google

On the first April Fool's Day to fall on a weekend in five years, there was less opportunity to trick people surfing the web at work. But that didn't stop Google from posting a slew of clever and very bogus tech-related stories. The company ... unleashed at least seven different gags, many of which were gathered together in a "promotional video". It seems as if Google was using a scattergun approach in the hope that even people who spotted most of the jokes would get caught out by at least one. Google Maps Gets Major Downgrade Rather naughtily, Google's first gag came before the day of ... (view more)

Google is currently getting grilled by French officials over the way it handles customer privacy. At the same time, the search giant is also facing stern criticism from British politicians regarding the way it deals with complaints involving illegal ... websites. The French authority that governs data handling in the country, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertes, (CNIL) has even slapped the company with a deadline of April 6, by which it must answer to the Commission. The CNIL is currently leading a Europe-wide probe into Google's recent changes to its privacy policies. ... (view more)

MiniBin 3.8.3 MiniBin is a free recycle bin for your Microsoft Windows system tray area: the area next to the clock, in the lower right corner of your screen, in your taskbar. Besides saving you some clicks, Minibin also comes in handy when you are ... hiding the recycle bin on your desktop, or if you are using a replacement shell that contains a system tray but does not provide a usable or customizable recycle bin. In addition to providing some extra functionality, Minibin is more convenient, and allows you to empty your recycle bin without minimizing your open windows. http://www.e-sushi.net ... (view more)

France's National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL) claims Google's new privacy policy violates European Union law. CNIL is an agency charged with protecting citizens' private information, and reporting to the European Commission. ... Last January, Google announced its new privacy plan, scheduled to take effect this Thursday, March 1, 2012. The plan claims to allow for more convenient tracking of its privacy initiatives across Gmail, Google Docs, and about 60 other online services, while clarifying those policies for its users. Critics Say Advertising, Monetization Drives ... (view more)

Microsoft has accused Google of ignoring the privacy settings on browsers. Google says it's all a misunderstanding, but politicians have suggested there could be legal consequences. The dispute centers on web browser cookies, which are small text ... files a website sends to a user's computer, intended to provide information to various sites for customizing the user's online experiences. However, cookies can also be used to track a web user's online activity. To prevent this, most browsers allow users to limit the acceptance of cookies. For Apple's Safari, the default setting accepts cookies only ... (view more)

It's been a week since we had our vote and my email inbox is buzzing with questions and suggestions from our readers. The question below is the most frequently asked question from last week's vote, and it deserves an entire article on its own. ... Please read it carefully. Note: the article below is lengthy (about 1500 words). Most people reading this article will find it highly informative and interesting as it applies to technology, search engines, advertising, profits, and even addresses how and why Google ranks its search results. It also explains why we are asking for contributions to our ... (view more)

February 15, 2012 Major Announcement from: Dennis Faas, CEO, Chief Editor and owner of Infopackets.com Dear Infopackets Readers, After 10 years of publishing online and having produced over 8,000 original articles, Infopackets may be forced to close ... its doors due to lack of funding. The site may shut down as early as June 1st, 2012. I do, however, have a plan to save this website and make it ten times better than it was before -- but, it requires an extraordinary amount of effort, as well as consensus from our readers. Note: The article below describes our situation in detail. Please read it ... (view more)

Both Facebook and Google have removed online material alleged to pose a risk of social unrest in India, following legal threats to block the sites completely. The two companies are among 21 firms hit with a civil lawsuit regarding offensive content. ... The lawsuit, brought by a private citizen, claims the material involves religious issues that could provoke unrest. Google's problems appear tied to its sites Blogger and YouTube. Google says it has taken down the material pursuant to a court request, its standard policy regarding legal issues, regardless of country. The material has been removed ... (view more)

Hexonic PDF Split and Merge 1.0.2 Hexonic PDF Split and Merge allows you to easily merge an unlimited number of PDF documents into a single one. Using the splitting feature, you can create a new document for each page of the source documents. ... Hexonic PDF Split and Merge is free for private, non-commercial use. http://www.hexonic-software.com Google Chrome for Android 0.16.4130.199 Presenting your favorite Chrome features, now on your Android phone and tablet. Pages load in a snap and hardware-accelerated page rendering lets you fly through long pages. Experience the mobile web, Chrome fast. ... (view more)

Google developed a service for scanning the Android Market for potentially malicious apps before they can ever get into the hands of would-be users. Called "Bouncer," the service is set to perform security scans on all new applications in addition ... to apps already featured in the Android Market. Google even plans to run scans on individual developer accounts to keep repeat offenders from coming back. Great Demand for Products Like Bouncer Google's release of Bouncer would appear to be well-timed. Last week, security firm Symantec sent out a warning after stumbling upon what they believed to be ... (view more)