computers and infrastructure of Google and several other US firms.

GOOGLE CHINA TIMELINE

January 2006: Google launches in China
March 2009: China blocks access to YouTube
June 2009: China introduces filtering software on all new PCs
January 2010: Google says it may pull out of China after cyber attacks
January 2010: China denounces US criticism of its internet controls
March 2010: China's state media attacks Google for close ties with the White House
March 2010: Google says will automatically redirect China customers to uncensored Hong Kong site
June 2010: Google says China customers now have to actively click on Hong Kong site
July 2010: China renews Google licence

Following the threat to withdraw, some passers-by laid flowers outside Google's offices to thank the company for standing up for its principles.
The US government even issued a statement saying it was "disappointed" that Google and China had not been able to resolve their differences.
'Issues remain' The licence renewal is key to Google. Losing business in China, which already has more internet users than any other country despite relatively low penetration, could harm the company's future growth prospects.
Analysts welcomed the renewal, but warned that fundamental differences between Google and China remained.
"It is good news for the Chinese consumer and good news for the Chinese internet industry that Google is still available in the country in some shape or form," said Ted Dean at Beijing-based business advisory firm BDA.
"But many of the issues around why Google shut down its Chinese search page in the first place are still there."
Elinor Leung, at investment firm CLSA in Hong Kong, went even further, arguing that "this doesn't really change anything about Google's position in China. The redirection to its Hong Kong site is ongoing so it is the same problem as before".

Google profits up sharply but fail to impress

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Google is spending more money on research and development, analysts say

Internet giant Google has reported a sharp rise in profits and revenue in quarterly results that nonetheless failed to impress Wall Street.

Net profit for the three months to the end of June came in at $1.84bn (£1.2bn), up by a quarter on the $1.48bn it recorded a year earlier.
Revenue was $6.82bn, also up sharply on the $5.52bn posted a year ago.
However, analysts had expected better and chose to focus instead on operating expenses, which increased sharply.
As a result, shares in Google fell more than 4% in after-hours trading.
'Strong growth' "They're throwing more money into research and development than people were expecting and a little bit less into sales and marketing," said Colin Gillis at BGC Partners.
"Google has been pretty clear that it's going back into investment mode. They added 1,200 people in the quarter, which means more expenses are going to kick in in September."
Despite the underwhelming response from Wall Street, Google chief executive said the firm had "had a strong second quarter" based on "solid growth in our core business and very strong growth in our emerging businesses".
Google dominates the search engine market. It has about a 65% share of the US market and about 90% in Europe.
It received a boost last week when the Chinese government renewed the company's licence to operate in China following a long-standing dispute between the two.

Leaked: Apple’s internal iPhone 4 antenna troubleshooting procedures

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Xtreamer

Leaked: Apple’s internal iPhone 4 antenna troubleshooting procedures

The antenna issues plaguing the iPhone 4 have infuriated many iPhone users (and rightfully so), but have you ever wondered how Apple is training its employees to deal with the fiasco? Well thanks to one of our Apple connects, we now know the exact procedures AppleCare reps must follow when dealing with any reception complaints regarding the iPhone 4. Hit the jump to check them out.

1. Keep all of the positioning statements in the BN handy – your tone when delivering this information is important.

a. The iPhone 4’s wireless performance is the best we have ever shipped. Our testing shows that iPhone 4’s overall antenna performance is better than iPhone 3GS.

b. Gripping almost any mobile phone in certain places will reduce its reception. This is true of the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, and many other phones we have tested. It is a fact of life in the wireless world.

c. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 3GS, avoid covering the bottom-right side with your hand.

d. If you are experiencing this on your iPhone 4, avoid covering the black strip in the lower-left corner of the metal band.

e. The use of a case or Bumper that is made out of rubber or plastic may improve wireless performance by keeping your hand from directly covering these areas.

2. Do not perform warranty service. Use the positioning above for any customer questions or concerns.

3. Don’t forget YOU STILL NEED to probe and troubleshoot. If a customer calls about their reception while the phone is sitting on a table (not being held) it is not the metal band.

4. ONLY escalate if the issue exists when the phone is not held AND you cannot resolve it.

5. We ARE NOT appeasing customers with free bumpers – DON’T promise a free bumper to customers.

Clearly Apple is taking the position that nothing is wrong with the antenna, although that’s not surprising since most companies will never willingly admit their flagship product is potentially suffering from an unfixable flaw. But does anyone else find it interesting, if not troubling, that there is no mention of an impending software fix?

Microsoft Windows 8 Details Leaked

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Xtreamer

The plan details for Windows 8 has leaked and according to leaked documents, facial recognition and tablet computers apparently a part of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 8. Leaked documents detailing Microsoft’s initial thoughts on the development of Windows 8 have surfaced on the internet. Microsoft is paying attention to Apple while planning Windows 8. The prototype look like just as apple's. Microsoft alao focusing on energy efficiency areas on Windows 8.

Other key features included a focus on improving start-up times, which have previously been cited by consumer groups as a cause of frustration, as well as an easy way to reset PCs to their default settings without deleting users’ information.
The PowerPoint presentation, apparently aimed at an HP executive and dated April 2010, suggested that facial recognition for log in and compatibility with a range of new computers and tablets could be a key part of the forthcoming product. The original leak has since been taken down, but a number of bloggers provide analysis and screenshots.

Now, it looks like that focus is back for Help and Support on Windows 8 and the aim is to help user. The forthcoming Internet Explorer 9 is also mention as integral to the new ideas. Microsoft appears to be planning functionality for a reset button that will essentially reinstall Windows while maintaining all of your personal files, applications, settings, etc. without the need for the user to back all of that stuff up. A scenario is presented in one of these slides to demonstrate how it would work.

Windows 8 Introduces “Windows Store,” Microsoft’s App Store for Windows. it will be an application store which will allow you to purchase applications for Windows (and perhaps Microsoft mobile devices as well, such as Windows Phone, Zune HD, etc.). All the information is thought to represent Microsoft’s first thoughts about Windows 8, it demonstrates that the new operating system is at a stage where the company can begin sharing its ideas with PC partners. There is no indication of user interface changes, although there is a picture of an all-in-one PC. This is thought to be for illustrative purposes only, however. Windows 8 is expected to be released in 2012 and the leaked information rise the eagerness to see the Windows 8 on PC in front of you.