'Baby Lisa' Irwin turns 1, still missing

Kansas City, Missouri (CNN) -- The attorney for the parents of missing baby Lisa Irwin, who turned 1 on Friday, said allegations that the family has not been cooperating with investigators is nothing more than "fantasy."

"They've cooperated from day one," said John Picerno, who noted the parents have been interviewed and interrogated "for in excess of 30 hours on five different occasions."

On Friday afternoon, the infant was not home to celebrate her birthday. Lisa was reported missing early October 4, after her father arrived home from work to find the door unlocked, the lights on and a window tampered with. The girl's mother said she last saw Lisa at 6:40 p.m. the previous day.

On Thursday night, Lisa's half-brothers were interviewed again. The questioning came from child counselors, not police detectives, Kansas City police spokesman Steve Young said. The boys, ages 8 and 6, were also interviewed shortly after Lisa disappeared.

Deborah Bradley, Lisa's mother, said in an NBC interview last month that she was drunk the night Lisa disappeared and that she had last seen the baby about four hours earlier than initially reported.

In the same interview, Bradley and Lisa's father, Jeremy Irwin, said they had refused to let authorities re-interview Lisa's older brothers.

"They said they heard noises (the night Lisa disappeared)," Bradley said. "I don't know if that was before we went to sleep or after." She said she had not talked to her sons about it because she was reluctant to put them through "anything else."

A cadaver dog searching the family's Kansas City home indicated a positive "hit" for the scent of a body, police said.

Dozens of investigators, including police and FBI personnel, have joined in the search.

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Borger: Cain's best damage control is to release everything

Washington (CNN) -- When you consider the array of public men who have been forced, in one way or another, to come clean on their bad behavior, the list is not insubstantial: a president (Bill Clinton), presidential candidates (John Edwards, Gary Hart), governors (Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer), senators (John Ensign, David Vitter). And that's just the top tier.

The bar has been set -- and it's awfully low.

And by the way, many of these men managed to crawl right under that bar and survive, even thrive.

Eventually, they found there was just one way out -- owning up to their own shortcomings. Sure, it may have been due to legal pressure. Or political reality. Or both. But some discovered the public can be forgiving, especially if it believes you have something important to offer to the nation. Just ask Bill Clinton, now serving as philanthropist to the world.

So now comes Herman Cain, accused of sexual harassment by four women. He calls the charges baseless and defends his integrity. His political campaign and supporters have gone into full damage-control mode, scrutinizing the women. All predictable -- and reflexive -- enough.

But here's the rub: Cain also tells us that the National Restaurant Association investigated the charges against him and found them to be "baseless." If he wants to get this behind him, how about getting the facts out? Give the association's board permission to release the results of their internal investigation, if there was a formal inquiry.

Then, as they say, the truth will out.

And there's another plus: The partisans and the interest groups will have to start dealing with the facts. And the public can decide for itself.

It's not as if this predicament is new to us. Recall back in the day when Clinton was in the middle of the Lewinsky mess. Republicans were (rightly) outraged, demanding his resignation or impeachment. Feminist groups, by and large, remained largely on the sidelines or supportive of Clinton -- because he was, um, not a sexual harasser. Oh, and yes, he was good on their issues.

Now the tables have turned. Feminist groups are outraged by the charges against Cain and lots of Republican partisans are defending him, choosing to level their scrutiny on the women instead. (We've come a long way, baby, in that some conservative women's groups are criticizing Cain's I-don't-recall defense.)

Conservative CNN contributor Bill Bennett sees the hypocrisy of those who raised the red flag about Clinton, but not Cain. "For we who led the charge against Bill Clinton on a number of related issues to continue to blame the media or other campaigns or say it simply doesn't matter makes us the hypocrites as well," he wrote on CNN.com. He is, of course, right.

And it is exactly what we are seeing, much of it from the Cain campaign itself.

When declarations of innocence do not seem to be enough, there's the change-the-subject tack: How about fingering a leaker, say from Rick Perry's staff? When that's denied, back off. Then take a turn, and start decrying "anonymous" charges. When the charges are on the record, take on the accuser. And when all else fails, blame the media. And the liberal "Democrat machine."

