Apr 04

Larry Page Starts as Google CEO

Posted in: Google, Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili
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The first day at a new job is an exciting and stressful time. Thankfully, Google’s new CEO already has a pretty firm grasp of the company’s workings, having co-founded the company 13 years ago with Sergey Brin. Larry Page and Brin served as co-presidents for the search company until 2001, when they recruited former Novell CEO, Eric Schmidt. 

Today is the day that Page steps in for Schmidt. When the announcement was made, back in January, Schmidt told the press, “I am enormously proud of my last decade as CEO and I am certain that the next 10 years under Larry will be even better! Larry, in my clear opinion, is ready to lead.”
He added that the move will speed up decision-making (by reducing the number of cooks making the broth), but will otherwise not make a huge difference in terms of management, as Schmidt and Page, “tend to agree on pretty much everything.”
At the very least, you couldn’t ask for someone with a better specialized resume.
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Apr 03

This Week’s Best YouTube Videos: 1911’s Top Viral Vids, Gnome Chompski, Three Big Pigs, and More

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili, videos, YouTube

Gnome ChompskiIt was really difficult not to include some of the videos we’ve already seen this week in this week’s roundup, like the hilarious April Fool’s Day videos from ThinkGeek, and the Angry Birds: The Movie clip posted earlier – they definitely qualify for the title “best.” Still, there were a lot of great videos this week, including a gnome with an agenda and some zombie butt to kick, an Angry Birds take on US foreign policy, and YouTube’s own April Fool’s Day gag, which pokes fun at just about everything else that appears on YouTube.

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Apr 01

Final Harry Potter: 3D Confirmed

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

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After scrapping 3D plans for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, the film’s producer has confirmed the next installment – and the final entry in the Harry Potter movie series – will make the conversion.

“The reason we didn’t do it on the first part was because we didn’t feel that we could do it justice. And actually the 3D would actually compromise the film, so we didn’t have the time,” said producer David Heyman.

This time, though, there is apparently plenty of time to make the 3D effects as snappy as possible.

Via Collider

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Apr 01

Google News Falls for Ballmer/Gates April Fool’s Joke

Posted in: Google, Microsoft, Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

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Oh April Fool’s Day–it’s a 24-hour-long stream of annoyance, frustration, and anger, all in the name of organized hilarity. The advent of the Internet has, for better or worse, allowed respectable news organizations to get into the mix (See: PCMag’s own Post-PCMag site). 
Some pranks make their presence known right off the bat. Others a bit more difficult to parse at first glance. And then, sometimes, a well-timed joke will really hit the zeitgeist. Both InfoWorld and RedmondMag “reported” today that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had stepped down, so his predecessor Bill Gates could take the helm of the company he cofounded.
The stories hit just right for two reasons–first, there was yesterday’s surprise announcement that Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci stepped down, following disagreements with his company’s board of advisors. And then there were the excerpts from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s upcoming book, which do a little good, old-fashioned Gates bashing (according to Allen, Gates had schemed to take control of company shares while Allen was battling cancer). 
Google picked up the two stories in a news cluster and punctuated them with an image from the former–an old black and white photo of Gates and Allen in friendlier times. The question is, how long will it take for that news cluster to grow?
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Apr 01

Google Launches Iraq and Tunisia Search Domains

Posted in: Google, Miscellaneous Tech, search, Today's Chili
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Google’s local search domain total hit 184 sites this week, with the addition of google.iq and google.tn, for Iraq and Tunisia, respectively. The sites–like the rest of Google’s local search domains (including 15 domains in Arab countries)–offer results tailored to their specific country, including local business and language–the Iraqi site offers results in Arabic and Kurdish, and the Tunisian site offers up results in Arabic and French.

The company plans to add more localized search domains in the coming months–though it isn’t really saying which ones. At present, Google offers up search in 40 different languages, which covers some 99 percent of the world’s Internet users. 

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Mar 31

GoDaddy CEO Kills Elephant, Video Tapes it, Adds AC/DC Soundtrack

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

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In 1903, Thomas Edison electrocuted an elephant and filmed it, distributing as a cautionary tale about the perceived dangers alternating current (AC), the direct competitor to his direct current (DC). More than a century later, our technologies for capturing footage have certainly improved, but the whole elephant killing thing is still firmly intact.

