Tag Archives: Google

Digital Wars by Charles Arthur – excellent new book

Rarely do I use my blog to write book reviews, but rarely do I enjoy books as much as Charles Arthur’s new Digital Wars: Apple, Google, Microsoft and the battle for the Internet.  Not only is this highly informative, but … Continue reading

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Filed under Entrepreneurship, ICT4D

Google and Facebook: privacy and security

I have long been critical of Google, but two thing have recently begun to make me begin to think again.  First, they have developed an amazing App – Google Translate!  Whilst the translations are by no means perfect, the idea … Continue reading

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Google and privacy

I am often criticised for my concerns over Google’s ethical claims. Most people seem to like the apparently ‘free’ services that the company offers, and are not greatly concerned about the implications of sharing private information with a corporate giant … Continue reading

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Filed under Ethics, ICT4D

UK government set to re-examine Google’s infringements of privacy

Great to see the announcement reported by the BBC that Britain’s privacy watchdog is to re-examine the personal information that Google has gathered from private wi-fi networks. As the BBC article commented, “The Information Commissioner’s Office had investigated a sample … Continue reading

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Filed under Ethics, UK

Many popular Android apps share location and unique identifiers with advertisers

A recent report on the BBC website notes a study by researchers from Intel Labs, Penn State and Duke University which shows that “Some of the most popular apps written for Google’s Android phones do not tell users what is … Continue reading

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Glitch with using Google Mail View – be warned!

Wow – managed to track down an elusive error!  Has anyone else come across this glitch? Guess they must have…. A colleague was transferring data from a large number of .doc forms completed in Microsoft Word into an Excel spreadsheet, … Continue reading

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Google waves goodbye to Wave

So perhaps Google is not so all-seeing and all-wise after all.  After a year of dismal take-up, Google has decided to stop developing Wave as a stand-alone product according to Urs Hölzle (Senior VP Operations and Google Fellow) in an … Continue reading

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Google admits that its Street View cars collected WiFi information

The Guardian newspaper reported yesterday that “Google has been accidentally gathering extracts of personal web activity from domestic wifi networks through the Street View cars it has used since 2007″. Can anyone really believe that Google did this by accident? … Continue reading

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Filed under Ethics, ICT4D general

Go and ogle in Southampton and beyond…

Having just posted my last reflection on “Go, ogle”, I was in Southampton on Sunday and there it was – “Ogle Road”! This must be where the Google camera van/car/snowmobile/tricycles hang out when it’s dark and they cannot take the … Continue reading

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Filed under Ethics, Photographs

Google tracking

Why have I never noticed before that Google is really “Go, Ogle” – meaning “Go, stare at impertinently”? In this context, the following report by Andrew Orlowski in yesterday’s The Register makes interesting reading: “Google’s roving Street View spycam may … Continue reading

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