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The Walt Disney Company has agreed to pay a $3 million settlement stemming from charges that online virtual worlds once operated by Playdom, now a Disney subsidiary, violated the Federal Trade Commission rules designed to protect the online privacy of children under age 13. According to the FTC, several Playdom sites that were aimed at young audiences illegally collected and then disclosed personal data in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). These sites included Pony Stars, 2 Moons, 9 Dragons, Age of Lore, and My DIva Doll. The FTC complaint says that some 821,000 children registered with Pony Stars between 2006 and 2009 and another 403,000 signed up for Playdom's other online virtual worlds. These sites collected children's names, ages, and email addresses and allowed them to post that personal information publicly online -- including their real names and locations. The FTC charged that the company failed to get parents' consent before collecting or disclosing this information. Sponsor The sites in question were created by Acclaim Games, which were acquired by Playdom in May 2010. Playdom, in turn, was acquired by Disney in August 2010, and by that time many of the games were shut down or transferred to offshore operators. A Disney spokesperson said in a statement that it was "pleased that Playdom and the FTC have now resolved this matter amicably." The announcement of the settlement coincides with the introduction of legislation by Representatives Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) that will update online protections for children. Indeed, the legislation that governs children's online privacy, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, was first passed in 1998. 1998 - that's eons ago in Internet years. A world pre-Playdom, pre-Facebook, and even pre-Google. (Well, the search engine was actually incorporated that year.) The updated COPPA legistation, called the "Do Not Track Kids Online Act," would require online companies to explain the types of data that's collected as well as how it is to be used or disclosed. It would also update language to include mobile applications, and it would ban companies from using children and teens' personal data for targeted advertising. The federal government is examining a number of new measures to protect consumers' privacy online, but no surprise, particular attention is being paid to the children's privacy online - not just on those sites like Disney's aimed at directly at those under 13, but at others such as Facebook that, despite Terms of Service rules that dictate otherwise, are full of children. Discuss

Disney To Pay $3 Million Settlement...

It's been more than two decades since Microsoft's now-ubiquitous suite of office productivity software was released. Although we've seen numerous free or low-cost alternatives arrive on the scene since then - OpenOffice.org, Google Docs and Zoho Docs to name a few - Microsoft Office still remains overwhelmingly dominant in this space. Forrester reported two years ago that 80% of companies were running some version of Office, and this number hasn't budged much. In a recent report, Forrester noted that all respondents were running Office, with 74% of IT departments saying they supported Microsoft Office 2003 or earlier. By contrast, only 8% said they utilize Google Docs and 1% were on Zoho Docs. Sponsor With cheaper alternatives available, what's holding companies back from moving away from Microsoft's offering? For IT decision makers, the desire to rely less on Microsoft is simply not a very influential factor, as only 20% cited it as a primary driver. Much more important to the process of selecting this type of software is worker productivity. A majority (68%) of respondents said improving productivity was the main influence driving the adoption of solutions like Office. As easy as it may sometimes be to dislike Office, it's hard to deny that it has a pretty robust feature set. For as good as Web-based tools like Google Docs are, they only do a portion of what Office does. And while they accomplish the majority of commonly-needed tasks quite well and benefit from being based in the cloud, this is still not enough for many businesses. Forrester predicts that as the competition continues to "close the functionality gap," we should expect to see greater adoption of alternative suites like Google Docs. Meanwhile, forseeing this threat, Microsoft continues to expand its own Web-based offerings, with Office 365 recently going into public beta. Eagerness to provide an office suite alternative also varies depending on the type of worker. A Web-based solution would be especially ideal for workers who travel extensively, such as sales reps, for example. IT decision makers said they'd be more likely to offer a solution to workers who edit documents only occasionally, as opposed to those whose jobs revolve more heavily around doing so. The second most important factor cited by larger companies is the desire to cut costs. Obviously, for small businesses and nonprofits this is a much more significant consideration and as a result those organizations tend to be more likely to use Office alternatives. Does your company use Microsoft Office or one of its competitors? What your thoughts? Let us know in the comments. Discuss

