What's Next: Google throws down the gauntlet, as Chrome challenges Microsoft

Google goes for the OS gold chrome

9:37 pm PDT Tuesday, July 7, 2009 > Google's Sundar Pichai (VP of Product Management) and Linus Upson (Engineering Director) posted an announcement that the search giant will be launching a Chrome OS, geared toward netbooks.

"Speed, simplicity, and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the Web in a few seconds," reads last night's post. "The user interface is minimal to stay out of your way, and most of the user experience takes place on the Web. And as we did for the Google Chrome browser, we are going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS so that users don't have to deal with viruses, malware, and security updates. It should just work."

Did everyone hear that okay? Back in the back, Apple, did you get the part about "just work?" How about that "don't have to deal with viruses" part -- way back in the back, is that Mr. Walt Disney rising from the dead? Sir, did you get that message? The nirvana part?

Our Scott Fulton appears to have had some thoughts on the matter in the can, ready to run (just add water!), whenever Google made such an announcement.

As Technologizer's Harry McCracken puts it, "one of those breaking stories that's stunning at first -- until you think about it, whereupon it feels like it was always inevitable." McCracken has eleven questions about the announcement, and he's posted them publicly because Google itself isn't answering any more questions (at least it says it won't) until sometime i the fall.

BusinessWeek's Rob Hof has scrutinized the post and thinks that the new OS isn't necessarily a shot directly at Microsoft. (No, of course not.) Barron's Eric Savitz, writing for Tech Trader Daily, begs to differ.

Sustained DDoS attack vexing US, South Korea

Since July 4 • Reports of its severity are either widely underreported or wildly exaggerated, but everyone agrees that various US and South Korean government targets have been under DDoS attack for the past several days. US-CERT hasn't posted anything on its site yet, but spokespersons in various government agencies say the department is on the case.

Reporting for The Register, Dan Goodin writes that 26 agencies in the two nations have been hit, though a source familiar with the attacks characterized them as "mostly modest." Choe Sang-Hun at The New York Times says that a few sites are still affected as of Wednesday morning.

Blogs-on-paper project folds

July 7, 2009 • He gave it a heck of a shot and a good six figures of his own money (and credit), but serial entrepreneur Joshua Karp on Tuesday had to lay to rest the dream of The Printed Blog. Posting to the site, he says that the project to make best-of-breed blog posts available to print reasons has been suspended "due to a lack of outside investment capital." But he learned a lot, and he still believes that "the next few years will be among the most exciting times in the history of journalism."

Not all the eulogies were as upbeat as Mr. Karp's. At TechCrunch, John Biggs described the project as "in a word, ludicrous -- it was akin to pressing MP3 podcasts onto vinyl for those who still used a Technics turntable." Claire Cain Miller at The New York Times compared The Printed Blog's troubles to those of newspapers in general, and Podcasting News' James Lewin shrugs, "It's getting harder and harder to see what value print can bring to new readers."

La Russa drops suit against Twitter

June 26 St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has withdrawn the suit he filed against Twitter after an impersonator pretended to be him (@TonyLaRussa). Most observers think that was probably a good choice considering the weakness of the case: As Zusha Elinson put it at law.com, "Tony La Russa, the famed baseball manager known for his charity work with injured pets, apparently knows when he has a dog on his hands." According to Knox Bardeen at MLB Fanhouse, previous reports that Twitter would pay La Russa's court costs and donate to his animal-shelter charity were unfounded.

Wednesday's tech headlines

The Register

• Oracle's quick post-acquisition execution of Virtual Iron's products presents a pretty opportunity for VMware's efforts to steal away those customers. But since VMware's hypervisor and server management tools aren't exactly compatible with VI's offering, the company's had to be a bit creative with their "safe passage" courting strategy.

• A recently released Linux patch gets Tom Tom's GPS around the Microsoft VFAT patent.

• "More junk in the trunk," carps the dek writer on Timothy Prickett Morgan's piece concerning the launch of PostgreSQL 8.4. That was set to launch on June 29, but a "showstopper" bug delayed it for a few days.

Engadget

• Lockheed Martin and Microvision are working on a heads-up eyepiece display for "non-line-of-sight command and control in distributed urban operations for dismounted warfighters" based on Microvision's PicoP technology, says Joseph L. Flatley. The illustration alone is worth the click, hinting as it does that a cyborg Iggy Pop is the wave of the warfighting future.

• The iSaw USB-powered chain saw may be a hoax, but your reporter will be needing one anyway. Also, a boom stick.

New York Times

• Acer's Gianfranco Lanci thinks that PC makers would be a lot better off if some of the smaller players would disappear, as profits would rise. Nice to know the CEO's got his eye on keeping that high-quality, consumer-centric vibe alive at Acer.

• Watch out for email with shortened URLs a la bit.ly, is.gd, and TinyURL, warns Brad Stone; spammers have been abusing the system to dodge the filters.

• Jenna Wortham suggests that dedicated GPS systems are going the way of the cassette deck thanks to improved smartphone capabilities.

Washington Post

• Brian Krebs reports on the latest wave of low-tech fraud -- less computer work, more phone-transfer skill.

• Emma L. Carew takes a look at the virtual-assistant phenomenon. It's a nice job option for those facing long-term unemployment, but no one's getting rich.