Google

Google has introduced a new program for Google Talk users that tracks their music listening habits and posts the results online for others to view. Activating Google Music Trends To activate Google Music Trends, users must have a gmail account and ... Google Talk, the search giant's one-year-old instant messaging program. The option for Google to track your music likes is voluntary, and to participate you must check the Google Music Trends option in the Google Talk settings menu. How does it work? Google Music Trends tracks your music preferences by registering each song you listen to via Google ... (view more)

For those that have had to reinstall Windows XP or have purchased a new computer with it pre-installed, getting a good selection of software to start with is sometimes a time daunting task. Google has done something about it, however. The Google ... Staff Engineers went through dozens of software packages and built a collection of software tools, utilities, and toys that are automatically updated for you -- and it's called Google Pack. Google states that the versions on some software may lag behind a version on some software packages, but that is only because the engineering staff check out each ... (view more)

Scams are nothing new for the Internet and its 'netizens. Whether it be the infuriating advertising brought on by Spyware, bundled adware commonly found in peer-to-peer downloading, or good old fashioned credit card number theft, the worldwide web ... has been a beacon of crime and mischief for some time. However, one interesting little scam, "click fraud", is now being targeted by some of the industry's biggest names, and the movement has both the American court and government system involved. "Click fraud" is defined as the exploitation of pay-by-click advertisements for the purpose of profit. ... (view more)

Residents of Mountain View, California -- where Google is based -- now have a new reason to appreciate their hometown company. The organization announced that it will be giving away free wireless (WiFi) Internet access to the entire city. Mountain ... View has a population of about 72,000, but with major tech firms like Google and VeriSign based there, that number can reach up to 100,000 during the day. However, Google is confident that its new service can weather the masses. "We aren't concerned about being able to handle the load," assured Google executive Chris Sacca. "We think we have built a ... (view more)

On Monday, MySpace.com's parent company, Fox Interactive Media (owned by News Corp) announced a newly launched deal with Google that will give the search engine exclusive rights to online search results and sponsored ads on the MySpace web ... community. The deal also gives Google the same access to Fox Interactive Media's other online enterprises such as RottenTomatoes.com and Scout.com. (Source: news.com ) Agreement Stipulations The agreement stipulates that in exchange for being Fox Interactive's exclusive search engine and ad provider, Google will pay $900 million U.S. from its AdSense ... (view more)

Is the FBI poking around your e-mail? Randall C. Ashby II used his Google Mail (Gmail) account to distribute hate speech -- and that was all the feds needed to investigate him. On May 22nd, 2006, Ashby signed up for Gmail and sent a threatening ... message to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP immediately forwarded the offensive letter to the FBI. Here's a transcript of Ashby's e-mail: Warning: The following quote contains disturbing content! "You are no match for our numbers and our power. We will come out of the night and rise from the dirt to ... (view more)

Google has just unveiled Accessible Web Search , a search engine for the visually-challenged. Here's how it works: Regular Google sorts search results primarily by how relevancy, but Accessible Search takes it a step further by also listing pages ... will that will be easy for the blind to navigate. To meet Google's Accessible Web Search criteria, a web Site has to be "visually simple." That means it should contain few images, work well even if those images are turned off, and can be navigated primarily with a keyboard. (Source: google.com ) Before Google Accessible Web Search, searching the ... (view more)

Citing security threats to the consumer, eBay has banned its buyers and sellers from using the recently launched Google "Checkout". Largely considered to be a future threat to eBay's PayPal service, Google Checkout is considered by Paypal as an ... "official payment service not permitted." Like bounced checks bitterly taped to the counter in an old convenience store, this move my PayPal is seen by many as a cheap way for eBay to prevent the growth of a major competitor. (Source: zdnet.com ) Reminder: What is Google Checkout? Google Checkout was recently released as a rather simple " ... (view more)

After weeks of speculation, Google has finally introduced "Google Checkout", its first foray into the world of online payment systems. Although Google refused to confirm such rumors, it has today gone ahead with a program that is most comparable ... with Microsoft's "Passport" service. Both systems use a single login name to allow users a payment method with a host of participating online vendors. The greatest difference between Google's Checkout and Microsoft's Passport are the time and, obviously, the company. In recent months, Microsoft has scaled back its Passport service considerably. ... (view more)

A new message is now appearing on Google's video Web site: "You can now watch selected videos for free -- thanks to our sponsors. These videos usually sell from $0.99 to $14.99." That's good news for net addicts with a few hours to kill. The service ... features full-length movies, documentaries, sports, cartoons, talk shows, and professional wrestling matches. (Source: Google.com ) You won't find Casablanca, the Super Bowl, or WrestleMania -- but there should be something among Google's sponsored videos to tickle your fancy. Besides, as the old saying goes, "free is free." You're probably ... (view more)