智慧手機終將消失/ News

Google hands settlement proposal to EU on antitrust -- report CNET Google hands settlement proposal to EU on antitrust -- report. The European Union's ongoing inquiry into Google's alleged anticompetitive behavior may be wrapping up, as the Web giant is said to be making a deal with the Union's antitrust commission. See all stories on this topic »

Maps, LBS bolster Google Enterprise's Asia roadmap ZDNet Doug Farber, Asia-Pacific and Japan managing director at Google Enterprise, told ZDNet in a phone interview that besides its Web-based Google Apps suite, Postini, Google Compute Engine and Google App Engine, the Internet company is now expanding ... See all stories on this topic » ZDNet

Google Glass turns up in FCC filing CNET Google Glass took another step toward reality today when its maker filed paperwork with the Federal Communications Commission laying out key technical specifications and certifying its compatibility with various standards. The documents are a routine ... See all stories on this topic »

Google submits EU antitrust remedy proposals just before deadline ZDNet Google, which has around 90 percent of the search market share in Europe, is accused of flouting a number of strict competition laws on the continent, not limited to scraping information from other firms' services to shutting out competing advertising ... See all stories on this topic »

Google kicks off 2013 Science Fair, seeks projects to change the world Fox News “It's your turn to change the world.” The 2013 Google Science Fair -- an online science competition open to students around the globe ages 13 to 18 -- kicked off Wednesday with those words. The ultimate prizes, to be awarded in Sept.: a $50,000 ... See all stories on this topic »

After A Triumphant App Store Return, Google Maps Wins The Crunchie For "Best ... TechCrunch After getting the boot as the default mapping application on iOS devices with the introduction of iOS 6, Google Maps returned to the App Store in December with a new look, new features, and it quickly won back user mindshare and massive adoption. See all stories on this topic » TechCrunch

Samsung Google Chromebook loves life online Dallas Morning News This week we're looking at an even closer relative to the laptop: the Samsung Google Chromebook. It's a Samsung netbook running Google's Chrome operating system. A netbook, according to Wikipedia, is a small, lightweight, legacy-free, and inexpensive ... See all stories on this topic » Dallas Morning News

Google pays homage to Jackie Robinson with doodle USA TODAY In honor of the late Jackie Robinson's 94th birthday today, Google paid homage to the first African-American baseball player with a homepage doodle. A drawing of Robinson swinging a bat sits in the middle of the Google logo, which is written the ... See all stories on this topic »

Take a virtual Grand Canyon hike with Google The Seattle Times AP /Google Maps. Google now has brought its all-seeing camera eyes — _ mounted for the first time on a backpack — down into the Grand Canyon, showcasing the attraction's most popular hiking trails on the South Rim and other walkways. See all stories on this topic »

Google Offers Virtual Hike Through the Grand Canyon Voice of America ... cover 75 miles of trails through what is considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world. The Google team members strapped 40-pound, 15-lens cameras called Trekkers to their backs to capture the more than 9,500 images, according to the blog. See all stories on this topic »

 智慧手機終將消失
【日經BP社報導】過去10年來，一直引領網際網路行業發展的美國谷歌。聚集全世界的優秀人才，以雄厚的資金實力頻出新招。其瞄準的未來是「星際旅行的世界」。

       2013年1月7日，全世界媒體紛紛報導了一位企業老總的北韓之行。因何要去北韓？為什麼是現在？各種猜測滿天飛，其一舉一動都成為了關注的焦點。

       他便是美國谷歌的董事長艾瑞克·施密特（Eric Emerson Schmidt）。就在北韓逗留三天的目的，施密特對媒體表示「這是一次向北韓介紹網際網路的自由與開放的私人旅行」。

美國谷歌董事長艾瑞克·施密特1月7日抵達北韓。在為期3天的訪問中，施密特的動向為全世界所關注

       艾瑞克·施密特訪朝的真正理由目前仍不得而知。但可以明確指出的是，北韓是與當今開放的網路世界相隔絕的國家，而谷歌則是網路的霸主。

       近10年來，谷歌一直立於網路的中心。創辦于1998年的該公司憑藉自主開發的高精度技術飛速發展壯大，佔據著搜索市場的最多佔有率。

       在提供各類實用免費服務增加用戶的同時，以搜索聯動型為中心的廣告收入，賺取了鉅額利潤。該公司不惜花重金網羅優秀人才、實施收購，加快發展速度。2012年5月，該公司斥資125億美元的總額收購便攜終端企業美國摩托羅拉移動公司，參與終端開發業務。

       谷歌2011年財年（截至2011年12月）的銷售額高達3.41145兆日元，總市值也于2012年10月1日首次超過了IT（資訊化技術）行業的巨人美國微軟。

       創業15年。在這麼短時期內在網路上建立起來的「帝國」如今已經具有不可撼動的地位。而這位霸主又將目光投向了之後的10年。

將新興市場國家引入網路世界

       2012年12月，谷歌在新加坡舉辦了題為「Bringing the Next Billion People Online（使下一個10億人在線）」的活動。負責新興市場國家產品開發的副總裁納爾遜·馬托斯（Nelson Mattos）在會場上表示，「新加入網路的10億人中有7成不是講英語的」。

