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On edge about Razr phones

In addition to triggering clever headlines like "Flippin' Phone!" and "That Razr's not so sharp," news of a Razr phone glitch and the subsequent halt in sales has got bloggers both defending the popular uber thin device and ripping it as an unreliable "piece of junk."

It's just Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile, both of which use GSM or Global System for Mobile Communication networks, that temporarily stopped selling the Motorola phone this week because of a defect that causes calls to be disconnected. Razr phones on the Verizon Wireless network were not affected, because Verizon uses a different technology.

Motorola said only a limited number of the phones shipped to the U.S. market were affected by the glitch. The faulty phones were shipped on Feb. 1, and new phones without the glitch have already begun shipping. Those customers with faulty phones should contact their carriers for an exchange.

Blog community response:

"This is like my third Moto phone (V400 and V620 before the Black RAZR) and all had one issue or another. People kept telling me it was the 'user' but here is further proof it wasn't all in my head. The phone actually sucks! Still a sweet-lookin' phone though and I look cute with it. hehe"
--The Lobby

"After almost a year and a half, the Razr is still so popular that a gaffe like this (however minor it is) is sure to be played up as a major recall of the most popular phone in the U.S."
--Technology for business minds

"Bottom line--Any one can build a piece of junk, but to sell it to folks that trust the brand, well Moto needs to show some customer appreciation and replace these lemons."
--The EduBlog

Terrorist activity on Google-owned service?

Online free speech issues have made many headlines of late, from China to MySpace. But one area that hasn't been discussed as much lately is online activity by terrorists.

USA Today reported this week that Al-Qaeda supporters are using Orkut, "a popular, worldwide Internet service owned by Google, to rally support for Osama bin Laden, share videos and Web links promoting terrorism and recruit non-Arabic-speaking Westerners, according to terrorism experts and a survey of the sites."

Although it's difficult to imagine that a terrorist organization would outline its next attack on the Web, the site could still become a test case at the legal intersection of free speech, national security and jurisdictional boundaries in cyberspace.

Blog community response:

"People chat and whinge and threaten and gossip in online communities the same way they do in real life--more so, in fact, as retribution is less likely. The 'Osama' community has at most 2,000 members, out of perhaps 13 million in the Orkut community. That's not many anti-Americans when you think about it!"
--Laurel Papworth

"The First Amendment doesn't apply to Al-Qaeda sympathizers if they are located outside the U.S. or are more importantly non-U.S. citizens. If they are located within the U.S., then Google would be powering terrorism on our own soil. Basically, there is no legitimate reason for Google to allow such content on Orkut."
--Technosight

"Google's social networking tool is the current actor in the ongoing drama of terrorism online. The article is uneven tonally. It likes to use 'community' in scare-quotes. There's the classic haunted internet emphasis on the corruption of children."
--Infocult

Is Google prepping an office suite?

Google announced Thursday that it is acquiring Upstartle, maker of Web-based word processor Writely.

The move immediately fueled speculation that the search engine company may be working on its own version of an online office suite, which could compete with Microsoft's cash cow.

Rumors about the supposed suite have been percolating for some time, fueled in part by Google's partnership with Sun Microsystems and reports of a Google calendar program.

Google hasn't yet stated how it would incorporate the word processor, which is still in beta, into its other offerings. But bloggers were happy to speculate on their own.

Blog community response:

"Now buying Writely is in line with Google thinking of using browser for everything. I mean an online word processor, and online excel spread sheet make a lot more sense than making people switch to OpenOffice."
--Om Malik

"So this is how I see it working. Google Desktop is used to synchronise your local drive with your GDrive (with Lighthouse probably being the tool that you use to decide who can access and share what data). If your working on your regular computer, click a document and it opens up into OpenOffice Writer. If your on a public workstation log into GDrive, click on the same document and it opens up in Writely."
--Squash

"Still, Microsoft will likely view this as a much more direct attack -- especially coming so soon after Microsoft's new focus on its 'Live' strategy. Bet you can't wait to see the response."
--Techdirt