Quote :

"Although this man did write the code, which exploited a security loophole in IE6..."

when will that fucking thing die?

2/22/2010 6:33:23 PM

Quote :

"Oh, please, way to be sensationalist and paranoid."

my initial reaction as well.

2/22/2010 7:29:24 PM

Pretty interesting Wired article about Google's search algorithm:

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/02/ff_google_algorithm/all/1

Quote :

"Google’s engineers have discovered that some of the most important signals can come from Google itself. PageRank has been celebrated as instituting a measure of populism into search engines: the democracy of millions of people deciding what to link to on the Web. But Singhal notes that the engineers in Building 43 are exploiting another democracy — the hundreds of millions who search on Google. The data people generate when they search — what results they click on, what words they replace in the query when they’re unsatisfied, how their queries match with their physical locations — turns out to be an invaluable resource in discovering new signals and improving the relevance of results. The most direct example of this process is what Google calls personalized search — an opt-in feature that uses someone’s search history and location as signals to determine what kind of results they’ll find useful. (This applies only to those who sign into Google before they search.) But more generally, Google has used its huge mass of collected data to bolster its algorithm with an amazingly deep knowledge base that helps interpret the complex intent of cryptic queries. Take, for instance, the way Google’s engine learns which words are synonyms. “We discovered a nifty thing very early on,” Singhal says. “People change words in their queries. So someone would say, ‘pictures of dogs,’ and then they’d say, ‘pictures of puppies.’ So that told us that maybe ‘dogs’ and ‘puppies’ were interchangeable. We also learned that when you boil water, it’s hot water. We were relearning semantics from humans, and that was a great advance.” But there were obstacles. Google’s synonym system understood that a dog was similar to a puppy and that boiling water was hot. But it also concluded that a hot dog was the same as a boiling puppy. The problem was fixed in late 2002 by a breakthrough based on philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein’s theories about how words are defined by context. As Google crawled and archived billions of documents and Web pages, it analyzed what words were close to each other. “Hot dog” would be found in searches that also contained “bread” and “mustard” and “baseball games” — not poached pooches. That helped the algorithm understand what “hot dog” — and millions of other terms — meant. “Today, if you type ‘Gandhi bio,’ we know that bio means biography,” Singhal says. “And if you type ‘bio warfare,’ it means biological.”"

[Edited on February 23, 2010 at 1:18 PM. Reason : excerpt]

2/23/2010 1:15:08 PM

2/23/2010 4:47:02 PM

Google Apps becomes a platform, gets its own app store
http://arstechnica.com/web/news/2010/03/google-apps-becomes-a-platform-gets-its-own-app-store.ars

Quote :

"At the Campfire One event last night, Google launched the Google Apps Marketplace and demonstrated how external Web applications from other vendors can be integrated into Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, and other services that are part of the search giant's Web-based productivity suite. In the quest for data liberation, Google's hosted Web services have long offered a wide range of APIs for third-party developers. With the launch of the new marketplace, however, Google Apps for domains is opening up even further and enabling external software to expose its own functionality directly through Google's Web-based applications. This will make it possible for third-party software in the cloud to offer broad interoperability with Google Apps and very tight integration. When a Google Apps domain administrator installs an application from the new marketplace, it will be accessible to users directly through the Google Apps navigation bar, and the administrator will be able to configure it through the Google Apps control panel. Those are the simplest examples of how software can tie into the Google Apps interface. Google says that there are many other integration points that can be used by app developers. In order to ensure that the experience is seamless, Google is relying on a number of increasingly important open standards. Single sign-on, for example, is facilitated by OpenID. Google Apps will act as an OpenID provider, and third-party Web applications that integrate with Google Apps will be implemented as OpenID relying parties. This will make it possible for users to access the integrated software without having to provide a separate set of credentials. The new marketplace system uses OAuth to open up the user's data to third-party applications in a manner that is secure and transparent. During the app installation process, Domain administrators will be able to see a list of data access permissions that the app needs in order to operate. The applications will only be able to touch the user's data if they are given explicit permission by the domain administrator. Data access can be revoked at any time through the Google Apps control panel. During the presentation at Campfire One, Google invited several of its marketplace partners to demo their new apps. Intuit showed how it has integrated its own Web-based payroll offering with Google Apps, allowing employees to access their paystubs directly through Google Calendar. Much deeper integration is also possible. Atlassian showed how its collaborative development tools can be woven into the Google Apps ecosystem, with interactive notifications, calendaring, and embeddable OpenSocial gadgets that can be snapped into Gmail, Google Calendar, and iGoogle. I tested the new marketplace myself by installing the Aviary application on my gwibber.com domain. After installing the app, it became possible to access Aviary content directly through the navigation sidebar in Google Docs. Installation was a simple process that required only a few steps. The user experience wasn't flawless, however. Aviary had a bit of trouble handling the authentication token."

