Google says China's "great firewall" blocked search

Google Inc blamed "the great firewall" of China for blocking its Internet search service in the country on Tuesday, but said it did not know if the stoppage was a Chinese technical glitch or a deliberate move in their face-off over Internet censorship.

Whichever it was, the incident underscored the vulnerability of Google's business in the world's largest country.

Google said search traffic in China now appeared to be back to normal following its confirmation earlier on Tuesday of reports that many users in China were unable to search on its Hong Kong-based website.

In an unusual development, however, Google provided a new statement about the disruptions to its search service that reversed the explanation it had offered just three hours earlier.

Google said in an updated statement on Tuesday that changes it made to its search code, which it had initially cited as the cause of blocked searches in China, had been made a week ago, and not in the past 24 hours, as Google had first said.

"So whatever happened today to block Google.com.hk must have been as a result of a change in the great firewall," Google said in an emailed statement, referring to China's technology for filtering Internet content.

Asked if the "change" was a glitch or deliberate, a Google spokeswoman replied: "We don't know."

The news comes with Google's Chinese search service already in the headlines due to a censorship dispute with Beijing.

The company shut its mainland Chinese portal Google.cn last week and rerouted searches to its Hong Kong site in order to offer uncensored search results.

Analysts and China experts have been on the lookout for signs that Beijing might clamp down on Google and restrict its services, following harsh official comments in reaction to Google's new approach to offering Internet search in China.

Separately, Google also said its mobile services in China were partly blocked on Sunday and Monday.

Inconsistency in Google's search service to Chinese users could expose a weakness in Google's plan to provide search from Hong Kong, said Pacific Crest Securities analyst Steve Weinstein.

"If that continues you'd imagine that they would slowly over time lose share," Weinstein said.

Since Google made the switch last week, sensitive terms like "Tiananmen" have been blocked by the Chinese government for most mainland Chinese users as was previously the case.

But users in China began on Tuesday to report erratic results on Google.com.hk, saying even searches for non-sensitive terms like "hello" returned blank pages. At other times, sensitive searches returned a normal result, showing links to pages that are then blocked by China's Internet filters.

Earlier on Tuesday, Google explained the blocking by saying that due to a change on its site, "gs_rfai" started to appear in the URLs of Google searches globally in the last 24 hours.

"Because this parameter contained the letters rfa the great firewall was associating these searches with Radio Free Asia, a service that has been inaccessible in China for a long time -- hence the blockage," a Google spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. Google said the problem affected "lots of" users.

Radio Free Asia is a pro-democracy, pro-human rights media channel that China's censors have blocked.

The updated Google statement said that search traffic to China was now back to normal, even though Google had not made any changes on its end.

"We will continue to monitor what is going on, but for the time being this issue seems to be resolved," Google said in the statement.

Google on March 22 said it would pull its Chinese-language search services out of China, citing also a hacking attack late in 2009 that it said originated from the country.

Google -- the world's No. 1 Internet search provider and No. 2 in China behind local search powerhouse Baidu Inc -- has said it intends to retain some business operations in China, including research and development staff and a sales team.

But analysts have said that the Chinese government could make life difficult for Google.

"Most investors I talked to were under the impression that any sort of workaround would not be successful," said Needham & Compan analyst Mark May, referring to Google's move to relocate its search service to Hong Kong.

According to Google, its mobile services were partly blocked in China for two days.

On a website showing the accessibility of Google's services in China, the company listed mobile as "partially blocked" on Sunday and Monday. Prior to Sunday, there were no issues with mobile services in China, according to the site -- www.google.com/prc/report.html#hl=en.

Some users in Shanghai on Tuesday reported no problems with searching through Google's mobile service, indicating that the outages are intermittent.

Other mobile users have had problems ever since Google stopped censoring search results in China earlier this month.

A Google spokeswoman would not speculate on the cause for the mobile outages.

IBM nurturing nascent tech startups

IBM on Wednesday launched a Global Entrepreneur initiative aimed at helping fledgling startups devoted to putting new technologies to work for traditional business or government operations.

