We’re just gonna go ahead and take everything we read today with a giant grain of salt, as it just so happens to be April 1. In an April Fools’ joke that would likely devastate anyone who’s a fan of funny cat videos or 10-hour loops of Kate Upton on a runway, Google announced today that it’s shutting down YouTube tonight. [More]
Please Stop Almost Killing People Because You’re Staring At The Awesome Driverless Google Car
By 3.29.13
Businessweek has an article by a Mountain View, California denizen whose neighborhood is besieged by the notorious driverless Google cars. The problem is not what you’d assume. The cars drive just fine. In fact, they are better than the people, says the author. His issue is that the fleet of robot vehicles have an unintended side-effect: They cause nearby humans to lose their own ability to drive. [More]
Google Launches Same-Day Shopping Service With Target, Staples, Toys R Us, Others
By 3.28.13
Taking aim at Amazon, Google has launched a service for consumers in the San Francisco area that allows them to browse items from a selection of major retailers then get them delivered the same day. [More]
Report: Privacy Concerns Another Reason For Shuttering Google Reader
March 25, 2013
Earlier this month, Google announced it will pull the plug on Google Reader come July, saying it would reallocate resources elsewhere in the company. But AllThingsD reports that another reason was because no one was really manning the Reader ship and Google didn’t want to get stung with another pricey privacy problem. [via AllThingsD] [More]
Worst Company In America Round 1: Google Vs. Facebook
March 20, 2013
Two of the Internet’s coolest kids take a break from collecting every possible bit of data about consumers in order to beat each other into submission in a much-anticipated WCIA cage match. [More]
Facebook Android App Wants To Bypass Google Play Store For Updates
By 3.15.13
As most Android users know, one of the nice things about the operating system is that you don’t always have to get your apps through the official Google Play app store. But usually, any future updates to an app come through whichever store you downloaded the app from. Except now Facebook is asking some Android users to accept an update in the app itself that would allow future updates to be pushed through without notice. [More]
Want Ad-Blocking Apps On Your Android Device? Don’t Expect Google To Sell Them Anymore
By 3.14.13
Until yesterday, Android users could go into the Google Play store and find a bunch of apps developed to block ads from showing up on your wireless device. But now Big G has decided these types of apps violate its policies. [More]
Fans Start Petitions To Save Google Reader
By 3.14.13
If you’re coming to this post from Google Reader, you will soon be requiring a different way to follow the feeds of your favorite news sites and topics, as Google announced last night that it’s saying goodbye to Reader on July 1. But there are those who refuse to say goodbye so easily. [More]
Google To Pay States $7 Million For Privacy Violations Related To Street View
By 3.12.13
Remember way back in 2010 when people were up in arms about Google collecting and storing data — including e-mails, texts, browsing histories, and other fun, private stuff — while tooling around taking photos for Google Street View? Well, the multi-state lawsuit over that mess has finally been settled. [More]
Report: Google Nudging Into Amazon Territory With Tests Of Same-Day Delivery Service
By 3.6.13
That sound you hear is Google tiptoeing up to Amazon, ready to tap on its shoulder and be like, “Hey, I’m all up in your business.” The company has started testing a same-day delivery service called Google Shopping Express, which could help it move farther into the e-commerce world currently ruled by Amazon. [More]
Google Promises Nexus 7 In 3-5 Business Days, Will Ship It 4 Days Later
By 3.4.13
Silly Bryan: he got this idea in his head that “In Stock – Delivered in 3-5 business days” on the Google Nexus 7 ordering page meant that he could order a tablet and it would be delivered in 3-5 business days. He needed it within five business days, and placed an order. Instead of the promised two business days for processing, the tablet was set to ship out on Thursday when he’s leaving for the trip on Sunday. 2nd Day Air wasn’t going to work. [More]
Google Glass Taking Applications To Become America’s Next Top Cyborg
By 2.20.13
If you’ve ever sat gazing out a window using just your own boring nature-given eyeballs and thought, “Oh, if only I were more like Geordi LaForge, and also I have lots of money to spare,” then Google Glass wants you. The company is taking the next step toward making its wearable computing devices a reality and is offering up the chance for tech-lovers to be among the first to try it. [More]
Shockingly, Customers Who Buy Google Products Expect Some Customer Service
By 2.4.13 — Updated: 2.5.13
We’ve posted before about how Google’s idea of offering product support is to maintain some customer forums and peek in every once in a while. That’s understandable for free tools like Gmail and standard Google Voice, but customers who have paid Google for services expect more. For example, many of the customers who have paid to port their phone numbers to Google Voice so far this month have received an e-mail confirming that their port went through…then discover that people who call them are getting a message that the number has been disconnected. [More]
Time Warner Boosts My Speed, Cuts My Bill: I Just Happen To Live Near Google Fiber
By 1.30.13
Rob is a Time Warner Cable customer, and he’s received two really interesting things from them lately. First, a 50% speed boost: they claim to have upgraded the speed of his home Internet connection. That’s neat. Oh, and they’ve also cut his bill, from $45 to $30. Wow! What has prompted this amazing treatment? Years of loyalty and on-time payments? No, not exactly…Rob lives in Kansas City, pilot site for Google Fiber, the gigabit broadband project that’s threatening to make current broadband providers almost care about competing. [More]
No, That’s Not A Cyborg — It’s Sergey Brin Riding The NYC Subway Rails Wearing Google Glass
By 1.21.13
While Star Trek: Next Generation actor LeVar Burton is no doubt waiting to take the Google Glass specs for a spin, it seems like for now Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin has taken it upon himself to test them out. He was snapped wearing the eyewear in the wild while cruising on the 3 train in New York City. [More]
Google Says Street View Car Didn’t Hit That Donkey Lying In The Road, It’s Just Sleeping
By 1.16.13
So there’s this donkey, on a road in Botswana, right? And like, it seemed as if he was just going along on his little donkey way when along comes Google’s Street View car and what’s this? Suddenly he’s lying on the ground. That is the sequence of events some are citing while accusing Google’s car of hitting — and gulp, maybe killing — the poor fella. But Google says its own set of pictures shows that’s not the case at all. [More]
Google Provides Free WiFi To Area Of Manhattan That Doesn’t Exactly Need It
By 1.8.13
Because it’s hard to pay $60/month for Internet access when you’re already shelling out $3,000/month for your one-bedroom apartment, the charitable folks at Google have decided to bring free WiFi to Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. [More]
Google Settles With FTC, Agrees To Change Anticompetitive Business Practices
By 1.3.13
For more than a year, the Federal Trade Commission has been looking into various business practices of Google — covering everything from online advertising to search results to wireless patents — that allegedly stifled competition and innovation. Today, the agency and the Internet giant announced an agreement that has Google changing some of the ways it operates. [More]
