This must be a joke: A Novell corporate blog item that chastises the City of Los Angeles for recently selecting Google Apps to replace Novell's GroupWise e-mail and calendaring software.

Alas, the PR blog post is very real. And while Novell may (and probably does) have a valid point, how many customers do you think would be happy to see their company mentioned like this on a vendor's Web site?

This is a bad day for the English language, after ICANN approved non-Latin characters for use in Internet domain names. Having invented the Internet--40 years ago yesterday--the U.S. has given away whatever advantage it offers English-speakers.

This was bound to happen after the U.S. recently recanted on its "ownership" of the Internet in a new agreement with ICANN, the Internet's primary governing body. At one level, I am happy that Internet users around the world will soon have domain names in their own character sets.

Too much, as least so early, is being made of the Motorola Droid's supposedly magical powers. Can a single handset "save" Motorola, launch a new operating system, and smite the evil Steve Jobs?

It is tempting to compare the Droid to the previous magic handset, the Palm Pre, which was supposed to save Palm, launch s new operating system, and smite the evil Steve Jobs.

Why do we today celebrate today--October 29--as the Internet's 40's birthday? Because on this day in 1969, what would later became known as the Internet was used for the very first time--and crashed.

Here is what happened: The first network had four nodes, the first at UCLA, and the second at Stanford Research Institute. The other two--at the University of California-Santa Barbara and the University of Utah were not yet installed.

Internet impulse shopping got easier today with the introduction of Amazon PayPhrase, a combination of words and a PIN that can empty your wallet even faster than previously possible.

Here is how it works: Give Amazon a phrase and PIN to associate with your credit card and other account information. When you are ready to purchase, enter the phrase and PIN and your transaction is charged and shipped to your address. Simple as that, Amazon says. (See their demo here).

Google says it is now blocking fewer than 100 local numbers from receiving calls placed using its Google voice telephone service, recently subject of an FCC investigation.

The blocking, used to prevent large payments to some telephone companies, has been a contentious issue between Google, AT&T, and the FCC.

Yesterday's introduction of the Google Maps Navigation service was seen by many as the death of standalone GPS. That isn't true and rumors of the death have been greatly exaggerated.

Consider the whole issue of smartphones-as-GPS devices.

Motorola's Droid, available next week from Verizon, has generated the most excitement of any smartphone since Apple's introduction of the iPhone. How do the two compare?

This is a follow-up to yesterday's column, in which I predicted a window will open with the introduction of a new iPhone, perhaps next June, when many iPhone users will be "in play" and willing to consider the Droid.

Google Maps Navigation, introduced today, puts the company in direct competition with GPS makers and former best friend, Apple. The service, which can nicely replace a standalone GPS, is only available for handsets running Google's Android operating system.

Is an iPhone version in the works?

Net netutrality is a case of who you fear most: Evil telecom companies or the evil FCC? Companies are unlikely to behave without the threat of FCC action, but if the FCC acts we may wish that it hadn't.

It is a tough issue for the technology and venture capital communities, as pointed out this morning in a commentary posted on TechNewsWorld. The author, a senior fellow at the conservative Pacific Research Institute, notes that the tech leaders like only one thing less than government regulation: The big telecom companies.

Her Majesty's long battle against piracy has taken a tough turn, with U.K. officials now threatening to cut off the scoundrels' Internet access.

Internet disconnection, which beats getting one's head chopped off, is more than a year away from being implemented, according to news reports. It comes as the London government seeks new tools to fight illegal peer-to-peer file sharing.

The release of exciting new Android handsets, led tomorrow by Motorola's Droid, and the anticipation of 30 more devices next year are making some users wonder: When do we switch from iPhone to Android?

At least, when do we start thinking about switching? My guess is next June, when we would normally expect the next iPhone to be released. If Apple makes the move to 4G wireless, multitasking apps, and deals with all the shortcomings Verizon raises in its "iDon't" Droid commercial, the iPhone will remain in the running.

