The Google Glass isn’t even on sale yet but it may already have a Chinese competitor, writes Henry Mance.
Baidu, the company that now dominates Chinese internet search after Google’s partial retreat in 2010, has said it is developing its own “ocular wearable interface”, provisionally called the Baidu Eye, which will allow wearers to take pictures, and search using voice and images. Read more
When Robin Li, Baidu’s chief executive, gave an interview to the Financial Times in March, he made some enigmatic remarks, writes Kathrin Hille in Beijing.
Asked about what he intended to do to make sure Baidu, China’s largest online search engine, would not lose out in the rapid rise of the microblogs in China, he said: “Baidu is not in the social media business.” Read more
Tech news from around the web:
Google has announced that it is to use its own data to detect malware viruses targeting its users, Techcrunch reports. From today, the online search giant will use Google Search results pages to warn users if their computers are infected with a specific form of malware.
Chinese search engine Baidu has launched an internet browser designed to compete with Internet Explorer and Chrome, The Wall Street Journal says. The program’s home page will display links to software applications and popular websites, such as the Weibo microblog service. Read more
Tech news from around the web:
Baidu, owner of China’s most popular internet-search engine, has ended a six-year dispute over piracy and has agreed to pay record labels to offer songs, Bloomberg reports. Sony, Universal Music and Warner Music will receive undisclosed fees for allowing their content to be downloaded for free to users of Baidu’s Ting and MP3 services, the Chinese company said in a statement. Read more
Act one of Google’s spat with the Chinese authorities over censorship and government-backed hacking closed last year with Google partially retreating from the world’s most populous nation.
There was, however, still the unresolved issue of Google Maps, and act two of Google versus China may now be beginning with Google having submitted an application to Beijing to allow the service to remain in China. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
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.
