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Google Ditches Microsoft Windows

Internet web search giant, Google.com is abandoning internal use of Microsoft Windows over concerns of security. This comes after Chinese hacking incident. All employees of Google have been asked to ditch Microsoft Windows and move to other OSes like Mac OS and Linux. And this is said to have began as early as January itself. Microsoft Windows turned Google rival and competitor after Google made plans to introduce its own OS, Chrome OS for PC and Android for mobile.

Internet security firm McAfee Inc said at the time the cyber attacks on Google and other businesses had exploited a previously unknown flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, which was vulnerable on all recent versions of Windows.

One Google employee says: “We’re not doing any more Windows. It is a security effort.” Another said: “Getting a new Windows machine now requires CIO (chief information officer) approval.”

Google said in a statement: “We’re always working to improve the efficiency of our business, but we do not comment on specific operational matters.”

Windows is the most popular and widely used operating system in the world. It is reportedly said to run in 9 out of 10 personal computers in the world.

Its about time Google did this. But I didn’t expect them to force their employees to NOT use Windows. lol

Been a sad 2009 year for google. Not only it faced advertisers downfall and rivals uprising but also the imitation of  its own domain name.

A Canadian small business company named 207 media, has open a domain in the name of  Groovle.com for serving the  goal of search engine purpose.

Well, if your thinking that its a new search engine, then let me put it this way.

Groovle.com uses google search engine bar in the page for search. So Legally, they are using googles search operation.

The additional feature in Groovle.com is that, the website will allow the user to select an image or they can upload any image from the system and make it their desirable homepage and then proceed to search. If your unclear in this , have a peep on the image i have loaded.

In my image, i selected  planet earth picture and created a home page of my desirable. Come to think on it,  do you think it resembles the  features of Bing.com.      lol

Courts  Judgement:

Well, google sued groovle in the court and ask the jury to give the groovle domain to google. The Jury though dismissed the claim.

This is only the second time out of  65 cases where google has been refund on their request.

The three judges who was appointed for this case  said the name was not similar enough to confuse people and the word ‘groovle’ was more closely linked to “groovy” or “groove” rather than Google.

Not a good year after all. Right Google!!!

The Big G has been sued by a Chinese author Mian Mian. Mian Mian sued Google in October after Google scanned one of her books, Acid House, and added it to Google’s Library.

Google said it had removed the book as soon as it learned of the lawsuit, but had no further comment on the case.

She is seeking damages of 61,000 yuan ($8,950; £5,576) and a public apology.

A Beijing judge has told the Chinese novelist Mian Mian, who is suing Google over its plan to create an online library, to hold settlement talks. After a two-hour hearing, the court ordered both sides to talk but did not set a deadline for reporting back, according to the author’s lawyer.

Mian Mian writes risque novels – including titles such as Panda Sex and Candy – about China’s underworld of sex, drugs and nightlife. Most of her work is banned in China.

She is not alone in complaining about copyright issues raised by Google’s online library. The China Written Works Copyright Society is also looking for compensation for other Chinese authors whose work is included in the project.

In France, a court ordered Google to stop digitising French books without the publisher’s approval. The search engine was also told to pay 300,000 euros ($430,000; £268,000) in damages and interest to French company La Martiniere, which had sued for copyright infringement for scanning book excerpts.

In the US, Google agreed a $125m settlement with American authors and publishers – although this is still waiting for final court approval.

Source : BBC

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is finally here. Hope you are all having a wonderful time. Merry Christmas everyone!

So I was wondering what will people search the internet for on Christmas, I hit google and here are the results, They are all the top keywords searched in the US on December 25th. I am posting only the keywords that are related to Christmas. 1 being the most searched.

1. santa norad tracker 2009

2. stores open on christmas day 2009

3. pope knocked down video

4. where is santa right now 2009

5. when will santa be at my house

6. the night before christmas story

7. norad santa phone number

LOL, lots of crazy searches this year.

Are these searches really by kids or adults ?

Looks like Google is looking forward to close the deal by the end of this year. In case you are wondering what Yelp is. Yelp is a local search that also reviews all kinds of businesses from restaurants to spas, pretty much everything.

Google is reportedly brokering a deal to buy local search and review property Yelp for $500 million.The Web site had 26 million visitors in the last 30 days through November. If Google can get Yelp, it will have a treasure trove of local information with which it can pair contextual mobile ads. If Google does bid for Yelp, it would be Google’s seventh of 2009, preceded by On2 Technologies, ReCaptcha, AdMob, Gizmo5, Teracent and AppJet, all since August.

Yelp local search engine in Google's claws?

With the end of 2009 drawing nigh, Google is reportedly brokering a deal to buy local search and review property Yelp for $500 million, a royal sum for a company that banked $31 million in funding and boasts a $30 million run rate.

Google is no stranger to such premiums and set a serious precedent by offering $750 million for AdMob, which IDC said earned $40 million in mobile display ad sales in 2009.