Ah, it takes me back to the days when Monica Lewinsky was whispered to be a "stalker" and Hillary Clinton was taking on the "right wing conspiracy."

But here's what we learned in that case: The fact that Monica inappropriately bared her underwear to the president did not excuse his behavior. And the fact that Hillary was right about those who were "out to get" Clinton does not mean he was in the clear. It's just not that simple.

The voters will figure it all out, as always. The bar may be set low for the politicians, but the public somehow manages to rise above it.

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Did Steve Jobs kill Adobe Flash?

(CNN) -- Steve Jobs hated Flash. Hated it. And not just a little bit.

"Flash is a spaghetti-ball piece of technology that has lousy performance and really bad security problems," he said, according to biographer Walter Isaacson in his book published earlier this month.

On Wednesday, Adobe announced it will no longer be developing Flash, its media-player tool, for mobile devices. More than a few bloggers have noted the news would have been vindication for the late Apple co-founder, who felt betrayed by Adobe more than a decade ago.

In a post on the Adobe blog, company vice-president Danny Winokur said Flash has enabled the Web's richest content for a decade.

"However, HTML5 is now universally supported on major mobile devices, in some cases exclusively," he said, apparently a nod to Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod. "This makes HTML5 the best solution for creating and deploying content in the browser across mobile platforms."

HTML5 is the emerging Web language that many developers are using.

The Apple vs. Adobe standoff over Flash has been one of the tech world's most visible, and at times nasty, disputes. As the company shifts away from developing software for smartphones and tablets, it is impossible to ignore the part that Apple's steadfast refusal to use Flash on its popular mobile products may have played in the decision.

Under Jobs, who died October 5 after a long battle with cancer, the iPhone became the industry's leading smartphone and the iPad emerged to virtually dominate the tablet space. While there are more phones running Google's Android software (many of them pointedly advertising their Flash compatibility), no products captured the public's imagination, and attention, quite like Apple's.

As such, when Jobs blasted Flash, people listened. And blast it he did.

He called it "buggy," a battery hog and a product created by lazy developers.

"Allowing Flash to be ported across platforms means things get dumbed down to the lowest common denominator," Jobs said, according to Isaacson. "We spend lots of effort to make our platform better and the developer doesn't get any benefit if Adobe only works with functions that every platform has."

Adobe fired back. Last year, the company bought multiplatform ads which, perhaps appropriately, flashed this message: "We love Apple ... . What we don't love is anybody taking away your freedom to choose what you create, how you create it, and what you experience on the Web."

According to the biography, Jobs' longstanding animus toward Adobe helped form his vision for Apple's tightly controlled mobile environment.

In 1999, he was flatly denied when he asked Adobe to create a version of its popular Adobe Premiere digital-graphics software for the Mac. Adobe also wouldn't rewrite Photoshop for the Mac's operating system, even though Macs were popular with designers.

"My primary insight when we were screwed by Adobe in 1999 was that we shouldn't get into any business where we didn't control both the hardware and the software, otherwise we'd get our head handed to us," Jobs said, according to Isaacson.

The two companies go back together even further. Apple invested in Adobe in 1985 and they worked together early on. But Jobs, who in Isaacson's book comes off sometimes as vindictive and brusque as he was innovative and inspirational, told Isaacson that Adobe went downhill after founder John Warnock retired.

"The soul of Adobe disappeared when Warnock left," he said. "He was the inventor, the person I related to. It's been a bunch of suits since then, and the company has turned to crap."

On Wednesday, Adobe said its upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and the BlackBerry PlayBook will be the platform's final mobile update.

Moving forward, Winokur said, Adobe plans to work with "key players in the HTML5 community, including Google, Apple, Microsoft and RIM."

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Critics say e-mails contradict White House on Solyndra

Washington (CNN) -- Congressional Republicans investigating the collapse of solar energy firm Solyndra said Wednesday they have documents contradicting an administration claim that the case was not discussed at White House meetings involving a key investor and fundraiser for President Barack Obama.

