Google, assuntos gerais

[Jorge-Vieira]

Google Internal Audit Reveals 77 Percent Of Its Online Traffic Is Encrypted

In the spirit of consumer privacy and security, Google is going to great effort to make surfing the web and using online services as safe and secure as possible. Encryption is key to that mission, and in its latest transparency report, Google revealed that over three-quarters (77 percent) of requests to its servers used encrypted connections.

That's up from 52 percent at the end of 2013 and 65 percent around the same date a year ago, though that still leaves nearly a quarter (23 percent) of its traffic unencrypted. As Google is quick to point out, web encryption schemes like SSL or TLS help "protect against eavesdroppers, man-in-the-middle attacks, and hijackers who attempt to spoof a trusted website."

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages...gle_Laptop.jpg

Google says it's been working hard toward achieving 100 percent encryption across all of its products and services, though admittedly there are "several technical and political challenges" that make it a tough goal to reach. Some examples include:

• Older hardware and software do not support modern encryption technologies.
• Certain countries and organizations block or otherwise degrade HTTPS traffic.
• Some organizations do not have the desire or technical resources to implement HTTPS.
• Certificate management can be challenging for products like Blogger, where a user's non-Google domain can be used.

As for individual services, Gmail and Drive are both entirely encrypted. However, Google Finance and News have a longer way to go at 58 percent and 60 percent. Google's Advertising and Maps services fare a bit better, with the former encrypting 77 percent of traffic and the latter now at 83 percent.

The timing of Google's transparency report comes as Apple and FBI are locked in a battle over iPhone encryption, the outcome of which could set a precedent that affects all companies, Google included.

"Our aim with this project is to hold ourselves accountable and encourage others to encrypt so we can make the web even safer for everyone," Google stated in a blog post.

Google's certainly making strides, but also notes that "we still have a ways to go."

Noticia:
http://hothardware.com/news/google-i...I5mm4aW74Ab.99

[Jorge-Vieira]

Alphabet Reported To Put Boston Dynamics Up For Sale – Here Is Why

Back in 2013, when Google was aggressively acquiring companies, one of them happened to be Boston Dynamics. Now, it looks like the acquisition may not have been fruitful for the tech giant as Google’s parent company Alphabet might be considering to sell it off, but who would end up picking it?

Amazon Could Pick Up Boston Dynamics Where Alphabet Picked Off

Taking a stroll down memory lane, Boston Dynamics is the maker of robots which can walk, run, and jump, and is currently being eyed by a firm to be picked up. Potential acquirers of the robotics manufacturing are Amazon and Toyota. The e-commerce giant is already under the spotlight for proliferating the manufacturing of delivery drones. Amazon has named this service Amazon Prime Air, and it will be able to provide goods to consumers right at their very door step.

With Amazon acquiring Boston Dynamics, apart from delivering items to buyers via aerial routes, man-made machines could also be constructed to provide the same service through land, wherever convenient and practical. Up till now, Amazon has paid $775 million for Kiva Systems in 2012 and has developed a number of robotic solutions to improve speed and efficiency at its warehouses.





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Toyota on the other hand could use these machines for racking up automobile production. Frightening to look at and filling your eyes with absolute awe, several videos uploading on streaming websites have garnered millions of views concerning these cutting edge creations. According to a report from Bloomberg, executives present at Alphabet were finding it increasingly difficult to create commercial products for Boston Dynamics’ current portfolio. It also did not help the company when the subject of military ties was continuously brought up.
Andy Rubin, who is considered the father of Android, spearheaded the purchase of Boston Dynamics. Rubin left in October 2014, and is now in charge of Playground, an incubator with a heavy emphasis on robotics. Naturally, after his departure, executives would not find a suitable place for Boston Dynamics, but luckily for both Alphabet and Google, there is always a prospective buyer looking to take this encumbrance away from their hands to fuel their own objective.
Which firm do you think will end up acquiring Boston Dynamics? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Noticia:
http://wccftech.com/alphabet-reporte...#ixzz43CFRlgmP

[Jorge-Vieira]

Clinton Email Reveals Google Helping the US Govt to Overthrow Syrian Regime

Last week, Wikileaks posted Hillary Clinton’s 30,322 emails and attachments dating from June 30, 2010 to August 12, 2014. Over 7,500 of these emails were written by Clinton herself have now been published. Thanks to use of a private, non-secure email server, the Clinton email scandal has now revealed Google’s involvement in Syrian uprising.

