This means all the old iPhone adaptors out there would have to be replaced. For instance, I have a stereo system that I connect my iPhone and a clock radio that does the same thing. I would probably need some sort of adaptor to connect to these types of devices if the rumors are true.

Reuters is reporting that one change could leave a lot of the smartphone’s users less than pleased.

KCBS Tech Report:

The iPhone’s current connector is relatively wide considering almost all Android devices use a standard connector that’s extremely narrow compared to Apple’s.

Making the connector smaller gives the company a lot more options. Smaller is better. It’s also rumored that they may put a headphone jack on the bottom which could lead to a thinner device or that they could put a bigger battery in.

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It creates a secure connection when you do a Google search. Google of course will still know what you’re searching for because they need to in order to deliver the results, but anyone between you and Google won’t.

So if there’s some sort of leak on your network or if you’re in a public place and using a Wi-Fi connection, the chances are greatly lowered that anyone can intercept those searches and that they are more private.

KCBS Tech Report:

There are still ways that some of the advertisers that Google cooperates with might still be able to track your searches, but other advertisers are less likely to know what you are searching for.

And here’s a tip for you travelers that have used hotel computers. For instance, you may have needed to print out a boarding pass at a public computer. You can do a private or incognito browsing session. Every browser has this command. This way the browser won’t cache or record your search history.

And you obviously want to make sure you are logging out when using public computers. I can recall times when I’ve gone to log into my Gmail account and before I could, someone else was already signed in.

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The latest version incorporates Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud storage system, where every document you save is automatically saved to the cloud instead of your hard drive. This also means you can access the document from a different device anywhere in the world.

They have also integrated Skype and other social media features including Facebook into Microsoft Office and they’re also working towards a touch-based interface.

KCBS Tech Report:

Reporters at the conference were loaned a Windows 8 touch tablet with Microsoft Office running on a touch interface.

It’s very tablety, very touchy, social media and cloud based.

There are some concerned about the scaling down of the word processing software since Apple iPad users are used to Pages, what some call a bare-bones word processer.

Microsoft is claiming this won’t be a scaled-down version and that if you want you can go into desktop mode on your laptop and it will function just like a regular Windows desktop.

They’re keeping their traditional interface and also giving the option to move on to a tile touch-based platform. They’re going for a tall order in competing with Apple on touch screen and tablets as well as taking on Google in cloud computing.

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You might ask why she would do this, but there are a lot of reasons why any celebrity might want to start their own social networking site. It’s a way of supporting their fans, in this case her “little monsters”, and allows them to interact with one another. It helps them understand what the artist is up to and keeps them current on tickets and from a business perspective gets them to look at advertising.

I was in Cambridge several months ago when Gaga launched the Born This Way Foundation, to combat bullying. Whether they’re LGBT, bullied, or in someway outside of what has been accepted as the constructs of “normal”, she has a wide variety of people in her fan base both young and old, that have had a lot of issues to deal with in their lives. She calls her fans her “Little Monsters”.

I think this will give her fans an opportunity to see that there are great things happening. I have a soft spot for her because I feel that she’s genuinely reaching out and trying to do way beyond what most celebrities are doing.

KCBS’ Tech Report:

At the end of the day she’s a savvy business woman. The network is put together by a company in Palo Alto called Backplane. It seems her goal is to set up social networks based on interests and around other celebrities.

I logged into LittleMonsters.com through my Facebook account, but it’s different than the social network giant in that you’re focused on a group of people that have a lot in common, obviously in this case, they’re all fans of Lady Gaga.

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I’ve been testing out a preview version of Windows 8 and there’s a lot in it if you have a tablet computer, like Microsoft Surface (announced a few weeks back) or tablets from any of Microsoft’s hardware partners. This OS will have touch-screen interface which is on current Microsoft tablet software.

It will also have a new interface called Metro. If you’ve ever seen a Windows phone they have tiles that are kind of like icons, but bigger. Metro is a whole new way of interfacing with Microsoft computers, but for those of us who still want to use Microsoft Office and the other familiar programs; it still has the standard desktop.

KCBS Tech Report:

It’s a great step forward for tablets, but in terms of running it on my laptop, it’s so-so. I don’t really like the tile interface on a machine where there is no touch screen.

It is a bit faster so I like what they’ve done to their performance. Some of the features like system-wide search and spell check are also nice and the Windows Store, which emulates the Apple Store, is a very good idea. I’m also told it has very good security but I haven’t been able to test that.

Meanwhile, Apple has put the final touches on its new operating system called Mountain Lion. This OS is likely to debut on July 25th after their next investor’s meeting. Some of the nifty new features include dictation and something called “Power Nap” which allows it to be updated while it’s sleeping and a share button throughout the system so you can post things on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.

