Bigmouthmedia Search Engine News: Main Headlines

Google TV brings the web into the living room

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:37:00 GMT

Google and Intel have teamed up with Sony to develop a new generation of televisions and set-top boxes under the title Google TV.

The new platform, which is reportedly based on Google's Android platform and runs on Intel Atom chips, will aim to make it easier for people to access web application from their TV set, making accessing social networks, online games and video sharing sites as straightforward as switching the channel.

Google intends to do this by opening its TV platform to software developers, which could prove as successful as smartphone applications.

The New York Times reports that the move by Google and Intel to gain a foothold in the television industry could also prove beneficial to technology giant Sony, which has struggled to stay ahead in the competitive TV hardware market. The three companies have also named Logitech as a preferred company to produce peripheral devices for the platform, including a remote with physical keyboard included.

Although information of the project was leaked by insiders, Google, Intel and Logitech have thus far declined to comment, and a Sony spokesperson stated that he was not familiar with the project.

Looking into each company's recent job applications tells a different story however, with the New York Times reporting that Intel has listed jobs for senior application engineers with experience of the Android platform, who can help take Intel "from PC screen to mobile screen and TV screen." Logitech has also listed a vacancy for a software engineer experienced in building "audio and video products based on the Android platform."

As well as extending its dominion of the internet into living rooms, Google's TV platform also opens a new chapter in its rivalry with Apple, which launched its Apple TV platform in 2007. Unlike Google's open Android platform, Apple TV is closed to developers, though the new competition from Google may cause this stance to change over the next few months.

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Opera downloads double, thanks to Microsoft

Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:48:00 GMT

Opera Software has announced that downloads of its latest web browser product have increased significantly since the introduction of Microsoft's browser choice screen for Windows users at the beginning of the month.

The Norwegian company is reporting that more than half of all browser downloads in Europe currently originate at Microsoft's ballot screen, which was introduced following a ruling from the European Commission to limit Microsoft's dominance and increase competition in the web browser market.

According to figures from TechCrunch, Poland is the country with the greatest increase in Opera downloads from Microsoft's choice screen, with a 328 per cent increase accounting for 77 per cent of all Opera 10.5 downloads in that nation. Downloads in Spain, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Portugal are all above the average increase of 130 per cent for Europe as a whole, while downloads in the UK have increased by 85 per cent compared to last month.

Opera's current share of the browser market is now more than twice its December share, though the apparent dip in the spike from earlier in the month - when Opera was boasting a tripling in download numbers - may indicate that its growth rate is waning.

Figures are not currently available to judge whether downloads of the other alternative browsers featured on Microsoft's choice screen - namely Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari - have increased following its introduction, nor are figures available to indicate whether the choice screen has negatively impacted downloads of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8.

The European Commission judged that Microsoft will continue to roll out its choice screen to all Windows users in Europe until May, after which it will only appear to users installing Windows for the first time, over a period of at least the next five years. It remains to be seen whether Microsoft will lose out on downloads of its own browser in Europe, and whether the forthcoming Internet Explorer 9 will be able to win back the defectors.

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Microsoft unveils Internet Explorer 9 preview

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 03:24:00 GMT

Microsoft has unveiled a preview of the next version of its newest web browser, Internet Explorer 9, which focuses on performance and will include HTML5 integration.

Internet Explorer is the world's most popular web browser, though the Register reports that its market share is slowly falling due to strong competition from Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and other browsers.

Microsoft's dominance took another blow in Europe recently, when it was required by the European Competition Commission to offer Windows users a browser ballot screen providing a choice of alternative web browsers. But if the company's upcoming browser lives up to its early promises, Internet Explorer 9 may win back some of the straying flock.

IE9 was previewed at this week's Mix conference in Las Vegas, and it is available for download in its early form from the company's website. Although the preview version is not currently able to complete the Acid3 markup test - scoring only 55 out of 100 - Microsoft says it will continue to improve its features before the official launch.

The IE9 preview supports SVG graphics, which came as a surprise to some considering Microsoft's heavy promotion of its own Silverlight plug-in. However, a new Javascript engine has seen this version of IE9 boasting a higher performance than Firefox 3.6, according to the SunSpider benchmark, though it still lags behind Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Opera.

With its strong focus on hardware acceleration, IE9 has been judged to be at least six times better than the problematic IE8, but this may also mean that older versions of Windows will be unable to run the browser effectively. By using Direct2D for handling 3D graphics, the current preview of Internet Explorer 9 requires Vista SP2, Windows 2008 or Windows 7.

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Digital Economy Bill in danger of being 'rushed' through parliament

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:01:00 GMT

The proposal for the government's controversial Digital Economy Bill received approval from the House of Lords last night, meaning the legislation will now be put before MPs to decide whether or not it becomes law.

