Google Changes Search Algorithm, Trying to Make Results More Timely. Acknowledging that some searches were giving people stale results, revised its methods on Thursday to make the answers timelier. It is one of the biggest tweaks to Google’s search algorithm, affecting about 35 percent of all searches. The new algorithm is a recognition that Google, whose dominance depends on providing the most useful results, is being increasingly challenged by services like and , which have trained people to expect constant updates with seconds-old news. It is also a reflection of how people use the Web as a real-time news feed — that if, for example, you search for a baseball score, you probably want to find the score of a game being played at the moment, not last week, which is what Google often gave you. “This is the result of them saying we need to find a way to more effectively get fresh content up,” said Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land and an industry expert.
Timeliness has long mattered to Google and its search results. And Here It Is: The New Google Reader Revealed. Today, Google is rolling out its update to Google Reader which features the promised user interface overhaul, and, more importantly, the new Google+ integration. Now, Google Reader users can “+1″ items directly from Google Reader to share it with their friends on Google+. This feature now replaces the “Share” and “Share with Note” options previously present. As expected, Google has ignored the cries of the niche community of Google Reader sharing enthusiasts (as well as what seems to be the entire online population of Iran), and has pushed forward in its plans to remove Google Reader’s native sharing features to promote deeper integration with Google+.
While the ability to share with Google+ is an obvious important step forward for Google’s social agenda, it will be disappointing change for at least some of the Google Reader community – a community that even went so far as to create a petition to save the old features. It didn’t have to be this way. But that didn’t happen. Former Googler Builds Site That Shows You What Top Tech Companies Pay. Last night at an informal gathering of tech people, someone likened Silicon Valley to a “Las Vegas for people who want to make crazy shit” equating VCs and angel investors to gamblers of sorts. Well if investors are gamblers, and startups are hands of cards, what does that make engineers?
I don’t know (in the Vegas analogy I’m Hunter S. Thompson), but it sure seems like they get paid a lot. Attempting to match up actual numbers to that “a lot,” Google Customer Solutions Engineer Gareth Jones has set up a site called TechCompanyPay, which allows you to comprehensively search for what $$ various postions will pay at tech heavy hitters, replete with LinkedIn links for said positions so you can put faces to an amount. According to TechCompanyPay, the top five tech companies, in terms of moolah doled out, are Twitter: paying $120K on average, Apple: paying $113K on average, LinkedIn: paying $112K on average, Facebook: paying $110K on average and lastly (which surprised me) Google, at 104K.
Google boosts London's Silicon Roundabout. 28 September 2011Last updated at 11:23 Silicon Roundabout takes its name from London's Old Street roundabout Google is to provide office space and assistance to new technology companies in London's "Silicon Roundabout". The company has leased a seven-storey building in the Old Street area, where many start-up firms are based. Prime Minister David Cameron has signalled his desire to turn the area into "one of the world's great technology centres". About 300 companies are now working in the area, according to Tech City, the body set up to promote the initiative. Google said that the building, in Bonhill Street, would host "a range of activities, such as speaker series, hackathons, training workshops and product demonstrations" in addition to providing workspace for new companies.
The California-based company stressed that it was not moving its UK headquarters - currently in central London - to the area. Many millionaires Continue reading the main story "Go with the grain of what is already there. Google Acquires 1,000 IBM Patents -- InformationWeekGoogle Acquires 1,000 IBM Patents - internet Blog. Search giant is tight-lipped about the purpose of the transaction, but the filings cover everything from chips to databases. Slideshow: Top 15 Google Apps For Business (click image for larger view and for full slideshow) Google has purchased more than 1,000 patents from IBM in an effort to build up its intellectual property portfolio, possibly with an eye to fending off the increasing number of IP lawsuits the search giant faces from competitors such as Microsoft.
The 1,030 patents cover a wide range of technologies, including "the fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips," according to the blog SEO By The Sea, which first spotted the filings. They also pertain to several other key aspects of computing infrastructure, including servers and routers. Google does not make such hardware, but has built a number of massive data centers that use such technology internally to store and serve up terabytes of data through its search engine and other cloud products.