Clinton email scandal reveals Google’s help in Syrian uprising

Emails posted by Wikileaks have revealed that in 2012 Google was working on a tool to support the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad. Messages between the former secretary of state and one of Google’s executives detailed the plan for Google’s involvement in the region. Highlighted by the Washington Examiner, an email sent by Google’s Jared Cohen to Clinton’s deputy chief of staff Jake Sullivan mentions a tool that Google believed could help to destabilize the Assad regime.

“Please keep close hold, but my team is planning to launch a tool … that will publicly track and map the defections in Syria and which parts of the government they are coming from,” Jared Cohen, the head of what was then the company’s “Google Ideas” division, wrote in a July 2012 email to several top Clinton officials.
“Our logic behind this is that while many people are tracking the atrocities, nobody is visually representing and mapping the defections, which we believe are important in encouraging more to defect and giving confidence to the opposition,” Cohen said, adding that the plan was for Google to surreptitiously give the tool to Middle Eastern media.
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“Given how hard it is to get information into Syria right now, we are partnering with Al-Jazeera who will take primary ownership over the tool we have built, track the data, verify it, and broadcast it back into Syria,” he said.

Calling it “a pretty cool idea,” Sullivan then forwarded the email to Clinton.
Social media played a significant role in the so-called Arab Spring. InfoWars calls the uprising a “concerted effort by the State Department, the Endowment for Democracy, USAID, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute and Freedom House to violently overthrow governments in the Middle East and North Africa.” Over 180,000 people died as a result of the “US-orchestrated Arab Spring,” and the rise of the Islamic State (Daesh) was also one of its repercussions.

While Cohen seemed to consider his company’s effort as helpful to American interests, the effort to overthrow Assad helped spur the rise of the Islamic State, which eventually filled a vacuum resulting from Assad’s loss of control over of Syria. – Examiner

Noticia:
http://wccftech.com/leaked-clinton-email-reveals-googles-involvement-in-syrian-uprising/#ixzz43ZhJED3T












Google partners with Vizio to bring Chromecast to TVs, sources say

Vizio has partnered with Google to bring Chromecast to its TVs, multiple sources have claimed to Variety. As of now, it's unclear whether this simply means Chromecast will be included with the TVs or if it will be directly built into them, but we do know you will still initiate streaming from another device, as is currently the case with Chromecast. We also know that no smart TV apps are apart of the plan, and that this could happen as early as springtime.

Sources have also indicated Google has shown similar interest with at least one other TV manufacturer, so this could well be the first step in a broad, long-term plan.

Google declined to comment on the matter, while Vizio was not immediately available for comment.

Noticia:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/51182/...ces/index.html

[SleepyFilipy]

Boa noite,

Don't be evil! Empresa mais hipócrita. Distância dessa empresa é tudo o que quero. Andarem metidos nestas guerras, deviam falir. Gente a morrer inocentemente com a ajuda deles. Nojo é tudo o que tenho por essa empresa.

Cumprimentos.

Espero que te estejas a referir a qualquer coisa coisa sem ser a notícia sobre a Google... Porque se for realmente essa notícia, não deves estar bem da cabeça meu caro...

[jotinha17]

Caro Turtolius, como já referiu várias vezes sobre a MS, se não gosta não usa, se não gosta não perca seu tempo a criticar, vá usar o que gosta.

