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Google’s Andy Rubin Gives a Flash of Tablet Future

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 6, 2010 at 6:33 pm PT

Taking the stage to kick off D: Dive into Mobile, Google’s Andy Rubin gave a glimpse of Android 3.0 running on a prototype Motorola tablet. That was the icing on a pastry-laden talk filled with Gingerbread, Froyo and Honeycomb.

Would Facebook + Email = Gmail + Google Me?

Liz Gannes in Social on November 12, 2010 at 8:21 am PT

Facebook this Monday is reportedly set to announce a “full-fledged webmail client” with integration of Microsoft Office Web Apps at a press event the company is holding in San Francisco.

News Byte

Google Tightens Its Privacy Practices

Voices in News on October 22, 2010 at 4:02 pm PT

Acknowledging that its Street View cars inadvertently gathered not just fragmentary data from open Wi-Fi networks, but some URLs, passwords and entire emails as well, Google today again apologized and said it was implementing more rigorous internal privacy practices. The measures include the appointment of Alma Whitten to oversee privacy issues across both engineering and product management, enhanced privacy training for employees and mandatory documentation and auditing of privacy design for all initiatives.

News Byte

Living Dangerous.ly

Voices in News on October 6, 2010 at 9:30 am PT

Sure, that “.ly” country-code domain lends itself to some catchy product names, most notably URL shortening services like Bit.ly and Ow.ly. But the wisdom of building a service on a government-controlled domain has always been debatable, and doubly so when that government is Libya’s. Just ask Ben Metcalfe and Violet Blue, whose year-old, “adult friendly” vb.ly link-shortening service was abruptly shut down because a lot of those links pointed to content that violated Islamic law. Libyan Net authorities said they had no problem with general-use shorteners, but the Bit.ly folks might want to study up on Sharia just in case.

FML! New York City Subway Managers Show Remarkable Web Savvy.

Peter Kafka in Media on June 17, 2010 at 1:18 pm PT

If you’re one of the people who got a giggle out of the signage at the 14th Street stop, you’re out of luck–turns out the folks who run New York City Transit use the Web, too.

Turning a Web Page Into a Keeper

Katherine Boehret in The Mossberg Solution on April 20, 2010 at 2:20 pm PT

A free browser tool lets users store a Web page’s content even if later the information is no longer retrievable.

Betaworks Gets Another $20 Million for Twitter-Friendly Start-Ups. Building a Mountain or Digging a Hole?

Peter Kafka in Media on March 12, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

Do you like Twitter’s chances? Then you’ll like Betaworks, a holding company that builds and invests in the Twitter ecosystem. CEO John Borthwick explains what it plans to do with the $20 million it just raised from the likes of Intel, the New York Times and AOL.

New Way to Flit from Store to Store

Katherine Boehret in The Mossberg Solution on February 2, 2010 at 6:16 pm PT

As the home base for a Web search, Flit.com makes online shopping feel more like a day at the mall.

Google Tries Redialing “Click to Call” Again

Peter Kafka in Media on January 5, 2010 at 7:24 am PT

Here’s an interesting side note to GPhone (a.k.a. “Nexus One”) day–Google is still experimenting with its “click-to-call” program for advertisers on “high-end mobile devices.” Coincidence?

Google Loses a Round in Italian Court: Will YouTube Have to Pay Up?

Peter Kafka in Media on December 16, 2009 at 2:11 pm PT

Here’s the problem with running the world’s biggest video site: It exposes you to legal fights all over the world. And Google appears to have lost a tussle in Italian court today. Mediaset, a commercial broadcaster controlled by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has won a copyright ruling, and a Rome court has ordered YouTube to remove all of Mediaset’s content from the site. The broadcaster is reportedly looking for at least $730 million in damages.