Google

The world's bibliophiles have a new place to consume their daily intake of literature as Google Book Search now offers free book downloads available in PDF format. The company announced last week that it will provide free PDF downloads of public ... domain classic out-of-copyright titles that users can view at their leisure. Books that are being offered for download include all titles published before 1923 in the US, and feature such classics as Dante's "Inferno," Aesop's "Fables," Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and Ferriar's The "Bibliomania." The PDF download carries a watermark that identifies the ... (view more)

Apple announced this past Tuesday that Google CEO Eric Schmidt has been appointed to the company's board of directors. Schmidt will still remain CEO of Google. Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO praised both Schmidt and Google saying that "Eric is obviously ... doing a terrific job as CEO of Google, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of Apple's board of directors … Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric's insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead." (Source: eetimes.com ) Schmidt brings to Apple 20 years of ...<a href="/news/1535/googles-ceo-joins-apples-board-directors" class="more-link">view more

Is Google losing its cool? The company once considered to be the "it" IT organization -- complete with customizable employee cubicles -- is now acting like your mother. Despite its attempts to reach into pretty much every avenue an Internet-based ... company can, Google is surprising some followers by demanding that the public stop using its name in off-hand casual conversation. For example: Let's say you went to a baseball game. A batter recently called up from the minors steps to the plate, takes a good look at a high-outside pitch before pounding the ball into the opposite bleachers. "Wow," ... (view more)

Google has introduced a new program for Google Talk users that tracks their music listening habits and posts the results online for others to view. Activating Google Music Trends To activate Google Music Trends, users must have a gmail account and ... Google Talk, the search giant's one-year-old instant messaging program. The option for Google to track your music likes is voluntary, and to participate you must check the Google Music Trends option in the Google Talk settings menu. How does it work? Google Music Trends tracks your music preferences by registering each song you listen to via Google ... (view more)

For those that have had to reinstall Windows XP or have purchased a new computer with it pre-installed, getting a good selection of software to start with is sometimes a time daunting task. Google has done something about it, however. The Google ... Staff Engineers went through dozens of software packages and built a collection of software tools, utilities, and toys that are automatically updated for you -- and it's called Google Pack. Google states that the versions on some software may lag behind a version on some software packages, but that is only because the engineering staff check out each ... (view more)

Scams are nothing new for the Internet and its 'netizens. Whether it be the infuriating advertising brought on by Spyware, bundled adware commonly found in peer-to-peer downloading, or good old fashioned credit card number theft, the worldwide web ... has been a beacon of crime and mischief for some time. However, one interesting little scam, "click fraud", is now being targeted by some of the industry's biggest names, and the movement has both the American court and government system involved. "Click fraud" is defined as the exploitation of pay-by-click advertisements for the purpose of profit. ... (view more)

Residents of Mountain View, California -- where Google is based -- now have a new reason to appreciate their hometown company. The organization announced that it will be giving away free wireless (WiFi) Internet access to the entire city. Mountain ... View has a population of about 72,000, but with major tech firms like Google and VeriSign based there, that number can reach up to 100,000 during the day. However, Google is confident that its new service can weather the masses. "We aren't concerned about being able to handle the load," assured Google executive Chris Sacca. "We think we have built a ... (view more)

On Monday, MySpace.com's parent company, Fox Interactive Media (owned by News Corp) announced a newly launched deal with Google that will give the search engine exclusive rights to online search results and sponsored ads on the MySpace web ... community. The deal also gives Google the same access to Fox Interactive Media's other online enterprises such as RottenTomatoes.com and Scout.com. (Source: news.com ) Agreement Stipulations The agreement stipulates that in exchange for being Fox Interactive's exclusive search engine and ad provider, Google will pay $900 million U.S. from its AdSense ... (view more)

Is the FBI poking around your e-mail? Randall C. Ashby II used his Google Mail (Gmail) account to distribute hate speech -- and that was all the feds needed to investigate him. On May 22nd, 2006, Ashby signed up for Gmail and sent a threatening ... message to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP immediately forwarded the offensive letter to the FBI. Here's a transcript of Ashby's e-mail: Warning: The following quote contains disturbing content! "You are no match for our numbers and our power. We will come out of the night and rise from the dirt to ... (view more)

Google has just unveiled Accessible Web Search , a search engine for the visually-challenged. Here's how it works: Regular Google sorts search results primarily by how relevancy, but Accessible Search takes it a step further by also listing pages ... will that will be easy for the blind to navigate. To meet Google's Accessible Web Search criteria, a web Site has to be "visually simple." That means it should contain few images, work well even if those images are turned off, and can be navigated primarily with a keyboard. (Source: google.com ) Before Google Accessible Web Search, searching the ... (view more)