Tag: google

Categories
Links

Google strong-arms indie musicians into accepting brutal, crowdfunding-killing deal for streaming service

[A strong but honest headline about Googe’s new bullshit:][link]

>* Participation in the new service requires that your entire catalog be available for streaming, at high resolution.
>
>* Participation requires that you not release your music elsewhere earlier, e.g., no early releases for fans or backers.
>
>* You no longer get a choice of whether to do nothing, block a video, or run ads. Ads are mandatory.
>
>* Five year contract.
>
>* If you don’t participate in the new service, then the option to obtain Content-ID ad revenue from the free version of Youtube no longer exists.
>
>* If you had previously been getting Content-ID ad revenue and choose not to participate in the new service, your channel will be deleted and all videos using your music will be blocked.

These are all non-negotiable and mandatory, btw.

[link]: http://boingboing.net/2015/01/26/google-strong-arms-indie-music.html “Google strong-arms indie musicians into accepting brutal, crowdfunding-killing deal for streaming service – Boing Boing”

Categories
Links

DuckDuckGo to be included as default search option in Safari on iOS and OS X

[Straight from the Apple’s mouth.][link] It’s already in the Safari betas! This is great news. I’ve been using DuckDuckGo as my search provider for awhile now, and their new design is the bees knees.

Unlike some other search engines they aren’t in the business of selling your personal data.

[link]: https://duck.co/blog/safari “DuckDuckGo in Safari”

Categories
Links

DuckDuckGo Reimagined & Redesigned

[DuckDuckGo’s totally-overhauled site looks and feels great.][link] They replaced Google as my default search engine a year or so ago, and I haven’t regretted it for a second. [Here’s how to add them to Safari.][safari]

[link]: https://duck.co/blog/whatsnew “DuckDuckGo Reimagined & Redesigned”
[safari]: https://duck.co/help/desktop/safari “Adding DuckDuckGo to Safari”

Categories
Links

Marco Arment on Google Reader Shutting Down July 1st

[Marco sez:][link]

>Now, we’ll be forced to fill the hole that Reader will leave behind, and there’s no immediately obvious alternative. We’re finally likely to see substantial innovation and competition in RSS desktop apps and sync platforms for the first time in almost a decade.
>
>It may suck in the interim before great alternatives mature and become widely supported, but in the long run, trust me: this is excellent news.

I think he’s right. But it’s still going to be a major pain in the ass.

[link]: http://www.marco.org/2013/03/13/google-reader-sunset “Google Reader shutting down July 1 – Marco.org”

Categories
Links

In Ad Network Nightmare, Microsoft Making ‘Do Not Track’ Default for IE 10

[This is good news for consumer and privacy advocates, and bad news for Google and Facebook.][link] The odds of either of these companies fully supporting Do Not Track are laughable, of course. This is how they make their money.

You can play with the dog all you like; just don’t grab its milkbone unless you want a fight.

[link]: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/05/ie10-do-not-track/ “In Ad Network Nightmare, Microsoft Making 'Do Not Track' Default for IE 10 | Threat Level | Wired.com”

Categories
Links

Andy Baio’s First Article for Wired Epicenter

[The beginning of a weekly must-read][link]. Andy is good people, a good writer, and sharp as a tack:

>On Wednesday, Google retired a longer-standing “plus”: the + operator, a standard bit of syntax used to force words and phrases to appear in search results. The operator was part of Google since its launch in 1997 and built into every search engine since.

The article is about how to get the + operator back.

[link]: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/10/google-kills-its-other-plus-and-how-to-bring-it-back/ “Google Kills Its Other Plus, and How to Bring It Back | Epicenter | Wired.com”

Categories
Links

“Might Makes Right”

[Screenwriter John August][link]:

>Narratively, that’s the story I find most interesting about Google. At a certain point, do you become so large and powerful that evil is unavoidable?