The program is intended to buoy young technology firms that have been all but abandoned by venture capitalists hungry for quick returns on investments instead of waiting the decade or longer it typically takes startups to mature.

"In the climate we have been in since 2008 it is clear there is a bit of a void in terms of nurturing very young companies," said IBM managing director of Venture Capital Group Claudia Fan Munce.

"Our Smarter Planet agenda calls for that pipeline to be bigger while right now it is getting pretty small if not a complete gap."

The IBM Smarter Planet strategy calls for using Digital Age technologies to gather and analyze data to make governments, health care centers, utilities and other enterprise computer operations more efficient.

"Smarter planet is all about the fact that today you can capture a lot more data than was available before and transform that into intelligence you can do business with," Munce said.

IBM will provide selected startups with support such as computer software, feedback from in-house researchers, mentoring, and access to a social network of entrepreneurs and Information Technology (IT) professionals worldwide.

Startups that get IBM's seal of approval will also be introduced to venture capitalists searching for promising new technology firms, according to Munce.

Entrepreneurs worldwide are invited to apply, with IBM choosing startups that the US technology powerhouse thinks are "strategically relevant to the market we serve."

The startups must be privately held and less than three years old.

While Silicon Valley venture capitalists tend to crave Internet firms, IBM said it will be looking for startups using technology to improve performance of key industries from telecommunications and energy to health care and government.

Startups the IBM worked with during a pilot program included Ireland-based Treemetrics that uses satellite pictures and 3-D imaging to determine when forests are in prime condition to be harvested for lumber.

Nanosatellite to rid space of junk

A tiny three-kg satellite or "nanosatellite" will rid the space of dangerous clouds of junk hurtling around in the earth's lower orbit.

More than 5,500 tonnes of junk is believed to be cluttering space around the planet as a result of 50 years of abandoned spacecraft.

The junk opens the possibility of collision with any manned or unmanned spacecraft, the destruction of hugely expensive technology and the potential threat of large debris plummeting back to Earth.

The build-up of debris -- expected to grow at a rate of five percent each year -- is also believed to obstruct satellite TV and other communications signals.

University of Surrey (U-S) scientists, working on the project funded by the European space company Astrium, have devised the "nanosatellite" fitted with a "solar sail".

"CubeSail" is a device that can be fitted to satellites or launch vehicle upper stages that are sent into orbit and can be deployed to successfully de-orbit equipment that has reached the end of its mission.

A five by five metre deployable sail is being developed to fit in a 10 by 10 by 30 cm, three kg, nanosatellite and would be used in a demo mission to be launched in late 2011, showcasing passive means of deorbiting for future satellites.

Vaios Lappas, senior lecturer in Space Vehicle Control at the U-S Space Centre (U-SSC), who led the research said in a U-SSC release: "CubeSail is a novel, low cost space mission that will demonstrate for the first time space debris/satellite de-orbiting using an ultra light five by five (metre) sail stowed and supported on a three kg nanosatellite."

CubeSail is due for launch on new satellites next year, and is expected to be available for shifting existing debris from 2013.

Step ahead in search for God particle

Scientists on Tuesday are stepping up efforts to detect the elusive 'God Particle' by triggering collision of two proton beams in the world's largest atom smasher located on the Franco-Swiss border on the outskirts of Geneva.

The two proton beams, set in motion in opposite directions of two 27-km long pipes of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in November last year, are currently moving at 3.5 trillion electron volts (TeV) with each beam of the protons going around the device 11,000 times every second.

Physicists at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), that houses the LHC, will make attempts to collide the two beams at 7 TeV, to create conditions similar at the time of the Big Bang - that is believed to have created the universe.

Indian scientists will join their counterparts from across the world who would observe the collisions as they happen.

When the proton beams collide, 800 million collisions per second would take place and powerful detectors installed at the site would gather data of each of the collisions.