Comentários desse tipo vou eliminar, vens cheio de moral mas fazes exatamente a mesma coisa em relação a outras emprestas, já está na altura de aprenderes a ter uma postura correta aqui no forum.

[Jorge-Vieira]

Chromecast app being renamed Google Cast

Google is mixing things up a bit with Chromecast, renaming the app Google Cast, in what it says is an effort to "better reflect that Google Cast technology is now supported across a wide range of devices such as Chromecast, TVs, displays and speakers." It revealed the news just after confirming its partnership with Vizio, which will see Google Cast built into the company's upcoming P-series displays, as well as to its soundbars and speakers.



Along with a new name comes an update, which will roll out this week. With it you can expect video content discovery, expanded app discovery, customizable backdrops, and more.

Noticia:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/51214/...ast/index.html

[Jorge-Vieira]

Google, Microsoft, And Others Publish New Email Security Standard

According to InfoWorld, a group of engineers have taken the wraps off the SMTP Strict Transport Security mechanism hoping that the new security standard can eliminate man-in-the-middle attacks on your e-mail.


Engineers from some of the world's largest email service providers have banded together to improve the security of email traffic traversing the Internet. Devised by engineers from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Comcast, LinkedIn and 1&1 Mail & Media Development & Technology, the SMTP Strict Transport Security is a new mechanism that allows email providers to define policies and rules for establishing encrypted email communications.

Noticia:
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2016/03/23/google_microsoft_others_publish_new_email_security _standard#.VvP9VXpv7ug









Google Allows Developers to Use Its Machine Learning Platform

Google’s Cloud Machine Learning platform, which is utilized by a number of applications including Google Photos, Translate and Inbox has been made available for use by developers today. The announcement was made by Alphabet’s Chairman, Eric Schmidt at NEXT 2016, where he explained that machine learning was “what’s next”.
This move will give developers the chance to leverage the power that Google currently makes use of every day in their own apps. These powerful machine learning tools will be available to use through a number of easy-to-use REST APIs according to Fausto Ibarra, Google’s director of product management. He went on to state that “Cloud Machine Learning will take machine learning mainstream, giving data scientists and developers a way to build a new class of intelligent applications.”
The Cloud Machine Learning platform APIs initially on offer by Google include translation, photo, and speech recognition tools which power Google Now, Google Photos, voice recognition in Google Search and many other systems.
This release by Google makes them the third major company to roll out a machine learning platform for developers, with Microsoft’s Azure platform releasing in 2015 and Amazon Web Services including machine learning since 2015. With Google declaring that machine learning is set to be the next big thing in computing, it may not be too long before we see our everyday apps getting even smarter, as developers benefit from Google’s platform and Google in turn benefit from its usage allowing furthering development. It may only be in developer preview for now, but I am sure that many app developers, both old and new, will be jumping at the chance to put these cutting edge tools to use.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/google-allows...ning-platform/

[Jorge-Vieira]

Google is reportedly working on an Amazon Echo competitor

The surprise success of Amazon’s Echo personal voice assistant hasn’t gone unnoticed by the competition. Search giant Google is said to be working in secret on a similar device according to a recent report from The Information (via The Verge).
Mention of an Amazon Echo competitor came as part of a larger story on the struggles of Nest, makers of the connected thermostat and smoke detector that Google acquired in early 2014 for $3.2 billion in cash to help bolster its position in the home automation market.
According to the publication, Nest wanted to work on the Echo-like project but the offer was dismissed by the Google team currently at the helm. On top of that, Nest has struggled to grow its product portfolio since the acquisition which, according to the report, is largely due to Tony Fadell’s oversight.

Unfortunately, there weren’t many details shared regarding the Echo competitor from Google. Nevertheless, it’s easy to see how such a device makes perfect sense for Google. Heck, they already have the technology to drive the device with Google Now and the best search engine on the planet.
Come to think of it, it’s a bit surprising that Google didn’t bake Echo-like features into its OnHub router released last summer. OnHub is designed to simplify home life and it already has the same shape as Echo (not that a specific shape is a requirement). Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google add the functionality into future revisions of OnHub but I digress.

