The Podium
Blog posts tagged with 'Google'
Friday, February 19
By Brad
Last month, Google announced it would be ending its business efforts in China following an apparent cyberattack on the company and others from the nation. Now, the New York Times reports, an investigation conducted in part by the National Security Agency has traced the attacks to two schools in China:
If supported by further investigation, the findings raise as many questions as they answer, including the possibility that some of the attacks came from China but not necessarily from the Chinese government, or even from Chinese sources.
Tracing the attacks further back, to an elite Chinese university and a vocational school, is a breakthrough in a difficult task. Evidence acquired by a United States military contractor that faced the same attacks as Google has even led investigators to suspect a link to a specific computer science class, taught by a Ukrainian professor at the vocational school.
Thursday, February 18
By Brad
Last summer, Microsoft and Yahoo! announced they would be joining forces in an attempt to better compete with search giant Google. Today, their deal has finally been given the stamp of approval from regulators in both the U.S. and Europe.
Friday, February 12
By Brad
On Wednesday, tech site ReadWriteWeb posted an article on Facebook’s recent partnering with AOL’s Instant Messenger. But when the article—which is titled “Facebook Wants To Be Your One True Login”—started ranking high in Google search results for the term “Facebook login,” something strange happened: Scores of people trying to log in to their Facebook page instead arrived at ReadWriteWeb and believed their favorite social networking site had received a major design overhaul.
The confusion from Facebook users got so bad that Read Write Web was forced to insert a note into the original article:
Dear visitors from Google. This site is not Facebook. This is a website called ReadWriteWeb that reports on news about Facebook and other Internet services… For future reference, type “facebook.com” into your browser address bar or enter “facebook” into Google and click on the first result. We recommend that you then save Facebook as a bookmark in your browser.
Apparently, for many people Internet literacy starts and stops with search engines.
Wednesday, February 10
By Brad
Not content with dominating search and online advertising (not to mention online video), Google has announced it is getting into the Internet Service Provider business. Details can be found on the official Google blog:
We’re planning to build and test ultra high-speed broadband networks in a small number of trial locations across the United States. We’ll deliver Internet speeds more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections. We plan to offer service at a competitive price to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people.
The announcement prompted this response from social networking guide Mashable:
Although it sounds like we’re still some time from seeing Google’s fiber service available on a massive scale, this could represent a massive shift in the Internet ecosystem. Keep in mind that Google has also recently launched its own Public DNS service, as well as an alternative to HTTP that it calls SPDY. The company clearly thinks it can build a better Internet than the one we have today.
If it’s successful, Google will not only know what we do on their plethora of services, but also just about everything else we do on the Web (especially if Google becomes our ISP). Now, perhaps more than ever, the question of whether or not that’s too much power for one company to have is at the forefront.
Monday, February 08
By Brad
A curious side note to yesterday’s Super Bowl extravaganza (congratulations New Orleans!) was the fact that for the first time in 20 years, Pepsi didn’t advertise during the game. As GigaOm reports:
In December, the company said that it had decided to forgo the advertising frenzy that is the Super Bowl for the first time in over two decades (although Doritos, which is owned by Pepsi, will air several ads during the game). Instead, Pepsi said it would spend $20 million funding community renewal events across the U.S. that would be selected through a “crowdsourcing” project similar to Dell’s Ideastorm, in which users get to vote on the various proposals submitted by other users.
Pepsi’s abandonment of the biggest advertising day of the year in favor of a major Internet push wasn’t the only surprise, though, since Google — which has long shied away from traditional TV advertising — did have an ad during the game.
Friday, February 05
By Brad
When it comes to where people get their news online, a new report finds that Facebook is now fourth behind Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.
Tuesday, February 02
By Brad
Via Wired comes the story of a Canadian property owner, the illegal removal of trees, and the Google Street View camera that caught the remover in the act.
Monday, February 01
By Brad
The runaway success of Apple’s iPhone has not gone unnoticed by the other major tech players. First Palm released its own smartphone, the Pre. Then Google got in on the act with first its Android operating system, then its own smart phone the Nexus One. Now, Gizmodo reports, there are rumors that Microsoft is set to throw its considerable weight into the market with a Zune phone.
Friday, January 29
By Brad
Investor’s Business Daily explores a possible effect the recent Google-China dispute could have on the Internet as a whole:
China, which has imposed censorship on its Internet users and used filtering software to block Web sites, is determined to have a role in shaping next-generation Internet standards, analysts say. China wants rules governing cyberspace to be compatible with its political aims. In any event, analysts say China probably has the tools to create and manage its own cyberspace, if it so chooses.
“We are seeing the world moving away from the global Internet to a series of national networks,” warned Columbia Law School Professor Tim Wu at the New America Foundation on Wednesday.
Friday, January 22
By Brad
comScore has released its global search stats for December 2009, and while—shocker!—Google still dominated with 87.8 billion searches in December (a 46% increase over last year), Microsoft’s Bing actually saw the greatest growth, with 4.1 billion searches—an increase of 70%.
