Whether it was a plotted marketing scheme or a mistake that one Apple engineer will never be forgotten for, the newest model of the iPhone was left in a bar in California and sold to the tech site Gizmodo. The iPhone, which was not to be formally unveiled for a couple of months has now been dissected and photos posted by the technology news site. Over a million people visitors had made it to the site to view the iPhone just an hour after it had been posted.

Apple has not formally made any comments regarding the technology leak, however late Monday evening Gizmodo received a letter from Apple’s senior VP and general counsel requesting the phone be returned.

The United States Appeals Court presiding over the District of Columbia has dealt a serious blow to the F.C.C. and small- and medium-sized Internet businesses this morning by vacating the Commission’s sanction against Comcast with regards to Network Neutrality regulations.

Network Neutrality regulations stipulated that carriers were forbidden from discriminating between certain types of traffic and customers, effectively requiring service providers to treat all traffic equally. Now that the Court has ruled that the F.C.C. lacks authority to impose such regulations, the market for Internet services could change dramatically over the course of the next several years barring congressional action.

Many analysts had feared that, were the Court to reach this decision, customers both on the business and consumer side may be forced to pay extra if they want to access certain websites or services much like current tiered cable plans. This could bode poorly for many businesses that rely on fast and cheap access so that they may provide customers with a positive end-user experience. Businesses that serve streaming video and audio content as well as those who host large files are likely to see impending changes should the ruling stand.

We all had heard that Google put restrictions on China users because of a potential cyber attack(s) that had originated in China, however now GoDaddy is planning on doing this too. Reuters is reporting that GoDaddy will stop registering domains in China, however will maintain/service the .cn domain names that already exist. “We believe that many of the current abuses of the Internet originating in China are due to a lack of enforcement against criminal activities by the Chinese government,” Christine Jones, Go Daddy Group Inc general counsel, told a congressional commission hearing on Wednesday.”
GoDaddy has seen several attacks that seem to be originating in China, and this has prompted them to join forces with Google to protest China and the potential attacks. This brings up the issue again of internet censorship and companies putting principle over profits? Should more companies think this way and jump on the Google bandwagon, or is this not something fair that these US companies are doing to China?

Google announced today that it will shift its search engine off the mainland but will not close doors completely. Google and China have had an on-going dispute over recent months regarding restricting search results. There had been talks that Google would pull out completely from the Chinese market, however has decided to remain most likely due to its desire to profit from an explosively growing market.

According to the Associated Press, effective this afternoon, visitors to Google.cn are being redirected to Google’s Chinese language service based in Hong Kong. Results on these pages are not censored by Google, but the Chinese government filters can still restrict results that are viewed by mainland audiences.

Google originally set up a search engine in China in 2006. Currently about 700 or Google’s 20,000 employees are in China.

Technology these days is something that continues to be so innovative with what new concepts get rolled out. The newest concept that ceases to surprise me is the idea of having testing going on for a TV search engine. NPR news is reporting that Google and Dish Network are teaming up to bring together a search engine to our television sets (specifically Dish Network clients). This is only in a test mode, however if the testing goes successfully, Dish Network clients could utilize their televisions to search the television programming while also searching the internet for video services such as Hulu or YouTube. So is this really that big of a deal, or is this something really innovative that other television network providers are going to want to be a part of? Does this affect the Google search engine and how companies like Leadpile utilize it to generate traffic? I guess time will really tell with this one.

Just as you thought you had all of the gadgets that you needed, Apple comes up with something new! The iPad, which is a large version of the iPhone without phone capabilities, will be hitting the shelves in the US on April 3rd. The iPad was originally unveiled in Jan and expected to be on the market in March, but has been delayed now until April. The iPad is smaller than most laptops, but much larger than a cell phone. The device’s first version will only be able to connect to Wi-Fi networks, while the second will be able to connect to “3G” cell networks. Ranging in price from $499 – $829 depending on data storage size and version.
There are 12 specific new applications for the iPad, as well as it is able to run many of the apps already created for the iPhone. Apple’s Web site will allow you to place orders for the iPad starting March 12th!!

A couple years ago, there was an article that came out about the impact of the Google and does it really make us not use our brains? The verdict on this is up in the air, but one group did a study to detmine the impact the internet has on all of us. This study found that actually the internet helps to make us all smarter. “Most of the respondents also said the Internet would improve reading and writing by 2020, according to the study, conducted by the Imagining the Internet Center at Elon University in North Carolina and the Pew Internet and American Life project. Three out of four experts said our use of the Internet enhances and augments human intelligence, and two-thirds said use of the Internet has improved reading, writing and the rendering of knowledge, said study co-author Janna Anderson, director of the Imagining the Internet Center.”
I think studies like this have come up, determining if the internet really affects our intelligence, because the use of the internet and the power of it are indescribable. What else is there in this world that has so much inpact and access to so many people in this world? Of course there are going to be skeptics that think that it is making us “stupid”, but then again (like this study) many feel that the internet is truly something that is changing the way we think. So what do YOU think? OR don’t you?