So, does this mean I can finally get Google Voice attached to my domain account? That'd be nice.

3/10/2010 12:02:40 PM

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/biking-directions-added-to-google-maps.html

3/10/2010 3:59:53 PM

http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/03/broadcast-yourself.html

Quote :

" Around the globe, YouTube has become a metaphor for the democratizing power of the Internet and information. YouTube gives unknown performers, filmmakers, and artists new ways to promote their work to a global audience and rise to worldwide fame; makes it possible for political candidates and elected officials to interact with the public in new ways; enables first-hand reporting from war zones and from inside repressive regimes; and lets students of all ages and backgrounds audit classes at leading universities. Yet YouTube and sites like it will cease to exist in their current form if Viacom and others have their way in their lawsuits against YouTube. In their opening briefs in the Viacom vs. YouTube lawsuit (which have been made public today), Viacom and plaintiffs claim that YouTube doesn't do enough to keep their copyrighted material off the site. We ask the judge to rule that the safe harbors in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the "DMCA") protect YouTube from the plaintiffs' claims. Congress enacted the DMCA to benefit the public by permitting open platforms like YouTube to flourish on the Web. It gives online services protection from copyright liability if they remove unauthorized content once they’re on notice of its existence on the site. With some minor exceptions, all videos are automatically copyrighted from the moment they are created, regardless of who creates them. This means all videos on YouTube are copyrighted -- from Charlie Bit My Finger, to the video of your cat playing the piano and the video you took at your cousin’s wedding. The issue in this lawsuit is not whether a video is copyrighted, but whether it's authorized to be on the site. The DMCA (and common sense) recognizes that content owners, not service providers like YouTube, are in the best position to know whether a specific video is authorized to be on an Internet hosting service. Because content owners large and small use YouTube in so many different ways, determining a particular copyright holder’s preference or a particular uploader’s authority over a given video on YouTube is difficult at best. And in this case, it was made even harder by Viacom’s own practices. For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there. It hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately "roughed up" the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. It opened YouTube accounts using phony email addresses. It even sent employees to Kinko's to upload clips from computers that couldn't be traced to Viacom. And in an effort to promote its own shows, as a matter of company policy Viacom routinely left up clips from shows that had been uploaded to YouTube by ordinary users. Executives as high up as the president of Comedy Central and the head of MTV Networks felt "very strongly" that clips from shows like The Daily Show and The Colbert Report should remain on YouTube. Viacom's efforts to disguise its promotional use of YouTube worked so well that even its own employees could not keep track of everything it was posting or leaving up on the site. As a result, on countless occasions Viacom demanded the removal of clips that it had uploaded to YouTube, only to return later to sheepishly ask for their reinstatement. In fact, some of the very clips that Viacom is suing us over were actually uploaded by Viacom itself. Given Viacom’s own actions, there is no way YouTube could ever have known which Viacom content was and was not authorized to be on the site. But Viacom thinks YouTube should somehow have figured it out. The legal rule that Viacom seeks would require YouTube -- and every Web platform -- to investigate and police all content users upload, and would subject those web sites to crushing liability if they get it wrong. Viacom’s brief misconstrues isolated lines from a handful of emails produced in this case to try to show that YouTube was founded with bad intentions, and asks the judge to believe that, even though Viacom tried repeatedly to buy YouTube, YouTube is like Napster or Grokster. Nothing could be further from the truth. YouTube has long been a leader in providing media companies with 21st century tools to control, distribute, and make money from their content online. Working in cooperation with rights holders, our Content ID system scans over 100 years worth of video every day and lets rights holders choose whether to block, leave up, or monetize those videos. Over 1,000 media companies are now using Content ID -- including every major U.S. network broadcaster, movie studio, and record label -- and the majority of those companies choose to make money from user uploaded clips rather than block them. This is a true win-win that reflects our long-standing commitment to working with rights holders to give them the choices they want, while advancing YouTube as a platform for creativity. We look forward to defending YouTube, and upholding the balance that Congress struck in the DMCA to protect the rights of copyright holders, the progress of technological innovation, and the public interest in free expression. Posted by Zahavah Levine, YouTube Chief Counsel"

3/18/2010 10:51:56 PM

They have 3D on street view now? I'm not sure if the or is most appropriate.

http://thenextweb.com/google/2010/04/01/google-street-view-3d/

4/6/2010 12:19:06 AM

I noticed it a couple days ago but I don't see it being that popular. Where the hell can you just pick up some 3D glasses besides cracker jack boxes?

