The Wall Street Journal

With Apple's iPad scheduled to go on sale on April 3, a new report indicates there may be strong pre-order demand. This could mean the iPad is on the verge of being a breakthrough product for tablet computers.

On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to unnamed sources, pre-orders have totaled "hundreds of thousands of units," which could also indicate that the iPad will challenge the iPhone's phenomenal debut. However, it's not clear if these reported pre-orders are actual sales or simply non-sale reservations for later pickups.

In an international Internet drama, Google seems closer to ending operations in China after threatening two months ago to pull out of the market. Google's Chinese-language search engine is the only major foreign competitor in the communist nation.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a person familiar with the situation said Google is likely to take action within weeks. Meanwhile, Chinese government officials told state news outlets that Google's Chinese site is likely to close, and that if Google exits, those news outlets are required to publish only government accounts.

No watered-down Internet. No sacrifices. That's the promise Hewlett-Packard Vice President and CTO Phil McKinney offered consumers in a blog post about the PC giant's upcoming tablet computer. HP's iPad competitor, he promised, will offer a full web browsing experience in the palm of your hand.

In one of the funnier moments of Sunday's Academy Awards, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin thought they spotted Avatar director James Cameron in the audience. The hosts whipped out 3-D glasses to scan the audience for the man whose top-grossing film has fueled more interest in 3-D viewing.

Common Sight

While the gag got some laughs, it may not be unusual for more people to carry around 3-D glasses this year. All the top manufacturers are planning 3-D television models.

Evidence from the recent Aurora hack attacks on major American corporations suggest that many may have tightly locked virtual front doors, but no cybersecurity inside their systems, a McAfee expert warned on Wednesday. In a Security Insights blog post, Paul Kurtz, McAfee's chief technology officer, discussed his study of the December-through-February attacks on Google, Intel, Adobe Systems, and other large firms.

Andrew Leonard in Salon:

Paid news content may be making a comeback. The Associated Press said Friday that it will set up a division to help its member newspapers and broadcasters sell content to the new generation of content devices, including tablet computers and e-readers.

AP President and CEO Tom Curley told the Colorado Press Association convention in Denver that the new division, called AP Gateway, will provide a "launching pad" for content from AP and other publishers.

A 'Variety of Ways'

T-Mobile USA, the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier, said Thursday it gained 371,000 new customers in the fourth quarter, reversing subscriber losses in the third quarter.

But the new subscribers were mainly low-paying ones who don't sign contracts, and T-Mobile USA's earnings and revenue fell from the same period a year earlier.

Microsoft is cracking down on botnets through the legal system -- and winning. The software giant launched a legal assault this week against networks of compromised computers controlled by hackers, and a federal judge in Alexandria, Va., agreed to its request to deactivate 277 infringing domain names.

Google's effort to launch a social-media network on top of its existing 143 million Gmail users had a rough first week. Within days of last week's launch of Google Buzz, it was hard to keep up with users' privacy complaints and the company's rapid responses. Being automatically linked to contacts was a nonstarter. So was having those contacts revealed to other Gmail users.