It’s going to look a lot more like the iPad. Both companies seem to be making strong attempts to bring the laptop, desktop and the tablet together with similar features and interfaces.

As far as the iPad goes, there will be a separate iOS 6 launch in the fall which iPhones use as well. Mountain Lion on the other hand is for Macs.

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The incremental improvements include auto complete, similar to using Google, but will also include terms with hash tags.

KCBS’ Tech Report: 

These are important, but not overwhelming improvements. One thing that I think will be useful will be results from within people you follow.

For instance,  if you’re looking for a major news topic you can either choose to hear from the entire Twittershpere or just from the people you follow.

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The service was supposed to synchronize calendars, contacts, emails and photos in the cloud across various devices both from Apple and other companies such as a PC’s and an iPhones.

It was something that Apple even tried to do, but in Steve Jobs’ own words; it wasn’t their finest hour. While it wasn’t well executed it was ahead of its time and the concept was strong and it lead to iCloud.

It’s not too far off from other cloud-based services such as Dropbox. The difference between MobileMe and iCloud is the core services of the latter are free, with limited storage.

A lot of the things they were charging for on MobileMe will now be free because that’s the competitive world. Similarly, Google Drive and Dropbox both have free services.

KCBS Tech Report:

The service is also being used to do more like backing up documents and photos, but with an Apple flare and optimized for people with multiple Apple products.

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The latest version of Windows Phone will incorporate multi-core processors, which translates to a phone that is able to do many things at once.

It will get some new screen resolutions, including 720p which is considered true high definition. And it will also support Micro SD cards.

KCBS Tech Report:

What is also exciting is that they’re fine tuning their Metro interface. Windows Phone 8 will be the same basic interface and code of the tablet they announced earlier this week, as well as some Windows desktop machines to an extent.

And it doesn’t look like the new Windows phone is going to take Apple’s Siri sitting down. They have their own speech recognition system. The difference is it can actually reach into applications.

Not only can you launch applications and launch Microsoft functions, but developers can use it to control their own. You could literally have a conversation with an application, ask it to do something and it could ask you to clarify and you could just keep talking.

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Comparatively, people can buy a case for their iPad with a keyboard, but this is a feature coming from Microsoft. One is an ultra-thin 3mm keyboard. The other is a higher quality keyboard from a typing standpoint that’s a bit thicker and has a very innovative design.

Microsoft calls the Surface, “A PC that’s a great tablet and a tablet that’s a great PC.” While I’m skeptical on the “great” part, it is a good thing for a lot of people that want to take notes and do some writing with a lightweight device.

KCBS Tech Report:

As some of you may know there are two different models— Windows RT, sort of a light version of Windows that only runs the special metro lightweight apps, and then there’s the version that runs the metro apps, plus the Windows desktop apps like Microsoft Office. The so called deluxe version is what you’d get with the Surface that has the slightly bigger keyboard.

I don’t know the price yet, but it’s much lighter and probably cheaper than your average laptop and a lot of people might find it adequate for their work use.

Some of the iPad covers available also serve as keyboards that couple with Bluetooth, basically accomplishing the same thing that Microsoft is offering.

A friend of mine who works for Time Magazine only carries an iPad and a keyboard flash case, so there’s no reason why you couldn’t be productive.

Personally, I still carry a laptop. Call me old fashioned, but I want the power of a full operating system.

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While we haven’t run out of domain names exactly, plenty of brands want web addresses that are affiliated with them, such as “.google” or “.apple.”

Google, in fact has registered “.lol,” which I can only assume means laughing out loud for a potentially humorous site.

KCBS Tech Report:

There are about 2,000 proposals out there, but not all of them are necessarily going to be approved as there are likely to be some trademark issues.

Right now there is .com, .gov and .org, not to mention the individual countries that have their own domain endings. But it could be dot anything if someone wants to apply for it.

The California-based non-profit organization overlooking all of this is the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. They are sanctioned by the U.S. Government and are recognized by most governments as the official arbitrator of domain names.

They’re the ones who oversee the .com and decide new top level domains. At one point they launched .travel and even .xxx for porn sites.

If you’re interested, the corporation is charging an application fee of $185,000. And if you qualify, you would then pay $25,000 a year for at least 10 years for maintaining the domain.

While it doesn’t come cheap, plenty of organizations have applied and I only imagine there will be some sort of conflict in who gets the desired domain when multiple groups ask for the same thing.

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Anybody who has multiple devices and wants to share data, such as families, would likely benefit. But the other people who will benefit are those who talk and text a lot because the plan has unlimited calls and texts. Prior to that, it was a much more expensive option. So if a customer usually exceeds the allotted minutes, this could be a good deal.