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Want to write apps for OSX, the iPhone or the iPad? You can learn JavaScript and use a frameworks like PhoneGap or Titanium. Or you can learn the official language of Apple operating systems: Objective-C. The debate over whether to build mobile apps in JavaScript or Objective-C is beyond the scope of this blog post. But if you want to learn Objective-C, these resources will get you started. Sponsor Become an Xcoder: Start Programming the Mac Using Objective-C Become an Xcoder: Start Programming the Mac Using Objective-C by Bert Altenberg, Alex Clarke and Philippe Mougin is a programming book for absolute beginners. It introduces basic programming concepts, object oriented programming and more. It's available as a free PDF in English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Chinese and Arabic. Only the English version has been updated for OSX Leopard, the others are based on Tiger. Objective-C 2.0 Essentials Objective-C 2.0 Essentials by Neil Smyth is an introduction to Objective-C available for free online. Only the HTML format is free, those wanting an ePub, PDF or Kindle version will need to buy a copy. It's suitable for beginner programmers, or those with some programming experience. Learning Cocoa with Objective-C Learning Cocoa with Objective-C by James Duncan Davidson. This is based on OSX Jaguar, released in 2002 - so it's a little outdated. The full text is available online, but if you want formats other than HTML you'll need to shell out for a paid version. It's meant for those with experience with object oriented programming. The Objective-C Programming Language The Objective-C Programming Language is an introduction to Objective-C from the official Apple website. It assumes some familiarity with C and experience with object oriented programming. Bonus: Objective-C for Java Programmers Objective-C for Java Programmers is a tutorial by David Chisnall for experienced Java developers wanting to learn Objective-C. Discuss

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When Microsoft announced its acquisition of Skype, it marked another turning point for many early adopters who have known the simplicity and usefulness of the service since its first days of availability back in 2003. What the acquisition also represents is the potential for greater adoption by business people. Of course that will depend on how Microsoft treats Skype. It will be integrated into the Microsoft suite for use as a sanctioned communications tool. But the signs are there that Microsoft will respect the service as a stand-alone product for the millions of people who love it for what it is. Sponsor Considering these two factors, we see five reasons for why Skype will be a hit in the business world. Skype is a Consumer Service The new generation of great enterprise services have a common thread. People use them all the time. An iPhone is for work and for play. People use GMail in both their personal and work lives, too. Skype is in that same category. You may use it one day to call your Mom and the next minute to chat with a colleague. We named Skype our enterprise conferencing tool of the year in 2010 for its moves towards providing business-grade communications with the ease of use of its consumer product. Skype and the Cloud Ted Schadler of Forester Research told CIO.com that he expects Microsoft to market Skype as a cloud service along with Windows Azure and Office 365. You can also bet that Skype will be a service that is synced with Windows 8. That could be some time away but adding it as an extension makes sense for one-click communications with your business colleagues and friends. Integration with Lync is another matter. Lync is the Microsoft communications technology suite that integrates audio, video, and Web conferencing. It's so integrated into IT that Skype might wither in the environment. Skype is also a peer-to-peer service and so integrating with Lync is a question mark. How will Skype be loosely coupled from the Microsoft suite? That's my question. Skype and Windows Phone Combined, Microsoft has invested about $9.5 billion this past year in communications through its partnership with Nokia for $1 billion and the $8.5 billion Skype deal. What that means is millions of smartphones with VOIP. That's a low-cost alternative that plays to enterprise demands to cut communications costs. Skype Developer Community Think how many varieties of VOIP Skype phones that Microsoft can now create with Nokia. Add to that an ecosystem of developers who create apps with Skype to work on Windows devices. Now you have an affordable device with a community around it. Building a vibrant developer community may be the most important challenge for Microsoft, which is lagging in developer strength behind Apple iOS and Google Android. Skype Video and Kinect The idea of the fully immersive video experience begins