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Latest Gear Live Videos
Playing Xbox Live While Driving Via Google WiFi
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Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Internet, Microsoft, Mods / Hacks, Transportation, Video Games, Videos,
So, my boy Jake Ludington dropped me an email this morning telling me that if I had been home this weekend and answered my phone, I would have been able to take part in this experiment that he was a part of where a group of people got together down in Mountain View, CA, and got their Xbox Live gaming on in a moving vehicle. Of course, Mountain View is the place where Google has blanketed the city in free WiFi, which is how this was all possible in the first place. In order to get it done, they used a Windows XP computer to connect to WiFi, and had the Xbox 360 pick up the shared Internet connection, thus allowing it to jump online for some Rainbow Six and Uno action. Check the video above for the proof.
Gallery: Playing Xbox Live While Driving Via Google WiFi
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Vodafone to Team with Google in Map Making
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Google, GPS, Transportation,
We told you so. Now that Nokia is offering free GPS downloads to its customers, Vodafone, the planet’s largest mobile phone network operator, has decided to get with Google to develop a map system for other cell phones. The service will also include local listings in what Vodafone’s marketer Frank Rovekamp refers to as its “mass-market access to exciting services.” We don’t know if we would call it exciting. We just like the concept of not having to pay for a separate GPS device when we get lost.
Read More | USA Today
Gallery: Vodafone to Team with Google in Map Making
Can AdMomentum Topple King Google and Queen Yahoo?
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet,
Fast Search and Transfer has created AdMomentum, which they believe to be a solution for websites who are desirous of being less dependent on Google and Yahoo when searching. This is a second chance for the Norwegian company, who had previously created another search engine, AlltheWeb. When that and other affiliates failed it was sold off for $100 million in 2003 to a company that was eventually bought by, you guessed it, Yahoo, who uses it as a testing ground for alternative search engines.
Read More | Fast Search via USA Today
Gallery: Can AdMomentum Topple King Google and Queen Yahoo?
Finjan Reconfirms Google Security Leak
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet,
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Internet security service Finjan today reconfirmed reports that Google exposed private user names and passwords on its anti-phishing blacklist. On January 3, 2007, they discovered this list of URLs which could have potentially become a target for identity theft. Although Google has removed the offending information, Finjan suggests the following steps to insure that you don’t become a future victim.
- Avoid sharing your browsing habits with third parties by disabling URL sharing or forwarding.
- Use adequate password policy for your web accounts. Do not use the same password for all web accounts.
- Make sure that your PC is adequately protected from malicious software such as spyware and adware that can send out private information.
What creeps us out almost as much as the exposed list is that you can still check it out to see if it looks familiar.
Read More | Finjan Security
Gallery: Finjan Reconfirms Google Security Leak
Google Forsees Future in Cell Phone Advertising
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Smartphones, Corporate News, Google,
Yesterday we reported SK Telecom was developing retail shopping by phone. They are doing this in cooperation with Google, the company that is well on its way to owning planet Earth. In an interview with CNN.com Saturday, Eric Schmidt, Google Inc.‘s chief executive, said that consumers spend up to 10 hours a day on cell phones that are becoming more like handheld computers.
The company will be earning most of its $10 billion revenue this year by selling text ads to computer users who search with Google and expects that mobile phone revenue will match that amount in time. Schmidt also commented that he believes phones will eventually be free if consumers accept the advertising. We think we will continue to use the phones we have and not have to sit through the commercials.
Read More | CNN
Gallery: Google Forsees Future in Cell Phone Advertising
Now this is good news for those of you who run websites - Google has just launched Google Co-Op. The goal of Google Co-Op is to allow a user to create and integrate a customized version of the Google search engine into their website. You are able to specify which sites you want your Co-Op site to search, which means results will be displayed only for those sites you choose.
Aside from choosing which site(s) you want to include, you also have the choice of customizing the look and feel of the results page, how content in the results should be prioritized, and even if others can contribute as well.
It appears, however, that the home run here is that Google Co-Op gives the options of displaying your AdSense ads in the sidebar, providing the possibility of increased revenue. We don’t know about you, but extra money in our pockets during this time of year is more than acceptable to us.
Read More | Google Co-Op via Venturus
Gallery: Google Co-Op Goes Live
Google Buys YouTube For $1.65 Billion
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Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Google, Internet,
Okay, so, if you haven’t heard, Google has purchased the ridiculously popular online video sharing service YouTube for $1.65 billion in an all-stock acquisition. That would make YouTube Google’s largest purchase to date, and quite possibly, it’s most questionable. I mean, after all, our biggest experiences with YouTube involved viewing copyrighted material that YouTube had no business hosting. We would love to see how Google plans on dealing with that nightmare. According to YouTube execs, who should be out partying rather than making statements, YouTube is expected to still operate on it’s own and continue stealing content
doing it’s thing.
Read More | Yahoo!
Gallery: Google Buys YouTube For $1.65 Billion
Google Gadgets have been available to those who use the service as their home page, and now we can all share the wealth. Even amateur webmasters can choose from such objects as news, weather reports, maps, dictionary, horoscopes, driving directions, and games.
“Now anyone can have a great-looking website with automatically updating content,” said Adam Sah, Google Gadgets architect. “By making Google Gadgets available for you to add to your webpage, we’re working to connect developers with enthusiastic consumers.”
The gadgets are free and easily downloadable. Cute, but we’re going to wait for the one that can vacuum.
Read More | Google Announcement
Gallery: Google Gives Everyone Gadgets
Last Chance to Enter Google Code Jam 2006
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Design, Google, Internet, PC / Laptop,
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Can you beat 16,000 other competitors with your programming skills? Today is your last chance to enter the global Google Code Jam 2006 (registration closes 9:00 am tomorrow morning). The top 100 finalists get an all expense paid trip to the NYC engineering office and will compete in the October finals. Win that and you get $10,000 and “bragging rights”. So why are you still reading this?
Read More | Google Code Jam via GoogleBlog
Gallery: Last Chance to Enter Google Code Jam 2006
Google Book Search Allows You To Download Novels
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Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Google, Internet,
Is there no end to Googlemania? Google Book Search service allows free downloading and printing of classic novels, as well as many obscure books that are in public domain. You can download them to PDF for reading at your leisure, or print them for instantaneous gratification. Formerly, this service only allowed access to out-of copy books online.
Book Search is part of Google’s Books Library Project, which digitizes books from major libraries and is partnered with the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, Oxford University, the University of California and the New York Public Library. Way to go Google! Even we will use this service and think that the keyword generated text ads we have to put up with are worth the price (or in this case, “non-price”).
Read More | Google Book Search