A report published today by the global journalists' rights group Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières), written by a Chinese technician writing under the pseudonym "Mr. Tao," reveals the existence of a government bureau there given the authority to designate which news stories are presentable to the public and which are not. The criteria for this bureau's judgment, Mr. Tao writes, are presented to look like "public opinion" played a role; but in one case, the bureau may have intervened to stop the spread of a negative story on a principal supplier of iPod parts.

In June 2006, a report first appeared in China Business Daily on the working conditions of laborers at the Foxconn facility on the Chinese mainland where iPod parts were being made. The report which was translated for the British Daily Mail told the story of a plant that hired mostly women in the mistaken belief that they're "more honest" and less likely to complain, and then forced them to work for 15 hours per day, sleep in barracks housing more than 100 per unit, for wages approximating $51 per month.

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Microsoft quietly began offering its Windows Home Server in the US this week, with the operating system appearing on electronics retailer Newegg.com for $190 USD.

Microsoft released the OS to manufacturing back in July of this year, but the Windows Home Server code wasn't intended to be sold individually. Instead, devices are built around the OS, and that is how the end consumer would get their hands on the product.

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While members of the US House Intelligence Committee debated the language of a bill introduced yesterday to revise the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act so that it applies, as its title implies, to foreigners, President Bush called on Congress to extend the intelligence gathering provisions of another law due to expire in February. This extension would close what the administration perceives as a surveillance gap opened when a federal judge declared key FISA provisions unconstitutional, especially as it pertains to federal investigations of American citizens.

"The problem is the threat to America is not going to expire in February," the President stated this morning from the White House rose garden. "So Congress must make a choice: Will they keep the intelligence gap closed by making this law permanent? Or will they limit our ability to collect this intelligence and keep us safe, staying a step ahead of the terrorists who want to attack us?"

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The WiMedia Alliance, the controlling group for Ultra-wideband (UWB), said earlier this week that it had certified the first products compatible with the standard.

UWB is a short-range wireless technology that is essentially the successor to Bluetooth, after the WiMedia Alliance and Bluetooth SIG penned an interoperability agreement in May 2005. The technology offers higher rates of data transfer than Bluetooth, which is becoming more essential with tech devices demanding bigger chunks of data.

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After successfully changing the game in desktop web browsing, Mozilla now has its sights set on the mobile market with a version of Firefox to appear for mobile phones as early as 2008.

Mozilla is taking mobile browsing seriously, and has already hired at least two high profile mobile developers for the project. Former Openwave browser chief Christian Sejersen has joined Mozilla to head up engineering and development of the browser, and France Telecom researcher Brad Lassey would also join the team.

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Comcast's seemingly never-ending delays in getting TiVo service to its customers continued Tuesday, as the company admitted it was behind schedule in rolling out service to customers.

Since the announcement that the two companies had partnered to offer DVR software to Comcast subscribers in March 2005, the release date has been repeatedly delayed. Often, little if any reason was given for the delays, although TiVo assured investors the service was on its way.

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Today at 10:00 AM EST, Nullsoft and AOL released the latest version of Winamp. The timing of the 5.5 release was deliberately chosen (10/10, 10:00) to commemorate the software's tenth year as a leading media player.

Some more features have been added to the popular utility, including a GraceNote powered instant playlist generator called "More Like This," as well as a feature that allows users to access their Winamp content through their next-generation game consoles.

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Nintendo said Wednesday that it will begin selling its previously announced Wii balance board in Japan in time for the holiday shopping season. The device is bundled with a game called Wii Fit, which allows the user to perform a variety of fitness activities, including aerobics, yoga, skiing, and others which require a good sense of balance. The company is billing it as its most important product for the holiday season.

At a price of 8,800 yen, the device goes on sale December 1. Nintendo hopes that it will not only be a hit among current Wii owners, but also bring new customers to the console. The Wii has consistently outsold Sony's PS3 in the region, and Nintendo's success probably had a lot to do with Sony's announcement Tuesday that it was cutting prices in Japan on its PlayStation 3 console. The Wii Fit package is said to be on track for an international debut in early 2008.

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The principal reason given for the tremendous under-the-hood changes to Windows unveiled early this year in Vista was the need to overhaul the security model. Indeed, Vista has proven to be a generally more secure operating system, though some vulnerabilities that apply to ordinary software impact Vista users just as much as any other.

But now, software analysts testing the latest build 3205 of the beta for Windows XP Service Pack 3 are discovering a wealth of genuinely new features - not just patches and security updates (although there are literally over a thousand of those), but services that could substantially improve system security without overhauling the kernel like in Vista.

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eBay said Wednesday that it is joinging the social networking movement by launching 'Neighborhoods,' which help its users congregate around specific topics to discuss and find products on the site.

Initially some 600 groups are available, including topics such as the sci-fi hit Battlestar Galactica and R&B artist Beyonce. eBay will add additional groups based on community feedback.

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Apple is said to be close to finalizing the next version of Mac OS X, while at the same time preparing its final update for Mac OS X 10.4, AppleInsider reports.

According to the site's sources, Apple is in the process of sending training materials to its support staff on the various features of Mac OS 10.5 "Leopard," including installation and Boot Camp.

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Sometimes, it takes an esoteric name to open the floodgates of interest onto an idea that's existed for a long time.

"Clouds" is a term describing software designed to be rich internet applications that balance the computing between thousands of processors working lightly, rather than fully taxing a single one. Many current cloud apps were once remanded to the user's machine, but can now be accessed online and with minimal demand on the user end.

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A team of Microsoft spokespeople have been working throughout the day to devise a plausible explanation for a comment made by CEO Steve Ballmer during a company gathering in the UK, which on its face appears to say it is considering litigation against users of Red Hat Linux for patent infringement.

But one spokesperson acknowledged late this afternoon that multiple sources have yet to come to an agreement over what the company should say.

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The .asia domain, approved in December 2006, became available today to businesses and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN,) controlled by the US Department of Commerce oversees about 20 generic domain suffixes, including the country-specific. Registration is being headed by the non-profit group DotAsia, which is based in Hong Kong.

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The next phase of BitTorrent's amazing transformation from the service whose name legislators made, by accident or design, synonymous with copyright infringement to the engine for a legitimately sanctioned commercial industry, began today.

Brightcove, which provides Internet streaming services to commercial broadcasters including CBS, Fox, and Discovery Communications, will incorporate the P2P streaming technology as "BitTorrent DNA" into its new IP video delivery platform, which it promises will bring broadcast-quality video to Flash-enabled players as soon as next year.

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