Category: Google

Google makes a big deal about transparency. The company always wants you to know how, and why, it shows certain search results or ads, and what of your personal data it has tucked away in the deep recesses of the Goog-Cave. Google Dashboard showed the information the company could gather from you via the Google services you used, and it was an interesting (if creepy) way to expose holes in your ...

A couple of years ago, Google began blurring any pedestrian faces or vehicle license plates captured by any of its Street View cameras in response to outcries from privacy advocates around the globe. UC San Diego grad student Arturo Flores, however, thought the company could do better. So, as part of a project for one of his courses, Flores decided to create a computer vision system capable of ...

Google and social-application developer Slide officially announced yesterday that the creator of 'Super Poke' had been purchased by the creator of our favorite e-mail and search services. Details of the partnership are scant, but we know that Google paid $182 million for the company, and it's part of a move to start "investing even more to make Google services socially aware." It's widely ...

Google Wave, only a couple of months past its first birthday is no more. The highly anticipated (and hyped) re-imagining of communication and collaboration for the modern era stunned us with its incredible capabilities and questionable utility. After opening to the public in May, Wave failed to attract the user base Google anticipated. Instead, when faced with a drastically different paradigm for ...

We knew it was coming. And honestly, now that it's here for a select few, we're more than a little jealous. Google has started rolling out multiple account log-ins, allowing certain users to simultaneously manage several Google accounts. Those lucky to be granted access will notice a new button on their account settings page allowing them to turn on or off "multiple sign-in." Once you turn it on, ...

Officials in one Long Island town are cracking down on rogue swimming pool owners by using Google's satellite imaging technology. According to an Associated Press report in The Wall Street Journal, Riverhead, New York's chief building inspector, LeRoy Barnes, Jr., is using Google Earth to locate swimming pools that haven't been registered for a city permit. So far, Barnes and his staff have ...

Lookout, a mobile security company, embarked on an absolutely massive study that examined the code of some 300,000 Android and iPhone apps. Dubbed the App Genome Project, it looked at a large cross-section of mobile apps and found that an unsettling number of them were accessing your personal information, and sometimes without alerting you. According to Lookout, 33-percent of iPhone and ...

We all know that Google watches over us like the omniscient, online shepherd that it is. But just how often do we unknowingly send information to the digital behemoth? With 'Google Alarm,' you can now find out -- in real-time. The plug-in, available for both Firefox and Chrome, analyzes each page a user visits, and checks for Google-affiliated URLs, like Google Analytics, AdSense or YouTube. ...

Google's mobile apps have long provided normal clients with an easy way to manage their e-mail accounts, calendars and personal data. Now, though, the company is turning its attention toward the public sector, with a new set of Google Apps for Government. Designed with guidance from the federal government and the city governments of Los Angeles and Orlando, the new apps include many of the ...

'Snake,' the classic game installed on many early cell phones and, most memorably, the TI-83+ calculator, has made a jump to a new platform: YouTube. The recently discovered Easter Egg lets you play 'Snake' on a paused or buffering video by simply tapping (or holding) left. Just load up your favorite video on YouTube.com (the trick doesn't work on embedded video) to try it out. Details are slim ...

On the Official Google Blog today, the search giant announced that Google Images is getting a makeover. The revamped look, which features larger images and less white space, might appear oddly familiar to some users. We couldn't help but notice that some of these new design features -- like thumbnails that pop-out and reveal hidden text when you hover over them -- are similar to those found on ...

The browser add-on debate has been raging for years. Do those helpful little plug-ins help productivity or just grind your browser to a halt? Frankly, we can't live without them, and we think you might enjoy some of our favorite helpful additions, as well. With Chrome finally having a solid community of developers pumping out extensions, we thought it a perfect time to pick 13 essential plug-ins ...

digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/07/13/google-wants-everyone-even-you-to-write-android-apps-with-app/'; Normally, programming is considered the playground of the nerd elite. Coding applications, particularly complex ones, is so tough that even the pros screw it up pretty regularly. (That's why we have bug fixes.) The geeks at Google want to simplify the process of creating apps, ...

Share digg_url ='http://www.switched.com/2010/07/12/youtube-partner-grants-to-offer-money-to-video-creators/'; With hopes of producing more high-quality content, YouTube is ready to provide financial support for some of its amateur auteurs. According to The New York Times, YouTube announced last Friday the creation of a $5 million Partner Grants program, which will provide some lucky YouTube ...

Share When it comes to finding prime parking spots in the middle of dense, concrete jungles, even the most mild-mannered of drivers can revert to their more primitive, animalistic roots. As summer road warriors jockey with each other for curbside position, tempers flare, heart rates rise, and torrents of expletives gush out of driver-side windows. That inherently cutthroat atmosphere, however, ...