EU launches antitrust probe into alleged Google abuses

The European Commission has launched an investigation into Google after other search engines complained that the firm had abused its dominant position.

The EC will examine whether the world's largest search engine penalised competing services in its results. 

The probe follows complaints by firms including price comparison site Foundem and legal search engine ejustice.fr.

Google denies the allegations but said it would work with the Commission to "address any concerns".

Earlier this year the attorney general of Texas launched a similar investigation following complaints from firms including Foundem. 

The objections in both cases are from competitors which allege that Google manipulates its search results. 

"The European Commission has decided to open an antitrust investigation into allegations that Google has abused a dominant position in online search," the body said in a statement. 

It said the action followed "complaints by search service providers about unfavourable treatment of their services in Google's unpaid and sponsored search results coupled with an alleged preferential placement of Google's own services."

The Commission's investigation does not imply any wrongdoing by Google.

"Since we started, Google we have worked hard to do the right thing by our users and our industry," said the firm in a statement.

"But there's always going to be room for improvement, and so we'll be working with the Commission to address any concerns."

Google offers two types of search result - unpaid results produced by the firm's algorithms that are displayed in the main body of the page and "ads", previously called sponsored links.

The investigation will try to determine whether the firm's method of generating unpaid results adversely affects the ranking of other firms, specifically those providing so-called vertical search services.

These are specialist search providers, and can include sites that offer price comparison, for example.

Foundem alleges that Google's algorithms "remove legitimate sites from [its] natural search results, irrespective of relevance". It also says that the firm promotes its own services over those offered by competitors.

"Google is exploiting its dominance of search in ways that stifle innovation, suppress competition, and erode consumer choice," Foundem said in its complaint filed in February 2010.

But Google argues that there are "compelling reasons" why these sites are "ranked poorly".

For example, it said, Foundem "duplicates 79% of its website content from other sites."

"We have consistently informed webmasters that our algorithms disadvantage duplicate sites," the firm said. 

The Commission will also look into allegations that Google manipulated elements of its system that determine the price paid for ads from these sites.

Finally, the investigation will also probe how the company deals with advertising partners.

Advertising is the core of Google's business.

Google is alleged to impose "exclusivity obligations on advertising partners, preventing them from placing certain types of competing ads on their web sites, as well as on computer and software vendors," according to an EC statement.

In addition, the EC said it would also look into "suspected restrictions on the portability of online advertising campaign data to competing online advertising platforms."

Google says it already allows customers "to take their data with them when they switch services" adn that its contracts "have never been exclusive".

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WikiLeaks reveals how US snoops on friends and foes

Nearly 250,000 classified United States documents procured by WikiLeaks give detail about a wide variety of secret diplomatic episodes and incidences of backroom bargaining, the New York Times reported on Sunday.

The confidential cache of US cables released to the paper by the whistleblower website was described by the Times as the one that unlocks the secrets of American diplomacy. The newspaper made public the details contained in the documents on Sunday, some time after WikiLeaks said its website was under a cyber attack.

"A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at backroom bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats," The Times said in its lead story. 


US-Pak stand-off over nuclear fuel

More eminent newspapers across the globe are expected to follow suit, even as WikiLeaks on its Twitter account said that it is "currently under a mass distributed denial of service attack". It added that even if its website goes down, a number of newspapers will go ahead and publish the documents.

These documents, according to NYT, reveal a dangerous standoff with Pakistan over nuclear fuel. Since 2007, the US has mounted a highly secret effort, so far unsuccessful, to remove from a Pakistani research reactor highly enriched uranium that American officials fear could be diverted for use in an illicit nuclear device.

In May 2009, Ambassador Anne W Patterson reported that Pakistan was refusing to schedule a visit by American technical experts because, as a Pakistani official said, "if the local media got word of the fuel removal, they certainly would portray it as the United States taking Pakistan's nuclear weapons, he argued".

China on a hacking spree

Besides, they also provide an insight into a global computer hacking effort initiated by the Chinese government. China's politburo directed the intrusion into Google's computer systems, a Chinese contact told the American embassy in Beijing in January, according to one cable.

The Google hacking was part of a coordinated campaign of computer sabotage carried out by government operatives, private security experts and Internet outlaws recruited by the Chinese government.

They have broken into American government computers and those of Western allies, the Dalai Lama and American businesses since 2002, the cables said.

The White House immediately condemned the release strongly, saying it risked the lives of thousands of diplomats and officials and endangered its relationship with friends and allies.

 WikiLeaks exposed rights abuse in Iraq

Top officials of the Obama administration called up several countries including India and warned them about the imminent release of such classified US documents.

The Pentagon condemned what it called a 'reckless' act, and said it has initiated measures to prevent such leaks in the future ahead of the imminent release. The State Department asked it to return the 'illegally obtained' papers, insisting that their leak would "endanger the lives of countless individuals."