Mobile users who would like to switch their voice mail to Google voice can now do so, without losing their existing mobile number. Previously, "Going Google" required using a Google-supplied telephone number.

However, those who keep their current mobile numbers will miss some of Gvoice's most advanced features. Nevertheless, Gvoice offers--for free--voice mail features that most mobile users have previously only been able to dream about.

People who believe the ads--that Windows 7 was "made by me"--will believe anything. So try this: Windows 7 was "made" by people who hated Windows Vista.

If you didn't buy Vista, you helped make Windows 7, Microsoft's new "anti-Vista" operating system that is, nevertheless, the next evolution of its much-despised predecessor.

Has Google started following us around? It's new Google Social Search feature, going live today, sure feels like it. And hints at what Google can do both for and to you with all the information it has collected.

Google's newest experimental project is called "Social Search" and it grabs relevant public content from your friends' and contacts' blog posts, Tweets, and social networking pages. The results are highlighted for you at the bottom of your search results," the company said in a blog post.

For many, the official release of a new Microsoft operating system--such as Windows 7--is just the starting of a clock. They will not buy the new OS until Service Pack 1 is released.

Why? Microsoft has a reputation for releasing buggy software. While Windows 7 has been widely tested by real customers, history presents the likelihood that one or more major "gotcha's" will appear.

Having trouble deciding whether to upgrade to Microsoft's newest? If so, you may be better off waiting. Upgrading to Windows 7 is not a no-brainer for most users.

Microsoft offers a free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor and that is the best place to begin your upgrade odyssey. Also, here is a link to the official Windows 7 Upgrade and Migration page. You may want to read it before making your upgrade decision.

It is hard to find good arguments against net neutrality, though as the FCC's comment period moves forward we'll probably start seeing some. It is also too easy to characterize opponents as big companies desperately clinging to obsolete technologies.

I am a supporter of net neutrality rules. However, the issue is too important to not take counter arguments very seriously. Even if they are fronted by industry shills like John McCain, the top recipient of campaign cash from neutrality foes.

The successful--so far--introduction of Windows 7 and Apple's snarky advertising response to it has people wondering: Will Microsoft fire back at Apple or just take the abuse?

It is time to fire back, and hard this time.

There have been times when Microsoft launching a new operating system was a big deal. Yesterday was not one of them. And that's how Microsoft wanted it.

I know people will disagree, citing the apparent effort Microsoft put into those dopey launch parties and other consumer promotions, but the difficulty of upgrading from XP to Windows 7 makes it a difficult sell.

Having played the controversy for all the publicity it could generate, PepsiCo has now removed its controversial "Amp Up Before You Score" iPhone app from distribution.

"We've listened to a variety of audiences and determined this was the most appropriate course of action," the company said Thursday in a statement. It had earlier apologized online.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin says he's disappointed with how long its taken his company to develop a Macintosh version of its Chrome browser. He did not, however, comment on why development has taken so long.

"The timing of that has been one of the disappointments of Chrome project for me," said Brin, quoted in TG Daily. "I am using Chrome for Mac [and] a Mac version is available for the public, but it's only an early developer version, not in a real beta testing for the public."

Microsoft Windows 7, being introduced today in New York, appears to be the operating system that businesses have been waiting for. Some 76 percent of those surveyed plan to deploy the new OS, with 30 percent deploying before mid-2010.

The study, conducted by Information Technology Intelligence Corp. and Sunbelt Software, suggests an adoption rate not matched since the introduction of Windows 2000, the acceptance of which was driven by Y2K fears. (Read more survey results here).

The idea that Google is going to be selling wireless handsets--Googlephones--proves the company is either a) very cagey or b) going nuts. Which is it?

My pal Harry McCracken does a good job of presenting the story: An analyst, supposedly with the inside scoop, says Google will release its own Android handset before the end of the year. The smartphone would be sold unlocked, allowing it to run on the AT&T or T-Mobile networks in the U.S. and other networks globally.

