Posts Tagged ‘Google’
Darko on July 4th, 2008
All the engineering acumen in the world, or at least in the Googleplex, can’t prevent an old-fashioned burglary of unencrypted employee data held by an outside firm.
A failing company also failed to adequately keep its assets protected from theft. Colt Express Outsourcing Services lost some data to a Memorial Day burglary, and it’s now come to light that the dominant search engine formerly used that company’s services.
Unfortunately for Google, and for CNET employees also affected by the theft, a report at CNET noted employees from both firms were in the same boat. “No credit card numbers were in the stolen data; just names, addresses, SSNs–all the information needed for a thief to open a credit card account under another’s name,” the report said.
An ex-Google staffer, Danny Thorpe, blew the whistle on the Google data loss. Employees hired before the end of December 2005 at Google may now have their personally identifiable information skating around places like the forums favored by identity thieves and traders.
Colt doesn’t appear to be the best managed firm in the world, either. CNET said the company is in financial trouble, with the company’s founder washing his hands of any potential assistance Colt might give affected individuals.
We’re betting Colt will be on the receiving end of more attention from Google, specifically the legal department. “We take the security of our employees very seriously and require outside vendors to meet appropriate security standards,” a Google rep told CNET.
Darko on July 4th, 2008
Until now, Google Street View never allowed anyone to see outside America. Thankfully, this year’s Tour de France seems to have provided enough of a reason for other images to be released.
Photos detailing certain parts of France - parts along the bicycle race’s route, to be exact - have become available. They allow for plenty of sightseeing, as everything from the Eiffel Tower to scenic country roads gets covered.
These new images seem to be of considerably higher quality than the usual Street View shots, as well. Granted, this isn’t necessarily a good thing for everybody, but to address privacy concerns, Google’s face-blurring software has been set to work on license plates as well as people’s heads.
Assuming no river of lawsuits results from the release, other images of France - and all of Europe, for that matter - will hopefully become available in the near future. Street View cars have been driving around different countries for some time now, so this one small step may be the start of a major move.
Hat tips go to the French blog Zorgloob, which received word straight from Google, and Philipp Lenssen, who took up the matter in English.
Darko on June 22nd, 2008
Google recently introduced Google Trends for Websites, which has sparked some controversy around the web.
The tool allows users to view stats for any site they choose, this could mean trouble for companies like Alexa, Compete, and their competitors.
That’s not entirely where the controversy comes in however. Google seems to have no problem showing everyone else’s stats including Yahoo! for example, but when a query for google.com is entered, there is nothing to be seen.
The concept isn’t sitting too well with many site owners. “Google gave us all up without consent or prior permission,” says Michael Gray aka Graywolf.
Google has “laid everyone else bare, naked and exposed but kept their own stats locked up and private,” says Gray.
Google doesn’t seem to be keeping the stats on all of their properties hidden though. A doubleclick.com query turns up some results, but queries for youtube.com and blogger.com are MIA. Maybe Yahoo! or Microsoft will hook us up with that information eventually.
Lisa Barone at Bruce Clay points out that “there’s no way to opt out”. Even allowing sites to do just that would take the heat off of Google a little bit I would think.
It’s not very shocking that people are upset that their data is being broadcast to the public without their consent. Google had to have expected this.
In a comment on a post from Matt Cutts about the new feature, someone inevitably pointed out the lack of Google info. Cutts responded:
I asked about that myself. Personally, I’d love to get as much data as possible, even data about various Google properties. My guess is that they were worried that people would take the traffic estimates as some sort of forward-looking guidance and possibly misinterpret it. Bear in mind that it is a Google Labs launch, so consider it an early-stage feature. I passed that feedback on though.
I guess the whole thing is going to be misinterpreted from some angle no matter which way you spin it. I would expect that Google will eventually join in the party and offer some stats, whether this is the real reasoning or not.
Darko on June 22nd, 2008
Though some US legislators expressed concerns about Google’s growing power in online advertising, one big ad firm welcomed Yahoo’s search ad agreement with Google.
In the US, Microsoft and Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) publicly fretted about the increasing control Google possesses over contextual search advertising. High-ranking Microsoft executive Kevin Johnson complained in France about Google taking over 90 percent of the search ad market.
Another Continental concern expressed no concern about Yahoo turning to Google to possibly deliver $800 million in ad revenue in the first year of their partnership. The Guardian cited Maurice Levy, head of Publicis Group, who expressed a positive view of the deal between the former search ad rivals.
Speaking in Cannes as Johnson did, Levy put forth the idea that Google and Yahoo could share search data and come up with better ad campaign targeting for their clients. Publicis is a partner with Google on ad technology.