       谷歌如今正在關注新興市場國家。準確地說，「是還沒有上網的人群」。施密特董事長的訪朝也應當從這一角度去理解。對於以網路為主戰場的谷歌，增加網路的用戶才是擴大業務之道。

       谷歌不會耐著性子等待「用戶隨時間慢慢增加」。而是對需要解決的課題不斷使出新招。

       2012年底到2013年，在菲律賓、南非共和國、印度尼西亞相繼開始的「FREEZONE」就是體現谷歌認真程度的一個好例子。通過與當地的手機公司合作，谷歌的搜索、郵件等部分服務已經開始免通信費使用。

       馬托斯就開通FREEZONE服務的目的說：「即便是在新興市場國家，也有7成的國民擁有可以上網的手機，但真正訪問網路的卻只有14％。因為大家都沒有購買包月的通信套餐」。

       這只不過是一個例子而已。自從手機配備的簡單郵件功能——SMS（簡訊）開始在新興市場國家普及，谷歌就一直在進行改進，以使SMS能利用 谷歌的各種服務。例如向連紙質地圖都沒有的國家提供地圖編輯服務「Google Map Maker」，使用戶可在網路上製成數位地圖。

       谷歌以「整理全世界的資訊，讓全球人們都能夠訪問和使用」為自己的使命。這是其向新興市場國家投入的熱情的原點。谷歌採用多種措施解決新興 市場國家特有的課題，以將用戶從現實吸引到網路上來。他們正在瞄準下一個10億新用戶，並著手技術開發以應對因增加用戶而改變的網路前景。

       馬托斯對新興市場國家人群參與的網路世界這樣描述道：

       「多樣性應該受到比現在多得多的尊重。網際網路上要充盈具有地域特色的音視訊等多種內容。利用優秀的翻譯功能，全世界的人們就進入了可隨意消費全球各地特色化內容的時代。」

連搜索都免了的世界  

 Google Now是這樣一項服務：對由GPS（全地球定位系統）獲得的定位資訊和位置資訊等地理相關資訊、日曆資訊，以及使用了哪些關鍵詞搜索等各種資訊加以分析， 事先可察覺用戶所需資訊並予提供。例如，用戶現在所在位置的天氣資訊自不必說，還可在上班前顯示通勤途中的交通資訊及搜到的航班時刻等。在海外逗留的時 候，還可以根據匯率換算貨幣，或是推薦周邊口碑好的餐廳等。

       這項服務無需特別的設定也無需搜索。能夠自動預測並提供用戶需要的資訊。

       Knowledge Graph是同樣通過推測用戶需要的資訊，給出更精確的搜索結果的功能。這項功能基於輸入的搜索關鍵字，理解用戶意圖並顯示搜索結果。例如，輸入著名電影 導演「黑澤明」之後，畫面上將顯示黑澤明的介紹，以及出生年月日、獲獎情況和代表作等。

       而輸入「國會議事堂」後，該詞彙將被判定為地點，畫面上將顯示地圖和主要電話號碼。因輸入博物館、美術館、圖書館等時，是以利用作為前提的，所以畫面上還將顯示開館和閉館時間。

       這是以5.7億以上的人、場所、事物的資料庫為基礎，由輸入的關鍵詞對用戶希望知道什麼所做的判斷。

       辛格說：「終極目標是成為人類完美的助手。不構建完美的AI（人工智慧）系統來理解人類如何思維、動作和判斷，這個目標就無法實現」。

       辛格接著說，其關鍵在於移動網際網路的普及。「始於日本的移動網際網路浪潮擴展到了全世界。從個人電腦前解放出來後，人們對助手產生了需求」。現在，移動網際網路的主角是智慧手機。

       但在今後10年，智慧手機將讓出主角之位。開發出世界上最普及的智慧手機OS（作業系統）「Android（安卓）」的谷歌這樣認為。

智慧手機終將消失

 「智慧手機為什麼非得是現在的樣子？原因不言而喻：是因為螢幕的緣故。」

       不是用觸控螢幕，而是以語音輸入輕鬆操控智慧手機的盲人程式員T.V.Raman這樣說道。Raman是谷歌分管無障礙的研究科學家。

T.V.Raman說：「便於殘障人士使用的東西一定便於健全人使用」

       「在100年以前，人們會隨身攜帶蠟燭。這是因為天黑，所有房間都沒有電燈。而攜帶螢幕與攜帶蠟燭的原因相近。」

       Raman預測，不久的將來，顯示器將隨處可見，在需要的時候，資訊可以隨時隨地顯示。人們將無需再攜帶螢幕，智慧手機也不再會是現在的樣子。

       「現在的智慧手機有眼睛（相機）、耳朵（麥克風）和嘴巴（揚聲器）。這些功能估計會逐漸分散到與人類各部位接近的地方。」

       Raman並非是說夢話。谷歌于2012年4月發佈了「Project Glass」。在眼鏡中的世界上疊加顯示數位資料，可以導航，或是拍照。操作全部可以通過語音完成。該產品預計將於2014年面向公眾銷售，屆時，網路的使用方式有可能為之一變。