But for individuals who talk a modest amount and want to use a lot of data, they may end up paying much more.

KCBS Tech Report:

I think Verizon is trying to move to a data-centric world. They realize that voice is becoming a loss leader, which may sound funny to those of us who think of phones as ways to talk. But things are changing, and phones have increasingly become data devices.

Data isn’t a scarce resource, but there is a limited amount of bandwidth or spectrum. Companies have felt that if they give away an unlimited amount, which they’ll wind up having too much demand on their capacity, so now they’re metering and charging for it, figuring they’ll make more money.

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Google Earth will begin implementing some amazing 3-D mapping. They actually have a fleet of airplanes flying over major cities taking pictures of every building at every angle. Then, they create a map to show what the city looks like from the air. For instance, San Francisco’s City Hall rendered beautifully.

Another feature unveiled is how the new Google maps will allow users to download a map of their destination on Android devices, allowing users to navigate without having an internet connection.

KCBS Tech Report:

It’s a great feature for someone who is traveling overseas. After all, you could end up paying a fortune for data during travel.

Interestingly enough, Google made no mention of the strong rumors about Apple ditching their maps. I was hoping they would come out and say it’s no big deal because they would be coming out with a killer app for the iPhone, but they didn’t. Furthermore, when other journalists asked them about it they were very evasive, saying only that they want to be on all platforms.

Meanwhile rumors over at Apple point to a backup plan would include its own geo-location navigation system. Some time ago they were searching for people to help develop geo-location systems. You should expect more on Apple mapping next week at the Moscone Center during their Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) set to take place June 11-15.

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I should disclose that I happen to be the co-director of a non-profit internet safety organization, called Connect Safely that receives financial support from Facebook.

Some advocates are saying children this young are not mature enough for a website like this and that it could expose them to online threats.

I actually think it’s a good idea for Facebook to create an environment that’s designed for kids and brought it up in an interview I did with CEO Mark Zuckerberg two years ago.

KCBS Tech Report:

They should not allow kids to be looking at advertising; they should not be tracking kids. I think they should have a clean, well-lit place for kids, somewhat slightly different than the regular Facebook that still lets them interact with family and friends under parental supervision.

A lot of child safety advocates realize that kids are going to be there anyway, so why not create a safe space for them.

Of course Facebook should be held accountable. Facebook hasn’t made any announcements on any guidelines they would be implementing, but they are creating a lot of talk within the industry if they do decide to go through with this.

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Oracle had sued Google over its use of application programming interfaces (API).

The jury couldn’t agree on whether Google was covered by fair use protections, but on Thursday a judge ruled that the use of API’s is not even covered by copyright law in the first place.

KCBS Tech Report:

Oracle CEO Larry Ellison did make some comments Wednesday at All Things Digital’s D-10 Conference.

Ellison said it’s all about copyrights. I think he was crowing because Oracle had won on the issue where the jury found that Google had violated Oracle’s copyright. But the issue of whether or not that was fair use was not resolved.

In light of what the judge is now saying, I think Ellison would have some different things to say because as I understand it, the judge is throwing the whole thing out.

Ellison also spoke about his close friend Steve Jobs.

The Oracle CEO recalled when Jobs was designing the Apple stores he had a mock-up of one set up in a warehouse. He would drag Ellison out there day in and day out and they would talk about every single attention to detail.

Ellison also talked about when Jobs was working on Pixar movies, he would come over and Jobs would make him sit and watch the films, once again going over the details of things like how the shadows were rendered.

The stories are another validation of Jobs’ attention to detail and how he would micromanage, which is why some people say Apple products and Pixar movies are so amazing.

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A browser-based operating system is increasingly familiar. Even though people using PC’s and Macs are using a different operating system, they’re spending more and more time in the browser.

The browser is becoming much more of a platform with apps that run within them. Google Docs is the perfect example of such an instance.

But the disadvantage is that you don’t get the full-fledged flexibility you get with a PC-based operating system which can run thousands of software programs.

So you give up some flexibility for some simplicity and you’ll be less likely to crash because it’s a less power-hungry device.

KCBS Tech Report:

The pricing is between $330 and $450. Not that long ago that would have been enough to get people out to buy something like this, but the prices are so cheap for XP netbooks and some tablets that they may not go for this.

For people that do mostly web-based things and still do some things offline, it’s going to have some appeal as a niche product.

Google already has Android tablets, but are now talking about Chrome tablets as well, which is a bit confusing. I wonder myself is it wise for Google to have two separate operating systems.

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The reason Warner Brothers is doing this is to promote their three-disc Blu-ray 70th anniversary edition of the film along with an illustrated e-book on the movie.

