Google posts

A year ago, Google announced something that made the real journalists and publications on the internet cheer and sent shivers of fear down the spines of spammer and content farmers. The “Panda Update” was designed to take low-quality, “thin” content that is often found on sites like HuffPo and eHow and reduce the rankings (and therefore the traffic) that Google gave them. Those who were unaffected rejoiced. Those who were hit cried fowl. Google went through several iterations and course corrections with some sites getting vindicated, but it hurt many beyond repair. Yahoo was one who was notably…

Microsoft may be trying (and failing) to slow Google’s emergence into business productivity with their Google Apps for Business, but Google is heading in the other direction by demonstrating that they may just have the technology end of it figured out. That’s been the complaint of Microsoft, but Google insists that their products can be just as slick. Their latest marketing video for business apps highlights the reason that some (not many yet, but some) are switching from traditional Microsoft products to the more-collaborative Google variations. Whether they can be robust enough for business…

From Russia with visuals, Google has expanded their Street View product to include Moscow and St. Petersberg. The cities, largest and second-largest in the country, feature historical sites that people can now explore from the comfort of them computer or mobile device. The Kremlin, Red Square, and Peter and Paul Fortress are now within (most) everyone’s potential view. The image above shows Troitskaya Tower in the center of the northwest wall of the Moscow Kremlin. As with everything Google does these days, they’re pitching Google+, prompting people to share places from Street View on the…

With Google aspiring to be a major player in the social media space, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the search giant is using its leverage to push Google+ in whatever way possible. It appears as if the Mountain View, California corporation is at it again because its news discovery product has been enhanced to be more socially appealing. Thanks to a recent update, Google News is now the latest of its properties to connect with the company’s new social networking platform. +1 Button strikes again The recent update applies to the Spotlight section in Google News. When logged into their…

The mobile-device explosion may be getting fueled in recent months by Kindle Fires and iPads, but smartphones continue to be the foundation of the incredible growth the mobile industry is experiencing. Apps and devices are fulfilling many aspects of our everyday lives in ways that weren’t even imaginable just a couple of years ago. It truly is a mobile world today. This infographic by our friends at MyLookout breaks down the soaring growth of both devices and apps within the segment. Of the plethora of stats included in the graphic, perhaps the most startling is that they are projecting 982 million…

With Iowa deciding on their choice for GOP candidate tomorrow, Google’s timing is much better this election season to roll out their political news and trends trackers at Google Elections. In 2008, they had a similar offering but didn’t release it until just before the conventions. The Dashboard above is, according to Frederic Lardinois of Silicon Filter, “the most interesting aspect of the site.” It displays side-by-side comparisons of searches for each individual candidate over the last 7 days and allows users to expand the graphic to drill down to individual dates. The “On the Ground” view…

I’ll never forget when my boss at the time showed me his shiny new Windows Phone. I liked the interface, the feel of the hardware itself, and the responsiveness of the internet even on the (dreaded) AT&T network. I nodded politely and congratulated him on his bold move away from the norm (something that he does often). I figured he’d have an iPhone or Android to replace it by the end of 2011. It wasn’t the technology. It was the apps. I didn’t believe at the time that Microsoft was being aggressive enough encouraging developers to fill their marketplace the way that Android had. iOS needed no encouragement…

They just passed 62 million users by adding 625,000 new users per day. Now, Google+ is predicting that they will have over 400 million users by the end of 2012. Are the numbers reliable? Some say no. Not really. Those who sign up through Android 4 must create or attach their Google+ account whether they intend to use it or not. At last count, there were nearly 700,000 Android devices activated daily. For their part, Google is attributing the holidays, recent television commercials that they’ve been running since Thanksgiving, and celebrity brand appeal for their success. Still, many tech bloggers…

In the past, the best way to review the year was to look back through newspaper headlines and pick out the stories that were thought to be the biggest. It wasn’t an exact science and required intuition and subjective reasoning to decide what was most important to the people that year. Today, social media gives us a relatively-accurate indicator about what the general population finds interesting enough to discuss. 2011 was loaded with major events from falling regimes to natural catastrophes. Celebrities made foolish mistakes. Politicians tanked their careers. Tech companies rose. Tech…

The unraveling of the AT&T merger with T-Mobile was not entirely bad for the fourth largest mobile carrier in the US. They get $3 billion. It isn’t enough to keep them afloat for more than a year or two, but it does buy them time to find someone else. It gives them time to formulate a plan-B. Unfortunately, they don’t know what plan-B is for them. It was shortsighted of Deutsche Telekom to go into this without a plan-B. Putting all of one’s eggs in a single basket makes no sense when so much as at stake. The company has to regroup quickly. First, they have to make themselves valid by improving the infrastructure….