News

As we've pointed out before, running an online service is very different to building great computers and software, as Apple continue to prove with their disastrous MobileMe launch: down again for a whole European working day, apparently because they

Apple's resurgence owes much to Tony Fadell's vision and determination and his departure is a pointer to the future.

Following Microsoft's announcement of Azure, they've finally responded to Google and others' threat to eat their highly profitable Office franchise with a web-based suite of office appications.

Microsoft have joined Amazon and Google in providing 'cloud computing' - infrastructure that lets companies rent storage space and application hosting. With HP, Dell and IBM also due to join in, is this the beginning of the end for companies running their own servers in datacentres?

Engadget reports that over half of new vehicles sold next year in the USA will have iPod support - not just a cable but proper integration into the dashboard display and controls.

A fascinating and sobering view of the coming recession is doing the rounds of Silicon Valley. It's a leaked presentation that a leading VC, Sequoia, gave to the CEOs of their portfolio companies, explaining how we got here, dispelling any optimism and explaining how to survive. 

VoIP has started to explode in Europe, with four times as many users as two years ago and consumer penetration over 10% in many countries, according to Telegeography. (These data exclude Skype, which is more successful than the leading VoIP operator, France Telecom.)

Last week's iPhone software upgrade to version 2.1 has brought back the speed lost in v2.0 - particularly in accessing the contact list. The text messaging screen is still too slow to load, but the phone feels snappy again.

Full details of what's in the free 2.1 upgrade. 

John Gapper (FT: Google launches Microsoft's big fear) misses the underlying reason that Google's threat to Microsoft - to make Windows unnecessary - comes from them making applications run on the web browser rather than the operating system.