But Facebook has other motives. When you go to their page to download the app, you’ll notice pitches for all sorts of other films. It’s really an opportunity for them to make it known that they’re open for business when it comes to renting movies.

KCBS Tech Report:

Facebook actually has allowed users to stream movies for a charge for a while, but a lot of people don’t know that. It may or may not be a coincidence that this campaign comes two days before the company’s IPO.

This also begs the question of how soon will it be before we start seeing Facebook on our TV’s. The trend is growing for the convergence of computers, TV, smartphones and iPads. I think Mark Zuckerberg would have Facebook on our toothbrushes if he could figure out how.

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I think we’ll be seeing big improvements to their photo and video services. Right now you can store photos on iCloud, but you can’t share them. Really it’s just a big hard-drive in the cloud.

I think Apple is looking at Facebook as well as Instagram, the app for iPhones and Android devices they just acquired for $1 billion, and are thinking of becoming more social.

Amazon and Google are two other web giants who offer cloud-based services.

iCloud will become a place where you can share and comment on people’s photos. It might look a little like the other photo-sharing services, but knowing Apple, it will have a lot of unique features and of course it’s all tied in with the storage service that they already offer.

KCBS Tech Reports:

The industry is definitely into cloud computing and storage, but the reality is most people aren’t knowingly using cloud storage or thinking too much about it.

If you have a Gmail account, Hotmail or Yahoo email account, then you’re essentially storing your email and computing in the cloud, but people are worried about security and rightfully so. There are actually companies that won’t allow their employees to store data in the cloud.

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It’s mostly just minor changes and clarifications that does things in a clearer way, which is a good thing for the most part.

One interesting change is that they’re saying they might show ads off of Facebook and that the ads might include, “social context”. But that may or may not be the case.

For instance, if you like something on Facebook now, your Facebook friends may know about it; but in the future, people on other sites may also know through use of cookies and other technology to share that information.

KCBS Tech Report:

Other companies do this as well. Anyone who thinks that an activity on a site is limited to that site, needs a lesson in tracking cookies. You could be looking at a pair of shoes on Amazon and next thing you know, you see a shoe ad somewhere else. Essentially Facebook is saying they may start doing this.

There is a way for users to give their input on the changes. Facebook has a link on its site where you can give feedback. The company is trying to act a little more democratic, although with Mark Zuckerberg holding 57 percent of the voting stock, I would hardly call it a democracy.

The changes in policy comes as the company is getting ready to go public next week. Once you become a public company you’re under a lot more scrutiny.

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The Mountain View-based internet giant launched Hangouts, which are group video chats, when they first launched Google+ several months ago. For the most part, the format was limited to 10 people.

Hangouts On Air was initially introduced to a limited amount of users, including President Barack Obama.

KCBS Tech Report:

I think it’s a great feature, but you have to think of the implications of this. I might use it professionally to show off some tech products. But one has to be aware of whom and what is in the background, what one is wearing and being careful to not say something one can regret, because it’s live.

Google+ will also make an immediate archive of the show available on its own site as well as YouTube.

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Earlier this year, lawmakers withdrew controversial bills (PIPA & SOPA) that were supposed to crackdown on online piracy following opposition from the tech community.

This time, the bill is designed to permit companies to share information with other companies and the federal government. It would also prevent the government from sharing information with companies.

The idea behind the bill is to prevent hacking attacks whether it is by individuals, organizations or foreign governments by sharing information.

KCBS Tech Report:

Those are some of the positives of this bi-partisan bill. Even companies like Facebook and Google are in favor of CISPA.

Opponents argue that it gives these companies too much power to share private information – like email – without your explicit permission.

The White House’s threat against the bill is considered an unlikely move, since many of the Democrat supporters are close to the president.

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There will be four version of the OS, but the most prominent will be Windows 8, which is what most consumers and small businesses will use. There is also Windows 8 Pro, which a lot of medium to large businesses will want, along with enthusiasts who can’t do without the extra features, such as encryption, and other advanced tools.

Perhaps the most interesting version is called Windows RT, which is for the arm processors, which are lower powered, meaning it’ll likely run on tablet computers. The biggest deal about Windows 8 is that it will run on desktops and tablets.

KCBS’ Larry Magid Comments:

The biggest selling point is the “Metro-Interface.” Users of Windows phones are used to seeing the items are organized by touch-tiles, but this OS rolls out a whole new look. Bottom line, it will be easier to use, and you’ll be able to manipulate it with your hands.

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Some people are worried that, when Facebook gets its hands on their Instagram account, their privacy will be compromised. But thinking you have any more privacy on Instagram’s photo-sharing network doesn’t necessarily make sense.

