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Google Gained Ground on Baidu in 2009

cgseo — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:23:00 +0000

Whatever Google's reason for threatening to leave China , the latest numbers from StatCounter , a free online stat service, show that it certainly isn't for lack of opportunity. Google has been steadily gaining ground on China's premier search service, Baidu, since last August. Sponsor According to StatCounter , Google held just 28% of China's search market back in August and since has climbed to nearly 43%. That's a 15-percentage-point gain in just four or five months. Yahoo and Bing account for just over 1% of China's search engine market. While estimates put Google's projected 2010 income from business in China at around 2% of the company's entire revenue, the long-term implications of pulling out of the country are much larger . If any company should just give up the ghost and get out of China before making any more PR (and human rights) gaffes , maybe it's Yahoo. Discuss

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Google Gained Ground on Baidu in 2009

Google to Shut Down in China?

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:15:53 +0000

According to information just released by Google, its Chinese web portal, Google.cn, may be biting the dust shortly. In the wake of a string of cyber attacks, certain surveillance activities and long-standing censorship policies, Google SVP David Drummond writes, "We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn We should review the feasibility of our business operations in China." Sponsor Last month, Google noticed a "highly sophisticated and targeted attack" on their infrastructure that allowed for the theft of Google IP. The attack came from China and targeted at least 20 other major corporations involved in technology, finance, media and chemicals. Google believes the main reason for the attacks was to access Gmail accounts of advocates of human rights for Chinese people. Dozens of accounts with users based in the U.S., Europe and China have been accessed to varying degrees; Google denies any security breach on their part, stating that malware or phishing might have caused the accounts to be compromised. Although Google would not normally share information of this nature with a global audience, their team has decided to do so now because the attacks and account surveillance that have been uncovered speak to issues of security, human rights and free speech. "We launched Google.cn in January 2006," wrote Drummond, "in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that 'we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.'" Drummond also references China's attempts in 2009 to curtail and censor free expression on the Web, which we have covered in depth and which we listed as one of last year's greatest failures . Google execs, who have decided that serving censored search results is no longer an option, will spend several weeks talking with the Chinese government about whether or not they could run an unfiltered search engine in that country. If the two entities are unable to reach an agreement, it is likely that Google.cn will shut down, as will Google's offices in China. What Took So Long? We've long been critical of major tech companies that, through acts of omission or under the auspices of compliance with foreign governments, do harm to human rights, privacy and free speech. In a post from October 2008 , our own Marshall Kirkpatrick questioned whether Google, Yahoo!, YouTube or any of the larger web companies operating internationally were equipped to handle the moral and ethical responsibilities of their expansion overseas into troubled territories. He reminded us of several affronts to human rights for which these companies were responsible, then noted, "It's hard, because their fundamental drive is to monetize these huge markets." Curt Hopkins, founder of the Commmittee to Protect Bloggers , responded with a similar point of view, saying, "Given that not just Google but every single other American tech company has shat themselves to get at the mythological Chinese market, this is way too long in coming. "What took so long? Did they finally realize that they are never going to make any money as things currently are so they thought they'd get some PR? This is great news, but you still have to ask: Who benefits from this? And how do they benefit? I hate to be cynical, but the best we can hope for is that Google says, 'This isn't going anywhere for us, and it's so unpleasant.'... If I was in Google's shoes, I would never stop talking about how wonderful we were for doing this." Hopkins's cohort Andrew Ford Lyons has posted a statement that Google ought to immediately remove filters from search results on Google.cn and promote uncensored, unmonitored web access "by channeling some of their incredibly smart staff's efforts toward projects that protect privacy in China and help more Web surfers there quickly and safely bypass firewalls." We will continue to update you on the situation as we receive more information. In the meantime, please let us know your thoughts in the comments. Discuss

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Google to Shut Down in China?

