As the debate about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) rages on from Silicon Valley to Washington DC, a number of the technology industry’s most influential leaders have come out against the proposed legislation, which would give the government and private corporations unprecedented powers to remove websites from the internet for any alleged copyright infringement.Here is Tim O’Reilly on why he believes SOPA is wrong and what the tech industry can do to stop it.He says:

Piracy is not a real problem

The way I see it, there’s a lack of need for any legislation. As a publisher, I have a very deep experience here, and the fact is that piracy is not a significant problem. Yes, there are people who are pirating my books, there are people who are sharing links to places where they can be downloaded. But the vast majority of customers are willing to pay if the product is widely available and the price is fair. If you have a relationship with your customers, and they know you’re doing the right thing, they will support you. The people who are pirating are most likely the people who would never give you a nickel to begin with. Piracy serves people on the fringes who are not being served adequately by legitimate markets. Frankly, if people in Romania can download my books and enjoy them, more power to them. They weren’t going to pay me anyway.

SOPA protects the wrong people

I talked with Nancy Pelosi, and she said that the experience with piracy is different for people in the movie industry. Maybe — I’m not a movie producer. But I do know that right now the entire content industry is facing massive systemic changes, and to claim that declining sales are because of piracy is so over the top. Any company that is providing great content online in a way that’s easy to use with a fair price has a booming business right now. The people who don’t are trying to fight that future.So here we have this legislation, with all of these possible harms, to solve a problem that only exists in the minds of people who are afraid of the future. Why should the government be intervening on behalf of the people who aren’t getting with the program?

SOPA ignores history

If you look at it from a historical perspective, the American book publishing industry as a whole began with piracy; there are lots of documents of Charles Dickens and the like taking a stand against these American pirates who were stealing their work. But America went on to become the largest publishing and copyright market in the world. Once the market matures, the pirates go away. Legitimate markets work better than pirate markets. More recently you can see this in what happened with the music industry. For a while, music companies were fighting peer-to-peer file sharing. But once Apple came out with iTunes, which was an alternative that was easy to use and fairly priced, it became a huge business. Our policy makers need to encourage the people who get it right, not protect people who clearly didn’t get it right. They need to protect our future.

Don’t mix Tech and lobbying

Certainly, the tech industry needs to do a lot more lobbying in Washington, DC. But the whole notion of lobbying is anathema to so many tech people, and for good reason. We’re used to a world in which people design products that have a purpose, where your work speaks for itself. So yes, the tech industry should try to communicate more with the people in DC, but at the same time, congresspeople need to use more of their own independent judgement.

The US needs tech innovation

Laws like SOPA make us sclerotic as a country, where we have all these extra burdens that provide little benefit. In general it makes America less competitive. If SOPA goes through, it could very well force certain innovative companies to go offshore. There are incumbent industries that will always protest every new technology; but any forward-looking country needs to protect its emerging industries.

Google is pushing the boundaries of what people expect from the company, for better or worse. Just  after launching a new personalized search that has drawn criticism from both competitors and users, the company announced that they are revising its privacy policies has touched off another wave of discontent about the implications for users. So is Google’s new omnibus policy another sign it has broken its promise and is becoming more evil by the day? Or is the fuss over the new version, which will allow the search giant to share data among its various services, just a tempest in a privacy teapot?

Google says the new privacy policy will be rolled out in March, but the company wanted to give users a heads up well in advance because “this stuff matters”. The company notes it currently has more than 70 different privacy policies that govern its various services, from YouTube to Gmail to Blogger. Privacy director Alma Whitten says this approach was:At odds with our efforts to integrate our different products more closely so that we can create a beautifully simple, intuitive user experience.

Google says it just wants to make things easier for us.This makes it sound as though Google is tidying up a messy room, and the company clearly wants users to see it as a benevolent gesture. They also say that the driving force behind the unification — the ability for Google to combine information you’ve provided to one of its services with information from other services — is designed solely to provide “a simpler, more intuitive Google experience.” And the official announcement ties it directly to the launch of personalized search, which the blog post says is an example of “the cool things Google can do when we combine information across products.”

That may be how Google sees its personalized search, but others see it as a fundamental breach of Google’s core search mission, since competitors like Twitter and Facebook argue it favors Google’s own social network over others. The search feature could even provide further ammunition for antitrust regulators, who already have the company in their sights.

The storm of criticism over the new personalized search, which appears to break Google’s original promise to users that it would provide “objective” search results, seems to have made many suspicious of any change that Google makes, and some argue that this has caused people to over-react to the new privacy policy. Kashmir Hill at Forbes, for example, points out that the new policy isn’t even a major change from Google’s earlier policy, which also gave the company the right to share your information between different services. The “Internet freak-out” over the policy change is unwarranted, she says.