It is the analysis of this data that could lead to the discovery of the Higgs boson, also called as the 'God particle', that is believed to have existed when the universe was born, said Prof Satyaki Bhattacharya of Delhi University who is involved in the LHC experiment.

Researchers will sift through the subatomic debris of proton collisions for signs of extra dimensions that will bolster belief in "supersymmetry", a theory that doubles the number of particle species in the universe.

The LHC is designed to collide two 7 TeV proton beams, but scientists decided in January to operate the machine at half the power until the end of 2011. The machine will then close for a year of further engineering work to ensure it can run at full power in 2013 without breaking down again.

For scientists at CERN and elsewhere, the beginning of high-energy collisions will end a long period of working without any real data. Until recently, many physicists have had to make do with computer simulations of particle collisions.

CERN researchers will sift through the subatomic debris of proton collisions for signs of extra dimensions and hitherto invisible particles that will bolster belief in "supersymmetry", a theory that doubles the number of particle species in the universe. Other results may point to "hidden worlds" of particles and forces that we are oblivious to because they do not interact with everyday matter.

India ranks 43rd in WEF list

India has been ranked 43rd most networked country in the world, moving up nine places against last year, as per the Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010.

The report, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) and business school INSEAD, ranks Sweden as numero uno networked country, followed by Singapore, Denmark, Switzerland, US and Finland. China has moved up 11 spots to the 37th position.

The Networked Readiness Index, featured in the report, examines how prepared countries are to use information and communication technologies (ICT) effectively on three dimensions.

The report covers 133 economies worldwide, assessing the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations.

"Sweden, Singapore and Denmark's superior capacity to leverage ICT as an enabler of sustainable, long-term economic growth is built on similar premises, relating with a long- standing focus placed by governments and private sectors alike on education, innovation and ICT access and diffusion," Irene Mia, Senior Economist of the Global Competitiveness Network at the WEF and co-editor of the report said.

The success of these countries underlines the importance of a joint ICT vision and its implementation by the different stakeholders in a country to take full advantage of ICT advances in daily life and overall competitiveness strategy, she added.

This includes general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of key stakeholders like individuals, businesses and government to use and benefit from ICT; and the actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies available.

Soon, a robot to support old people

Staying alone may not be a nightmare any more, thanks to scientists who are developing a robot which they claim can support independent living for the elderly people.

A team, led by the University of the West of England in Bristol is working on a project aimed at creating the robot and some sensors as part of an intelligent system of caring for older people.

According to the scientists, the project produces three key systems of caring - a wearable health status monitor with smart sensors woven into undergarments; a secure tele- alarm and health reporting system; and a nutrition support system which will consist for example of reminders for when meals and drinks should be taken.

All these systems will be linked to a robotic platform, which will also facilitate communications -- helping people to keep in touch with friends or relatives, or create shopping lists using voice recognition, they say.

Lead scientist, Dr Praminda Caleb Solly, said: "We are working with some of Europe's leading robotic and wearable sensor companies in this field, to ensure that the technology being developed enhances the lives of older adults and gives them the ability to make informed lifestyle choices."

"We hope that the health monitoring and the nutrition support systems will help people to track and maintain better standard of health and activity, helping them live alone for as long as possible," said Dr Solly.

"Six user groups of older people -- three in the UK and three in the Netherlands will take part in the research. Initially we will look closely at the context in which older people live, their expectations and perceptions, to ensure the technology that is developed brings real benefits to them."

Several cycles of field testing and modification will be done to enable the technology to be closely aligned to user needs, say the scientists.

Dr Solly said: "This research could have long term benefits in supporting a growing elderly population. We need to look at these systems holistically in the context of real lives and ensure that the support they give to older people living independently matches their expectations and meets a real need."

She further added: "The ethical aspects of using robots with older people will also be considered as part of this research."

MSI Toast PC catches our eye, and that's all she wrote

Who knows what's actually housed in the device, but judging by the accompanying placard, MSI is playing the aesthetic card with this one. Designed as both a PC and a decoration for the home, it's certainly pleasing on the eye. And like the sign says, "don't try to put in toast" -- cute, but we'd rather that line had a commitment to releasing this sucker. Or a price range. Or some hint as specs. Or anything tangible, really.