In a letter to White House Counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, Reps. Fred Upton of Michigan and Cliff Stearns of Florida said the documents show that Solyndra investor and Obama fundraiser George Kaiser or his associates had discussions with administration officials about the company, which went bankrupt after getting more than $500 million in federal loan guarantees.

Ruemmler has refused to provide all documents demanded under a subpoena last week by the House Energy Committee, chaired by Upton, and its investigating subcommittee, chaired by Stearns.

"We note that the White House has repeatedly stated that no political influence was brought to bear with regard to Solyndra, and that Mr. George Kaiser, a Solyndra investor and Obama fundraiser, never discussed Solyndra during any of his seventeen visits to the White House," the letter said.

"Documents recently obtained by the committee directly contradict those statements," the letter continued.

A White House response Wednesday said the documents fail to show that any political influence was exerted by the White House on the decision by the Department of Energy to provide Solyndra with the federal loan guarantees.

Democrats on the committee, in their own letter of response, said the Republican claims were deliberately deceptive as part of a campaign seeking political gain, rather than conducting a proper investigation.

"We support an investigation of Solyndra, but it should be fair and even-handed," said the letter by Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Diana Degete of Colorado. "The tactics you are using -- holding empty chair hearings, humiliating witnesses, denying Democratic requests for witnesses, seeking gratuitous conflicts with the White House, and now releasing misleading excerpts from emails -- are unfair and reflect poorly on the committee's objectivity."

Upton's committee provided copies of e-mails between Kaiser and some of his associates that mentioned meetings at the White House where Solyndra was discussed.

One e-mail from Kaiser, dated March 5, 2010, refers to talks that he held with White House officials in charge of the stimulus process and says that "Solyndra came up" and was "one of their prime poster children" for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In another e-mail, dated February 27, 2010, Kaiser associate Steve Mitchell tells colleague Ken Levit to "get us a" Department of Energy loan.

Levit responded the same day in an e-mail to Mitchell, saying: "They about had an orgasm in (Vice President Joe) Biden's office when we mentioned Solyndra."

The company received an Energy Department loan last year to build a factory in Fremont, California, that produced state-of-the-art solar panels.

State Department weighs approval of controversial pipeline

Solyndra filed for bankruptcy in late August and closed its doors, putting more than 1,000 people out of work after it had received $535 million in loan guarantees.

The bankruptcy leaves the federal government unlikely to get the loan money back. Obama had touted the company in a widely publicized visit last year.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the documents cited by Republican critics showed that the decision to provide Solyndra with loan guarantees was made by the Department of Energy.

"Even the documents cherry-picked by House Republicans today affirm what we have said all along: This loan was a decision made on the merits at the Department of Energy," Schultz said. "Nothing in the 85,000 pages of documents produced thus far by the administration or in these four indicate any favoritism to political supporters."

The letter from Waxman and Degette also said that Upton and Stearns mischaracterized information from the committee's investigation, including testimony from Kaiser.

Last week, Ruemmler refused to comply with the House panel's subpoena, saying it was "driven more by partisan politics than a legitimate effort to conduct a responsible investigation."

Ruemmler did not rule out disclosing additional information related to Solyndra, saying that "we remain willing to work with the committee to accommodate its legitimate oversight interests in a balanced manner."

At the same time, Ruemmler said unequivocally that the subpoena, as written, was unacceptable.

"The committee's extremely broad request for documents -- now a subpoena -- is a significant intrusion on executive branch interests," Ruemmler wrote.

In response, Upton issued a statement Friday that accused the Obama administration and House Democrats of mounting "partisan roadblocks to hide the truth from taxpayers."

"Solyndra was a jobs program gone bad, and we must learn the lessons of Solyndra as we work to turn our economy around and put folks back to work," Upton's statement said. " ... What is the West Wing trying to hide? We owe it to American taxpayers to find out."

A government official said the White House favors a narrower request. A letter from a group of House Democrats, sent to the committee before it issued the subpoena, said the White House would be willing to share documents related to campaign contributors' influence on the decision to grant or restructure the Solyndra loan guarantee, plus the White House's involvement in deciding whether to make such a conditional commitment or close the loan guarantee.

