Archive for September, 2008
Tenth birthday celebrations for Google
The vice president of search products and product engineering at Google,Marissa Mayer, told in a blog posting that the birthday logo includes a celebration of the company’s anniversary as well as an opportunity to trace back to Google’s tradition.
Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page had attended the infamous Burning Man Festival in 1998.To inform their colleagues they had included Burning Man image into the Google logo.Eventually the logo became a tradition at this Search Engine giant company, and the company celebrates special events by inventing new logos.
Hacking of websites expanding widely
The targets of hackers have become legitimate websites.This is due to the fact that more people are becoming extremely proficient in web browsing as well as downloading several softwares.
David Freer,Symantec’s vice president for consumer business in Asia-Pacific and Japan reported in one of the websites that the greatest threat today is that legitimate Web Sites are being hacked .He reported that not just the users’ PC, instead the entire platform of Web is emerging as the favourite platform for security attacks.
An observation by Norton has revealed that the attackers focus area is usually Websites with flaws.Norton also reported that just 4% of the vulnerabilities for the latter half of 2007 were patched by March 2008.Freer observed that everyday there were around 10,000 unique attacking domains.
New advertising platform (APT) for yahoo
The platform APT which has been under development for atleast around 2 years has been rolled out today.This is intended to project the way digitals ads are placed across the web.The main intention of Yahoo’s APT is to improve its average financial performances. and obtain a greater share of the Internet advertising revenue.
APT, which is an automated platform, links advertisers, agencies who sell ads as well as website owners. It consists of several tools which gives advertisers the opportunity to display the locations where ads need to appear, which category of web surfers will view the ads etc.As a result, APT provides the platform to do business very effectively.
For more information on APT,checkout the website http://apt.yahoo.com/
Google’s Android Software to cover broader arenas
The debut of the first phone using Google’s Android Software will be unveiled today.The first device to run Google’s operating system is a mobile from the Taiwanese firm HTC called the “Dream”.However some Android partners have revealed that the Android Software will be used for several other areas than just the mobile.
John Bruggerman,the chief marketing officer at Wind River Systems,a Google ally who is involved in customizing phones to use Android Software said that in future Android will be used in devices used in automobiles or those devices that are used in homes.He mentioned that it was expected that TV’s,set top boxes and even cars might be using this software .He conveyed that we might be witnessing the ubiquitous presence of Android by the year 2009.
Well, if the Android software branches into new areas,this would pose a major threat to other competitors in the same arena.
Search lead results from Comscore
The recent report from the research firm Comscore revealed that Google’s share of the search market grew to around two thirds of
The monthly report of Comscore revealed that Google’s search share increased from 61.95% to 63% in August.The rivals Yahoo and Microsoft though have slided down in their search performances.Yahoo’s search market decreased from 20.5% in July to 19.6% over the month of August.Microsoft claimed the third position with a market share of 8.3% which has decreased from 8.9% in July. Ask Network occupied the fourth position with a share of 4.8%, increasing from around 4.5% in July.The fifth position was occupied by AOL with 4.3%, slightly gaining from 4.2% in July.
View the research results of Comscore in a tabular format:
Google-Yahoo Deal faces scrutiny
The Google-Yahoo deal, which was announced on June 12th 2008,will enable Google to provide search advertising to Yahoo for selected Yahoo searches in USA and Canada. Google is the search engine Titan , followed by Yahoo and Microsoft in the positions of second and third.
The European Union confirmed that it is reviewing the deal for anti-trust regarding Google and Yahoo’s proposed advertising deal.This ad deal has been faced with a lot of criticism from several US advertisers , in addition to a worldwide association of newspapers.
Google chief executive Eric Schmidt told reporters that he would continue to move ahead with the deal in making its advertising search deal a reality.He also said that he was aware of the fact that Microsoft too had major plans to break this deal of Google and Yahoo.
According to Google’s competitors,Google will manage to gain the monopoly in the field of Internet advertising if the deal is through.The largest chunks of Internet advertising in the hyperfast world of Internet is “search advertising”.These are the advertisements that are displayed alongside Internet search results delivered by Google,Yahoo as well as Microsoft.
First Google Phone to be demonstrated on Sept 23
T- mobile will be unveiling the first mobile phone which runs on Google’s Android Software.The features of the much anticipated mobile phone will be demonstrated on Sept 23rd at a news conference in New York.The phone manufactured by HTC will be available only by next month.
The G1 phone though available only in October, it is expected that the details of the pricing will be revealed during the conference.The Android phone faces a stiff competition from the already popular Apple Inc’s iPhone,which is ironically largest source of mobile traffic for Google so far.
The main aim of Google while designing its Android Software was to ensure that most of its services including its highly profitable advertising runs on mobile phones.We’ll we just need to wait to see if all the hype will turn out to be a reality.
Android Software from Google:
The giant of Search Engines will soon be releasing the software Android which will ideally be suited to run all mobile phones.
Instead of actually manufacturing mobile phones,Google is providing the software Android ,eventually hoping to make handsets in a variety of shapes and sizes by depending on several hardware partners.
Google hopes to combine the approach of Nokia and Microsoft to meet the requirements of the users.Google will combine Nokia’s strategy of “a handset to suit every style” as well as Microsoft’s method of developing the software,in addition to involving several other partner companies.This will also contrast Apple’s iPhone strategy of “one handset fits all”.However unlike Microsoft who charges for using its Windows Mobile software,Google will be providing Android Software completely free.
The vision of Google is to develop the ideal mobile phone which is internet-enabled.Google will be moving towards this vision by focusing on developing countries like India and China,where people are increasingly switching towards the mobile to access the web.
The Social Networking Giant Facebook undergoes a revamp
Facebook on Wednesday has rolled out its new site with a redesign to several million of its users.The new site is open to all it users after several months of Beta Testing.
Around 40% of Facebook users tried the new version which was released in July.75% of this group continued using the latest design while the remaining 25% will get accustomed to this new design henceforth.
The site has got a simple look and feel,more user control over profiles and accumulation of latest information using feeds. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had said that the re-design will make it very easy for its users to share information .So for all facebook users its adieu to the old design and hello to the new design.
Microsoft introduces Safer Online Environments for Children – Digital Playgrounds
The idea builds on the belief called “End to End Trust” that Microsoft first proposed in April at the RSA Security conference. The whole concept was produced in a paper entitled “Digital Playgrounds:Creating Safer Online Environments for Children”,released by Microsoft.
The company is handling the challenge as to how to make the Internet safer for children.In addition ,this could also help adults who wish to conduct business, make transactions, and communicate with the confidence that they are interacting with people after complete verification. The major area of concern is how to include additional identity authentication without compromising the privacy of the people involved.
Report from one of the blog says,”I started thinking about how we identify people in the physical world three years ago, when my wife had a [baby] boy,” Scott Charney, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for Trustworthy Computing, said in a recent interview. “I was in the delivery room, and out he came, and the doctor said, ‘What’s his name?'”
“It occurred to me that all identity is based on social custom and derivative identity. Parents name the child, and the name is put on the birth certificate,” which then becomes the irrefutable proof of that person’s identity, he said. “We haven’t done that on the Internet.”
In order to create digital credentials,Microsoft hopes to use existing verification systems like schools who get children registered for classes , post offices which use passports for verification etc.There have been attempts earlier to create sites which were targeted at children and have not been that successful .But Microsoft assures that online sites which verify age limits would surely be very appealing to parents .