Google to end censorship in China over cyber attacks | Technolog. Google, the world's leading search engine, has thrown down the gauntlet to China by saying it is no longer willing to censor search results on its Chinese service. The internet giant said the decision followed a cyber attack it believes was aimed at gathering information on Chinese human rights activists. The move follows a clampdown on the internet in China over the last year, which has seen sites and social networking services hosted overseas blocked – including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube – and the closure of many sites at home.
Chinese authorities criticised Google for supplying "vulgar" content in results. Google acknowledged that the decision "may well mean" the closure of Google.cn and its offices in China. That is an understatement, given that it had to agree to censor sensitive material – such as details of human rights groups and references to the pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 – to launch Google.cn. "That includes China. Google sends a shockwave through Chinese internet | Analysis | T. For years, security experts in the US and Europe have known that Chinese hackers sanctioned by its government have been probing the computer systems of important organisations – whether aerospace companies, science laboratories or the British parliament, which was targeted at the end of 2005.
Now Google has discovered that it, too, is among the targets of those attacks. The internet giant has declared cyberwar on the world's biggest nation. Who would be brave enough to take on more than a billion people? But the method it has chosen is to flood them with the resource that is so plentiful: the world's information. It is a resource that China's population is hungrier than ever to get. News of tainted milk scandals, cover-ups over shoddy buildings that collapse in earthquakes, riots in Tibet … humans are infovores, always keen – once they have raised themselves beyond subsistence – to know more and more about the world around them. Can China's repressive government survive that? US, Google take hard line on China web censorship. An Android Developer's Top 10 Gripes — Developer.com. Put on your favorite self-pitying emo music and get ready for some developer frustration.
I'm running down the top 10 things I love to hate about Android. 1. Open Source Leave it to Google to place all the code for their handset platform in the hands of the masses. Not only does this mean anyone can download and roll a new version of their phone firmware, but it also means absolutely any maker can roll its own Android device. I'm looking forward to an Android-powered toaster oven any day now. What's worse is Google knows how to protect valued code; Its Maps, Gmail, and Store applications aren't open source. 2. Through the Activity, Android forces developers to build apps in smaller, bite-sized chunks. This design would be dandy for mobile software except for one thing: exactly no one else works this way. In the end, professional mobile developers are left with two options: I suspect you, dear reader, can guess which direction this grumpy author has had to take. 3. 4. 5. Page 1 of 2. Google Chrome Gets an Adorable New Ad. Why Google Chrome is better than Firefox and Internet Explorer.
I like to think of myself as the Dick Cheney of the Browser Wars—an unyielding proponent of greater and greater hostilities between the developers working on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and Opera. As all these programmers compete with one another to make faster, more stable, and more intuitive browsers, we Web surfers keep winning. Just two years ago, nearly half of the folks online used Internet Explorer 6.0—the slowest, buggiest, most security-flawed browser on the market. Since then, Microsoft, spurred by its rivals' advances, has released the very good I.E. 8, which is now the Web's most popular browser.
I.E. 6 is still around, but now that many sites (including Google) are dropping support for it, its share is sure to plummet. All hail the great Browser War! Farhad Manjoo is a technology columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of True Enough. Follow Another benefit of this ceaseless conflict: Browsers keep getting faster. Now, some caveats. For Google, The Meaning Of Open Is When It’s Convenient For Them. Yesterday, Google published a long manifesto on the “meaning of open” in the form of an email to all employees republished as a blog post. In it, senior VP of product management Jonathan Rosenberg, makes an eloquent argument for why open systems always win and urges Google’s employees to always strive to be open when designing products. An open Internet spurs innovation and brings more consumers on board, which ultimately means more searches and increased use of Web applications. The gist of his argument is that a bigger, better Internet is good for Google.
He writes that Google employees should resist the impulse to create closed products and systems, and even makes a swipe at Apple for doing so (bold added for emphasis): . . . open systems win. It all sounds great and Google certainly is a champion of open systems with Android and Chrome and countless other projects. But don’t be fooled. Google is only open when it is convenient for them. There is nothing wrong with this strategy. Google's 2009: A Glimpse of the Web's Next Decade. In 2009 the web as we knew it changed dramatically. Twitter graduated to become a media darling and a mainstream communication staple. Facebook became the most significant social network of this day and age. And Google changed the way we search. When historians look back on 2009, they'll be forced to acknowledge Google's role in shaping the future of how we search, how we browse, how we communicate, how enterprises store information, and how the population at large has adapted to a web-rich mobile environment centered around applications.
Here's a look back at Google's big releases, major accomplishments, and a few faux pas in 2009. Google in 2009: The Timeline The Evolution of Search Google started the year with 63.5% market share in the search space (source: comScore January 2009 data), with a commanding lead over its closest competitors Yahoo (20.5%) and Microsoft (8.3%). Google also made efforts to improve search filtering options with the addition of time-based search options. If Google Wave Is The Future, Google Buzz Is The Present. See our live notes from today’s Google Buzz event here. Google has a problem. Despite having their hands in just about everything online, they’ve never been able to tackle what is a key part of the fabric of the web: social.
Yes, they have Orkut and OpenSocial, but no one actually uses them. Okay, some people use them, but not in the meaningful social ways that people use Facebook or even Twitter. Today, Google may have just solved their social problem. Google Buzz is easily the company’s boldest attempt yet to build a social network. FriendFeed Reborn. Fundamentally, Buzz is a stream of status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. Yes, again, it sounds a lot like FriendFeed. Social Curation Buzz also wants to differentiate itself another way: social curation. For now, this data is sadly only a one-way street. The Big Mobile Social Play Listening to Google tell it, you’d almost think Buzz is just as much of a mobile product, as a social tool inside Gmail. Social Issues. Google updates Buzz as privacy fears mount. Google Buzz: Competitors and Experts React. GMAIL USERS: You can now follow Mashable's official Google Buzz profile here: It's no shocker that the web is buzzing about Google Buzz (terrible pun intended), Google's most aggressive push into social media yet.
