Logging The Cyber World

Tags: Google, google plus, search engine land, search results, social network

The long-standing and persistent accusation that Google unfairly uses its search engine to promote its other online services is once again in the spotlight, triggered by new social search functionality the company is rolling out this week that more tightly links its search engine with its Google+ social networking site.

The complaints have come from different quarters, including competitors and industry experts, and have focused on various arguments, but at bottom all charge Google with using its dominant search engine to deliberately boost Google+’s popularity, by giving Google+ pages and profiles an artificially prominent position in result pages.

More here

Tags: android, Google, mobile, mobile wars, motorola

Google just announced that it is acquiring Motorola Mobility. The search and online advertising company is buying the company for approximately $12.5 billion (or $40 per share), in cash. The price represents a premium of 63 percent to the closing price of Motorola Mobility shares last Friday. Google had about $39 billion in cash at last count.

Here’s the other important part of the PR (the why, and what happens to Android now):

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a dedicated Android partner, will enable Google to supercharge the Android ecosystem and will enhance competition in mobile computing. Motorola Mobility will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. Google will run Motorola Mobility as a separate business.

More on Techcrunch

Tags: Dick Costolo, facebook, Google, twitter, Zynga

Twitter’s chief executive, Dick Costolo, says talk of a $10bn (£6.2bn) acquisition of the messaging company by Google is “just a rumour” and that the site is already making money.

Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Costolo asked whether Google could afford a $10bn acquisition – following rumours that this was the price being considered by the search engine firm for the messaging startup. “People write that stuff all the time … I don’t know where these things come from, it’s just a rumour.” He fell short of an outright denial, however.

Costolo also suggested that Twitter, which started operations in February 2006, will this year introduce a new method of making money, to add to its existing roster of promoted tweets, accounts and trends. However, he did not specify what that would be.

More on Guardian.co.uk

Tags: company acquired, Google, groupon, local businesses, special offers

Internet search giant Google is thought to have bought Groupon, a discount an offers website, for around $2.5 billion (£1.6 billion), according to rumours emanating from Silicon Valley.

Google and Groupon are said to have been locked in discussions for weeks over a possible deal, although neither company has commented on the latest speculation.

Groupon – which offers users discounts and special offers at shops and businesses in their local area – only launched in 2008, but is valued in excess of $1.3 billion, and reportedly generates revenues of more than $50 million per month.

News on Telegraph

Tags: Google, google tv, intel tv, internet tv, sony tv

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) — Google is working with Intel and Sony to develop a new class of internet-enabled televisions and set-top boxes, according to the New York Times.

The effort, known as Google TV, has been under way for several months and is based on Google’s Android software which is currently available in certain smartphones, the Times, citing people with knowledge of the project, reported on Wednesday.

Logitech International is also involved and is developing peripheral devices, such as a tiny keyboard.

“The partners envision technology that will make it as easy for TV users to navigate Web applications, like the Twitter social network and the Picasa photo site, as it is to change the channel,” the Times reports.

Full details at Wired.com

Tags: Google, google new tools, photo editing, picnik, search giant

Google is adding yet another online service to its growing portfolio of Web-based tools. The search giant today announced that it has bought Picnik, a photo utility that lets users edit digital photos in a Web browser. Picnik launched in 2005 and has 20 employees. Terms of the deal were not announced.

Google’s Intentions
What plans does Google have for Picnik? It won’t say just yet.
“We’re not announcing any significant changes to Picnik today, though we’ll be working hard on integration and new features. As well, we’d like to continue supporting all existing Picnik partners so that users will continue to be able to add their photos from other photo-sharing sites, make edits in the cloud and then save and share to all relevant networks,” says Google product management director Brian Axe in a blog post.

More on PC World

Tags: browser, chrome browser, Google, internet, Open Source

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Google plans to launch Tuesday its own Internet browser, opening up a new challenge in cyberspace to Microsoft and its dominant Internet Explorer.

The California-based Web search leader said the new browser, called Google Chrome, would “add value for users and, at the same time, help drive innovation on the web.”

“We realized … we needed to completely rethink the browser,” Google’s Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.

The application can be downloaded for free in more than 100 countries and its code will be open source so no rights will have to be paid by anyone using or adapting the software.

Full article at Yahoo News
and screenshots at blogoscoped.com

Tags: Google, google share, internet, market share, search engine

Google continues to gain search market share in the United States at the expense of its rivals.

In July, according to Internet metrics firm ComScore, Americans conducted 11.8 billion searches at core search engines, a 2% increase from June.

Google sites accounted for 61.9% of July searches, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from the previous month. Yahoo sites accounted for 20.5%, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points. And Microsoft sites accounted for 8.9%, a decrease of 0.3 percentage points.

In numerical terms, Google handled almost 7.3 billion core searches (a 2% increase). Yahoo processed 2.4 billion, and Microsoft fielded 1 billion.

More on informationweek.com

Tags: Google, initiative, internet, internet for all, public

Today Google joined a national initiative of public interest, civic and industry groups to help launch the Internet for Everyone campaign, whose goal is to make ubiquitous and open broadband access for every American a priority in the next administration.

Why is Google involved? Making the Internet accessible to more Americans is part of our corporate DNA. It’s what has motivated our work on municipal wi-fi, in the 700 MHz spectrum auction, our investment in Clearwire and development of Android, and most recently our advocacy in support of opening up the unused portions of the TV spectrum band for use by Internet devices.

For more than a decade the Internet has driven unprecedented innovation, economic growth, and prosperity. Companies like Google, Amazon, eBay, Facebook — and numerous smaller but impactful players — have fundamentally changed people’s lives. Their success wouldn’t have been possible without the ability of tens of millions of Americans to connect easily to a open Internet. And there’s no doubt that the next generation of inventions to transform our lives and our economy will happen online, making high-speed access to the Net more important than ever.

Read the full article

Tags: advertisers, article, cellphones, Google, iphone

BusinessWeek.com has posted an article about Google’s Real Threat.

…As more people use cell phones and their tiny glass screens to gain access to the Internet, Google and its fellow online advertisers will have less space, or what’s called ad inventory, to place marketing messages for customers. Google makes money selling ad inventory. And its ad inventory is diminished on a cell phone.

Full article here.