Live Blog: Google’s Android Press Gathering

admin — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:55:15 +0000

Google is holding a press event to showcase the new Nexus One and possibly some other mobile innovations today. We already know quite a few details about the phone itself, but hopefully Google will also have a few surprises up its sleeve. The press conference should get under way at 10am PST and we will live blog the event here. Sponsor We will post updates as they happen. Keep reloading this page to see the latest news. 10:00am As usual, the event is running a bit late. 10:06am Getting started. VP of Product Development takes the stage to talk about the Open Handset Alliance. "We will unveil the next generation of the evolution of Android today." 13 new members will join the OHC - including: NEC, China Telecom and Freescale. Recapping the history of Android hardware (G1, myTouch, Droid) 10:10pm "A year ago we had 1 device, now we have 20 devices on 59 carriers." Google wants to prevent fragmentation - talking about compatibility test suite. "Android today is about getting more users onto the mobile web." Android users search the web over 30x more on Android than on feature phones. From the beginning, Android was always about being developer friendly. Talking about being able to multi-task (a subtle swipe at the iPhone?) The Next Step in the Android Evolution 10:15am "We are only in the early stages of the evolution of Android. Volume and variety of Android devices has exceeded Google's expectations. "But we want to do more. Wants to work closer with hardware partners to showcase the software. Announcing the Nexus One "Where Web Meets Phone" 10:18am Google calls this a new category of phones: "super-phones." On stage now: Peter Chou, CEO of HTC. Talking up the Nexus One: "The Nexus One is one of the best designs from HTC." Outstanding display, fast processor. "It pushes the limits of what is possible on a mobile phone today." Chou leaves the stage after posing with the phone... 10:22am In depth look at Nexus One Erik Tseng takes the stage to demo the phone. Hardware : 3.7 inch AMOLED display - WVGA. "Deep contrast and brilliant colours." 1 GHz processor - fast processor = less slowdowns. Trackball works as notifications tool. Will pulse when you get new messages. 130 grams - 11.5mm thick Sensors : light sensor, proximity sensor. 5 megapixel camera New for Android: active noise cancellation - using two microphones. 10:29am Google will offer custom engraving (just like the iPhone...) "With this hardware, we think we have half of the story. It's the combination of hardware and software that makes this such a great phone." No surprise: Nexus One will come with Android 2.1 10:31am New features in 2.1: Customization More homescreen panels - more widgets Example: weather widget: knows where you are from GPS Google expects to see more widgets from 3rd-party developers Showing live wallpapers. 10:35 3D capabilities of the Nexus One and Android 2.1 App launcher: new twist - 3D scroll-wheel - icons sit on a 3D wheel instead of a flat page New photo gallery - written with CoolIris Everything scrolls smoothly - quite impressive. Looks just like CoolIris on the desktop. Features background sync with Picasa Web Albums 10:39am Voice Commands In 2.0: Voice queries ("directions to nearest Ikea") In 2.1: Every text field is now voice-enabled Voice recognition learns every time you speak a query 10:42am Sneak peek at Google Earth for Android Also voice-enabled. Clearly making good use of the fast processor. Everything scrolls very smoothly. Buying the Phone: Google Hosted Web Store 10:45am How to buy the phone? Google will sell the phone in its own web store Keeping it simple: buy phone without service ($529) - or with service from partners (T-Mobile $179) For now, T-Mobile only. But: "Expect to add more carriers and hardware in the future." Verizon Wireless and Vodofone will join the program. Web Store 10:49am Demoing the store. Purchasing all done in the store - no need to go to the physical store 10:54am Recap First phone of a series of phone - more operators, devices and countries coming in the future Showing demo video right now Q&A 11:00am Question : Why only such a small amount of space for app storage? Answer : soon, you will be able to store apps on SD cards Question : Will it ship today? Answer : Yes. Question : Is this an iPhone killer? Answer : Choice is a good thing. Question : Whose inventory will the phone come from? What will you do to make the App Store more well-known? Answer : Unlocked phone comes from Google. Regarding the Android Market: Marketing for Nexus One and new Web Store will be essentially online. Focused on making the store better. Question : Why was it necessary for Google to design the phone? Why not just have an HTC phone that runs Android? Answer : Google didn't design the phone - HTC did. Google is just the retailer and worked mostly on the software. Question : What would convinces somebody to buy a $530 phone? Answer : That's choice at work. "This is the early stages of a longer journey." Question : Google isn't known for being a retailer. Answer : "We shouldn't focus on retailing." Google wants to offer a complete solution and give consumers choice. Retail part is very important but just another channel - not a channel that will replace other channels. Question : What's the revenue opportunity for Google? Answer : These super-phones are great for accessing the Internet and that's where out business is. Hardware sales are not the big deal - just wants to get more people on the mobile web. "If you want the best possible Google experience you come to the store and get the device." Question : Will it support tethering? Answer : In future versions. Not a strategic issue but just something Google needs to implement. Question : Is the physical keyboard dead? Will Google start to sell more products online? Answer (from HTC): We offer lots of different phones and people can choose what best fits for them. This design is focused on the form-factor and screen. HTC offers other devices for "keyboard-lovers". From Google: The new voice input works very well and Google will soon offer other devices as well. Question : Will other counties support multi-touch on the Nexus One? Answer : It's a software thing. "We'll consider it." Question : When will Google Voice launch publicly? What about the other phones that are coming soon? Will something awesomer come next month? Answer : Other manufacturers will add more devices. "If you need a great phone today - the Nexus is a great phone." (Nothing about Google Voice in the answer). Question : Google wants to do revolutionary stuff? What's revolutionary about this phone? Why does Google get behind this phone if it's pretty average? What not revolutionize the pricing structure with an ad-supported phone? Answer : This is a baby step. Let's get the store going and then we can see what comes up in the future. Question : Will people be able to check out the phone in retail store? Answer : We want this to remain pure and simple. Marketing this online-only and selling online-only. Question : What's the difference between a super-phone and a regular smartphone? Answer : The big differentiator is the openness of the app store. This is as powerful as your laptop was a year ago. Question : Question for Motorola: Will the Nexus One cannibalize sales of the Droid? Answer : We try to deliver the best products we can. Will upgrade software on the Droid. Question : Why does Google feel the need to change the way phones are bought? What's broken about the current system? Answer : We are trying to optimize efficiencies. Just like web store revolutionized the way you buy a camera, Google wants to do the same thing for phones. After there are enough phones out there, you can experience it through using somebody else's. Marketing just increases prices. Sidenote about partners : We would love to sell for Verizon and Vodafone right now - just have to integrate the IT. Question : What can users expect in terms of software upgrades? Users never really know what phone will get the upgrade Answer : HTC wants to upgrade all of its phones (nothing specific). Google argues that some phones simply don't have the hardware capabilities for the upgrade. The intention is to make sure everybody gets some kind of future-proof hardware that can get upgrades for a certain amount of time. From Motorola : Intention to upgrade the device to the best software that the hardware can run. Not every device supports the 3D capabilities of Android 2.1, for example. Backward compatibility slows down innovation. Questions : Will Verizon get unlocked phones? Answer : Unlocked phones are a problem with CDMA phones. Will only be sold with Verizon plan. Question : Will you port Google Voice to the iPhone or will you suppress this to give Android an advantage? Answer : Google Voice team isn't opposed to having its app run on other platforms. Question : Didn't Google say it won't do a phone? Answer : We don't do hardware. 11:43am: And that wraps up today's live blog. Thanks for reading! Discuss