The Bill includes a number of proposals aimed at improving Britain's digital economy, but some of its clauses have served to make it unpopular in many circles. One of its most contentious aspects is the introduction of a 'three strikes' rule to cut off the internet connections of illegal file sharers, as well as Clause 17 which had proposed to give the secretary of state the ability to make changes to copyright law without assent from parliament.

More fears have arisen over the 'wash-up' process that is attempting to pass the bill through parliament as quickly as possible before its dissolution. The Guardian reports that this danger of the bill being rushed into law opens it up to abuse from behind-the-scenes political bargaining.

The Earl of Errol said he was "concerned" that amendments such as this could be passed through parliament so quickly, without sufficient scrutiny. "My concern about the new clause... is that it will not be subject to any amendment, or discussion and then amendment, by either house," the Earl explained.

"We have no idea what it looks like, and it seems to be an abuse of parliamentary process."

Jim Killock of the Open Rights Group, which has vehemently opposed the bill, made the situation even clearer, stating: "Our elected MPs will have spent a whole two hours on this bill... before they disappear back to constituencies to ask for our vote.

"Meanwhile, a 'rump parliament' made up of retiring MPs and party whips will pass disconnection measures - with no actual debate."

Whether or not the contentious bill is made legal, there are doubts as to whether it will make a significant impact on Britain's digital economy. Internet service provider TalkTalk stated on Monday that the three strikes rule would have very little impact on copyright infringement among illegal downloaders, believing that 80 per cent of young people would continue to share files regardless.

"The digital economy bill proposals create a new and unfair duty on broadband customers," said TalkTalk's director of strategy and regulation, Andrew Heaney.

"It asks them to implement complex and expensive security measures on their connections to make it more difficult for their neighbours and others to use their connection for copyright infringement. The bill reverses the core principles of natural justice by requiring customers to prove their innocence."

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Google and Apple threaten fisticuffs

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 03:00:00 GMT

A brawl has been brewing between two of the world's largest technology companies, Apple and Google. Although the tension has been there for quite some time, it was made public several weeks ago at an Apple conference where Steve Jobs summed up his bitterness in saying "We did not enter the search business...they entered the phone business".

Jobs described Google's 'Don't Be Evil' mantra as - in his own words - bullshit much to the delight of Google detractors the world over.

Still steaming over Google's decision to enter the phone market, Apple recently decided to sue HTC, a Taiwanese phone manufacturer who also happen to make the Nexus One handset.

Although there have been no anti-Apple comments from any of the Google founders, The Guardian reports that Google's latest hire Tim Bray managed to get in a few words this week. Bray left Sun Microsystems last month to join Google's Android team and in the process of moving decided to post a few words as to why he dislikes the iPhone. Bray's thoughts can be summed up in this succinct quote: "I hate it."

Google's Android, according to Bray, was more in the spirit of an open internet and did not have the restrictions posed by Apple.

Bray was keen to stress that the blog post was his own thoughts and did not represent the views of Google in any way, although the post had been reviewed by Google prior to posting and they had not suggested any changes.

As the battle heats up between the two tech giants, we could be set to see a few more jabs exchanged in the future.

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Google and co could face tax to aid news providers

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:48:00 GMT

A new report has called for the taxation of companies who make money from aggregating news, as a way to aid struggling local newspapers.

All the search big boys have news aggregators, and Google News is one of the most popular. Such a tax could see the Mountain View giant paying out up to £100 million, Brand Republic reports.

The proposal, Making Good Society, came from The Commission of Inquiry into the Future of Civil Society in UK and Ireland, a body which has warned that original journalism is being squeezed out in favour of "creative cannibalisation in the newspaper industry, due to economic restrictions".

The report was funded by non-profit foundation The Carnegie UK Trust, and it suggested that taxes on news aggregators could help improve news provision and help against the "recycled 'churnalism' and aggregated content" it claims the news industry is suffering from.

The Guardian reports that the commission, headed by Geoff Mulgan, will call on the government to preserve freedom on the internet in the future, to ensure that media remains accurate and is not controlled by powerful interests.

According to Brand Republic, the report said: "As the news media landscape rapidly changes, there is an urgent need to strengthen the role of civil society associations in helping to develop independent news media that survey the socio-political environment, hold governments and other officials to account, scrutinise the behaviour of powerful institutions, provide platforms for intelligible and illuminating advocacy, and offer the opportunity for diverse voices and agendas to deliberate meaningfully."

The study also referred to a report from the Public Policy Research to show that a levy of 1 per cent on TV operators like Virgin Media could provide up to £70 million per year to aid public service broadcasting, and that a similar model applied to mobile operators in the UK could generate around £208 million per year.

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MySpace plots to usurp Facebook as top social network

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:37:00 GMT

Owners of social networking pioneer MySpace are intent on breathing new life into the struggling site and reclaiming their former pole position from rivals Facebook.

The Guardian reports that MySpace's newly-elected co-presidents, Jason Hirschhorn and Mike Jones, are planning a major turnaround for the fallen site, with Hirschhorn emphasising that "MySpace is not dead."

