Category: Tech

Google recently accused the Bing search engine of copying their search results. The whole situation began as Google engineers worked on spelling corrections. Spelling corrections are one of the features that Google takes much pride in. They even claim they can correct misspellings that have never been misspelled before. From the Official Google Blog:

It all started with tarsorrhaphy. Really. As it happens, tarsorrhaphy is a rare surgical procedure on eyelids. And in the summer of 2010, we were looking at the search results for an unusual misspelled query [torsorophy]. Google returned the correct spelling—tarsorrhaphy—along with results for the corrected query. At that time, Bing had no results for the misspelling. Later in the summer, Bing started returning our first result to their users without offering the spell correction (see screenshots below). This was very strange. How could they return our first result to their users without the correct spelling? Had they known the correct spelling, they could have returned several more relevant results for the corrected query.

Based on this case, Google created 100 “synthetic queries” and monitored them closely. These are things a person would probably never search for. Mostly, stuff like [hiybbprqag]. For these queries, they inserted pretty much random sites as the top result. Within a couple of weeks of starting this experiment, Google’s fake results started appearing in Bing. Of course, Microsoft completely denies copying Google:

“We use over 1,000 different signals and features in our ranking algorithm. A small piece of that is clickstream data we get from some of our customers, who opt-in to sharing anonymous data as they navigate the web in order to help us improve the experience for all users.” — Bing Corporate Vice President Harry Shum

It seems that Google was not happy with Microsoft’s denial and their latest post (linked below) goes into detail on the various queries used to catch Bing in the act. Whether it’s something their engineers are doing manually or a result of IE8′s Suggested Sites or Bing Toolbar’s Customer Experience Improvement Program, the end result looks like cheating.

“Put another way, some Bing results increasingly look like an incomplete, stale version of Google results—a cheap imitation.” — Google Fellow Amit Singhal

via Official Google Blog, Mashable, Search Engine Land

As we all know, February is Black History Month. It’s a month where we honor those who have made an impact on American culture for equal rights, those who have invented, those who have a helped others and those who have inspired everyone to be the best they can be, not only as a person of color but as a human. Last year for Black History Month, I started an online series called 28 Days Diversity where I would feature someone new everyday for the month of February for just being awesome in their own right. Even though it’s black history month, the goal for 28 Days of Diversity is to feature not just African-Americans but other minorities in the web/tech space. Also note that 28 Days of Diversity is not a popularity contest or an influencer list but a list of thought leaders in the social web sector, including entrepreneurs, bloggers, conference organizers, IT professionals and friends not ranked in any particular order who I have either met in person or followed online. Each post will include a picture, bio, two links from the selected person and this paragraph.

For 2011 I wanted to not just feature individuals but also address a topic that affects everyone. For 28 Days of Diversity 2011 each post/person will answer the question How can we use technology to close the digital divide? So for the next 28 days, come back to visit SocialWayne.com/tag/28daysofdiversity and 28daysofdiversity.com to see who’s on the list.

Today, LG brings their flagship smartphone, the Optimus One, to Virgin Mobile as a prepaid device called the Optimus V. The Optimus V brings most of the features the average consumer would want in a smartphone, without the contract or hefty price tag. You get a decent Android phone without a contract for $150.

Features of the LG Optimus V include Android 2.2 Froyo, 600MHz processor, 3.2″ HVGA display (320×480 resolution), 3MP camera, 2GB of internal storage and a microSDHC memory card slot. It run’s on the carrier’s 3G network, but also supports Wi-Fi connections.

As we reported last year, LG is aiming for a different set of customers than the iPhone 4 or HTC Evo. They’re aiming to hit more average, less techy folks who want something powerful but simple. It’s a great deal for the price. It’s pre-paid, it’s Android (Virgin Mobile’s first), and it’s a good phone for the price.

Check out the unboxing below to see the Optimus in action.

via Phone Arena, CrunchGear

In celebration of Black History Month, TheGrio.com will launch “TheGrio’s 100: History Makers in the Making Class of 2011,” today. TheGrio’s 100 will highlight African-Americans in business, education, sports, science and the environment, media, service and activism, politics, health, pop culture, and the arts who are making a difference.

