Maybe that's why their stock is down to $618 per share.

I used to believe Google could do no wrong, but I've been
sliding down the slippery slope for some time now

Wolf posted a comment about Google Map's new feature "Quest".

Quest now shows up on the regular Google Map default screen,
and there's a "learn more" video clip.



Once again I'm questioning what this company is doing under it's new CEO leadership.

It looks as though Google is time-warp-marketing back to the 1990's
with a plastic hardware devise that has to be hard-wired
to dial-up access to the internet, and graphics that are archaically appalling.
I don't see any really new features beyond the usual Google Maps.

What market (if any) are they targeting ?

I hate April Fools Day

A really geeky one.

What I love is what it does to the streetview.

Best feature ever!

Now that makes sense !

I fall for every thing that comes down the road every year at this time

Google search is acting oddly. There's no suggestion when I start typing and when I click on the results, I'm taken to another search engine, like ask.com.

That’s not odd, well actually that is normal on search engines. They gave search result that can be found on another SE, just like partners.

had something like that... grrr can't remember EXACTLY the details, but the upshot was that for some reason, I'd installed some add-in for firefox and the effect (UNINTENDED) was that all my searches that failed got redirected ...

uninstalling the add-in was a little more complicated than normal, but worthwhile since I use search A LOT, but I used the add-in less. easy decision, moderately difficulty resolving it. look for something you recently changed about your browser to change your search engine preferences. I found the answer by googling the name of the search destination I'd been redirected to. good luck.

But how can he google ask.com if google keeps being redirected to ask?


Like, whoah, dude.

Goggle going where no man has gone before...

PCWorld
By Jared Newman,
Aug 8, 2012 1:30 PM

Google Tests Feature that Shows Gmail Messages in Search Results

The search is of your own Gmail account. You're not going to see search results including strangers' email. The only way this is a privacy issue is if you share your computer and are still logged in to Gmail.

It may be annoying to get the extra results, but that's a different issue.

For now...

but I suspect advertisers / employers will not be able to stay away from emails
any more than they have from GPS or anything else that Google collects and is now the owner.

My background is in genetic disease, and I have seen what can
happen when personal information gets into the wrong hands.
My feelings about the internet come from this, and recently
Google is acting more and more like the "wrong hands".

We realize that emails on the internet are not private.
Maybe it's time for apps that move emails via https

...

gmail has been available via strictly https for some time now.

And you're right, email has the security equivalent of a post card. If you want more security than a post card, you'd better take explicit steps.

I don't understand this part of your remarks. I don't know what risk there is from employers regarding my email, not in the context of hybrid web/gmail search results. and gps? What's the risk there? That my employer knew/knows my route? Presumably when I'm doing work for them, sure. If they're tracking me when I'm on my own time, that's a totally different issue, presumably because I've opted IN for some location based system like Latitude. That's my problem, not my employer's. How can I complain about my employer following me around when I've invited put it all out there for my fans to follow?

Or, I just misunderstand you more. Definitely possible. Please feel free to explain or correct me, as you will. Thanks.

Could you explain that?

Once more, the corporate giant is out to kill off the others.

PCMag.com
David Murphy
September 15, 2012

Google Puts Internet Explorer 8 on Notice, Ends Support in Nov.

Jesus Fucking Christ. It is not out to kill off the others. Google supports the current and previous versions of all browsers. That's a good thing. Take a look at this table

http://www.quirksmode.org/css/contents.html

And see, mostly down halfway to selectors, how much of CSS3 is not supported by IE8. Those are things that will improve experience that IE refused to support when it developed 8.

Google moves directly ahead and drags IE, kicking and screaming, against its will, into the future. If XP users want to continue they must install a browser that supports modern protocols. Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. It takes five minutes to do that, and they can even install an extension that makes their browser look, feel and act like IE.

Jesus Fucking Christ.

JFC... most users, especially the business community, use IE because
it comes already installed on their PC's or their IT dept refuses to go down
any other path than MS. After all, their "certification" almost demands it.

Think about it.
... Google led the way with SEARCH, SCHOLAR, MAPS, etc.,
and now MS and Apple are developing their own counter-parts.

These moves on the part of Google and Apple look to me as a movement towards
a "stove pipe" industry, due primarily to the advertising/marketing industry jumping
on the FaceBook business model...collect data on users and sell it the marketers.
The ultimate could be that Users will have to decide which
"private customer base" to join... or, It's my way or the (internet) highway.