Barnes & Noble's new Nook e-reader has a simple task: Win over the die-hard tree killers. The Nook must convince e-book skeptics that this is the time to start moving from Gutenberg to gigabytes.

The device itself, introduced yesterday, will do a lot of the work. The Nook is gorgeous, as our slide show demonstrates. I'd rather see a $199 price--or $50 in free books included with every $259 purchase--but the lower pricing will arrive, perhaps next year.

Barnes & Noble's new Nook e-reader is the e-reader that competitors must now beat. So long Kindle 2, it was nice knowing you, but a better reader has come along. And just in time for the holidays, too.

If Amazon doesn't have a new model up its sleeve, it will be a Merry Christmas at B&N and a sack of coal for Amazon.

T-Mobile Sidekick users can now start restoring their contact lists, lost Oct. 5 to a massive data glitch. On Monday, Microsoft/Danger said it hoped to start restoration later this week, so today's announcement came as the first pleasant surprise of the entire episode.

According to Microsoft:

A group of top Internet execs, including the CEOs of Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and eBay have sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in support of net neutrality.

"America's leadership in the technology space has been due, in large part, to the open Internet," said the letter, dated Monday.

By the time lost Sidekick data reappears, will anybody care? Of course, but the longer it takes Microsoft to restore data lost Oct. 5 in a massive server crash, the less the data is worth.

Or, at least the more customers will have invested, mostly in terms of their own time, in recreating address books and calendars. Some items will never be recreated, including photographs stored on the not-so-smartphone, so recovering the lost information is still helpful.

Negative advertising by Verizon has dashed hopes the carrier will begin selling the iPhone in 2010, if ever. The new "iDon't" campaign spotlights perceived iPhone shortcomings while promoting a new Verizon Android smartphone due next month.

A 30-second television spot, first aired Saturday, starts by listing features lacking on the iPhone. "iDon't have a real keyboard, iDon't run simultaneous apps, iDon't take 5-megapixel pictures," the ad begins, looking much like Apple's own advertising.

Here is the very best advice for Windows XP users considering an upgrade to Windows 7: Don't do it.

Windows 7's biggest failing is that upgrading from XP requires reinstalling applications and moving personal data around. And who looks forward to doing that?

While Microsoft is recovering Sidekick users' lost data, many are wishing Redmond could also give them back their time. What about the days people spent recreating their T-Mobile contact list and calendar?

They are gone for good.

A new specification, called Wi-Fi Direct, provides peer-to-peer connections between Wi-Fi devices, no hotspot required. That could be bad news for Bluetooth, but good news for customers.

Developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance, the new specification is expected to begin appearing in products as soon as next year. It will allow device-to-device connections over the same range and as the same speed as Wi-Fi, but without the need for a hotspot or access point, the alliance said.

Real men don't need Pepsi's "Amp Up Before You Score" iPhone app to meet women. And they treat women better, too.

What caveman came up with the idea to use an iPhone app to offer pickup lines and track female "conquests" that could then be posted to the user's--in all senses of the word--social networking pages? Isn't there a jail someplace for these people?

There is an FM radio inside our iPhone and iPod touch devices and we may soon get to use it. That's today's tasty Apple rumor and it makes sense in a "why not?" sort of way.

The FM tuner is built into the hardware and already supports the Nike+ peripherals. Adding a tuner application, supposedly now under development at Apple, would reception of FM broadcasts as well.

Apple seems to have, for the moment, stopped experimenters from "jailbreaking" its most recent shipment of iPhone 3GS handsets. How long this situation will last is anyone's guess--Apple must hope it's forever.

Jailbreaking allows unauthorized applications to be loaded onto the iPhone. A related hack, called "unlocking," allows an iPhone to operate on other carriers' networks, such as T-Mobile in the U.S.

You would think the upcoming release of Windows 7 were an event of real significance, but it isn't. Windows will still be Windows, Mac will still be Mac, and not much will change.