       谷歌的開發者在談到未來的時候，都異口同聲地表示「希望實現《星際旅行》的世界」。在1966年首播、共5季的科幻電視系列劇《星際旅行》 中，常可見到酷似現在的平板電腦、用手指操作的隨身終端，用語音與電腦交談等，彷彿預知了今日情形的場面。他和她們年輕時憧憬的科幻世界正在逐漸成為現 實。

The Emperor of All Identities/ News

觀點

不該放任谷歌成為數據霸主

帕梅拉·瓊斯·哈伯 2013年01月30日

華盛頓
成立數年後，谷歌擬定了一套指導原則，名為《十大信條》(Ten things we know to be true)。其中第四條是“網絡也講民主”。

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Rose Blake

這是可敬的態度——儘管有點讓人意外，因為這話來自網絡之王。
可以說，谷歌現在正是網絡之王。其搜索引擎服務佔據了美國近80%的網頁搜索量——還驚人地佔據了98%的移動設備搜索量。在這方面，谷歌不僅是一個同名動詞，還可能是美國乃至全球最主要的信息通道。沒有其他搜索引擎能夠接近谷歌。
新聞報道暗示，美國聯邦貿易委員會(Federal Trade Commission)可能把有關是否對谷歌提起反壟斷訴訟的決定推遲到明年。這一決定本來有望在本周宣布（本文寫於2012年12月。在2013年1月 初，美國聯邦貿易委員會宣布，調查確實發現谷歌通過採取某些手段以獲得競爭優勢，只是證據尚不足以顯示谷歌違反了法律，聯邦貿易委員會已和谷歌達成和解協 議，對谷歌的反壟斷調查結束——編注）。
聯邦貿易委員會花了近兩年時間調查谷歌的搜索引擎是否優先介紹該公司自己的服務，而把競爭對手的服務列在較低位置，從而抑制了競爭。即便到了現在，一些分析人士仍認為，該委員會可能放棄對谷歌採取任何法律行動，以換取該公司自願對其使用某些消費者信息的方式做出少量改變。
對互聯網用戶來說，那將是一個嚴重的挫折。它將允許谷歌繼續不受約束地控制數據收集，從而對隱私和消費者選擇造成嚴重後果（歐洲監管者也在對谷歌進行反壟斷調查）。
谷歌對自己在現代信息社會的主導地位很是“謙虛”，斷言只要人們願意使用，與之競爭的搜索引擎如雅虎或微軟的必應都只有“一指之遙”。谷歌指出，互 聯網領域是一個極其複雜的領域，存在着同樣強大的挑戰者。Facebook讓谷歌自己的社交媒體平台看起來像個笑話。在亞馬遜上進行商品搜索的購物者大大 超過谷歌。谷歌說，簡言之，目前存在充分的競爭，消費者不應該擔心谷歌在信息經濟中的強大角色。
但我們需要透過一個不同的稜鏡來看待谷歌的市場角色和行為。谷歌不只是一家“搜索引擎公司”、或“網上服務公司”、或出版商、或廣告平台。就其核心而言，它是一家數據收集公司。
谷歌的“市場”是由消費者產生和提供的關於消費者的數據。消費者就是你。在這個領域，谷歌佔據了霸主地位，幾乎無所不在，讓人恐懼。數據是在線市場的引擎，的確，它已成為一種新的資產類別。
去年3月，谷歌用一條政策取代了規範其產品和服務的60多條隱私準則，並開始整合其收集的個人數據。根據谷歌董事長埃里克·施密特(Eric Schmidt)在2010發表的一份聲明，谷歌在兩天內收集的數據（大約5艾位元組）相當於從人類起源到2003年所產生的數據總和。他後來又宣稱，他 不認為“社會理解這樣一件事，即當一切信息都可獲取、可知、且每時每刻都被各方記錄下來時，將會發生什麼”。
就目前而言，谷歌利用收集的數據去銷售有針對性的廣告，但誰能說該公司的數據使用將只局限於這一目的？選擇退出谷歌的數據收集？當然，你可以那樣 做，但你也得刪掉你的谷歌郵箱，退出谷歌的生態系統。使用谷歌Android操作系統的移動設備每天新增130萬部，其使用人數超過蘋果iPhone—— 谷歌的生態系統在不斷發展壯大。
從我在聯邦貿易委員會任職時起，我就一直擔心谷歌在數據收集方面的霸主地位及其帶來的深層次隱私擔憂。當委員會批准谷歌在2007年收購雙擊公司 (Double Click)時，我表示了異議，因為我擔心，把這兩家公司的海量消費者信息合并起來，將使谷歌在基本上沒有競爭對手制衡的情況下，構建關於網民網上操作習 慣的特徵檔案，侵犯個人隱私。
如今，聯邦貿易委員會有另一個機會來保護消費者、推動創新和確保公平的網絡競爭。該委員會在斟酌其決定時必須理解的是：儘管谷歌在網絡搜索和在線廣 告領域遙遙領先，但其最令人不安的霸主地位是在消費者私人數據市場。若能在該領域重建真正的競爭格局，我確信市場力量將推動企業在不侵犯消費者隱私的情況 下，提供有吸引力的服務和相關的廣告。
我現在已不是聯邦貿易委員會的委員，而是一名律師，代表一些對谷歌在數據收集領域的勢力感到擔憂的公司，包括微軟。沒錯，這裡有些諷刺意味，微軟前些年也曾面對重大反壟斷訴訟，最終被迫糾正反競爭行為。
但話又說回來，霸主就是霸主。正如谷歌的英明創立者所說，在互聯網領域，民主是最好的方式。