to become reality with Skype in the play. Combine it with Kinect and you have the makings of an immersive video experience that is far more natural than the desktop model that has been popularized over the last 10 years. Google Voice and Apple Facetime are also playing to this opportunity. The next frontier for all these companies is how services like Kinect and Skype work seamlessly together but still remain loosely coupled so they are not too locked down in integrations. Video Kinect, for example, is marketed as a home conferencing service. You can use Video Kinect to have live video chats with Xbox LIVE and Windows Live Messenger users.To connect the Kinect through Lync would require a more complex integration. But could Skype be the missing connection point? The question, again, is about integration and the viability of the Kinect as a enterpise tool. Julie Bard of the Microsoft Update makes the case that the Xbox could be used as a low-cost conferencing system. But with the Windows Kinect SDK and Skype, the Xbox won't even be a necessary part of the puzzle. A Final Thought You can look at the Skype acquisition as one for Microsoft to squander. They will if they too tightly integrate the service. It's in these integrations that the bureaucracy becomes the hindrance and the innovators depart. But if Skype is loosely coupled and a developer community sprouts then there will much to talk about. It's the business model that matters to developers. And work that's fun. Skype is fun. Kinect is fun. And Windows Phone 7 is a device that has revenue opportunities. Just don't lock Skype down and the market should open up just fine. Discuss

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Sony has flipped the switch to bring its Playstation Network back on line, after a lengthy, three-week outage. Sony Corporation Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai said that services would be brought back online in phases, and that first phase was underway. Hirai said that this would include sign-in for the Playstation Network and the Qriocity music services and online gameplay for PS3 and PSP. Users have to upgrade their firmware and change their passwords before they can log back in to the network. Sponsor The Sony Playstation Network was taken offline on April 19 when hackers compromised the database. The episode has been disastrous for Sony PR, which took several days before admitting there'd been a security breach and revealing that its 77 million users' data had been stolen. The network has remained offline since then. It's hard to say what's worse for gamers: this lengthy outage - one of the worst on record - or the compromise of their personal data. Either way, Sony will have a long road ahead to win back the trust of gamers, who have a wide variety of options for other console or handhelds games. Indeed, even before this recent attack on Sony, the company had lost the favor of many with its decision to sue hacker George Hotz for jailbreaking the PS3. Hotz and Sony recently settled, but not before what Electronista described as Sony's "scorched earth attitude," in which it had demanded access to the records of anyone who had viewed or commented on the jailbreak video on YouTube. Sony also requested that Twitter provide the identities of those who revealed the hack there. Sony's actions had drawn the ire of the vigilante group Anonymous, which launched a denial of service attack on the Sony website in response. But Anonymous has denied responsibility for the hack that brought the Playstation Network down and stolen user data. In his announcement this evening, Hirai reassured users that Sony had instituted a number of new security changes. But with their personal data compromised and after 3 weeks of no online Playstation gameplay,it remains to be seen whether or not gamers will return, or if they've found other ways to spend their gaming time and money. Discuss

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Here’s our roundup of the week’s tech business news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days: Google’s Music Beta first look: it’s miserable – Google’s Music Beta is supposed to provide users with a way to access the music anywhere, anytime as easily as physically possible. But it’s just not that easy. Bad information spreading on PlayStation Network’s return date: nothing new, folks — There was some unfortunate wording in a Bloomberg news report on Sunday about Sony’s PlayStation Network, leading many publications to report that the network will be down until May 31. But that’s incorrect, according to Sony spokesman Patrick Seybold. Angry Birds flutters over to Chrome — Google is bringing Rovio’s Angry Birds, a popular game on mobile devices where players fling birds at structures to try to destroy pigs, to its Chrome web browser to showcase how fast the browser has grown over time. Why I (and probably 600,000 others) stopped playing World of Warcraft — Blizzard’s flagship online game, World of Warcraft, shed around 600,000 players in the last quarter even though it released one of its most successful expansion packs yet. VentureBeat’s