With Barton in the House and Herb Kohl (D-WI) in the Senate asking questions about antitrust and privacy concerns, the idea of Google and Yahoo mixing and matching user data to their heart’s content may pull sharper focus onto a deal the two companies believe has no reason to fall under regulatory scrutiny.
Darko on June 22nd, 2008
According to Google Webmaster Central Blog, after numerous requests from Webmasters to integrate Webmaster Tools for third-parties, Google has finally released Webmaster Tools API, a tool that integrates API (Application Programming Interface) into Webmaster Tools.
The debut version of the Google Webmaster Tools API supports the following features:
Managing Websites:
- Retrieve a list of your sites in Webmaster Tools.
- Add your sites to Webmaster Tools.
- Verify your sites in Webmaster Tools.
- Remove your sites from Webmaster Tools.
Working with Sitemaps:
- Retrieve a list of your submitted Sitemaps.
- Add Sitemaps to Webmaster Tools.
- Remove Sitemaps from Webmaster Tools.
As of now, the Webmaster Tools API offers a limited subset of all the functionality that Webmaster Tools provide. However, as this is the initial phase of the Webmaster Tools API, there are going to be a lot of updates and improvements for certain.
For all those Webmasters who are interested in this tool and would like to make the best out of it, here is the link to Developer’s Guide for the Webmaster Tools Data API. Check out the guide and get on with more improvisations.
Darko on June 20th, 2008
Kevin Johnson, president of the Platforms and Services Division at Microsoft, whined a bit about the pact between Google and Yahoo, during a debate in Cannes about advertising topics.
Yahoo EVP Hilary Schneider gave Johnson a little something to chew on in exulting over the company’s advertising agreement with Google. Valued roughly at $800 million in annual revenue initially, placing Google ads alongside Yahoo search results gives the latter a big boost.
Reuters noted Schneider calling the deal a “win-win,” to which Johnson said, “If win is consolidating around 90 percent of the paid search with Google, you can say, ok, Google would do that as a win.”
“I don’t think that from an industry perspective that supports having choices and having a number of strong players in the advertising business,” he continued.
Unfortunately, the awful truth shows Microsoft completely missing the boat on search, and the multi-billion dollar revolution delivered by contextual search advertising. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the Financial Times his company simply didn’t take advantage of the chance search presented.
“I give Google credit for innovating in the business model around search. They did a nice job on that, and that’s why they won,” he said in the report. Ballmer also blamed the five-year gap where its research and development resources were focused on Windows rather than other areas, including search, as ‘calcifying’ Microsoft’s ability to respond to Google’s competition.
Darko on June 19th, 2008
It used to be we talked about music singles debuting at the top of charts. These days we talk about companies. Imagine Casey Kasem talking for this next line, then: In its first year to be included in the Reputation Institute’s Global Pulse report on the most reputable companies, Google debuts at number one in the US.
With a score of 85.23, Google edged out Johnson & Johnson’s 83.48 score for the top spot among reputable companies. Call it a mid-year echo of Fortune’s January declaration of Google as the best place to work in America.
RI’s study measured the overall respect, trust, esteem, admiration, and good feelings consumers hold toward the largest 600 companies in the world. On the global list, Google placed second, losing out to Toyota. Johnson & Johnson was a more distant fifth, beat out by IKEA and Italian chocolatier Ferrero.
Large annual revenues boosted US companies’ presence on the list. US-based companies accounted for 150 of the 600 measured. Companies scoring above 80 were considered “excellent” or “top tier,” with a score of between 60 and 69 being considered average. Consumer goods companies and electronics companies seemed to do the best.
Who did the worst in terms of reputation? Bet you can guess, so go ahead and guess and I’ll tell you in 3…2…1…
The energy industry averaged a 51.45 in the US, and the telecommunications industry scored lowest among consumers worldwide with an average of 56.18. Gee, wonder how that happened?
Here are the top 25 US companies in terms of reputation:
1 Google 85.23
2 Johnson & Johnson 83.48
3 Kraft Foods Inc. 82.79
4 General Mills 81.34
5 Walt Disney 81.22
6 United Parcel Service 81.05
7 3M 79.79
8 Xerox 78.44
9 Colgate-Palmolive 78.04
10 Texas Instruments 77.22
11 Eastman Kodak 77.13
12 General Electric 76.82
13 Sara Lee 76.48
14 FedEx 76.28
15 Deere & Co 76.12
16 Goodyear 76.00
17 Apple 75.42
18 Hewlett-Packard 75.10
19 Intel 74.94
20 Publix Super Markets Inc. 74.91
21 Caterpillar 74.78
22 Whirlpool 74.41
23 Boeing 74.37
24 Costco Wholesale 74.33
25 Dell 74.26
Darko on June 18th, 2008
The search engine thinks the apocryphal talk about webmasters being able to wreck their competitors by creating bad links to them is just a bunch of talk.