Concerns Over Facebook Stream Importer for Google+ Abound. An application that allows Firefox and Chrome users to view Facebook stream data within Google+ is popular, but may put users at a security risk due to issues with the coding. Google+Facebook, developed by Israeli developer Crossrider, lets users see Facebook streams and update Facebook statuses from within the Google+ platform.
The extension has thus far proved popular: according to company execs, there have been over 100,000 downloads in just one week. Unfortunately, the code may be insecure. Crossrider CEO Koby Menachemi admitted himself that the application was written in less than a day, and so "the product is not perfect. " Taking this fact into consideration, it's not impossible that Crossrider's coders may have missed something.
Questions about Google+Facebook's possible security issues were raised over the weekend, when Reddit user RogueDarkJedi posted comments on a story promoting the app. What's in question is the app's behavior. "So should you trust these guys? Google’s mysterious Photovine.com is live, but what the heck is it? A service called Photovine.com went live today, and the website’s tag line, “plant a photo, watch it grow,” is intriguing. It has a domain and trademark owned by Google, as noted by TheNextWeb.com – could this be the new photo sharing service for Google+? There’s not much to go on at this point. The service’s splash page doesn’t offer a whole lot to click on or read.
One wonders why they even put the splash page up. The homepage says “Photovine is a fun way to learn more about your friends, meet new people, and share your world like never before.” There’s a link to a support page, hinting that support is necessary for people who might be getting to test the service. Photovine’s privacy policy page indicates this is a project of Slide, a company Google acquired in August 2010 for $182 million. Google already sort-of introduced photo-sharing service Pool Party in June 2011. Photovine is different from Pool Party. Pool Party and Photovine need to have a get together in a Google+ Hangout. Google Introduces Facebook Competitor, Emphasizing Privacy. Google has tried several times, without much success, to take on and master social networking.
Now it is making its biggest effort yet. On Tuesday, Google introduced a social networking service called the Google+ project — which happens to look a lot like Facebook. The service, which is initially available to a select group of Google users who will soon be able to invite others, will let people share and discuss status updates, photos and links, much as they do on Facebook. But the Google+ project will be different in one significant way, which Google hopes will be enough to convince people to use yet another social network. It is meant for sharing with groups — like colleagues, roommates or hiking friends — not with all of one’s friends or the entire Web. It also offers group text messaging and video chat.
The debut of Google+ will test whether Google can overcome its past stumbles in this area and deal with one of the most pressing challenges facing the company. Mr. Google report suggests huge payout for clean technology expansion. Aggressive spending and expansion in clean technology would generate 1.1 million new jobs by 2030 and reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 13 percent, according to a new report by Google. If the U.S. employs more federal mandates and provides funding for clean technology projects, those projects will generate 1.9 million jobs and reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent, the report states. By 2050, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by 55 percent without federal mandates and funding for clean technology projects. The U.S. will cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 63 percent if the government introduces aggressive clean technology policies.
Google’s report focuses on two ways to increase the funding for clean technology projects. The first is a model in which the U.S. government aggressively expands its clean technology policies and increases the amount of nuclear power deployed. More than E-mail at Stake in Google Gmail Attack. There is a lot of talk--and diplomatic tension--this week related to reports that attacks originating from China have breached Google Gmail accounts, including those of senior US government officials. The focus is on e-mail, and whether or not e-mail accounts were hacked, but a breached Gmail account is a much bigger prize than just the e-mail account it is attached to. Google claims that the spear phishing attacks that targeted Gmail accounts of White House staff, and successfully exposed accounts of senior US government officials, high-ranking military personnel, and political activists, originated from China. China denies any state-sponsored involvement in the attacks, and the FBI is investigating.
The Gmail e-mail accounts are getting all of the attention. But, it would be more accurate to say that Google accounts are being targeted or compromised--not just Gmail. Accessing Google Maps could yield valuable information as well. Google’s face-recognition app sounds great for stalkers. Tech companies keep on creating great new technologies that raise a lot of privacy concerns.
The latest example is Google’s upcoming mobile app that will identify people’s faces in order to access their personal information. CNN profiled Hartmut Neven, director of the Google project, who said that, in order to be identified by the software, people using the app would have to check a box to give Google permission to access their pictures and profile information.