As it is, Instagram users already post to social networking sites including Twitter and Flicker, which is the whole idea behind sharing. But skeptics are worried that Facebook will abuse the information and make certain correlations about them.

KCBS Tech Report:

We’re only talking about a few hundred, maybe a thousand people that are against the acquisition. Ao it doesn’t appear that it will make a big dent in any plans.

It makes sense for Facebook; They monetize our personal info and they make no secret about it. Now with Instagram they can find out where you are and a little bit about who you are.

Of course, one could always opt out if they don’t want their photos shared on any of the social network sites, unless they change the way they plan on configuring the settings.

The photo app is fun to play with, you can think of it as kind of a Facebook a poor-man’s Photoshop. Basically you can take photo with your cell phone and make it sepia or use other types of filters, then by one of its extensions you can post it to a social network site.

The bottom line is the app’s developers have certainly cashed in big on this deal.

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Fans can follow their favorite teams on Twitter through hashtags that promote not only the teams, but MLB.TV which shows games online.

According to an infographic from the group Banyan Branch, the Giants rate fifth among most liked teams on social media sites, while the A’s didn’t make the top 10. Of course this is popularity, which doesn’t have much to do with their chances of winning the pennant. According to the group, the Yankees are way out in first, followed by the Red Sox, the Phillies and the Cubs.

KCBS Tech Report:

The MLB is a pretty smart business and the whole idea here is to tap into the importance of social media. People love to talk about baseball, sometimes that’s all some people want to talk about. In a sense social media was born for baseball, kind of like hot dogs.

And if you aren’t hip to hashtags, it’s basically Twitter’s way of following trends and doing a quick search of a particular topic. And so far it seems to be working, especially with the incentive of the chance to win something.

But the bottom line is there are products being sold here. There are tickets to be sold, online packages where you can watch games and packages for your smartphone or TV. So the more buzz they create, the better their business is likely to do.

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In one part of the video, a man wearing the glasses walks into a subway station. The augmented reality glasses are looking at what the person sees and tries to make sense of it, presumably using data from Google. The user in the video was able to see in his glasses that the subway was closed, but he was able to see a map of how to walk to his destination.

If you go into a bookstore and look at a book, you could get reviews and other information related to the product. You could even say, “I want to schedule an appointment,” and sure enough, your calendar would appear before your eyes.

KCBS’ Technology Analyst Reports:

It’s a bit of response to Siri (Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface), Apple’s popular intelligent personal assistant and it gives consumers the ability to look at something and have it come to life.

The technology for augmented reality has been around for a while so it’s definitely going to happen. Some of the same technology in the glasses is being implemented in Google’s driverless car, but it’s not certain if they’ll make any money off of it yet.

Time will tell if this will be a case of too much data coming you at once and it’s more confusing than it is useful.

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RIM had a net loss of $125 million, or 24 cents a share, in the quarter that ended March 3. This compares with $934 million, or $1.78 per share, a year ago. Adjusted income was 80 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting 81 cents.

Revenue fell 25 percent to $4.2 billion from $5.6 billion.

KCBS’ Larry Magid Comments:

Thorsten Heins assumed the top job in January at a time when Americans are abandoning their BlackBerrys for flashier touch-screen phones like Apple’s iPhone and models that run Google’s Android software.

Because of Thursday’s news, BlackBerry makers say they are going to refocus by ceding most consumer markets to focus on business customers.

BlackBerries have always been strongest in the business sector, largely because of their perceived security.

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For instance – if one of these small businesses were to tweet “come to my coffee shop and check out our new brew” – not only would it be sent to a larger audience, they would also promote your account to try to get the merchant more followers.

It’s a natural extension of the direction Twitter has been going and, in a sense, it takes a cue from Google’s automated way for businesses to sign up for adware. Many small businesses already do that, with the advantage being that they don’t have to talk to an ad-sales person, they just sign themselves up and it increases their visibility.

KCBS Tech Report:

If you’re on Twitter, you may have noticed promoted tweets and trends associated with larger businesses, but this will be outreach for mom-and-pop, so to speak. American Express has previously done a good job of working with these types of smaller businesses, although a different pricing model is obviously suspected.

But the inevitable question remains: Will your Twitter feed get overwhelmed with advertising?

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It’s a bit different from the old technique of hiding your “friend feed,” in that you will still hear from the person on your news feed, though not as often.

It’s designed for people who you aren’t close with but still want to be able to contact. It could also be useful for people who are chronic over-posters.

KCBS’ Larry Magid Comments:

You can either make people acquaintances one person at a time, or you can go into your friends list to select some of them as acquaintances and Facebook will even suggest other people you might like to include in that list.