The Twitter message by WikiLeaks earlier said that El Pais, Le Monde, Speigel, Guardian and New York Times newspapers will publish many US embassy cables on Sunday night, even if WikiLeaks goes down.

The website has earlier released thousands of documents on the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In October, WikiLeaks released four lakh secret US files on Iraq war detailing abuse of Iraqi prisoners in US custody, rights violations and civilian deaths.
Earlier in July, the website had published tens of thousands of secret documents on the war in Afghanistan.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Sunday said the soon-to-be released classified US documents will cover 'every major issue' in the world.

Late on Saturday, Washington rejected talks with WikiLeaks, saying the website was holding the cables in violation of US law. However, Assange has rejected the claim that the release would put to harm many lives.

The 251,287 cables, first acquired by WikiLeaks, were provided to The Times by an intermediary on the condition of anonymity. Many are unclassified, and none are marked 'top secret', the government's most secure communications status.

 China hacks Google, US spies on allies 
The NYT reported that details contained in the released documents include plans to reunite the Korean peninsula after the North's eventual collapse and bargaining over the repatriation of Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The cables also detail fresh suspicions about corruption in Afghanistan and Saudi donors financing Al Qaeda. Many more cables name diplomats' confidential sources, from foreign legislators and military officers to human rights activists and journalists, often with a warning to Washington: 'Please protect' or 'Strictly protect'.

The cables show that nearly a decade after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the shadow of terrorism still dominates the United States' relations with the world.

They depict the Obama administration struggling to sort out which Pakistanis are trustworthy partners against Al Qaeda, adding Australians who have disappeared in the Middle East to terrorist watch lists, and assessing whether a lurking rickshaw driver in Lahore, was awaiting fares or conducting surveillance of the road to the US Consulate, the daily said.

"They show American officials managing relations with a China on the rise and a Russia retreating from democracy. They document years of painstaking effort to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon and of worry about a possible Israeli strike on Iran with the same goal," it said. 

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Google v/s Facebook

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Shocking Google Search suggestions

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FarmVille vs. Real Farms

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Interesting Youtube Facts

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Bom Sabado - New Worm Attack On Orkut and Orkuteers

Many people on Orkut receiving scraps form their friends with words “Bom Sabado!”. The word “Bom Sabado” means “Good Saturday” in Portuguese. This is a Worm which has attacked the social networking service today. Orkut is very popular in Brazil & India, Orkuteers scrapbooks are getting flooded with words “Bom Sabado“.

The Bom Sabado worm flooding scrapbooks and also it seems to be adding affected Orkuteers to new Orkut groups. Orkut Officials and Security Professionals advised users not to Log in Orkut until they clean the Worm. Orkut has updated it’s features 3 months ago and it’s not the first time Orkut has got affected by these kind of Worms.


If you’ve logged into Orkut just clear you cache/cookies and change your Orkut password asap to prevent your account from getting hacked.

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Bangladesh blocks Facebook

Bangladesh has blocked social networking site Facebook for posting caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed and "obnoxious" images of the Muslim-majority country's leaders, an official said Sunday.

The move was ordered after the website "hurt religious sentiments of the majority Muslim population of the country" by publishing the Muhammad cartoons, BTRC chairman Hasan Mahmud Delwar said charge.

"Some links to sites containing images of our leaders are impatient, including the father of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman nation, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and current opposition leader," he said.

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Facebook rival MillatFacebook launched in Pakistan

Six young IT experts in the city of Lahore have set up MillatFacebook – using the Urdu word for nation – which they hope will become a hub for Muslims around the world.

Omar Zaheer Meer, one of the founders, said the site was launched on Wednesday and had already attracted 8,000 users.

The aim, he said, was to register their disapproval of the images of the Muslim prophet and to offer an alternative to a site that has also been criticized for its lax and confusing privacy controls.

"We are saying that we are technologically independent and that you can't make money from us and then not respect our views," he said.

Thousands of people in Pakistan have demonstrated against the US-based social networking site for hosting a contest calling for cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The country's courts ordered internet service providers to block the social networking site last week, along with others that featured sacrilegious content. YouTube, Wikipedia and hundreds of other pages have all been subject to temporary bans.

Muslims argue that any representation of the Prophet Mohammed is blasphemous.

The Facebook ban has led Pakistanis to find alternative ways of keeping in touch with friends.

Many have joined other social networking sites - Rehman Malik, the country's interior minister, has even signed up to twitter. Others have found proxy servers that get around censors and allow access to Facebook

MillatFacebook's designers hope the site will attract people of all faith, and admit it shares some of the same features as its better-known template. In fact, from the blue navigation panel to the map of the world, the login page bears a remarkable similarity to Facebook.