Reps. Henry Waxman of California and Diana DeGette of Colorado wrote then that issuing the subpoena -- as it was written -- was unnecessary, given what they called "substantial progress" in recent talks between committee members and the White House about disclosing more information on Solyndra.

White House Chief of Staff William Daley recently announced a 60-day independent review of the state of the Energy Department's loan portfolio. The review will include recommendations about how to improve the loan monitoring process.

The review will be headed by Herb Allison, a veteran of both the Obama and the most recent Bush administrations who was chosen by Obama to oversee Bush's Troubled Asset Relief Program, among other efforts.

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Judge blocks law on cigarette pack warnings

(CNN) -- A federal judge on Monday blocked implementation of a law that would have mandated tobacco companies include on cigarette packages graphic pictures and messages showing the dangers of smoking.

"This case poses a constitutional challenge to a bold new tact (sic) by the Congress, and the FDA, in their obvious and continuing efforts to minimize, if not eradicate, tobacco use in the United States," concluded U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, who cited First Amendment rights against unconstitutionally compelled speech as a factor in his 29-page decision.

"Notwithstanding the potential legal and financial ramifications of this challenge, the Government, for reasons known only to itself, is unwilling to voluntarily stay the effective date of this Rule until the Judicial Branch can appropriately review the constitutionality of the Government's novel -- and costly -- approach to regulating tobacco packaging and advertising. Thus, this Court must -- and will -- act to preserve the status quo until it can evaluate, on the merits (and without incurring irreparable harm to those companies genuinely affected), the constitutionality of the commercial speech that these graphic images compel," Leon wrote in his decision.

Gallery: See the cigarette labels

He said the tobacco companies had shown: a substantial likelihood of success; that allowing the labeling requirements to proceed would cause them to "suffer irreparable harm"; that "neither the Government, nor the public, will suffer any comparable injury as a result of the relief sought"; and that the public's "interest in the protection of its First Amendment rights against unconstitutionally compelled speech would be furthered."

The 36 proposed images include a man exhaling smoke through a hole in his throat; diseased lungs next to healthy lungs; a mouth bearing what appear to be cancerous lesions; a bare-chested male cadaver with chest staples down his torso.

Opinion: Can scary labels, taxes end smoking?

Leon noted that the some of the pictures appeared to have been digitally enhanced or manipulated to make them "evoke emotion" and are not therefore "purely factual," as the government had asserted.

Though Congress mandated the images fill the top half of the front and back of cigarette packages, Leon said the dimensions suggest it was trying to turn cigarettes into mini-billboards intended not to impart information about smoking but "to advocate a change in consumer behavior."

In a statement, Matthew L. Myers, the president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, called the decision "wrong on the science and wrong on the law" and called for the Justice Department to appeal. "If allowed to stand, this ruling would make it impossible to implement any effective warning labels," he said, adding that Leon's ruling "ignores the overwhelming scientific evidence about the need for the new cigarette warnings and their effectiveness" and ignores First Amendment precedent that supports the right of the government to require warning labels to protect public health.

Myers noted that studies have shown that such graphic warnings are effective at "informing consumers about the health risks of smoking, discouraging children and other nonsmokers from starting to smoke, and motivating smokers to quit."

FDA reveals bigger, graphic warning labels for cigarette packages

At least 43 other countries require such cigarette box warnings, he said.

The law on the labels was to have kicked in beginning next September. "They serve the compelling goal of reducing the death and disease caused by tobacco use, which kills more than 400,000 Americans and costs the nation $96 billion in health care expenditures each year," Myers said.

Richard Daynard, a professor at Northeastern University Law School and head of the Tobacco Products Liability Project, said the case may not be resolved for years, and the matter is an urgent one. "Even a relatively modest percentage improvement or a percentage reduction in initiation or continued use will potentially save tens of thousands of lives per year," he said.

