Want to understand how Facebook connects its servers? Hear from VMware’s CEO how the virtualization giant plans to build its next big business? Discover why Snapchat builds on Google App Engine as opposed to Amazon Web Services? Or maybe you want to understand if Microsoft can compete in the cloud.

We’re going to have people discussing all this and more on Wednesday and Thursday at this week’s Structure conference in San Francisco. In the sixth year of the event we’re spending a lot of our time delving into the practical matters of building out webscale infrastructure, from the networking conundrums to the business process around scaling.

If there’s one big theme for the show this year, it’s what happens when IT meets the business and how to bring an understanding of business goals to scaling out services, whether you are Amazon or Revlon. We’ll have Kevin Scott of LinkedIn sharing how he re-architected the business social network’s infrastructure to better meet business goals. Cory von Wallenstein of Dyn will discuss the process the company follows to support existing features while building new ones that must scale rapidly without breaking the service or the bank.

We’ll also have executives from Warner Music Group sharing how the company is building out an internal platform as a service and what it will do for the business, while CIOs from Revlon, Kohl’s and The Clorox Company share their takes on the cloud from inside the enterprise.

Networking nerds from web giants will be there discussing the importance of using software defined networks and real-time information for building application aware networks. Plus, we have several talks from people such as Jeff Dean of Google, Jason Hoffman of Joyent and Adrian Cockcroft of Netflix  that will discuss how to push our infrastructure’s boundaries for the data-rich era we’re entering.

We’ll also have ten three-minute talks from our Cloud Trailblazers who will be there ready to talk about their ideas for how to rethink infrastructure. You can meet the stars of tomorrow over the course of the two-day event. Or you can network with the stars of today. Plus, two hot startups will debut and there’s also a six-company LaunchPad with very young startups.

I’m preparing to get on a plane from Austin to spend this week in San Francisco. I’ve made this trip dozens of times for dozens of GigaOM events, but this one has me the most excited. We’ve pulled some amazing people together to talk not just about defining the cloud or various trends in infrastructure, but how the shift in information technology is playing out at real companies whether they are startups, enterprises or the giants of the webscale world.

We have a few tickets left, so just sign up and get on over to the event. This isn’t some wannabe cloud show. This is Structure, the first and the best cloud show planned by myself, Derrick Harris, Barb Darrow and the GigaOM events team. We wouldn’t let you down.

A number of internet regulations, devised by different internet companies as well as regulatory authorities, have tried hard to curb online child porn. Google is now spearheading a new effort to that end, creating a new cross-industry database highlighting instances of child porn, making it easier for different organizations to report them.

Google will populate questionable images into this database through a method known as ‘hashing.’ Hashing essentially analyzes the different specifics of an image, without caring about the type or resolution of the file. This helps it identify exact components that are specific to child-porn images and then flag these images to be removed from the web.

According to an official blog post by Google, “Since 2008, we’ve used ‘hashing’ technology to tag known child sexual abuse images, allowing us to identify duplicate images which may exist elsewhere. Each offending image in effect gets a unique ID that our computers can recognize without humans having to view them again.”

The post further reveals how the database being created by Google will help law enforcement agencies, “Recently, we’ve started working to incorporate encrypted ‘fingerprints’ of child sexual abuse images into a cross-industry database. This will enable companies, law enforcement and charities to better collaborate on detecting and removing these images, and to take action against the criminals.”

The search giant has also dedicated millions of dollars to curb child abuse and to ensure, through different charities and organizations, to rescue such children who have been victim of such issues.

Appreciating these efforts, an official of the UK government stated, “Google have stepped up. No one can argue about that. In all my time working in this space no company has ever devoted anything like this level of resources to working with civil society organizations to attack online child abuse images.”

We already know about Microsoft's impending Windows 8 overhaul, but previews of app specific updates have been few and far between. Now, thanks to an apparent Windows Store update on leaked builds, we're starting to see what kind of updates we can expect. In addition to updates for the news, weather, travel, finance and sports apps (see the video after the break), images are leaking for the OS' new calculator application, sound recorder, Movie Moments and an Xbox Music redesign. It's hard to judge these tweaks without actually handling the update ourselves, but we'll say it again for good measure: we may have to review Windows 8 all over again.

When researchers needed an easier way to share data and resources, and generally collaborate they invented the internet. And then they all went home and let the memes and brunch photos take over. Which is weird. Sure, initiatives like CERN are able to coordinate thousands of scientists toward common goals as a result of the internet, but the process of publishing research really hasn't changed much.

People are finally starting to notice, and science-focused social media services are cropping up. One is Mozilla's Science Lab, which will promote open web practices. Kaitlin Thaney, who worked on starting the Creative Commons science program, is leading the charge. Science Lab's first focus will be digital literacy specifically geared for science, and the project is partnering with Greg Wilson who founded Software Carpentry, a program that helps researchers feel more comfortable with web resources. At this point it just seems like something's got to give in the traditional academic publishing system. Might make research feel more accessible to non-scientists, too. [Mozilla]

Yesterday, we reported that after working on ‘Project Loon’ for quite some time, Google has finally initiated the pilot phase of the project in New Zealand. The pilot phase will test the viability of providing internet access through hot air balloons. A professor at DePauw University has now stated that this project can potentially benefit huge segments of the population.

