Google

A researcher for the Federation of American Scientists on Tuesday said he's spotted what appears to be China's new nuclear submarine using Google Earth's publicly available satellite imagery.

The Quickbird satellite photographed the docked submarine at the Xiaopingdao Submarine Base in late 2006, said FAS's Hans Kristensen.

The new Jin-class or Type 094 submarines are expected to replace the Xia-class, Type 092 submarines built in the 1980s, Kristensen said. The new model appears to be 35 feet longer because of a longer missile compartment and possibly a larger nuclear reactor compartment, he said.

The image doesn'… Read more

Google is both appealing a ruling against it in a copyright case in Belgium and negotiating with the group that sued it, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Google and Copiepresse, a trade group that represents French- and German-language Belgian publishers, will ask the court at an appeals hearing on July 17 for an extension so they can have more time to negotiate, the report says.

Copiepresse sued Google last year alleging that the search giant's use of headlines and snippets of Belgian newspaper articles in its Google News aggregation service, and its practice of providing links to cached … Read more

Google this week filed a brief to the federal judge overseeing Microsoft's long-running antitrust case, again trying to make its case that it should be allowed to participate in the matter as a "friend of the court."

The filing, which was not unexpected, comes after Microsoft filed its opposition to Google's entry in the case. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly did not rule directly on the matter at a hearing last month, but she did indicate that there are other ways for Google's concerns to be addressed, namely through contacting the state and federal regulators that are … Read more

FeedBurner has announced that both its Stats PRO and MyBrand services will be free from now on. This news is coming a little over a month after Google acquired FeedBurner at the end of May. I will admit that I was a little skeptical when Google bought FeedBurner as to how it would affect the actual service, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.

FeedBurner's Stats PRO is just an enhancement to the regular stats that FeedBurner already provides. Most notably, it contains a stat called "reach" and also item views. As opposed to … Read more

Google has just announced the much-rumored acquisition of communications service GrandCentral. TechCrunch broke the news about the acquisition last week and is now reporting the deal is rumored to be somewhere in the range of $50 million. Details about final price and terms are confidential.

This is Google's latest move into the telecommunications market and one of their biggest. For current GrandCentral customers, service will go uninterrupted. For users interested in signing up, GrandCentral is now limiting sign-ups to invitation only.

The other big change in place as of today is GrandCentral's RingShare service. Previously, users were able … Read more

In one of those oops moments that has already generated significant backlash and could end up in a guide on "marketing don'ts," a Google blogger has pissed on Michael Moore's new movie Sicko and has offered to help the poor, unfairly criticized health care industry to fight back. How? By selling them Google ads.

"The film is generating significant buzz and is sure to spur a lively conversation about health coverage, care, and quality in America. While legislators, litigators, and patient groups are growing excited, others among us are growing anxious," writes Lauren Turner, … Read more

When Yahoo Messenger went down Wednesday, it might have just been one of those little technology glitches that happen from time to time.

And when some people started having problems with Gmail Thursday, well, it probably was because of some small gremlin in Google's hamster wheel.

Same with my friend's company's corporate e-mail going down the last couple of days--all easily explainable.

Except, maybe there's a single unifying explanation. Maybe it's because of Mercury in retrograde.

I know. Roll your eyes all you want. But the phenomenon--an optical illusion in which Mercury, from our earthly … Read more

Google is reading my mind.

On Wednesday morning during rush hour I was driving down to Santa Clara from San Francisco. Faithfully following the directions of several online maps, I found myself on Highway 101 but wishing I was on the more scenic, less congested and slightly out-of-the-way Interstate 280, farther west. As I inched my way along the road, I ruminated on the mapping problem and imagined how I could have avoided the situation by somehow adjusting the route on the online map to set a preference for Interstate 280, even though it isn't the most direct route … Read more

A former Googler who returned to Microsoft after a start-up he left the software giant to launch was acquired by Google, has some not-so-positive insights to share about what it's really like to work at the Googleplex.

Behind the lava lamps, organic dinners and free shuttle buses lurks a company where employees end up working long hours, don't enjoy private offices and get paid less than Microsofties.

That's according to an internal Microsoft e-mail that has made its way to the Web. The blog posting is believed to have been written by a Microsoft recruiter who interviewed … Read more