It would appear to be the most lucrative new platform in all of computing: the "cloud" -- the space on the Internet from which applications and services can be presented to customers without the need for physical location. It was once called the "grid," but the fact that companies other than IBM managed to effectively rechristen the idea speaks to its inability -- along with everyone else's -- to build a clear and concise message around just what the cloud is.

No one really knows, at least not completely. That's the message we've seen thus far from nearly every major vendor in the cloud space, and it's the message we're seeing from Microsoft as well. Even with a full business plan for Windows Azure, the company's platform for .NET Services in the cloud, its own platform evangelist admitted to Betanews that much of the projected purpose for the service still remains a mystery. Microsoft usually undertakes a platform buildout by leveraging its resources from other platforms (Internet Explorer from Windows, SharePoint from Office, Exchange from Outlook, etc.). And it would seem, at least on paper, that Azure would be leveraged from .NET.

When Microsoft originally presented its proposal to the European Commission last July 24 to offer Windows 7 to European customers without Internet Explorer 8 pre-installed as a requirement, it showed the EC a picture of how it could present customers with a choice of Web browsers, including IE8 but also Firefox 3, Safari 4, Google Chrome, and Opera. (The order of appearance may have been according to estimated usage share.)

As the company's proposal (DOC file available here) read, "Nothing in the design and implementation of the Ballot Screen and the presentation of competing web browsers will express a bias for a Microsoft web browser or any other web browser or discourage the user from downloading and installing additional web browsers via the Ballot Screen and making a web browser competing with a Microsoft web browser the default."

Apple's iPod Touch is the latest device to succumb to a lithium-ion battery explosion, but as the Times of London first reported this morning, Apple reportedly wanted to keep the issue a secret.

When Ken Stanborough of the UK dropped his daughter's iPod Touch last month, the device began hissing, burning, and then eventually exploded in "a big puff of smoke, and it went 10 feet in the air." Stansborough said he went to Apple for a refund, and was only promised a refund if he would sign a paper stating he would "agree that you will keep the terms and existence of this settlement agreement completely confidential."

In the 1980s, we wanted our MTV. These days, we want our IP-based telephony, we want it at home and on the go, and we don't want to get ripped off in the process. Apple either hasn't gotten the message or has chosen to ignore market reality, and it's a mistake that in the long run could cost it dearly.

By now the facts are well known: Apple last week rejected the official Google Voice Application for the iPhone from its online App Store, and removed a whack of third-party applications that relied on or connected to the service. Apple's lame excuse? The app offered functionality already available on the device.

Peter Sunde (also known as brokep), who has been the spokesman for torrent indexing site The Pirate Bay during its public legal battles, announced today that he is stepping down from the position.

"I have decided to not be the spokes person for The Pirate Bay anymore. The reasons are many but most importantly it takes too much of my time. I want to build something new and I want to focus my energy in a different direction. I have projects waiting to be finished, a book is waiting to be finalized and many more books are waiting to be read." Sunde said in his blog today.

Google's Chrome browser will be getting Google account synchronization, a post from Google Engineer Tim Steele in the Chromium developer group revealed today.

"A bunch of us have been working on a feature to sync user data in Chromium with a Google account," Steele said. "We have built a library that implements the client side of our sync protocol as well as the Google server-side infrastructure to serve Google Chrome users and synchronize data to their Google Account."

On September first, Clearwire Communications plans to launch new WiMax networks in ten markets simultaneously. These will include Boise, Idaho, Bellingham, Washington, and eight markets in Texas: Abilene, Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Lubbock, Midland/Odessa, Killeen/Temple, Waco, and Wichita Falls.

This will be the first time that Clearwire celebrates launches in more than a single market at a time, and customers in these markets can activate service immediately through Clear.com. Resellers such as Sprint, Comcast, or Time Warner, however, have not yet been announced for these markets.

For the second straight month since its rebranding from Windows Live Search, Microsoft's Bing service has gained usage share in the US, according to private analytics firm StatCounter. And the trend for Bing is growing, picking up another 1.18% of US Internet user searches during the month of July, to 9.41%. That's after gaining just 0.42% for the month of June.

