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Less than a month after announcing a controversial new privacy policy that shares user data across all its sites with no opt-out option, Google is introducing a system to monitor all online activity of those who participate in a program called Screenwise. In exchange for unrestricted access to information on your every online move, the search and software giant is offering financial compensation...

Funny how some projects attract the EPA like flies to, well, you know and others? Meh. The LA Times reports: Construction cranes rise like storks 40 stories above the Mojave Desert. In their midst, the "power tower" emerges, wrapped in scaffolding and looking like a multistage rocket. Clustered nearby are hangar-sized assembly buildings, looming berms of sand and a chain mail of fencing that will enclose more than 3,500 acres of public land. Moorings for 173,500 mirrors — each the size of a garage door — are spiked into the desert floor. Before the end of the year, they will...

Nice google script for Charles Dickens' 200th birthday. Happy Birthday Boz!

Google says that it’s there because it’s a great place to promote their election-tracking site, push Google+ as a platform for sharing and collaborating, and because the conference is fairly young and tech-savvy.

For about an hour now, I have not been able to access yahoo or google. Get a "navigation has been canceled" or "page not found" message, and diagnostics indicate that the DNS server is not recognizing the web sites. However, I can get to Bing and Free Republic just fine, among other sites. Just wondering if this is a local problem or a more general one...

There is a phone at the top of youtube to "ask president Obama" I don't know if this is just for the state of the union, but google/youtube should have to bill Obama's campaign for the value of the advertising. Anyway, this mistake I found is really funny. Go to the link and mouse over the phone. Leave your cursor there until the tool tip to comes up.

Google said Tuesday it will follow the activities of users across e-mail, search, YouTube and other services, a shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices. The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes. The policy will take effect March 1 and will also impact Android mobile phone users, who are required to log in to Google accounts when they activate their phones. The changes comes as Google is facing...

Google said Tuesday it will require users to allow the company to follow their activities across e-mail, search, YouTube and other services, a radical shift in strategy that is expected to invite greater scrutiny of its privacy and competitive practices. The information will enable Google to develop a fuller picture of how people use its growing empire of Web sites. Consumers will have no choice but to accept the changes. 247 The policy will take effect March 1 and will also impact Android mobile phone users, who are required to log in to Google accounts when they activate their phones....

The Obama campaign got Google to add a link to tomorrow night's campaign speech on their home page. This is not a standard Google ad. This is on prime real estate. It's in your face standing out from the white background and will be seen by gazillions of people.

Glenn Beck discusses the Big Brother aspects of PIPA and SOPA.

Congressional support for controversial online piracy legislation eroded dramatically on Wednesday in the face of an unprecedented online protest supported by tech titans such as Google, Wikipedia and Facebook. Several key senators withdrew their support from the Senate's Protect IP Act (PIPA), including Tea Party favorite Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), an elected member of his party's leadership. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who leads the Senate GOP's campaign team, said the legislation should be put on hold, while Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), a sponsor and the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, retreated from the...

The time was that yahoo answered most basic searches sort of well. And then along came google, and for a while they looked like the gold standard. But lately the SEO games and massive quantity of stuff online has made simple queries painful. Anyone have a better set of search engines for the DIY or how to crowd?

Reputation is a tricky business. And not just for politicians anymore. This year we're all worried about approval ratings—or should be. Reputation was once a qualitative measure of our behavior, vital but vague. Now it's getting quantitative. Soon there is likely to be an actual numerical reputation score for each of us, like a FICO credit score but for our whole lives.Ready? We've got the precursors now, whether or not we're aware of them. Companies such as PeerIndex, Twitalyzer, Talentag and PostRank (bought by Google) already apply online analytics to establish the heft of an individual's or business's "social capital."...

Twitter lashed out at changes Google Inc unveiled for its search engine on Tuesday, describing the changes as "bad" for consumers and for Web publishers. Twitter, a microblogging service that allows its users to broadcast short, 140-character messages to groups of "followers," said Google's changes would make it tougher for people to find the breaking news often shared by users of its service. ... "We're concerned that as a result of Google's changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that's bad for people, publishers, news organizations and

Nicolas Steno, the Danish anatomist widely regarded as the father of geology, has been commemorated in a Google doodle marking his 374th birth anniversary on 11 January.The doodle illustrated the search engine's six letters in a geological style, with fossils in various bottom layers, with a green surface on top.Steno's work on the formation of rock layers and the fossils they contain was pivotal to the development of modern geology while his catholic piety has also been evaluated in recent decades with a view to his possible canonisation.Born as Niels Stensen, he left his native of Copenhagen in 1660 to...