帕梅拉 ·瓊斯·哈伯(Pamela Jones Harbour)在2003年到2010年期間是美國聯邦貿易委員會的一名委員，現在她是富布萊特·賈沃斯基律師事務所(Fulbright & Jaworski)的一名律師，代表着包括微軟在內的科技公司。

本文最初發表於2012年12月18日。

翻譯：陶夢縈

Op-Ed Contributor

The Emperor of All Identities

By PAMELA JONES HARBOUR January 30, 2013

 

 

Washington
A FEW years after it was founded, Google adopted a list of guiding principles it titled, “Ten things we know to be true.” No. 4 was “Democracy on the Web works.”

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Rose Blake

That’s a worthy sentiment — though a bit surprising coming from the Web’s emperor.
For that, arguably, is what Google has become. Its search engine accounts for nearly 80 percent of all Web searches in the United States — and a remarkable 98 percent of searches from mobile devices. In that role, Google is not just an eponymous verb but perhaps the most central conduit of information in the nation — and, indeed, on the planet. No other search engine comes close.
News accounts suggest that the Federal Trade Commission will delay any decision on whether to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google until perhaps next year. That decision had been expected to come this week.
The F.T.C. has spent nearly two years investigating whether Google’s search engine favors the company’s own commercial endeavors over rival offerings, thereby stifling competition. And even now, some analysts believe that the commission might forgo any legal action against the company in exchange for Google’s willingness to make some modest changes in the way it uses certain consumer information.
This would be a severe setback for Internet users. It will allow Google to continue to amass unbridled control over data gathering, with grave consequences for privacy and for consumer choice. (European regulators are conducting their own antitrust inquiry into Google.)
Google has been modest about its dominance in the modern information society, asserting that competing search engines, like Yahoo or Microsoft’s Bing, are just “one click away” if people wish to use them. The Internet is an extraordinarily complex domain with equally powerful challengers, the company points out. Facebook makes Google’s own social media platform look like a joke. Far more shoppers begin their online product searches through Amazon than Google. In short, there’s enough competition out there, Google says, that consumers ought not to fear the company’s mighty role in the information economy.
But we need to look at Google’s market role — and behavior — through a different prism. Google is not just a “search engine company,” or an “online services company,” or a publisher, or an advertising platform. At its core, it’s a data collection company.
Its “market” is data by, from and about consumers — you, that is. And in that realm, its role is so dominant as to be overwhelming, and scary. Data is the engine of online markets and has become, indeed, a new asset class.
In March, when Google replaced the more than 60 privacy guidelines that governed its products and services with a single policy, it also moved to consolidate the personal data it collects. The company creates as much data in two days — roughly 5 exabytes — as the world produced from the dawn of humanity until 2003, according to a 2010 statement by Eric Schmidt, the company’s chairman, who later declared that he didn’t “believe society understands what happens when everything is available, knowable, and recorded by everyone all the time.”
For now, Google uses the data to sell targeted ads, but who says the company’s use of the data will be restricted to that purpose? Opt out of Google’s data collection? Sure, you can do that — but you’ll also have to delete your Gmail account and leave Google’s ecosystem. With Google’s Android operating system — which is activated in 1.3 million new mobile devices every day, and is used by more people than use Apple’s iPhone — that ecosystem is growing.
I’ve been concerned about Google’s dominant role in data collection — and the profound privacy concerns it raises — since my time at the F.T.C. When the commission approved Google’s 2007 acquisition of DoubleClick, I dissented — because I was concerned that combining the two companies’ vast troves of consumer information would allow Google, which was largely unchecked by competition, to develop invasive profiles of individuals’ Internet habits.
Now, the F.T.C. has another chance to protect consumers, promote innovation and ensure fair competition online. In making its decision, it must understand that while Google may be the runaway leader in Web search and online advertising, its most troubling dominance is in the marketplace of private consumer data. If real competition in this area can be restored, I am confident that market forces will provide the incentives necessary for companies to offer attractive services and relevant, engaging ads without violating consumer privacy.
I am no longer an F.T.C. commissioner, but a lawyer representing companies — including Microsoft — that are concerned about Google’s power as a data collector. Yes, there’s some irony in that — it wasn’t long ago that Microsoft faced its own major antitrust lawsuit and had to change its anticompetitive practices.
But then, an emperor is an emperor. And when it comes to the Web, as Google’s wise founders said, democracy works best.

Pamela Jones Harbour, a member of the Federal Trade Commission from 2003 to 2010, is a lawyer at Fulbright & Jaworski, where she represents technology companies, including Microsoft.