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Consumer Reports: No battery-life problems with iPhone 4S

(CNN) -- Despite complaints by some owners about underwhelming battery life, the iPhone 4S scored "very well" in tests of its battery performance by Consumer Reports, which gave the device its official blessing Tuesday.

Consumer Reports' laboratory tests also determined that Apple's new phone doesn't suffer the "death grip" reception problem that was found in its predecessor, the nearly identical-looking iPhone 4.

That antenna flaw, which depleted signal strength when the user held the phone a certain way, led Consumer Reports to not recommend the iPhone 4.

"Overall, the new iPhone 4S scores higher in the ratings than the iPhone 4, thanks to such enhancements as an upgraded camera, a faster "dual-core" processor, and the addition of the intriguing Siri voice-activated feature ..." wrote Mike Gikas in a post on Consumer Reports' site.

Those upgrades were not enough, however, to let the iPhone 4S outscore the best new Android-based phones in Consumer Reports' ratings. Those top-rated models included the Samsung Galaxy S II phones, the Motorola Droid Bionic and several other phones that boast larger displays than the iPhone 4S and run on faster networks.

Battery life has been an issue for the iPhone 4S since it went on sale October 14. According to Apple's official specs, the phone should have enough juice in its battery for up to eight hours of talk time, six hours of Internet surfing, 10 hours of video viewing and 200 hours on standby. (All of these activities are on a 3G connection; 2G and Wi-Fi produce different figures).

But online forums soon filled with complaints from users saying their new iPhones weren't lasting even close to that long.

On November 2 Apple acknowledged it had found a "few bugs" affecting battery life on the iPhone 4S and other devices running its new operating system. The company said a software update coming "in a few weeks" will address the problem.

Consumer Reports said it plans to retest the phone after the software update to see if the fix affects battery performance.

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Greece awaits next prime minister

Athens, Greece (CNN) -- A new prime minister will be named Tuesday to replace George Papandreou, a Greek government spokesman said.

Meanwhile, European finance ministers meeting in Brussels announced Monday that they have already requested assurances in writing that Greece's government-to-be would stick to austerity agreements already made by the outgoing government.

In Athens, government spokesman Ilias Mosialos' announcement Monday that a new prime minister will be named came hours after Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos told reporters that the tense economic situation in Athens had changed dramatically over the weekend and that there was cause for optimism.

"After a difficult week we have now a new political situation, a new political frame in Greece," he said in Brussels, Belgium, where finance ministers to eurozone countries were meeting. "We have a new government of national unity and of national responsibility. This is the proof of our commitment and of our national capacity to implement the program and to reconstruct our country."

Eurozone finance ministers assembled in Brussels to discuss the Greek debt crisis and sweeping political shuffle, but their focus extended beyond Greece to include other, bigger ailing European Union economies and approaches to shoring up the EU bailout fund, which is slated to launch in coming months.

"We welcome the intention of Greece to form a national unity government," Euro Group President Jean-Claude Juncker told reporters after the EU finance ministers' meeting. But he reiterated EU expectations that all political parties in governing roles in Greece remain dedicated to adhering to austerity measures and keeping the common currency, the euro.

"We underlined the importance of sustained cross-party support for the program in Greece," said Juncker, who is also prime minister of Luxembourg, home to one of Europe's best-known banking centers.

"In this context we asked the new Greek authorities to send a letter, co-signed also by the leaders of the two main parties of the incoming coalition government, reaffirming their strong commitment," he said.

On Sunday, Greek President Karolos Papoulias announced that Papandreou would step down from his post as prime minister -- so long as a controversial 130 billion euro bailout deal cobbled together late last month is approved.

New elections will be held after the bailout is implemented, most likely on February 19, Venizelos said.

The formation of a new government could close one chapter in Greece's long-running, tumultuous political and economic saga, as Papandreou had become a lightning rod for critics of his leadership of the heavily indebted south European nation.

Greece's turmoil is far from over.

The bailout, the second it has received from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, comes with a hefty price tag - the imposition of additional austerity measures that include slashing government jobs, privatizing some businesses and reducing pensions.

It comes at a time when Greece's economy -- and to some extent the global economy -- is staggering.