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Live Blog: Google's Android Press Gathering

Imprisoned, Attacked & Dead Bloggers Increases Worldwide in 2009

admin — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:30:01 +0000

According to a report released today [ PDF ] by Reporters Sans Fronti

IBM CEO Dismisses Idea of Google Dominance

cgseo — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 20:59:46 +0000

IBM CEO Sam Palmisano had some questions of his own in response to a question by a Barrons writer about Google in the enterprise. The quote appears in a Barron's story about IBM's comeback. The actual story requires a subscription to view. Here is what Palmisano had to say: "Is Google going to become the computing platform for the enterprise? Is a bank going to run itself on Google? Is an airline going to run itself on Google? Is IBM going to run its supply chain on Google? Is Bharti Wireless going to run themselves on Google? Is the banking system of China that we've built going to be on Google? Is the Russian Central Bank that we're building going to be on Google? No." Sponsor It's often perceived that a threat really is a threat when a smaller competitor is acknowledged by a much bigger rival. Is that the case, here? Palmisano does appear to infer that Googe is not up to the task of handling the work required of major operations. By making the comment, it opens up questions about how much of a threat IBM sees in Google. There is no doubt that Google has made noteworthy strides in developing an enterprise suite of products. And why would a company like an airline not consider Google? Of course, Google does not offer the technology to perform core transactional task or much less in-flight software. But day-to-day office tasks can well be handled with Google applications. Google does not pose any threat to IBM. Google dominance is not at hand. But Palmisano does appear to acknowledge that Google has a place at the table. Discuss