Matthew Lynley offers a possible explanation. Instant video game lets you kill bin Laden yourself — What the game lacks in quality it certainly makes up for in controversy. And here are five more posts that we think are important, thought-provoking, or fun: Google lobbies Nevada to be first state for self-driving cars — Google hasn’t given up on its sci-fi ambitions to make self-driving cars a reality. At last, Sid Meier readies Civilization World social game for Facebook — Sid Meier’s Civilization World is finally close to coming out of an insane development cycle. Why it’s hard to care about Facebook’s privacy slap fight with Google – In all the discussion this week about Facebook’s secret attempt to plant negative news stories about Google, most of the comments have (deservedly) focused on Facebook’s underhanded tactics. But here’s the other thing that struck me about Facebook’s criticisms: They’re pretty lame. San Francisco will juice your electric car for free — The city of San Francisco, Calif., will install electric vehicle charging stations in publicly-owned garages and at San Francisco International Airport by the end of the year that drivers can use for free until 2013. Everybody’s hot for Samsung’s Galaxy S II, hits 3 million pre-orders — It looks like Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S II may be the Android smartphone to beat this year. Tags: Angry Birds, chrome, Civilization World, Galaxy S II, Google Music Beta, Nevada, self-driving cars, Sony PlayStation Network, World of Warcraft Companies: Blizzard, Facebook, Google, Rovio, Samsung, Sony People: Osama Bin Laden, Patrick Seybold, Sid Meier

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This morning, Facebook launched a new feature called "login approvals," which offers users the ability to further secure access to their Facebook account through the introduction of a second step to the login process. Once opted-in to this security feature, users enter in their email address and password as usual, but will then receive a second code sent to them on their mobile phone. This short, numeric code must also be entered before being able to access Facebook from that computer. While an extra step may not be to everyone's liking, for those looking for additional ways to secure access to their account, this feature will be welcomed. Sponsor Two-Factor Authentication Increases Security This type of security feature is known as "two-factor authentication," a term which refers to the two separate steps taken to ensure a user is who they say they are. A username (in this case, the email address registered with Facebook) and a password can easily become compromised, as anyone who's had their Facebook account hacked can tell you. What's less likely, however, is for anyone else to gain physical access to your mobile phone. By requiring that this second code is sent to a device you have in your possession, you can easily keep unwanted third-parties from getting into your Facebook account. How to Use the Login Approvals Feature To turn on login approvals, you'll first need to confirm what computer you'll be using, by entering in a security code sent via text message to your phone. Once you enter the code, you'll be asked to save the device to your account, so you don't see the message again when using that same computer. After this initial setup is complete, if you ever login from an unrecognized device, you'll be asked to enter in another security code sent to your phone. You will also be notified of this change upon the following login to Facebook, and asked to verify the attempted account access. If it wasn't you who had attempted to sign in from the other device, you'll be able to change your Facebook password to re-secure the account immediately. However, you can be assured that the person who attempted to hack into your account would not have been able to access it, as they did not have the code sent to your mobile phone at the time. And if you ever lose your phone, you can return to any previously authorized device to log back into Facebook. To enable this feature, go to the "Account Security" section of the Account settings page on Facebook, and look for the new "Login Approvals" option. You can access your Account settings by clicking on the "Account" link at the top-right of the Facebook homepage. Discuss

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Japan's largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo and Twitter have announced a partnership that allows the operator access to Twitter's database. As a part of the deal, users will be able to tap phones in order to follow each other on Twitter. The operator will also integrate Twitter updates and other related content in its feature phone portal called i-mode and on its smartphone portal, the DoCoMo Market. In total, the new integrations will reach 58 million NTT DoCoMo customers in Japan. Although not part of the press release, a Twitter-based location-based alerting service is in the works too, according to reports. This service will involve harvesting tweets to alert Twitter users about local events and places, among