NewsTrust - Google - Most Recent Stories: News (Mainstream)

Google discloses carbon footprint for the first time

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Guardian - By Duncan Clark - Sep. 08 (News) - At around 1.5m tonnes of carbon, the energy usage of the online giant is on a par with the United Nations Google's carbon footprint is on a par with the United Nations, the internet giant revealed on Thursday as it published its energy usage for the first time. Google says that it emits 1.5m tonnes of carbon annually but claims that its data centres consume 50% less energy than the industry average. The emissions are slightly higher than the country of Laos in south-east Asia and equivalent to the UN's operational footprint. The company said that many of its "cloud-based" services for businesses, such as its popular Gmail system, can be up to 80 times less polluting than traditional alternatives , which require companies to operate their own, potentially more inefficient servers.

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Google and antitrust: Searching for evidence

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Economist - By Schumpeter - Jun. 25 (News Analysis) - When it comes to forging high-level political connections in Washington, DC, Google is something of an expert. Eric Schmidt, its executive chairman, sits on the President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. Marissa Mayer, a Google executive, has hosted a fundraiser in Silicon Valley for Barack Obama. And the company spends millions of dollars on high-powered lobbying firms. But such links have not deterred policymakers and competition watchdogs in America’s capital from looking into whether Google is abusing the clout that it has in certain markets.

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Rick Santorum vs. the internet

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Concord Monitor - By Meg Heckman - Jun. 13 (News Report) - Shortly before launching his presidential bid Monday, Rick Santorum used Twitter to declare himself "ready to lead." In the days that followed, his Facebook page and campaign website were updated regularly, and hundreds of news outlets published stories online about his political ambitions. But for anyone who searched Google for "Santorum," those weren't the first items they saw.

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China rejects Google allegation of massive hacking breach as ‘fabrication’

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Post - By Cecilia Kang, Ellen Nakashima - Jun. 02 (News) - Google’s allegation that hackers based in China accessed hundreds of Gmail accounts, including some belonging to senior U.S. officials, drew angry denials from Chinese government officials on Thursday, with a foreign ministry spokesman calling the accusation “a fabrication out of thin air.”

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Google, Hollywood and the politics of piracy

Sat, 21 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - By Jennifer Martinez - May. 21 (News Report) - Google’s Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt on Wednesday said his company would not sit quietly by if Washington enacted anti-piracy legislation that forced search engines to police copyright law online — such as stopping illegally streamed movies or sporting events. If “we disagree with it, then we would still fight it,” Schmidt told reporters in London. Within hours in Washington, the comment set off a war of words between Hollywood and Silicon Valley over the rise of websites that illegally offer copyrighted movies, TV shows and music — for free. “Google seems to think it’s above America’s laws,” the Motion Picture Association of America charged. Google officials backpedaled and signaled the company would fight only if it thought the law violated free speech. The two powerful lobbies — entertainment and technology — have long been at odds over how to enforce copyright protections. Producers of America’s silver screen classics, chart-topping songs, and other content want help protecting their work from illegal distribution on the latest gadgets and platforms churned out of the tech mecca. But this time, the search engines are caught smack in the middle.

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Facebook, Foe of Anonymity, Is Forced to Explain a Secret

Sat, 14 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

New York Times - By Miguel Helft - May. 14 (News Report) - Now, Facebook is being taken to task for trying to conceal its own identity as it sought to coax reporters and technology experts to write critical stories about the privacy implications of a search feature, Social Circle, from its rival, Google. The plan backfired after The Daily Beast revealed late Wednesday that Facebook, whose own privacy practices have long been criticized, was behind the effort. It didn’t help that some of the technology experts who were encouraged to criticize Google dismissed the privacy concerns around Social Circle as misplaced.

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Is Donald Trump the first Google trends candidate?

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

USA Today - By Catalina Camia - Apr. 20 (News Analysis) - For the last 30 days, according to Google's Insight for Search tool, searches for Donald Trump far exceed those for potential GOP presidential candidates Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann.

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Google Person Finder: a tool born of disaster, from Hurricane Katrina to Japan's quake, tsunami | Technology

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - Apr. 03 (News) -

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Larry Page is fostering Google's start-up spirit

Sat, 02 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By Jessica Guynn - Apr. 02 (News Report) - Larry Page wants to run Google Inc. like it's 1999. The co-founder of the Internet search giant has begun an unusual afternoon ritual of sitting and working with his top executives on small couches in an open area of the company's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. Employees, who used to have to stalk Page around campus, can drop by and grab a few minutes of his time.

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Microsoft files complaint against Google

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Politico - By Tony Romm, Mike Zapler - Mar. 31 (News) - Microsoft asked European regulators Thursday to go after Google on antitrust grounds, accusing the search giant of trying to “entrench its dominance” on the Web.

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Federal judge rejects Google digital book settlement

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Los Angeles Times - By David Sarno - Mar. 23 (News Report) - He rules that Google's agreement with publishers and authors to share and sell the millions of books it has scanned would give it a major advantage over competitors.

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Larry Page Wants to Return Google to Its Startup Roots

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Wired - By Steven Levy - Mar. 18 (News Report) - After a 10-year run in which Google's revenues skyrocketed to almost $30 billion, Larry Page is CEO again, and he wants to run Google the old-fashioned way: like a startup.

