research group

John Tierney in The New York Times:

John Tierney in The New York Times:

Google Voice, a service that lets users consolidate and simplify the ways in which they make and receive phone calls, has taken a step to alleviate what many observers saw as a key problem. Until now, users have had to use a Google-supplied telephone number. That was considered an inconvenience since the number would have to be circulated to friends and business associates.

In the week since Microsoft Corp. launched Bing, its new search engine, the software maker's share of U.S. Web searches has crept into double digits for the first time in two years.

But Bing's early gain is no predictor of future success. After all, the last time that happened, Microsoft had resorted to paying people to use Bing's predecessor, known as Live Search.

From MSNBC:

Global shipments of personal computers fell 7.1 percent in the first three months of the year, but the decline was smaller than expected and research group IDC on Wednesday said the industry could turn around by the end of the year.

A second research group, Gartner Inc., calculated first-quarter PC shipments fell 6.5 percent from the same period in 2008. The two groups use different methods to track PC shipments.

April Fools' Day is to Google as Christmas is to Macy's -- the day it was made for. On each first day of April, Google increasingly shows that the company devoted to organizing the world's information is also devoted to spoofing the world's information.

This year, Google is in full gear. To begin the party, its search page has a link to CADIE, described simply as "a singular upgrade to your online life."

A 'Breakthrough'

Microsoft Corp. has said marketing teams were hard at work fixing the company's Web search image. As a brand, Live Search wasn't working.

But Kumo? What?

Microsoft's search team posted a screen shot of a redesigned search site, called Kumo, on its blog Tuesday. A leaked memo from the team's technical leader, Satya Nadella, described Kumo.com as a test program that can only be accessed from computers on Microsoft's network. The company confirmed the memo's authenticity after it appeared on CNET News.

Shouldn't your computer know a reasonable amount about your likes and dislikes? Wouldn't it be great if it could anticipate your needs and take action without you pressing a key?

Booking travel and restaurant reservations, rearranging meeting schedules or even taking a first cut at reading e-mail messages are among the mundane tasks that have remained beyond the reach of our PCs for decades.

But a new generation of Internet technologies, coupled with the investment of more than a third of a billion dollars, may be making meaningful progress.

Skype is answering concerns about its joint venture with TOM Online in China. A report released Thursday by Canadian human-rights activists revealed a massive surveillance system that monitors Skype messages containing words China's government deems offensive.

Citizen Lab, a research group at the University of Toronto, released the report, Breaching Trust: An analysis of surveillance and security practices on China's TOM-Skype platform.

Skype Speaks Out