Google’s Street View service has already hit a roadblock in the UK, even before its launch across the Atlantic. Google would be hoping that this is just a hurdle and not a dead end for Street View’s UK version. Street View is an extension of Google’s navigational and mapping services that features photographs of locations on Google Maps and Google Earth.

A U.K rights organization, Privacy International, believes that the service violates people’s right to privacy as Street View photographs freely feature passers-by, that too, without their consent. The organization has been in constant touch with Google over the issue but seems unsatisfied with the answers it has received thus far. Google has tried to placate Privacy International with promises of a new technology - which it claims is under trial – that can identify human faces and blur them.

However, every bit the cantankerous and incredulous social rights organizations, Privacy International has asked Google to either furnish more details of the technology within a week or run the risk of being officially referred to the Information Commissioner, who can even gatecrash Google’s ‘Street View’ launch plans.

Privacy International has a plausible reason behind its skepticism. It points to Google’s track record of freely reneging on such promises; as it did with the promise of developing ‘crumbling cookies’ after acquiring DoubleClick.

You are not the only one confronting difficulties retaining uninterrupted possession of your USB Flash drive, but large organizations – or their mortal employees – are also prone to misplacing their USB Flash drives brimming with sensitive data.

The latest entrant to the universal brotherhood of butterfingered flash drive owners is the Japanese military, which has admitted that one of its USB Flash drives, pregnant with sensitive maps of Japanese-U.S troop deployment was stolen a year ago by a 33-year-old captain of the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF). The captain has primeval economic faculties as he also stole the paltry sum of ¥2,000 [$19] and a ¥10,000 [$94] airline coupon.

But there was a twist in the tale as the captain was eventually nabbed and the drive recovered. But a lieutenant borrowed the flash drive and in turn gave it to a clumsy sergeant who lost it. The sergeant did a pretty good job as the drive has gone missing without a trace. The Japanese military kept the one-year old incident under wraps as it didn’t want the troop deployment maps to be scoured by internet users.

The initial response to AMD’s ATI Radeon 4850 and 4870 GPUs has been very encouraging. In fact, AMD expects the success of the two mid-range cards to help it consolidate its market share. Now there are unconfirmed reports of the high-end ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 dual-GPU with 2 GB GDDR5 memory being released by the end of this month.

The powerful GPU is expected to be priced about $499. According to Digitimes, its sources expect AMD to begin shipping Radeon 4870 X2 (RV770XT) to PC makers for designing custom cards. ATI’s revival is wonderful for the consumers as Nvidia will be pushed to improve its products and offer them at cheaper rates.

Just in time for Independence Day, Adobe has unfettered the popular PDF file format. Adobe has abandoned proprietary control over the popular PDF format. Now the International Organization for Standardization will assume developmental responsibilities of the file format, which will be developed as an industry standard.

The ISO 32000-1 Document management – Portable document format – Part 1: PDF 1.7 is the official ISO standard that lays down the ground rules for developers of PDF-related applications. Adobe CTO Kevin Lynch said that this move is in keeping with Adobe’s “commitment to openness.” The release of PDF specifications should lead to a much needed rise in the number of PDF creation and editing tools.

The ghosts from Apple’s past have returned to haunt the company. A couple of years ago, an internal inquest was launched into the alleged backdating of stock options grants at Apple made between 1997 and 2001. The investigation uncovered several irregularities - and forgeries - that eventually prompted the Securities and Exchange Commission to step in.

Although SEC filed charges against then Apple CFO Fred D. Anderson and general counsel Nancy R. Heinen, the company’s top brass including Steve Jobs were given the clean chit and lauded for their cooperation in the investigation.

However, disgruntled Apple stockholders Martin Vogel and Kenneth Mahoney believe there is more to the stock-option-backdating story than what met SEC’ keen eye. They have initiated a class-action suit against Apple CEO Steve Jobs, already beleaguered Anderson and Heinen, and four others from the Board of Directors.

The plaintiffs alleged that Apple’s blue-eyed boy Steve Jobs was the beneficiary of one such backdated stock option and profited to the tune of $20 million, and that Apple’s account department didn’t deem it necessary to record this spending in their books.

Also up for legal debate will be the catastrophic decline in Apple stocks – that wiped $7 billion in share value within two weeks – after Apple’s announcement of the internal investigation and whether shareholders deserve to be redressed for it.

Firefox 3 has stormed its way to a Guinness World Record for the most number of software downloads in 24 hrs. A shade over 8 million downloads from 18:16 UTC on June 17, 2008 to 18:16 UTC on June 18, 2008 have effectively made Firefox 3 the GTA IV of web browsers.

