Google

The History Of Internet Search And Google

by Socrates
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This is an very interesting and incredibly well made Discovery Science channel documentary by technology journalist John Heilemann. The movie traces the history of internet search engines from Yahoo and Excite to Google. It documents Larry Page and Sergey Brinn’s initial attempts to sell the Google algorithm for about a million dollars and how their failure to do so forced them to start the most profitable and fastest growing company of all time. The documentary includes some previously unseen archival film footage from the early days of Larry and Sergey together with many unique interviews and insights from the venture capitalists who were the first to fund the company until it eventually became the most profitable, powerful and efficient market research tool as well as the advertising giant it is today. Recent similar articles: Google: Behind The Screen (full documentary) [...]

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Google: Behind the Screen (full documentary)

by Socrates
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This is the 4th of a series of posts about Google. The 1st post was The Internet is Killing Our Culture — Andrew Keen‘s presentation from the Authors @Google series. The 2nd article asked: Is Google Evil? and was an op-ed piece discussing some recent news reports, issues and videos surrounding Google. The 3rd was Inside Google’s Don’t Be Evil extreme caricature video that was played on Times Square and posted on YouTube. Today, I want to bring your attention to one of the more comprehensive looks at Google. Google: Behind the Screen is a 50 min documentary by the Dutch film maker Ijsbrand van Veelen and is a well made and rather balanced point of view without avoiding all of the major issues above. The movie asks a number of important questions such as “How can you convince people [...]

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Inside Google’s “Don’t Be Evil” Video

by Socrates

I recently published an article asking Is Google Evil? Well, the Inside Google watchdog mentioned in the article has been lobbying congress to mandate a “Do Not Track Me List.” As part of their public campaign the group also created a video which they played on the big screen at Times Square and posted on YouTube. The video is titled “Don’t Be Evil.” On their blog Inside Google asks: “Do you want Google or any other online company looking over your shoulder and tracking your every move online just so it can increase its profits? Consumers have a right to privacy. They should control how their information is gathered and what it is used for. [...] It’s time to create a ‘Do Not Track Me’ list to prevent online companies from gathering our personal information, just as Congress had the [...]

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Is Google Evil?

by Socrates
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Big Brother is so 1984. Today we have Google. The all-knowing, almighty Google already has more information about me and you than all of the secret service and spy agencies of the world combined. For starters, Google often knows what we browse and search for; who sends us emails and about what (it reads all gmail emails to sell ads); it monitors our usage of Google docs and its mapping software Google Earth so it knows when and how we travel, as well as our starting point and our final destination; maybe even our budget, income and expenses. If one combines all the gathered data in a “customer profile,” unless you are of specific interest to a particular type of government agency, it will easily be more thorough and complete than anything anyone can produce on you. Is it true [...]

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Software Wars: The Terminator Picks Windows

by Socrates

Ever hear about the raging software wars? There is a war out there. When it comes to software it is a dog eat dog world. Large scale conflict between different operating systems or manufacturers thereof has been a constant part of the technological landscape of the past 30 years. Moreover, in the last decade the conflict has steadily been broadening from the traditional PC vs Mac to one including more and more participants, each more eager than the next one to raid your pockets for any software dollars. There are many ways to slice the Software Wars but some of the most obvious ones must be: Windows vs Mac OS vs Linux vs Andoroid Apple (and recently Microsoft) vs. Adobe‘s Flash Player Yahoo vs Bing vs Google Symbian vs Mac vs Backberry vs Palm vs Android Paid vs Free Proprietery [...]

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Google Health Care

by Socrates

This video, called Google Health Care, is another hilarious clip from Burnistoun. I hope it brightens up your weekend. While it may be a joke it raises a number of important issues about the rise of Google in particular and technology in general. For example, asking whether we over-use and over-rely on technology is no joke. Some other important issues that have previously been discussed here are: The future of the internet and its impact? Does technology make us smart or stupid? Is the internet killing our culture? I hope you laugh today and, maybe later, think about the issues seriously. Thus, eventually, you can have your say because the people who get to make the decisions obviously need  more of your input. Cheers!

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