Brick in the firewall By Martin J Young HUA HIN - Not perturbed by Google spitting the digital dummy last year, the Chinese government has launched its own search engine, albeit a predictably sanitized one. This week, the state news agency Xinhua, in a joint venture with the state telecoms company China Mobile, launched Panguso, a web search portal that will offer the government's version of the Internet. The closure of Google's Chinese search engine last July resulted in a loss of market share from 31% to below 20% at the time. Search requests were redirected to the company's Hong Kong   servers, however, that did not stop the market leaders, Baidu, extending their share of the Chinese market to 75.5% at the end of 2010. The move gives the Chinese government access to a powerful new tool to exert even more control over what its citizens can find online. Xinhua President Li Congjun stated, "We would like to fully exploit the advantage of Xinhua as an official agency having a large collection of news and information, and that of China Mobile in terms of technology, advanced operation principles and strong infrastructure." China Mobile is the world's largest phone carrier and has a huge subscriber base with over almost 600 million accounts and 300 million mobile web browsers to access with the new search engine however it is likely to be a while before there is any threat to industry leaders Baidu. As expected, there are gaping holes in the search results that Panguso produces. According to the software, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo doesn't exist, neither does the People's University in Beijing. Information on the Dalai Lama is also sparse and with services such as Twitter, Facebook, Skype and YouTubestill heavily censored or blocked in entirety, China remains the largest Intranet on the planet. Hardware The web has been buzzing with rumors of a new iPad as the notoriously secretive Apple Inc gears up for a tech show on March 2 that may offer a glimpse of the device, which is expected to go on sale in April. Apple aficionados are predictably excited about the iPad 2 which will no doubt be a little sleeker, a bit more rounded, and have a few more bells and whistles than its predecessor. Specs are been kept under wraps but the second generation iPad is likely to have an upgraded display with improved anti-reflection capabilities, faster processor and more memory. Since it launched the first iPad last April, Apple has sold more than 15 million units and has spurred a surge in tablet production and design from competitors. If the company sticks to its pricing policy, the new tablet will weigh in at just over US$800 for the 3G version. Apple totally dominated the tablet market in 2010 with four out of five tablets sold globally being an iPad, this year is likely to see that change as the number of good specification rival devices flood the market. The company is also in the news this week for its decision to lock publishers out of their own subscriber base and demand 30% of their revenue for the privilege of displaying their content on its iPad. The in-app purchasing policy is now under investigation from the Federal Trade Commission. Software Windows 7 got its first Service Pack this week, a year and four months after its initial launch in October 2009. Microsoft made the announcement on Tuesday that SP1 for its flagship operating system was available from the Windows Download Center and would be rolled out via Windows Update shortly. The full download for 32-bit versions of Windows 7 is around 540 Megabytes and the 64 bit version a whopping 900 Megabytes. Those that have been using Windows Update throughout the year will see a much smaller upgrade. The standalone Service Pack can be downloaded here. The package itself brings no new features or functionality to the operating system; it is just a culmination of all of the security updates since the product launch. The service pack also works on Windows Server 2008 systems and includes a few modifications to the dynamic memory system and graphical processor virtualization. Science The Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off on Thursday for its 39th and final flight, however the launch was close to being aborted due to some last-minute drama caused by a computer glitch. Problems with an air force range safety system computer just minutes before lift-off threatened to prematurely end the hopes of a smooth final departure for the iconic space craft. Fortunately for the crew, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's IT department, all was resolved and the launch went ahead as planned. Six veteran crew members and a high-tech robot were on their way to the International Space Station for an 11-day mission. Two more flights for Shuttles Endeavor and Atlantis later this year will mark the end of the pioneering program that started 30 years ago and has lead the way in human space exploration. With it also ends America's ability to put a manned rocket into space and NASA's hopes for revival slowly get buried under bureaucracy and budget cuts. Martin J Young is an Asia Times Online correspondent based in Thailand. (Copyright 2011 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)