The browser’s launch, as you all would easily recall, was named “Download Day 2008” and is now an urban technology legend. If you played a pivotal role in setting the world record than you can claim your Download Day certificate and flaunt it the way you like.

Now please bend towards your computer screen and conjure up your best clandestine expression because here is a little secret for you all: even those of you who haven’t even downloaded Firefox 3, and thereby have no hand in the record whatsoever, can get the Download Day certificate. Anybody can!

For all their indispensability, airport security checks never feel pleasing. But a security check becomes most nettling when security officials place a request for your laptop to be scrutinized with X-rays. As things stand, laptops can’t be X-rayed properly while still inside a laptop case and have to be removed. But all this is set to change – at least in the U.S – with the Transportation Security Administration having acceded to allowing a new kind of X-ray friendly case that will allow X-ray machines to scan laptops, while still in the case.

Read on merrily as after the jump lies all the information regarding these checkpoint friendly laptop bags including their expected prices. Also don't be shy to join the discussion in the comments section with other typically insightful Maximum PC readers like you.

Blighted chip maker AMD has something to cheer about as it has made some significant gains in the global microprocessor market in the last one year. According to research firm iSuppli, AMD accounted for 13% of the global revenue share, which, although down 1.1% from Q4, is an improvement of 2.2 points from Q1 of 2007.

While AMD hangs in there with long term gains, Intel witnessed good growth in Q1, 2008. Intel’s global revenue market share stood a 79.7%, up 1.2% from the preceding quarter. But there is a slight blemish for Intel as it yielded 0.7% share to its archrival over a year’s span.

The next twelve months present a huge opportunity to chip makers as the ultra-portables market beckons with its promise of riches. But AMD hasn’t still fully divulged its plans for the lucrative low-voltage processor market.

Microsoft might have failed to work its M&A mojo on Yahoo but it has nonetheless made seven acquisitions since first launching its bid for Yahoo on February 1, 2008 – truly a shopping spree. It most recently acquired a Portuguese cloud company, MobiComp, on June 26th. MobiComp will bolster Microsoft’s mobile computing portfolio as it boasts of expertise in mobile data protection and sharing services. Its various technologies help users post content on popular social networking websites from their cellphone and back up their mobile data. Microsoft has kept the details of the transaction to itself. This is Microsoft’s second mobile computing-related acquisition this year, it had bought mobile software firm Danger in Feb.

Vicarious liability is a legal principle that lays out rules for liability of one person for the acts of the other. But the most uncompromising version of this legal doctrine has surfaced in France, where a court ordered eBay to pay luxury goods group LVMH damages worth $63 million.

Keep reading to learn why the French Court slapped the whopping fine against eBay. Also join our discussion - "after the jump" - on whether eBay should have been punished for the sins of its users.

Here is a bit of news that might have music lovers rhapsodic. RealNetworks-owned online music service Rhapsody has MP3 music sans any Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection. This entails that users can do anything with the music they buy. If you thought that piracy fearing labels would never back such an initiative then you were wrong.

Major labels will continue to make their music available through Rhapsody. They perceive DRM protection to be some sort of a sales impediment as it deters many music lovers from buying such music online – scarecrow effect. Rhapsody’s online music store offers a single song download for $.99 and an entire album for $9.99. Rhapsody has certainly taken the attack to iTunes.

The ultra-portable laptop market is abuzz with launches and manufacturers plan to target the mini-desktop market in the same vein. Although MSI Wind mini-laptop’s U.S launch has been delayed slightly, MSI is going ahead with plans to launch a business version of its Wind mini-desktop in Asia and Europe. However, the mini-desktop that is thrice as small as a normal PC will not be sold in the U.S.

The specs on the power-efficient desktop remain similar to the Wind laptop: a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, up to 2 GB DRAM, 160 GB hard disk storage, and WiFi 802.11b/g to keep you connected. It comes with Microsoft Windows XP. Unlike the Wind mini-laptop it has an in-built DVD drive. But just like its portable cognate from the MSI stable, it is highly power-efficient and consumes 7 times less power than other desktops.

The top-end version is priced $299 and the base model has a $199 price tag.The commercial launch of the small desktop will not happen until August and only business users will be able to lay their hands on this slender desktop in July, as MSI expects them to be set its cash registers ringing.

“The wait is (almost) over,” offers the official Opera Mobile blog excitedly. Opera Mobile 9.5 is finally coming to Windows Mobile phones. But most users still remain skeptical of Opera’s fresh release claim as the browser’s release has been procrastinated on several occasions already. Anyways, Opera Mobile 9.5 for Windows Mobile is currently going through a release testing phase and the first beta version of the browser will be available on July 15th.