The new social updating and aggregation feature integrates with your mobile and your Gmail, providing a service that seems like a hybrid of Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook and Yelp. People are already taking sides, including some of Google's competitors. Yahoo struck first, putting out an e-mail about its own previous (and similar) social media efforts before Google even finished its announcement.
Microsoft didn't take long to make its thoughts heard, either. Here are some choice reactions from web experts and Google's rivals: Microsoft Microsoft's statement can be distilled into one very simple phrase: Nobody should care about Google Buzz. Here's the actual statement in its entirety: Yahoo Choice quotes: "There are now more than 200 Yahoo! Google: Buzz Is Staying in Gmail.
GMAIL USERS: We hope you'll join the discussion over on Mashable’s Google Buzz account. Google might have a made a major misstep in assuming that the people we communicate with the most in Gmail are the same people we want to automatically share the Google Buzz experience with, but new information confirms that Buzz is not being removed from Gmail. The blogosphere is abuzz over a Search Engine Land report that Google might unlink the two products. In contacting Google, however, we received the following statement: "No, we're not planning to remove Buzz from Gmail.
Among some of the features we're considering is building a standalone Buzz experience in addition to the one in Gmail, but I can't confirm anything right now. " Since the launch of Google Buzz there has been a growing backlash against the autofollowing formula of the social networking service and the assumptions it makes about our relationships. "Google says it may end the marriage between Buzz and Gmail ... Google May Offer Buzz Independently From Gmail.
Google says it may allow people to participate in Google Buzz without having it integrated within Gmail, in addition to offering a combined Gmail service. That may be a welcome move for users of both products, especially in light of the substantial privacy concerns voiced this week about Google Buzz. “It’s clear that interest in Buzz may extend beyond the current Gmail base, and we’re open to serving that community,” said Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of Product Marketing, when I spoke to him about some Buzz issues at the TED Conference.
Horowitz stressed that Google would still offer a version of Buzz within Gmail, in addition to any independent version. “We think that Buzz within Gmail is a great experience, and we’ll keep offering that as well,” Horowitz said. Trademarks, “Big Names” & Buzz One issue with Buzz is that it may be difficult for companies to have profiles that match their trademarks, or famous people might have similar issues. Buzz & Privacy. HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail. GMAIL USERS: We hope you'll join the discussion over on Mashable’s Google Buzz account. With more than 9 million posts and comments in two days, Google Buzz has stormed the web like a swarm of locusts.
An array of strong features, integration with Gmail, and lots of press have turned Buzz into an overnight phenomenon. If you're like a lot of us, you've suddenly found yourself using your Gmail even more than you already were. Spending so much time in Gmail and Buzz, though, inevitably takes away from your Facebook and Twitter, and who wants to sacrifice their tweeting and Facebooking? Luckily if you're a Gmail user, you don't have to sacrifice either, even while you're browsing your e-mail or your buzz. Gadget Integration Is Your Friend Yesterday we caught a Buzz post by Ari Milner where he described how he turned his Gmail into his personal "social command center. " "The key was using Gmail Labs feature at the bottom of the list called 'Add any gadget by URL'. 1. 2. 3.
Brands Wasting No Time With Google Buzz. This Could Get Annoying. When it came to Facebook and Twitter, it took brands a while to figure out how to take advantage of the social networks. With Foursquare, they have been much faster. But now with Google Buzz, they’re beating plenty of early adopters to it. Samsung has already set up a Google Buzz account this morning and is already cranking out buzzes.
Not only that, but they’re apparently trying to start their own trends on the service, as they have today tagged a bunch of their “favorite buzzers” and tagged the buzz with “#BUZZwednesday.” Of course, the problem here is that Google Buzz doesn’t support the “#” symbol the same way Twitter does (at least not yet). Of course, what’s annoying about the Buzz tagging mechanism is that it automatically sends these message to your Gmail inbox if you’re mentioned in one.
Hope everyone is ready for an onslaught of brands on the service! Update: And Samsung responds: Update 2: And Samsung adds: “We agree that messages going to Inbox is not ideal. Say Hello To The Buzz Button. Google Didn’t Make It, So We Did. Love it or hate it, everyone is talking about Google Buzz right now.
And, judging from my account, a ton of people are actually using it too. The main use envisioned for Buzz was sharing, but the problem is that for content, you still need to copy a URL and then head over to Buzz to share it. Not anymore. HOW TO: Make a Google Buzz Desktop App. GMAIL USERS: We hope you'll join the discussion over on Mashable’s Google Buzz account. Whether you're using it on your phone or your desktop, Google Buzz is quickly becoming an interesting and popular way to share content with your Gmail friends.
However, because it's tied to Gmail, Google Buzz is also tied to your web browser. That can be fine for lots of instances, but what if you what if your primary Gmail account and the account you use Buzz with aren't the same? What if you want to have Buzz act like more of a regular application than a browser tab? While we're sure that plenty of Buzz-specific application clients are in the works, we're going to show you how you can create your own Buzz Application for Windows, Mac or Linux. The Rundown on SSBs (Site-Specific Browsers) To create our stand-alone copy of Gmail (and by extension, Google Buzz), we're going to create what is known as a site-specific browser (SSB). Choosing the Right Tool Creating a Google Buzz App in Prism Click OK.