Does it really matter how the pending release of Windows 7 affects Macintosh sales? Only a little. Does Microsoft have a lot of corporate ego tied up in "beating" Apple? Only a little and mostly only when tweaked by Apple.

Apple says it is now working on a fix for a rare--but very serious--bug afflicting some Snow Leopard users. Apple's announcement came after the media this week ratcheted up coverage of the flaw, first noticed in early September.

"We are aware of the issue, which occurs only in extremely rare cases, and we are working on a fix," an Apple representative said in a prepared statement released to CNET on Tuesday.

AT&T and Nokia will offer the new Booklet 3G wireless netbook for only $299. Is that a good deal? It depends.

First, the actual price of the Booklet 3G is $599. To get the discount, customers have to sign-up for a $60-a-month data plan. Over the two-year contract, that adds up to over $1,400, plus the computer and taxes.

How much is your time worth? If you are a Sidekick user, T-Mobile apparently thinks "not very much." How else to explain a $100 gift card and a months' free data service as compensation for losing all of someone's smartphone data?

Already angered by the loss of their information and T-Mobile's slow response to the problem, I am hearing from users who say the "token" $100 just adds insult to injury.

HP is taking touch to the people, with new touch screen laptop and desktop models, all featuring Windows 7 and some shipping on Oct. 22, when the new operating system is formally introduced.

The new multi-touch models include a number of applications that take advantage of the interface, including Hulu, Netflix, Pandora, Recipe Box, a webcam "photo booth" application, and the HP Music Store.

A serious flaw in Apple's Snow Leopard OS appears capable of wiping user data after the user opens and closes the "guest" account on the afflicted Macintosh.

According to reports, when the user first opens the guest account, closes it, and later logs back into their own account, their Home folder data has been erased.

Apple's "no refunds" policy for iPhone App Store purchase is both not as bad--and worse--than it sounds. Readers say Apple occasionally gives refunds, but also complain that Apple's own updates break apps for which no refunds are given.

These readers were replying to a story about the no-refunds policy I posted earlier today.

A T-Mobile customer has accused the company of removing his posts and banning him from the company's online forum for complaining about the loss of personal data on his Sidekick handset.

"T-Mobile banned me from their forums because I was voicing my opinion about their outage and suggesting customers contact the Washington State Attorney General's office," said Richard Anderson in his blog about the data loss.

Apple, famous for customer friendliness, says it does not give refunds on iPhone app purchases. Regardless of reason, save technical issues with the download itself. Mere buyer's remorse does not count.

However, suppose the app simply does not work? Does that merit a refund? Apparently not, according to a blog post today at the New York Times.

T-Mobile Sidekick customers should today learn more about the server crash that caused their phones to lose their personal data, the company said. Meanwhile, the carrier warns customers not to remove the handset's battery or newly entered data will be lost.

Bad enough for T-Mobile, the incident is particularly embarrassing for Microsoft, which operates the Sidekick data service, and other companies who are promoting Internet-based "cloud computing" as the next generation of data storage.

Google Squared, the ambitious project that delivers search results as a table, has received an update that improves both the quality and quantity of the information it presents.

According to a post on Google's official blog, the changes increase the amount of data that can be displayed in a "square" from 30 facts to 120. It also ranks facts based on relevance to the query and the quality of the information Google finds.

If YouTube streams a billion videos a day, does that make it the world's biggest waste of people's time? The billion videos announcement was made by YouTube's CEO in a blog marking the third anniversary of its acquisition by Google.

"Today, I'm proud to say that we have been serving well over a billion views a day on YouTube," CEO and co-founder Chad Hurley wrote.

A group of lawmakers wants the FCC to investigate Google Voice over charges the service blocks calls to their rural constituents. Such calls are expensive to connect, but landline carriers are prohibited from blocking them.

