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)

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 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)

Google says it plans to change the way users install add-on tools (known as "extensions") for its Chrome web browser. It's expected the changes will make the browser more secure. A Chrome extension is the same thing as an "add on" in Internet ... Explorer. It's a tool made by an independent developer that adds new functionality to the browser. For example, Amazon has released a Chrome extension that adds a button to the top of the browser screen. When you are reading a lengthy web page, such as a newspaper article, you can click the button to have a copy of the page sent to your Kindle device in ... (view more)

A court has ordered Google to remove all links to embarrassing images of an automotive industry icon. Google is appealing the verdict in a case that raises questions about legal, technical, and geographical restrictions on the Internet. The case ... centers on Max Mosley, previously the head of the Formula 1 racing circuit. In 2008, a British newspaper published photographs of Mosley in an intimate setting with several women. Mosley took the case to court and successfully argued that a breach of privacy had taken place. Mosley won a similar verdict in France, where copies of the newspaper had ... (view more)

Not very handy around the house? Your first reaction to a leaky faucet may be to pay someone to remedy the situation. But you might be able to save some cash by video chatting with a plumbing expert through a new program called Google 'Helpouts'. ... Google says Helpouts is about people paying experts to carry on live video chat sessions. The firm says anyone who feels they're an expert on a topic can trade their services for some kind of payment. Experts can choose to be paid for a whole task or they can set their rate based on the number of minutes it takes to answer a question. Google Makes ... (view more)

Google's (relatively) new social network, Google+, is skyrocketing in popularity. The firm recently reported a 58 per cent increase in its user base over the past few months. Google+ was launched in an 'invitation-only' format back in June 2011 and ... became available to a wider audience later that year. From the beginning Google's plans were to integrate the social networking site into its growing network of sites and services, which includes YouTube , Gmail , and Google Docs. Google+ Surpasses Twitter, Still Far Behind Facebook But it has taken time for Internet users accustomed to using ... (view more)

The head of News Corp and conservative television network Fox News is calling on someone, anyone, to "expose" Internet giant Google. Rupert Murdoch made that request in a recent tweet. Sunday evening Murdoch had this to say via popular social ... networking site Twitter: "Please expose Eric Schmidt, Google etc. Just wait!" Apparently feeling guilty about the post, Murdoch followed up on his initial tweet by writing "Oops! Better ignore last tweet." Reason For Targeting Google Unclear Murdoch hasn't specifically attacked Google in the past, so it's not entirely clear why he made the declaration. ... (view more)

Facebook recently took heat from users upset with the company's claim that it could use members' photographs for advertising purposes without asking permission. Despite that outrage, Google is now implementing a similar policy. According to reports, ... users of Google's own social networking service, Google+, could soon see their pictures placed in advertisements. Those same users will not be consulted before these ads are made or compensated once the ads are placed online. Google Puts Positive Spin on New Terms of Service In a recent statement Google said that, through a new terms of service ... (view more)