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Julie McCormick

Google Experimenting with Technology to Index HTML Forms

Googlers Jayant Madhavan and Alon Halevy, members of the Crawling and Indexing team, recently indicated that Google has been testing out some HTML forms to see if they are able to discover web pages that otherwise couldn't be found or indexed for users.  In this experiment to index HTML forms, including drop-down boxes and select menus, Google has taken one step closer to the Deep Web. In their blog post, the Googlers indicated their process: "For...

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Google Looks at Investing in Chinese Social Networking Companies to Boost Presence in China

If you thought social networking was a fad, think again. Big players in the online world, including Google, are hoping to cash in on this craze and have been strategically exploring their options. Google has their sights set on becoming a market leader in China within five years, and part of their strategy is exploring investments in Chinese companies with a focus on social networking and mobile internet. Google's Greater China President, Kai-Fu...

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Soon You’ll Be Able to Play “Where’s Waldo” in Google Earth

Melanie Cole, a Canadian artirst, has launched a new project called "Where on Earth is Waldo?", putting a new twist on an age-old game.  Instead of flipping through pages of a book, and hunting down Waldo in illustrations, players will be able to hunt for Waldo using Google Earth. Cole's first Waldo, which measures 55-feet long and features Waldo clad in is iconic red-and-white-striped sweater, ski cap, and glasses, was done on a rooftop in Vancouver,...

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Legg Mason to Help Yahoo Fight Microsoft Takeover

If Microsoft lowers the value of its offer to buy Yahoo, Legg Mason has indicated that they will back Yahoo's efforts to ward off a take over and remain independent.  As Yahoo's second largest shared holder, Legg Mason owns 7% of Yahoo stock and is one of the few shareholders that has publicly come out and stood up for the company.  After Microsoft threatened in a letter this weekend to lower its offer, Bill Miller of Legg Mason said, "Telling the shareholders...

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Google Sued for Rejecting Anti-Abortion Ad

A UK Christian organization is fighting back after Google rejected their advertisement submission for being "unacceptable content", and is taking the search company to court.  Google explicitly bans ads featuring "abortion and religious-related content", but that's not stopping The Christian Institute from taking legal action to try to change the policy. The Christian Institute opposes abortion, embryonic stem cell research and chemical conception.  According to Mike Judge, a spokesman for the organization, "To describe abortion...

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Google Earth Puts UN Refugee Camps in the Spotlight

Google Earth has kicked off a new program known as "Google Earth Outreach", which now shows close-up views of United Nations refugee camps and aid projects in order to help UN show the plight of refugees, and feature programs to help them.  The program was unveiled on Tuesday jointly with UN Officials at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland. The Google Earth Outreach program went live on Tuesday.  To start out, they will be focusing on...

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Another Google Exec Jumps Ship, This Time Its the CIO

Google has lost yet another top member of its executive team. This time it is Chief Information Officer (CIO) Douglas Merrill, who will be joining music company EMI, where he will serve as president of its digital music business. According to a statement issued by EMI on Wednesday, Merril will head up a new global function which includes digital strategy, technology, and business development. But now the question remains - has Google peaked,...

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Google & the Government: How Close Are They?

Ever since Google became the dominant leader in the search sector, there have been rumblings about alleged connections with the U.S. government and the whole "Big Brother" thing. While a lot of it is just speculation, Google does in fact have some dealings with some federal agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), amongst others. Google provides the search features for the CIA's Wikipedia-style site, known as Intellipedia,...

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Google Loses Another Top Exec to Facebook

In just one month, Google has lost two top executives to the wildly popular social networking site Facebook.  First it was Sheryl Sandberg, a Google VP of Global Online Sales, who left to become the company's new COO, and now Ethan Beard has left the Mountain View monstrosity to become their director of business development.  Beard was the former director of social media at Google. Facebook is currently valued at $15 billions, and has grown...

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Google Android Phone to be Released By Summer?

Google first unveiled the Android mobile phone operating system in November 2007, and in recent months they've been showing the phone off to various media types and tech geeks, swearing them to secrecy about any of the phone's details.  And now, an accidental slip by Google's legal advisor, Richard Whitt, indicates that we may perhaps actually see the Google Android phones by as early as this summer. According to CNET, during a conference call about...

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