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IBM CEO Dismisses Idea of Google Dominance

Meet the 12 Lucky Browsers European IE Users Will Be Shown Next Year

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:02:22 +0000

As part of the European Union's antitrust agreement with Microsoft , the company will be required next year to show a list of alternatives to Internet Explorer to any Windows user with IE installed as their default browser. Love or hate the government intervention, it's notable to see which browsers are about to get a big boost in user numbers. The EU says increased viability in the browser market will lead to more competition and more innovation. Here are the companies that will get a first crack at new levels of market viability in Europe. Sponsor On the Front Page - The Best Known 5 The first page of the Choice Screen, which users will be presented with when they first turn on their computers or when they click a link for it later, will feature whichever five browsers have the largest market share over the previous 6 months. Microsoft will begin showing the page to users in March, 2010. Right now the top 5 will include, in the order listed on an EU page about the program: Apple Safari - that's right, even for Windows! Google Chrome - so soon. If Chrome can grow so fast, it makes you wonder if government intervention is really needed. Of course, Chrome has been promoted prominently on Google pages. That could become part of the next antitrust issue. Microsoft Internet Explorer - gets better all the time, even with dominant market share. Couldn't the EU just require people to stop using IE 6? Mozilla Firefox - the classic that's most effectively challenged IE. In fact, it's done so pretty effectively. Too bad Chrome now runs circles around its performance. Opera - loved by mobile users, loved by Europeans. Below the Fold - The Smaller Challengers Users will be able to scroll the Choice Screen horizontally and see the next 7 most popular browsers at the time. Here's who the EU lists as those browsers today. AOL - chuckle if you will, but AOL is doing a lot of innovative work with social networks and lifestreaming these days. Maxthon - is a popular browser in China and has its sights set on topping Opera in Europe. K-Meleon - says its a super-fast Windows browser built on Gecko, the same layout engine Firefox uses. Flock - is a Mozilla-powered browser that integrates a whole lot of social features. It's got such a great feature set that we recently asked Why don't you love Flock? Avant Browser - says that it, in fact, is the browser that's the fastest. It includes an inline RSS reader and a number of other interesting features. Sleipnir - is a highly-customizable browser that says it's big in Japan. Slim Browser - a Windows browser focused on automating processes. That's the field, so far! Do you think this move will foster increased innovation? Do you think it's needed? Discuss

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Meet the 12 Lucky Browsers European IE Users Will Be Shown Next Year

Nomadesk: Cloud-Based Backup Providers Doing Quite Well

admin — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 19:35:29 +0000

Demand for cloud-based storage and backup is creating some lucrative opportunities for companies servicing large telecommunications providers. We are seeing a number of carriers offering cloud-based services. Orange Business Services announced today that it will be offering cloud storage and other cloud-based services for its customers. Verizon announced earlier this month that it is offering a number of cloud-related services. Telecommunications companies are partnering with services like Nomadesk to give customers the ability to do their own cloud-based online backups. Sponsor Belgium-based Nomadesk is an online backup and syncing service for small business owners and personal users. It provides unlimited storage and sharing. The company announced this week a partnership with Bell Canada to provide its millions of customers with online back up for their mobile devices. Nomadesk is a virtual hard drive on your desktop. It's very simple. We downloaded the application, made some simple configurations and immediately had the ability to drag and drop files into the virtual hard drive that sits on the desktop.The hard drive is connected to the cloud and syncs when updates are made. Your data is secured and encrypted. It can be shared with any number of users and synced across the community. Applications can be backed up. Access to documents are available online or offline. Nomadesk CEO Filip Tack is touting the service as a better alternative to Box.net and Mozy . We agree that Nomadesk is easy to use, but as a collaboration platform it has some way to go. For example, Nomadesk does not have an advanced search capability like Box.net. We view enterprise search as a key feature for collaboration services. Tack said the company will offer search as a feature in the first part of 2010. Companies in this space are showing big market gains as larger providers seek revenues from the petabytes of data being produced every day. Mozy, for instance, just announced a partnership with Cox Business. Mozy is also partnering with China Telecom, McAfee and Vodafone to deliver cloud-based backup to customers. What is the amount of data that is produced every day in the enterprise? We know this can vary wildly but even small businesses are starting to produce exponential amounts of information compared to just a year ago. As this amount of information continues to grow, services like Nomadesk should stand to do very well as providers for large telecommunications companies. Nomadesk service for small businesses starts at $15 per user, per month. Discuss