other things. Sponsor A Twitter Alert Service The location-based alerting service will involve the collection of public Twitter updates, but with the personal information removed. Twitter will be responsible for anonymizing this data before turning it over to the NTT DoCoMo. The software involved, expected to launch this winter, will initially run only on phones from the carrier itself. This is an important partnership for Twitter, which is a hugely popular service in Japan at present. There are currently around 17.57 million Twitter users in Japan, and as we reported back in April, roughly 25% of all tweets now come from Japan alone. The service is more popular than Facebook in that country, The New York Times reported last year. One Japanese operator, SoftBank, even offers some phones with a dedicated Twitter application pre-installed on the home screen. How NFC is Being Used with Twitter in Japan...and Elsewhere Of course, the piece of this news we're most interested in (and extremely jealous of) is the NFC-enabled "tap to follow" functionality which will soon arrive in Japan. NFC, or near field communication, is a short range wireless technology that allows for the exchange of data between two devices. It's an enabling technology for the many upcoming mobile payment systems which will allow users to pay for purchases at point-of-sale, instead of with a credit or debit card. Just this week, Visa announced the launch of a digital wallet service that will use NFC. But NFC, which is now arriving on modern smartphones like the Google/Samsung Nexus S, Samsung's Galaxy S II, Nokia's Astound, RIM's BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 and more soon, is not just for mobile wallets. It can also be used to facilitate simple tasks or data exchanges. For example, Foursquare experimented with NFC-based check-ins at this week's Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, Rovio is experimenting with NFC in its new Angry Birds Magic game and DoubleTwist is allowing Android users to share MP3's with each other using NFC. The only notable service in the U.S. that's looking at NFC's use with Twitter, however, is Hashable. Its Android application was updated this week to allow NFC-based contact sharing. Simply tap phones with another Hashable user on Android to exchange contact info via email or "check-in" with that person on Hashable. Although automatic Twitter following is not supported at present, Hashable says the feature is in development now. Sadly for we early adopters, there are only a handful of NFC-enabled Android applications at present, and fewer still that involve any sort of NFC-enabled Twitter functionality. Most are more targeted at the geek/experimental community, not mainstream consumer. In time though, as more NFC phones ship, that situation should change. Discuss

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According to the Daily Beast, Facebook has hired public relations firm Burston-Marsteller to pitch negative stories about Google to media outlets. The campaign was uncovered on May 3, when blogger Chris Soghoian posted emails he had received from BM's John Mercurio. "I wanted to gauge your interest in authoring an op-ed this week for a top-tier media outlet on an important issue that I know you're following closely," Mercurio wrote. Sponsor "The topic: Google's sweeping violations of user privacy. Google, as you know, has a well-known history of infringing on the privacy rights of America's Internet users. Not a year has gone by since the founding of the company where it has not been the focus of front-page news detailing its zealous approach to gathering information - in many cases private and identifiable information - about online users." Soghoian asked who was paying BM, but was rebuffed. He declined to pursue the opportunity. The PR campaign had been fairly extensive, according to USA Today. The campaign was "about how an obscure Google Gmail feature --Social Circle-- ostensibly tramples the privacy of millions of Americans and violates federal fair trade rules." (Read our coverage of Circles.) Google has recently been knocked back on its heels due to a raid of its offices in Seoul, South Korean and facing a U.S. Senate hearing about location-tracking in its Android phones. According to the Daily Beast: "Confronted with evidence, a Facebook spokesman last night confirmed that Facebook hired Burson, citing two reasons: first, it believes Google is doing some things in social networking that raise privacy concerns; second, and perhaps more important, Facebook resents Google's attempts to use Facebook data in its own social-networking service." To say that Facebook accusing Google of mishandling privacy issues is hypocritical would be an understatement. (Along the lines of Baby Face Nelson accusing John Dillinger of a lax attitude toward firearm safety.) The opposite would be equally true. In jabbing at the motes in each other's eyes, both companies have clearly gone blind. Other sources: Boingboing Discuss

