google

Augmented Reality Is Both a Fad and the Future -- Here's Why

Farhad Manjoo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

You wouldn't immediately suspect that Yelp's iPhone app might be a gift bestowed upon us by a benevolent superhero from the future. Load it up and the program's in its Clark Kent garb -- a useful-enough guide to local restaurants, bars, and merchants.

Today's Vision of Tomorrow: Circulation Stats, News Corp. Say Bits Replace Ink for Newsprint

Kit Eaton — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:06:37 -0500

Remember back in olden days when a story would break and the chief at the local daily would yell, "Stop the presses!" Well, they've finally stopped. And in the future, most of our newspaper content will be delivered via digital tech. Here are the stories today that point the way:

Newspaper Circulation Lower Than You Think

Looking for New Homes? Google's Got an App for That Too

Kit Eaton — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:34:36 -0500

Remember that news about Google kind of getting into the mortgage game? New news means it looks like the search giant is serious about getting into helping you buy homes--Google's quietly pulling together a real estate database.

YouTube Now Reads Your Lips for Automatic Captions, Kinda

Kit Eaton — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:54:47 -0500

Depending on your needs, and how you look on them, YouTube's embedded captions are either extremely useful, or an irritating extra that people abuse, distracting you from the video. The good thing is: Captions just got a whole lot cleverer.

Today's Vision of Tomorrow: Entertainment

Kit Eaton — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:09:35 -0500

To brighten up your dreary winter's morning, here's something to tickle the dreamer inside you: Exactly how might we be enjoying our digital entertainment in the future? Three news pieces today point to different TV-based ways to digest our media.

Hulu Joins the Online Music Fray, Kinda--With Video

The Google Phone Is Coming to Change the Game

Kit Eaton — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:02:06 -0500

[Update: Could the Google phone be a data only, VoIP-driven device, rather than a standard phone? TechCrunch has a source that thinks so, and suggests that AT&T is already bidding to provide data services. (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.) You can already port your phone number to Google Voice, after all. So you'd just make your calls over the data service instead.]

Video Ads on iPhone Will Punish Multiplayer Gamers

Chris Dannen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:54:47 -0500

AdMob is planning special video advertisements for iPhones that play like movie clips before an app launches. In other words: time to go offline before you fire up that app. (Below, an ad for an EA game plays before a Tapulous app launches.)

Development on Index Page.

Sheikh Imran Ahmed — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:06:27 -0500

Jawoco.Com is working on new index page of it's website, where features and speed are core projects.

CEO explains "We are trying to develop whole new development for the Index Page and make it Robust than before and trying to make a simple UI for the website which can look good on the eyes. Current webpage is more slower than the one we have created now. According to our test, the new Beta one is opens in 0.07 seconds where as the Current Webpage takes up 0.14 seconds, it is like so much speed differences.

Dec 25th Surprise & Search Engine, new plans.

Sheikh Imran Ahmed — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:45:02 -0500

Jawoco.Com is planning new Marketing schemes to make search engine market increase. Search Engine has attracted many Googlers and Bingers too that they are using Jawoco.Com Search Engine.

According to analyst, search engine different look, design and development is totally redefining the search engine.

Google Forced to Duke It Out with Swiss Authorities

Addy Dugdale — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:47:59 -0500

Poor the Google. Just when it thought it was safe to wheel out those trikes from the GoogleBunker, having won a privacy invasion case against Mr. and Mrs. Boring of Pittsburgh (I kid you not) then someone else starts having a go at them.

Google Lets You Search World Bank Data

Chris Dannen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:12:40 -0500

Whether you think the World Bank is an engine of worldly improvement or a bunch of corrupt plutocrats, you'll probably still want to look at their exhaustive trove of data, which Google made available today.

Will Video Tweets Finally Put Our Webcams to Use?

Chris Dannen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:15:42 -0500

Almost any computer on sale today will come with an embedded Webcam. But how many of us actually use them?

New services that enable video tweets on Twitter might be the democratizing force that drags Webcam use--and by extension, video chat--into its rightful place in the technological pantheon.

Can "Freemium" Work? Babbel and WSJ Say No and One of Them Is Wrong

Chris Dannen — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:22:57 -0500

Babbel and The Wall Street Journal both turned away from the Freemium model this week. The outcome will be drastically different for each.

