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Baidu, China's top Internet search engine, has said today that it wants to extend its market share in China to 79 percent, the far and away leader.

The goal comes from Baidu General Manager for Corporate Development Tang Hesong, who noted that Google's exit from the market has helped Baidu take a large amount of market share in a little bit of time.

Google announced in January that it would quit China if it had to maintain self-censorship of its search results. The ruling communist party forces search engines to filter out results for certain terms, or certain results that it deems inappropriate for Chinese citizens to see.

The search giant's threat to leave the country came after it, along with at least 20 other companies, was the target of a cyberattack aimed at stealing Google's Intellectual Property and at the e-mail accounts of Chinese activists.

Baidu currently owns 64 percent of the search market in China, up from 58 percent in the Q4 last year.

If you are an active Twitter user, you have undoubtedly used a URL shortener such as bit.ly.

Today, Twitter has announced their own official URL shortener, t.co, which will automatically shorten all links posted, whether you are posting from the website or from any number of clients and apps.

The service is currently being tested internally and will be made available to the public by the end of the summer.

If you want to continue to use bit.ly or other third-party shorteners, they will be "wrapped" as well by t.co.

Shortened links will displayed differently depending on what client you are using, however. Using the website, or a desktop client means you will see the full link, or at least an excerpt. Those getting SMS notifications will only see the shortened link. Best of all, only the amount of characters in the shortened link go against your 140, despite the full link being shown to others.

Twitter says this move "removes the obscurity from shortened links," letting users know what they are clicking on.

Sprint's record breaking HTC EVO 4G is apparently sold out across the United States, with more shipments expected later in the week.

The EVO 4G broke Sprint's one-day sales record for a phone, with an estimated 320,000 units sold on June 4th, the day the device launched.

More importantly for Sprint, the numbers crush launch day sales of the Palm Pre, which launched to fanfare last year but quickly faded. EVO demand continues to remain strong.

Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Wal-Mart, Amazon and many others have all reported being sold out of the smartphone.

The next batch of phones are set aside for those that pre-ordered, notes Sprint.

The HTC EVO 4G boasts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB ROM, 512MB RAM, a 1500 mAh battery and an 8GB microSD card. The device has a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive multi-touchscreen display (with pinch to zoom), Android 2.1 with Sense UI, Google Search, Google Maps, Google Talk, Gmail, Google Goggles, YouTube, Google Calendar syncing, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability for connecting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices.

Microsoft has issued an update for Internet Explorer that will fix multiple vulnerabilities including one critical flaw that would have allowed hackers to remotely take control of host computers.

Additionally, Microsoft is releasing nine other patches that will address 34 vulnerabilities, three of which are considered critical. The vulnerabilities are for Windows, Microsoft Office, IE, Internet Information Services and the .NET Framework.

The company did note that there are currently no active attacks exploiting any of the critical vulnerabilities covered in the patches, but Microsoft is still trying to release the patches as soon as possible.

Jerry Bryant, Microsoft group manager for response communications, says the critical IE exploit was given an exploitability index rating of "1," indicating that the company expects an active exploit within the month.

The critical exploit can occur even if you are using Internet Explorer 8, the most updated of Microsoft's browser offerings.

Patently Apple has posted an in-depth report this week on an Apple patent they recently unveiled, one for "media players with integrated touch sensor solar panel surfaces."

The patents clearly imply that Apple may be working on incorporating solar panels into their iPhones and iPods in the future, or even perhaps into the popular iPad tablet.

Each panel would be hidden under the touch screen of the devices, allowing them to keep their same design (or future design.)

The patent was filed in 2008, and Apple has yet to release any other solar devices.

Giving more credibility to the assumption that solar-powered iPhones are coming is the fact that Apple recently just released the iPhone 4 with a glass back instead of metal, allowing for double-sided solar panels.

Google has confirmed today that their impressive image recognition app Goggles will soon be made available on the Apple iPhone.