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Hyperlocal and mobile news are the big news industry buzzwords these days. AOL is going all out with its Patch initiative and every few months a new hyperlocal news effort is announced, sparking the morbid curiosity of the news industry to see how it will eventually work or fail. Google may be coming to kill them all. Google announced today that its "News Near You" product, tied into Google News, will be available from Android and iPhones browsers. The beauty of this for Google is that it costs them essentially nothing to roll out this service whereas Patch and other local initiatives like Washington, D.C.-centric TBD.com spent considerable sums to break into the hyperlocal market. Can Google come in and wipe them aside in one fell swoop? Sponsor If you visit Google News from your phone it will prompt you for location and ask for news categories (business, tech, etc.) that interest you. A quick study from my Samsung Galaxy S gave me more than a dozens news stories from Tysons Corner, Va., the closest city designation from my location. News companies are always wary of Google and especially Google News with the mistaken notion that the search giant has hastened the death of their revenue model. In that vein, media outlets large and small are probably not incredibly keen on seeing Google further entrench its news footprint in their backyards. There are a lot of facts and figures thrown around the hyperlocal advertising market but $100 billion is the number that is pegged by industry watchers ravenous for cash streams. If that number seems excessively high, think that it involves all local advertising of any sort across the entire United States. Almost all purchasing decisions are made locally and advertisers crave an audience that is as granular as possible that can bring feet to local stores and franchise chains. As yet, no one large company has been able to gain a significant foothold in the market. The Washington Post tried with a failed initiative in Loudoun County, Va., the New York Times has a couple ongoing efforts with "The Local" and there are small startups across the country looking to cash in. It comes down to a matter of consumer habit and preference. News sites that tend to do well in local markets are ones that are ingrained in the community and become as much a forum for what is happening locally as a news source. Listserv lists still fulfill this purpose as do local blogs. At the same time, Google has a great approach to hyperlocal - Google News is a widely used product, the appetite for local news via smartphone is growing and Google simply flicks a switch or two on its algorithm and entire segments of the population are served. Mobile "News Near You" may seem like a small update to an existing product, but its consequences could have a more profound impact than many people think. Discuss

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Recently I was honored with an invitation from President Sarkozy of France to attend the e-G8 Summit. The e-G8 Summit precedes this years G8 Summit in Deauville on May 26 and 27. The purpose of the e-G8 is to inform the G8 leaders by gathering the world's top Internet and digital leaders in advance of the bigger event. Given the closed-door nature of the event and its relationship to the G8 Summit it's somewhat unsurprising that rumors about the nature of the meeting have been flying. The e-G8 has the potential to be an important event and it is attracting a who's who in technology and government. The attendee list boasts heads of state as well as prominent media and technology figures like Rupert Murdoch, Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Eric Schmidt of Google, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook; are all expected to attend. Sponsor But as Bobbie Johnson of Gigaom writes: French outlet La Tribune is suggesting that many attendees are being asked to pay up for their chance to speak out. It says the event which promises to deeply influence government leaders from the worlds most powerful nations is, in fact, a very private affair in which getting a seat at the table is easy if you can spare several hundred thousand dollars. Aaron Fulkerson (@Roebot) is co-founder and CEO of MindTouch, the leader in social knowledge bases, product help, and enterprise collaboration. As CEO of MindTouch, Aaron has grown the company from a small open source project to a widely recognized brand in social business software with millions of users across the globe. I'm unaware of any such requirement. Indeed, a representative of the organizer, Publicis Groupe, responded to that post in the comments. In short, this assertion, as with many others swirling about the Internet, smell a little bit paranoid. The thread of cynicism and borderline paranoia running through coverage of the event is likely created, in part, by the unusual policies of Sarkozy and France. These include extreme copyright laws, proposed taxes on Internet use, and opposition to net neutrality. The exclusivity of the event undoubtedly fuels skepticism. While the elitism of the event is a bit of a turn off for me too, it doesn't make sense that you would get this many great minds in the same