Ironically, the first signs of questioning this business model are appearing in today's news

JFC... it's not only about IT. ;)

http vs https

http is hypertext transport protocol

https is hypertext transport protocol secure

Secure is better. by making gmail available via https ONLY, they take a big step to secure your information. There's a kind of interesting topic, sidejacking, described in the link.

sorry for the delayed response.

Microsoft To Make Same Privacy Change Google Was Attacked For; No One Seems To Care

wheeeeeeeeee

Since I already trust The Google, I'm good to go. Since I already mistrust Microsoft to a greater degree, I'm already on alert.

:smack: I knew that. Wasn't thinking.:o

Here is a reminder of the old, familiar, public-spirited Google we used to know and love.

Google has introduced Google Public Alerts, a new feature based on Google Maps

It looks and acts like traditional Google Maps, but clicking on
an item takes you much further into the detailed message text and pics.

Type in the location (e.g., West Virginia) and it's off and running

Attachment 41435

Here is Google's video introduction

Has the Google IMAGE match feature gone away.

Today, when I drag a pic onto the Image Search box, the image loads but then nothing happens... no search... no matching images.

Is this one more "added feature" that Google is adopting ?

Chrome is beginning to suck. A lot.

unresponsive, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging, hanging,

No support from chrome

Try Opera.

Yeah, opera works.


Gratias tibi ago. Ego hic septem. Conare bubulae carnis.

Was that yeah, as in verily? or yeah as in chyeah as if?

:lol: I've never used it.

It's just that "opus" means "work" (noun, as in a piece of work) and the plural "opera" means "works".



Monialem deficeret.

I knew I shouldn't have skipped Latin

Proof that Google is breaking the law!
Attachment 45025

Audible snicker, glatt. Took me a moment.

This's just one part of it, yeah. Also--am I repeating this for the thousandth time?--business users use applications which are qualified to work properly on certain operating systems and certain browsers. It's not an arbitrary choice on the part of the end-user, they just want their shit to work.

Can we all agree that there are two completely different OS/browser markets? MS Windows, IE, SQL Server, Visual Studio, .Net, etc. are not archaic dinosaurs which are forcing themselves on the market or exploiting people's lack of sophistication. They work just fine, for their intended purpose.

My problem with Google is they forgot about Dre.

As long as we agree that the "intended purpose" is creating an infrastructure that makes money for Microsoft.

Would it benefit the business community at large for the vendor of their primary infrastructure components to not make money, not have resources?

We agree that all businesses are in business to make money, right? But in the case where a bunch of other people's livelihoods are based on other businesses within the ecosystem, of course you want the entire ecosystem to be making money.

This is just like not liking 'top 40' bands because they are popular. You can't have blind spots where capitalism doesn't apply, or gets overruled by personal bias.

It would really benefit the "business community" to have no vendor and pay nothing for languages, frameworks, SQL database platforms, desktops, browsers and development environments that are free of charge and involve no licensure issues.

Google is no longer following the "do no evil" software development model.

TechCrunch
You’re Not Just The Product, You’re The Ads (And Your Friends Should Thank*You)
If it's your image, you should be able to copyright it and at least get royalties from it's use.

How long will it be until some eager lawyer starts suing Google
for using your image without permission in it's new business model.

Just a small devil's advocate here... part of the inherent, lifelong problem with advertising has been that it lies.

4 out of 5 dentists agree... when asked a loaded question that guides a clear answer
I'm Tiger Woods, and I love Bran Flakes... except actually, I hate them.
Best in its class... where class is defined so narrowly that it is the only candidate.


Everyone understands by now that all ads are complete crap. Many if not most people have TV systems that can skip them, and click-through rates are at all-time lows. The most important factor in whether I buy a product is if people I know and trust say it's good. You can't even trust strangers on the internet because fake reviews are so prevalent.

There's something nice about the idea of getting recommendations from your friends without those friends having to do any work to convey that information. Obviously there are some sensitive products that no one wants to talk about, but if you really like a certain product, why wouldn't you want to allow people to know that you like it?

My quarrel with Facebook and then Google is/was with the idea that
they are selling "you" without compensating you for the resource.
Likewise, they are selling "you" to others without you knowing where, when, and to whom.

If someone called and asked you to endorse a product, but refused to tell you
how they were going to use that endorsement, would you still give it to them ?

e.g., a silly example...just because you "liked" or "+1'ed" a bar-casino
(or a STD Clinic :eek:) while on vacation last year, are you OK with your kids,
friends, or members of your church randomly seeing that on their iphone ... years from now ?

