WORLD REVIEW
The cloud parted, and when it did Apple's MobileMe service crashed yet again for several hours (no explanation provided; they are Apple), Gmail crashed ("temporary outage in our contacts system"; Google CEO Eric "I know Jack" Schmidt: "That was a screw up. We fixed that. We're not perfect."); DVD renters Netflix shipped almost no movies to Internet customers for three days ("shipping system problem"), and the Linkup backup/storage centre, aka MediaMax, lost so much customer data they simply folded up the business entirely.
Google announced that the first "G-it's almost an i-Phone" will appear in October, on the US network of T-Mobile of Germany; said Google CEO Eric "I know Jack" Schmidt: "We can make more in mobile than desktop, eventually."
The former lead lawyer at Apple, Nancy Heinen, agreed to pay $2.2 million to the US Securities and Exchange Commission; the SEC agreed to make her illegal backdated stock option problem and probable prison sentence disappear.
All those economic slowdowns that are going on hit Apple so hard that it sold a mere three million new 3G iPhones in its first month on the market, and only 60 million apps for it worth $30 million even though most are for free; Steve "President for Life" Jobs said he had "never seen anything like this in my career for software." Steve "President for Life" Jobs aped the boys from Google when he confirmed that yes, Apple has the Office of the National Culture Commission has been asked to launch a campaign to promote the use of "Sawasdee" instead of "Hello" among Thais, particularly when answering the phone.
The dark cloud on the iPhone horizon, and the only speed bump evident: terrible, lousy, poor and downright shocking inability to do speedy 3G Internet connections; the reason is hazy, as Apple fights to keep any flaws secret, but not as hazy at the iPhone's immediate future if connections don't start to get real fast, fast.
Barack Obama announced his choice for vice-president by text message, isn't that wicked gnarly?
The US airport security known as Transportation Safety Administration began accepting notebooks in bags their X-ray machines can scan, and put out a list of specifications for manufacturers who might like to make money making such bags; the travellers with "checkpoint-friendly" notebook cases won't have to take them out at the machines - although only in the US for now.
eBay of California announced new plans to use its growing profits to continue expansion overseas: for $404, it will buy a minority stake in e-commerce giant Gmarket of Korea. Pacific Gas and Electric of California announced it will build the biggest solar power plants on Earth; they will cover 32.5km2, and produce 800 megawatts of electricity - enough for 239,000 of those mythical "average" California homes.
Yahoo! opened its somewhat creepy Fire Eagle geolocation platform for open use; the application can track people who want to be tracked, or stalk those who forget to turn off permission to access their GPS or similar device; users can restrict location reporting (city instead of street corner, say) and there is a "hide me" button they can use at any time; three companies already use the platform - Twitteresque Powncer, blog platform Movable Type and Outside.in, a community news site; it is at fireeagle.yahoo.com.
Former computer expert Sir William of Gates said that powerful software makes privacy "an interesting challenge" for citizens who don't want to be snooped upon by his former colleagues; in his light-hearted and optimistic view of the world, "Computers can be everywhere to listen to you."
By unanimous vote of a study by Internet tracking firm ComScore, Facebook passed MySpace to become the world's most popular social site; in June, Facebook had 132 million unique visitors; the report said Facebook visitors increased in Asia by 458 per cent, far outstripping second-placed Hi5, which had a mere 100 per cent growth.
A new line of Latitude laptops from Dell with - wait for it - 19 hours of battery life without a recharge; the company employs special technology it has developed with hardware and software makers to get that life.
Intel announced a new motherboard add-on that will wake up the computer for an incoming telephone call, a huge step to allow the PC to be the home or office communications centre and operate 24/7; Remote Wake will ship on Intel motherboards next month.
If a law had made mobile phones illegal on airplanes, five people would be dead today; instead, an air controller at Cork airport talked down a stricken pilot and four passengers - with SMS texting; all electrics went out on the twin-engined Piper which left texting or crashing as the only choices.
Researchers from the Semiconductor Industry Association said emerging markets fuelled a 5.4 per cent rise in global chip sales to $127.5 billion in the first half of the year; the most influential H1 buyers were in China, India, Europe and Latin America; as SIA president George Scalise says in the report: "In 2008, developing countries, with (purchases) of over 153 million units, will account for half of worldwide PC sales."
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