Noticia:
http://www.techspot.com/news/64231-google-reportedly-working-amazon-echo-competitor.html










Google Fined by France Over Right to be Forgotten

Google have been handed a fine by the French data protection authorities as a result of them failing to conform to the ‘right to be forgotten’ as ordered.
In a decision made last year by the French National Commission on Computing and Liberty (CNIL), Google would have to agree to requests made for the delisting of personal information, not just on its products under European domains, but across all Google properties. Previous to this, Google had been removing requested personal results from the European versions of its search engine, including google.co.uk and google.fr, excluding other instances of the site, such as google.com, which is still accessible from within Europe.
This breach of the ruling could have allowed CNIL to charge Google as much as €300,000, however, the French organization, in the end, settled on only a €100,000 fine.
The right to be forgotten has existed since 2014 when a European court ruling allowed Spaniard Mario Costeja González to erase online evidence of a court-ordered auction of his real estate to recover debts. Those hosting the information were allowed to keep it online, but Google was ordered to remove all reference to the articles from searches of Costeja González’ name. The spirit of the decision being that minor misdemeanors or embarrassments could be covered up, but not completely removed.
Google still refuse to conform with the ruling as closely as CNIL would like, with information hidden on worldwide services, but only for users in the same nation as the one who requested the removal. For example, a Spanish user would no longer be able to find references to the auction on any Google product, including google.com, but a user from another European nation would be able to get the results through any non-European Google domain.
With over 400,000 people having already invoked their right to be delisted in Europe, they would hope that their past acts could be forgotten by all, not just those of their nation. It is unclear as to whether CNIL will make any efforts for Google to more broadly delist people, but with a fine already levied against them, they may be more compliant should the cost get steeper.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/google-fined-...ght-forgotten/

[Jorge-Vieira]

Google Data Center 360 Tour

Learn about the massive scale, the incredible attention to security and privacy, and the amazing efforts to make the data center extremely efficient and green.

Noticia:
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2016/03/...r#.VvbvIHpv7ug

[Jorge-Vieira]

Oracle Seeks $9.3 Billion Payday From Google Over Java Use In Android

Oracle is hoping to score a major damages award from Google in court. Specifically, Oracle wants Google to fork over $9.3 billion, the amount Oracle claims Google now owes it for injecting certain parts of its Java platform into Android, the world's leading mobile operating system (by market share), without a license agreement.

The dispute between Oracle and Google is one that's been going on for over a half a decade. Oracle initially sued Google in 2010, stating at the time that "in at least several instances, Android computer program code also was directly copied from copyrighted Oracle America code." It took two years for that case to go to trial, and when it finally did in 2012, a jury ruled that Google did in fact infringe on Oracle's Java copyrights in Android but was split on whether or not it fell under "fair use."

image: http://hothardware.com/ContentImages...ent/Oracle.jpg

With the matter still unresolved, Oracle and Google will face off at a federal district court in San Francisco beginning May 9, 2016. It's expected that some big names will take the stand, among them Oracle founder Larry Ellison and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who is now the executive chairman of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company.

The $9.3 billion Oracle is seeking in damages is far greater than the sum it originally sued Google for in 2010. It's based on calculations made by an expert Oracle hired, though Google also hired a damages expert who's likely to come up with a significantly lesser sum. That sum hasn't been revealed yet, but a recent filing by Oracle suggests it will be no more than $100 million.

Oracle's inflated figure compared to last time takes into account six additional versions of Android going up to (and including) Lollipop. It also underscores how much the smartphone market has grown in the past six years.

Noticia:
http://hothardware.com/news/oracle-s...cD9sUr6tqDv.99

[Jorge-Vieira]

Google, Amazon Lead Tech Lower In Customer Satisfaction Index

Customer satisfaction in the tech industry is on the decline thanks to those slackers at Google, Amazon and Netflix. Wait. What?!?