Though Greece ranks 32nd in terms of gross domestic product, experts say it wields a disproportionate influence internationally. Economists worry that a Greek default on its debt could pull down larger European economies, particularly those of Italy and Spain, as well as struggling Portugal and Ireland.

But German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters in Brussels that Italy's woes do not warrant that level of concern over the Greek crisis.

"Italy's actual numbers don't justify this nervousness in the markets," he said. "Italy definitively announced a plethora of measures at the meeting of the heads of state and government on the 27th of October that have the wherewithal to win back new trust for Italy in the markets, if they are implemented."

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Rodgers, Pack hold off Chargers 45-38 to climb to 8-0

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Aaron Rodgers was at his best, throwing lasers where only his receivers could catch them and finding four different teammates in the end zone.

Yes, Rodgers had a lot to do with the Green Bay Packers remaining undefeated with a crazy 45-38 win over the staggering San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

So did Philip Rivers , whose miserable run of turnovers continued with three critical interceptions, two by Charlie Peprah .

Peprah and Tramon Williams returned pickoffs for touchdowns in a span of six plays in the first quarter, and Peprah's second pick in the closing seconds sealed the win for the Packers (8-0).

Rodgers completed 21 of 26 passes for 247 yards and ran his NFL-leading total to 24 TD throws. He had scoring passes of 5 yards to Jermichael Finley , 16 to Jordy Nelson , 21 to James Jones and 4 to Greg Jennings .

"I think Aaron has a lot of strengths. His decision-making is clearly the highest level that I have personally been a part of," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said of his Super Bowl MVP quarterback.

Rodgers, who lives in the upscale San Diego suburb of Del Mar in the offseason, seemed more impressed with the high percentage of cheeseheads in the sellout crowd than being the NFL's only perfect team.

"The crowd was incredible," Rodgers said. "When you're on the road and up by seven and it's late in the game and they have to go on a silent count, that's pretty impressive. I have to give a lot of credit to our fans the way they travel. It says a lot about the kind of fans we have."

Jennings couldn't emphasize enough how much Rodgers means to the Packers.

"He is a special, special, special, special player," Jennings said.

The Chargers (4-4) have lost three straight games, including road collapses at the New York Jets and on Monday night at Kansas City, when Rivers inexplicably fumbled a snap in the final minute of regulation.

Rivers also threw four touchdown passes Sunday to tie his career high, three of them to Vincent Jackson .

"We're fighting through a rough time right now," said Rivers, whose 14 interceptions and 17 total turnovers lead the NFL. "These tough times, you find out a lot about guys, a lot about yourself."

Rivers was 26 of 46 for 385 yards. It was the first time in his career that he threw three interceptions in a game.

The Packers led by 21 points early in the fourth quarter before Rivers threw touchdown passes of 5 and 29 yards to Jackson in the span of 1:07 midway through the quarter.

San Diego had a final chance to tie it, starting a drive at its 32 with 1:05 remaining and no timeouts left. Aided by a pass interference call against Charles Woodson , Rivers moved the Chargers to the Packers 41 before putting up a deep ball that Peprah easily picked off and returned 76 yards to the San Diego 6. The Packers took a knee to end the game.

Rivers threw two pick-6s that gave the Packers a 21-7 lead.

Desmond Bishop tipped a pass intended for tight end Antonio Gates and Peprah intercepted. He broke four tackles during his 40-yard return and got a big block by Clay Matthews .

On the next Chargers possession, Williams jumped a route for an interception and 40-yard TD return.

"On the first one, the guy made a great play," Rivers said. "The other one, they just fooled me."

Peprah said the Packers still have a lot of work to do on defense.

"We're a pressure defense, so we're going to give up some big plays. But we feel we're going to make some, too," he said. "I wouldn't trade a perfect defense for a win, so I'll take the W and we'll clean up that stuff later."

Rivers and Mike Tolbert kept the Chargers in the game. Tolbert scored on an 8-yard run and, after the Chargers held the Packers on fourth-and-2 at the San Diego 36, Nick Novak kicked a career-best 52-yard field goal to pull to 21-17.