TheGrio’s 100 will be featured across NBC news outlets like NBC News, MSNBC and msnbc.com. They will also make use of “several” social media platforms to engage with the community. One of those platforms is Foursquare, where you can now unlock your very own Black History Badge.

TheGrio is working with Foursquare, the location-based mobile application, to generate branded content and create a Black History “badge” that users can unlock by following TheGrio on foursquare and checking in at 100+ locations across the country that have been identified as historically relevant to Black History Month.

It’s good to see such an interesting use of the Foursquare Tips feature. Some of the stops include Morehouse College, the Black Soldiers Memorial, and the African American Museum of Dallas. Check out foursquare.com/thegrio to see what spots you should visit. You can also follow TheGrio’s 100 on Facebook and on Twitter (@thegrio with hashtag #thegrios100).

via theGrio.com

Today, February 1st, Google unveils a project that will give you access to thousands of artworks online in “extraordinary detail.” The project is simply called Google Art Project, but the results are nothing less than stunning.

Working with 17 art museums over the last 18 months, Google has built an online collection of thousands of artworks and a selection of super high resolution or ‘gigapixel’ images. They partnered with Altes Nationalgalerie, The Freer Gallery of Art Smithsonian, National Gallery (London), The Frick Collection, Gemäldegalerie, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, Museo Reina Sofia, Museo Thyseen – Bornemisza, Museum Kampa, Palace of Versailles, Rijksmuseum, The State Hermitage Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery, Tate, and Uffizi and Van Gogh Museum.

Google worked closely with the museums in finding the best works to feature, the best collections to display, and even what angles to capture them from. The Google Art Project includes everything from Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ to Chris Ofili’s ‘No Woman, No Cry.’

A specially designed Street View ‘trolley’ took 360 degree images of the interior of selected galleries which were then stitched together, enabling smooth navigation of over 385 rooms within the museums. The gallery interiors can also be explored directly from within Street View in Google Maps.

Each of the 17 museums also chose a single artwork to be featured in super high resolution or ‘gigapixel’ format. These images contain about 7 billion pixels, enabling the viewer to study details of the brushwork and patina beyond that possible with the naked eye. Amazing stuff.

‘This initiative started as a ’20% project’ by a group of Googlers passionate about making art more accessible online. Together with our museum partners around the world we have created what we hope will be a fascinating resource for art-lovers, students and casual museum goers alike – inspiring them to one day visit the real thing.’ — Amit Sood, Head of Art Project, Google

Check out all the fancy artwork at www.googleartproject.com and watch the video here for a behind-the-scenes look at the project. There is also a YouTube channel.

via Engadget

In his State of the Union address last week, President Obama mentioned helping entrepreneurs to start up and grow their businesses in order to stimulate the economy. To that end, three of the biggest tech companies in the nation are committing millions to an initiative called the Startup America Partnership.

Intel Corp. said Monday it is giving $200 million to the campaign, while IBM Corp. is investing $150 million. Hewlett-Packard Co. is also participating, but did not disclose if it was committing funds to the partnership. A Hewlett-Packard representative could not be immediately reached for comment.

IBM says its funds will be used in part to help mentor start-up companies, support developers, and expand mentorship programs. Startup America is working with the White House to support entrepreneurial businesses, but is an independent private-sector alliance.

Revolution LLC CEO and AOL Inc. co-founder Steve Case, will chair the alliance. His own Case Foundation, along with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, will provide launch funding for the partnership. Kauffman Foundation CEO Carl Schramm, who will be one of Startup America’s founding board members, had this to say:

“This partnership will bring together partners from across the private, public and non-profit sectors, working together toward a common goal: supporting the entrepreneurs who are the lifeblood of our economy.”

via Yahoo! News

AT&T is back again this year for their 28 Days Black History Month campaign. This is the third year of the campaign and the focus is on celebrating past history makers and a look at new innovators through a free exclusive speaker series. AT&T created 28 Days in 2009 to highlight Black History Month as more than a reflection of the past, but as a time to focus on what can be achieved in the future.

“This year, AT&T wants consumers to look at today’s history makers and innovators, who are changing the world we live in and truly speak to the core of ‘Rethink Possible’,” said Jennifer Jones, vice president of Diverse Markets, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets. “We are committed to pushing the limits of what’s achievable everyday through innovation and investments in programs that educate and empower our diverse consumers.”