But the policy issue seems to have highlighted for many a crucial question: Is Google having all of that info about you — including web searches, Google Analytics data from your website, even location information — a good thing? Mat Honan at Gizmodo says Google is clearly straying over the line towards being evil, and others argue the changes mean the company is turning its back on privacy for its own selfish interests. Some privacy advocates say the new policy is “frustrating and a little frightening.”

Apple’s iPhone 4S is incredibly popular with consumers, so much so that it’s eating heavily into Android’s market share among those who’ve purchased smartphones within the past three months.

Apple’s market share among recent smartphone buyers in the U.S. rose from 25.1 percent in October to 44.5 percent in December, while Android’s fell from 61.6 percent to 46.9 percent last month, according to the latest numbers from Nielsen.

The numbers don’t exactly come as a surprise. Apple’s iPhone 4S launched on October 15 and sold like hotcakes. Meanwhile, only Google’s Galaxy Nexus Android phone had much of a chance of cutting through the Apple hype, and it didn’t reach the US until the middle of December. This same dance occurs pretty much every time a new iPhone is released.

It’s also worth noting that iPhone sales dipped during the summer quarter this year, as many consumers were anticipating the release of an iPhone 5. The iPhone 4S’ performance over the holiday quarter helped Apple make up for much of those earlier lost sales.

When looking at all U.S. smartphone consumers, Android still has a big lead at 46.3 percent, while iOS is sitting at 30 percent. Nielsen also notes that smartphone penetration is still growing rapidly, with 60 percent of recent mobile phone buyers choosing smartphones over less feature-rich phones. Smartphone owners now account for 46 percent of all mobile phone owners.

During the holiday season Amazon used its massive sales channel to push the Kindle Fire hard. It moves millions of units, and according to studies from IHS iSupply, was losing about $2 per unit. That’s a big difference from Apple, which makes a healthy profit on sales of its iPad tablet.But according to a new poll , Amazon stands to earn about $136 in additional revenue from every customer who bought a Kindle Fire. So while the hardware might be a loss leader, overall the Kindle Fire is a win for Amazon’s bottom line.

All that money is coming from sales of digital media. The poll asked Kindle Fire owners how they were spending on their new device. On average 80 percent had purchased an ebook and 58 percent had purchased three or more.Another big chunk of change is coming from app purchases. More than 60 percent of Kindle Fire owners bought one app and just under 50 percent bought three or more.

There was no breakdown in this study on income from video, but Amazon is aggressively purchasing television shows and movies for its Amazon Prime streaming service. As connected TVs become the norm, the Kindle Fire may become a powerful tool for Amazon to lure new subscribers.

Unlike the devices released by Apple, the Kindle Fire had a lot of bugs in its first iteration. Amazon promised to fix these, but the truth is that Android devices are often imperfect. They appeal to a class of consumers who would prefer to spend $199 as opposed to $499 and up. In the first two years of Android’s life with Google, from 2007-2009, it failed to gain more than 3 percent market share or produce a winning device. It wasn’t until the arrival of the Motorola Droid that Android turned the corner.

It will be the same way with tablets, a slow painful evolution while Apple leaps ahead. In the meantime, however, it seems like Amazon has already found a way to make the Kindle Fire work for their business.

Microsoft is keeping mum about plans to integrate Skype into its Windows Phone.There has been speculation that Skype would soon be a feature on Windows Phone since Microsoft announced plans to acquire Skype last year. The company had initially promised the introduction of Skype-equipped Windows phones by the end of last year, and last week the Telegraph reported that Microsoft Rick Osterloh said at the Consumer Electrionics Show in Las Vegas that the feature will be available “soon.” But on Monday, a Microsoft spokesman refused to pin down the specifics of the product launch.

“We see incredible potential to include Skype capabilities into Windows Phone, but we have nothing specific to announce at this time,” the spokesperson said in an email.Meanwhile, Skype spokesperson Chaim Hass said the Guardian report was nothing new. “This is nothing different than what was announced by MSFT last October,” Hass said. “At this time, we have no specific timing to share.”

Despite acquiring Skype from eBay for $8.5 billion last year, Microsoft’s Windows Phone is the only major mobile operating system that does not have a fully-functional Skype client. While Microsoft could introduce a version of Skype for Windows Phone as early as next month, a extensive roll out is not expected until later this year when Microsoft updates the entire operating system.

Yestersay I captured video of a Fujitsu handset running on the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. From the looks of it, this phone’s performance will rival that of the Asus Transformer Prime tablet. Fujitsu doesn’t target the U.S. market. However, Sascha’s video gives us an idea of what to expect from the Mobile World Congress show in Barcelona next month: console quality games on a large screen piped from a smartphone and played with using a wireless controller. Although this demo uses a wired HDTV connection, I anticipate we’ll see more wireless video solutions introduced  this year.

