SAN FRANCISCO--If you have Wi-Fi turned on, the previous whereabouts of your computer or mobile device may be visible on the Web for anyone to see.
Google publishes the estimated location of millions of iPhones, laptops, and other devices with Wi-Fi connections, a practice that represents the latest twist in a series of revelations this year about wireless devices and privacy, CNET has learned.
Android phones with location services enabled regularly beam the unique hardware IDs of nearby Wi-Fi devices back to Google, a similar practice followed by Microsoft, Apple, and Skyhook Wireless as part of each company's effort more
Google Voice Search for desktop computers, which the Web giant launched today, isn't much more than the company porting a technology that's been on mobile phones for a while to PCs.
But don't write it off as a trivial bit of technology too quickly. Voice Search on the desktop moves computing one step closer to the natural user interface that's been the holy grail of computing for decades.
The feature isn't much different from the service that Google offers to smartphone users with its mobile app. Instead of tapping a microphone icon on a phone'more
Facebook's new vice president of communications has experience working at the highest office in the land. The company announced today that it has hired Joe Lockhart, White House press secretary during President Bill Clinton's second term.
Lockhart comes to Facebook from a communications firm he co-founded, the Glover Park Group, which specializes in political and media strategy. Before shifting to full-time politics, he worked in the ad agency world serving high-profile clients like Coca-Cola. Even earlier in his career, he was a television reporter for networks including CNN and ABC.
Lockhart will join the social-media company next month.
"Joe's arrival brings new skills and greater depth to our incredibly busy team," Elliot Schrage, Facebook's vice president of global communications, marketing and public policy, said in a statement. "His experience building and running a press office at the White House gives him particular appreciation for the demands of a global 24-hour news cycle and the challenges of responding effectively to intense scrutiny."
Lockhart headed President Clinton's press team during the tumultuous years of his 1998-2000 second term, during which he was impeached. He'll likely provide the Silicon Valley company with a key connection to Capitol Hill that could prove to be a vital asset as the company's size and influence grows and becomes of increasing interest to lawmakers.
Facebook is likely to have much more interaction with government in the future as the company moves toward an expected initial public offering, which some predict could come in early 2012.
Editor's note: We used Cover It Live for this event, so if you missed the live blog, you can still replay it in the embedded component at the end of this post. Replaying the event will give you all the live updates along with commentary from our readers and CNET reporters. For those of you who just want the basic updates, we've posted an edited transcript below. You can also read a summary post on the briefing, or individual posts on the mobile search refresh, boosted voice and image search, and the new Instant Pages feature.
That's why executives from three of the largest cable operators in the U.S.--Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Cox--along with some heavy hitters from the content business--Time Warner, News Corp. and Viacom--took the stage today to explain how they're embracing online technology. In a panel discussion here on the first day of the National Cable & Telecommunications Association's Cable Show led by Liz Claman, FOX Business Network anchor, the executives made their case for how they plan to keep cable services relevant to consumers.
"We need to embrace all of the screens," said Glenn Britt, CEO of more
Time bills itself as "the world's most influential magazine," with a publishing history stretching back 88 years. Now the news weekly is lending that influence--in the form of its iconic logo and red cover border--to Activision to help promote Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.
According to a New York Times report, Activision and Time have paired to bring gamers a fake magazine cover that will be used as promotional material and as a preorder incentive for Modern Warfare 3 at GameStop locations nationwide. According to the Times, this is the first time Time has allowed its image to be used for a commercial product.
As for the faux magazine cover, it was created by Activision and features an image of a battered Wall Street, complete with a fake headline that reads "World Stands on the Brink," and a sub-head that states "Tensions Rise Across Europe." These headlines fall in line with what is expected of the game, as the title will feature battles across the globe in places like the United States, Germany, France, and England.
Google held a special search event in San Francisco this morning to discuss several improvements to its Web and mobile search products.
Though details surrounding the Inside Search event were slim leading up to it, the company promised journalists it would give them "an under-the-hood look at Google Search, share our vision, and demo some of our newest technology and features."
At a similar event last year, Google unveiled its Instant Search feature, allowing users to see results as they type queries into the search box.
This time around, the company focused first on mobile search. It reported that Web
Google is helping people get to their desired search results pages much sooner than they have in the past.
The company unveiled today a new feature called Instant Pages. After inputting a search query, users will be able to open results almost instantly. Previously, the company said, page loads from Google Search would take about 5 seconds to complete. The company pointed to the homepage for The Washington Post, which takes 3.2 seconds to load in average circumstances, but pops up instantly with the help of Instant Pages.
Amazon is prepping a new 10-inch color Kindle tablet that would support streaming video and sell for around $399, according to a report recently released by investment firm Detwiler Fenton.
Code-named Hollywood, the new Kindle tablet would include a promotional video service with Amazon reportedly offering the same movie service that it now offers for free to its Prime customers. The service would be free to Hollywood buyers for a certain amount of time, according to Detwiler Fenton.
The new Kindle would be powered by a more robust processor than is found in the smaller Kindle e-book readers and is expected to debut in time for the holiday season.
E-book readers and rival tablets alike have faced strong competition from the iPad, but Detwiler Fenton said it believes Hollywood's $399 price tag should be low enough to give it some traction against the iPad. This could put pressure on more expensive tablets, such as Motorola's Xoom and RIM's BlackBerry Playbook, each of which is expected to sell around 1 million units this year, said the investment firm.
It comes as no secret that Amazon has reportedly been busy readying its own lineup of tablets, according to various sources and some hints from CEO Jeff Bezos. One of the reports refers to "Hollywood" as the code name for a new 10-inch tablet from Amazon, to be powered by Nvidia's quad-core Kal-El chipset.
Google has added new voice and image search functionality to its desktop search service.
The search box will now feature a microphone that, when clicked, allows people to speak a query. The announcement, made at the company's Inside Search event in San Francisco, is part of Google's wider strategy to bring "mobile innovations" to its desktop search. Voice search has already been part of the company's mobile search application but until now has not been available in a regular browser on one's desktop. That feature begins rolling out today for use in Chrome only, and it
Web giant is spending $120 million to beef up its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, according to filings with the city reviewed by the San Jose Mercury News.
The Samsung Galaxy Mini 2 S6500 could make its debut at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona later this month, according to a leaked promotional image.
MIT creates a simulation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spacewar. A relic of the early days of minicomputers, it was one of the first computer video games and set the stage for many others, including Asteroids.
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