AT&T has used a Facebook Page in the past as the online rally point for the 28 Days campaign, but it looks like they’ve switched things up with a page on ATT.com. They’ve integrated their Black History Month initiative with your standard AT&T sales page, providing relevant news and information alongside the latest deals on free phones.

Common will serve as the exclusive host and moderator for the 2011 AT&T 28 Days speaker series. This event will showcase five individuals who are making their own page in African-American history in the fields of technology, media, fashion, politics, and business. The tour covers five-cities and two lucky winners will be randomly selected to receive new AT&T smartphones.

• Atlanta on Monday, Feb. 7
• Chicago on Thursday, Feb. 17
• Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Feb. 22
• Harlem on Feb. 24
• Oakland on Monday, Feb. 28

“The talent AT&T selected for the speaker series are great examples of today’s trendsetters who are making history everyday in their communities,” said Jones. “Each speaker offers a unique perspective and will inspire anyone who attends these events.”

You can check the website to figure out how to get free tickets or stream the event live on the web. The site will feature videos from the speaking events and you can connect with the AT&T 28 Days online community. Sign up to receive 28 Days mobile updates by texting “28days” to 65579.

For more information about this year’s events and speakers, visit att.com/thebridge.

$700 Motorola Xoom Launching Feb 17th at Best Buy

An internal Best Buy document leaked to Engadget nails down February 17th as the launch date for Motorola’s highly anticipated Xoom tablet. The Xoom features the latest and greatest version of the Android operating system, Honeycomb, which was designed to run better on tablets. The document also indicates the Xoom will come with 32GB of onboard storage. The tablet was originally rumored to cost around $800, but the same tipster has indicated a price of $699.99. Droid-Life has a nifty chart comparing the Motorola Xoom to the iPad.

$10k iTunes Winner Hung Up On Apple

Thinking she was being pranked, Gail Davis of Orpington Kent hung up the phone when Apple called to say she’d won a $10,000 iTunes gift card. Apparently, Gail’s daughters downloaded the winning app, but Gail had no idea what was going on.

Speaking exclusively to CultofMac.com, Davis says it was actually one of her two daughters who downloaded the 10 billionth app, winning the family a $10,000 iTunes gift card. Her daughters, 14 and 17, had downloaded several apps in the morning. One of them, the free Paper Glider app, was the magic 10 billionth app.

After she realized the call was legit, she tried to call back with no luck. She knew her daughters would hold it against for for life if she didn’t make things right. Luckily, Apple decided to give Gail another call. “I was hugely relieved,” says Davis. “I was getting really worried.”

Twitter May Triple Ad Revenue to $150 Million This Year

Remember when people used to joke about Twitter’s monetization strategy? I wonder if they’re still laughing now. According to Internet researcher EMarketer Inc., Twitter could more than triple its advertising revenue to $150 million this year. Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst at EMarketer, went on to say that Twitter could hit $250 billion in ad revenue in 2012.

“The company is definitely attracting brand advertisers,” Williamson said. “The difference is going to be whether Twitter can prove itself to advertisers as delivering results. I think this will be the year that we know a lot more.”

via Bloomberg

In-App Payment System Coming Soon to Android

Actually, in-app payments were set to launch last quarter, but “Developers were busy with their Christmas applications,” Chu said. “So we couldn’t get enough feedback,” he continued. Eric Chu, a group manager at Google for the Android platform, promised that in-app purchase ability will come this quarter. Chu says they have invested a lot of time in carrier billing, but that will be only one option among many, including the Android Market payment system. When they do add more, developers won’t have to do a thing, Chu said.

via TechCrunch

Android 3.0 Platform Preview and SDK Tools

A preview of the Android 3.0 SDK has been released for developers so that they can begin testing their applications for a tablet form factor.

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) is a new version of the Android platform that is designed from the ground up for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets. It introduces a new “holographic” UI theme and an interaction model that builds on the things people love about Android — multitasking, notifications, widgets, and others — and adds many new features as well.

While this is exciting news for developers, most of us might find the screenshots of Honeycomb slightly more interesting. Android 3.0 brings enhancements to the user interface as well as updates to the Android developer tools. Are you developing an Android tablet app?

