Posts tagged as Google
It's The Future and Everything Is Still Boring
Google is rumored to be working on a pair of heads-up display glasses, which would allow information and text to appear in your immediate visual field. Futuristic! But before you get too excited: READ MORE
The Google Goblins Give Firefox a Reprieve--But What About the Open Web?
Data from StatCounter. READ MORE
The Silent Majority Stirs
"Google has decided – without any user consultation – to kill our beloved Google Reader, and force us all to use G+ in its stead. Without any of the functionality that made Reader so useful transferring over to make G+ work for us. In doing so, they are destroying all the features that makes Google Reader so great, and destroying a thriving community of dedicated and loyal followers. We are the demographic that Google needs the most, and we need to let them know what they are losing, and what changes they need to make to this plan to win us back. Join us for this peaceful protest outside Google's DC Headquarters, and let our voice be heard."
Our Well-Paid Public Intellectuals Do It In Public (When Not At Davos)
Jeff Jarvis' Public Parts, released September 27th and currently 12,098 in "books" on Amazon, has come under review by Evgeny Morozov. It is a rather singularly vicious review. From early on: "Why are we so obsessed with privacy? Jarvis blames rapacious privacy advocates—'there is money to be made in privacy'—who are paid to mislead the 'netizens,' that amorphous elite of cosmopolitan Internet users whom Jarvis regularly volunteers to represent in Davos. On Jarvis’s scale of evil, privacy advocates fall between Qaddafi’s African mercenaries and greedy investment bankers. All they do is 'howl, cry foul, sharpen arrows, get angry, get rankled, are incredulous, are concerned, watch, and fret.' Reading Jarvis, you would think that Privacy International (full-time staff: three) is a terrifying behemoth next to Google (lobbying expenses in 2010: $5.2 million)." And then! READ MORE
A Battered Nation Cowers In Fear As Gmail Goes Down
I blame Obama and all the socialism.
The Condition: Existential Googling
Type “why am I” into a Google search and autocomplete will suggest “why am I here?” Type “why did” and you’ll find “why did I get married?” These questions seem so hackneyed, the kind of generic lamentations you might hear in a bad movie. And yet, Google’s autocomplete algorithm insists that searches relating to marital strife and existence are, in fact, incredibly common. This has led me to wonder again and again: has Google become one of our expressions of existential moaning? READ MORE
Horrible 'Times' Spam Farm Gets What It Deserves
About.com, the content farm owned by the Times and one of the worst things on the Internet, looks like it's finally in trouble, due in large part to Google taking action against the Garbagenet. (These outfits depend on search results.) And also: advertisers realizing there are better ways to spend money than advertising against an empty void. In the second quarter of this year, About.com shed staff and now their real operating costs are $13.1 million; their operating profit is down 24% from last year, to $11.6 million. (That's less than $4 million a month.) To be fair, this is still a "real business": The About Group had revenues of $59 million year-to-date, so hey, I'd take it, but the writing is on the wall for this as a visionary business. It's not. It's bad for the Internet and not even that great for your wallet. There's a number of not-so-great numbers at the Times, just released today for the second quarter, but let's look at the interesting numbers: who subscribes online? READ MORE
Google Is Gamifying Reading!
Oh perfect, Google News has announced a revolutionary new product: badges for your Google News Reading Activity. See now when you prove you are Good At Reading, your Google Teacher gives you a gold star for the day. READ MORE
BRB, Can't Stop Ngraming
What's that? You haven't been able to work all day either? I KNOW. Can't stop graming those N's.