[link]: http://johnaugust.com/archives/2011/on-google-and-evil “Might makes right | johnaugust.com”

Categories
Links

An Encoder Is Not A State Machine

Fellow Michigander [Chris Adamson does a good job of elaborating on the problems Google’s decision to drop H.264 from Chrome in favor of WebM][link] from the perspective of an implementor or creator. The short: It ain’t pretty.

via [@soypunk][via]

[link]: http://www.subfurther.com/blog/2011/01/13/an-encoder-is-not/ “An Encoder Is Not A State Machine”
[via]: http://twitter.com/soypunk “Soypunk on Twitter”

Categories
Links

Google to Drop H.264 Support in Chrome

[They’re replacing H.264 support with WebM][link] (a video codec [acquired and open-sourced][webm] by Google last year). It looks like the HTML video codec pissing match is about to start up again.

[link]: http://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html “Chromium Blog: HTML Video Codec Support in Chrome”
[webm]: http://extrafuture.com/2010/05/19/webm/ “WebM”

Categories
Links

Fighting The Wrong Fight

[Excellent piece by Elia Freedman][link]:

>We have been distracted by ridiculous arguments and fabricated “wars” for too long. We have been distracted by thinking that Google is Microsoft and Apple is Apple in a doomed fight already fought 20 years ago.
>
>But that is not the fight we should be caring about at all. The fight we should be talking about, but aren’t, is the fight between mobile device makers and the carriers. This is the only real fight that matters.

[link]: http://eliainsider.com/2010/09/14/fighting-the-wrong-fight/ “Fighting The Wrong Fight « Elia Insider”

Categories
Links

YouTube Instant

[Start typing, it auto-fetches the most relevant video and starts playing it.][link]

[link]: http://feross.net/instant/ “YouTube Instant”

Categories
Links

Google Now Charging Developers $5 To List Chrome Extensions, Themes, And Apps

[How open of them.][link] The changes are:

>”intended to create better safeguards against fraudulent extensions in the gallery and limit the activity of malicious developer accounts.”

[link]: http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/19/chrome-fee/ “Google Begins Charging Devs $5 To List Chrome Extensions, Themes, And Apps”

Categories
Posts

Google, Verizon, Net Neutrality, and iTunes Cloud

**Google**: Makes money by selling ads. Has a [smartphone OS][android] that helps them sell ads on search results, apps, etc. Upset with Apple’s foray into advertising. Starting to feel the pinch of a possible iPhone for Verizon, their most visible Android partner.

[android]: http://www.android.com/ “Android”

**Verizon**: Makes money by selling bits. Sells dozens of phones with dozens of different operating systems from dozens of different manufacturers. Has [sunk some money into Droid][droid], but isn’t married to the platform. Will go with whichever benefits their bottom line most.

[droid]: http://www.droiddoes.com/ “Droid Does”

**Apple**: Makes money [selling software][ios], and [some bits][bits]. Just got into the ad space with [iAds][iads]. Their iPhone sells its own bits and sells its own ads. Doesn’t like making concessions to wireless carriers, and will call them out in public. If they launch a version of their iPhone for Verizon, Verizon isn’t likely to get a cut of their App, Music, Video, or Ad market. Those are all bits that Verizon wants to charge extra for.

[iads]: http://advertising.apple.com/ “iAds”
[ios]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_(Apple) “iOS”
[bits]: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/07/20results.html “Apple 3rd quarter Results”

**[iTunes Cloud][cloud]**: Live streaming of a user’s purchased iTunes tracks to any supported device. Only likely supported phone platform? iOS, the iPhone’s operating system. No phone carrier is going to get a cut of tracks purchased for this service.

[cloud]: http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2010/07/01/exclusive-apple-itunes-in-the-cloud-definitely-happening-soon-wireless-syncing/ “iTunes Cloud rumor”

**[Net Neutrality][netneut]**: Means that carriers aren’t allowed to slow down certain kinds of internet traffic to help their business goals. Means that iTunes Cloud can stream as many tracks as the user is willing to buy bandwidth for. Means Verizon doesn’t get a cut aside from their 3G bandwidth spectrum pricing, which is getting cheaper all the time despite their (recent) complaining about capacity problems.