Amazingly, the Packers' next drive was just their third of the first half. Although he was sacked twice, Rodgers moved the Packers to the San Diego 16 before throwing a TD pass to Nelson, who hauled it in at the 1 and then rolled into the end zone for a 28-17 halftime lead.

After Rivers hit Gates with an 11-yard TD pass in the third quarter, Rodgers threw a perfect 21-yarder to Jones and then a 4-yarder to Jennings early in the fourth quarter to seemingly put away the game.

NOTES: The Chargers played without injured running back Ryan Mathews , wide receiver Malcom Floyd and linebacker Shaun Phillips . San Diego guard Kris Dielman missed his second straight game with a concussion. ... The Chargers turn around and host the rival Oakland Raiders on Thursday night. ... Packers LB Frank Zambo left with a hamstring injury in the fourth.

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The week Google really 'messed up'

(CNN) -- Love or hate Google, you probably don't expect this sort of message from one of the largest and most innovative Internet and technology companies in the world:

"The iOS app we launched today contained a bug with notifications," the company wrote Wednesday on Twitter. "We have pulled the app to fix the problem. Sorry we messed up."

That's just one of the ways Google screwed up this week, according to tech pundits and bloggers. The company also released an update to Google Reader that was described by a former employee as "a disaster."

"Maybe Google isn't so invincible after all," the site InfoWorld asked.

The complaints raise two deeper issues about Google:

First is the long-aired gripe that the company develops cooler and better-functioning smartphone apps for Android devices than it does for Apple's iOS. That makes some sense. After all, Google created Android, and has a business interest in seeing that smartphone platform succeed over that of its competitors. The new Gmail app, however, is raising questions about the company's ability to put out apps that -- at the very least -- will function on Apple devices.

"The real question here is how were these problems not caught during testing, either on Google's part or Apple's? (Conspiracy theory: Apple did catch the errors, but approved the app anyway)," the blog TechCrunch wrote.

Second, this week's botched Gmail app for iOS digs at Google's image as an innovative company. If Google keeps releasing disappointing products, people may stop being excited about the company as a whole, MG Siegler, a tech pundit, wrote on his personal blog.

"They release something, and I no longer have any faith that it's going to be any good," Siegler wrote on Wednesday in a post titled "Faith No More." "It's hard to get excited about a company like that. It's the same reason why it's hard to get excited when Microsoft and Yahoo release new things. The track record just isn't there any more. The faith is gone."

This week's controversy follows several less-than-thrilling product launches from Google. Google+, the company's effort to compete with Facebook, has seen its traffic plunge. Other Google products, from Google Offers to Google Latitude, never became break-out successes. And that's not to mention Google Wave, Google Buzz and Google Health, which the company killed.

Google has had trouble with the functionality of its iOS apps, in particular.

"Previously, the company pulled its Google Voice app from the iOS App Store because of continuous crashing in iOS 5," the site PC World says. "Google also had to fix several bugs in its Google+ iOS app a few months ago, but never removed the app from the store. Given Google's tendency to release products in beta form, these aren't huge surprises."

Others are less forgiving.

"Given the size and importance of the company, it's a joke really. Yes, they have Android, which they are clearly going to favor over Apple's rival mobile platform, but come on," Siegler wrote.

"When you release sub-par products, you look sub-par yourself. Customers don't care what platform it's on, and don't care what politics are going on behind the scenes at the company. If you release s---, you look like s---. It's much better to release nothing at all."

Tech pundits also piled criticism on the new version of Google Reader, which includes integration with the company's social network but isn't considered to be as aesthetically pleasing. "Someone took the magic color-removing wand and drenched the whole page in grey," wrote Brian Shih, who is a former product manager for Google Reader. "It's so unbelievably stark, it's hard to imagine a more desolate experience."

"There's almost no way Google could have blundered more disastrously here," writes Forbes.

It seems the only thing Google can get right this week is a pumpkin-carving video.

If you've taken a look at the new Google Reader or the iOS Gmail app, let us know what you think in the comments. To be sure, not all reviews are as scathing as those quoted here.

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