Hasta La Gadget!

While the hubbub surrounding Apple Maps on iOS 6 has been somewhat sedated, some people who made the move to Google Maps’ web app had been further encouraged by word that it’d be getting Street View imagery soon. And what do you know, barely seven days into the estimated “in two weeks” and here it is. Search for a location (no long press yet), and you’ll spy the familiar icon bottom right. This appears in both Chrome and Safari. While perhaps still not quite as slick as the good old app of yore, a definite panacea for all those iOS toutin’ virtual tourists.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Google

Street View comes to Google Maps web app on iOS, just like they said it would originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Oct 2012 04:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google’s had one foot in the web privacy door for a while, offering Chrome users the Keep My Opt-Outs extension in its browser’s Web Store since 2011. Still, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari already offer a Do Not Track option directly in their browser settings. Mountain View is now working to close that gap by bringing that same privacy configuration to Chrome. Do Not Track will let users opt out of tracking cookies and targeted advertising (from ad networks that comply with the standard, that is), and is currently live on Chrome’s developer channel. The option will reportedly be baked into the stable version of the browser by the end of the year.

Filed under: Internet, Software

Google plays privacy catch-up, adds Do Not Track option to Chrome originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 Sep 2012 13:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gizmodo reader Paula E. B. wrote in with a screenshot, telling us that when she tried to renew with Apple’s One-to-One customer bootcamp/training program, a notice popped up saying that One-to-One is now only supported by Safari—Apple’s own web browser.

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Google will pay a $22.5m fine to the FTC after tracking Safari browser users who had opted out of cookies, the largest fine ever levied by the Commission but still a drop in the internet ocean for the search giant. The settlement, rumored back in July, will also require Google to deactivate any tracking cookies inappropriately placed on users’ computers, and is being described by the FTC as “a clear message” that privacy rules are inescapable.

“The record setting penalty in this matter sends a clear message to all companies under an FTC privacy order,” FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said of the fine today. “No matter how big or small, all companies must abide by FTC orders against them and keep their privacy promises to consumers, or they will end up paying many times what it would have cost to comply in the first place.”

Google’s mistake had been to circumnavigate blocking systems in Safari to use its own DoubleClick cookie, exploiting a loophole in the browser to store a temporary file. In the process, however, it also allowed through more permanent cookies from the DoubleClick domain, contravening FTC privacy rules.

In a vote by members of the Commission, four voted in favor of the complaint and one against; dissenting Commissioner J. Thomas Rosch wrote that [pdf link] while he agreed that Google had broken rules, he could not accept “this consent decree because it arguably cannot be concluded that the consent decree is in the public interest when it contains a denial of liability.”

That uncertainty wasn’t enough to save Google from the fine, which works out to $16,000 per violation per day. However, Google made $22.5m in the space of less than five hours based on its 2011 full-year financial results.

More important is how this affects FTC and Google relations moving forward. Google had previously committed to a settlement in October 2011, following concerns about deceptive tactics and privacy issues in Buzz,  which along other things said it would no longer misrepresent data collection policies.

Google pays $22.5m in FTC Safari cookie fine is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Google’s Senior Vice President of Chrome & Apps Sundar Pichai confirmed to the crowd back at D10 that Chrome browser use was soaring — particularly in the consumer space — and StatCounter’s latest data most definitely backs that up. The newest report, ending July 2012, shows the Chrome creeping up to 33.8 percent worldwide from 32.8 percent in June. Internet Explorer is sitting at 32 percent, while Firefox is seen slipping a bit to 23.7 percent; meanwhile, Apple’s Safari picks up the Participation Award with 7.1 percent. As The Next Web points out, it’s also worth nothing that Chrome is doing particularly well in Europe, South America and Asia, while IE is still charging in the UK, US and Down Under. Granted, StatCounter is hardly the end-all when it comes to browser usage; that said, it’s definitely useful to get a general idea of which browsers are moving in which direction, and it’s certainly astonishing to see a piece of software that didn’t exist four years ago already claiming such a significant piece of the pie.

Google Chrome claims one-third of global browser share, according to StatCounter originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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