google

Photo tour: The Google booth at Macworld

I'm a sucker for good show booths. Yesterday I got to sneak a peek at Google's Macworld booth while folks were still setting up, and wasn't sure what to expect in the way of new stuff. Today (to my surprise) the Mountain View-based company had one of the most jam-packed booths despite the lack of any new service offerings. What was the big-ticket item, though? The swag, and to be more specific--the Google swag scavenger hunt.

Google was offering four tiers of swag for expo-goers: Cub Scout-style merit badges, a rubbery grip pad for any portable device, some colored tube socks (not the cool YouTube ones from D5), and a pair of black flip flops with the Google logo on the top.

The setup rallied four stations showcasing Google's various product offerings, including Google Earth and Maps, the recently updated iPhone mobile service, and applications for OS X like Google Desktop, Picasa, and Sketchup, which had been showcased at last year's expo. At each station event-goers had to talk to a Google rep about the service in question to get the hallowed red Google stamp of approval. For each stamp you got on your card, you'd get to graduate to a higher level of swag, or get multiples of the lower tiered items.

Here are some shots from the booth. Let's start with some of the stations:

Buzz Out Loud 640: One less thing

EPISODE 634

Share and synchronize your Outlook and Google calendars

Since I started synchronizing my e-mail inboxes a few months ago, I rarely even open my Outlook mail client. I much prefer seeing the messages sent to my ISP's POP account and those sent to my Gmail account together in my Gmail inbox. But I still have to open Outlook to view my calendar, which I've been using for years, even though I now put many of my nonwork appointments in Google Calendar, which I can access from my iPhone or any Internet-connected PC.

I thought I found a free program that would let me synchronize the two … Read more

Google's got its own celebrity foodie

At a company known for pampering staffers on a par with the court of Louis XIV, one courtier employee stands apart from the throngs. Thunder Parley's made a name for himself (his name is, of course, pretty cool to begin with) as resident food critic and connoisseur of The Google's famous culinary innovations. He influences tastes and chefs through his posts to a company intranet and lately, his role on the hiring committee for new chefs. We see a second career as a noted food critic in his future.

Like many of our generation's finest computer engineers, … Read more

Stick Google Calendar into your Firefox sidebar

Here's a quick way to make sure you never need to open your Google Calendar in a tab again: Open it in your Firefox sidebar instead. Discovered at Firefox Facts, it adapts some code from iGoogle and streamlines it down to just the calendar. This is a great hack if you can't or won't use the Google Desktop Sidebar.

Buzz Out Loud 639: What will happen at Macworld

EPISODE 639

Google betting big on mobile market--and Apple

(This post has been updated to reflect Google's announcement on Monday.)

On Christmas Day thousands of people opened up boxes with something cool and functional inside and wasted no time logging onto Google.com through their brand new iPhones.

As a result of those gifts, the number of global queries to Google's search site from iPhones surpassed the number of queries from people using market-leading Symbian-based phones for the first time. Google calls it the "Christmas cross-over."

That is huge given the fact that the number of iPhone units shipped is tiny compared to the number … Read more

Scamming non-profit organizations leads to Google gripe

Warning of a new scam targeting non-profits comes from Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software, the company behind the anti-Spyware program CounterSpy.

The scam starts out with an email message that seems to be from Barbara Moratek Vice President, Director of Grant Programs at Ivete Foundation. The come-on in the body of the message is:

"Would you have additional information for prospective donors or volunteers other than what is on your website? Thank you in advance."

I've said before, you can never trust the FROM address of an email message. According to the email header from one of … Read more

Yahoo! ripening for an acquisition

An analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein pegs the value of Yahoo!'s cash and stock holdings below the value of its actual business. No wonder word on the street is that Microsoft is mulling over an acquisition.

At $24.09, Thursday's closing price, Yahoo has a market capitalization of $32 billion. When Mr. Lindsay looks at the company's $2 billion in cash, along with its holdings in Yahoo Japan, Alibaba (the Chinese e-commerce firm) and other entities it doesn't run, he comes up with a value of $13.24 a share. That leaves a value of $10.51 a share for the actual business of Yahoo, making the value of Yahoo's core business about $14 billion, or 7 percent of Google's $200 billion market value.

What is Yahoo! to do?… Read more

Fresh off the press: NewsGator, now freeware

Checking Web sites by typing in the URL feels like firing up a rickety 56k baud modem and logging on to CompuServe. It gets the job done, but really should only be used under extreme duress or nostalgia. Syndicated feeds bring the Web site to you, and when NewsGator made all its RSS clients free on Wednesday, they suddenly made a top-notch suite with tools for Windows, Mac, mobile, the Web, a podcast manager, and a Microsoft Outlook extension incredibly appealing. And by appealing, I mean you might not be able to imagine feeds the same way afterwards. It's that good.