Bob Parsons is carrying the Edison mantle. The GoDaddy CEO went on a vacation to Africa, shot an elephant with a high-powered rifle, captured the whole thing on video, added a soundtrack by Australian hard rock band AC/DC, and then uploaded it for the whole world to see. Also worth mentioning is the scene in which locals strip the flesh from the pachyderm, while wearing orange GoDaddy baseball caps.  
PETA, naturally, is pretty upset about the whole thing, leading boycotting campaign against the domain service. Parsons claims that he shot the elephant to stop it from destroying the locals’ crops. PETA, meanwhile, and others insist that there are ways to address the problem that don’t involve a high-powered rifle. 
Video after the jump, but fair warning: it’s graphic.

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Mar 31

Microsoft Complains About Google to the EU

Posted in: Google, Miscellaneous Tech, search, Today's Chili
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At least there’s an upside to having the European Union in on speed dial. Microsoft this week issued a formal complaint against Google, citing antitrust concerns over Google’s seemingly unflappable control over Internet search. The EU launched the investigation into Google’s business practices last year, following complaints issued by three companies. A formal complaint from Microsoft may well cause the intensify the investigation.

Microsoft SVP Brad Smith outlined the complaint on his blog last night. “We’ve […] decided to join a large and growing number of companies registering their concerns about the European search market. By the European Commission’s own reckoning, Google has about 95 percent of the search market in Europe.”
Smith acknowledged that his own company’s Bing engine is “the only viable competitor to Google,” having nabbed around a quarter of US, when Bing-powered Yahoo is factored in. 
Google told the Financial Times that it’s “not surprised” that Microsoft lodge the complaint. “For our part, we continue to discuss the case with the European Commission,” the company added, “and we’re happy to explain to anyone how our business works.”
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Mar 30

Flickr Adds New Sharing Options

Posted in: Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili, twitter

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Today Flickr announced that it’s added new sharing functionality that allows users to share specific Flickr content on various social networking sites, including Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. In an attempt to make “Flickr the hub for your photos on the Internet,” the Flickr folks have made it easier for you to share your photos to the places you want.

Replacing the “Share this” button is new a icon for email, the two sharing services you most recently used, and a drop down menu, which gives you access to other sharing destinations, the URL, and the embed code. You can now not only share your individual photos and photostream, but sets and groups as well. You can also share non-public Flickr content with your Facebook friends, so you can keep your goofy game-night pics private on Flickr, but still share them with your Facebook friends. 

Plus, now, even if you aren’t signed into Flickr, you can share public and safe photos from the site on Twitter and Facebook accounts. On its blog, Flickr says its changes “make it easier to upload once to Flickr and get your photos out to other places you showcase your photos on the web!” We all know that life is hard enough, so why not try the new features out and see if it really does make photo sharing easier.  

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Mar 30

Google Adds Historic Locations in Europe to Street View

Posted in: Google, Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili

Street View - Florence Italy

Google has been slowly but surely rolling more Street View cars around streets and neighborhoods around the globe. They even have a bike-mounted unit that can be pedaled around alleys and back streets to get where cars and trucks aren’t able to go. 
According to a post at the official Google Blog, that’s how they managed to get full imagery of some of the world’s most recognizable historic sites, like the Colosseum and Imperial Forum in Rome, the Santa Maria del Fiore in the center of downtown Florence, Italy, and the Chateau d’Fontainbleau in France. 
Those locations are just the beginning: the images actually take you inside some of the monuments – specifically the Colosseum, and give you an incredible close-up view of some of the world’s most famous historic places, including a number of UNESCO World Heritage sites. 
Google has set up a special page specifically for their most historic street view sites, so you can browse them there, or just head through the streets of Europe in Google Maps: you’ll find you can ride right up and into some of the mapped locations there.
 
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Mar 30

Microsoft and Apple Employing Linguists in App Store Trademark Battle

Posted in: Apple, Microsoft, Miscellaneous Tech, Today's Chili
Is Apple the rightful owner of the words “App Store?” Well, that all depends on what your definition of “is” is. And it also helps to have a pretty firm grip on what the terms “app” and “store” mean. Thankfully, both sides of this argument (Apple and Microsoft) have employed linguists in this war of the words. 
Now the legal battle features such gems as, “The compound noun app store means simply ‘store at which apps are offered for sale,’ which is merely a definition of the thing itself–a generic characterization.” That one’s from Microsoft-hired linguist Ronald Butters. It’s a direct response to Apple employed linguist Robert Leonard’s statement that the phrase i s a trademarkable proper noun. 
How valuable is the employment of a professional linguist in this battle? Well, for the record, Apple paid Leonard $350 an hour, and Butters got $400 an hour from Microsoft. 
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