"Millatfacebook is Pakistan's very own, first social networking site. A site for Muslims by Muslims where sweet people of other religions are also welcome," the website tells people interested in signing up.

However, tech reviews in the local media have criticized its homemade feel.

The Express Tribune said: "The quality of user experience is so abysmal that it does not merit the humble title, 'Facebook clone.'"

But its technological shortcomings do not seem to have deterred web-literate young Pakistanis.

Rana Adeel, a 21-year-old law student in Lahore, signed up after receiving invitations via SMS and email from friends.

"In two days, I got more than seven friends. If the Facebook ban is lifted, I'll keep networking on both," she said.

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Expensive Domain Names Ever!!

Insure.com

The domain name reportedly sold to QuinStreet for $16 million in 2009.

Sex.com

Sex.com has recently hit the auction block with a starting price of $1 million. It was first purchased by Match.com founder Gary Kremen in 1994, and was last sold in 2006 for $14 million.

Fund.com

The URL was reportedly sold for $9.99 million in 2008.

Porn.com

Close behind 'sex.com,' ''Porn.com' is one of the most valuable domain names on the web. The address last sold for around $9.5 million in 2007 .

Business.com

The domain name is tied with 'Diamond.com' for multi-million dollar pricetag. Business.com was purchased for $7.5 million in 1999. The Telegraph writes, 'Business search engine and web directory founded in 1999 by Jake Winebaum, a previous chairman of the Walt Disney Internet Group, and Sky Dayton, founder of Earthlink. In July 2007 business.com, the company, was sold to Yellow Pages publisher RH Donnelly for $345 million.'

Diamond.com

Ice.com purchased 'Diamond.com' (tied with Business.com) for a reported $7.5 million in 2006.

Beer.com

Breasts, business, bling, and beer top the list for the most expensive URLs: Beer.com was sold for $7 million in 2004.

Israel.com

The Telegraph explains the buyer's motivations (who purchased the site for $5.88 million in 2004): 'Billed as "your first and best source for information about Israel". It was bought in 1994 by Joel Noel Friedman, a 46-year-old Jewish American. Rather than seek profit, he originally bought the site in fear that it would be misused by somebody else.'

Casino.com

The site was sold in 2003 for a grand total of $5.5 million.

Toys.com

Retailer Toys 'R Us purchased Toys.com in 2009 for $5.1 million.

Vodka.com

Vodka.com sold for $3 million

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Twitter hits the 10 billion mark

Ten billion and counting! That’s the popularity of social networking site Twitter, which has reported the 10 billionth tweet.

The milestone was reported by Gigatweet, which tracks the microblogging service.

The 9,999,999,999th tweet was sent by one Rafaela Marques from Brazil. However, people cannot see the 10 billionth person, who has a protected profile.

It is now estimated that the next 10 billion will only take 4-5 months, with the 20 billionth tweet scheduled to appear sometime in July, the website predicted.

Twitter was launched in 2006 but has not taken off fully. It has to wait till the end of 2009. In December 2009, Twitter managed 1 billion tweets in a month for the first time in its history.

“Folks were tweeting 5,000 times a day in 2007. By 2008, that number was 300,000, and by 2009 it had grown to 2.5 million per day. Tweets grew 1,400% last year to 35 million per day. Today, we are seeing 50 million tweets per day — that's an average of 600 tweets per second,” a blog by Twitter said last month.

The word Twitter was also adjudged the most common word used in 2009 worldwide.

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Google : Facts and Figures

 

  

  

  

  

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Some PC Security Tips

 

  

  

  

 

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Google Goes Social with Google Buzz

Google has finally launched its new social product, Buzz, at an event held at its Mountain View, CA headquarters. Google Buzz is an easy way to start conversations, share updates, photos, videos, add comments and much more - right from the your Gmail account. The updates, which are often termed as 'Buzz', are available in real-time to the users right in their Gmail Inbox.

Head to buzz and check if it is being made available to you from your PC or iPhone/Android browser. Yes, Google Buzz has also been rolled out for iPhone and Android platform, leaving the rest mobile behind for the time being. Buzz is free from any sign-up or setup hassles.

Google Buzz is being heavily compared with Facebook acquired FriendFeed service that allows posting, sharing and viewing photos, videos and commenting within the stream of updates. If you can recollect, two years back, Yahoo had introduced a service named - Buzz, which is mostly a social news service that collates user-select content from the web and ranks it on basis of popularity.

Do note that Buzz doesn't have any character limitation like Twitter. However, that doesn't mean one can paste stories and lengthy blog posts just for heck of sharing.

