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Citing claims of privacy invasion and terrorisim, a one Dylan Jayne has filed a (handwritten) suit against Google. Mr. Jayne (who gives one of our favorite Firefly characters a bad name) seems a bit off his rocker on this one. He states that not only has Google failed to fight terrorisim, but they also seem to have invaded his privacy as indicated by the following statement: “I, Dylan Stephen Jayne, plaintiff, has [sic] a social security number that when the social security number is turned upside down in its entirety it is a scrambled code that does spell the name Google®.”
Last time I checked Google’s business model didn’t seem to cover stopping terrorism, leaving that job to the ‘professionals’ over at Homeland Security. His claims of privacy invasion also seem a little far fetched - it’s hard to think a fortune 100 company would pick it’s name based soley on the Social Security number of a lone loser from Pennsylvania.
In a way it’s a sad statement about the United States legal system that a case like this will even be heard by a judge. If Mr. Jayne can’t even be bothered to type up his Complaint can he really be considered compentent enough with computers to really even understand what exactly it is that Google does? Check out the Ars Technica article for more information on this weird little case and keep your eyes peeled here late breaking news as it percolates through the Justice system.
Read More 
| Ars Technica
Gallery: Man files $5 billion suit against Google
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Steve Fosset Search Continues on Google Earth
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Google, Internet, Misc. Tech, Science,
Adventurer Steve Fosset and his plane still have not been recovered after about 2 weeks. A few organizations teamed up to find him with the use of a GeoEye satellite that is tracking the Nevada territory where he was last thought to be. Using Google Earth, you can get in on the search. You will have to download a KML file and cut and paste the coordinates in the “Fly To” box. Think of the ramifications for finding others missing that using this technology will be able to accomplish in the not so very distant future.
Read More | Live Science
Gallery: Steve Fosset Search Continues on Google Earth
Google Offers $30 Million Bounty for Private Moon Landing
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Google, Misc. Tech, Science,
We suppose that Google is not satisfied with its new Sky, but then again maybe they have just gone a tad space loony. The company has offered a $30 million reward to the first private company that sends a robotic rover to the moon and sends back a gigabyte of images.
Partnered with the X Prize Foundation, who hosted the contest that sent non-astronauts into space, Google says that the rules involve the device traveling at least 1,312 feet across the surface and having high-def video and still cameras to send self-portraits, panoramic views, and near-real time videos. More details will become available during the WIRED Nextfest in LA this week.
Read More | ABC
Gallery: Google Offers $30 Million Bounty for Private Moon Landing
PanImages Search Handles Hundreds of Languages
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Google, Internet,
The University of Washington and its Professor Oren Etzoni released PanImages at the recent Machine Translation Summit in Copenhagen. Instead of searching for photos by text that may not be recognizable, the system recognizes a string of letters in about 300 different languages and looks for them in Google and Flickr. In a recent test of the process, PanImages found 57 times more results than on an average search.
The procedure works by scanning machine readable wiktionaries. As an example, Etzioni said that if you type in the Zulu word for refrigerator (“ifriji’) you would get almost 500,000 results as opposed to 2 on available search engines. While we seem to be over-saturated with images by using English, it is a comfort to know that the Zulus will be able to find appliances with less of an effort now.
Read More | Tech News Watch
Gallery: PanImages Search Handles Hundreds of Languages
Google Blogger, beware! Fake entries containing links to downloads can infect your Windows run PC. Computers that catch the virus are checked for saleable data or used as carriers. The links began in January by hackers dubbed “Storm Trojans” and may actually been have set up for allowing others to view e-mail entries on their Blogger Journals. Here are some of the storm worm subject lines:
- are you kidding me? lol
- Dude dont send that stuff to my home email…
- Dude your gonna get caught, lol
- HAHAHAHAHAHA, man your insane!
- I cant belive you did this
- LMAO, your crazy man
- LOL, dude what are you doing
- man, who filmed this thing?
- oh man your nutz
- OMG, what are you thinking
Some of the messages feature links to YouTube while others claim to be offering testing software or digital greeting cards. The group has reportedly infected over a million PCs in that time. We suggest it might be time to get a Mac, run Firefox, or find another outlet for your blogging.
Read More | BBC
Gallery: Google Bloggers Target of Storm Worms
Google Sky Now Available
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet, Science,
Who needs a planetarium when you can explore the Google Sky? With it you can view 200 million galaxies, 100 million stars, constellations, a supernova, and planets in motion. You can also see the heavens with over 120 high-res images from NASA’s Hubble telescope. All you need is a download of the current Google Earth, then click on the Sky button on the toolbar. Available in 13 languages, check out the Gallery and discover space from different sources on Earth. We think we would like to experience the Milky Way from Paris, even if it is only on our PC.
Read More | Google
Gallery: Google Sky Now Available
In January, Mark Ontkush wrote a blog that commented that using a black version of Google would save about 3000 megawatts a year, since a white page uses 74 watts and a black one only 59. Toby Heap thought Mark’s idea was such a good one that Blackle was created. The site reports that just since its Febuary release, 95,918.333 watt hours have been saved. You know that Gear Live is trying to help the world become a greener place, so we thought we would give it a try and found that the darkened screen not only worked fine, it had a nice Zen effect. Everybody say “O-h-h-h-m-m-m.”
(Thanks, Toby)
Read More | Blackle
Gallery: Google Fades to Black
So we’ve already told you about iPod My Baby, cute tees and onesies that make your infant resemble a cute, giant iPod. Awww. Now comes Goo Goo, the aptly-named onesie for Google/internet/tech fanatics who love the world’s most ubiquitous search engine. Very cute (we especially love the “I’m Feeling Silly” button), we just hope your bundle of joy isn’t labeled a “geek” by the ruffian infants at Mommy and Me class.
Read More | Dimples and Dandelions
Gallery: Babies Go Ga Ga Over Goo Goo Onesies
Google’s Hot Trends Shows What People are Searching For
Posted by Lolita Beckwith Categories: Google, Internet,
The hard-working folks at Google have just introduced a new feature called Hot Trends, which combines aspects of their “Zeitgeist” and “Trends” products, both of which offer insight into internet search habits. But while Zeitgeist and Trends are based on weeks-old data, Hot Trends lists the 100 fastest moving “search trends” and is updated several times a day. Hot Trends should not be confused with the term “most popular topics”, which according to researchers, always revolve around—you guessed it—sex (Hot Trends weeds out porn and “inappropriate language“). Searched trends can range from a newly popular political phrase to a lyric in a hit song to what kids are researching to prepare for tomorrow‘s big exam. And of course, if you click on a Hot Trend, Google provides links to relevant web, news and blog sites. Furthermore, Google is expanding Hot Trends to include charts and additional data, so we can see how a trend changes over time, or even how it varies across US regions and 70 different countries. Curious? Click here to check out Hot Trends.
Read More | Google Trends via MSNBC
Gallery: Google’s Hot Trends Shows What People are Searching For
My Google is Better Than Your Google
Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Google, Internet, Misc. Tech,
Have you ever Googled an individual company to find out if they are reputable? For that matter, have you ever Googled yourself or your spouse/partner just to see who gets the most results? It turns out that nowadays people are using the search engine on prospective dates to help fill in some of blanks before they meet. Katie Laird, a 24-year-old Web marketing professional, tells her friends to “use the power of Google to their advantage.”
Try it, if you have not before. You can often find blogs, resumes, e-mail and address listings, or hidden fetishes listed on MySpace. Just remember the wise words of Ms. Laird, “Don’t Google what you can’t handle.”
Read More | CNN
Gallery: My Google is Better Than Your Google
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