Microsoft Sells 300 Million Licenses for Windows 7

As part of their Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2011 earnings release, Microsoft announced that Windows 7 has sold over 300 million licenses to-date.

To put that in perspective, 300 million is roughly the combined number of households in North American and in Europe! Or, to put it another way, if you lined up 300 million Windows 7 product boxes, they would stretch nearly 1.5 times around the Earth!

Over 20% of Internet-connected PCs worldwide are running Windows 7. Their earnings report announced record second-quarter revenue of $19.95 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 31, 2010. Operating income, net income and diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $8.17 billion, $6.63 billion and $0.77 per share, respectively.

via The Windows Blog,

On a recent trip to Hawaii, the auto-tune king, T-Pain got a new tat. Apparently, he does this every time he visits Hawaii.

“I get a tatt every time I come to Hawaii. I think this ones pretty sweet, unless facebook shuts down soon 0_o”

His new ink reads, “You Don’t Have To Like Me,” with the word “Like” replaced with the famous (infamous?) Facebook Like button. An interesting choice for a tattoo. At least he didn’t get it on his neck or his face.

via Rap-Up.com

Crunchgear caught up with T-Pain at CES and has a video where he talked about his new I Am T-Pain microphone. I won’t lie, I could definitely have fun with that. The mic will run you $40.

Elsewhere on Facebook, Dwyane Wade has posted a Thank You video to his 2 million fans who voted him into the NBA All-Star Game. The 28-second video was posted on his Facebook page this morning via WhoSay, a stealth startup created to help artists, athletes and iconic personalities connect with their fans. Because of support from his fans, he was the top candidate at guard in Eastern Conference balloting, ensuring his All-Star spot for the seventh time in his eight seasons with Miami.

“Global 14 was created because of the increasing trend of ‘social notifying’ versus ‘social networking,’ says Dupri. “Social notifying is when people share information, such as in ‘Hey, check out this website.’ There’s no conversation or expectation of a response.”

After first blocking Facebook, Twitter, and Google, Egypt has decided to take it to the next level and completely disconnect themselves from the Internet. The largest Internet Service Providers in Egypt have stopped providing the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing information used to connect the rest of the world with servers in the Egypt.

“The Egyptian government appears to have ordered service providers to shut down all international connections to the Internet,” Renesys said. “Critical European-Asian fiber-optic routes through Egypt appear to be unaffected for now. But every Egyptian provider, every business, bank, Internet cafe, website, school, embassy, and government office that relied on the big four Egyptian ISPs for their Internet connectivity is now cut off from the rest of the world.”

At the end of last year, Google decided they would do their part to make copyright work better online. Among changes like acting on reliable takedown requests within 24 hrs and improving AdSense anti-piracy review was this little tidbit:

We will prevent terms that are closely associated with piracy from appearing in Autocomplete. While it’s hard to know for sure when search terms are being used to find infringing content, we’ll do our best to prevent Autocomplete from displaying the terms most frequently used for that purpose.

Amidst pressure from the entertainment industry, it looks like these changes are finally going into effect. The idea here is that people are downloading things illegally because, when they search for those things in Google, the illegal links come up first. It doesn’t seem that Google has actually removed search results, but you will no longer see these “piracy related” terms in Autocomplete or Google Instant.

Of course, this raises concern among a lot of people. Google uses an algorithm to rank pages. The algorithm is basically looking at user activity to figure out what you see in your search results, Google Instant, and autocomplete. Censoring the results here is seen by many as a slippery slope. Where do we draw the line? Will we see other terms censored or added?

via TorrentFreak

You thought the State of the Union address was just going to be another stuffy speech? Okay, maybe not, but tonight’s event will be enhanced with a bit of interactive web magic. The Whitehouse has launched a site that will allow you to not only watch the State of the Union at 9pm EST tonight, but you’ll be able to see related content alongside the speech right on the site. The headline features the phrase “Watch & Engage.”

For the first time ever, and only on Whitehouse.gov, Americans can choose an enhanced viewing experience for the President’s State of the Union Address.

On this page, you’ll be able to see charts, graphs and other content as President Obama delivers his speech.