Babbel, a language-learning site, came out of beta today with a surprise: It will be charge between $6.65 and $11.95 per month for access, according to TechCrunch. "Freemium doesn't work for us," the startup's director told TC.

Google's Data Show Tennessee, Florida Most Troubled Over Health Care

Chris Dannen — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:51:09 -0500

Google's philanthropic Flu Trends site has been able to track swine flu about as well as health care surveillance, according to Bloomberg. What else can trending searches tell us about the state of health in the United States?

What Will Google's Newspaper Crusade Mean for Readers?

Chris Dannen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:54:31 -0500

It's nice that CEO Eric Schmidt feels Google has a "moral responsibility" to help reinvent the newspaper industry. But how?

Mission Impossible

Roger Andout — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:59:38 -0500

Mission statements - Vigorous fights over semantics last for hours, even months. Then you end up with some variation of jargony quasi-poetry.

Google's Dashboard Is a Window Onto Your Google Soul

Kit Eaton — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:24:57 -0500

"Have you ever wondered what data is stored with your Google Account?" Google asks, and privacy advocates and techy-minded people will quickly answer "YES!" Now Google's Dashboard lets you see, but not delete, what's stored about you in Google's vault of mysteries.

Commerce Search: Google Attempts to Boost Online Stores With Boringness

Kit Eaton — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:22:41 -0500

Google's tentacles extend everywhere online, including e-commerce--thanks to Google Checkout, for one. But now it's got a new system, Commerce Search, which companies can use to inject smart search skills into their online stores. Just in time for the holiday season.

Huge, Stupid Tech Lawsuit Might Just Be Crazy Enough to Work

Chris Dannen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:09:44 -0500

A defunct navigation company called WebMap Technologies is suing 15 different major companies in what might be the most bloated and fatuous IP lawsuit in recent memory. And it just might pay off.

The Hills Are Alive, in Google's Swiss HQ [UPDATED: New Pics]

Cliff Kuang — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:34:10 -0500

There's lots of perks at Google HQ out in California, but the design itself is a snooze. Things are a lot more interesting at their just-completed engineering offices in Zurich, Switzerland.

The common spaces are particularly zany, and they play off of lots of tropes of Swiss culture. Above: Meeting rooms in the form of ski-lift gondolas.

Googled, by Ken Auletta

Fast Company Calendar — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:40:52 -0500

"If we solve search," Google cofounder Larry Page told a class at Stanford in 2002, "that means you can answer any question. Which means you can do basically anything." Googled tells the story of the search rocket's relentless ambition and how it has upended every corner of the media business. Auletta creates an engrossing narrative from this clash between Google's engineering mind-set and old media's grip on the buggy whip of the status quo.

Android 2.1 Already Lurking Around the Web

Chris Dannen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:34:46 -0500

While the smartphone world is just coming down from its Android 2.0 high, Google is apparently already testing Android 2.1. Android fanboy site AndroidAndMe has reported that its analytics show 23 visits from Android 2.1 devices visits over the past few weeks. (AndroidAndMe's analytics graph, below.)

Chinese iPhone Looks Poised to Fail

Chris Dannen — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:09:55 -0500

At Apple's all-night iPhone launch party in Beijing, there were none of the day-long lines seen in New York, London, or Paris. According to the Financial Times, the Chinese iteration of the iPhone, which went on sale on October 30, has stirred the interest of only 11.7 of Chinese cell phone users, according to one survey.

Google Voice Slapfight: AT&T, Sex Chats, and Some Hot FCC Action

Chris Dannen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:38:29 -0400

Google's public policy blog admits that Google Voice blocks certain numbers. AT&T says this would be illegal were Google treated like any other telecom. But Google claims that if it doesn't engage in blocking, its service will become too expensive to operate for no charge.

The problem, says Google, is the telephone scheme called "traffic pumping" perpetrated by small local phone companies in cahoots with sex chat lines. (Below, FCC headquarters in Washington, D.C.)

Google's Turn-by-Turn Nav Sends Garmin, TomTom Stocks Plummeting

Chris Dannen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:21:25 -0400

We reported yesterday that Google may upset the entire GPS market. Hours later, they did. Personal navigation stocks went into freefall yesterday after Google announced it would bring turn-by-turn navigation to its mobile Google Maps apps.