According to Reuters, a bipartisan group of 20 lawmakers wrote to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski seeking the investigation. AT&T is, not surprisingly, in the middle of things, accusing Google of creating a double standard on net neutrality issues.

Bookseller Barnes & Noble appears to be readying its own e-reader, due to go on sale as early as next month. The new model could help e-readers become the hot gift this holiday, but prices still need to come down.

Even with this week's price cut, the Kindle, at $259, still seems expensive. Will B&N beat Amazon's price and turn e-readers into mainstream devices? It just might.

In a new survey, 91 percent of American adults support a ban on texting while driving. Only 6 percent think texting behind the wheel is OK, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone poll.

Other findings from the national telephone survey:

Net neutrality is not even law and already appears to be forcing changes on wireless carriers. AT&T, which previously prevented Skype from routing voice calls over its 3G wireless data network, Tuesday reversed its position.

The decision means iPhone customers will be able to use Skype to place voice calls from their handsets. Other AT&T smartphones are not affected by the change, the company said.

There used to be something no self-respecting Mac owner would do: Admit to owning a Windows PC. Now, a whopping 85 percent of Mac owners 'fess up.

What happened to Windows-hating Mac users? I suppose they still exist, but as Macintosh has grown in market share, true devotees seem harder to find. Obviously, society is in decline.

Did Adobe diss Apple on Monday? Sure sounded like it. Are the companies even speaking? Doesn’t sound like it.

Consider what an Adobe exec said yesterday, following the announcement of a workaround that allows Adobe Flash apps to run on Apple's iPhone.

Artwork: Chip TaylorLike the Internet? Own a digital camera? If so, please take a moment to thank today's three Nobel prizewinners for their discoveries.

The three American scientists, honored today with the 2009 Physics prize, helped give us modern telecommunications--including the Internet--and digital photography. Fiber optic cable makes the high-speed communications possible, while charge-coupled devices (CCDs) are the cornerstone of digital photography.

New rules on paid endorsements may give readers a false sense that blogs are telling them the truth. While many bloggers will doubtless follow the Federal Trade Commission's requirements, there are too many blogs and too few enforcers.

Here's the problem: Some bloggers have been writing enthusiastic endorsements of products they were paid to write about, without ever mentioning the payments to their readers.

There is no question that PC pundits are eagerly awaiting Apple's supposed new tablet, but what about customers? This is a high-risk game and Apple must know it.

Apple is widely believed to be working on a tablet for introduction in early 2010, though the timing may be more flexible than recent rumor suggests.

The arrival of Adobe's Flash Player, due later this year, will mark the ascent of smartphones as a real browsing platform. Nearly ubiquitous on desktops, Flash is a key technology soon to be available on most devices except for one--Apple's iPhone.

Today at its Adobe Max conference in Los Angeles, Adobe will announce that a beta of Flash Player 10.1 will be available for Palm webOS and Microsoft Windows Mobile before the end of the year. Betas for Symbian OS and Google's Android will come in early 2010, the company said.

Sure, the $150,000 that Amazon paid for losing a kid's homework seems excessive, but there is a good side: The lawyers' share went to charity.

You, of course, remember the "Kindle Affair." Amazon deleted copies of George Orwell titles from its customers' Kindle e-readers after learning it didn't have the right to sell the books electronically.

Apple appears to be readying a new version of its "Mighty Mouse," perhaps for introduction later this year with a flock of new iMacs. My advice to Apple: Don't mess with the Mouse.

Photograph: Courtesy of Apple AppleInsider was first on the story:

OK, so after the hoopla, Microsoft's Bing search engine may have fallen back to earth. Is Microsoft supposed to just give up? Not hardly.

New statistics show Microsoft's share of searches is down below 4 percent, having risen during the previous three months. Google, meanwhile, captures 90 percent of search traffic.

For the lovers of the iPhone, it's like daddy and mommy are getting a divorce. If that wasn't the case--if Apple and Google weren't calling it quits--why would Apple buy a mapping company?

Steve, tell us it isn't so!