CEO Mike Jones told the Guardian's Bobbie Johnson: "We have a huge audience, which is fantastic - there are over 100 million users on MySpace.

"But it's at a precipice where it needs to jump to the next level of evolution."

Since its $580 million (£332 million) takeover by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in 2005, MySpace's fortunes have plummeted due to the rising popularity of Facebook, with millions of users abandoning the site in favour of its more streamlined counterpart. Facebook's growth in the UK isn't showing any signs of slowing down, whereas MySpace is continuing to lose users, business and momentum.

But this status quo may be set to change, if Hirschhorn and Jones live up to their lofty ideals of transforming MySpace's success in the next few months. The pair are planning to unveil new designs to make the site more user-friendly, though still retaining a focus on idiosyncrasy, while improved technologies will make it easier to share information with other users. New partnerships are also being arranged to snag more games and applications from third parties, while extraneous and unpopular products such as horoscopes will be dropped.

While the co-presidents don't deny that MySpace has fallen off the radar to a dangerous extent, they seem convinced that a turnaround is possible, giving examples of other companies that have returned from the brink to enjoy great success.

"Focus is everything," said Hirschhorn.

"When I look at Apple, when I look at Nintendo - when I look at the great companies that have turned themselves around and re- defined themselves - it's because they have focused on a specific market, a specific set of things and partnered for the rest.

Jones explained: "It's nothing that's going to happen tomorrow. We're doing a lot of tests, researching a lot of things and over the next few months we'll be releasing some fundamental changes. When we feel good about them we'll go out and beat that drum and bring the noise back to MySpace."

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Bing sponsors The Simpsons on Channel 4

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:13:00 GMT

Microsoft's mission to make Bing a household name on the UK airwaves has seen the company's search engine become the new sponsor of The Simpsons on Channel 4, coinciding with the show's 20th anniversary.

According to Campaignlive.co.uk, this will be the first time Microsoft has used TV sponsorship to promote its products. The Silicon Valley software giant previously planned to use the more controversial Family Guy to promote its Windows 7 launch in the US last October, until plans were scapped when executives watched the taping of the show and felt that its risqué subject matter was "not a fit with the Windows brand."

The Bing idents have been created by Interpublic agency Universal McCann, and will be placed before and after episodes of The Simpsons on Channel 4 and Channel 4 +1, as well as during ad breaks. The idents will reportedly feature a family using the Bing search engine to solve problems.

The idents air in the same week that Microsoft launched its Bing TV advertising campaign in the UK. Created by JWT London, the Bing TV ads question the need for "information overload" and aim to encourage web users to try out a different search experience with Microsoft's 'decision engine,' as Bing hopes to take some market share from the Mountain View giant.

Google's dominion over search is even stronger in the UK than in the US, with Google accounting for 86 per cent of the UK search engine market share in January, according to Neilsen Online statistics. Bing only held four per cent of the UK search market in the same month, along with Yahoo!

The situation is a little rosier for Microsoft in the US, with the latest comScore figures revealing that Bing gained market share last month to now account for 11.5 per cent of the US market, compared to Google's 65.5 per cent.

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Bing gains more market share

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 02:12:00 GMT

As Microsoft's new TV advertising campaign launches in the UK promoting Bing as an alternative to search goliath Google, the self-styled 'decision engine' has already been gaining ground in the search engine rankings, according to the latest figures from comScore.

The research firm has revealed that Bing's US market share rose by 0.2 per cent last month, after previously rising by half a per cent in January. V3 reports that Bing now holds 11.5 per cent of the US search market and is steadily catching up with Yahoo!, which dropped 0.2 per cent to take 16.8 per cent of February's search market.

This is the ninth consecutive month to see a slight gain for Bing. Six months ago, Bing only held 9.3 per cent of the US search market compared to Yahoo!'s 19.3 per cent, showing clear growing strength in Microsoft's search engine compared to Yahoo!

Unfortunately for both companies, it appears that Google's empire still stubbornly refuses to topple, as the Mountain View giant's market share has also increased across the six-month period, rising from 64.6 per cent in August to 65.5 per cent in February and accounting for 9.5 billion of 14.5 billion total searches carried out in the United States last month.

February's top five was rounded out by regular underdogs Ask.com and AOL, with the latter retaining its 2.5 per cent share and Ask.com dropping slightly from 3.8 per cent in January to 3.7 per cent last month.

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YouTube Hacked?

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 02:00:00 GMT

Google's video site, YouTube was unavailable for some time this afternoon. Some reports said that the site had been hacked.

Currently, a visit to youtube.com returns "500 Internal Server Error 500 Internal Server Error Sorry, something went wrong. A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation."

Google was at the centre of the Chinese government hacking scandal recently and has also recently been a target of mass uploading of pornography by users of the site 4chan. No confirmation has yet been received that this downtime is the result of a hacking attack but the signs appear to be there.

The site went back online around 5.15pm GMT.

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