room simply to make money. And if you look at the agenda, while short on details, it most definitely doesn't reek of marketing and PR hype for a bunch of vendors. With all the politicking, skepticism and controversy that typically surrounds the G8 Summit already in full tilt and seemingly directed at the e-G8 currently, it strikes me that the event is at risk of being written off as political theatre. However, I intend to pour myself into the event and hope to find a way to direct the conversation toward topics I care about. The materials I've received thus far encourage me to believe the goals are altruistic. It is my hope that this is in fact the case. Nova Spivack published the e-G8 agenda and fact sheet we received with our invitations. He also writes: I am skeptical that it will be possible to reach any sort of agreement on such complex and controversial issues in a short timeframe, however, perhaps it will be possible for the delegates to come up with recommendations for Internet-related issues that require urgent attention from the G8 leaders, at least. I too am unsure how attendees will have a meaningful impact given the short time, diversity of personalities and complexity of issues. Technologists take for granted how difficult it is for people that haven't been steeped in technology to grok topics like net neutrality, patent and copyright reform, privacy and open standards.Earlier in my career I was involved in a lot of community and non profit work. Indeed, just last November I attended the White House Summit on Education. Based on my experience I know this: technologists take for granted how difficult it is for people that haven't been steeped in technology to grok topics like net neutrality, patent and copyright reform, privacy and open standards. Many non-technologists assume our fervor for such concepts to be idealistic when, in fact, it is our ardent support of free markets and business that spur our passions for such concepts. Bridging the knowledge gap between policy maker and technologist is undoubtedly the most significant challenge facing the e-G8. However, if we can make progress on just one or two key issues, it paves the way for a host of other improvements, many of which will help further all of our more selfish interests while also bettering society as a whole. I have two goals for the e-G8. I want to influence the discourse so that we cover topics I am passionate about such as net neutrality, free speech, open standards, patent and copyright reform, narrowing the digital divide and privacy. Secondly, I intend to do my best to report my experiences to the public. I want to open it up to you, the readers. What can I do on-site to answer questions for you? What can I do that will help us push the agenda of technologists and entrepreneurs? Discuss

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The announcement of the official Google Chromebooks has rekindled interest in Google's Chrome OS. But you don't need to wait to rent a Chromebook if you want to use the operating system. People have been running Chromium OS on netbooks for quite some time. And Chrome/Chromium isn't the only option for a cloud-oriented OS - we covered a few that were already available as of November of last year. One of those OSes, Joli OS, has gone a step further and started offering a cloud-hosted version of its environment. You can access your Joli OS desktop from almost any browser. But it's not alone in the cloud-based OS world. Many Web desktops have come and gone in the past few years. Here's a look at a few that are still around. Sponsor CloudMe CloudMe, formerly known as icloud, is a storage-oriented Web desktop. It offers 3GB of storage for free, and Web applications such as a Zoho-based office suite, a photo editor, an instant messenger, a Twitter client, games and more. It has a mobile client available Android and iOS and a mobile-optimized website, allowing you to access your files from your phone or tablet but not the full desktop environment. One big disadvantage is that the Web desktop environment is a Java applet, and it's slow and buggy. eyeOS eyeOS has been around since 2005, and has been steadily updated since then. It's written primarily in PHP and JavaScript, and is open source so you can download and and install it on your own Web server. It does use some Flash, but it's not required. It has a mobile-optimized version that enables access to files, but it's not the desktop experience and documents can't be edited. Glide Glide is a Flash-based Web desktop. It's also been around since 2005. It has the usual features: an office suite, photo editor, IM client, etc. It's big advantage is that it offers 30GB of free storage space. A premium account, which costs $50 a year, will buy you 250GB of storage. It also has the ability to sync files Windows, Macintosh and Linux desktops. Glide has both mobile-optimized site and an iPad-optimized site that provide a relatively complete set of features, including the ability to create and edit documents. What it doesn't seem to offer, however, is the ability to access your files offline from a mobile device. Joli