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Nomadesk: Cloud-Based Backup Providers Doing Quite Well

Microsoft Caught With Hand in Plurk’s Cookie Jar?

cgseo — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 07:10:47 +0000

This morning, we got news that Microsoft had unequivocally ripped off design and code from marginally successful microblogging service Plurk . Now, we're seeing reports - and seeing for ourselves on the Microsoft website - that the knockoff site has been unceremoniously ganked from the tubes. Did a major corporation get caught red-handed stealing intellectual property from a startup? Say it ain't so! More interestingly, is the site's removal an admission of guilt? And are these side-by-side source code screenshots incriminating or what? Sponsor We received an email from a Plurk co-founder Amir Salihefendic this morning calling MSN China's Juku an obvious counterfeit . The proof is in the pudding. And the screenshots. And the source code: Currently, the Microsoft microblog site reads something along the lines of "We regret to inform you that the service is temporarily not available due to system maintenance. Please visit the site again later. We apologize for the inconvenience." Perhaps they ought to be apologizing to Plurk for the inconvenience. "We were absolutely shocked and outraged," wrote Plurk rep Dave Thompson, "when we first saw with our own eyes the cosmetic similarities Microsoft's new offering had with Plurk... "We're still in shock asking why Microsoft would even stoop to this level of wilfully plagiarizing a young and innovative upstart's work rather than reach out to us or innovate on their own terms." Microsoft has issued this press release that passes the buck on to an unnamed third-party contractor. Is it likely that the Microsoft executives in charge of producing the microblog were a) unaware of Plurk's existence and design to the extent that they wouldn't recognize a clone as such and b) that they didn't simply point at Plurk and tell their vendors to "make us one of those"? Having had some experience in both startup development processes and corporate application deployment, I personally know very well that a (literally) criminal amount of IP theft goes on every day in Silicon Valley and around the world. Most of the time, the offending parties are operating under the belief that they won't get caught. And a great deal of the time, they're not caught. We must, however, applaud Microsoft's taking the site down to investigate the matter rather than being defensive or litigious. Still, the software giant should be accepting more accountability for the attempted theft that was conducted in its name and under the auspices of its brand. What do you think? Who is to blame in this situation? Cast your vote below, and tell us what you really think in the comments. How Do You See the MSFT/Plurk Situation? ( polls ) Discuss

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Microsoft Caught With Hand in Plurk's Cookie Jar?

P2P Sharing Being Blocked Around the World, Where Next?

