google

Google has revealed its top search terms for 2013. Topping the list: gadgets, dead people, terrorist attacks, and natural disasters. Google broke its top search terms into several categories, including People, Events, Athletes, Consumer Electronics, ... Movies, Performing Artists, and TV Shows. Death Casts Shadow Over Popular Search Terms The people Google users searched for the most: recently deceased South African leader Nelson Mandela and American actor Paul Walker, who was killed in a high-speed traffic accident a few weeks ago. Google users also searched for Pakistani education activist ... (view more)

Google has bought up a firm that makes animal-like robots for the US military. It's all part of Google's plan to become more involved in the robotics industry. The company in question is Boston Dynamics, a contractor for the Pentagon. The company ... has worked with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), a government organization that works on some outlandish projects -- such as making a robot that can outrun Olympic champion Usain Bolt. In the past Boston Dynamics has focused on producing technology that assists military officials fighting in harsh territory against enemies who ... (view more)

Dell has announced plans to launch its first 'Chromebook', a laptop using Google's Chrome operating system (OS). Dell's Chromebook will offer unique online storage features, including access to Wyse PocketCloud. Chromebooks are budget-priced laptops ... designed for people who mainly use their computers for working and surfing online. The devices run an OS that's effectively an enhanced version of the Chrome Internet browser. Because most of the actual processing work is done on Google computers, the hardware requirements of the Chromebook, and in turn its price, are much lower. Not having a full ... (view more)

New reports suggest Microsoft is planning to take on National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance by stepping up its encryption. The hope appears to be that by encrypting more information the NSA will have limited access to Microsoft's sensitive ... data. Microsoft executives are reportedly meeting to determine what encryption techniques could be used to prevent the National Security Agency from spying on the company and its customers. Washington Post Report Alarms Tech Titans It's part of a response to a Washington Post report which appeared to prove that Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo are being ... (view more)

Microsoft's new 'Scroogled' merchandise appears to be selling remarkably well. New reports suggest a lot of the gear, which rips on Google's controversial Gmail privacy policy, has already sold out. Microsoft began its Scroogled campaign earlier ... this year. The focus of the offensive is Google's Gmail privacy policy, which allows the company to scan both sent and received emails in order to formulate more effective advertisements. Microsoft insists its email service, Outlook, doesn't do that to its customers. To highlight the difference, Microsoft recently began selling mugs, t-shirts, ... (view more)

Microsoft has launched a new set of merchandise carrying anti-Google slogans. It's just a publicity stunt, but the blistering nature of the attacks may land Microsoft in legal trouble. The merchandise is the latest step in Microsoft's "Don't get ... Scroogled" campaign. That term, a mix of "screwed" and "Google", is Microsoft's way of arguing that its rival has a much more aggressive approach to using customer data for its own means. The campaign has largely centered on the fact that Google scans messages sent through its Gmail service and then uses the content to produce relevant advertising. ... (view more)

Google has agreed to pay a $17 million penalty for cheating a privacy system in Apple's Safari browser. Google was fined because it effectively lied to customers about its privacy policy. The case involves cookies, small text files placed in a ... user's web browser so that websites can quickly get information about the user. In some cases this can be beneficial; for example, a movie listing site can make a note about a user's ZIP code so that they immediately receive localized listings when they visit the site. In some cases, though, advertisers will use cookies to track which sites a user ... (view more)

Google has already patched a security flaw exposed by a public hacking contest. Chrome and Internet Explorer were both hacked at the Tokyo event, though contestants said doing so is getting tougher all the time. The contest is called "Pwn2Own," and ... the idea behind it is that the first person to successfully hack a computer or mobile device wins the compromised hardware and a cash prize. But winning is really about gaining prestige in the security community. Similar contests have concentrated on desktop computers, but this event focused on mobile devices. One participant successfully ... (view more)

Google says it's facing a rapidly increasing number of data requests from national governments, and particularly the United States government. At the same time, the firm says it still hasn't made any headway in its fight to show its users the ... information it's being forced to share. Google says that, in the six-month period between January and June 2013, the United States government made almost 11,000 requests for information related to Google's users. U.S. Government Makes Most Data Requests -- By Far By comparison, the government of India -- the country that made the second-most data ... (view more)