Google Maps, Street View, and privacy: Try harder, Google ZDNet Summary: Google has seemingly been decent at maintaining the privacy of passers-by and license plates appearing in Google Maps Street View images, but how good is their privacy algorithm really? Questionable, according to my recent research. Stephen ... See all stories on this topic »

Google asks: How much is mapping worth? Washington Post Google, which has embarked on an almost zealous mission to map the whole world, said Wednesday that it's trying to get a handle on how to gauge that value. The company commissioned two studies, one from Boston Consulting Group and one from the ... See all stories on this topic »

Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook, Google Aren't on Speaking Terms Slate Magazine (blog) On a conference call Monday evening with investors and media to discuss the company's fourth-quarter earnings and financial outlook, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg let slip a revealing tidbit: Facebook and Google aren't on speaking terms. See all stories on this topic » Slate Magazine (blog)

Google can't shake BrightRoll in $7.6 billion video market San Jose Mercury News Google (GOOG), the world's biggest seller of Web-search advertising, is getting one-upped in the surging $7.6 billion market for online-video ads from a 6-year-old startup one-tenth its size. BrightRoll, a San Francisco-based company that helps ... See all stories on this topic »

Microsoft's Windows Phone to add support for Google sync protocols ZDNet Google announced in mid-December 2012 plans to drop Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) support for syncing e-mail, contacts and calendar for non-paying Google customers starting January 30, 2013. But on January 30, as first reported by The Verge, Google ... See all stories on this topic »

Google's Nexus 4 available again online (at least in US) NBCNews.com Don't blink, or it may be gone: Google's Nexus 4 phone, which sold out in December, is again available for direct purchase online from Google's Play store. The 8GB model goes for $299; the 16GB version for $349. The flagship Android phone is sold ... See all stories on this topic »

Apple Asks Court To Force Google Cooperation InformationWeek Apple has argued that it needs a variety of documents from Google about Google's business operations, products and communications with Motorola Mobility, as well as the cooperation of witnesses. Google however appears to be dragging its feet. See all stories on this topic »

Google Puts The Nexus 4 Back In Stock In UK, France, Spain And Australia TechCrunch Google yesterday started to offer the Nexus 4 once again in the Google Play stores in the U.S., Canada and Germany, and today it's started to roll it out to the rest of the markets where it quickly went out of stock last year. Users can now order the ... See all stories on this topic »

Take 100000 more tours inside Google Earth CNET Last year at Google I/O the company introduced Tour Guide, a feature that provided animated 3D flyovers of popular destinations inside Google Earth, complete with facts about the site in question. By October, the app had 11,000 tours available. Today ... See all stories on this topic »

Google Maps releases most detailed map of North Korea to date New York Daily News Google said a community of “citizen cartographers” started building the North Korea map in 2009 based on satellite images, public information and local knowledge through a tool called Map Maker that allows collaboration on maps through crowd-sourcing. See all stories on this topic » New York Daily News

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Google Maps’ New Target: North Korea

Google Maps’ New Target: North Korea

  Google公布北韓最新地圖 大膽標示勞改營

右邊是新版北韓地圖(法新社)

Google執行董事長施密特私訪北韓數週後，Google廿九日推出詳細的北韓地圖，提供首都平壤的精確面貌，不僅標出醫院、地鐵站和學校，甚至聲名狼藉、地處偏遠的集中營也標示出來。雖然出了首都後地圖便有些模糊，但在概觀圖上還是可見連串城市大小的灰色區域，放大近看可看出是廣大的勞改營。Google Map 資深產品經理邁索爾表示，北韓地圖的繪製是靠「一群平民製圖師」的協助。可惜的是，資訊受到嚴格管控的北韓人並無法享受到Google Map的好處。 （圖︰法新社／文︰國際中心）http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabodh_Chandra_Bagchi

Google Faces Legal Action In UK Over Alleged Secret IPhone Tracking Business Insider An estimated 10 million Britons could have grounds to launch a privacy claim over the way Google circumvented Apple's security settings on the iPhone, iPad and desktop versions of its Safari web browser to monitor their behaviour. At least 10 British ... See all stories on this topic » Business Insider

Facebook Has Opened Up A New Front In Its War With Google For The Future Of ... Business Insider Google has responded by rolling out Google+. Often misunderstood as a social network, Google+ has been described by executive chairman Eric Schmidt and other executives as an "identity layer" across Google products. Its social features provide an ... See all stories on this topic » Business Insider

App-driven life: Google translate foreign language signs Christian Science Monitor For several years, the Google Translate application has been a quick and generally accurate way to decipher foreign languages on the go. Type a sentence, and Google can translate it into any of 65 languages within a few seconds (assuming you have a ... See all stories on this topic » Christian Science Monitor

This Is Where Google Keeps Your Email And YouTube Videos (GOOG) San Francisco Chronicle Right now, you're probably sitting on your couch with a laptop in your lap, a tablet in your hands, or a smartphone in your palm. You're moving around the Internet, sending emails, watching videos, and reading this post. It can seem like those ... See all stories on this topic »

Sundance 2013 Review: 'Google and the World Brain' Comes Up Short Film School Rejects But as benevolent as that may seem on surface value, Ben Lewis's Google and the World Brain takes a hard look at the Books project itself, the ideas behind it, and the proponents and opponents the company faces in the battle over digitalization of the ... See all stories on this topic »

IRL: HTC 8X, Google Now and the iPod shuffle Engadget We swear we didn't plan it this way, but it looks like we've got a little trifecta this week, with write-ups pertaining to Apple, Google and, last but not least, Microsoft. On the pessimistic end of the spectrum, Dana would rather have the third ... See all stories on this topic »

