Latest Google Transparency Report Out!

Google’s Transparency Report shows what government agencies want to block you from seeing. Google says “transparency is a core value” and the Google Transparency Report is a good read, even if Google can be anything but transparent when it suits the internet giant, such as when Google knew its Street View cars were slurping personal data while for years pretended the slurping was the work of a rogue engineer. The Google Transparency Report highlights requests Google has received to remove content such as YouTube videos and search listings. It only focuses on requests from government agencies and does not include data from countries with heavy restrictions on internet use such as China and Iran. Most…

Google Project Glass: Google glasses parody

Google’s lame commercial demo introducing Google Project Glass begs to be parodied. Google says it believes technology should work for you — “to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.” Project Glass is being worked on by a group in Google’s Google[x]. Rumor has it that the Google glasses will be ready available in time for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong? CHINESE:

What Apple should have done with its US$100 billion stash

Steve Jobs must be spinning in his grave. Flush with US$100 billion in cash, Apple has announced its first dividend since 1995. The Cupertino, California based company announced on Monday that it will pay $2.65 per share to its stockholders. That’s nice, but watch this animation to see what we think Apple should have done with its US$100 billion. Apple never paid a dividend during Steve Jobs’ second stint as CEO, which began in 1997. That year, Apple was supposedly on the verge of bankruptcy and accepted a $150 million investment from Microsoft. Jobs saw Apple’s cash hoard as something to be saved to prevent Apple from falling into the same situation again. Microsoft once…

Google ‘thwarts’ Internet Explorer privacy settings

Microsoft is alleging that Google has been sidestepping Internet Explorer privacy controls designed to prevent third-party websites from tracking users’ browsing habits. Writing on a company blog on Monday, Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft corporate vice president in charge of the software maker’s Internet Explorer web browser, claimed Google exploited a loophole in the Platform for Privacy Preferences, or P3P. It’s a protocol used by Internet Explorer that asks a website for its privacy policy, which is provided in a coded form understood by the web browser. Sites that have a policy of tracking visitors, done by way of small files called “cookies” installed on users’ computers, are blocked from doing so. In order to fool the…

Facebook IPO: is Facebook overvalued?

Facebook plans to raise US$5 billion in an IPO that could value the company at US$100 billion. The eight-year-old company founded by Mark Zuckerberg could raise as much as US$10 billion with follow-on offerings. A market cap of US$100 billion would make Facebook one of the most valuable companies in the world, on par with McDonald’s, and make founder Mark Zuckerberg a cool US$28 billion. The company sells highly targeted ads based on user-provided information. This helped Facebook earn US$1 billion last year on US$3.7 billion in revenue. By comparison, Google pulled in US$38 billion in sales and US$10 billion in earnings. But on a price-to-sales basis, the market thinks Facebook is worth more. Does…

Google’s new search feature is bad for you

Last week, Google launched a new feature called Search, Plus Your World. When you’re signed into your Google account and perform a Google search, the results will return photos, videos and other content from Google services. Basically, Google is attempting to expand its online dominance. Comparisons are being made to what Microsoft did that resulted in an anti-trust case in 1998.

Apple vs HTC: Apple scores minor victory in Android fight

The US International Trade Commission has given Apple a partial victory in its patent dispute with HTC over the Android operating system. The ruling, however, was more favorable than expected as the Taiwanese company emerged victorious in three of the four patent claims. So what exactly did Apple win? Well, you know how you can tap on a phone number to auto-magically call that number when it appears in an e-mail or text? Apple says it owns that and other user interface features. As a result of the ITC ruling, HTC must discontinue offering the feature in its Android phones. HTC has some time to fix the code in its handsets that run Android, which…

‘Google X’ research facility and its secret projects

A New York Times article reports that Google is researching new, highly innovative technologies in a secret facility dubbed “Google X.” Its exact location is unknown, as sources say the work done by Google X is as guarded as the international espionage work performed by the CIA. Among the projects rumored to be in development is a so-called “space elevator,” which could ferry people and equipment between the Earth and outer space without the use of rockets. More grounded ideas include wiring household appliances like light bulbs and coffee pots to the Internet so they can be controlled remotely. Google is even said to be preparing its driverless car technology, which the company began testing…