Google Category Archives

mapping the territories

21 May 2014 | Google, Lifeform, Technology | 2 Comments

как и следовало ожидать:

When Google acquired Nest, there were a lot of jokes made about a thermometer serving you ads, many of which were only half kidding. Now, Google has stated in plain English that it does see a future where it could be serving ads on thermostats, as well as on “refrigerators, car dashboards, […] glasses, and watches,” which is only a partial list of the places it imagines its advertising content might appear in the future.

будущее вообще уже давно наступило, как мы знаем. вот, например, очередная случайная цитата:

Джо взялся за ручку холодильника.
– Десять центов, – сказал холодильник. – Пять за то, чтобы открыть дверцу, и пять за сливки.
– Какие это сливки? – сказал Джо. – Это простое молоко, – он подергал ручку. – Ну, еще разочек. Вечером я заплачу, ей-богу!

  

welcome to Brazil

14 May 2014 | Google, Politics, Privacy, Security | No Comments

don’t be evil, huh?

Email exchanges between National Security Agency Director Gen. Keith Alexander and Google executives Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt suggest a far cozier working relationship between some tech firms and the U.S. government than was implied by Silicon Valley brass after last year’s revelations about NSA spying.

кто бы сомневался-то, обмен опытом, вот это все.

а с другой стороны, пожалуйста, как вам такая цитата:

Supporters of the National Security Agency inevitably defend its sweeping collection of phone and Internet records on the ground that it is only collecting so-called “metadata”—who you call, when you call, how long you talk. Since this does not include the actual content of the communications, the threat to privacy is said to be negligible. That argument is profoundly misleading.

Of course knowing the content of a call can be crucial to establishing a particular threat. But metadata alone can provide an extremely detailed picture of a person’s most intimate associations and interests, and it’s actually much easier as a technological matter to search huge amounts of metadata than to listen to millions of phone calls. As NSA General Counsel Stewart Baker has said, “metadata absolutely tells you everything about somebody’s life. If you have enough metadata, you don’t really need content.” When I quoted Baker at a recent debate at Johns Hopkins University, my opponent, General Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and the CIA, called Baker’s comment “absolutely correct,” and raised him one, asserting, “We kill people based on metadata.”

спокойных снов, ага.

  

zombieland

28 April 2014 | Google | No Comments

в связи с уходом Вика Гундотры из Google, Марко Армент, комментируя будущие трансорфмации команды Google+, точно подмечает следующее:

I suspect we’ll look back on Google+ as one of the worst strategic moves Google ever made[1]. It has cost them dearly in talent, morale, and the quality of their other products.

не в этом ли и весь Google: скопировать что-то бездумно — и так и не понять, какие именно механизмы приводили небосвод в движенье? они умеют строить, да. но не знают, зачем.

 


  1. кто бы спорил.  ↩

  

игра на понижение

15 April 2014 | Economics, Google, Hardware, Privacy | No Comments

распродажа, натурально:

Tomorrow, April 15, Google Glass will finally go on sale to the public.

Granted, you’ll have just one day to buy it, and supplies will be limited. That’s the kind of sales tactic any company would use to pressure you into buying a shiny, new toy you don’t really need.

как говорится, если за вашими продуктами не выстраиваются очереди, остается только создавать их искусственно.

и дальше[1] еще точнее:

If you think this is a device that will make you look cool and forward-thinking, you’ve been misled by Sergey Brin. It will make you look like a robot, a dork, and, well, a Glasshole. Instead of looking at you with envy and awe, your peers will regard you with suspicion (is she taking a video of me?) and annoyance (running the gamut from “watch where you’re going!” to “you people are what’s wrong with this town!”).

 


  1. дальше, впрочем, будет так:

    Google has a new patent application with the USPTO, which takes one of the basic concepts of Glass and extends it even further, embedding tiny cameras that could be embedded in contact lenses for various uses, including photographing what a wearer sees, or providing the basic input for a contact-based assistive device for the visually impaired.

    scary enough?  ↩

  

глобус для императора

22 March 2014 | Economics, Geography, Google, Politics | No Comments

Яндекс, кстати, торопится сесть в знакомую лужу:

“Яндекс” разрабатывает сервисы таким образом, чтобы они соответствовали миру пользователей. Об этом компания сообщает в своем официальном блоге. Теперь российские и украинские пользователи смогут увидеть картину мира, исходя из собственных политических представлений. И поскольку президент России подписал договор о присоединении Крыма и Севастополя, а украинский Конституционный суд признал крымский референдум недействительным, компания решила создать две разные реальности для пользователей России и Украины.

видимо, это максимально доступный им акт гражданского неповиновения? so cute.

  

clear and present danger

20 March 2014 | Google, Internet, Privacy, Security | No Comments

quote of the day:

“If you look at the logs of people’s search sessions, they’re the most personal thing on the Internet,” [Gabriel Weinberg of DuckDuckGo] says. “Unlike Facebook, where you choose what to post, with search you’re typing in medical and financial problems and all sorts of other things. You’re not thinking about the privacy implications of your search history.”

  

рецедивист

1 March 2014 | Copyright, Google, Software | No Comments

теперь-то и начнется самое интересное:

The OS runs on “prototype” hardware that very closely resembles a Galaxy S4. Tizen is a Linux-based OS primarily developed by Samsung, and, the theory goes, Samsung’s grand plot is to eventually turn Tizen into a drop-in Android replacement, own the market with an OS of its own making, and never have to deal with Google again. So far, Tizen seems a pretty accurate Android clone, but it’s shocking how far along it is. On the surface, it seemed just as capable as a TouchWiz Android device. Samsung has done such a good job of replicating the Android interface [emphasis mine] that there is very little to write about—everything looks and works similarly to the way it does on Android, just without any kind of ecosystem.

ну, кто бы сомневался, что это жизненно необходимый шаг. вот только выглядит он — как всегда — дерьмово.

  

Google’s ability to monetize the Android ecosystem?

3 February 2014 | Economics, Google, Hardware, Software | 1 Comment

как всегда, есть нюансы:

Android’s dominance is not quite as rosy as it seems though, with most of the growth coming from forked Android operating systems (137% year-on-year), mainly in China, India, and adjacent markets. Forked Android or AOSP accounted for 25% market share with 71 million unit shipments, as opposed to certified Android’s share of 52%, of a total of 77% market share.

говоря иначе, треть присутствующих на рынке смартфонов не дает парням из Google ровным счетом ничего. лиха беда начало, правильно?

  

повсеместно

8 January 2014 | Google, Hardware, Privacy, Security | No Comments

да, и кстати напоминание для будущих энтузиастов[1] Google Glass:

[N]ow the surveillance state can see through your eyes. Even when you blink.

 


  1. oh, dear.  ↩

  

делайте ваши ставки

14 December 2013 | AI, Google | No Comments

все идет по плану.