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The Internet has been atwitter the past couple of days with reports that the lower left hand corner of the tablet was noticeably warmer than its predecessor. Responding to those claims, Consumer Reports ran its own tests and found it can get as hot as 116 degrees when playing an action game.

I did my own test, and while I didn’t play the same game they played, I watched a movie for about an hour. It got pretty warm – but I wouldn’t call it hot.”

KCBS’ Larry Magid Comments:

Some bloggers said that Apple has mishandled this problem, and that they’re deceiving the public, but Apple has publicly said that the temperatures are within their allowable thermal limit. Still, Apple hasn’t released its thermal limits, so it’s unclear what the exact standards are.

KCBS’ Matt Bigler Reports:

I would say that Apple could be a little more forthcoming as to exactly which tests they did, and what criteria they use, but this is typical Apple.

It isn’t a surprise that the new iPad is hotter, according to Michael Gartenburg, consumer technology researcher with Gartner Research.

”You’re talking about a device with a faster processor, quad-core graphics chip, high resolution screen,” said Gartenberg. “If you stress it, it’s going to get warm.”

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The report Teens, Smartphones and Texting released Monday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project found teenage texting had grown along with increased access to smart phones among youth.

KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid:

The median girl in the survey of 799 U.S. teenagers and their parents sent 100 text messages a day, compared with 50 texts a day for the median boy in the sample.

Sixty-three percent of the teenagers in the sample reported texting every day, while just 39 percent said they make phone calls every day.

But texting has not necessarily replaced talking. The data found that high text use often correlated with a high volume of phone calls. Twenty-three percent have smart phones, but interestingly 19 percent reported talking on landlines.

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KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid commented on the rumors that Google is going to do more of a semantic approach meaning trying to better determine what it is the searcher is looking for.

For example if you were to type in the word, jaguar, Google wouldn’t know if you were referring to a car or a cat.

But Magid said more importantly, rather than just giving you a list of links that when you click on them, it takes you off of Google’s website; they will now try to provide more facts and direct answers.

KCBS Tech Report:

“They’re trying to make their searches more relevant and there are a lot of reasons for this, including keeping people on Google longer,” he said.

KCBS anchor Jeff Bell weighed in saying all it’s going to take is a better algorithm to completely change the landscape of search.

Magid said unlike Facebook, where people have an investment and all their friends are on it, that when it comes to search you can switch instantly.

“I certainly use Bing now and then and like [it]. In fact I think this is going to make it more like Bing,” since Microsoft’s search engine has some of these features Magid said.

Bing isn’t penetrating the market share that Google has, they do have reason to worry, being only one good competitor away from being challenged.

Siri, Apple’s voice activated search engine, poses a serious threat that Google needs to address as well.

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KCBS’ Technology Analyst Larry Magid traveled to one of the countries on the list, Bahrain, two years ago. The list also includes China, Cuba, and North Korea.

Magid said they have also released a list of countries under surveillance that includes France and Australia.

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Nations typically make it on the “Enemies of the Internet” list by restricting flow, in other words not letting people on the internet.

But Magid explained there are ways around even these government censors.

“There are people in North Korea who apparently can get access because they get near the Chinese border,” Magid said.

He added that in Egypt, people used dial-up connections when Hosni Mubarak cut off cellphone access before he was removed from power. And for the more technologically inclined, they can use proxies who can “tunnel you in” to the internet from any country in the world. Of course most people don’t know how to do that, but Magid said activists have.

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It took a complaint from the American Civil Liberties Union to stop the Maryland Department of Corrections from asking job applicants to turn over passwords so that corrections officials could log into the prospective employees’ accounts to view wall posts, photos and other private material.

KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid:

Colleges around the country now routinely require student athletes to add a college official to their Facebook friend list in order to see posts that would not be publicly available, according to MSNBC’s Red Tape Chronicles.

While mandatory friendship may be murky, Facebook officials have been emphatic that coercing a user to turn over a password would be considered a clear violation of a policy against allowing someone who is not the account holder from accessing a profile.

In an e-mail, a Facebook spokesman did not address the mandatory friendship issue. But he described the Maryland Department of Corrections policy as “outrageous.”

Of course, employers do have a right to ask employees not to make public statements that embarrass or compromise the organization. Companies have far less authority, however, over comments made privately.

Sharing an online password with anyone, other than perhaps a spouse, represents a clear security breach that opens an individual to all sorts of potential fraud and invasion of privacy.

Organizations that require certain online friendships in order to keep tabs on an employee’s social networking activity, or what an athlete does outside of practice, may in fact suffer from a false sense of security given that Facebook allows users to decide how accessible any post or photograph is to other users.

