Google

Facebook's purchase of a "social aggregation site" has prompted speculation that it may be planning to challenge Google's domination of the search market. The buyout of FriendFeed has been seen as the first step in an attempt to improve search ... through social networking. FriendFeed is a site which allows users to bring together information from their accounts with around 60 websites. These include social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, plus other services which have user accounts, including YouTube, Flickr and Amazon. As well as bringing together the user's own information from ... (view more)

Google made quite the controversial statement recently after attempting to shed some light concerning their new Chrome operating system . Google has raised eyebrows after promising that their customers will no longer have to worry about viruses, ... malware and security updates. In a recent blog entry, Google announced that the company was prepared to "go back to the basics" and redesign the essential security foundations of the OS in such a way so that users would never again have to deal with viruses, malware and the need for constant updates. It didn't take long for a number of security ... (view more)

Recently Google announced its Chrome operating system for netbooks, the mini laptops that have revolutionized computing in this pesky recession of ours. The slim, streamlined OS is intended to help the performance of these tiny systems, and it could ... solidify the search giant's place in the software universe. It's safe to say that netbooks are here to stay. Initially dismissed as PC-inspired toys that couldn't possibly replace more powerful 15.4" or 14" laptops, these systems, made by titanic hardware producers like Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, and Acer, have cemented their place in the tech world ... (view more)

In a report last week, popular analyst firm Gartner praised Google's Android operating system over the much anticipated release of MS Windows 7 for netbooks. Google Android is an operating system that has been popular with smartphone users for quite ... some time. Recently it was announced that Acer, most admired for their work in the growing netbook market, would equip future systems with this Linux based OS. Android "Snappy", Says Gartner Now, Android is hardly the first netbook system based on Linux, but according to Gartner it is the first to do so with name power. "Android is the ... (view more)

Google is working on a way to search microblogging sites such as Twitter. But the news has led some experts to warn that such real-time searching might lead to a major flood of spam. Twitter already has its own service allowing people to search any ... term mentioned by any user. However, while these people get almost instant updates of posts from other users, messages don't appear in search results until around 20 minutes after their original posting. Google, which updates in seconds rather than minutes, sees this as a market gap. The independent site Google Operation System notes a line in some ... (view more)

Google is set to challenge online retail giant Amazon by selling contemporary electronic books. And unlike Amazon, it will let publishers set the prices. The move is a new development for the Google Book Search scheme, in which the firm scans texts ... so that users can search for particular phrases. While Google does intend to bring in paid access for full editions of some books covered by Book Search, the vast majority of titles in the scheme are either out of print or out of copyright. At the moment, most modern books included in the scheme only have 20 per cent of their pages available for ... (view more)

Interested in helping honor fallen U.S. troops who gave their lives in its recent wars, but not sure how to do it? A new Google Earth tool helps people find local (and not so local) families as well as media related to those troops who have paid the ... ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan and Iraq. It's a worthy reminder that these wars are far from over. The new feature is called Map the Fallen , a new Google Earth layer released Sunday by Google engineer Sean Askay. It holds data on the 5,700-plus service members who have died during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The highly interactive ... (view more)

There's been a mixed response to a new search tool aiming to answer questions rather than index the web. Wolfram Alpha has earned praise for its ability to solve specific problems, but it's become clear it's no replacement for the wider capabilities ... of Google and friends. The site, which has been in testing for a few weeks but is now fully operational, is the work of British physicist Stephen Wolfram. He's best known for developing the argument that the wider universe runs on logical rules, just like the language of computer programs. Solutions, Not Guidance The major difference with Wolfram ... (view more)

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is investigating a pair of Google board members who fulfill similar roles with tech giant Apple. Such a set-up would be illegal if it in any way affects competition between the two companies. The investigation ... involves Google chief Eric Schmidt and fellow board member Arthur Levinson. Neither company, nor the FTC, have commented on the story, which recently broke through the New York Times. (Source: nytimes.com ) The FTC is reportedly looking into potential breaches of the 1914 Clayton Antitrust Act which bans people from sitting on the board of two ... (view more)

Google has introduced a new feature called 'Google Profile', which lets users control how their information appears when someone else searches for that person's name via Google's products (such as the Google Search Engine). Using Google Profile, it ... is possible to create a personal page that links to your blog or other profiles and keep family and friends up to date with your contact information and pictures. (Source: google.com) Control Over What Others See According to Google, a profile is simply how you present yourself on Google products to other Google users. You control how you appear on ... (view more)