4/6/2010 1:17:57 AM

4/6/2010 2:20:22 PM

good thing the only two pieces of text in the tiny picture were highlighted, otherwise i wouldn't have gotten the joke!

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 2:23 PM. Reason : s]

4/6/2010 2:23:14 PM

Google's Search Stories Video Creator
http://www.youtube.com/searchstories

http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/10/remember-googles-super-bowl-search-ad-now-you-can-make-your-own

Quote :

"Remember Google’s Hell-froze-over, critically acclaimed Super Bowl ad Parisian Love? The one that managed to use a series of basic search queries to tell a touching love story? Now you’ve got a chance to tell a story of your own. Some time in the last few days Google launched a new feature called the “Search Stories Video Creator“. And damn if it isn’t fun. The new feature prompts you to input up to seven search queries spread across Google’s search features (including Images, Maps, and standard web search), choose a song, and it generates a video in the same style as Google’s other Search Stories. The whole process only takes a few minutes (the tool automatically uploads your video to YouTube when you’re ready). And while there are plenty of parodies already out there, we can expect a whole lot more of them to pop up in the next few days."

4/11/2010 6:46:22 AM

Now THIS is useful functionality ... gg Google.

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/drag-and-drop-attachments-onto-messages.html

Quote :

"I used to have to click "Attach a file," find the photos, click them, etc. Starting today, if I'm using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox 3.6, I can just drag and drop the files to attach them — easy as pie."

http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/insert-calendar-invitation.html

Quote :

"When you compose an email message, there's now an "Insert: Invitation" link right under the subject line. When you click it, a small window appears that displays your availability as well as that of the people you're emailing provided you have permission to see their calendars. You can check your friends' availability and choose an appropriate time for the event you're setting up right from there. When you've settled on the details of the event, click the "Insert Invitation" button and a preview of the invitation will appear in your email message: When you send the email, the event gets added to your calendar as well as to your friends' calendars."

4/15/2010 6:49:56 PM

Yes!!!!! It's about damn time.

4/15/2010 9:10:48 PM

http://www.google.com/governmentrequests/

4/21/2010 6:46:09 PM

Quote :

"China Chinese officials consider censorship demands as state secrets, so we cannot disclose that information at this time."

They are the only one listed like that. Oh, China.

4/21/2010 6:55:10 PM

FINALLY! Google Apps users will have access to the other Google services with their Apps account!

http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2010/05/more-google-applications-coming-for.html

Quote :

" More Google applications coming for Google Apps customers Thursday, May 06, 2010 at 12:00 PM 9 of the top 20 requests from Google Apps customers are for their accounts to work with more services from Google, not just for the core suite of messaging and collaboration applications. Later this year we’ll dramatically accelerate customer access to innovation, and give users the convenience of using any Google service allowed by their administrator from a single account affiliated with their organization. For example, coworkers will be able to publish their organization’s blog on Blogger, share project images with Picasa Web Albums, track industry news in Google Reader, advertise online with AdWords and much more, all without switching back and forth between multiple accounts. While these additional applications won’t initially be covered by the core suite’s support and service level agreement, this change will open up the spectrum of Google’s functionality to businesses, schools and organizations using Google Apps and we’ll evaluate future support options. We intend to have all Standard, Premier and Education Edition customers moved to the new infrastructure that enables this change in the fall, and customers who would like more control over the timing of this change will be able to make the switch voluntarily during the summer. This will be a significant overhaul to our underlying systems and we want to make this transition as seamless as possible for customers. We’ll be sharing information in advance so Google Apps admins can plan ahead which additional Google services users can access with their accounts and other aspects of this roll-out. Stay tuned here for further updates in the coming weeks and months, and visit our Help Center for more details."

[Edited on May 6, 2010 at 10:22 PM. Reason : .]

5/6/2010 10:22:10 PM

Not exactly Google innovation, but funny...

5/20/2010 9:36:12 AM

GoogleTV

http://bit.ly/aG1mbw

5/20/2010 2:11:18 PM

i think one of the most badass features from was when they displayed the remote feature that was on the Android phone, just speak into it and it would bring the show up on the TV, what a great accessibility feature. i also liked the on-the-fly Google Translate that they hope to integrate with CC subtitles.

5/20/2010 3:50:08 PM

I've been playing GOOGLE PAC MAN for the past 10 minutes.

5/21/2010 4:23:33 PM

SSL Google

https://www.google.com

5/24/2010 12:46:01 PM

SECURE THE GOOGELZ!

