Google's Eric Schmidt: Internet Becoming a Cesspool Where Brands Are Increasing Important

Internet is a "cesspool," a festering sea of bad information, said Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, yesterday while speaking to a group of visiting magazine executives at the company's Mountain View, California Campus during the American Magazine Conference. Schmidt suggested that "brands" are more important than ever and key solution for this problem is brands. "Brands are the solution, not the problem," said Schmidt. "Brands are how you sort out the cesspool." Branding, on the other hand, may be an essential element that helps people navigate the world, he continued. "Brand affinity is clearly hard wired," he said. "It is so fundamental to human existence that it's not going away. It must have a genetic component." more»

Google Explains Why Their Data Centers are Most Efficient in the World

According to Google's findings released today, the company claims that its energy-optimized data centers are the most efficient in the world. More specifically, the company says that its data centers "use nearly five times less energy than conventional facilities to feed and cool the computers inside." This includes efforts to optimize every element in the data center, from the chip to the cooling tower. "As a result, the energy used per Google search is minimal. In the time it takes to do a Google search, your own personal computer will use more energy than we will use to answer your query." more»

Supposedly Private Meeting of China's Censorship Division and Wikipedia Founder

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has met with the Chinese government body in charge of censoring online content in the country. Cai Mingzhao, Vice Director of China's State Council Information Office in charge of China's "Internet Management Division" (censorship division), discussed Wales' concerns regarding censorship. Although no deals or agreements where made, it has been reported that the meeting has "opened a channel of communication and dialogue between the Wikipedia community and the Chinese government." more»

GNU Founder Richard Stallman Warns Against Cloud Computing

Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation and creator of the computer operating system GNU, says cloud computing is essentially a trap that will eventually pressure more people into buying locked, proprietary systems that will continue to cost them more over time. "It's stupidity. It's worse than stupidity: it's a marketing hype campaign," says Stallman. Bobbie Johnson, Guardian's technology correspondent says 'his comments echo those made last week by Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, who criticized the rash of cloud computing announcements as "fashion-driven" and "complete gibberish".' more»

Internet Pioneer Paul Baran Awarded National Medals of Technology and Innovation

Paul A. Baran, a founding father of the Internet has been named a 2007 National Medal of Technology and Innovation laureate. Baren was presented the award by President Bush at the White House today. Baran is one of the three inventors of packet-switched networks, along with Donald Davies and Leonard Kleinrock. His packet switching idea has served as a foundation where others later built the ARPANET, which, over time, evolved into the Internet. more»

Network of Supercomputers Could Revolutionize Internet Speed

A network of supercomputers, known as the Grid, consisting of 100,000 computers is called the latest evolution of the Internet and computer scientists will announce on Friday that it is ready to be connected to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Murad Ahmed, Times Online technology correspondent reports: "It is designed for schemes where huge quantities of data need crunching, such as large research and engineering projects. The Grid has the kind of power required to download movies in seconds, and the ability to make high-definition video phone calls for the same price as a local call." more»

Happy OneWebDay: Celebrations are Underway Around the World

Today marks the third annual OneWebDay (Earth Day for the Internet) and communities around the world are holding events to learn about and advocate the Internet. Gatherings are being held in major U.S. cities as well as Melbourne, London, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Singapore, Tunisia and elsewhere. more»

Mapping Google

Byte Level Research has released a new version of its world map illustrating country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) in use by Google for its local search engines. Using information available on Google's Language Tools page, the new map shows over 160 ccTLDs that Google has currently in use including Andorra, Kenya, Ukraine, and Ghana. Why pick Google? John Yunker president of Byte Level Research says that he knows of no other company that hosts localized websites across so many different ccTLDs. Countries the Google currently serves even include Cuba — "I doubt many Americans are aware of that."... more»

Google Predicting Next Ten Years of the Internet

While celebrating its 10th year anniversary this month, Google reflects on the "enormous impact" that the Internet has had on people's lives around the world. "It has changed politics, entertainment, culture, business, health care, the environment and just about every other topic you can think of," says Google in its recent blog postings related to "Google at 10". In today's blog post, Chad Hurley, CEO and Co-Founder, YouTube (acquired by Google) says: "Today, 13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute, and we believe the volume will continue to grow exponentially. Our goal is to allow every person on the planet to participate by making the upload process as simple as placing a phone call..." more»

Berners-Lee Announces Creation of World Wide Web Foundation

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, on Sunday announced the launch of World Wide Web Foundation to fulfill a vision of the Web as humanity connected by technology. "The Web is a tremendous platform for innovation, but we face a number of challenges to making it more useful, in particular to people in underserved communities," said Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and co-Director of the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI). "Through this new initiative, we hope to develop an international ecosystem that will help shape the future Web. A more inclusive Web will benefit us all." more»

Cloud Computing: A Hot Debate Among Policy Makers

During a recent Google forum on the policy implications of hosted applications and services, experts anticipate great challenges facing policy makers in the next few years as cloud computing is becoming increasingly popular. Issues include: "Who owns the data that consumers store on the network? Should law enforcement agencies have easier access to personal information in the cloud than data on a personal computer? Do government procurement regulations need to change to allow agencies to embrace cloud computing?" more»

Survey Indicates 69% of Internet Users Already Making Use of Cloud Computing

According to a recent survey by Pew Research Center's Internet Project, 69% of all Internet users in U.S. have either stored data online or used a web-based software application. "These users are making use of 'cloud computing,' an emerging architecture by which data and applications reside in cyberspace, allowing users to access them through any web-connected device." At the same time, most of these users are still unfamiliar with the term "cloud computing." more»

Forum Addresses Soaring Internet Drug Trafficking

In a recent World Forum Against Drugs conference, experts warned that Web based Drug trafficking is soaring and is far more challenging and dangerous than traditional trafficking. "Buying drugs on the Internet is really easy. You only need an Internet cafe, a credit card, and it's done," says Daniel Altmeyer, an Interpol officer. "It's a new kind of audience, helping new people to try many new things." The web has become a perilous minefield for pharmaceutical products, the experts said. more»

U.S. Online TV Viewership Doubled in the Last Two Years

Online TV viewing has been gaining in popularity according to a recent survey of 10,000 households. Nearly one-fifth of American households who use the Internet watch television broadcasts online, double the viewership from 2006, The Conference Board and TNS reports. The top two destinations for online broadcasts are the official TV channel homepage and YouTube. "The shift from appointment TV to content on demand is well underway," says Michael Saxon, Senior VP at TNS. "Fundamentally, consumers expect content to be available when they want it, and on the screen of their choice -- TV, PC, or mobile. For consumers, PCs enhance content on demand from simply time-shifting to place-shifting. Online content can be viewed in any room in the house, or at work or school." more»

Google Changes Chrome License Terms

Some of the harshest criticisms concerning Google's newly released Chrome browser related to its very broad license agreement. Consequently on Wednesday, Google said that it was planning to change Chrome's User License agreement where it appeared to give Google a perpetual right to use anything a user entered into the browser. As of Wednesday 2 p.m. PT, the terms were indeed changed with Section 11 now reading simply: "11.1 You retain copyright and any other rights you already hold in Content which you submit, post or display on or through, the Services." more»