Google intends to bring internet access to the most remote regions of the world with the help of ‘Project Loon.’ One of the key reasons why a major portion of the world’s population have no access to internet is simply that the development of infrastructure is too expensive.

This is precisely why Google’s ‘Project Loon’ is so extra-ordinary. It has to rely on absolutely no infrastructure. A beacon is affixed on a hot air balloon and then the balloon is released into the air. Users within the range of the beacon’s transmission are able to receive signals from the balloon on specialized antenna and thus, are able to access internet.

Google hopes that in the coming days, it will also bring telecom services to remote areas of the world through similar measures. Professor Kevin Howley of the DePauw University has lauded the project envisioned by Google. According to him, “Whole segments of the population would reap enormous benefits, from social inclusion to educational and economic opportunities.”

Project Loon certainly has such a potential and we fervently look forward to the actual launch of the project which would be critical in bringing many more people online.

Windows Phone 8 is yet to gain a sizable market penetration. Microsoft is heavily relying on Nokia to spread it out, but that’s not helping. Taiwanese brand Acer also feels the same. And, the company admitted this is the fact that is delaying its entry in the Windows Phone 8 market.

TechRadar quoted Acer’s VP of Smartphones for EMEA Allen Burnes saying, “We are looking at Windows Phone 8, we think it’s a great OS. The integration with Xbox is nice, the enterprise suite is nice, but I think no one knows about it.”

Burnes acknowledges that Windows Phone 8 has a clear advantage because of the level of integration it achieves with other Microsoft products such as Windows and Xbox. He also said that Acer “would really like to deploy Windows OS,” but feels “no one knows about it (Windows Phone 8).”

“We’ve made the decision not to launch a Windows Phone 8 device this year. Next year, depending on how we see the growth go this year, we may well do,” Burnes said.

Let’s see, how that fairs.

Just around a week ago, Apple unveiled iOS 7 at WWDC 2013. Although, Apple unveiled a major design overhaul in iOS 7, the company was still working on the iOS 7 icons in order to provide a more better looks. A couple of days ago, Apple uploaded the redesign of some of the icons on its official iOS 7 page, but later it removed.

Customer satisfaction is Apple’s one of the biggest priority. After viewing the design of some of the icons or the overall look of the iO7 at WWDC 2013, many people were not impressed. So Apple emphasized itself to make better icons as well as the overall look of the iO7. Apple has extremely worked on the Weather, Passbook, and Reminders app icon whose looks are completely different from what was shown during WWDC.

But the interesting thing is Apple has removed the modified icons from its website. Such removal has created a lot of speculations. Some people are speculating that the icons uploaded might actually be from an older design, while others speculate that this could be an updated design.

As the website says “iOS 7 Coming this fall,” that means Apple has still time to work on redesigning the icons or the overall look of the iO7. All secrets will be revealed as soon as Apple releases iOS 7.

Samsung was the first to create a “phablet” and it looks like it’s also the first to create a “phomera”. OK, my silly name doesn’t really exist, but the device I’m referring to actually does.

On Wednesday, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Zoom: an Android phone that includes a 10x optical camera zoom (24-240mm, F/3.1 to F/6.3). Essentially the rear part of the phone looks like a traditional Galaxy handset. Turn the device around and it looks more like a point-and-shoot camera. Supplementing the zoom lens is a 16 megapixel sensor and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to reduce camera shake. Samsung also added a Zoom Ring to quickly access the camera functions: In-Call Photo Share, camera mode choice and other controls.

Of course, since this is a phone, it has the expected connectivity choices: GSM, HSPA+, and LTE. The device runs Android 4.2 on a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor. Samsung hasn’t offered specifics on the exact chip, nor does it mention how much RAM is in the Zoom. That rear display on the camera — or is the front display of the phone? — is a 4.3-inch qHD resolution screen: 960 x 540.

From what I can tell, this isn’t going to be a high-end smartphone with better camera optics but should appeal to photo fanatics that want a solid Android experience. I’m curious how the added camera optics will affect holding the device on a phone call, however.

In tablet news, more details surfaced on the next-generation Nexus 7. This week, FCC testing documents were found for a Nexus-branded, Asus built 7-inch slate. The device (or devices, as there are different models) will have Wi-Fi and LTE options and use a Qualcomm Snapdragon chip in lieu of Nvidia’s silicon that powers the current Nexus 7. The biggest detail missing so far is: what resolution will the new tablet have? My hope is for two options: a lower-cost 1280 x 800 unit and a premium-priced 1080p version.

And HTC looks sure to follow Samsung’s lead in making a mini version of its flagship phone. Bloomberg reported this week that the HTC One Mini will launch this August. The “mini” refers to the smaller design and display: Expect a 4.3-inch screen with 720p resolution; that compares to the HTC One’s 4.7-inch, 1080p display.

Engadget has a reported picture of the new Mini next to the existing HTC One, showing similar design cues. That’s a smart move by HTC, given that its current flagship is regarded by many, including me, to be the best built and designed Android phone available today. You’ll likely give up some performance if you opt for the smaller version though: a dual-core chip and possibly a lower camera resolution. For some, a more manageable size could trump those feature reductions.