I'm old school... believing that bad things happen when someone has access to
and/or uses personal information about "you" to make $ for themselves,
especially if they claim to "own" that information and will not allow you to delete or restrict it's use.
... like your medical information being used by insurance companies or employers, etc.

Likewise, for kids who are vulnerable to bullying by classmates over even the smallest of details in the lives.

Your quarrel with Google is that they are a business and are profitable.

I don't mind my friends seeing what I think is good. I kinda like it. It keeps me in their heads. That has value to me.

I also don't mind people making money. Guess what, it's just a medium of exchange.

What I don't like is speculation about what Google MIGHT do in the future. I would rather criticize based on what they've actually done, instead of what might happen in some sort of dis-utopian future.

My medical information has never been used by insurance companies, and so I wonder what happened to all those arguments for the last 20 years where people told me that was happening or going to happen. That was all just bullshit. It turned out that a law was passed making my medical information incredibly private. And that law (HIPPA) is so widely respected, it prevents even good things from happening to my medical information.

No, I used to admire Google greatly. It competed successfully with MS and
made the internet a wonderful advance worldwide. The various projects
(MAPS, Scholar, ... etc.) were beyond what any company or person had done before.

FaceBook/Twitter/etc were entertainment fluff, but so be it.

What changed was when FB declared ownership of the data people had
been allowed/enticed to load into their database under the company's
implied shell of semi-privacy ( "friending" )

Google changed when Jobs died and a new CEO took the company in a whole new direction.
Google followed suit of FB and declared ownership of everything people had entered or used in their projects.
Now they are declaring they can use your G-mails, MAPS, or any
other information they have to sell "you" to any other company.

My problem with Google is not that they are a business,
but that they have abused the power they gained.

"declared ownership" fucking christ even the words you choose. "Declared" how. You mean they issued a news release? "Ownership" how. They need my permission to do anything with what I've given them, and both FB and Google have respected that boundary with extensive and careful privacy settings. How is that ownership?

Settle down, every new Google announcement is not for you to pick over to determine the end of the world or the beginning of "evil", whatever that means to you. "If you give permission, your friends will now see your picture." OHH EVIL!!! THIS MEANS THEY WILL DEFINITELY PUT MY IMAGE ON PUBLIC BILLBOARDS AND THE WORST PART IS I WILL SEE NO RECOMPENSE!!! THEY WILL BREAK INTO MY HOUSE AND LOOK THROUGH MY DRAWERS AND STEAL MY SPARE RUBBER BANDS!!!

Wow ! Sorry UT to rile you.

All that you've expressed as your opinions is that, your opinion.
So be it. I have no problem with whatever you decide for yourself.

I would appreciate the same consideration... without the conjectures and rhetoric.

I'm sorry but I am prepared to go to all caps lock on this issue.

I assume that's not a threat :rolleyes:, but I don't understand the dept of emotion.

In anycase, I started this sub-thread with the recent announcements by Google.
FaceBook is also going further down the same road...


TechCrunch
10/10/13
Facebook Removing Option To Be Unsearchable By Name,
Highlighting Lack Of Universal Privacy Controls

I think it would be useful to think about Google, Facebook, et al in light of this aphorism:

If you're not a paying customer, you're the product.

http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6170/6...f41c843d_z.jpg

Just like broadcast radio, the majority of websites, and anyone else who operates solely on ad revenue.

Reddit nails it:

The compensation is that I get the social interactions from FB ...


Sent by thought transference

So, anybody know how long between seeing the Google car and the street View image going live? I waved.

They edit people out before they render it to the live server.

They are going to erase Wolf? OMG!!!

No, they just blur faces.

Does anyone care about about regulation of European “internet competition rules” ?

I don’t… A pox on both their houses…

Microsoft, Once an Antitrust Target, Is Now Google’s Regulatory Scold
NY Times - DANNY HAKIM - APRIL 15, 2015
Here are the players …. No, Here is the player...step-twin of the Koch brothers

I'm still bitter at the Germans for banning street view in their country.

I bet they use street view all the time to look at other countries.

twice other night I woke to find my computer running. Next morning I looked and was Google updater running every hour. Reset that task and maybe will stop that shit.

About a dozen German cities are covered by Street View.
This might be the beginning of complete coverage of the country, on the other hand perhaps partial coverage is all that will be permitted.

Once the corporate name-change is completed...

Will people start saying they "Alphabeted", instead of "Googled" a topic ?
I don't think so...

No, because Google will still exist, it just won't be the umbrella.