Google incurred a technical error this morning, causing several sites like YouTube and Gmail to crash, as the company accidentally re-routed some of its traffic to Asia and that caused a massive traffic jam.

 

The company said in its official blog that about 14 percent of users were affected, and everything is back to normal now.

 

Read the company's funny illustration of the technical error that occurred:

 

Imagine if you were trying to fly from New York to San Francisco, but your plane was routed through an airport in Asia. And a bunch of other planes were sent that way too, so your flight was backed up and your journey took much longer than expected. That's basically what happened to some of our users today for about an hour, starting at 7:48 am Pacific time. An error in one of our systems caused us to direct some of our web traffic through Asia, which created a traffic jam. As a result, about 14% of our users experienced slow services or even interruptions. We've been working hard to make our services ultrafast and "always on," so it's especially embarrassing when a glitch like this one happens. We're very sorry that it happened, and you can be sure that we'll be working even harder to make sure that a similar problem won't happen again. All planes are back on schedule now.
 
Yeah, imagine how pissed you'd be if you were on a plane to San Francisco and you landed in Hong Kong.

Following Microsoft's bold ads on how pricy a Mac cost consumers, Apple has decided to fight back in a new ad in a bid to prove itself.

Microsoft's "Laptop Hunter" ads featured people who were given money to go out and buy a laptop that had all the features they wanted. All of them ended up choosing a PC over the Mac.

The Latest Mac ad, called “Elimination”, spoofs a series of PCs versus a lone Mac.

Watch the ad below:

Microsoft is getting ready to begin manufacturing Windows 7 in time for the holiday season and claims it won't give customers the same compatibility headaches that its predecessor, Windows Vista, did.

 

At Microsoft's TechEd conference this week, Bill Veghte, senior vice president for the Windows Business, insisted that Windows 7 won't suffer from these issues.

 

Microsoft made many architectural changes between Windows XP and Vista, including an overhauled security model, Veghte said. But with Windows 7 sharing much of the same code as Vista, Microsoft has had a much easier time ensuring that applications that work with Vista will work with Windows 7, Veghte said.

 

"That's a number that you generally would see at general availability of the OS or on a really good cycle at Released to Manufacturing. We have 10,000 at the release candidate," Veghte said.

 

Microsoft had to do some PR work on Tuesday after false rumors appeared on Twitter that hinted at the possibility of a Zune phone coming out as soon as June.

 

The posts from @officethemovie were typically cryptic, saying simply that 'June 2009 will be an important month for Zune lovers', followed by 'New product launch, that's all I'm allowed to say. Hold off from buying an iPhone/Pre. :)'.

 

Spokesperson Brian Seitz, a source of many Zune-related rumors himself, has stated that the account isn't official and should not be taken seriously:

 

That account is bunk. Not run by Microsoft so I would not put much stock in what they say. The real Office movie account is http://twitter.com/office2010movie.

 

The person who created the fake Twitter account later confessed and said it was a publicity stunt for his article on iPhone piracy.

Apple released the seventh point update to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on Tuesday, which has over more than 20 bug fixes.

The update is now appearing in Software Update, with various updaters available from Apple's Support Downloads page.

Security updates have also been issued for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger as well as Safari.

The update has patches that help resolve issues with third-party network services, such as improved reliability for syncing contacts with Yahoo. It also includes a fix for some problems that could occur when logging into Gmail.

The update also improves the reliability and accuracy of several of OS X’s Dashboard widgets, like Unit Converter, Weather, Stocks, and Movies.

RealNetworks is reportedly hiring engineers to work on Facet - a DVD player that copies and stores film discs despite claims by Hollywood that allege that the device violates copyright.

Real has posted a job ad on Craigslist asking for qualified Linux engineers to apply.

"The Facet team is creating a rich set of consumer media experiences that will make the consumer electronics industry stand up and take notice," Real said in the job posting, first reported by Video Business Online.

Alltel Wireless said Friday that the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8230, originally announced a few weeks ago, is now available in Alltel retail stores and online at shopalltel.com.

 

The Flip 8230 is Research in Motions first and only flip smartphone in the BlackBerry only flip smartphone, and one of the few released in the U.S.

 

The phone features a 240×320 QVGA internal display, 160×128 external LCD display, a SureType QWERTY keyboard, 2-megpixel camera with video recording, GPS, stereo Bluetooth, microSD card expansion and more. It also has a media player app that can sync with iTunes and Windows Media Player.

The Flip 8230 on Alltel costs $79.99 with a two-year contract and after a $70 mail-in-rebate with various Smart Choice Packs.

 

As Microsoft rolls out free downloads of its Windows 7 Release Candidate, photographers and artists are taking this opportunity to dish out some creative desktop backgrounds to try out with the new operating system.

 

"We are unveiling some new personalization content (wallpapers, glass colors and sounds schemes) in the RC build which allows people greater flexibility to personalize their experience," Windows product design team members Denise Trabona and Samuel Moreau said in a blog.

 

The design team said they chose the backgrounds not just based on how good it looked, but on how well "the image flowed under the new task bar and striking the right balance between visually compelling, and not too distracting when it came to finding that important file on your desktop."

 

Check out more examples at this Flickr gallery.

New photos of the BlackBerry Curve 8520, codenamed Gemini, have been leaked online.

As depicted in the photos, which were released by CrackBerry, it appears that the new handset has an optical trackball and has a rubberized finish surrounding the metal battery cover.

 

 

Reports surfaced yesterday that said Verizon Wireless were holding talks with Apple about a deal to allow the carrier to sell a version of the iPhone. Today, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Verizon Wireless is holding talks with Microsoft on a deal to launch a touch-screen phone based on Microsoft’s secretive Project Pink.

 

The new phone is rumored to involve combining elements of Windows Mobile with some pieces acquired through the company’s Danger unit, which provides software for the T-Mobile Sidekick phone.

 

Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the WSJ says the new phone plans to build on the Windows Mobile operating system and use the new Windows Marketplace for Mobile application store.

 

The phone would be built by a third party, which you could quite possibly be the HTC, which already makes a bunch of Windows mobile-based touch screen phones.