Want cheap high-performance computing at scale like Google? Look to GPUs
New research shows that it’s possible to train Google-style neural networks with GPUs and Infiniband at low cost. The work could help drive further GPU adoption. Read more »
PRISM could foil the public-cloud campaign, and private clouds might lie in crosshairs
Some cloud executives believe PRISM threatens the growth of the public cloud, and proposed legislation could tamper with the privacy of private clouds. Read more »
Bringing the Internet everywhere will need clean power
Connecting the ends of the Earth with internet access will require tapping into various types of clean power. Google’s Project Loon is just the latest wacky way to use renewable energy to connect the world. Read more »
Google’s balloon-based internet dream: loon or loony?
photo: Pink_Sherbet_Photography
Google has always had a thing for balloon-based Internet, blimps and connecting the unconnected. Five years after it first started talking about it, Google is finally launching a seemingly loony project called Project Loon in New Zealand. Will balloon-based Internet finally fly? Read more »
Tech companies working with the NSA are making a Faustian bargain
photo: Luis Louro
Whatever the details might be, it seems clear that dozens of technology companies — and perhaps even more — have co-operated with the NSA on its surveillance program. And they could pay a high price for doing so. Read more »
If you believe the FCC (and I do), a new Nexus 7 is coming soon
After a trail of breadcrumb evidence, an FCC certification report indicates that a new Nexus 7 is on the way. The device forgoes an Nvidia chip for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S600. Read more »
Microsoft and other U.S. firms disclose security flaws to spies before customers, report claims
photo: Shutterstock / Blazej Lyjak
A Bloomberg report suggests widespread cooperation between U.S. tech firms and the nation’s intelligence agencies that could help those spies hack into foreign computers. Read more »
Swedes say no to Google Apps for government use
A division of the Swedish government has prohibited government bodies from using Google Apps, giving more credence to privacy concerns around public-cloud services. Read more »
Google should face formal tax investigation, say British MPs
The UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has suggested that Google’s average payment of less than 0.1 percent in corporation tax may not be entirely legal. Read more »
Why Google is the big data company that matters most
photo: Google Fellow Jeff Dean
Google Image Search just got a whole lot better, and the company’s purpose-built machine learning system infrastructure is a big reason why. No surprise, Jeff Dean helped build it. Read more »
Google, Facebook, Microsoft seek privacy points by asking permission to disclose data requests
Facebook, Google and Microsoft want to show users just how much the federal government requests access to data. The actions are attempts to save face on the privacy front following reports of the PRISM program. Read more »
For some, the reaction to PRISM is a shrug: Are we suffering from Big Brother fatigue?
photo: Flickr / Thomas Leuthard
After a wave of initial shock at the revelations about NSA surveillance, there seems to be a pervasive feeling of resignation about our data being collected by the government. Have we grown too used to being spied on? Read more »
Google sends big bags of fresh cash to Waze’s early backers
Four years after it launched at our Mobilize conference, Waze is finally sold to Google for about a billion. It certainly was a windfall for its early investors. And one surprising one! Read more »
Google makes BigQuery bigger and cheaper
Google wants more marketshare in the Infrastructure-as-a-Service market, so it’s cutting prices on the BigQuery data-analysis service and adding features to boost the appeal of the larger Cloud Platform. Read more »
Google confirms it is acquiring Waze to add real-time social data to its maps
After months of rumors that speculated the company was the target of an acquisition by either Facebook or Google, social-mapping provider Waze is set to be snapped up by Google and added to the web giant’s map service. Read more »
Cloud computing saves energy, and here’s the data to show it
Cloud-based business software can save significant energy, according to a new report from Berkeley Lab. To prove this the researchers built a model that crunches the data around the cloud and energy. Read more »
Google: video ads for news tripled last year, 2 in 5 bought ads for first time
Doubleclick, an ad service owned by Google, published new findings that suggest the online video ad market is rapidly becoming bigger and more diverse. Read more at paidContent »
Yandex becomes Safari search option in Russia, Ukraine and Turkey
Developers playing with the previews of Safari for iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks have discovered the inclusion of Russia’s leading search engine as an option in some countries for the first time. Read more »
Google eyes two-story Oregon data center design to maximize efficiency
photo: Google
Google plans to build two stories inside a new data center building on its campus in The Dalles, Ore. It’s yet another method of optimizing critical infrastructure for the web giant. Read more »
Welcome to the new world of passive surveillance
photo: Shutterstock: Igor Klimov
If a piece of information has been collected but has never actually been seen by the human eye, is it considered surveillance? Read more »
Looks like now Google is buying Waze for $1.3 billion