Microsoft's Courier 'digital journal': exclusive pictures and details

We've been dying to know more about Microsoft's Courier tablet / e-book device ever since we first caught wind of it last September, and while our entreaties to Mr. Ballmer went unanswered, we just learned some very interesting information from an extremely trusted source. We're told Courier will function as a "digital journal," and it's designed to be seriously portable: it's under an inch thick, weighs a little over a pound, and isn't much bigger than a 5x7 photo when closed. That's a lot smaller than we expected -- this new picture really puts it into perspective -- and the internals apparently reflect that emphasis on mobility: rather than Windows 7, we're told the Courier is built on Tegra 2 and runs on the same OS as the Zune HD, Pink, and Windows Mobile 7 Series, which we're taking to mean Windows CE 6.

As we've heard, the interface appears to be pen-based and centered around drawing and writing, with built-in handwriting recognition and a corresponding web site that allows access to everything entered into the device in a blog-like format complete with comments. We're also hearing that there will be a built-in camera, and there's a headphone jack for media playback. Most interestingly, it looks like the Courier will also serve as Microsoft's e-book device, with a dedicated ecosystem centered around reading. It all sounds spectacular, but all we have for a launch date is "Q3 / Q4", and we have no idea how much it's going to cost, so we're trying to maintain a healthy skepticism until any of this gets official -- call us any time, Microsoft. One more pic showing the interface after the break.

NVIDIA GTX 480 makes benchmarking debut, matches ATI HD 5870 performance

We're still not happy with NVIDIA's failure to publish anything on its site alerting users about the doom that may befall them if they switched to the 196.75 drivers, but the company's making an effort to get back into our good books with the first official video of its forthcoming GeForce GTX 480 and even a benchmark run against ATI's flagship single-GPU card, the HD 5870. It looks like you'll need to jack in a pair of auxiliary power connectors -- one 8-pin and one 6-pin -- to power the first Fermi card, as well as plenty of clearance in your case to accommodate its full length (stop giggling!). NVIDIA's benchmarking stressed the GTX 480's superior tesselation performance over the HD 5870, but it was level pegging between the two cards during the more conventional moments. It's all well and good being able to handle extreme amounts of tesselation, but it'll only matter to the end user if game designers use it as extensively as this benchmark did. As ever, wait for the real benchmarks (i.e. games) before deciding who wins, but we're slightly disappointed that NVIDIA's latest and greatest didn't just blow ATI's six-month old right out of the water.

Kojiro humanoid goes musculoskeletal in a big way

We just found a new friend. Kojiro, a humanoid being built by the University of Tokyo's JSK Robotics Laboratory, has a detailed musculoskeletal system built to mimic the human body. It works on a system of artificial bones, muscles and tendons to create a robot that is theoretically more light and agile than your regular bot, and which moves in a more organic fashion to our untrained eyes. The bot has motors which pull cables that simulate the method which muscles and tendons interact, and has about 100 tendon-muscle structures, giving it 60 degrees of freedom -- more than an average rotary joint bot like Asimo (34 degrees, last time we checked). The robot shaves weight with its lighter, plastic materials and small brushless motors. The idea is to make a robot that's more people friendly by not being substantially heavier or more rigid than a human it might come into contact with. Of course, that's not the only perk of a bot built like this: the human-style flexible and twistable spine gives Kojiro all sorts of abilities that your regular bot is just too straight-spined for. Like the limbo, for instance. The big difficulty here is that all the motion and flexibility means Kojiro is a big chore to program, and there's an army of gyros, accelerometers and force sensors embedded throughout the bot to help it learn its balance. Currently they're working with an iterative learning process to get small motions down until Kojiro can eventually manage more complex motions like sitting motionless at a desk for nine hours on a Saturday, tending to FarmVille. Check out a video of Kojiro in limited action after the break.