Urs Hölzle gets excited. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) announces new cloud stuff. The huge ad broker wants to compete better with Microsoft Azure and Amazon AWS/EC2. Among the highlights: New pricing, shared instances, replicated NoSQL, and PHP. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers sort out the details.

'Free' as in beer, presumably. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) confirms rumors that Windows Blue will be called 8.1 and will be a free upgrade. But no news yet on whether the Start Menu is back. Speaking at a conference in New York, Windows co-honcho Tami Reller opened the kimono just a crack wider. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Gates mourns Steve's lack of time to give back. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) co-founder Bill Gates was on CBS last night, and some of what was said has raised some eyebrows. 60 Minutes' Charlie Rose asked Gates about charity and his relationship with the last Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) co-founder, Steve Jobs. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers watch something called Tele-vision.

Well, this is indeed 'something'... The U.S. State Dept. orders Defense Distributed to remove plans for its 3D-printable gun from its website. Lawmakers are rushing around like headless chickens, trying to ban certain types of information, while onlookers invoke bottled-genie or stable-door analogies. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers laugh and laugh and laugh.

Assad fingered. The strife-torn country of Syria has dropped off the net for the second time in six months. Almost all its BGP routes disappeared in quick succession, leading many to conclude that the Bashar al-Assad government has deliberately cut off its citizens from the world. However, others wonder if the infrastructure was physically damaged by the civil war. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers weigh up the evidence.

Microsoft is furiously "responding to customer feedback," says Reller. Microsoft Windows Blue (thought to be release 8.1) has an official date (sort of). In a carefully-staged offhand comment, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) CMO and CFO of Windows, Tami Reller (pictured), officially leaked that it'll be out "later this year." In IT Blogwatch, bloggers debate whether Windows 8 is selling better than 7 or worse than Vista.

...or perhaps it's an LG Optimus G2? An infamous gadget leaker offers this tantalizing shot of a future LG smartphone. Big whoop, except that there's some evidence that it's the hotly-anticipated Nexus 5. Unless it's the hotly-anticipated Optimus G2, natch. Anyway, it seems to have a 5.5-inch screen. Unless it's 4.7. Oh, what a tangled web we weave... In IT Blogwatch, bloggers got nothing else to talk about.

What has been seen cannot be unseen. The Google Glass backlash has already begun. Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) wearable computer is coming under fire for being dorky, privacy-infringing, and even racist. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers realize that Scoble in the shower is the least of our worries.

Atom manipulation makes for world record. IBM (NYSE:IBM) produces the worst animated movie I've ever seen. Terrible production values, laughable plot, and awful soundtrack. At least it's mercifully short. Two thumbs down. Still, it does at least show what's possible when you manipulate and photograph individual atoms. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers think... and make Heisenberg gags.

Sir Jony Ive 'invents' the Windows 8 UI. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) is rumored to be readying a radical iOS 7 update. Well, radical if you've never seen Windows 8 or Windows Phone, that is. We're told that Ive's team has declared all-out war on skeudomorphism, creating a flat UI, like Windows Metro (oh, sorry, 'Modern UI'). But will existing iPhone and iPad users hate change, in the same way that WIndows 8 users miss the Start menu? In IT Blogwatch, your humble blogwatcher can't resist poking a little fun for your entertainment.