Here's the problem: While part of that gain came at Google's expense, the other part came from Yahoo, whose searches are soon to be served by Bing under the terms of last week's deal. Although Yahoo's US search share was nearly flat -- down by only 0.09% -- it's continuing its downward trend, losing about 3% of US searches since the beginning of the year. That's about one-fifth of its search audience.

Long-running electronics retailer RadioShack is updating its image by referring to itself as "The Shack" in a new campaign.

"This creative is not about changing our name," said Chief Marketing Officer Lee Applbaum, Rather, we're contemporizing the way we want people to think about our brand. THE SHACK speaks to consumers in a fresh, new voice and distinctive creative look that reinforces RadioShack's authority in innovative products, leading brands and knowledgeable, helpful associates."

Beating Microsoft to the punch, a system update at 5:00 pm EDT this afternoon will turn the Nintendo DSi into the first Facebook-integrated video game system.

At E3 2009 in June, Facebook announced that it would be making its way onto video game consoles through Facebook Connect, the social network's open identification platform. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Electronic Arts all announced that they would be integrating with Facebook.

A mere three days after the San Jose Mercury News published an interview with Google CEO Eric Schmidt, in which he stated conflicts of interest regarding his membership on Apple's board of directors could be resolved by recusing himself from matters regarding the iPhone, Apple has officially recognized Schmidt's resignation from that board.

Apple's CEO Steve Jobs issued a statement this morning which said, "as Google enters more of Apple's core businesses, with Android and now Chrome OS, Eric's effectiveness as an Apple Board member will be significantly diminished, since he will have to recuse himself from even larger portions of our meetings due to potential conflicts of interest." Schmidt was elected to Apple's board in 2006.

The jury in the Joel Tenenbaum case has fined the Boston College University student $675,000 for copyright infringement of 30 songs, or $22,500 per track. The award is radically smaller than the $80,000 per track levied against Jammie Thomas-Rasset in a similar infringement trial earlier this year.

The jury was out, according to Copyright & Campaigns' Ben Sheffner, between two and three hours. Judge Nancy Gertner has already announced that she'll review the award to ensure that it does not violate the Constitution's due-process clauses. As for Mr. Tenenbaum, he told Mr. Sheffner that he plans to file for bankruptcy if the award amount stands, as the doctoral candidate (in physics) has no way of paying the fine.

Because the Joel Tenenbaum trial hasn't been maddening enough, Engadget yesterday had a little item on how the RIAA is claiming that customers ought to just suck it up and accept that DRMed tracks will go poof even if they've been paid for, since no other products or service providers are expected to "provide consumers with perpetual access to creative works." That's interesting coming from a group that claims that alone of all industries, copyright holders somehow deserve to get paid in perpetuity for their output. I guess forever looks a lot longer when it includes server-maintenance duties.

If anyone's got a more enlightened response than "oy" to the Tenenbaum trial's result, I'm all ears. I respect Professor Nesson's legal acumen, and having fair use taken off the table just hours before the trial was probably not a setback from which any legal team could have recovered, but looking over the past year's proceedings -- the defense's push to make its processes open and transparent, the sustained effort to get the trial shown live on the Web, all that -- I wonder if we'd all have have been better off if both Tenenbaum, and Jammie Thomas before him, had simply rolled over.

Apple's rejection of the Google Voice iPhone app proved to be the last straw, and now the Federal Communications Commission is involved. The FCC has begun an investigation into the matter.

"The Federal Communications Commission has a mission to foster a competitive wireless marketplace, protect and empower consumers, and promote innovation and investment," FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said this evening. "Recent news reports raise questions about practices in the mobile marketplace. The Wireless Bureau's inquiry letters to these companies about their practices reflect the Commission's proactive approach to getting the facts and data necessary to make the best policy decisions on behalf of the American people."

Is three times the price three times the value? That's the question I'm asking about Microsoft's limited-time Windows 7 Family Pack -- three Home Premium upgrade licenses -- for $150. Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" Family Pack, with five licenses, will sell for $49.

It's a rhetorical question really. Most people with Windows PCs won't have the option of running Snow Leopard. Intel Mac users, by comparison, can run Windows dual-boot, using Apple's Boot Camp, or by way of third-party virtualization software. That said, to qualify for the discounted Family Pack pricing, Mac users would still need Windows XP or Vista.