Here are the key features of Google Buzz:

Gmail Inbox Integration:
It will take place without pushing update emails to Inbox mail as the updates will be dynamically updated in real-time to form threaded Buzz conversations. Also, all basic keyboard shortcuts for Gmail work for Buzz as well. It's obviously visible that Google is counting on those billions of Gmail users who'll wish to try out Buzz.. But why mix social pleasure with mails? Whether Google should have included Buzz to Gmail or not is going to be a pro-longed debate. Many would like to keep their serious mailing stuff separate from social conversations. However, getting an all-in-one-time access is nothing new. It's being developed previously like the Adobe Air apps that offer support for multiple account login to share content socially.

Automatic Friends Lists:
Based on the contacts you frequently mail and chat with, Buzz will automatically make names appear in your Buzz stream. Buzz will also give you a list of "Recommended Buzz" users that will based on 'friend-of-friend' content sharing into your stream - even if those folks aren't acquainted to the user.

This may raise a question of privacy. For instance, Adam is a popular guy and is on Becky's list and wishes to share updates only with Becky's friends. But what if a contact of Sam who is on Becky's is recommended to connect with Adam? Also it's kinda unsure whether the email address could be held as private from the connected 'friend-of-friend'.

Richer, Faster Sharing Experience:
In Buzz, Google focuses on one of the most crucial aspects in social arena today - real-time sharing and updates. Buzz allows importing feeds from Twitter, Picasa, Flickr and Google Reader to stay updated with the contacts on those services. Photos from Flickr and Picasa would appear as and clicking on thumbnail will give an overlay interface based full view of the image. The posts and comments on the posts get updated in real-time and one doesn't have to refresh the page. Note that real-time update may not be supported in all web and may cause freezing issues with them abruptly.

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Pune sells porn worth Rs 30 lakh a year

City accounts for 50 per cent of revenue generated in Maharashtra porn market

Soft porn continues to find viewers in Pune despite the economic slowdown with the city generating 50 per cent of the Rs 60-lakh-a-year soft porn film market in Maharashtra. Distributors of soft porn say Pune made Rs 30 lakh from soft porn in 2009. While there were eight theatres that screened soft porn in the 1980s, there are only two that showcase the fare today Shrikrishna and Alpana. The two nevertheless attract enough business to make Pune the capital of soft porn in the state.

In Pune, about 100 such films release every year. Each film runs for a week. Both Shrikrishna and Alpana run six to seven shows a day. Tickets are priced at Rs 30 and Rs 35.

"Most members of our audience are 35 to 40 years of age. They drive cars and are from respectable backgrounds. Surprisingly, we have very few young viewers. The young seek their thrills online," said Shantaram Thorat, manager, Alpana theatre.

Ulhas Manne, manager Shrikrishna, said, "Most porn films are from the South in Telugu and Malayalam. "The films are dubbed in Hindi. This is a legal business as all these films are censored."

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Excessive Internet use is linked to Depression

 

Excessive Internet use is linked to depression

People who spend a lot of time browsing the net are more likely to show depressive symptoms, according to the first large-scale study of its kind in the West by University of Leeds psychologists.

Researchers found striking evidence that some users have developed a compulsive internet habit, whereby they replace real-life social interaction with online chat rooms and social networking sites. The results suggest that this type of addictive surfing can have a serious impact on mental health.

Lead author Dr Catriona Morrison, from the University of Leeds, said: "The internet now plays a huge part in modern life, but its benefits are accompanied by a darker side.

"While many of us use the internet to pay bills, shop and send emails, there is a small subset of the population who find it hard to control how much time they spend online, to the point where it interferes with their daily activities."

 

These 'internet addicts' spent proportionately more time browsing sexually gratifying websites, online gaming sites and online communities. They also had a higher incidence of moderate to severe depression than non-addicted users.

"Our research indicates that excessive internet use is associated with depression, but what we don't know is which comes first - are depressed people drawn to the internet or does the internet cause depression?

"What is clear, is that for a small subset of people, excessive use of the internet could be a warning signal for depressive tendencies."

Incidents such as the spate of suicides among teenagers in the Welsh town of Bridgend in 2008 led many to question the extent to which social networking sites can contribute to depressive thoughts in vulnerable teenagers. In the Leeds study, young people were more likely to be internet addicted than middle-aged users, with the average age of the addicted group standing at 21 years.

"This study reinforces the public speculation that over-engaging in websites that serve to replace normal social function might be linked to psychological disorders like depression and addiction," added Dr Morrison. "We now need to consider the wider societal implications of this relationship and establish clearly the effects of excessive internet use on mental health."

This was the first large-scale study of Western young people to consider the relationship between internet addiction and depression. The internet use and depression levels of 1,319 people aged 16-51 were evaluated for the study, and of these, 1.2% were classed as being internet addicted. While small, this figure is larger than the incidence of gambling in the UK, which stands at 0.6%. The research will be published in the journal Psychopathology on 10th February.

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