Immediately following the speech, senior White House officials will take your questions about issues covered in the speech live from the White House via Twitter (reply to @whitehouse), Facebook, and a web form at www.whitehouse.gov/sotu-questions.

On Wed, a “special guest” will answer questions via the @PressSec Twitter account. Press Secretary Gibbs won’t be available, but you can still follow the account to figure out who will take his place. Respond with your question to @PressSec using the hashtag #1Q and watch for his video responses.

This Thursday, JAN. 27TH, at 2:30 P.M. EST President Obama will answer your questions live on YouTube. Submit your text or video question and vote your favorites to the top. Learn more at youtube.com/askobama. That same day, you can join the discussion about issues addressed in the speech online with White House policy experts at www.facebook.com/whitehouse.

On Friday, Yahoo! will sit down with Vice President Joe Biden to ask him your questions. Submit them at Yahoo.com and check back for your answers.

Starting today Russell Simmons is hijacking MySpace to host the ‘Hip-Pop Challenge’- a search for the best musicians in hip-hop and pop. Simmons has sifted through the unsigned bands and artists of MySpace and selected 5 hip-hop acts and 5 pop acts. The MySpace community will get to vote on their favorites in each category and the winner gets a mentoring session with the entertainment mogul himself.

“There seems to be a white space in the American entertainment spectrum. The gatekeepers are getting older and don’t recognize that a great number of American youth aspire to live in a post-racial world. Those gatekeepers that are intent on keeping the walls up present me with the great opportunity of ushering in a glimpse of the next America,” says GlobalGrind.com Founder, Russell Simmons. “Through strong partnerships with pioneering platforms such as Myspace, this Hip-Pop phenomenon continues to come to life.”

Russell will also be in control of the Myspace homepage and Music homepage. In addition to sharing his biggest music influences and Def Jam classics, he’ll be sharing political and culture commentary from GlobalGrind.com, and exclusive excerpts from his new book “Super Rich: A Guide To Having It All.”

Simmons will also kick-start the Myspace curators program. This program aims to highlight leaders on specific topics who demonstrate knowledge and influence. Simmons will be choosing Myspace’s new official hip-hop curator. In a six-month contest, users will upload videos explaining why they should be chosen.

“Russell is a true visionary and I am personally excited to offer him our site as a platform to discover new talent and express his passion for the Hip-Pop culture,” Said Myspace CEO Mike Jones. “He is the definition of a true curator.”

This isn’t the first time MySpace has been hijacked. The Black Eyed Peas kicked off the program towards the end of last year and Jack Black followed soon after. The Hijacks program is designed to offer MySpace users around the world access to exclusive content and creative programming curated by the celebrities, musicians, television and film personalities they care about.

About a week ago, Starbucks launched a national mobile payment network that would make it simple for customers to pay at the register using their mobile phones. Not much fancy technology involved, simply an app that displays a barcode that the barista can scan. They claim to be operating the largest mobile payment program in the country.

What does this have to do with Apple?

Apple’s iTunes Store has a payment network of millions of people worldwide. The iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones on the planet. According to Bloomberg, Apple will be embedding NFC chips into the next iteration of the iPhone an iPad. If you recall, Near-Field Communication (NFC) allows your device to beam and receive information at a distance of about 4 inches. This could be used to check-in to physical locations and also for, you guessed it: mobile payments.

If Apple can nail Near-Field Communication (NFC) and tie it directly into their already-established iTunes payment system. It could change everything. It could transform Apple from the biggest technology company in the world, to the biggest company in the world, period. By far. via TechCrunch

Google is well aware of the importance of NFC. The latest Android phone, the Nexus S, has NFC built-in and Eric Schmidt demoed the feature at the Web 2.0 Summit before the device was actually launched. The problem for Google is that they don’t have a robust payment network to support the technology. This is the key ingredient and Google’s Checkout just can’t compete.

Apple’s service may be able to tap into user information already on file, including credit-card numbers, iTunes gift-card balance and bank data, said Richard Crone, who leads financial industry adviser Crone Consulting LLC in San Carlos, California. That could make it an alternative to programs offered by such companies as Visa Inc., MasterCard Inc. and EBay Inc.’s PayPal, said Taylor Hamilton, an analyst at consultant IBISWorld Inc.

Are you ready for tap-to-pay?