Google

The 'Security vs Privacy' debate is raging again after a court recently ordered Google to hand its entire YouTube records over to Viacom. The order, from the US District Court in Southern New York, comes as part of an ongoing billion dollar lawsuit ... that the media giant (which owns MTV and Nickelodeon among others) filed over copyrighted material on the video site. The suit claims that Viacom has lost revenue thanks to the infringement, while Google has boosted its advertising take. The heart of the case is Google's position that it doesn't -- and practically couldn't -- vet clips that users ... (view more)

Adobe has unveiled changes which will allow both Google and Yahoo to search content contained within Flash presentations. Flash is a system used to produce audio-visual content for websites, such as short movies and animations, in a way that looks ... the same on all machines. It usually involves much smaller file sizes than traditional video formats such as Windows Media. Designers can also incorporate interactive content in Flash such as games and quizzes. However, one major flaw for website owners has always been the fact that Flash content is searchable in the same way as regular website ... (view more)

Google has unveiled a system that will make it easier for online advertisers to find websites that can help reach their target audience. 'Ad Planner' is currently in testing and only available to selected customers, but the plan is to eventually ... make it available to everyone free of charge. Google's new stud should be remarkably simple to use, as advertisers simply type in details of their target demographic and some examples of websites they already know appeal to that audience. The system then returns a list of the best matches, along with details of the overall audience for each site and ... (view more)

In a recent interview, CEO of Google Eric Schmidt recently admitted the firm still hasn't figured out a way to make money from YouTube. He's also discussed the company's supposed web domination and its moral positioning. Speaking to a New Yorker ... journalist at a Syracuse University event, he said Google should be able to make "significant amounts of money" from the video sharing site considering it has such a huge audience. He also pointed out that Google is fortunate enough to have the time and money to invest in the site without an immediate return. With 129 million viewers a month, an ... (view more)

Well, it was going to happen eventually, but it seems that space tourism isn't really that far away after all. News agencies are reporting that Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently put a down payment on one such trip with an outfit called Space ... Adventures. BBC news reports that Brin paid a $5 million down payment to reserve his seat on a flight that will take him and one other passenger to the International Space Station in 2011. Said Brin, "I am a big believer in the exploration and commercial development of the space frontier and am looking forward to the possibility of going into space ... (view more)

Google Earth is coming to your web browser. Last week, at the Google I/O conference, the company unveiled the new browser plug-in and Application Programming Interface (API) that can turn a Google Map on any web page into a 3D Google Earth ... application. (Source: google.com) In a blog post, Paul Rademacher, the Google Earth plug-in Technical Lead said that with the Google Earth plug-in you can "control the camera; create lines, markers, and polygons; import 3D models from the web and overlay them anywhere on the planet. In fact, you can even overlay your content over different planets, stars, ... (view more)

Google recently made a preview release of its Friend Connect service available, which allows websites to add social networking features to its pages. Registration, invitations, members galleries, message posting, reviews and 3rd party applications ... based on Google's Open Social platform can all be added. (Source: google.com) The search giant has designed Friend Connect to interact with most of the major social networks, but is currently available on limited websites, such as singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson's. The Michaelson site uses the iLike application that allows fans to interact and ... (view more)

Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that his company's top priority this year is to make the YouTube video-sharing site a more profitable enterprise through the introduction of new advertising strategies. In an interview that aired on CNBC on ... Wednesday, Schmidt said, "I don't think we've quite figured out the perfect solution of how to make money, and we're working on that. That's our highest priority this year." Google Inc.'s acquisition of YouTube in 2006 represented a $1.65 billion investment in the video-sharing site but internal earnings reports demonstrate that the purchase has yet to ... (view more)

Is "racial profiling" the best way to compete with Google? It would seem that InterActive Corp (Nasdaq: IACI), the owner of Ask.com, thinks so. The company has introduced a new search engine site called Rushmoredrive.com to provide more relevant ... search information for the African-American searcher. The new search engine was created using behavioral targeting techniques. Researchers analyzed the results of the most popular search terms used in geographic areas that have large black populations. The site then catalogues the 'click-throughs' from those results to determine the sites of most ... (view more)

Google has given 10,000 developers free access to its servers to test and run new applications. The Google App Engine is a service by which developers can write their own applications; in effect, online programs. It's the same system Google uses for ... its own online services, including a calendar and a photo gallery. It's considered a challenge to similar services from Amazon, which rents out server space. Servers are the computers that physically store and run online programs and web pages. Many individuals and small firms find it cheaper to rent server space rather than buy and maintain their ... (view more)