For Google, it's personal. The Internet search giant is no longer going to roll out the same search results to everyone. Starting Tuesday, Google will pluck only the results most relevant to you --and not just from billions of Web pages but from the personal stuff that you and your connections privately share. The idea, says Google Fellow Amit Singhal, is that Google now searches your world, not just the Web, and serves up results that combine both for your eyes only. "Your world was missing from search until now," he said. "We are bringing your world into search."

Congressional staffers control the content on Members’ websites. They control Members’ Facebook and Twitter accounts. They can even manage Internet search results by buying ads and using search engine optimization techniques. But Hill staffers can’t control what people wonder about their bosses. The latest trend in helpful Web search technologies is quietly causing headaches for Members of Congress and those who manage their reputations. Search engines such as Google now offer suggested search terms that appear in a drop-down menu as users begin typing. Those search terms, formulated partly based on what other users are searching, often serve up all...

Click on the first five "lights" beneath the world "Google" left to right (you're hear a tone each time). Then click on the rightmost "light," and the screen temporarily turns dark and the words "Google" turned into a Christmas light display complete with a short rendition of "Jingle Bells." Merry Christmas, everyone.

Type in the words Let it snow in Google search... Your screen frosts over. Cursor can wipe it away. Aah, technology...

An online piracy bill in the House would "criminalize linking and the fundamental structure of the Internet itself," according to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt. Schmidt said the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would punish Web firms, including search engines, that link to foreign websites dedicated to online piracy. He said implementing the bill as written would effectively break the Internet. "By criminalizing links, what these bills do is they force you to take content off the Internet," Schmidt said, calling it a form of censorship. The search giant has been at the forefront of a tech industry backlash...

A surprising piece of news was buried in an article this week. Friday, The Mercury News reported the three top executives at Google, Larry Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, are offering to pay $33 million to finish the restoration of the historic airship hangar at Moffett Field. The giant structure, built in the 1930s and called Hangar One, sits a few miles from the Googleplex and it’s well known the Google executives have special permission from NASA to park their jets at Moffett.

Eric Schmidt has an idea for Congress: Do what the President wants. Google's chairman urged lawmakers to pass the $447 billion stimulus plan during an interview with Christiane Amanpour. "The economy is, today, stuck behind the power curve -- it needs a lot of encouragement,” Schmidt, who was a big supporter of Obama during his campaign and was rumored to be a candidate for the Secretary of Commerce post, told the host.

Falling down: Hangar One, which was built in 1933 and spans eight acres, will have its skin removed because it is contaminated with toxic chemicals The three executives at Google, one of the world's largest tech companies, have offered to pay $33 million to restore Hangar One, one of the world's largest buildings. But there's a catch -- they want to take two thirds of the eight-acre building to stash their eight private jets. The historic NASA hangar in California's Silicon Valley once housed massive inflatable airships. Now it's falling apart. The skin that covered the massive steel frame was...

The Crude, Third-Rate Artist Owes Much of his Fame, in Life and Death, to being a Communist Who Fanatically Supported the Totalitarian Movement That Murdered 200 Million People, and Ruined the Lives of Over 1 Billion More

Just noticed Google has nothing for today... I don'y know about any of you.. but I am a little saddened.

Every year I check both Yahoo and Google to see if they will acknowledge Pearl Harbor Day. As usual, nothing.

Quote: homeland.house.gov/hearing/subcommittee-hearing-jihadist-use-social-media-how-prevent-terrorism-and-preserve-innovation Subcommittee Hearing: Jihadist Use of Social Media - How to Prevent Terrorism and Preserve Innovation Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence | 311 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 | Dec 6, 2011 2:00pm On Tuesday, December 6, 2011 the Committee on Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence will hold a hearing entitled "Jihadist Use of Social Media - How to Prevent Terrorism and Preserve Innovation." The Committee will meet at 2:00 p.m. in 311 Cannon House Office Building. Witnesses Mr. Evan F. Kohlmann Flashpoint Global Partners Mr. William McCants Analyst Analyst for the Center for Naval...