cgseo — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:24:13 +0000

Last week, we told you about peer-to-peer and torrent file-sharing sites were being systematically shut down all over China . Not too long before that, we let you know about file-sharing being monitored by a major ISP in the UK. Now, Israeli ISPs are throttling P2P network access, too, as confirmed in a report just released by an Israeli cyberlaw attorney and a partner news site. Whether you consider file-sharing an affront to content creators and copyright-holders everywhere or whether you see P2P networks as a permissible and valid way for users to exchange data, this trend is gaining considerable momentum around the world. Where will P2P restrictions pop up next? Sponsor In their research, tech attorney Jonathan Klinger and researchers involved with the Israeli website Ynet found that two of the three major ISPs in Israel are interfering with user traffic and might be conducting deep packet inspection. Traffic shaping is a practice sometimes used by some ISPs to discourage the use of certain applications. A couple of years ago, Comcast caught some heat from users and media for filtering user traffic when torrent files were being downloaded, even causing some to speculate that the ISP was violating U.S. law by prohibiting this traffic. Eventually, Comcast did strike a deal with BitTorrent to allow protocol-agnostic traffic management, but only after the sparring had been brought to the attention of the Federal Communications Commission. It's currently unclear whether Israeli ISPs are filtering traffic due to piracy concerns or simple due to bandwidth concerns, as shared files can often amount to multi-gigabyte, hours-long downloads. However, traffic-shaping that blocks P2P protocols can also apply to VoIP calls, IM clients and other applications. Although P2P traffic is associated with illegal downloads, nothing about the protocols themselves is inherently illegal. "The element common to all P2P services," reads the Israeli report, "is the lack of economical benefit to the ISP." Klinger noted that although complaints have been brought to media outlets and ISPs since 2007, the ISPs have typically ignored these criticisms. Netvision and Internet Zahav were the two ISPs determined by this research to be blocking file-sharing traffic. Bezeq International was the third ISP investigated. Although Bezeq was cleared by this particular investigation, a plug-in introduced last year from popular bittorrent client Vuze shows that this ISP, too, throttles and disrupts file-sharing network traffic. In response to the findings presented by Ynet and Klinger, all three of the investigated ISPs gave typically canned responses claiming to offer users excellent surfing experiences. Israeli Communications Ministry rep Dr. Yechiel Shabi told Ynet, "The research materials relayed to us paint a picture which arouses the need for thorough examination. After we become familiar with the study's findings, we shall consider the need for interference, supervision or regulation of the matter." So, while we wait to see what results this report will yield in Israel, we are left to ponder the perturbing question: Where will traffic-shaping pop up next to prevent P2P activity? Take another look at the findings from Vuze's traffic-monitoring plug-in . You'll see that ISPs around the world - including Verizon, BellSouth, AOL, AT&T, Charter, Road Runner and ISPs in France, Italy, Germany, Poland, the UK and the Middle East, to name a few locations - are already interrupting traffic. Vuze's researched was released in April 2008; in August, the FCC declared that ISPs should not be allowed to target and interrupt P2P applications. Still, suspicious Americans and other users around the world should consider using a tool such as the EFF's Switzerland to determine whether torrent downloads and VoIP calls are being interrupted by their ISP. Do Israeli or other ISPs have the right or the moral imperative to throttle traffic in this manner? Do they have the need or right to examine the applications, files, and protocols being employed by users on their networks? Or do ISPs around the globe need to read the wiki on net neutrality and get their act together? Let us know your experiences and opinions in the comments. Discuss

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P2P Sharing Being Blocked Around the World, Where Next?