Goggles has been available to Android 1.6+ users for a few months now.

iPhone users have been stuck with a similar app dubbed oMoby, but reviewers agree the software is slow and inaccurate.

Google recently updated Goggles to support text recognition and text translation, but that part of the software is still very buggy.

Regardless, as Goggles continues to update, it is best to see it on as many devices as possible, so feedback can come from a wider market.

You can read more about Goggles here: http://www.google.com/mobile/goggles/#text

Last week we reported that Foxconn was raising worker salaries 30 percent amidst a flood of worker suicides at their Chinese factory.

The company, probably best known for manufacturing the Apple iPhone among tons of other electronics we use daily, has been massively criticized for its working conditions, and low wages.

Today, Foxconn has announced that they will be raising worker wages, a second time.

On top of the basic salary hike of 30 percent, workers can conditionally make 70 percent beginning in October.

"While overtime work was always voluntary, this wage increase will reduce overtime work as a personal necessity," says Foxconn.

Until last week, workers had been making Ұ900 ($132) per month. Now, workers can make up to Ұ2000 ($293) per month if they pass a 3-month performance test.

According to Japan's Computer Entertainment Suppliers Association (CESA), piracy on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP has cost the industry $41.6 billion USD since June 2004.

The group began conducting research in June 2004 and ended in late 2009.

Research was done by tracking the downloading done of the top 20 software titles in Japan from 114 piracy sites.

CESA says that amounted to $10.4 billion in piracy losses, and the region accounts for 25 percent of the entire global software market so the total posted above was Japan's "losses," multiplied by four.

The report says P2P networks like Gnutella were not included, and says the $41.6 billion number may actually be conservative.

In the world, the U.S. was the "busiest region" for piracy, followed by Japan and then China.

The HTC EVO 4G has broken Sprint's one-day sales record for a phone, says the carrier, which is the third largest wireless carrier in the U.S.

Running the Android operating system and boasting impressive specs, the smartphone is expected to have sold 320,000 units on June 4th, the day the device launched.

The estimate comes from research firm FBR Capital Markets who says Sprint likely saw 100,000 new customers and 220,000 upgrades. Sprint did not confirm the numbers.

Sprint was quick to boast about the 4G capabilities of the phone, saying users could stream World Cup matches live, with no lag.

Under the hood is a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB ROM, 512MB RAM, a 1500 mAh battery and an 8GB microSD card. The device has a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive multi-touchscreen display (with pinch to zoom), Android 2.1 with Sense UI, Google Search, Google Maps, Google Talk, Gmail, Google Goggles, YouTube, Google Calendar syncing, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g and 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability for connecting up to eight Wi-Fi enabled devices.

According to Microsoft spokesperson Gavriella Schuster, the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 should be released next month, as a public beta.

The release of the service pack should move the OS forward onto the systems of more corporate users, as many IT admins will not upgrade a system to a new OS until at least the first SP.

Microsoft explains that SP1 will not be a big deal, however, as it "will not contain any new features that are specific to Windows 7 itself. For Windows 7, SP1 will simply be the combination of updates already available through Windows Update and additional hotfixes based on feedback by our customers and partners. In other words, customers can feel confident about deploying Windows 7 now!"

Making good on that claim, Schuster notes: "Several organizations of all sizes are already in the process of deploying Windows 7 and not waiting for SP1. In fact, we've already sold more than 100 million licenses of Windows 7."

Steve Jobs moved on from discussing the Apple App Store to the company's iPhone products. According to Jobs, iPhone now has 28 percent of US smartphone market, behind RIM at 35 percent. In terms of mobile web browsing, the iPhone commands a 58 percent market share.

Joking that some attendees have "already seen this," Jobs moved on to introduce iPhone 4, saying it has 100 new features. The iPhone 4 is 9.3mm thick, about 24 percent thinner than the iPhone 3GS was. It includes a micro-SIM tray, a new camera on the back with an LED flash and new front-facing camera. It also adds a second mic on the top for noise cancellation purposes.