The growing interest that employers and colleges have in our online lives just goes to show how important it is to be conscious of what we post, and whether it is perhaps more widely available than it ought to be.

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Apple iMessenger, Blackberry Messenger and Facebook Messenger all deliver text messages to smartphone users on those platforms without incurring a messaging charge from the cell phone company.

KCBS’ Technology Analyst Larry Magid:

Texting services such as Pinger and Google Voice that bypass the cellular service provider voice and SMS networks to transmit text messages and connect voice calls, even internationally, have also taken a toll on the big players of the wireless industry.

Internet-based text messaging alone siphoned $14 billion from the industry in 2011, according to the London research firm Ovum. Money aside, carriers in the U.S. are struggling with an explosive growth in traffic as more consumers download video and surf the web from handheld devices.

Several large telecom companies announced recently they would fight back with proprietary applications of their own that more fully integrate phone calls and texting with wireless Internet access.

Extracting their pound of flesh will be tricky given that competitors have already found ways to offer that kind of access for free. So expect the next generation of these apps to transform how cell phone and data plans are priced.

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The cellphone company said Thursday that it will slow down service for “unlimited data” subscribers after they reach 3 gigabytes of usage within a billing cycle.

The change relaxes a previous policy under which AT&T had been throttling service when subscribers entered the heaviest 5 percent of data users for that month and that area.

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Under the now scuttled program, there was no way for subscribers to find out what the limit was ahead of time. AT&T would send a text message warning to people who approached the limit. The data throttling would then kick in a few days later. Thousands of subscribers complained about the policy online.

“Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect,” AT&T said in a statement Thursday.

According to a 2011 Nielsen study, the average smartphone user consumes about 435 megabytes of data each month. A person would have to use roughly seven times that amount to hit AT&T’s 3 gigabyte throttling milestone.

An Associated Press story two weeks ago cited subscribers whose data service had been throttled at just over 2 gigabytes of data use. The story included others who had received warnings that throttling was imminent. The 2 gigabyte barrier was lower than AT&T’s current “limited” plan provides. One person said his phone was practically useless for two weeks out the month because the data service was slowed so drastically.

AT&T stopped selling “unlimited data” plans nearly a year ago, but existing subscribers were allowed to keep it. The company charges $30 per month for the plan, the same amount it charges for 3 gigabytes of data on a new “tiered” or limited plan.

AT&T has about 17 million “unlimited” smartphone subscribers, most of whom use iPhones.

AT&T’s reversal comes less than a week after iPhone user Matt Spaccarelli won a small claims lawsuit against the company for slowing down his service. A Simi Valley, Calif. judge awarded Spaccarelli $850, agreeing that “unlimited” service shouldn’t be subject to slowdowns. AT&T argued that it never guaranteed the speed of the service, just that it would provide unlimited downloads. The company said it will appeal the decision. It bars subscribers from bringing class action suits.

As part of the new policy, the Dallas-based phone company said subscribers with “unlimited” plans and smartphones capable of using the new “LTE” data network would see the slowdown at 5 gigabytes rather than three. The LTE network is faster and doesn’t have many users yet.

T-Mobile USA is already up front about the usage levels where throttling kicks in for its data plans. Verizon Wireless has a “5 percent” formula similar to AT&T’s, but doesn’t throttle unless the particular cell tower a heavy user is communicating with is congested at that moment. By contrast, AT&T and T-Mobile throttle speeds for the rest of the billing cycle, regardless of local conditions. Verizon’s policy has drawn few complaints.

Alone among the Big Four national wireless carriers, Sprint has an unlimited data plan that isn’t subject to throttling. However, it reserves the right to cancel service for those who use excessive amounts of data.

In a similar incident last fall, Verizon abandoned a planned fee for settling phone bills through last-minute credit-card payments after customers complained.

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The billboard advertising on behalf of children’s charity Plan UK is designed to display different ads to men and women.

Larry Magid said the technology behind the new billboard said it measures the distance between the viewer’s eyes, the width of their nose, length of their jaw, etc.

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“All of that data correlates with gender, but it’s not perfect,” Magid referred to an independent newspaper that sent a man and woman reporter and the billboard got their gender wrong in both cases.

However, those who developed the technology claim it’s 90 percent accurate.

“I’ve seen similar technology here in the U.S. It’s not all that new and I think it’s going to grow,” he said, explaining that the purpose is to cater advertising to a demographic based on appearance.

It’s not an exact science yet and Magid said in his estimation it’s only about 20 percent accurate.

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“They’re going to look a lot like TV and movies, for that matter,” said KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid.

The content will be produced by “stars, independent producers and even some studios,” according to Magid.