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Obama Said to Consider Kindler, Schmidt for Commerce Secretary

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Business Week - By Hans Nichols - Mar. 10 (News) - President Barack Obama may look to the business community for his next secretary of Commerce with former Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Kindler and Google Inc. CEO Eric Schmidt among potential candidates, according to a person familiar with the process.

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Google's code change shifts billions from losers to winners

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0800

CNN - By David Goldman - Mar. 08 (News) - Google's recent change to its search algorithm has dramatically shaken up the businesses of websites that moved up or down its search rankings. Sites whose rankings rose to the top found that their traffic and revenue soared -- but the adjustment had an equally devastating effect on those that were dropped.

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Facebook's Growing Web of Frenemies

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By Geoffrey Fowler - Feb. 15 (News Analysis) - Facebook Inc.'s growing ambitions are redrawing battle lines in Silicon Valley. As the seven-year-old company ramps up its hiring and adds new features to its social network, it is disrupting the businesses of established companies like Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. and putting even more Internet firms on notice.

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Google Sets Sights on Next New Networks

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By Jessica Vascellaro, Amir Efrati - Feb. 11 (News) - Google Inc. is in late-stage talks to acquire video website Next New Networks Inc., according to people familiar with the matter. A deal could be unveiled in the coming week, these people added.

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Twitter as Tech Bubble Barometer

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Wall Street Journal - By Spencer Ante, Amir Efrati, Anupreeta Das - Feb. 10 (News) - As Internet valuations climb and bankers and would-be buyers circle Silicon Valley in an increasingly frothy tech market, many eyes are on one desirable, if still enigmatic, target: Twitter. Discussions with at least some potential suitors have produced an estimated valuation of $8 billion to $10 billion.

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Egypt Uprising Enters Third Week

Tue, 08 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

EuroNews - By Keith Laidlaw - Feb. 08 (News Report) - On day 15, activists in Cairo's Tahrir Square have called fresh protests to mark the start of their third week of uprising against President Mubarak's rule. He still looks unlikely to resign but his government has offered concessions such as a pay rise for public sector workers. Constitutional changes are also on the agenda, according to Vice President Omar Suleiman who said today that Egypt has a roadmap for the peaceful transfer of power. But demonstrators want Mubarak to go now.

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Google Finds It Hard to Reinvent Philanthropy

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Stephanie Strom, Miguel Helft - Feb. 01 (Special Report) - JUST before Google first sold its shares to the public in 2004, Larry Page, one of its founders, excited the nonprofit world with a bold commitment to philanthropy. He vowed to dedicate about 1 percent of Google’s profits, 1 percent of its equity and a significant amount of its employees’ time to the effort, which became known as Google.org, or simply DotOrg. “We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world’s problems,” Mr. Page wrote in a letter to potential investors. Although Google intended to tackle major problems like climate change, global poverty and the spread of pandemic diseases, it declared that DotOrg would not be “conventional” — a four-letter word in Google-speak. For starters, the organization would operate in part as a business, thus freeing itself from various constraints placed on nonprofit groups.

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Goldman Invests in Facebook at $50 Billion Valuation

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Evelyn M. Rusli - Jan. 03 (News) - New money will give Facebook power to steal away employees, develop products and possibly pursue acquisitions, all without being publicly traded.

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Google TV Faces Delays Amid Poor Reviews

Sun, 19 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

New York Times - By Ashlee Vance, Claire Cain Miller - Dec. 19 (News Analysis) - Although Google already has a deal with Sony for its Internet TVs, other television makers — Toshiba, LG Electronics and Sharp — were prepared to flaunt their versions of the systems. But Google has asked the TV makers to delay their introductions, according to people familiar with the company’s plans, so that it can refine the software, which has received a lukewarm reception.

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Viacom Says YouTube Ruling Will ‘Completely Destroy’ Copyright

Fri, 03 Dec 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Wired - By David Kravets - Dec. 03 (News) - Viacom appealed Friday its unsuccessful $1 billion copyright lawsuit against Google’s YouTube in a case testing the depths of copyright-infringement protection under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

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EU launches antitrust probe into Google

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Washington Post - By Gabriele Steinhauser - Nov. 30 (News Report) - European Union regulators will investigate whether Google Inc. has abused its dominant position in the online search market by deliberately lowering links to smaller rivals' sites in its search results.

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Facebook unveils new messaging system

Mon, 15 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Computerworld - By Sharon Gaudin - Nov. 15 (News Report) - Swatting down recent rumors that it's launching an e-mail killer, Facebook today unveiled a new messaging system that will envelope e-mail, instant messages, Facebook messages and SMS. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched what he calls a "modern messaging system" to handle the convergence of different kinds of messages and bring them together under one social umbrella. The system, which has been in the works for about 15 months, is designed to save all messages, meaning users will have a history of their communications.

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What's Mine Isn't Yours

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -0800

Slate - By Farhad Manjoo - Nov. 11 (News) - Mark Zuckerberg's favorite phrase is "social graph." In nearly every public appearance, the Facebook founder describes his company as a kind of cartographer on an endless mission to build an ever larger, more comprehensive, and more accurate map of humanity. A social graph is a digitized map of connections between people in the real world—the lines that connect you to your friends, your friends to their friends, and on and on until we're all ultimately joined to Kevin Bacon. At the moment, no corporation has a more comprehensive graph of these connections than Facebook, a fact that will surely bring the social network insane profits. Yet before Facebook, there was another way that people mapped their world online. It's called e-mail—and without it, Facebook would be nowhere.

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