There is something extraordinary taking place. Google's war on spam sites is tipping the online world upside down and now threatens that most fundamental element of the world wide web: the hyperlink.
The communications lines are the spider's silk but it's the links that make the structure of the web. But because of Google's battle with spammers, the hyperlink could disappear in its current form, and become a commercial product that's bought and sold, instead of earned fair and square.
Let me explain:
When I ran into Matt Cutts, head of Google's web spam team, at the company's most recent Christmas party, he said that Google would start paying more attention to sites that had lots of links from low quality content sites. Because that would be a signal that there was search engine optimization (SEO) at work, which means those links were likely paid for, in a bid to deceive Google.
Google has acquired iOS and Mac email client Sparrow, with the team behind the popular app heading to Google to work with the Gmail team.
"We care a lot about how people communicate, and we did our best to provide you with the most intuitive and pleasurable mailing experience," Dom Leca, CEO of Sparrow, said in a statement on the company's website. "Now we're joining the Gmail team to accomplish a bigger vision — one that we think we can better achieve with Google."
In the note on Sparrow's site, Leca also thanked the app's users who have provided support and feedback and said, "While we'll be working on new things at Google, we will continue to make Sparrow available and provide support for our users."
BRUSSELS — The European antitrust chief said Wednesday that any changes Google offered to settle concerns that it might be tilting Internet search results in its favor should be applied worldwide.
Joaquín Almunia, the European Union competition commissioner, made the remark as he was confirming that his case against Google for allegedly abusing its dominance in search and advertising was moving toward a settlement.
Mr. Almunia also said that a settlement in the case did not mean he would not undertake inquiries in other areas that raised competition concerns.
“Some other aspects of Google activity can be investigated also,” Mr. Almunia said, mentioning applications for smartphones as an example.
New Delhi: Many of us use the Google search bar for uses far beyond the usual search for Web pages - for weather information, stock quotes, time in a particular city, sports scores, unit conversion, quick calculations and more. Google has now added a 34-button visual tool to simplify our use of the search engine as a handy calculation tool.
To fire up Google's new 34-button virtual calculator with scientific functions, type 'calculator' into the search box. This new Google feature is available across most browsers (both web and mobile).
The virtual Google calculator will also appear if we type in a calculation - say '13*6' - into the search box and can also be used for more complex calculation needs such as '25*39+(sqrt 10)^3'.
WASHINGTON: Big technology firms including Google, Facebook, eBay and Amazon have joined to create a new lobby group aimed at promoting "an open, innovative and free Internet."
The Internet Association announced its formation in a statement on its website, indicating it will be headed by Michael Beckerman, a former congressional staffer.
The group, to be officially launched in September, did not name its member companies but sources familiar with the group told AFP that Google, Facebook, eBay and Amazon are among them.
"The newly formed Internet Association is comprised of some of the world's most visible Internet companies and will be headquartered in Washington," the statement said.
"Beckerman will lead the Internet Association's efforts to advance public policy solutions that strengthen and protect an open, innovative and free Internet."
Samsung's acquisition of part of CSR has established it as a new player in the connectivity market, specifically in the key battleground of the smartphone. Whilst Broadcom has been growing its market share in this sector since 2008, the Samsung-CSR deal introduces a significant threat to Broadcom's market-leading business of Bluetooth in handsets, according to IMS Research.
Samsung recently announced plans to acquire the handset connectivity and handset location business of CSR for US$310 million, as well as to invest US$34.4 million in return for 4.9% stake in the remaining CSR business. The completion of this acquisition is expected to be in the fourth quarter of 2012.
As well as picking up the benefit of CSR's patent portfolio, this acquisition also adds the R&D and marketing support for Samsung's Bluetooth and GPS technology for handsets, IMS Research said. This activity follows on from Samsung's acquisition in June of Nanoradio, a developer of ultra-low power WLAN for chipsets for devices such as smartphones and tablets; and provides Samsung with the connectivity technologies with which to make an entrance into the wireless connectivity market, IMS Research noted.
CORNING, N.Y., July 24, 2012 – Corning Singapore Holdings Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW), and Samsung Display Co., Ltd. have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Wuxi New District, China, intending to establish a new equity venture for the manufacture of TFT-LCD glass substrates in China. Pending a final signed agreement between Corning and Samsung Display, the new equity venture is expected to be formed later this year, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.
This newest venture will be an extension of a decades-long alliance between Samsung and Corning, and will leverage Corning’s LCD glass substrate technology and Samsung Display’s LCD display expertise. The new entity will supply LCD glass substrates to Samsung Suzhou LCD Co., Ltd. in China.
Here's another category where Apple and Samsung go head to head: chip buying. And Apple's dominance is expanding rapidly.
Rip off the plastic, metal, and glass on any consumer device, and it's pretty much all chips. And if you're the No. 1 buyer of those chips, as Apple is, that means you hold a lot of sway over global chip manufacturing.
More sway than chip kingpin Samsung (which Apple, ironically, buys lots of chips from).
"It's well known that Apple has already conquered the smartphone and tablet segments -- but behind the scenes the company is engaging in another kind of conquest: the dominance of the electronics supply chain," Myson Robles-Bruce, an analyst IHS iSuppli, said in a report released today.
The supply chain is the global web of manufacturers and assemblers: think Foxconn and Pegatron.
Samsung was repeatedly warned that its smartphones and tablets were too similar to Apple's counterparts and even discussed that issue internally, the iPhone maker claims in an unredacted court filing.
The brief, which was revealed by All Things D, emerges as the companies move closer to their high-stakes patent trial in the U.S., which is due to begin on Monday.
"Samsung's documents show the similarity of Samsung's products is no accident or, as Samsung would have it, a 'natural evolution,'" Apple argued in its brief. "Rather, it results from Samsung's deliberate plan to free-ride on the iPhone's and iPad's extraordinary success by copying their iconic designs and intuitive user interface. Apple will rely on Samsung's own documents, which tell an unambiguous story."
The documents highlight instances in which third parties, including Google, and Samsung's own employees warned the Korean electronics giant that its product designs bore a striking resemblance to Apple's, the Cupertino, Calif., company's brief said.
SAN FRANCISCO: Apple said Samsung Electronics is demanding from the iPhonemaker a far higher patent royalty than Apple pays to other companies, at a rate the South Korean company has never sought from any other licensee.
The information was contained in portions of an Apple legal brief freshly unsealed in US court on Wednesday, and provides more detail about each side's negotiating position in the run-up to a high stakes trial set to begin next week.
In a separate filing, Samsung contended that itsroyalty demands are consistent with industry norms.
