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AP Technology NewsBrief at 2:56 a.m. EST
[January 17, 2010]

AP Technology NewsBrief at 2:56 a.m. EST


(Associated Press Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Text service resumes 6 months after Xinjiang riotsBEIJING (AP) _ Text messaging services restarted with some restrictions Sunday for cell phone users in far western China, more than six months after deadly ethnic rioting prompted the government to shut them down. Users are once again able to send text messages throughout China, but sending texts to overseas numbers remains prohibited, a staffer with the information office of the Xinjiang provincial government said. She declined to give her name as is customary.



AP Exclusive: Network flaw causes scary Web errorSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ A Georgia mother and her two daughters logged onto Facebook from mobile phones last weekend and wound up in a startling place: strangers' accounts with full access to troves of private information. The glitch _ the result of a routing problem at the family's wireless carrier, AT&T _ revealed a little known security flaw with far reaching implications for everyone on the Internet, not just Facebook users.

Alibaba says Yahoo 'reckless' on Google stanceBEIJING (AP) _ China's e-commerce giant Alibaba turned on major shareholder Yahoo Inc. on Saturday, calling the American company's support of Google in its standoff with China "reckless." Google has promised to stop censoring its search results in China, threatening to pull out of the country altogether if it can't operate an unfiltered search engine. Yahoo has said it was "aligned" with Google's position, though it's not clear what that means.


China tries to limit Google dispute falloutBEIJING (AP) _ China tried Friday to keep its censorship row with Google from damaging business confidence or ties with Washington, promising good conditions for foreign investors but giving no sign it might relax Internet controls. U.S.-China trade and economic ties will not be affected by any Google Inc. decision to withdraw from China, said Commerce Ministry spokesman Yao Jian at a regular briefing. However, he insisted foreign companies must obey Chinese law.

Google search engine's future in China is unclearWASHINGTON (AP) _ Google Inc. is enjoying an avalanche of good will because of its threat to leave China over e-mail hacking attacks against dissidents. Does the Internet giant deserve the praise? Intel outlook points to PC industry recoveryIntel's fourth-quarter earnings breezed past Wall Street's expectations, and its rosy profit outlook for 2010 was another sign that a lasting recovery for the recession-battered personal computer market is under way. As the first major technology company to report its results for the last quarter, Intel is seen as a barometer for the PC market and for technology spending in general. Its revenue beat the Street, as did its gross margin, which can measure how well Intel managed costs.

China's population of Web users hits 384 millionBEIJING (AP) _ China's population of Internet users, already the world's largest, soared nearly 30 percent last year to 384 million as the number of people surfing the Web by mobile phone more than doubled, a research group reported Friday. The 28.9 percent growth rate was below 2008's eye-popping 41 percent but still among the world's highest despite government controls highlighted by this week's dispute with Google Inc. over Internet censorship.

Microsoft's browser flaw exposed Google to hackersSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Microsoft says a security flaw in its Internet Explorer browser played a role in the recent computer attacks against Google and at least 20 other companies. In a Thursday alert confirming the weakness, Microsoft said the security hole can be closed by setting browser's Internet security zone to "high." The world's largest software maker may also issue an update to fix the problem.

Hardware boosts December video game salesNEW YORK (AP) _ Americans spent a record $5.53 billion on video games in December, the most money ever in a single month, according to market researcher NPD Group. But even that wasn't enough to make up for the rest of 2009, and so the year ended with a sales decline. It had been a rough 12 months for the industry, as the recession led people to cut back on discretionary spending and many gamers' attention turned to cheaper _ or free _ online games.

Google's decision on China traces back to foundersSAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Google Inc. co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page have always said they put their principles before profit, even to the point of using their control of the company to take a stand. The billionaires' idealism underlies a potentially expensive decision disclosed this week: Google's threat to leave China's rapidly growing Internet market in defense of free speech and its users' privacy rights.

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