The Opera Mobile 9.5 browser runs on the same browser engine as the desktop version of the browser and this, according to Opera Software, is the reason for the delay in its release. Surprisingly, there is still no word of the Symbian version.

Not everyone, of course, has had to endure the excruciatingly long wait for the browser as some have got their hands on the Opera Mobile 9.5-bearing HTC Touch Diamond or a version ripped from the cellphone.

We leave you with this comment from an anonymous, incredulous user on the official Opera blog: “And why would anyone believe this date after what they pulled with that last blog entry? July 15th may mean November 15th from previous experience. And we won't hear back from them until September.”

The government of the small island nation of Fiji is not too pleased with Microsoft’s purported use of the country’s name for the upcoming revision of Windows Media Center. According to reports, Fiji’s government is still trying to convince Microsoft that it needs to seek official permission first – and impute more respect to the tiny country, before going ahead with its plans to launch Windows Fiji.

The country’s Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum wants the dispute to be resolved cordially. Interestingly, Microsoft’s annual turnover is many times Fiji’s GDP. But something could be more interesting then the economic disparity between the two: Microsoft’s possible obsession with the name Fiji, which might eventually cost it a few million dollars.

USB flash drives have registered a huge surge in popularity with their constantly plummeting prices and sundry uses. Imation has launched its new small-as-a-paperclip Atom flash drive, which the company proudly identifies as its smallest yet. But the forgetful and clumsy types are advised against purchasing the Atom which weighs less than an ounce, and only 1.5 in length and 0.5 inch in width.

Imation’s Atom flash drive comes in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB sizes with prices beginning at $18 and going up till $100. It is Vista ReadyBoost compliant.

Piracy is a global pandemic which is taking heavy toll across various industries. The music entertainment industry being one of them, the mere mention of piracy to a musician should elicit a morbid facial expression. But English R&B singer Joss Stone doesn’t flinch at the mention of piracy. She recently told an interviewee that she thinks piracy is brilliant. She perceives piracy as a wonderful way of sharing music.

"Yeah, I love it. I think it's brilliant,” Stone proclaimed. She further said that it doesn’t matter to her how people listen to her music “as long as you hear it.”

Stone comes across as an intellectual and philosophical artist and not as the archetypical entertainer – the ilk that frequents rehabs even when not on an addiction. Having given her a bit of credit for her rosy-eyed perspective, no philosophy can vindicate piracy.

Bill Gates, who gave up his executive responsibilities at the helm of Microsoft today, forthrightly told NBC that he doesn’t think a deal with Yahoo is likely. Coming from Bill Gates – retired or not, this comment sums up the mood at Microsoft.

Yahoo’s brazen snub has sunk in and there seem to be no delusions of even the slightest possibility of a deal now, although Icahn is still interested in the deal. Someone will soon have to don Bill Gates’ mantle and devise strategies to stymie Google’s upsurge.

Microsoft has once again furnished proof of the abysmal levels of concern it has for Xbox 360 owners and their plethora of console related woes. It took MS a whole year to come up with a fix for the flawed Xbox Live Arcade DRM.

Gamers who upgraded their console or replaced it – for obvious reasons – could not play the arcade titles, they had previously bought, while offline. They had to be online to play the games. But MS has eventually made amends and fixed the flawed DRM in form of an online tool. Is Xbox 360 the most flawed gadget of the last gazillion years? A ‘yes’ would not be taken as an exaggeration if you have endured a “Red Ring of Death.”

Buoyed by the early promise of its ATI Radeon HD 4850 card, AMD expects its discrete graphics card market share to reach 40% in Q3, 2008 up from 30% at the beginning of this year. The performance-oriented HD 4850 is an absolute steal for $199 and most industry watchers expect it to tear into the market held by $200-300 card.

The launch of the HD 4850 left Nvidia with no choice but to drop the price of its GeForce 9800 GTX+ from $229 to $199. But when AMD decides to cut Radeon HD 4850’ price – a long way off – sales will get a huge boost.

Intel and VIA are concentrating their resources on developing the least power-sapping processors to wrest the lucrative ultra-portables market. But they might soon have to contend with a late entrant. A leaked slide on Gottabemobile.com suggests that AMD is going to enter the low-voltage processor race with its Shrike platform.

Assuming the authenticity of the slide and veracity of Gottabemobile, the Shrike platform will be the first manifestation of AMD’s exciting Fusion platform, and so, will have a GPU and CPU on the same dye. The slide proudly proclaims Shrike to be the first Accelerated Processing Unit. If this does head to ultra-portables then it will certainly spruce up their limited graphical capabilities.