Google Blames China’s Government For Blocking Gmail Users
The Internet is an interesting environment. Online, people say and do things that they may not do in “real life.” It is also a means by which people can voice discontent, a platform for activists and rebels to inspire and spread information. China has long had a reputation for being averse to free speech on the internet, and online censorship in China is commonplace. But recently, this was taken a step further when journalists in the country claimed that they had their Gmail accounts hacked into. Other users claim that they have had trouble accessing the Google mail program as well..more
Hot Weather in a Warming Climate
It’s worth reflecting on that year a bit. I realized just how special this July heat wave was several days ago when we were driven to pull my 1988 Climatrol room air conditioner out of the attic, dust it off and turn it on in a bedroom, creating one cool zone in our otherwise roasting Hudson Valley house. It doesn’t come out of storage often. (While it’s a near antique, and clearly not an Energy Star model, it works great and is deployed so rarely that I have no guilt about using it.)..more
Motorola Xoom vs. Apple iPad 2
The original iPad didn’t make it into many of CNET’s Prizefights in 2010 because, frankly, there wasn’t a whole lot of competition. But, oh, what a difference a year makes. The Motorola Xoom was the darling of CES and Google’s first-draft pick to receive its Android 3.0 Honeycomb operating system. It was the first tablet to offer dual-core processing, and the first with Adobe Flash 10.2 support. If ever there were an iPad contender, the Xoom is it…more