The new 5 megapixel camera features 5x digital zoom and adds 720p HD video capture at 30 frames per second. Apple also will be releasing an iPhone version of its iMovie video editing software that will make it possible for users to record and edit video. It will be available for $5.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs arrived at WWDC 2010 in San Francisco today to a standing ovation from a typically large crowd. The first thing Jobs touted was the success of the company's iPad tablet. So far, over 8,500 native iPad applications are available and iPad owners have downloaded over 35 million so far. Each iPad has an average of 17 apps.

The iPad has proven successful in the ebooks area too, with 5 million books downloaded in the first 65 days from iBookstore. Jobs said that Apple now has a 22 percent market share of the eBooks business. A new iBooks app also will allow the viewing of PDF documents with notes and bookmark abilities.

Onto the App Store, we learned that 15,000 apps are submitted every week, with 95 percent being approved within 7 days. The figure includes updates to existing applications. Apps that make false promises, use private APIs or have stability problems account for the majority of all App rejections.

For Netflix users, a Netflix app for the iPhone was demo'd and will be available this summer. The app, naturally, supports streaming movies to the iPhone (any video available through Netflix Watch Instantly). Zynga CEO Mark Pincus revealed that the popular FarmVille game will be coming to the iPhone later this month. Touting over 70 million active monthly users, Zynga said players will even be able to purchase iPhone-exclusive items, such as a Snow Leopard.

TF has put out a bio on file-sharing giant MegaUpload's owner Kim Schmitz, and it is apparently very lucrative to own the site.

Schmitz, who has been convicted in the past of insider trading, computer fraud and embezzlement, has just purchased New Zealand's most expensive home, for $20 million USD.

"Kimble," as he is sometimes referred to, was born in 1974, and by 1998 had been given two year's probation for hacking into corporate networks. In 2001, Schmitz scammed stock traders by announcing he would invest 50 million euro in the verge-of-bankruptcy company Letsbuyit.com, although he did not have the money to do so. He did, however, hold hundreds of thousands of shares at a low price. The scam netted Kimble $1.5 million in profits, and an insider-trading conviction a year later.

Schmitz has also pulled multiple PR stunts such as faking his own death and offering $10 million for the capture of Osama Bin Laden. He has also admitted to bribing police officers, driving at 240 km/h on public roads in Belgium, and even smashing a friends car off the road during a race.

Kimble owns a Rolls-Royce Phantom with the license plate GOD.

Nielsen has released their latest smartphone OS market share numbers, and despite previous reports, it appears that the iPhone OS still has a clear lead over Android.

Year-over-year, smartphone ownership went up from 16 percent to 23 percent of overall mobile consumers.

RIM BlackBerrys were still the clear leader, at 35 percent, but quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) the OS lost 2 percent share.

The Apple iPhone was in second at 28 percent, seeing strong 2 percent growth QoQ. Microsoft's struggling Windows Mobile platform lost 2 percent to 19 percent, but still good for third place.

The up and coming Android platform grew 2 percent, as well, to 9 percent and continues to see strong growth since its launch in late 2008.

iPhone users were the most loyal, with 80 percent saying their next phone would again be an iPhone. 70 percent on Android owners said their next phone would be an Android device again. The numbers get lower from there.

AndroidGuys has reported today on the first sighting of MetroPCS' first-ever Android smartphone offering.

The device is unnamed, so far, but looks similar to the Motorola Cliq, and the source has four images.

Motorola's upcoming device will run on Android 2.1, have a MOTOBLUR UI layer and have a 600MHz CPU.

It will also have a full slide-out QWERTY keypad and a 3.2MP camera.

Oddly out of place is a giant "Home" button surrounded by a purple circle. It is unclear what the circle's use is.

MetroPCS offers a $50 unlimited voice, text and data plan, the cheapest in the industry.