Google is quietly launching a new program called
Screenwise aimed at collected more data from users than is possible from monitoring activity across Google-owned sites. The program comes in two flavors: a browser-based extension that will share with Google the sites you visit and how you use them, and a Cisco-made, Knowledge Networks-managed "black box" installed on your home network to measure Internet use. The first program pays users up to $25 in Amazon gift cards, the second pays $100 for signing up, and an additional $20 every month the device is installed up to a maximum of one year. To be eligible for the programs users must have a Google account, install and use Chrome, and be 13 or older. Ars Technica has
excerpts from leaked sign up process documents:
According to legal agreements displayed during signup, Google will share the aggregated data with third parties, including "academic institutions, advertisers, publishers, and programming networks." The agreement notes that the data collected will be personally identifiable, with some exceptions: https addresses and private browsing windows of people using the router will not be tracked. The browser extension, however, will track private or incognito browsing, though the data will not be personally identifiable. For all other collected data, Google will "attempt" to remove that identifiable info before sharing it—no guarantees, though.
[more inside]
posted by 2bucksplus
on Feb 8, 2012 -
84 comments
A new form of wireless network known as
White Spaces will come online next month, the
FCC announced today.
White Spaces has been called "WiFi on steroids". White spaces are unused spectrum between broadcast television channels. It is faster than WiFi so it can handle more data. It can bring (nearly) free Internet access to the most remote areas of the country, places that can't get WiFi. Because it uses broadcast television signals, any place that can pick up a broadcast TV signal should be able to tap into
White Spaces.
posted by cashman
on Dec 22, 2011 -
34 comments
Looking at the rest of the top search results for Christmas is like getting into a time machine that takes you back to a bizarro 2001 in which every single web surfer is a sucker. There are "Hot Links!" and "Fun Things to Do." What we see is the ad hoc, de facto social network formed by people who type Christmas into a search engine. And man, that network is like MySpace for your great aunt who has too many cats. [more inside]
posted by Horace Rumpole
on Dec 20, 2011 -
16 comments
Will G+ become
Google's only product? Mike Elgin of Computerworld thinks so.
Google+ launched on June 28th, and, as Elgin states, ".... since the launch, Google has "integrated" a dozen more major products into Google+, turning them into de facto features. This process starts with a minor integration and evolves into a major one."
posted by tomswift
on Dec 11, 2011 -
134 comments
The 2011
Edublog Awards
are on. The nominee lists provide rich resources for everyone, perhaps most especially in the
free web tool category. A personal selection:
Online Convert (free online conversion of dozens of video formats),
GeoTrio and
TripLine (recorded tours around the world),
CorkboardMe and
LinoIt (online, shared pibboards),
Cover It Live (online event presentation) and
A Google A Day (daily questions and puzzles, presented by Google
(previously)). For kids, there’s
Artsonia (the world’s largest children’s arts museum)
Tarheel Reader (illustrated readers for multiple platforms) and
SweetSearch (a search engine for students),along with much, much more.
[more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Dec 5, 2011 -
1 comment
Address is Approximate. "A lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View."
posted by BoringPostcards
on Nov 23, 2011 -
12 comments
Two weeks ago, Google disabled the + operator for searches, requiring quotation marks to force inclusion of a word.
Today, Google Plus rolled out a new feature -
Pages for companies and brands, so you can "build relationships with all the things you care about".
Included is Direct Connect - go straight to Pepsi's Google+ page by searching for +Pepsi.
posted by dragoon
on Nov 7, 2011 -
205 comments