Google Glass: augmenting minds or helping us sleepwalk? The Conversation Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google along with Larry Page, was photographed recently on the New York subway wearing Google Glass, the company's latest offering to augment your mind. But will our minds be truly augmented? The Google Glass “glasses”, ... See all stories on this topic »

WindowsAndroid runs Google's mobile OS natively on the Windows kernel Engadget Sure, you could enjoy Android on your PC through dual-booting or virtualization, but the folks at Socketeq have whipped up yet another alternative: a port of Mountain View's mobile OS, fittingly dubbed WindowsAndroid, that runs natively on the Windows ... See all stories on this topic »

Driverless cars could be the big thing that vaults Google over Apple BGR Apple (AAPL) may not be the most valuable over company in the world anymore, but it's still by far the most valuable tech company, as its market cap of around $416 billion easily tops Google's (GOOG) $248 billion valuation and Microsoft's (MSFT) $233 ... See all stories on this topic »

  消基會：Google付費App官司勝訴為消保糾紛種下惡例
iThome Online
臺北高等行政法院認定地方機關無權介入要求業者修改定型化契約內容，判決撤銷北市府先前對Google付費App違反消保法的處分，已有業者援引作為上訴論點，消基會認為Google官司判決結果已為未來消費糾紛種下惡例，為嚴重違反消保法的不肖企業提供推翻行政 ...

 

 

 

news

Tech Sector Heats Up: Google and IBM Post Strong Earnings
Technology titans Google and IBM delivered surprisingly strong earnings results this week, in a positive sign for the tech sector

News 10 new results for google

Google releases detailed map of North Korea, gulags and all Washington Post (blog) Until Tuesday, North Korea appeared on Google Maps as a near-total white space — no roads, no train lines, no parks and no restaurants. The only thing labeled was the capital city, Pyongyang. This all changed when Google, on Tuesday, rolled out a ... See all stories on this topic »

Google sued by iPhone users in UK over Safari tracking CNET Peeved that their online privacy was violated, roughly a dozen people are suing Google in a class action suit, according to The Guardian. The case alleges that Google secretly tracked their Internet habits via cookies in the Safari Web browser. The ... See all stories on this topic »

On Data Privacy Day, Twitter and Google focus on government requests CNN International (CNN) -- In 2009 the U.S government dubbed January 28 "Data Privacy Day." Four years later, it's the government's own actions to obtain personal information that are in the spotlight, thanks to new reports from Google and Twitter. The goal of Data ... See all stories on this topic »

Google sued in UK over Safari tracking USA TODAY LONDON (AP) — A British law firm says that about a dozen Apple customers are suing Internet search leader Google in the U.K. over its alleged secret tracking of their Internet browsing habits. London-based law firm Olswang said that 12 Apple users ... See all stories on this topic »

Can You Hack Chrome OS? Google Might Give You $3 Million PC Magazine Google today announced its third Pwnium hacking competition, but this year's contest - and more than $3 million in prize money - will focus on Chrome OS rather than the Chrome browser. Pwnium 3 will take place at the CanSecWest security conference in ... See all stories on this topic »

What Does Google Do If the Government Comes Looking for Your Emails? The Atlantic Google recognizes that many of these requests are legitimate, but it certainly doesn't want to be in the business of rubber-stamping them either. In a post on its official company blog, David Drummond, Google's chief legal officer, spelled out the ... See all stories on this topic » The Atlantic

Google pledges fight over government access to users' email NBCNews.com (blog) Google will lobby Washington this year to make it harder for law enforcement authorities to gain access to emails and other digital messages. In a blog post on Monday, linked to Data Privacy Day, Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said the ... See all stories on this topic »

Google will not oppose clampdown on tax avoidance, chairman says The Guardian Google used the tax haven of Bermuda for £6bn of transactions, while paying just £6m in corporation tax in the UK, in 2012. It defines the UK staff and operations as a "service arm" of the business, and uses an Irish subsidiary to collect advertising ... See all stories on this topic » The Guardian

Google Offers $3.14159 Million In Total Rewards For Chrome OS Hacking Contest Forbes Those prizes are a significant bump over Google's already generous rewards for hackers who demonstrate flaws in its products and share information to help fix them. Though the total, pi-sized bounty is mostly a marketing gimmick–Google has only ended ... See all stories on this topic » Forbes

Google Says Electronic Snooping by Governments Should Be More Difficult New York Times (blog) That is a problem, according to Google, which said it had received 21,389 requests for information about 33,634 of its users in the second half of last year, an increase of 70 percent in three years. Google handed over some personal data in two-thirds ... See all stories on this topic » New York Times (blog)

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Wireless Experiment and others

Will Apple, Google and Samsung lose the smartphone market? Computerworld Google has twice launched phone initiatives where it decided to sell Google-branded phones. The first initiative was in early 2010 when Google launched the Nexus One, followed by the Nexus S. They were manufactured by Samsung, but the fact that Google ... See all stories on this topic »

Are Apple, Whole Foods and Google Democrats or Republicans? Maybe We ... Forbes Whole Foods sells organic, locally-sourced, sustainable products. If one were to assign a philosophy or political orientation to the grocery store chain it would probably be Liberal Democrat. Surely you'd assume it was an entity concerned about global ... See all stories on this topic »