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) fell 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter to 73.4 on a 100-point scale. According to the ACSI, the index has fallen to its lowest score in a decade after eight consecutive quarters of declines.

Noticia:
http://www.hardocp.com/news/2016/03/...x#.VvuUo3r0Pug

[Jorge-Vieira]

Google gets into the landline business with Fibre Phone

Google is branching further into the telco realm with the launch of Fibre Phone, a POTS service for Google Fibre broadband customers.

Having semi-launched fibre-optic broadband and mobile phone services, advertising giant Google is dipping its toes further into the telecommunications waters with the limited launch of a landline telephone service.

Google Fibre, announced way back in 2010 and still not available in the UK with only limited US regions receiving coverage, is Google's answer to throwing more eyeballs at its adverts: offering high-speed, low-cost unmetered internet connectivity on which it can monitor every last drop of data that passes through. Its panopticonic plans were expanded in April last year when it launched a mobile network to match, and now it's taking the logical next step: landline connectivity.

Dubbed Fibre Phone, the new service is available exclusively on Google Fibre connectivity and relies on converting in-home plain-old telephone service (POTS) devices to connect via IP over the broadband line. To this end, a conversion box is supplied to users which allows for existing handsets to be used on Fibre Phone while the assigned number can also be used on smartphones, tablets, and laptops while you're out-and-about.

According to the announcement by Google's John Shriver-Blake, adding Fibre Phone to an existing Google Fibre account will cost an additional $10 per month, which includes unlimited local and national calls.

Noticia:
http://www.bit-tech.net/news/bits/20...-fibre-phone/1

[Jorge-Vieira]

Carrier dissatisfaction with Google growing

AT&T looks to Cyanogen
Carrier dissatisfaction with the Android maker Google is growing as more of them look to alternatives to curb what they perceive as the search engine outfit’s inflexibility.

AT&T has publically mentioned it is looking at flogging a smartphone powered by an alternative version of Android. If true, the move is a deliberate slap in the face to Google.
US carriers are a little perturbed about the amount of control has over its products and are looking to rivals such as Cyanogen, which distributes a version of Android that’s only partially controlled by Google.
ZTE had been in discussions to make the device, these people say. But mysteriously its involvement was put in jeopardy when the US government suddenly imposed trade sanctions on the company – of course this is nothing to do with Google.
The big idea is to do something like Amazon and create new flavor of Android based on Google's source code but controlled entirely by AT&T. It would also give AT&T sole responsibility for maintaining the OS going forward.
It would bugger up Google's because changes to the Android system might be difficult to incorporate into AT&T's new version, and some might not make it over at all. However AT&T would be able to integrate phones more deeply into its existing infrastructure and issue updates when it wants.
One likely possibility would be an OS-level integration with AT&T's DirectTV service which is tricky under Google’s rules. It is not clear if AT&T is serious, or if it is just a move to force Google to pull finger.

Noticia:
http://www.fudzilla.com/news/mobile/...google-growing

[Jorge-Vieira]

The Google Wallet physical debit card is about to be killed off

Back in 2013, Google launched its physical debit card that linked to users’ Google Wallet accounts. The company had high hopes for the card, but it never became very popular, leading to yesterday's announcement that Google will soon kill off the product.
In a blog post, Google said that it will no longer support the Wallet Card as of June 30, and the ability to add money directly from a debit card or bank account to a Wallet Balance will cease on May 1.
Google Wallet will still exist as a peer-peer payments system. Money received from friends can be added to an existing balance, which can then be cashed out, used to pay others, or as a way of making purchases on Google Play.
Google said that, going forward, it wants to “focus on making it easier than ever to send and receive money with the Google Wallet app.” The company added that it will be adding new features and a “fresh design” over the coming months.
Google is directing anyone looking for other products similar to the Wallet Card to the services provided by American Express and Simple. Any former Wallet Card users will get an added bonus for signing up to these accounts.
The decision to end the Wallet Card doesn’t come as a huge surprise. As the likes of Android Pay and Apple Pay become more widespread, it seems fewer people prefer to use this kind of product.

