Google

Ever heard of Google Street View? The new service is raising eyebrows within the online community and elsewhere, as it threatens worldwide privacy. For example, while searching for her home, Ms. Kalin-Casey was able to see her cat in the living-room ... window of her second-floor apartment building. Kalin-Casey ultimately wants to know "where you draw the line between taking public photos and zooming in on people's lives." (Source: net-security.org ) Discussion about the confidentiality issues of Street View has been all over the web since Kalin-Casey recently voiced her concerns in an email to ... (view more)

Google has vehemently denied allegations that the company has entered into secret deals with UK news companies for the rights to use the companies' material on Google News. The allegations were sparked from an article published in Scotland's Sunday ... Herald newspaper. The article claimed that Google had made arrangements with several large news groups in the UK over how Google would carry their content on Google News. The article further asserted that "the deals are reputedly being kept strictly secret for fear that Google will end up having to pay for similar licenses with all of the 4500 news ... (view more)

A couple of months ago, Google explained its plan to anonymize its logs after retaining them for a period of 18 to 24 months. While some praised this announcement, others questioned why Google has to store this information at all, particularly since ... the logs include data which can potentially be used to identify individuals. Last Friday, Google's global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer posted an explanation on why the company does -- and should -- keep the data for a while. (Source: arstechnica.com ) Fleischer says that the policy evolves around three factors: improving service, preventing ... (view more)

After enjoying the top spot for a little over a year, Microsoft must now get used to being referred to as the former number one powerhouse in the list of the most affluent global brands of 2007. According to an internationally-published brand ... ranking system, Google bested the popular Microsoft Corp. by a unanimous decision. While not affecting the financial success of the company, the news must still be a little devastating to Microsoft, especially after a year in which the company had launched their highly anticipated operating system, Windows Vista. This is only the second year in a row ... (view more)

Recently, Google announced the launch of a new feature for its web users: Web History. The new project offers Google account users the opportunity to access their Web surfing history. A posting on the Official Google Blog touted the new feature as ... making it easy for Google users to "view and search across the pages ... visited. If you remember seeing something online, you'll be able to find it faster and from any computer with Web History. Web History lets you look back in time, revisit the sites you've browsed, and search over the full text of pages you've seen. It's your slice of the web, ... (view more)

Google has removed the sponsored links that had been manipulated to divert users into installing malicious software. By clicking on the link, users would eventually go to a legitimate site, but would first be diverted to another site that attempted ... a "drive-by installation" of password stealing software. (Source: news.com ) "Google identified and canceled AdWords accounts displaying ads that re-directed users to malicious sites," a Google representative wrote on the corporate blog. (Source: news.com ) The culprits engineered the debacle by taking advantage of a unique characteristic of Google ... (view more)

Have you ever heard of Marratech? Most people in the company's home base of Sweden probably haven't either. But Google has. The search engine giant has just purchased the rights to Marratech's video-conferencing software. Google has acquired just ... the technology itself -- not the entire company. (Source: googleblog.blogspot.com ) For now, the program will just be used internally by Google. That news is sure to disappoint tech-heads looking forward to trying the technology out. However, there may be a glimmer of hope: Marratech's program may eventually be integrated into Google services such as ... (view more)

In the beginning, there was Yahoo, Lycos, and even a little search engine 'that could,' called AltaVista. While each offered varying abilities in crawling the web, none could quite match the rise of Google. And although its roots were only modest, ... Google's impressive search capabilities quickly rocketed it to the top of the web, with the power to control the rise and fall of companies vying for space in the Internet community. Now, less than a year after buying YouTube, Google is flexing its muscle again, buying advertising firm DoubleClick for an astounding $3.1 billion. The sheer value of ... (view more)

Google has recently added a new feature to Google Maps. MyMaps, an added sidebar to the Google Maps main page, allows users to create their own mashups. Users can personalize a map by marking places on the map or adding text, photos and videos. ... Further, users can choose to publish a map on the web or share a map with friends. (Source: franticindustries.com ) Some have elected to create mini-stories with the new feature. A Google employee even created a virtual tour of Google Headquarters with MyMaps. If you prefer, check out a world tour of the places where programming languages were invented ... (view more)

If you were getting bored with the lack of juicy gossip in the tech world, don't worry: there's a new Google rumor making waves. Ex-entrepreneur and technology buff Simeon Simeonov has posted a blog giving his two cents on what he thinks is Google's ... next move: the Google Phone. He purports that Andy Rubin, former founder of the company Danger, is working with a group of 100 Google staff members to develop the phone. (Source: theinquirer.net ) Simeonov also points out that Google has been slowly acquiring mobile-centric companies. Reqwireless, Inc., which produces mobile applications, and Skia ... (view more)