Nigerian Activists Google Map Capital City Voice of America ABUJA — More than 100 young Nigerians are teaming up with Google to add restaurants, markets, hospitals and other prominent locations in the Nigerian capital to Google Maps. Youth leaders say by mapping their city, they could boost the local economy ... See all stories on this topic » Voice of America

Why DIAL, Netflix & Google's AirPlay Killer, is Not A Killer at All Forbes This week, there was much talk about how a new technology developed by Netflix and Google would replace Apple's popular AirPlay technology. Many felt that because the new technology, called DIAL (short for Discovery and Launch), is an open standard ... See all stories on this topic »

How Android's 'Open' Nature Drives Google's Vision of The Smartphone Forbes And as far as that goes, he was right. The building blocks of an Android powered smartphone are there for everyone, but that's not what makes the Android ecosystem tick. Once you have the foundations of your device, you have to address a number of ... See all stories on this topic »

Watch Out Facebook, With Google+ at #2 and YouTube at #3, Google, Inc. Could ... Forbes A report by UK market research firm Trendstream updated its Global Web Index this week which showed how well Google's strategy is working in terms of getting users engaged in its social networks. According to GWI, Google+ is now the second largest ... See all stories on this topic » Forbes

The Analysis Behind Google's Huge Upside DailyFinance (press release) Google reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings. The cost per click is going down, but Joe Magyer says it's dropping because Google is getting more clicks from mobile devices. Google's total paid clicks were up, and Joe feels good about Google's ... See all stories on this topic »

Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook say they require warrants to give over ... The Verge Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook all say that they require full warrants in order to provide the contents of emails and messages to government entities, The Hill reports. That's a higher standard than currently required by US law, which as of now ... See all stories on this topic »

Zagat gets to Portland (thank you, Google) OregonLive.com It's not that Zagat was ignoring us. The restaurant-rating guide was just busy in New York, where it debuted in 1979, and in other, larger cities. But that changed earlier this year. Visit local bookstores today and you'll find rows of Zagat's burgundy ... See all stories on this topic »

Google Fiber provides faster Internet and, cities hope, business growth Washington Post KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Smack in the middle of the nation, this city is about as far as possible from the hubs of high-tech innovation on both coasts. An effort last spring to excite new Web entrepreneurs in a place better known for cattle drives and ... See all stories on this topic »

Documentary throws the book at Google scanning project CNET (blog) PARK CITY, UTAH--The most arresting moment in "Google and the World Brain," Ben Lewis' thoughtful new documentary about the search giant's effort to scan all the world's books, takes place not in Mountain View or a courtroom but rather a monastery high ... See all stories on this topic »

Yahoo, Like Google, Demands Warrants for User E-Mail Wired The Sunnyvale, California-based internet concern's exclusive comments came two days after Google revealed to Wired that it demands probable-cause warrants to turn over consumer content stored in its popular Gmail and cloud-storage Google Drive ... See all stories on this topic » Wired

Western Bloggers Use Google Maps To Expose North Korean Prison Camps NPR Melissa Block talks to Curtis Melvin, editor of the North Korean Economy Watch blog, about using Google Earth satellite images to identify the locations of North Korean prisons. Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of ... See all stories on this topic »

Tip of the Week: Search With Google on the Go New York Times (blog) Typing in keywords to search for information on a mobile phone can be awkward, but Google's mobile apps for Android and iOS let you search by speaking or by pictures taken with your phone's camera. Voice search is built into the Google Search app ... See all stories on this topic »

Facebook Blocks Yandex, the Google of Russia Wired Yandex, Russia's reigning internet powerhouse, has found its latest endeavor thwarted by Facebook after Facebook revoked access to its social graph. Yandex's new mobile social “assistant” Wonder was supposed to coalesce a user's data from Facebook, ... See all stories on this topic » Wired

Google Silent About Wireless Experiment InformationWeek Google has applied to the Federal Communications Commission for permission to test an experimental wireless system, a possible prelude to providing mobile data service on a broad scale. Steven J. Crowley, a consulting wireless engineer, published a ... See all stories on this topic »

Google redesigns image search results for faster viewing Los Angeles Times Under the new format, when a user chooses a picture from the search results, rather than displaying a new page with a preview of the image, Google will instead pull up a larger version of the picture along with its data underneath the thumbnail when a ... See all stories on this topic »

Why it's time for a Google smart watch GigaOM Google is exploring the idea of making a smart watch according to a Business Insider source. The unnamed source suggests that Google is researching how to market such a device and BI notes certain relevant patents Google has that would support such a ... See all stories on this topic » GigaOM

Add expiration dates for shared Google Drive folders CNET (blog) There are visual indicators that show a folder is shared, but if you're busy working, or don't spend a lot of time logged into Google Drive, you may not notice them. When you come across a situation where you want to limit the amount of time that your ... See all stories on this topic »

