Google

Google has unveiled a new instant search feature that provides results as users type in their query. It's a new trick for online searches -- one Google says will save its many, many clients lots of time. As Google vice president of user experience ... Marissa Mayer put it, the instant search feature is designed to provide results "as you type, not after you type." (Source: usatoday.com ) American Internet users got their first look at the instant search tools on Wednesday, with international clients being introduced to the feature over the course of the week. Google Instant Search Powered by ... (view more)

Google will soon offer content from the Associated Press (AP) on its news site. While the deal makes business sense, it's something of a surprise given that the two companies have publicly disagreed over interpretation of copyright rules. The full ... details of the deal, and specifically the financial arrangements and the duration of the license extension included, are being kept under wraps. MarketWatch figures suggest that, given Google's size, the fee is likely worth more than $1 million US dollars per year. The Associated Press has revealed that the deal will mean closer collaboration rather ... (view more)

Google and Verizon have made a joint proposal for how "net neutrality" should operate. It's a proposal that is as controversial as net neutrality itself. The Principle of Net Neutrality The principle of net neutrality is that all Internet traffic ... should be treated in the same way, with the exception of illegal content. Whether that principle should be upheld is the subject of heated debate. Supporters say the Internet should be treated like a utility (such as telephones, where providers must offer a connection to every home), while opponents favor a purely commercial approach with providers ... (view more)

Over the weekend, Google admitted its enormously popular video site YouTube had been hacked. By Sunday morning the search giant had fixed the problem, which included raunchy pop-up messages and link redirections to explicit websites. The flaw ... involved hackers exploiting a cross-site scripting weakness that allowed them to insert their own programming code into YouTube's comments section. Rather amusingly, the hackers focused their attention on Justin Bieber clips (amongst others), with many of his music videos affected. Bieber appeared on an NBC Fourth of July TV special Sunday, so it's ... (view more)

Connecticut's top law official says he may be joined by others in investigating Google's alleged WiFi privacy breaches . It follows similar action in both Europe and Australia. The dispute came about when it emerged that, while taking photographs ... for its Street View mapping service, Google used its vehicles to scan for local wireless networks, a move it says was designed to allow it to show the locations of free public hotspots on its maps. However, in this process it "inadvertently" collected snippets from emails and data from websites which were being transmitted wirelessly, with ... (view more)

Google's forthcoming Chrome operating system (OS) will be able to run applications from other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows. The procedure is a relatively simple technical solution, though one which has practical limitations. The ... Chrome operating system, which has been released in a form developers can experiment with works in a different way than most web browsers. It's designed to run when the computer is online and is, to a major extent, a souped-up version of Google's Chrome web browser. Chrome OS Goes Easy on Old PCs Instead of standalone applications on the computer, most ... (view more)

Google has designed a new course that teaches students how to hack. Those students of Google's "Web Application Exploits and Defenses codelab" will learn how hackers uncover security vulnerabilities and exploit web applications. Jarlsberg ... Application: The 'Sitting Duck' The entire codelab uses a program called Jarlsberg as the perfect example of a "sitting duck" target. Similarly named as the kind of cheese filled with holes, Jarlsberg is a small, yet full-featured microblogging application with plenty of security holes to boot. While the Jarlsberg application allows users to publish text and ... (view more)

Google is once again at the center of controversy in Europe over the use of its technology in regard to privacy rights. Recent claims were made by German officials that the tech company is scanning for private wireless networks and recording the ... details through the use of its Street View service. According to Germany's federal data protection commissioner Peter Schaar, Google has been collecting MAC (Media Access Control) addresses of private citizens for some time now. A MAC address refers to a specific network adaptor -- and in this case, individual wireless routers. Schaar said that he was ... (view more)

It's no secret: Gmail (along with Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail) users face the wrath of spammers all the time. Fortunately, most of that virtual junk mail ends up in a designated spam bin, never to be bothered with. However, a recent report suggests ... spammers may now be hacking gmail accounts to get their message across. "The Gmail team takes security very seriously and is investigating the reports we've seen in our user forums over the past few days," Google noted in an announcement on Tuesday. "We encourage users who suspect their accounts have been compromised to immediately ... (view more)

It's rumored that Google is close to launching its own rival for the Apple iPad tablet device. Google's tablet computer will reportedly blend an e-reader with the multi-functional and very popular Android operating system (OS). Google Opts For ... Android Operating System The choice of operating system is certainly a surprising one, given that Google has been pushing its own Chrome OS, due sometime this year. The reason the Chrome OS won't be a part of Google's tablet is actually pretty simple: Chrome will be extremely slim, offering only minimal software support and the Chrome Internet browser. ... (view more)