Webware

As anyone who has used Google's translation service knows, the offering can be quite useful, but somewhat spotty in its accuracy. Google is now trying to change that with a new, experimental feature.

Web site owners looking to have their pages translated must first add Google's Website Translator plugin to their site. Next up, they'll need to add the company's new customization meta tag to the site. After the site's text has been translated, that meta tag will display a new field, called "Contribute a better translation." Clicking that opens a text box … Read more

Google could face a rough time in the courtroom if the FTC's antitrust case against it goes to trial.

To determine whether Google violated antitrust laws, the Federal Trade Commission is using the big guns with attorney Beth Wilkinson, an ex-prosecutor for the Department of Justice.

Wilkinson has developed a reputation as a powerful and determined litigator, successfully handling several cases that have put her into the limelight, says Reuters. She was the prosecutor in the trial of Timothy McVeigh, arguing in favor of the death penalty for the Oklahoma City bomber. In private practice, she has defended tobacco … Read more

Despite earlier reports saying that it might do so, Australia won't take aim at Google's Street View service over the collection of Wi-Fi data.

The country's news.com.au service reported today that Australia Privacy Commissioner Timothy Pilgrim was planning to evaluate a recently released U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) report on Street View data collection to determine if his office should call on the Australian Federal Police to launch an investigation into the search giant's practices. However, in a subsequent media statement, the commissioner's office made it clear no such investigation would be … Read more

Google CEO Larry Page has taken aim at his own company's search platform.

Speaking at his company's Zeitgeist conference this week in the U.K., Page acknowledged that about five years ago, Google Search was not operating as well as it could have, news site TechRadar reported. But since then, Page said, his company has made it much better.

"I think if you used Google five years ago you'd be astounded by how bad it is, or how bad it was right?" Page asked during the conference, according to TechRadar. "And you know search … Read more

Google's $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility will finally close by Wednesday.

Motorola Mobility announced in a Form-8K filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission that now that the Bureau of the Ministry of the Commerce of China has cleared Google's acquisition, the companies will finalize the transaction "within two business days."

China announced on Saturday that it had approved the acquisition, making it the last major regulator to give the deal the green light. Both the U.S. Justice Department and European Union regulators approved the acquisition in February.

Google announced plans to acquire Motorola Mobility in August for $12.5 billion, … Read more

The European Union's competition commissioner says he's open to settling his antitrust investigation into Google's search practices.

Joaquin Almunia held a news briefing today, saying that his office would be willing to come to a "quick resolution on the competition issues" that Google is facing, so competition can be restored across the continent.

"Google has repeatedly expressed to me its willingness to discuss any concerns that the Commission might have without having to engage in adversarial proceedings," Almunia said. "This is why today I'm giving Google an opportunity to offer remedies … Read more

The Google of China, Baidu, today announced a new smartphone powered by its own cloud-based platform.

Dubbed the Changhong H5018, the smartphone runs on a forked version of Android that's powered by the Baidu Cloud Smart Terminal platform. The device was manufactured by Foxconn and will be released on China Unicom's network, according to the search company.

Baidu's Cloud Smart Terminal is the company's push for mobile market share. It allows users to access its many services, including search, applications, and cloud-based services from the device without needing to head onto the Web. According to Baidu, … Read more

You can now build and view a Silk Web site that combines lots of information into one single spot, sparing you and others from searching different places for all that data.

Moving from private to public beta today, Silk is an online application that tries to tap into the "semantic" Web by collecting and displaying information from the Internet, from your own documents, and from other sources. As the folks at Silk describe it, the idea is to let people select "the data they want from the mass of information available, and to view and arrange it … Read more

Google seems to be eking out a major new tweak to its search results.

Reportedly spotted by several users, the search pages are now displaying semantic data nestled to the right of the regular results. Such information tries to tie in relevant facts related to the subject of your search rather than just providing links to external Web sites.

For example, run a search for "Howard Carter," the archaeologist who discovered the tomb of King Tut and is the focus of today's Google Doodle. In return, you'll see an entry on the right displaying key facts and a photo … Read more