Three weeks ago Baidu’s CEO Yanhong Li introduced the “box computing” concept at the Baidu Innovation Conference 2009. As you may know the Chinese search engine giant Baidu has already overtaken Yahoo as the world’s second-largest search engine, according to Comscore.

Now what is “box computing” and what kind of functions does it offer? Basically it’s like an input field (box) being the your interface on the PC or mobile. You key in what you want to do and then Baidu identifies the search requirements, connects to relevant services running in its backend (and probably in third party services), retrieves the result and returns it to the user. The technical framework of box computing was shown here. Box computing provides a one-stop online service by intelligently identifying clients’ demands before giving optimized treatments and responses. For example, a man who wants to buy a BlackBerry in Beijing would only have to type in the sentence “Where can I buy a BlackBerry in Beijing” and then the box engine will provide a product list attached with more detailed information. After you click on the product it may lead you onto another website to finish the payment; or you can do it with Baidu. In some way it is kind of similar to the App Store model. At first, service providers submit service programs to Baidu, after verification Baidu will embed these programs with the box computing platform. Box computing is used to transform Baidu from a pure search service provider to a much broader services provider.

It has been claimed that box computing concept is not a new technical achievement and has already been realized by other search engine companies, such as WolframAlpha, Microsoft’s BING and Google Square.

In the past three Innovation Conferences Baidu focused more on marketing activities and announcements, but this time many people got the impression that Baidu wants to deliver the message that it is a technology-driven company and leader. Other experts still think though that “box computing” is only another marketing focused activity rather than a technical revolution.

There is not much concrete information about Baidu’s box computing out there right now and even on the official website you can’t find much details. In any way it’s probably a good thing, if it’s true, since it will make Chinese internet users’ life much easier. So we have to wait and see what it really is once they open it for trials…

This time the biter is being bitten. Sony BMG is being sued now to the tune of €300,000 (a little over $475,000) for using unlicensed copy of software from French company PointDev (apparently a trial version used beyond its expiry with a pirated access code). A subsequent search of the company’s servers resulted in an estimate that 47% of software there was unauthorised. This is being gleefully reported around the world, as Sony is known for its aggressive stance on copyright issues (e.g. in relation to Baidu and Yahoo), and still widely disliked over the rootkit/DRM fiasco of 2005. PointDev’s stance is that it is not about the money, but of principle.

Of course, Sony BMG could point at probably thousands of other companies and say that they are doing exactly the same thing - who knows how much of the software used around the world is actually authorized? But isn’t that what everyone else says about music-, video- and file-sharing? Not much room for that stance, then.

So what better opportunity, now the spotlight is on them, to do a real turnaround and become an opinion leader on IP and DRM? It might look hypocritical to some, but if the move is genuine, could be great PR. A no-prejudice €300,000 payment could be a good long-term investment. Somehow, though, I doubt their lawyers - or top management - will agree.