Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Snapshot

Hey, I like Google’s new image results page… ‘endless’ images like Bing. Here’s a snapshot of ThePaepae.com‘s result today — although they’re not all actually from ThePaepae.com* (click to enlarge): It provides a nice retrospective, doesn’t it? – P (* Most are. I don’t know how they select which images to display. There must be […]

Pressure and persuasion

Cost of principles? Too pricey, it seems. ‘Tested and found lacking’ would be one way to describe Google’s push-me-pull-you relationship with the Chinese government. Highlighted first in March Google ‘leaves’ China over censorship with worldwide fanfare and admiration that they’d finally grown some stones, it started to unravel a bit (The cost of principles?) and […]

The cost of principles?

Not a flattering headline, but I’m sure they have their reasons for the [reported] backpeddle after this brave start back in March: Google ‘leaves’ China over censorship Will Google roll over for China? By Marianne Barriaux | NZ Herald Wednesday Jun 30, 2010 BEIJING – Google has changed tack in China to address government complaints […]

YouTube copyright win. For now.

Well, that’s an interesting turn. Looks like the judge has confirmed the rule as: Go ahead, infringe somebody else’s copyright (or provide a platform for doing so), then stop doing it as soon as the aggrieved rights-holder demands you ‘take it down’ and … ‘sweet, bro!’. Hmm, I don’t think I like that. The role […]

Google ditches MS Windows after security breaches

Google to employees: ‘Mac or Linux, but no more Windows’ by Michael Rose |  TUAW on May 31st, 2010 [US time] We first heard rumors of this policy change a couple of months ago, but now it’s made the papers: the Financial Times is reporting that Google is phasing out the use of Windows internally, […]

Backlash, anyone?

Apropos yesterday’s Google’s tentacles post, see the outrage being provoked even in the home of the free: Germany’s data protection authority (DPA) requested Google audit the WiFi data collected by its Street View cars. The audit revealed that contrary to the company’s claims, for at least three years, Google has been collecting payload data (the […]

Google’s tentacles worm closer …

Does anyone else see a problem with this? Please explain: why Google wants your Wi-Fi data LOUISA HEARN | The Age | May 13, 2010 Google Australia will today be sent a “please explain” letter from two local privacy organisations demanding to know why the company has been collecting personal Wi-Fi network data from Australian […]

Freeloader culture: taking things that aren’t yours …

Andrew Keen’s opinion column “Copyrights take a back seat to profits on the Web” is worth a read. Even in the digital world, standards are still necessary and some old rules deserve respect. Creators should still be fairly compensated for their work, and we shouldn’t tolerate stealing as the road to profit. And, as much […]

I can see where this principal is coming from …

Principal Asks Parents To Ban Facebook, Social Networking It’s a ‘news story’ at present in the States… read about it here at Huffington Post if you care, or (better in my view) read the principal’s actual email letter (below) … then, if you want, read the news coverage. Dear Benjamin Franklin [middle school] Community, In 2002 […]

A glimpse of the future?

For geeks only: Charlie Stross expounds on his version of the future of computing — and it’s far more than the ‘death to PCs viva everything in the cloud’ mantra. He extrapolates from recent statements and events surrounding Apple … I’ve got a theory, and it’s this: Steve Jobs believes he’s gambling Apple’s future — […]

Bloggers aren’t journalists?

I commented earlier in ‘Neither one nor the other‘ that blogging isn’t considered journalism by many. Now Google boss Eric Schmidt has sparked some anger by saying the same thing. He missed a point which Curt Hopkins at Read Write Web in a post titled Google’s Schmidt to Bloggers: Drop Dead! was good enough to […]

ex-Reporter Helps Convict a Con Man

No, not me. I have Google alerts loaded for all my authors — the search engine automatically sends me an email message with a reference when one of them is mentioned on the internet. So for several years, among the articles, interviews, TV appearances and reviews of my authors, I’ve also been getting alerts about […]

Google ‘leaves’ China over censorship

Good on Google for deciding that censorship was dodgy. It was always, always dodgy,* but perhaps the ‘commercial imperative’ had driven the free-thinkers at Google to submerge their outrage. ( — which is NOT a long term strategy, as we have discussed in relation to an example closer to home.) From the Google blog today: A […]

On the wall of honour … Fake Steve Jobs on Google

So good, I had to plonk it here: One of my heroes, Fake Steve Jobs (Dan Lyons)… China to Google: Drop dead Minister of Information Technology says Google must obey the laws or leave, and China doesn’t give a crap because they’ll be just fine without Google. (Especially since they apparently can waltz into Google’s […]

“Buzz kills privacy” – ooooh!

So you don’t like Google Buzz? Turn it OFF, then, and stop complaining: Nightmares for Gmail users as Buzz kills privacy – NZ Herald : “Of course, those still dissatisfied can simply turn off Buzz. There’s a small link to do so at the bottom of the Gmail inbox page.” Duh. UPDATE: – a bit […]