Noticia:
http://www.techspot.com/news/64302-google-wallet-physical-debit-card-about-killed-off.html











Google removes April Fools' day prank that goes so badly wrong it allegedly lost people their jobs

There are some April Fools’ day pranks that aren’t appreciated by those on the receiving end of one - just ask anyone who’s ever fell victim to a plastic wrap over a toilet bowl. But it’s not just people who pull ill-advised jokes on April 1; big corporations can make the same mistake too, as Google discovered when the company was forced to pull its ‘mic drop’ option from Gmail following a series of complaints from users.
Google added the joke feature to its Gmail service last night. Anyone who clicked the ‘Send + Mic Drop’ button had a GIF of a minion dropping a microphone attached to their emails.

While this may seem pretty harmless, the problems arose from the fact that the option was inserted directly next to Gmail's 'Reply' button – replacing the 'send and archive' button. This placement resulted in some people selecting the Send + Mic option, either by accident or because they just didn’t understand what it was.
Additionally, as a Mic Drop is supposed to show that someone has walked away from a conversation, using the feature irreversibly muted all replies to the email.
“Today, Gmail is making it easier to have the last word on any email with Mic Drop. Simply reply to any email using the new ‘Send + Mic Drop’ button. Everyone will get your message, but that’s the last you’ll ever hear about it. Yes, even if folks try to respond, you won’t see it,” Google explained.
It seems quite a few of Gmail’s one billion users didn’t think the joke was very funny, especially those who accidently mic dropped work and professional contacts.
While the feature was only available in the desktop consumer version of Gmail, Google’s product forums and Twitter quickly started filling up with users complaining that they had accidently hit the Mic Drop button when sending important business emails. One person even claimed it had cost them their writing job.



Andy Baio ‎@waxpancake
This woman sent a prayer request to 50 friends and family. After realizing what she sent: "I was mortified." pic.twitter.com/ObyPMpJ94M
5:38 AM - 1 Apr 2016








To make matters worse for Google, a small number of users found that a bug in the feature caused the standard ‘Send’ button to have the same effect as the Mic Drop option.
Google has now removed the button and issued the following statement:

Well, it looks like we pranked ourselves this year. 😟 Due to a bug, the MicDrop feature inadvertently caused more headaches than laughs. We’re truly sorry. The feature has been turned off. If you are still seeing it, please reload your Gmail page.

Image Credit: s_bukley / shutterstock

Noticia:
http://www.techspot.com/news/64303-g...oes-badly.html

[Jorge-Vieira]

Google, Microsoft and Apple Support EPA’s Emissions Strategy

Just in case you’re not already aware, the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency are currently struggling to fulfil Obama’s promise of reducing the USA’s carbon emissions by 32 percent by 2030. Even though the initiative is currently being debated in court and appears to have slim chances of success, it looks like reputable companies such as Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft have thrown their support in the form of a joint legal brief. The companies argue that the EPA Clean Power Plan offers realistic emission regulations that could also make sense from a business point of view. That’s because wind and solar power prices are slowly but surely coming down, not to mention that renewable energy can actually be stored for later use, which can become incredibly useful.
Moreover, the companies want to point out that using clean power wouldn’t hurt others that want to build their own facilities, especially since electricity can also be purchased from eco-friendly providers nowadays. Make no mistake, switching over to emissions-free energy would be advantageous for these tech giants, which is probably why they decided to lend their support in the first place. However, even though their legal brief certainly makes sense, it’s worth keeping in mind that not all states would be able to switch over to eco-friendly power easily, as some rely heavily on coal and other polluting energy sources.

Noticia:
http://www.eteknix.com/google-micros...ions-strategy/