In the Comment section of Thursday’s Financial Times, Richard Waters looks ahead to this weekend’s launch of the iPad:
“This launch is about much more than just another piece of personal technology hardware, no matter how desirable. For the iPad is an extension of the most significant new development in computing since the birth of the personal computer. If it takes off, it would seal Apple’s rebound to the very top of the heap in the computing world.” Read more
Access to Google search results from within mainland China was blocked recently for many hours, then restored, even as the US company switched explanations for what was happening.
In the meantime, Yahoo email users in China specialising in politically sensitive material complained that their accounts had been compromised, while malicious software tried to install itself on computers in Vietnam used by critics of a Chinese mining investment in that country. Read more
Cisco Valet aims to clean up Wi-Fi mess
Setting up a Wi-Fi network in the home appears to be beyond many consumers, with retailers sometimes seeing returns of upwards of 20-25 per cent on wireless routers.
Enter the Cisco Valet – a simplified product that doesn’t even say it’s a router on the box – aimed at the two-thirds of US homes still without wireless. Read more
Intel and AMD serve up multi-core contest
Servers, whether the tall wardrobe type or those pizza-box slices of hardware that slide into racks in data centre ovens, seem suddenly almost sexy.
We have had lavish beauty-contest launches from AMD and Intel on Monday and Tuesday of new high-performance server chips at San Francisco’s De Young Museum and the old Federal Reserve building respectively. Read more
With less than 100 hours to launch, the rate of stories appearing per hour about the iPad is rising as fast as Apple’s share price – it hit a new all-time high on Tuesday.
Techblog has been tracking some of the main developments – from Greenpeace criticising the iPad’s carbon footprint to forecasts being raised to shipments of up to 10m units this year. Our roundup after the jump: Read more
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Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