One webmaster who believes he has suffered at the hands of such “Googlebowling” tactics isn’t convinced that Google looks closely enough at potential abuse coming from specially crafted inbound links.
At Search Engine Roundtable, the assertion exists that a little sneakiness by a webmaster will be the only item needed to build and target a rival, and drop it from Google’s rankings. A post at Google Groups detailed how the targeted webmaster would experience such a sudden loss:
Create a bunch of links pointing toward of all your enemies and competitors’ websites then use some really nasty porn Anchor text Keywords. Don’t link the porn keywords to the site’s main or index page, DO link the porn to a single specific page on the site and use that same page as the only page to link the porn too. Googlebowling works better if you embed the links into a video or flash (please note the example).
A Google staffer followed up on the post, claiming the site targeted by the Googlebowling ought to be looked at more closely, and in the context of Google’s quality guildelines.
“Looking at the site that you mentioned, I could imagine that studying our Google Webmaster Guidelines, in particular the quality guidelines, would be time well spent,” Google’s John Mueller said.
“Most of these guidelines involve the content on the site itself, something which generally can’t be changed through links pointing to the site.”
In a mildly direct way, Mueller suggested the site’s low quality, not the inbound links, needs work. As far as evil linking and site rankings go, Mueller said in a follow-up that in theory the linking cited could cause a problem in some “borderline situations,” but still suggested the webmaster in question needs to study Google’s quality guidelines.
Darko on June 18th, 2008
When Google doodles appear on major holidays, it sometimes takes a moment of thought to connect the picture and the occasion. When Google doodles honor more random people and events, it appears that a lot of searches take place.
Hitwise’s Robin Goad writes, “When looking at our Fast Moving Search Terms list a few weeks ago, I was surprised to see the term ‘walter gropius’ at the top of the list for All Categories. . . . [Perusing] the list last Monday I noticed that the term ‘charles rennie mackintosh’ appeared in the top 10.”
Both of these men were recently referenced by doodles; anyone who clicked on a doodle was then taken to a list of search results. This is fine, and except for the cartoons themselves, not too interesting. What makes the pattern more significant is how well Wikipedia ranks in Google’s search results, and how much traffic it consequently receives.
Almost 36 percent of the people who searched for “walter gropius” wound up at Wikipedia, according to Goad. About 14 percent of the people who searched for “charles rennie mackintosh” did the same. It seems as if Wikipedia’s administrators must look forward to obscure Google doodles the same way some bloggers anticipate traffic from Digg.
The connection hardly does any harm, though, and we’re all becoming better educated about Scottish and German architects in the process.
Darko on June 18th, 2008
Net neutrality is a hotly contested issue, and has come under renewed fire as several ISPs have been caught throttling Internet speeds and others have publicly stated they plan to test metered broadband services. Users, caught in the middle, will soon have a new tool to use against their ISPs: a detector that will tell them if their Internet speeds are being throttled by the ISP.
Slashdot and HotHardWare are reporting that a Google engineer says that the company is going to be testing technology that will allow users to detect if their Internet is being slowed down by the provider.
Google senior policy director, Richard Whitt, said in a public forum, “We’re trying to develop tools, software tools … that allow people to detect what’s happening with their broadband connections, so they can let [ISPs] know that they’re not happy with what they’re getting — that they think certain services are being tampered with.”
I say it’s about time. My home broadband is supposed to have download speeds of 20 Mbps and upload speeds of 5 Mbps via fiber optics. I test it using standard browser tools constantly, especially when I notice slowdowns. Outside of high-traffic times during each work day, I’ve noticed distinct times when my home broadband is slower than it should be. I’ve seen download results as low as 5 Mbps, one-quarter what it should be. Since I work from home, and my Internet connection is essential to my work, I am especially sensitive to network slowdowns. I am a heavy user of the Internet. I stream a lot of video, and I am constantly uploading and downloading large files for my work. Do I believe I am a target of throttling? Not necessarily.
However, I’d like to know, or be able to test, when I think I am being throttled. Having the tools to do that would be helpful, especially if the slowdowns prevent me from doing my job. I’d be able to provide feedback to my broadband provider and back it up with proof.
Bring it on, Google. I am waiting.
