Is The Threat Of "Cyber War" Real Or Are We Being Scared Into Thinking So?

Ask anyone who knows me well and they'll tell you that I'm a sucker for a good conspiracy theory. No! That does not mean that I believe every crackpot idea that thrown out there, it just means that I find some of the arguments compelling enough to review the supposed evidence and form my own opinions. Call me crazy if you will but I don't take everything that is fed to us through the mainstream media as gospel, there are nearly always agendas at play, and we usually get a slightly biased side of the story, intensional or otherwise. It's just good practice in my opinion to raise a few good questions.

ars technica writer Mathew Lasar has published an interesting article which brings light to a new working paper that suggest there is a real problem of "threat inflation" when it comes to the possibilities "Cyber War", according to the papers authors from the George Mason University Mercatus Center, researchers Jerry Brito and Tate Wakins. While there is always the chance that a dooms day plot exists where our vital infrastructure is at risk, how real is it? and in who's best interest is it for us to prepare for, or be worried about, one?

Love to hear your thoughts.

Open Comes At A Price For Google And Android In China

Here is an interesting little article that I came across this morning. It seems that 80% of all Android based smart phones in China will be shipped with Baidu, and not Google, as their default search engine. Fact is that being an open platform allows manufacturers to make changes and in China that means no Google for you!

China is a huge market as we all know but it is also one that Google has had it's challenges with as government censorship and heavy handed policies have not been kind to the search giant. In fact, in March of 2010 Google.cn (China) started to redirect all of it's search queries to Google.com.hk (Hong Kong) after much debate over the blockage of YouTube and allegations of Chinese hacking. See Wikipedia's Google China page.

I wonder just how much business Apple does in China and what that represents when comparing authentic Apple product to counterfeits or knock-offs?