Google has not said what personal data might be displayed once a person is identified, CNN reported. “We recognize that Google has to be extra careful when it comes to these [privacy] issues,” Neven told CNN. “Face recognition we will bring out once we have acceptable privacy models in place.” Google Goggles is good at recognizing things because it goes through a dozen different kinds of image searches, figures out the best result, and then returns an answer as to what it thinks an image is. The stalker problem isn’t a joke. Samsung’s New Android Tablet Is Gorgeous and Expensive. Google's Chrome OS assailed by needless, dangerous by critics. By Daniel Eran Dilger A former Google employee predicted that the company's web-based Chrome OS for netbooks would be canceled next year while GNU founder Richard Stallman warned of its dangerous potential for users.
The apparent success of Android isn't spilling over into Google's parallel Chrome OS project. The official launch of the new operating system has already slipped into the middle of next year, but now critics of all stripes are calling into question whether it's even a good idea. Tale of Two OSs Earlier today, Gmail creator Paul Buchheit, who has since left Google for Facebook before founding FriendFeed, predicted via Twitter: "ChromeOS will be killed next year (or “merged” with Android). " According to a report by TechCrunch, Buchheit further clarified his thoughts later by adding, "Chrome OS has no purpose that isn’t better served by Android (perhaps with a few mods to support a non-touch display). [...] I was thinking, 'is this too obvious to even state?
' The"careless" cloud. 10 Chrome Web Apps to Check Out. Google Chrome OS Netbook Set for Dec. 7 Unveiling - Desktops and Notebooks - News & Reviews. Follow Us: Facebook Twitter Linkedin Find us on Google+ HOT TOPICS: Android Apple Developer IT Management New Era Networks Small Business Virtualization More Channel Data Center Database Desktops and Notebooks Government IT Green IT PC Hardware Health Care IT Linux and Open Source Servers Windows RSS RSS Feeds Google Chrome 23 Stable Release Fixes Adobe Flash Audio Flaw Also fixed are at least seven security issues, including three high-risk and three medium-risk vulnerabilities. More > Startup Messagemind Complements Enterprise Social Media Platforms Robert Mullins | November 27, 2012 As enterprise social media services like Chatter, Jive and Yammer catch on, smaller companies emerge to add functionality to those platforms.
Samsung Galaxy Note II Scores Big Sales: 10 Reasons It's so Popular Nokia Fan Reshoots Botched Lumia 920 Gimmick Security Flaw Disclosure Debate Boils Over to SCADA Industry Robert Lemos | November 26, 2012 Online Privacy Threatened, but Risky Behaviors Persist: ISACA News and Reviews. Google Warns Facebook Users of "Trap" Before Data Export. If you hadn't yet heard, there's been a bit of a kerfuffle this past week over your data by two Internet giants - Facebook and Google. It started when Google began blocking other services from importing its data without reciprocity, a move aimed directly at Facebook. Since then, the ball has been hit back and forth, with Facebook making an end-run around Google and deep-linking directly to a contact exporter on Google. Now, Google has retaliated by asking any user that gets that far if you are "super sure you want to import your contact information for your friends into a service that won't let you get it out?
" Take a look at Google's rather hilarious response after the jump. (Click on image for full size view) This is the page that Facebook users now see when they try to export their Google data to find their friends on Facebook. This is just the latest move in a week-long skirmish between the two companies. Here is the full text of Google's warning: Hold on a second. Smarter Than You Think - Google Cars Drive Themselves, in Traffic. Google Promotes Susan Wojcicki, Advertising Executive. Susan Wojcicki, the Google executive who oversees advertising and who also supplied the garage where Google was founded, has been given a promotion. Ms. Wojcicki has been named a senior vice president, Eric E. Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, announced on Monday in a memo to Google employees. She was formerly a vice president, of which there are dozens at Google. She joins eight other senior vice presidents.
Just one other woman has the role at Google: Shona L. Ms. Her promotion comes two weeks after Google promoted Marissa Mayer, formerly vice president for search, to lead the company’s local efforts and to serve on the operating committee of top decision-makers. Ms. She knew Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder, before he started the company, and rented her garage to him and Larry Page, the other co-founder.
In an interview with me in March about women in technology, Ms. Diversity also plays another important role at companies, she said. WikiLeaks Archive - China’s Battle With Google. Google, Groupon: Google in talks to buy Groupon deals site - latimes.com. Google buys huge NYC building for about $1.8 billion.