Waze, a mapping data service with social features has been subject of acquisition rumors for a while. There was speculation of Apple buying them. There there was Facebook and its rumored $1 billion offer. Now Israeli-media reports are speculating that Google is the new buyer. Read more »
Android this week: Google’s keyboard for all; Galaxy S 4 updated; Xperia Z going stock
Google’s standard Android keyboard with gesture typing and floating word suggestions is available for all Android 4.0 or better devices. Sony’s Xperia Z looks like the next Google Experience phone while Samsung boosted the Galaxy S 4 free storage with an update. Read more »
Netflix and Hulu have nothing to fear from YouTube’s paid channel plans
YouTube’s rollout of premium pay channels may sound promising, but transitioning from the home of free online video to a pay site will be challenging – and may be of little value for existing brands. Read more at paidContent »
Report: Tech companies didn’t allow feds “direct access” to their servers, but they agreed to help
photo: Eliza Kern
Facebook built a system for the U.S. government that would allow intelligence agents easier access to personal data requested under a federal surveillance law, according to a report, and other companies agreed to work with investigators. Read more »
The digital-wallet business is rough — just ask Google
photo: Google
Pouring money into Google Wallet is getting Google nowhere. Slow adoption, reluctant phone carriers and lack of enthusiasm for NFC are weighing heavy on the mobile payments trend, and something’s got to give. Read more »
The internet is good for the planet, and let’s keep it that way
There’s a growing amount of research that says the Internet has a greater net positive effect on the environment than a negative one. But the research is still new and the question is very complex. Read more »
Google’s Page: We don’t provide “open-ended access” to user data, Zuckerberg weighs in
photo: google
Google has provided a lengthy statement on the reports of government spying on user data through some of the country’s largest tech companies. Read more »
Through a PRISM darkly: Tracking the ongoing NSA surveillance story
photo: Shutterstock / Lightspring
The past few days have seen a blizzard of leaks about surveillance activity by the government’s ultra-secret NSA arm, including data collection from phone companies and internet giants. Here is what you need to know about this developing story. Read more »
How the NSA might snoop personal web data without the provider’s knowledge
Whether these top tier tech vendors were complicit or dupes in government spying on people’s data, this news does nothing to help their credibility. Read more »
Sony Xperia Z tapped as a likely “Google Experience” phone. Whither Nexus?
Another manufacturer may be joining Samsung and HTC in offering “Google Experience” smartphones. Sony is expected to announce a version of the Xperia Z with pure Android as the Nexus line could be lower priced phones. Read more »
NSA spying scandal fallout: Expect big impact in Europe and elsewhere (Updated)
The revelation that U.S. spies are able to monitor communications over Google, Facebook and other American web firms’ platforms will have a big impact overseas, and nowhere more so than in Europe. Read more »
Silicon Valley companies deny reports U.S. government has “direct access” to their servers
photo: Shutterstock/deepspacedave
Here’s how nine Silicon Valley companies have responded to reports that the U.S. government can reach into their servers and extract personal data, almost at will. Read more »
Amazon, Google execs clash with Apple lawyers in ebook pricing trial
On Thursday, the Apple ebook trial brought testimony from Amazon and Google executives, and some tough and often funny questioning from Apple’s attorneys. Read more at paidContent »
Poll: Android users, what version are you running?
Google’s data suggests that more users are finally on Android 4.0 or better but is that really the case? Tell us in this simple poll which Android version you run and if you still see fragmentation as a big Android challenge. Read more »
Coming from Amazon — lots of Mini-Me clouds for government work?
photo: Getty Images
Amazon’s GovCloud targets U.S. state, federal and local government workloads. Here’s betting AWS will replicate that model abroad. Read more »
A year after Google acquisition, Meebo bar will be killed, as team settles in with Google+
The Meebo bar, the noted product from the social media publishing company founded in 2005, will be discontinued on Thursday as the team focuses its full attention on Google+ products. Meebo was acquired by Google in June 2012. Read more »
For “Glassholes” only: Google Glass’s exclusion problem
photo: Noah Zerkin
Google Glass isn’t aimed at the masses. But since its release, the divide between would-be users and everyone else seems to widening. Read more »
Day 3 of the Apple ebook trial: Simon & Schuster, Amazon execs take the stand
In court on Wednesday, Amazon executive Russ Grandinetti argued that publishers’ switch to the agency model was intended to “slow down the success of the Kindle,” while Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy said Apple did not force publishers to enact agency contracts with Amazon and other retailers. Read more at paidContent »
Think Google’s rich snippets are useful? Russia’s Yandex goes one better
photo: Flickr / kossy
Russia’s leading search provider has introduced a new feature that lets webmasters embed interactive functionality – think hotel booking or flight check-ins – directly into their search results listings. Read more »
If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em, says Kinvey, as it partners with Google
MBaaS player Kinvey says new integration will make it a snap for mobile developers to develop on Kinvey and deploy on Google App Engine, or vice versa. Read more »