I’m still holding to the idea that throwing hardware alone at Android’s problem won’t solve any issues. However, The user interface improvements in Google’s platform, along with more powerful hardware in Android 4.0, will allow Android to better contend against Apple’s iOS system.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see a number of quad-core handsets shown off, with a few available in the first half of 2012. By mid year, we’ll start to see a larger number of these powerful handsets hit the market. Samsung, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and others will also be touting quad-core chips. But if my mobile predictions for 2012 hold true, far more dual-core handsets will be sold this year.

Then again, Apple is rumored to include its own quad-core chip in the next iPad and would be likely to use the same in a future iPhone design. That means 2012 will be more exciting to watch than 2011 when it comes to tablets and smartphones from a consumer perspective: Two great mobile choices in combination with what I think will be a third up-and-comer in Windows Phone handsetsand possibly in Windows 8 tablets.

Google introduced a new Android Design site which aims at helping developers learn the principles and best practices for building awesome apps.It is the first style guide ever introduced for Android, will feature a load of documents for educating developers on styles, patterns and building blocks that go into world-class apps.It was launched after the release of Android 4.0, which includes an enhanced UI framework with new interactions and looks, which Google believes can produce more beautiful apps.

This is a large push by Google to improve the quality of apps on Android. Android is bearing down on Apple’s App Store in app numbers, but many of the apps are criticized as being substandard. That Google doesn’t review apps for inclusion in the Android Market plays a big role, but Google has also been more hands-off about suggesting how apps should look and feel before now. A month ago, Google introduced a new Android Training portal, containing a collection of lessons on how to solve basic development problems such as managing battery life and creating effective navigation. The site includes a lot of lessons and code snippets to get developers started.

Google made mandatory for all Android 4.0 devices include a “Holo” theme by default, so that developers can build their apps for that specific theme, and know it will work consistently across multiple devices that deploy their own custom UI skin, such as TouchWiz or Sense. Though it’s not the huge step toward ending fragmentation some had hoped, it provides developers with some assurance their apps will work consistently across new devices. The new Android Design suggestions aren’t being forced upon developers. It’s an optional style guide, Matias Duarte, director of Android operating system, told the Verge, but an important one that helps developers take advantage of the changes in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Because it’s still optional, it doesn’t really approach Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines, which that company uses to help review apps for usability. But it’s a gesture by Google to address one of the weaknesses of the Android platform. Google’s more open approach invites apps of any kind, but while Google kicks out malicious apps, it doesn’t require anything in terms of usability or look and feel.

It will take a while for Google’s efforts to start paying off in a big way. A lot of this stuff is aimed at Android 4.0 devices, which are only just barely out of the gate. And since this isn’t required, there’s no guarantee developers will take these lessons and suggestions to heart. But it’s still a good sign that Google understands it needs to do more to ensure the Android ecosystem thrives and is fruitful.

Android apps still lag behind their Apple counterparts in generating revenue for their developers. Some of that is due to Android users’ preference for free stuff, but it’s possible that with better tools, developers can make apps more lucrative. It’s in Google’s best interest to improve the state of apps on Android. Though it has a lead in smartphone market share, which can help win over developers, it doesn’t want to be known as a place for second-rate apps, a reputation which could give more fuel to iOS and also provide a potential opening for Windows Phone 7.

Intel unveiled its grand plan to make Ultrabooks- the next big thing in computing this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This year alone there will be more than 75 Ultrabook models on the market, and Intel has said that it’s gearing up its biggest marketing push since the Centrino lineup for the new machines.

Ultrabooks are poised to replace boring old Windows laptops for good in the next few years.While Apple’s MacBook Air is the obvious inspiration for Ultrabook PCs, the move towards impossibly thin laptops has been in progress for decades — from ultraportable IBM ThinkPads in the 90s, to netbooks, to the razor-thin Ultrabooks. Initial ultraportables are too expensive, and netbooks generally weren’t powerful enough to serve as primary computers. It’s just now that the hardware to make Ultrabooks powerful and useful is actually affordable.

They’ll sport solid-state drives, instead of traditional hard drives, which will make them extra-thin and fast.And thanks to Intel’s next-generation Core processors, Ultrabooks will be peppy under the hood and even capable of decent 3D graphics performance.You could get the same benefits from Apple’s most recent MacBook Air model, but as is typical of PCs versus Macs, Ultrabooks promise to be cheaper.  Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air starts at a reasonable $999, but the larger  13-inch model will run you $1,299. Most 13-inch Ultrabooks, on the other hand, are aiming for a price well below $1,000.

With Ultrabooks, ultraportability will become the new standard consumers who want a new laptop. Boxy laptop designs will stick around on the very low-end, and desktops will become even more endangered among general consumers.Ultrabooks will be particularly useful for students and professionals — basically, anyone who needs to carry their computer for most of the day.Also Ultrabooks will completely erase the need for a tablet for many. Intel has also said that PC makers are working on bringing touchscreen capabilities to future models, blurring the line even further between Ultrabooks and tablets.