Thursday, January 21
By Brad
According to Business Week, Apple is in talks to make Microsoft’s Bing search engine the default search in the next version of the iPhone. From the story:
The discussions reflect the accelerating rivalry between Apple and Google, now the main provider of Web search on the iPhone. While the two companies have worked as partners in the past and Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt had a seat on Apple’s board, Apple and Google have more recently begun competing in several markets, including mobile phones. Google sells a smartphone, the Nexus One, that competes directly with the iPhone and it has spearheaded development of a wireless handset operating system that rivals the iPhone OS.
Whether the search-switch discussions are indeed fueled by an Apple-Google rivalry, or are merely a bargaining chip for Apple to get more money from Google, remains to be seen. But at the end of the Business Week piece there is a bit of a bombshell:
Even if it’s consummated, an Apple-Bing deal may prove short-lived. The person familiar with Apple’s thinking says Apple has a “skunk works” looking at a search offering of its own, and believes that “if Apple does do a search deal with Microsoft, it’s about buying itself time.” Given the importance of search and its tie to mobile advertising—and the iPhone maker’s desire to slow Google—“Apple isn’t going to outsource the future.”
Google, Microsoft, and Apple all in the search business? That’s a lot of heavy hitters all vying for a piece of the same revenue pie.
Friday, January 15
By Brad
Earlier this week, Google announced it and other companies had been victims of a major cyber attack from China. Today the LA Times looks at what has become a major problem:
The attacks against the U.S. are ramping up, according to the congressional U.S.-China commission, which noted in October that Chinese espionage was “straining the U.S. capacity to respond.”
The report focused on an attack on one company, concluding that it was supported and possibly choreographed by the Chinese government. The report also alleged that China’s military, the People’s Liberation Army, is responsible for aspects of cyber spying and has created cyber warfare units.
Wednesday, January 13
By Brad
Yesterday, Google revealed that it had been the victim of a sophisticated cyber attack from China, and that one of the goals of the attack appears to have been accessing the Gmail accounts of human rights activists. In the wake of the attack, Google has announced it will end its controversial practice of censoring search results in China, and may be ending its business ties to the nation altogether:
We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.”
These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered—combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web—have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.
Reactions to Google’s announcement have, for the most part, been positive. But Sarah Lacy at TechCrunch believes that while the human rights angle is worth applauding, at the end of the day Google’s decision may be more about business:
Does anyone really think Google would be doing this if it had top market share in the country? For one thing, I’d guess that would open them up to shareholder lawsuits. Google is a for-profit, publicly-held company at the end of the day. When I met with Google’s former head of China Kai-fu Lee in Beijing last October, he noted that one reason he left Google was that it was clear the company was never going to substantially increase its market share or beat Baidu. Google has clearly decided doing business in China isn’t worth it, and are turning what would be a negative into a marketing positive for its business in the rest of the world.
Wednesday, December 23
By Brad
Now this is a good use of technology. Government agency NORAD, which has long tracked Santa’s flight for children, is teaming up with Google to keep tabs on St. Nick online. The site, Santa Tracker, will go live on Christmas Eve.
Speaking of the holidays, next week the Podium will be on a break. We’ll return Monday, January 4.
Friday, December 04
By Brad
Yesterday, Microsoft’s search engine Bing had a 30-minute outage. While that in itself is not good news, Larry Dignan of ZDNet believes it was a positive step for Bing. Why? Because people noticed — and when you’re trying to take on Google, every little bit helps.
Tuesday, December 01
By Brad
Google has released its “Zeitgeist” list of top web searches for 2009. Taking the top spot was Michael Jackson, followed by Facebook and the Spanish social networking site Tuenti.
Microsoft, meanwhile, released its own top searches for its engine Bing. Michael Jackson was also at the top, followed by Twitter and Swine Flu.
Wednesday, November 11
By Brad
As traditional media business models continue to crumble in the online age, one man is itching for a fight. Rupert Murdoch, billionaire media mogul, may soon take on Google by blocking Google’s searches from his media properties.
Wednesday, September 16
By Brad
Computer World has news on Google’s latest move toward worldwide domination:
Google will offer cloud-computing services designed specifically for U.S. government agencies starting next year, the company announced Tuesday at the NASA Ames Research Center.
The services will give government agencies a way to purchase services such as Google Apps, by ensuring that they meet regulatory requirements, said Matthew Glotzbach, director of product management with Google enterprise.
Monday, August 03
By Brad
Ending one of the more curious relationships in the tech industry, Google CE Eric Schmidt has resigned from Apple’s board of directors.
Thursday, July 30
By Brad
When it comes to the all-important search, Google still rules the roost. But now things are starting to get interesting. Via Read Write Web:
A few months from now, Yahoo’s search engine will be “powered by Bing.” After months of back and forth between Microsoft and Yahoo, the two companies finally announced a deal today that will bring Microsoft’s search engine to Yahoo’s properties, while Yahoo will become the sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.
The agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo is for the next 10 years. As for Google’s reaction to the deal, here’s what PC World found out:
The head of Google’s search organization said the search deal announced Wednesday between Microsoft and Yahoo looked likely to be negative for competition and for consumers.
If Yahoo adopts Microsoft’s Bing search engine in place of its own, that will reduce the search market from three major players to two, said Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search and user experience. She said several groups at Google were still studying the proposed partnership, which is expected to close next year, but that it might reduce innovation.
Seems like the search battle is about to heat up again. Stay tuned…
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