Google applies for wireless spectrum #thecircuit Washington Post (blog) Google applies for wireless spectrum: Google has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for wireless spectrum in a band that Clearwire uses for mobile broadband. That's set off speculation that Google — which has deployed a ... See all stories on this topic » Government data requests to Google continue to rise PCWorld Governments continue to ask Google for more data about its users, with more than two-thirds of requests in the U.S. made through a subpoena, which usually doesn't require asking a judge for a search warrant. User data requests of all kinds have ... See all stories on this topic » How Google's Jeff Dean became the Chuck Norris of the Internet San Jose Mercury News Nevertheless, on April Fool's Day 2007, some admiring young Google engineers saw fit to bestow upon Jeff Dean the honor of a website extolling his programming achievements. For instance: Jeff Dean (Courtesy: Google). Compilers don't warn Jeff Dean. See all stories on this topic » Cassidy: Will Big Data turn us into Google-driven drones? San Jose Mercury News I'm down with Big Data. I am. Who isn't? Big Data is everywhere. Not only are we all down with Big Data, we all are Big Data, voluntarily or not providing an unfathomable amount of information to the big cloud in the sky, which tracks our needs, wants ... See all stories on this topic » Google Should Thank Holiday Shoppers for Boosting Cost Per Click All Things Digital Google completely overhauled its shopping experience this summer, which required merchants to pay if they wanted their products to appear on the site. 10468219-aj-shopping-cart-software While the move was controversial — and still ruffles some ... See all stories on this topic » All Things Digital Redesigning Google: how Larry Page engineered a beautiful revolution The Verge Something strange and remarkable started happening at Google immediately after Larry Page took full control as CEO in 2011: it started designing good-looking apps. Great design is not something anybody has traditionally expected from Google. Infamously ... See all stories on this topic » Google creating wireless network, but for what? Fox News Google is trying to create an experimental wireless network covering its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, a move that some analysts say could portend the creation of dense and superfast Google wireless networks in other locations that would allow ... See all stories on this topic » Google Is Building An Experimental Wireless Network Perfect For High-Density ... TechCrunch When Google experiments, it can have earth-changing consequences. That might be the case with its latest project: the building of a wireless network on-campus at its Mountain View headquarters, reported by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. See all stories on this topic » Google redesigns image search for faster results PCWorld “Based on feedback from both users and webmasters, we redesigned Google Images to provide a better search experience,” Hongyi Li, an associate product manager at Google, said in a blog post. The improved image search will arrive “in the next few days” ... See all stories on this topic » Biden to hang out on Google Plus this afternoon Washington Post (blog) Vice President Biden addresses the final session of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. in this file photo taken Sept. 6, 2012. (Eric Thayer - Reuters). Vice President Biden will host a hangout on Google Thursday. Fresh from Monday's ... See all stories on this topic » Google Tells Cops to Get Warrants for User E-Mail, Cloud Data Wired Google demands probable-cause, court-issued warrants to divulge the contents of Gmail and other cloud-stored documents to authorities in the United States — a startling revelation Wednesday that runs counter to federal law that does not always demand ... See all stories on this topic » Wired Google updates image search to be faster, more reliable CNET (Credit: Google). Google announced today that it is revamping its image search to make it speedier and more reliable. Soon, people will be able to simultaneously see images and image information while searching for photos, illustrations, and graphics. See all stories on this topic » Sundance Review: 'Google and the World Brain' Huffington Post There's a killer moment in Ben Lewis' fascinating documentary Google and the World Brain where the filmmakers, after traveling to the Monastery of Montserrat in Catalonia, ask the library's guardian Damià Roure what would happen if all this priceless ... See all stories on this topic » Google Adds Salt and Pepper to Tiny Smartphone Chips Wired Write once, run anywhere. For software developers, that has long been the dream. From Java to Flash to HTML5, many platforms have promised to make this a reality, by giving developers a way of writing an application that will run on virtually any ... See all stories on this topic » Wired Google Earnings: Ad Revenues Jump Helped By Mobile Push Forbes Google reported earnings for Q4 on January 22. The company's stock rose 5% after market as the company reported consolidated revenues of $14.4 billion, up approximately 36% year-over-year. However, Google's core revenues (revenues ex-Motorola) only ... See all stories on this topic » Now work on presentations offline with Google Slides ZDNet A common complaint about Google Docs, now accessed via Google Drive, is the requirement of being online. Previously Google gave offline capability to the word processor app, Docs, to allow Chrome and Chrome OS users to work without connectivity. See all stories on this topic » Facebook zooms past Google Maps to become the most used phone app in the US Christian Science Monitor 23, which ranked the top mobile application in the US by audience. Results from Android and iPhone show that Facebook has taken the No.1 spot as the most used mobile app of 2012. Google Maps has slid into second place. The rankings use data from as ... See all stories on this topic » Christian Science Monitor Google shares surge on jump in Q4 profits USA TODAY (blog) In its traditionally strongest quarter, the Internet search giant hauled in $2.89 billion, or $8.62 a share in its fourth quarter, compared with $2.71 billion ($8.22 a share) a year ago. Excluding certain items, Google reported a profit of $10.65 a ... See all stories on this topic » Two Out Of Three Cases Where Google Gives User Data To Government Don't ... Forbes But the new wrinkle in Google's data is a breakdown of how many of those requests approached Google with a search warrant: Just 22%, according to the company. By contrast, 68% of requests were issued only with a subpoena, which unlike warrants don't ... See all stories on this topic » Google: US again leads world in requests for users' information Los Angeles Times The United States again leads the world in official requests for Google users' personal information. That's according to Google's "transparency" report released Wednesday. In the second half of 2012, Google received 8,476 requests for information, up 6 ... See all stories on this topic »