A source sends over this screenshot of a Google search from yesterday, with a promoted Cain ad showing up when users in Iowa search “Ginger White.” It’s not the first time the Cain campaign has used online and social-media advertising to its advantage. The New York Times noted the campaign’s use of a promoted tweet during the initial round of sexual harassment allegations: Not long after Politico broke the story of the harassment accusations on Oct. 30, Mr. Cain’s campaign took to Twitter to help rebut them

Google is everywhere, including places one might least suspect. Photographer Aaron Hobson has created a series of breathtaking panoramas highlighting some of the most remote places documented by Google Street View. In an interview with SPIEGEL ONLINE, he discusses his virtual journeys. SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Hobson, you didn't photograph your latest series of photos yourself -- they came from Google's Street View service. How did that come about? Hobson: I began working on a film I was asked to direct by a producer in Los Angeles. I am unfamiliar with Los Angeles. Since that is where we are going to...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Google+, the Internet search giant's rival to Facebook, has a high-profile new member: US President Barack Obama."Obama for America," the president's 2012 reelection campaign, created an official Barack Obama page on Google+ on Wednesday."We're still kicking the tires and figuring this out, so let us know what you'd like to see here and your ideas for how we can use this space to help you stay connected to the campaign," it said in its first message.

Google Inc. has abandoned an ambitious project to make renewable energy cheaper than coal, the latest target of Chief Executive Larry Page's moves to focus the Internet giant on fewer efforts. Google said on Tuesday that it was pulling the plug on seven projects, including Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal as well as a Wikipedia-like online encyclopedia service known as Knol. The plans, which Google announced on its corporate blog, represent the third so-called "spring cleaning" announcement that Google has made since Google co-founder Page took the reins in April. The changes come as Google is facing stiff competition in...

Says other institutions better placed to carry on effort * Announces six other projects it will cease supporting By Alexei Oreskovic SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 22 (Reuters) - Google Inc has abandoned an ambitious project to make renewable energy cheaper than coal, the latest target of Chief Executive Larry Page's moves to focus the Internet giant on fewer efforts. Google said on Tuesday that it was pulling the plug on seven projects, including Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal as well as a Wikipedia-like online encyclopedia service known as Knol. The plans, which Google announced on its corporate blog, represent the third...

Google remembered, which is a step in the right direction.

Larry Page is a busy man. The Google CEO wants his company moving quickly and decisively. That, in turn, means eliminating the plodding exchanges fostered by Gmail.com. Who invented that thing, anyway? "He does not much like e-mail...even his own Gmail, saying the tedious back-and-forth takes too long to solve problems... "

Searching Google for information about “Cain Sharon Bialek” and other keywords related to the sexual harassment allegations against Herman Cain? Instead of the most recent news report popping up first on Wednesday, the Cain campaign paid for search results to produce an ad with links to a new Web site, CainTruth, devoted to defending Mr. Cain, the Republican presidential candidate, and telling his side of the story. Promising to help “bypass the media filter,” the new Web site’s banner headline reads: “Get the Truth About Herman Cain.” One of the posts, published on Wednesday, is titled: “Media Obsessed With Nonsense;...

Microsoft and Starbucks are among 70 corporations, financial institutions, medical centers, and other major organizations that have signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief in support of a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).The organizations are, or represent, major employers who argue that DOMA imposes significant administrative costs, and that it harms their ability to attract and retain talent."Microsoft has joined dozens of corporations, organizations and governments in support of a challenge on constitutionality grounds to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA," the company said in a statement. The amicus brief "points out the significant...

Your Facebook Comments, Coming Soon to a Google Search Near YouBy Scott Gilbertson Nov 3, 2011 Mind what you say in Facebook comments, Google will soon be indexing them and serving them up as part of the company’s standard search results. Google’s all-seeing search robots still can’t find comments on private pages within Facebook, but now any time you use a Facebook comment form on a other sites, or a public page within Facebook, those comments will be indexed by Google. The new indexing plan isn’t just about Facebook comments, but applies to nearly any content that’s previously been accessible...

House Democrats today filed a brief in support of a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act, the 1996 law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman. The amicus brief filed by 133 Democrats, including the party’s top leaders, maintains that Congress hastily passed legislation during President Bill Clinton’s presidency to limit who can marry and asserts that the law is unconstitutional. The brief was filed in a consolidated court case being considered in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, although a release said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other top Democratic leaders...

We have often discussed the incredible peril Network Neutrality poses when placed in the hands of government — it’s the incredible economic and First Amendment damage that can (and will) be done by the federal Leviathan once it gets its Net Neutrality tentacles around the World Wide Web. Nearly as pernicious, are the private big companies who benefit from big government generally – and the incredible Big Government power grab that is Net Neutrality specifically. ... There’s the pro-Net Neutrality Media Marxist groups and there’s the $1 million Google in 2006 gave to MoveOn.org. MoveOn.org then: "...funneled at least $100,000...

Ever wonder what kind of content world governments ask Google to remove from their search results? Well, Google has just published their “Transparency Report”, which details the type and nature of takedown requests that they’ve received from all over the world. What do you think US government officials have asked to be taken down? Turns out, most of the recent US requests seem to be related to police brutality, and content that “defames” law enforcement officials. Google states that takedown requests in the US from officials have risen 70% compared to their previous reporting period. Other countries, such as India,...