[Edited on May 24, 2010 at 12:55 PM. Reason : EL]

5/24/2010 12:55:42 PM

doesn't quite fit in this thread as a google innovation, but i didn't think it warranted its own thread (and i couldn't find an existing ms web apps thread, though i may have missed it)

http://lifehacker.com/5560352/how-does-office-web-apps-compare-to-google

6/11/2010 11:18:55 AM

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/30/why_youtube_still_uses_flash/

Some really compelling reasons why Google isn't moving away from Flash:

Quote :

"Google could surely advance the WebM cause by switching YouTube to the format entirely and moving the site to HTM5. But Harding says the company is unwilling to do so, thanks to several limitations with the <video> tag. HTML5, Harding says, is limited when it comes to offer DRM, full-screen video, or camera and microphone access. Plus, it can't do "robust video streaming." "As we’ve been expanding into serving full-length movies and live events, it also becomes important to have fine control over buffering and dynamic quality control," Harding says. "Flash Player addresses these needs by letting applications manage the downloading and playback of video via Actionscript in conjunction with either HTTP or the RTMP video streaming protocol. The HTML5 standard itself does not address video streaming protocols." And it doesn't allow users to easily lift video from YouTube and embed it in other sites. "Flash Player's ability to combine application code and resources into a secure, efficient package has been instrumental in allowing YouTube videos to be embedded in other web sites," Harding continues. "Web site owners need to ensure that embedded content is not able to access private user information on the containing page, and we need to ensure that our video player logic travels with the video (for features like captions, annotations, and advertising). While HTML5 adds sandboxing and message-passing functionality, Flash is the only mechanism most web sites allow for embedded content from other sites.""

[Edited on June 30, 2010 at 2:57 PM. Reason : ,]

6/30/2010 2:56:34 PM

So... I'd rather not make a new thread for it, but what the hell were they thinking with the latest "innovation" to Google Image Search?

Can anyone explain to me how the positives (a shitload of results on one page) could possibly outweigh the many negatives of the new Image search layout?

7/21/2010 5:29:27 PM

Quote :

"the many negatives of the new Image search layout"

What are the negatives?

7/21/2010 5:39:00 PM

1. I have to hear my friend complain about how Google obviously ripped off Bing.
2. ???
3. Profit

7/21/2010 5:44:09 PM

^^Cluttered (it's just a mess of images all smashed together with too little separation, and images with whitespace on the edges have no border or frame), disorganized (which is an easier way to find something -- a numbered page index using links between those pages, or remembering a position on the scrollbar?), you can't see the URL without mousing over a result, and when you click on a search result it takes you to a pop-out view of the image rather than the website it's on (meaning it takes more clicks to actually get to the content of the webpage), and it's ugly as shit (subjective)

[Edited on July 21, 2010 at 5:46 PM. Reason : .]

7/21/2010 5:45:53 PM

It's not that bad. I like having more results on screen at a time. I also have a 24" widescreen monitor, so maybe I'm just appreciating it more.

7/21/2010 5:52:14 PM

Quote :

"Cluttered (it's just a mess of images all smashed together with too little separation, and images with whitespace on the edges have no border or frame), "

This is a subjective argument, and actually, I find it easier to scan over a page with twice as many images looking for something specific rather than click NEXT, NEXT, NEXT....... while only viewing a dozen images at a time.

Quote :

"disorganized (which is an easier way to find something -- a numbered page index using links between those pages, or remembering a position on the scrollbar?), "

Actually, it is not disorganized, there has never been any visible organization with an image search, unless you mean that it looks "cluttered" because the images are all different sizes and laid out creatively? Also, I never remembered the number of a page index for finding an image and it was annoying to click through the results. Scrolling through them feels much more natural when scanning for something. And the position of a scroll bar? Seriously, this isn't reading an email here ... it's not like you are following a story line.

Quote :

"you can't see the URL without mousing over a result, "

This is an IMAGE search, not a WEBSITE search. The URL is irrelevant to users, I am just happy they left it on the mouse-over, and it absolutely de-clutters the screen when there aren't tons of letters, slashes, colons and underlines.

Quote :

"and when you click on a search result it takes you to a pop-out view of the image rather than the website it's on (meaning it takes more clicks to actually get to the content of the webpage), "

Did you try this? While it's showing you the pop-out view, it's loading the website in the background behind the image in case you want to view that. Plus, it has a nice little "Click for Website" and "Click for Full Size image" link on the right bar, which also has some technical data about the image. Looks great to me.

Quote :

"and it's ugly as shit (subjective)"

Yes, entirely subjective, because I disagree with you.