A Google spokesperson declined to confirm or deny a deal, first reported by TechCrunch, was forthcoming, coyly telling eWEEK: “While we’re always talking to various companies about various things, we don’t comment on rumor or speculation.”

elp provides reviews for local businesses, including restaurants, spas and pretty much any type of concern one might need to call on to aid them through the daily grind. The Web site had 26 million visitors in the last 30 days through November.

“Yelpers,” as the site’s members are known, have composed more than 8 million reviews, representing a massive volume of opinion and ratings. Yelpers can also share information with fellow Yelpers, making the property a niche social network.

Google wants this information to boost the data and services it already provides with its Local Business Center. Participating businesses list their phone numbers, hours of operation and other factoids with Google, which renders this info on Google Maps Place Pages, which include directions, reviews and other information pertinent to specific businesses. Yelp has been immensely successful providing similar info, but lacks Google’s massive Web presence.

Google also recently unveiled its “Favorite Places on Google” initiative, which lets more than 100,000 business owners in its LBC place a window sticker with a bar code on their storefronts. Users walking by on the street can scan the QR code from their Apple iPhone, Android-powered phones, surfacing the business’ Place Page right from their handhelds. Local mobile search and advertising are the keys to Google buying Yelp.

If Google can get Yelp, it will have a treasure trove of local information with which it can pair contextual mobile ads. A user walking around a city with his Apple iPhone or Android device could feel his phone vibrate. He would check the phone and see shopping alerts from Google/Yelp, which might also offer them coupons from retailers.

Imagine two-for-one offers from clothing stores, a free cup of coffee offer as one passes the local Starbucks, or a 10 percent off coupon from a nearby Indian restaurant. With Yelp data powering Google Maps Place Pages on Android phones, the ad possibilities are endless.

Adam Bunn, of U.K. search marketers Greenlight, said such a deal would give Google fresh local search results without the need to go through the usual crawling and indexing process and sending searchers to another site. This points to the huge potential for Google to sell targeted ads. Interestingly, Bunn said Google seems to be taking a page out of a competitor’s playbook, and it’s not local search power Yahoo.

“This is one of the strategies that Microsoft had chosen for Bing, and the main reason why it took so long for Bing to launch properly in the UK; identifying potential content or functionality partners relevant to that market, negotiating with them and then integrating their data takes time.”

Kelsey Group analyst Michael Boland noted that in Yelp Google would also be acquiring a fat sales force of advertisers:

“[Yelp] COO Geoff Donaker told us at last week’s Interactive Local Media show that 200 of the company’s 300 employees are advertiser facing in some way, including account rep or direct sales positions. Google has always maintained that it’s not in its strategic interests to  buy or build a direct sales force to access the elusive SMB marketplace at the heart of its “long tail” paid search efforts. That’s kind of true but this deal changes it a bit.”

If Google does bid for Yelp, it would be Google’s seventh of 2009, preceded by On2 Technologies, ReCaptcha, AdMob, Gizmo5, Teracent and AppJet, all since August. Moreover, Google is also rumored to be eyeing real-estate search provider Trulia.

These deals underscore how Google is well positioned to maintain and extend its lengthy search, ad and Web services lead into 2010.

Source : eWeek.com

Nexus one ?

It looks like Google is all set to produce and sell its own cellphone “Nexus One”. Sadly google has not yet made any comment regarding this. All I could find about this was news reports. All this was started by Wall Street Journal, who posted an article and said they have sources for the information. Well, atleast Google plans to sell them next year. Maybe they wanted to give a Christmas or a New Year surprise.

Here is the article from Reutures:

Called the Nexus One and made by smartphone maker HTC, the phone will run on the search giant’s Android operating system — around which Motorola and other cellphone makers have built devices — and will be sold online, the newspaper cited persons familiar with the matter as saying.

Cellular service will have to be bought separately, it added.

The Internet search leader may be sounding a challenge to wireless carriers such as Sprint and Verizon, as well as smartphone makers like Apple. It marks a departure for the leader in Web advertising, which has rarely sold devices directly to consumers, the newspaper said.

Google’s Android phones have won attention in the mobile industry lately, with Motorola and Sony Ericsson choosing to launch it with their new top models.

Analysts say the aim is to gain access to valuable consumer data that can be used to sell ads at premium prices, rather than to make money from direct hardware sales, as companies such as Nokia or Research in Motion do.

Research house IDC estimates the market share for Android operating software rose to 5.4 percent from 4.2 percent in July-September in Western Europe, a key market.

Executives at HTC, the Taiwan-based world’s No. 4 smartphone brand, were not available for comment. Google was also not available for comment. Google began sharing a version of the Nexus One with employees in recent days, the newspaper cited its sources as saying.

Demi Moore Bush picture is a current  buzz search in   Google. But why  is that, according to a site named lancerlord.blogspot.com,  it all started when a comedy central  new show Tosh .o star   Daniel tosh  made it all a  buzz  by sending  his viewers to go online with google and search for Demi moore bush pic