Mitt Romney can't catch a break. First George Will dumps on him, and now it looks like Google's search engine isn't a big fan. The folks at Slate's Browbeat blog have noticed that when users type the phrase "Romney can win" into the search bar, they get this suggestion: "Did you mean: Romney can't win" Romney is the only candidate who gets the treatment, though this appears to be an innocent quirk of the algorithms and not some sinister Google bomb. Of course, it's nothing compared to Rick Santorum's Google troubles.

Equality: The Girl Scouts of Colorado says it's working to support transgender children, their families and the volunteers who serve them I had no idea! Silly me...when I grew up I thought there were distinctions between boys and girls; but this isn't that. It's about "inclusiveness" for fear of being stigmatized with the dirty-word labels, sexist/bigoted/racist/xenophobic/homophobic: The Girl Scouts of Colorado has flip-flopped on a decision not to let a 7-year-old boy join their organization, now saying he is welcome even though he’s not a girl. Bobby Montoya plays with Barbie dolls and My Little Ponies. He’s a boy, but...

Google has added its perspective — with a search-data-based popularity contest — to the comparisons between Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party. The data rules in favor of Occupy Wall Street. Users searched for the nascent movement more than the Tea Party for the first time in the United States on Sept. 24, according to Google’s politics blog. Search traffic for the term “Occupy Wall Street” has remained higher ever since. Vermont, Oregon and New York are the biggest searchers of Occupy Wall Street. Tea Party search traffic peaks every April during tax season. Because Occupy Wall Street has...

Prediction: Holder will be FINE with Google acquiring Yahoo...no problem since it's part of the fascist bent. Any predictions?

The Department of Energy is standing by a $529 million loan guarantee to a company building an electric car line in Finland. A department official, in a lengthy response posted on a government blog Thursday night, confirmed that the company Fisker is assembling its Karma electric car at its "overseas facility." The response comes after ABC News reported that the Obama administration gave the green light for the company to move the manufacturing to Finland two years after announcing the loan. The ABC News report noted the political connections enjoyed by Fisker and another company, Tesla Motors, which together received...

21 October 2011 Last updated at 09:40 GMT Steve Jobs vowed to 'destroy' Android Steve Jobs said he wanted to destroy Android and would spend all of Apple's money and his dying breath if that is what it took to do so. The full extent of his animosity towards Google's mobile operating system is revealed in a forthcoming authorised biography. Mr Jobs told author Walter Isaacson that he viewed Android's similarity to iOS as "grand theft". Apple is suing several smartphone makers which use the Android software. According to extracts of Mr Isaacson's book, obtained by the Associated Press, Mr...

More bad news for Google+: First, we discovered that Google’s top management apparently aren’t big users of the company’s social network, then traffic fell and now it appears that at least one of the rank-and-file is pretty critical of the platform as well. Steve Yegge, a Google engineer, intended his 5,000-word post to be an internal diatribe for other Google employees, but accidentally published it for his 2,000 or so followers.

(snip) The government is showing interest in the idea. This summer a little-known intelligence agency began seeking ideas from academic social scientists and corporations for ways to automatically scan the Internet in 21 Latin American countries for “big data,” according to a research proposal being circulated by the agency. The three-year experiment, to begin in April, is being financed by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, or Iarpa (pronounced eye-AR-puh), part of the office of the director of national intelligence. The automated data collection system is to focus on patterns of communication, consumption and movement of populations. It will use...

Secret orders forcing Google and Sonic to release a WikiLeaks volunteer's email reveal the scale of US government snooping. Somewhere, a US government official is reading through a list of those who sent or received an email from Jacob Appelbaum, a 28-year-old computer science researcher at the University of Washington who volunteered for WikiLeaks. ... Appelbaum is a spokesman for Tor, a free internet anonymising software that helps people defend themselves against internet surveillance. He's spent five years teaching activists around the world how to install and use the service to avoid being monitored by repressive governments. It's exactly the...

There's a new religion in the world. Adherents call it Googlism. It's a small sect. It only has 16,000 or so Facebook likes. It's lacking some of the rituals and philosophical underpinnings most other religions have. But it does have a place of worship (online, naturally, at thechurchofgoogle.org), a set of commandments (which includes "Thou shalt not hotlink") and a semi-rigorous stricture of apologetics, outlining various "proofs" as to why Google is a goddess. "Not only is Google the closest known entity to being Omniscient," the site reads, "but She also sorts through this vast amount of knowledge using Her...