Top 10 Failures of 2009

admin — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:25:28 +0000

In our yearly wrap-ups of the best products of 2009 , we cannot but notice the shadow that falls over the editorial desk. We are chilled and saddened by the ghosts of the past year - the apps that should have been, the startups that failed to launch, the brilliant ideas that were throttled, the great minds that were fired, the tech heroes that committed tragic gaffes. But some failures were so monumental that they require specific enumeration and commentary. Here are the 10 worst tech failures of 2009. Sponsor Google Wave Sucked This is one case where the hype was as noisy as the app - and both were deafening. We have to hand it to Google's publicity team; we don't know one geek who wasn't positively salivating for a Wave invite. The ReadWriteWeb back channel was a complete melee when the first invites were rolled out to team members. But once we got there and saw the new tech tricks, like watching one another type, we started thinking about use cases. And the more we struggled to understand and use this product, the more frustrated and bored we became. Blame it on the steep learning curve. Blame it on our misunderstanding the product. Mount whatever feeble defense you like, but techies know Wave was a flop. The TabletPads Went to the Deadpool All we wanted was a $200-500 flat piece of glass and plastic with some fancy gizmodgery inside so we could look at the Internet from the comfort of our couches. And what did we get? Rumors, Photoshopped gadget porn, promises - lies, all lies. We'd have been better off if we'd spent those months drawing the Yahoo! home page on an Etch-A-Sketch. Although the Crunchpad has resurfaced as the JooJoo , the price has been marked up considerably, and the whole project just seems wrong to us now. Moreover, five will get you ten that Michael Arrington, father of the Crunchpad and a former attorney, is fixing to get litigious right about now, which might significantly delay the product's appearance on the market. Powerset Resurfaced as Bing In 2008, Powerset was one of the stealthiest, sexiest startups on the Silicon Valley block. About five minutes after launching, Powerset got snatched up by Microsoft to the tune of $100 million. When everyone had retrieved their dentures from the ground and changed their pants, they noticed that Powerset's ever-so-sexy tech had been folded quietly into the Borg for assimilation. And about a year later, Bing was born, reportedly from the tech that Microsoft scraped off the infant carcass of Powerset. And Bing sucked. We had such high hopes. Twitter Failed to Innovate While some of us had our money on a Twitter sale in 2009, others were simply waiting for the company to debut a radical, interesting, mutually beneficial revenue model. At the very least, most users were hoping that the scalability issues and downtime that made Twitter the tragic heroine of 2008 would be put to rest. Twitter's failures this year were less about the headlines they made than the ones they didn't make. Rumors to the contrary notwithstanding, Twitter didn't capitalize on their massive adoption increase (a.k.a., their Oprahtization) and sell. Worse yet, they didn't buy. When one recalls the purchase of Summize and then contrasts it with this year's explosion of excellent Twitter apps, one wonders why none of these small startups or one-off side projects were acquired. Perhaps this was a case of "Hey, we can do that!" as Twitter certainly seemed intent on pilfering features (such as lists and retweets) from third-party developers. Too bad the "official" Twitter features suck a lot more than the original third-party designs. But worst of all, we are still consistently experiencing downtime at a level that is unacceptable for any major web app. Google couldn't get away with this kind of failure; why should Twitter be allowed to do so? The Great Firewall of China Drama Continued and Worsened To date, China's "Golden Shield Project" restrictions on Internet use are throttling traffic from that country to websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Bing, and many, many more. Banned sites include news organizations that cover controversial events, pro-democracy sites and blogs, any site acknowledging the existence of Taiwan, YouTube, most blogging websites (WordPress, Blogger, etc.) and anything the government deems to be obscene or profane. In countries where creative self expression and the ability to browse, learn and make decisions independently are freedoms too often taken for granted, these restrictions are indeed unthinkable. The project began in 1998 and still made plenty of headlines this year for its renewed affronts to freedom on the Internet. For example, in June, the Chinese government announced it would be rolling out censorship software on every new computer sold in the country. Microsoft Dumped Don Dodge Not too long ago, we at ReadWriteWeb were shocked to learn from startup guru and longtime Microsoft ambassador Don Dodge that the Big M had given him the kiss-off. Dodge was seen by many as an intelligent, approachable personality in front of a huge, out-of-touch, unpopular brand. It was the tech industry equivalent of FOX cancelling the Simpsons. It's been noted that Microsoft makes its paper from the enterprise, not startups, which would make Dodge a natural candidate for the chopping block. Still, the move was hugely criticized by bloggers, VCs and others. Microsoft's PR plot thickened a few days later when Google snatched up the briefly unemployed Dodge. Spotify Didn't Launch in the US... Yet It tops our list of Most Highly Anticipated Products Yankees Can't Get Their Mitts On. Streaming music service Spotify is changing the world - with the exception of the United States. We've already got a crowded market of players here, including Pandora, Last.fm and Imeem. Call us greedy, but we want the new hotness that is Spotify, too. The Web 1.0 Comeback Campaigns Were Embarrassing to Watch Now, we at ReadWriteWeb have no desire to kick a company when it's down, but a couple of the mastodons of the mid-nineties dotcom boom have been valiantly attempting to stage comebacks, some more successfully than others. Yahoo! did some good things for developers this year, but AOL/Aol's rebranding was pitiful. And don't get Dana Oshiro started on the affront to end-user dignity that is Friendster. Oracle Acquired MySQL Open-source geeks have been sporting metaphorical black armbands for the loss of MySQL, the world's largest open-source database, to Oracle, the largest pay-to-play database, following that company's acquisition of Sun Microsystems. We reported last week that MySQL usage is expected to drop by around 10 percent over the next 5 years. Here's another handy stat: Oracle also this year raised their own prices by 40 percent . Will MySQL remain free-as-in-beer and open source? Or will it succumb to corporate lameness? And the Worst Fail of 2009... LeapFish Made a God-Awful Promotional Video Tonight, we dine in hell! LeapFish's bombastic promo clip (which you have to watch in 10-second segments to avoid waves of misplaced inspiration alternating with waves of nausea) is as horrifying as the company itself is sketchy . The startup says it made $10 million before it even launched, and the CEO Ben Behrouzi is an infamous contrepreneur with a background in lead generation and threatening employees . So, there you have it: our list of the worst tech-related disasters of 2009. What did we omit? Let us know in the comments below, and don't hold back. Clearly, we didn't. And to the companies mentioned in this report: 2009 isn't over yet. You've still got three weeks to make it right with end users. Discuss

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Top 10 Failures of 2009