Big Blue has lost some friends in the clouds. This weekend, IBM was in the eye of a storm dealing with companies such as Google, Amazon.com, and Microsoft. The Internet search giant, the online retailer and the software behemoth all withdrew support for IBM’s effort to launch a cloud-computing initiative.

Members of the Cloud Computing Interoperability Forum (CCIF) also pulled their support.

The core issue behind the loss of support was IBM’s manifesto. Some companies weren’t happy about being invited late in the process, while others believe there are some political efforts under way.

Not an Open Process

The CCIF’s organizer, Reuven Cohen, said because the group represents members from various industries, it could not endorse just one document.

“I don’t think anyone had any issues with the document, that was hard to argue with and I’m an advocate for an open ecosystem for cloud computing,” Cohen said. “The issue is a lot of people in the community — small and big companies and individuals — believe cloud is an approachable technology.”

The CCIF could not endorse the manifesto because some of its members didn’t agree that it was an open and fair process. “They feared that it was overly political and may have agendas,” Cohen said.

“While Google isn’t party to the manifesto, we are a strong advocate of cloud computing, given the substantial benefits for consumers and businesses,” said Google’s Jon Murchinson. “We value industry dialog that results in more and better delivery of software and services via the Internet, and appreciate IBM’s leadership and commitment in this area. We continue to be open to interoperability with all vendors and any data.”

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Yahoo has just released a new application which brings their location-aware platform Fire Eagle to Facebook’s social network. The new app called “Friends on Fire” lets you easily share your current location with a set of trusted friends. Fire Eagle users can also share short, Twitter-like posts with each other. These are quick updates and tips tied to your location and displayed on a map within Facebook. In addition, the Fire Eagle team has also introduced a FireFox Extn that lets you update your location with just one click.

Friends on Fire

When you click the “Get Started” button in the Friends On Fire Facebook application, you’re redirected to Yahoo’s Fire Eagle page where you have to sign in with a Yahoo ID. If you don’t already have one, then you’ll need to create one here – an extra step that may be a bit off-putting for new users.

Once you’ve signed in, you must provide an email address for receiving important updates from Fire Eagle. You then must also specify at what intervals you want to receive an email that asks if you’re still comfortable sharing your location. The choices you’re given are “once per month,” “once every 3 months,” and “don’t bother.” Finally, you have to accept the terms of service and give the Facebook app access to your location.

Back in Facebook, you’ll be shown the other Fire Eagle users among your friends and given the opportunity to connect with them. You can also configure additional settings like how exact the location updates are, who can see them on the map, and whether or not the posts update your wall.

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IBM’s research scientists in India have developed a technology that will offer users the ability to talk to the Web and create ‘voice’ sites using mobile phones according to a news article in the Economic Times today.

Hyperspeech Transfer Protocol (HSTP), a protocol designed to seamlessly connect telephony voice applications, will enable users to browse across voice applications by navigating the Hyperspeech (the voice hyperlink) content in a voice application.

“People will talk to the Web and the Web will respond. The research technology is analogous to the Internet. Unlike personal computers it will work on mobile phones where people can simply create their voice sites,” IBM India Research Laboratory Associate Director Manish Gupta told the Economic Times.

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AVerMedia on Monday announced the launch of the AVerTVHD Volar Max, a new USB 2.0-based TV tuner that’s PC and Mac compatible. It costs US$70.

The AVerTVHD Volar Max is a TV tuner stick — a USB thumbstick that enables your Mac to receive HD digital television and unencrypted digital cable (ClearQAM) signals, at up to 1080i resolution.

The device includes AVerTV for Mac software to manage tuning, “timeshifting” and Personal Video Recording (PVR) features. It supports closed captions and digital surround sound.

Google today finally announced its plans for GrandCentral, the telephony service it acquired in July 2007. GrandCentral will be reborn as Google Voice, a comprehensive suite of telephony services, including all of GrandCentral’s features. In addition, Google Voice will also include an automated voicemail transcription service, the ability to send and receive text messages, and integration with your Gmail contacts. Users can now also call any number in the the U.S. for free.

The new interface will look a lot like Gmail, with your inbox, SMS messages, access to voicemail and other features in a sidebar on the left.

Making Calls

You can make calls directly from the Google Voice web interface. After you initiate the call, the service will actually first call your mobile phone or landline, and after that your call will be placed over Google’s network.

Calls within the U.S. will remain free, and users can purchase credit to make international calls (we don’t have information about the international rates yet, but we assume that they will be competitive with those that Skype currently offers).

Google Voice will also offer free conference calls.

Voicemail

The automated voicemail transcription feature looks like it will be one of the most useful functions of Google Voice. Transcriptions are fully automated and Google will mark passages in the text where the algorithm was not very confident about the transcription. Transcriptions will automatically appear in your inbox, but Google Voice can also email them to you, or even send you an SMS with the text.

Future Integration with Android?

We can’t help but wonder if Google will integrate the voicemail and transcription service with Android as well. In this video, Google shows the mobile version of Google Voice in the browser on an Android phone, but we assume that Google will release a dedicated Google Voice app for Android in the future and maybe even make it an integral part of the Android experience (if the carriers allow Google to do so, that is).

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Just in case you were worried that Gigabyte’s latest touchscreen tablet-style netbook wouldn’t be available in the US, the FCC has been kind enough to post some picutres of the Gigabyte Touch Note M1028, as well as a series of test results and a complete user manual (PDF link). For some reason the manual refers to the machine as the M1028 CafeBook instead of Touch Note M1028. But it’s pretty clearly the same machine that was on display at CeBIT last week.

Gigabyte wouldn’t have bothered submitting the laptop’s details to the FCC if the company wasn’t at least thinking about selling the netbook in the states.

There are also a handful of pictures showing the computer’s insides. So if you’re looking for the location of the Bluetooth, WWAN, or WiFi modules, you might want to sift through some of the FCC documents.

The netbook will have a 10 inch touchscreen display that swivels down over the keyboard, a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, and a 4 cell, 4500mAh battery or a 6 cell, 7650mAh battery. It comes with an 802.11a/b/g WiFi module and options for Bluetooth, 3.5G wireless broadband, and WiMAX. Antoher thing that sets Gigabyte’s new netbooks apart from the crowd is the inclusion of ExpressCard slots.

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