Google China Closing Up Shop on April 18

All of this mess with Google, China, and Google China has come to a head as of late. We’ve seen Google be the brunt of brute-force cyber attacks, before which they were trying to uncensor a nation of censorship. And now it seems that the word getting pushed around is that Google is about ready to close up shop, and it’s happening sooner than we imagined it would.

Google has been positive about their presence in China, with some assuming that the company would shift in their views and positions, or at least figure out a way to work with the Chinese government to meet both their needs. But, there’s no surprise that the two of them probably couldn’t come to an agreement. Even if the last few things swirling around was that Google would be sticking around, with hopes of keeping the Google China employees, you know, employed, it’s looking like that’s not going to be the case after all.

Citing an anonymous source, the Chinese Business News is saying that Google is closing up their China shop by April 10th. Along with the positions, the search engine based in China is also going the way of the Dodo. But, Google wants to do everything they can for the employees that are going to be displaced by the closure, so they’re apparently offering current employees positions at their US-based operations, or heading over to its Asia-Pacific locales. We hate to see any shop close down, or people lose their jobs, but we’re definitely giving a big thumbs up to Google for offering the employees positions elsewhere. Hopefully this all gets figured out soon.

SlashGear Week in Review – Week 12 2010

Welcome to the latest edition of the week in review here at SlashGear. Tons of new gear popped up last week, so let’s get right to it. We spied some pics of new WinPo 7 handsets from LG, Asus, and Samsung early in the week, the devices looked very cool.

A new 3D mobile phone from Samsung is set to launch this month called the SCH-W960. The device has a 3.2-inch screen and dual DMB tuners inside among other things. Samsung is set to toss its iPad rival into the ring in the second half of the year. The device promises a more PC like user experience than the iPad is expected to offer.

Comcast is set to show one of its first 3D programs over its cable network next month. The Masters golf tournament will be shown in 3D on the cable network, but you will need 3D ready TV to watch. Intel launched its new Xeon 5600 series processors built using 32nm tech. The processors promise 60% more performance than previous generation Xeon 5500 series parts.

Shuttle offered up a cool new AIO machine called the XPC X50V2 running an Atom D510 CPU and using no fans. The machine has a 15.6-inch touchscreen and 4GB of RAM. Some pics turned up this week of what is supposedly a refreshed mainboard for an Xbox 360. It’s about time for some sort of update for the Xbox.

T-Mobile has confirmed a March 24 launch for the HTC HD2. The handset will sell for $199.99 with a new 2-year agreement. A new Lenovo ThinkPad Mini 10 netbook has been spotted making its rounds inside some Aussie schools. The machine has a 10-inch LCD and an Atom processor.

New ads turned up online mid-week that showed some significant price increases on Apple computers in Australia. The price increases are believed to point to the long expected refresh of the MacBook Air and Pro lines soon. Vincent Audio revealed a seriously expensive CD player for hard-core and rich audiophiles called the C-60. The thing sells for $5,000.

Parrot showed off a cool AR.Drone helicopter at CES that interfaces with the iPhone. A new video has surfaced this week showing the AR.Drone in a dogfight with another AR.Drone. Google is set to bring Android into the living room with help from Intel and Sony. The three firms are working on a set top box and connected TVs.

Archos has unveiled a new A13PS ultraportable computer that is set to launch in April. The Archos 9 is also set to get a CPU update. HTC said again last week that it would defend itself vigorously against Apple. The Apple patent infringement suit has serious ramifications for makers of touchscreen devices if Apple wins.

The HTC Incredible is set to launch in only a couple weeks time according to rumors. The leaked launch date is supposedly straight from Verizon sources. Chord Electronics launched a new preamp called the CPA 8000 that is scary expensive. The thing sells for over $50,000.

A patent app turned up late in the week from Apple that was filed in November of 2009. The patent outlines a way to send audio text messages, which would be a great feature. Color e-ink displays have reportedly been showed off to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Devices using the screens could reportedly be shipping in Q1 2011.

The specs and pricing were confirmed for the HP Slate. The iPad competitor gets a price of about $546 here in the US and features Windows 7, USB, memory card reader, and a webcam. Details of the AMD Thuban 6-core CPUs leaked this week. The parts will be the 1035T at 2.6GHz, the 1055T at 2.8GHz, and the 1075T at 3GHz. That’s all for this week, thanks for reading!