Archives

Viral Wedding Sells Song


By Chris Thompson
Posted Friday, July 31, 2009 - 10:28am

Since we're all feeling a little bloated when it comes to the Google-Microsoft duel, let's switch gears to YouTube, where once again the video site has made the news.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Microhoo Deal Roundup


By Chris Thompson
Posted Thursday, July 30, 2009 - 12:10pm

It's been 24 hours since the big fat Microsoft-Yahoo deal was announced. So what do the professional thumb-suckers have to say? Let's take a look:

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Apple Kills Google Voice App


By Chris Thompson
Posted Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - 4:01pm

Lost amid all the buzz about the Microsoft-Yahoo partnership was news that Apple, which has often been considered Google's (GOOG) best friend, just jabbed the search giant with a punch in the nose. Google Voice is a new smartphone app that does all kinds of nifty tricks: it allows multiple phone numbers to be routed to the same voice mail, for example, and allows users to read voice mail messages. But yesterday, Apple (AAPL) decided to ban the new app from its iPhone app store.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Microhoo Deal Is Here!


By Chris Thompson
Posted Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - 10:27am

After weeks of feverish rumors and months of the most tortured negotiations since the RJR Nabisco takeover, Microsoft (MSFT) and Yahoo (YHOO) announced a new partnership this morning, one that will present the greatest challenge Google (GOOG) has ever faced in the search and advertising market.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

U.K. Politician Picks Fight with Google


By Chris Thompson
Posted Tuesday, July 28, 2009 - 10:01am

There's just something about the British, it seems; they really don't trust Google (GOOG). First, the company's Street View service was met with outraged complaints that Google had posted embarrassing and potentially dangerous photographs of private citizens on its site, and the country's information commissioner almost killed the project altogether.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Are Microsoft and Google Faking it?


By Chris Thompson
Posted Friday, July 24, 2009 - 2:08pm

When you look at all the products that Microsoft (MSFT) and Google (GOOG) have built to eat into one another's business (Google Apps vs. Microsoft Office, Chrome vs. Internet Explorer, the list goes on), you might be forgiven for thinking that the two giants are waging a titanic struggle for unquestioned dominance of the tech world.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Google Off the Libel Hook


By Chris Thompson
Posted Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 9:57am

Score one for search engines everywhere. Officials with the British company Metropolitan International Schools, which offers vocational training conducted over the Internet, discovered that whenever someone in the United Kingdom searched for their business on Google, up popped comments from a reader at a tech news Web site—comments that were decidedly uncharitable toward the company and its practices.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Everyone Loves Google


By Chris Thompson
Posted Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - 3:32pm

That's what the latest comScore numbers tell us, anyway. We already know that Google is easily the country's most popular search engine, commanding some 65 percent of the American search market. But comScore's latest report detailing American online behavior offers Google (GOOG) another feather for its cap: Once again, Google is the most-visited Web site, period.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Google Blow-Back on Twitter Hack


By Chris Thompson
Posted Tuesday, July 21, 2009 - 10:51am

When someone hacked into Twitter's internal Google Docs accounts and stole hundreds of sensitive company documents, Web professionals gasped as many of the company's most tightly guarded secrets were leaked to the press. It was only through the discretion of the operators of TechCrunch that Twitter's plans for the future weren't irrevocably exposed.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Google on the Moon


By Chris Thompson
Posted Monday, July 20, 2009 - 12:57pm

Some of you may be wondering why today's Google logo had no reference to the 40th anniversary of the moon landing. That's because Google (GOOG) had something else in mind.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

The Numbers Are In


By Chris Thompson
Posted Friday, July 17, 2009 - 9:26am

Does this company just print money out of the back of its office or something? Once again, Google (GOOG) beat Wall Street expectations and turned in better numbers than investors and analysts expected. Going into yesterday's quarterly announcement, Wall Street thought Google's revenue would rise 2.3 percent from the same period a year ago.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Google's Q2 Results Today


By Chris Thompson
Posted Thursday, July 16, 2009 - 10:59am

This afternoon, Google (GOOG) will announce the numbers for the second quarter of this year, and analysts are expecting a rough time of it. Rough, of course, is relative for this company, which still rakes in the cash and exceeded the dismal predictions last quarter.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Twitter's Google Docs Hacked