OS Joli OS used to be called JoliCloud. Now JoliCloud refers to a service from Joli OS that allows you to access your Joli OS desktop from the Web. The desktop version is a Linux-based OS optimized for netbooks. The Web-based version is written in HTML5 and works from most browsers, including the iPad. An Android version is in the works. However, since the JoliOS desktop mostly just provides shortcuts to Web applications, the Web-hosted version feels like more of a hosted bookmark system than a full OS. You can find our past coverage of Joli OS here. Netvibes Netvibes takes a different approach but offering a number of widgets arranged in a dashboard. We've covered Netvibes often. The company now seems to be more dedicated to creating enterprise dashboard products than consumer dashboards. Other Alternatives Some might find this approach old fashioned, considering the availability of services like Box and Dropbox - or more importantly, Google Docs. Google Docs has been expanding its storage space, and its functionality. Is there really a need to mimic a desktop operating system when what you really need is universal access to your files? The trend towards cloud storage is reflected in the marketing materials from the cloud OS vendors. CloudMe has been emphasizing its cloud storage capabilities over its Web desktop in recent months. Glide is the most impressive of the lot, but without offline mobile access, I can't think of a reason I'd use it. In 2008 a the Web desktop YouOS closed its doors because its own developers couldn't find a use for it themselves. What do you think? Is there any future in the Web-based OS? Lead photo by Michael Roper Discuss

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There is an elephant at the door of the Android ecosystem. Nobody quite wants to look at it or acknowledge the whispers, but Amazon may be set to become the leader in Android devices later this year. Officially, Amazon has said nothing about creating its own Android devices. There has been talk of a tablet in the works for a while now but its specs and ship date is shrouded in mystery. But Amazon may have bigger ambitions than just a tablet. Rumors have come out today that not only is the online retail company looking at a slate, but an entire family of Android devices. If this happens, will the waves topple the balance of power of players in the Android ecosystem? Sponsor Taylor Wimberly at AndroidandMe says he has reliable sources that Amazon is coming with not just one tablet but multiple tablets in varying sizes and at least one smartphone. The impact of Amazon throwing its full weight into the market should not be underestimated. Amazon is the Internet supplier to the masses and the Kindle is still a hot selling device and favored e-reader for a lot of people. This is a company that understands how to get products in peoples hands. Amazon will not sacrifice quality or user experience and will try to drive the price point on its Android devices as low as possible. Really, if there is any company that can compete with Apple's vertical iOS ecosystem head-to-head outside of Google and Microsoft, it is Amazon. The company can afford to sell product cheap while looking to make money through its retail store and Kindle publications. Amazon's approach does not differ all that much from Retail 101 - If you get them in the door, they will eventually spend money. The more eyeballs in the door, the better. Amazon also has the ability to take on the chaos that is the Android Market. It already the Amazon Appstore for Android and does an infinitely better job of filtering applications it allows there than Google does with the official Android Market. Amazon can streamline Android applications by increasing discoverability and trust while taking a cut of the profits. Amazon's Ability To Take Over The Market Take a step outside of the bubble of tech culture and look around. Wait, why is it that none of these people are carrying iPads? Don't they know it is the coolest thing to happen ... well, ever? I mean, gosh. Really, the fact of the matter is that a new tablet computer is a significant investment. The low-end barrier is the 16GB WiFi iPad at $499. It is a nice tool and a cool toy but still in the non-essential group of consumer gadgets. People do not buy tablets on a whim. The e-reader market is different though. Between $150 and $300 (the Nook Color comes in at $249), e-readers are within the price range for gifts and personal accessories. Amazon could bring the tablet down to that level of price and make a killing. If the rumors are true, look for one Amazon-branded Android smartphone to compete on the level of the Samsung Galaxy and Motorola Droid. If there are indeed two tablets, one could be a seven inch slate in $250 range while the other would be a full blown nine-plus inches to go head-to-head with the iPad. Is there an Amazon tablet coming for you holiday festivities? The signs are pointing that way and the rest of the technology world should be on notice. When Amazon makes a move, it does not step lightly. Discuss

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