[netneut]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_neutrality “Network Neutrality on Wikipedia”

**Dots**: [Partially connected][goog].

[goog]: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/08/joint-policy-proposal-for-open-internet.html “A joint policy proposal for an open Internet”

Categories
Links

“Wireless is Different”

[Wireless isn’t different, AT&T][link]. It just suits your business model that it be treated differently. It’s enough to clog your bullshit filter.

With bullshit.

[link]: http://attpublicpolicy.com/government-policy/wireless-is-different/ “Wireless is Different | AT&T Public Policy Blog”

Categories
Links

Voogle Wireless

[Google’s 2006 PSA for net neutrality underscores the severity of their about-face this week.][link] Is there any way Google can still claim this isn’t about money?

Credibly?

[link]: http://vooglewireless.com/ “Voogle Wireless”

Categories
Links

Why Google Became A Carrier-Humping, Net Neutrality Surrender Monkey

[Ryan Singel for Wired:][link]

>Compare Monday’s statement to this one, from a post on Google’s official blog in 2007: “The nation’s spectrum airwaves are not the birthright of any one company. They are a unique and valuable public resource that belong to all Americans. The FCC’s auction rules are designed to allow U.S. consumers — for the first time — to use their handsets with any network they desire, and and use the lawful software applications of their choice.”

Compare, indeed. Yes, it’s true that people and corporations change their minds, and they’re welcome to. But Google has apparently changed its mind for one reason: They stand to make more money with their pals at Verizon. They just won’t come out and say it.

[link]: http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/08/why-google-became-a-carrier-humping-net-neutrality-surrender-monkey/all/1 “Why Google Became A Carrier-Humping, Net Neutrality Surrender Monkey (UPDATED) | Epicenter | Wired.com”

Categories
Links

The EFF Reviews Verizon and Google’s Net Neutrality Proposal

[Mostly the same as what has been going around][link], but this time covered in the candy shell of an actual lawyer’s thoughts.

[link]: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/08/google-verizon-netneutrality “A Review of Verizon and Google’s Net Neutrality Proposal | Electronic Frontier Foundation”

Categories
Links

There’s Only One Internet

[John Bergmayer for Public Knowledge:][link]

>[…] Google CEO Eric Schmidt claims to be crafting rules that will protect “the next Google.” But with weak “rules” like the ones his company has proposed, he can rest assured that the next Google will be…Google. If the Verizon/Google proposal is adopted, the window of openness that allowed companies like his to thrive and grow will be closed.

[link]: http://www.publicknowledge.org/blog/theres-only-one-internet “There’s Only One Internet | Public Knowledge”

Categories
Links

Craig Aaron on The Google-Verizon Pact: “It Gets Worse”

[This is really, really, bad stuff][link]. Wonder what the news coverage will be like? Will any mainstream non-blog sources even bother?

[link]: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-aaron/google-verizon-pact-it-ge_b_676194.html “Craig Aaron: Google-Verizon Pact: It Gets Worse”

Categories
Links

Google and Verizon Say No To Wireless Net Neutrality

[Read the full policy on Google’s policy blog][link].

Here’s how it reads to me: The “wireline” (read: everything but cell networks) internet, where it helps Google’s business that providers are not allowed to make one site or service load faster than another (Say, Bing gets priority over Google Search) net neutrality is sacrosanct. The “wireless” (cell) internet, with Verizon, where it helps Google’s business if traffic to their sites and services load faster, net neutrality isn’t a big deal, and should be abandoned. “For now.”

This is the PATRIOT Act of the wireless internet. If net neutrality for wireless is abandoned now, we will pretty much never get it.

[link]: http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2010/08/joint-policy-proposal-for-open-internet.html “Google Public Policy Blog: A joint policy proposal for an open Internet”