[Edited on July 21, 2010 at 5:55 PM. Reason : .]

7/21/2010 5:54:36 PM

I agree with him on a lot of the negatives but I'm sure I'll get used to it; it's just different.


[Edited on July 22, 2010 at 9:08 AM. Reason : ]

7/22/2010 8:42:15 AM

figured i'd try it here...

is there any way to remove a particular website from google news alerts?

specifically, I'm tired of all the shit from bleacher report showing up in my mailbox. it's a shitty site and is probably 25% of news alerts for college sports.

7/30/2010 12:19:56 PM

Google and Verizon making deal to tier Internet services
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/05/technology/05secret.html?_r=1

Interesting reaction by Jeff Jarvis (What Would Google Do Author; a good read if you're interested)
http://www.buzzmachine.com/2010/08/05/evil/

8/5/2010 9:47:16 AM

Very subtle Gmail update

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&ctx=mail&answer=184497

People start bitching in 3...

8/10/2010 8:46:26 PM

8/10/2010 8:58:32 PM

im trying to figure out what it improved ...

8/10/2010 9:02:03 PM

Anyone ever mess with the googletalk gadget that you can embed into a website? Lets just say pretty much everything is blocked at work and i'd like google talk access.

8/16/2010 11:00:23 AM

i thought that was more so people visiting your website could anonymously gtalk to YOU. if you're not online, they still can't talk to you. it's not a way for you to be able to log into your own gtalk account

http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/m is the mobile standalone version of google talk though. if you can't log into your gmail to use chat, maybe that'd work

also, have you tried meebo.com? they have a gtalk provider

[Edited on August 16, 2010 at 11:37 AM. Reason : .]

8/16/2010 11:34:16 AM

Just use Digsby.

8/16/2010 11:55:11 AM

^^both those are blocked.

the digsby website is blocked. everything is blocked. i can't even access gmail. i doubt i can even install a program. I doubt any remote/vnc/proxy or SSH tunneling would work either.

guess i could always pull out my laptop and tether to my phone. lol. want to take advantage of this though:



[Edited on August 16, 2010 at 11:59 AM. Reason : f]

8/16/2010 11:56:42 AM

just do it. you don't need that kind of bandwidth to talk on google talk

[Edited on August 16, 2010 at 12:25 PM. Reason : showoff ]

8/16/2010 12:24:57 PM

haha yeah. don't know if they'd like me having my laptop out all day though. place is pretty secure.

upload is a little slow though. wonder why. heh.

8/16/2010 12:28:17 PM

^Then just get an (Android | iOS | webOS) phone and use Gtalk/Gchat to your heart's content.

Nevermind, you have one, I see.

[Edited on August 16, 2010 at 12:33 PM. Reason : .]

8/16/2010 12:31:15 PM

I have an iphone and that's what i'm doing. I need a bluetooth keyboard though. Typing on the phone all day gets old.

8/16/2010 12:32:16 PM

can you remote desktop to external IPs? eg your home computer and gtalk there?


[Edited on August 16, 2010 at 12:39 PM. Reason : or use logmein.com to your home pc]

8/16/2010 12:36:11 PM

logmein is blocked and i haven't had any luck with vnc/remote desktop. I have no doubt they'd block any type of outgoing remote desktop. I need to try setting up SSH on my home router than somehow going through that. I haven't done that before though.

Quote :

"or, if you want to get crazy, set up a vnc server on your iphone (requires jailbreak) and vnc to your iphone from your work pc/keyboard"

How would that be different than just VNCing to my home computer? I tried using a flash based VNC site and I couldn't even VNC out of the building. Guess all the ports are blocked.

[Edited on August 16, 2010 at 12:42 PM. Reason : d]

8/16/2010 12:39:52 PM

Quote :

"I need a bluetooth keyboard though."

Well, that's a good solution, isn't it? Nobody would guess it actually controls your phone, you'd even look like you were working!

And I guess you'd have to jailbreak your iPhone to use it, but I don't know how someone could use a stock iPhone anyway.

8/16/2010 12:40:50 PM

just don't get fired amirite

8/16/2010 12:40:51 PM

Quote :

"just don't get fired amirite"

According to my employers policy you're technically allowed to use a portion of your work day to browse personal web sites. The catch is most of them are blocked. I haven't found anything saying you can't try to go to them though.

Quote :

"And I guess you'd have to jailbreak your iPhone to use it, but I don't know how someone could use a stock iPhone anyway. "

My phones always been jailbroken. I just need a suggestion on a good BT keyboard.

8/16/2010 12:46:59 PM