By Chris Thompson
Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - 11:40pm

In what could be another public relations blow for Google (GOOG), a hacker broke into the Gmail, Google Docs, and other Google Apps accounts of a Twitter administrative employee a month ago.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Bing Doesn't Bust Out


By Chris Thompson
Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - 3:56pm

At least, that's what comScore tells us. Last month, the online metrics company had us all gaping when it reported that for one week in June, Bing had pushed Microsoft's (MSFT) share of American searches from 8 percent to an impressive 12.1 percent. But now all of June's numbers are out, and Microsoft has settled back in the basement.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Lines Finally Drawn in the Tech Wars


By Chris Thompson
Posted Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - 1:00pm

Now that Microsoft (MSFT) has unveiled its new search engine and Google (GOOG) has announced plans to unveil its new operating system, the battle lines between the two tech giants have finally fallen into place, and the war can begin in earnest. From search to software, Microsoft and Google are waging a titanic struggle in just about every high-tech market you can imagine. One might think that there's plenty of cash to go around and this cage match seems a little excessive.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Microsoft Gets Religion on the Cloud


By Chris Thompson
Posted Monday, July 13, 2009 - 11:44am

Last week, Google (GOOG) issued a direct challenge to Microsoft's (MSFT) core business with the impending release of Chrome OS, an operating system that will focus on cloud computing and compete with Windows. This week, Microsoft delivers its own haymaker with Windows 2010, a cloud-based version of its Windows Office suite of word-processing, spreadsheet, and PowerPoint software.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Rosetta Stone Sues Google


By Chris Thompson
Posted Friday, July 10, 2009 - 2:37pm

Rosetta Stone, a Virginia-based company that builds language-education software, sued Google (GOOG) today for allegedly enabling infringement on its trademark. The software company alleges that last month, Google changed its Adwords policy to allow advertisers to buy ads next to trademarked keywords without first securing the permission of the trademark owner. The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring Google from selling any Rosetta Stone keywords to advertisers.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Eric Schmidt in the Hot Seat


By Chris Thompson
Posted Friday, July 10, 2009 - 9:29am

Google (GOOG) has been working overtime to dispel the notion that it's a monopoly. And with good reason; its power and ubiquity have led the Justice Department's antitrust lawyers to scrutinize its every move in search of signs that the company is abusing its marketplace position.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Google's New War


By Chris Thompson
Posted Wednesday, July 8, 2009 - 9:09am

When Google (GOOG) launched Android, the open-source operating system designed to power mobile Internet devices, industry analysts were surprised to discover that PC manufacturers had begun to use it to power netbooks, the cheap, low-power laptops that have become among the biggest sellers in a dismal market.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Gmail Finally Out of Beta!


By Chris Thompson
Posted Tuesday, July 7, 2009 - 1:18pm

OK, so today was a little better for Google (GOOG). Even if its good news was largely semantic.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Google's Dark Day


By Chris Thompson
Posted Monday, July 6, 2009 - 11:52am

Looks as if Google's (GOOG) got three brand-new reason to hate Mondays. Today was a hat trick of unpleasant news for the search giant, and while much of the news was fairly predictable, it's hardly a good start to the week.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

Microsoft Gets Twitter


By Chris Thompson
Posted Thursday, July 2, 2009 - 12:12pm

One of the great brass rings in search is figuring out how to search tweets and real-time news as it updates, and it looks like Microsoft's (MSFT) Bing has beaten Google (GOOG) to the launch pad. Today, Microsoft search technology guru Sean Suchter announced that for a few thousand celebrities and notable figures, Bing will offer you a chance to read their tweets as they post them in real time.

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.

YouTube Founder Moves On


By Chris Thompson
Posted Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - 1:58pm

The Googlesphere is abuzz with word that Steve Chen, who co-founded YouTube with Chad Hurley and Jawed Karim and later sold it to Google (GOOG) for $1.65 billion, has left his post as YouTube's chief technology officer. And here's the thing: he did it last fall, and we're only hearing about it now! Who says you can't keep a secret in Silicon Valley?

  • Chris Thompson is a writer living in Brooklyn.