Wasiq Ansari’s World

BRUSSELS — European Union data privacy regulators are telling Google Inc. to warn people before it sends cameras out into cities to take pictures for its Street View maps, adding to the company’s legal worries in Europe. Google should shorten the time it keeps the original photos from one year to six months, regulators also [...]

Microsoft has launched the latest version of its mobile phone operating system, called Windows Phone 7 series. The software has a redesigned user interface and incorporates many Microsoft services such as Xbox LIVE games and the Zune music service. The software was introduced at an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. According to [...]

Google has admitted to BBC News that testing of its controversial social network Buzz was insufficient. The firm has had to make a series of changes to the service after a ferocious backlash from users concerned about intrusions of privacy. The BBC understands that Buzz was only tested internally and bypassed more extensive trials with [...]

Google aims to take on Facebook with new social feature called ‘Buzz’ Google, which has faltered in its attempts to break into the booming social networking business, is making another bid to counter the growing influence of Silicon Valley rival Facebook and San Francisco upstart Twitter with new products that make it easier to share [...]

Google on Thursday confirmed that it has acquired social search start-up Aardvark, a company founded by ex-Google employees. “We have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aardvark, but we don’t have any additional details to share right now,” said a company spokesperson in an e-mail. Google has not confirmed a price, but a report on [...]

Google ‘sister’ launches in China: A new search engine and social network provider called Goojje has appeared online in China. The site contains very similar branding to Google, and the final syllable “jje” sounds similar to the Mandarin word for older sister (jiejie). Goojje’s search results appear to be filtered for sensitive content in accordance [...]

Google search results sometimes include documents that were not originally formatted to be viewed in a web browser, such as PDFs. In the past, the only way to view these documents was to download them and open them in a separate viewer application. To provide an alternative, we made it possible to quickly and easily [...]

Many of the readers of Marketing Pilgrim likely had a rough 100 or so minutes yesterday when Googles popular Gmail application crashed and went dark via the web. Watching the Twitter stream of panic and rage caught in 140 character snapshots was amusing for a while but when everyone tries to out Tweet the next [...]

Large Internet companies spend millions on consultants and technology trying to get their sites to rank among the highest results on Google. Everyone else has to rely on the poor man’s search-engine optimization: the link exchange. If you’ve ever hung up your own shingle on the Web, you’ve probably gotten an e-mail to this effect [...]

For the last 15 years, Microsoft’s master business plan seems to have been, “Wait until somebody else has a hit. Then copy it.” I know that sounds mean, but come on — the list of commercial hits/Microsoft knockoffs is as long as your arm. PalmPilot/PocketPC. Netscape Navigator/Internet Explorer. Mac OS X/Windows Vista. Apple iPod/Microsoft Zune. [...]