Aside from the extreme portability, MacBook Air is the way it completely gets out of the way to let you be productive.You can turn it on and begin working from a cold boot within 15 seconds. Or, if it’s in standby mode, you can flip open the lid and begin working almost immediately. That’s mostly thanks to the fast SSD and graphics capabilities — and it’s something that Windows-based Ultrabooks will share.

Speed. Simplicity. Portability. I realized fairly quickly that this is how I’ve always wanted my computers to fit into my daily life. With Ultrabooks, soon everyone will learn this is the way computers were meant to be.

This is the year millions of owners of so-called feature phones will finally upgrade to true smartphones.At least, that’s what Microsoft and Nokia are hoping. The two tech giants have been floundering to get a foothold in the U.S. smartphone market ever since the iPhone launched in 2007. The two companies have partnered up to make a more cohesive play in the realm of touchscreens, apps, and streaming media, and this is their most accessible U.S.-bound device so far.

The Nokia Lumia 710 runs the latest version of Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 operating system. It’s not the beefed-up, feature-filled flagship phone for Windows Phone 7 fans to rally around.Lumia 710 is an absolutely terrific option for the entry-level consumer as compared to Lumia 800. With a $50 price point and the ability to pair it with a low-cost data plan from T-Mobile, it’s cheap enough.

Windows Phone Mango seems like a lightweight OS compared to something like an HTC Sense-skinned Android.The 710 runs on merely a single-core 1400 MHz Qualcomm processor with 512 MB of SDRAM, and yet the experience is quite smooth — just as you’d expect it would run on stronger hardware. The 710’s 3.7-inch, 800×480 resolution ClearBlack LCD display isn’t as bright as that of the Lumia 800. But unless you held the two Nokias side by side, you wouldn’t really feel like you’re missing anything. Colors are rich and images are sharp. There just isn’t that Pow! you get from something like a Super AMOLED screen.

The Lumia 710 feels almost like a large pebble when you hold it in your hand. The backside is curved and rubberized, which makes for a firm, comfortable grip. Rather than rely on the capacitive touch buttons common to the faces of most Windows Phone and Android devices, the 710 has a raised gummy button across the bottom of the front of the handset. It acts as a home button among other things. A discrete shutter button and volume rocker grace one side of the device.

Pictures from the 5-megapixel rear-facing camera are about on-par with that of the iPhone 4. If you prefer to use the hardware shutter button over the onscreen controls, your photos will turn out slightly blurry unless you have an extremely steady hand. The single LED flash is strong. All in all, the camera is good, but not graceful. Battery life is excellent — under regular use, the phone lasted about two days between charges.

The only quibble I had with this handset as opposed to other Windows Phone devices I’ve encountered was that it often took a few tries to successfully click a link from a tweet or status update in People Hub, as if I needed to tap the link in a particular spot for the gesture to register.

This phone is proof that you don’t need top-of-the-line tech specs for a great mobile experience. Like the other cheap Windows Phone for T-Mobile, the HTC Radar, it’s good at everything it does, but it’s not out there to wow you. Although it’s targeted at new smartphone converts, in reality, the Nokia 710 is a good option for anyone looking for a phone with a new flavor and a lot of bang for your buck.

According to an analysis of more than 250 million wireless subscribers in U.S Android and Blackberry phones require a lot more handholding by wireless companies than iPhones,the costs are about $4 more per subscriber annually. While $4 may only get you a large coffee in most U.S. markets, but adding up the costs per subscriber,it is a really huge number. ClickFox estimates the additional support costs of RIM and Android phones hits carriers with an additional bill of about $149 million per year.

ClickFox says that at one provider, customers were 36.5% more likely to transfer due to handset questions, and Android users were 76.7% more likely to transfer. Repeat call rates were also lower for iPhone users. Within 24 hours, ClickFox found that 30.55% of users were likely to call back, versus 29.46% for RIM, and 28.88% for iOS. Again, these are fairly small margins.But the small percentages matter When you have millions of customers.

Rather than suggesting providers which only sell iOS devices, ClickFox says that providers should try to have hands-on tutorials of devices in stores, and that devices should be as personalized and configured as possible before handing over to owners. The company also calls for better and clearer tutorials on the Web and via Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems.

The ClickFox report is interesting but it shouldn’t lead too quickly to conclusions that iOS is hands-down easier and cheaper to support than RIM or Android devices. Apple does quite a bit of customer eduction with iOS devices, and carries some support costs with its “Genius Bars,” in Apple stores. Some of the reduced costs for supporting iOS by carriers is simply borne by Apple itself, whereas you don’t see much in the way of dedicated Android or BlackBery stores.