Reuters is reporting that the FCC is trying to regulate a minimum broadband speed that American households are delivered by our nation’s broadband companies (ie-Verizon, Comcast, Time Warner and AT&T are the largest) provide all of us. “The planned initiative, which will be proposed in the National Broadband Plan report to Congress next month, comes a week after Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) said it would build a super-fast Internet network for up to half a million people, a project that could pressure telecommunications companies to loosen their control of Web access in the United States.”
So once again is Google pushing the envelope on the way things are done technologically? From everything I am reading it appears that they are in fact doing that and this is forcing broadband companies to compete technologically to stay in business. This new initiative potentially by the FCC could be a great thing for all of us and how we get out internet delivered to us. Nice job Google!

In the age of the internet, trying to figure out who goes online more can be a tricky question at times. However, it seems each era of people has their own “area of interest” with the internet.
4/5 of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 are wireless internet users, while many of them are using their laptops, some are using their cell phones and other mobile devices to access the internet. The internet is everywhere and it appears it is a way of life for most young adults.
On another note it seems that 63 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds, and 34 percent of those age 50 and older use wireless connections for the Internet. Bottom line is we all use the internet as if it was something we can not live without. What will be the next generations “must have” if the internet is now already a must have? Is there something else technologically that will roll out what young adults HAVE to have? Is there a point where parents need to control how much their children are actually on the internet, and more specifically their cell phones? What about all the other things like the ipad, iphones, social networking, texting… what is next in the technology world and what parents have to “control”?

Am I seeing this correctly? Apple is actually entering into conversations with Microsoft to discuss the possibility of using it’s Bing search engine as the default browser over Google? Can this be true? There must be something true to this buzz because there are several stories referencing this news on the internet. Financially, if this is true, this could be a big blow to Google because they are currently generating revenue from being the default browser, and this could be potentially going to Microsoft. Something like this is not really surprising me too much because in recent months/year Google and Apple have been neck and neck on who has the “best” smartphone.
Could this be a low blow to Google if it gets removed from the iphones? I would say absolutely yes! Let’s see if this is just a lot of smoke blowing, or the beginning of a cyber WAR .

As a follow up to our recent post discussing China’s Internet censorship and regulations, Google has now pulled the plug on launching it’s cell phone in China. Google’s mobile phones equipped with Internet applications were decided by the company to be “not a good experience” for the consumer. Currently, China has over 700 million mobile phone accounts and consumers driven by the latest technology.
According to the Associated Press, it has been rumored that Google has threatened to shut its Chinese-based search engine if the restrictions are not eased. The Chinese government is standing strong on it’s decision that “Foreign enterprises in China need to adhere to China’s laws and regulations, respect and the interests of the general public and cultural traditions and shoulder corresponding responsibilities. Google is no exception,” as stated by a Foreign ministry spokesman at a new briefin
It will be interesting to watch this controversy unfold as many Chinese and foreign businesses rely on Google’s email and maps…If Google is blocked and access is restricted it could certainly disrupt things!

The last time I checked, everyone was still saying that we were still in a recessions. So why has there been a increase in smartphone sales and a huge push for big screen TV’s? Frankly, just because people want them. It is true that many consumers have been cutting corners here and there, but it is where they are cutting that is showing changes.
Most people find it very easy to switch from a name brand food to the store brand, or maybe hold off on that new pair of shoes that you have been eyeing in the store window. However, when it comes to electronics, it seems that consumers just don’t want to cut back. They buy the newest smartphone or upgrade to the new version without even thinking twice. This has been great for the technology companies seeing an increase in their sales even in the tough economy.
A lot of consumers are finding themselves trying to rationalize their electronic purchases. They upgrade to a large HD flat screen TV saying that they will stay in more and watch a movie, rather than going out to a movie. Even just switching from a regular DVD player to a Blu-ray player is something consumers are not thinking twice about. The next big electronic buzz you are going to hear about….3D TV. It really was only a matter of time before something like this was going to hit the shelves. 3D televisions are set to hit the shelves in most stores mid 2010, and experts are estimating there potentially to be 4 million sold this year.
The real question is if this is all really necessary? Smartphone are great. We use them at LeadPile all the time to get back to our clients when we are on the run, but a 3D television set? Really? I have a feeling they are not going to be as awesome as everyone thinks. What do you think?