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The new channels will give video makers an opportunity to bypass the traditional studios and sell their wares directly to YouTube, he added.

Magid sees the move as a challenge to broadcast and cable networks as people no longer need antennas or cable to access YouTube or other programming and content.

“Increasingly people have access to YouTube and other internet video on their regular television sets,” Magid said.

For instance Magid watches not only films, but also enjoys TV shows from his Netflix account.

“Google which owns YouTube wants to get in on that,” he said adding that they have studios near Los Angeles where they’re working with producers to create original content.

Magid said there will be a whole new generation of content carriers, including Hulu that will distribute “high-quality” video via the internet and that it won’t be just a few minutes long as we’ve become accustomed to in the past.

“It could be a half hour or an hour-long program.”

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”It’s not really like you’re spying on their viewing habits; it’s a video that they’ve decided to share that you might want to watch,” said Magid. “And the theory is that people tend to like what their friends like.”

KCBS’ Larry Magid Reports:

Magid said that he has wished in the past that Netflix had a similar system, so that he could get good movie recommendations from friends.

Magid said that the application “Likes” is similar. It allows you to find out which bars and restaurants your friends like.

”Privacy could be a downside if you weren’t careful,” said Magid. “But the biggest downside for me is information overload. Even though this is probably more helpful than just looking around randomly, I’m just so inundated with information that there’s a point where I just can’t deal with it anymore.”

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The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) prompted the shutdown and protest of several popular websites, including Wikipedia, on Wednesday.

Legislators may have underestimated the power of tech companies and apparently are listening for now. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called off the vote and Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) “basically cancelled it out of the House Judiciary Committee,” according to KCBS’ Technology Analyst Larry Magid.

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But Magid isn’t so sure we’ve heard the last of these bills which are aimed to crack down on internet privacy.

“This is clearly a victory for the online protest. It was absolutely stunning in terms of the number of people affected and who wrote in. It really got into the heartland which was shocking to me,” said the self-professed internet geek.

Magid was referring to a Wall Street Journal report where Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), said when he was making the rounds, SOPA and PIPA was a topic raised all over the state.

Magid commented on how the issue and controversy was framed as tech-sector versus entertainment industry, but that ultimately it was adding the end user and bringing them to Washington that made a difference.

“Silicon Valley really flexed its muscle,” he said.

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KCBS’ Technology Analyst Larry Magid said the hacker group did denial of service attacks against the Justice Department.

Magid said a number of recording and motion picture industry sites had reported what he called “revenge set of attacks”.

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“It’s important to point out that when you flood their servers with so many requests for information that it blocks any legitimate access, I like to think of it as a cyber version of a sit-in.”

Magid added that it doesn’t do any permanent damage nor does it pilfer any data, but that the sites are generally useless.

Megaupload.com was an upload-download file sharing service where people were allegedly infringed on various copyright-protected materials.

“Ironically this is happening one day after that big day of web protest,” Magid said referring to the SOPA/ PIPA protests in which several sites like Wikipedia went dark for the day.

This TV grab shows Internet guru and founder of Megaupload.com, Kim Schmitz, also known as 'Kim Dotcom', escorted by a policeman as he appears in an Auckland district court in New Zealand on January 20, 2012. Schmitz is alleged by US authorities to be involved in one of the largest cases of copyright theft ever. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)

“This is the government using legal tools that they already have. You don’t need these new laws to shutdown sites, if you can actually physically get to their offices and arrest their people or get to their servers.” That’s exactly what happened here Magid said.

Seven people were arrested in connection with the Megaupload case. The government has claimed they have more than $500 million in illegal downloads. It is now the Department of Justice’s duty to make a case against the website.

“It’s interesting that they were able to pull off these arrests without SOPA or PIPA, two bills that are pending, but haven’t been enacted yet,” Magid concluded.

You can hear Larry Magid’s Tech Report Monday through Friday at 3:50pm on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

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KCBS’ Technology Analyst Larry Magid commented that there are affiliated websites involved.

“Zappos itself is owned by Amazon.com,” he said, adding that there isn’t much the consumer could have done to prevent this other than, “not being a Zappos customer.”

KCBS Technology Analyst Larry Magid:

Magid commented that it’s happened to a lot of “big” companies and that there are innocent victims involved.

“The real question is what we can do after the fact?”

He said having a good, complex password and changing them often is key to protecting ourselves.

If we take those steps and incursions like hacking happen, we decrease the likelihood of being affected, he said.

Larry put together five ways to protect yourself in the likely event you’ve done some online shopping on Larrysworld.com

You can hear Larry Magid’s Tech Report Monday through Friday at 3:50pm on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM.

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