NSFW: Google, not Baidu, getting punished for China porn searches
The Chinese government has disabled some search functions in Google’s China search service today, accusing the company of not providing adequate safeguards against searches for pornography. But a source in China also pointed us to a search for porn on search engine Baidu — Google’s larger search competitor in China. The search reveals the screenshot above (the uncensored, not-safe-for-work version is viewable here). Pretty strong safeguards, huh?
Meanwhile, the government has shut off Google’s associative-word dropdown menu… Continue Reading
Roundup: More YouTube user data fallout, MacBook Air SSD prices fall and more
Here’s the latest action:
More fallout from the YouTube/Viacom lawsuit — After a judge ruled that Google wouldn’t have to reveal YouTube’s source code but would have to open its user data for all to see, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) wrote a post condemning the decision as a violation of privacy. Google lawyers are also on the case, according to The Wall Street Journal. The outcry in the blogosphere has been even bigger.
Chicken Little, the SSD-based… Continue Reading
Law of averages wins again: China passes U.S. in Internet users
Many people have been outraged by Google and other U.S. Internet firms’ dealings with China. There is no real freedom of speech and the country has a questionable background with human rights violations. But from a business perspective, the rationale behind partnerships has always been obvious — and now it’s official: China has passed the U.S. in terms of total Internet users.
In February of this year, China had over 220 million people on the Internet… Continue Reading
Roundup: Giving up on the “mobile web,” cleantech gets crunched, and more
Here’s the latest action:
Mobile enthusiast gives up on “mobile web” – Russell Beattie, a Silicon Valley developer and mobile enthusiast who spent two years working at Yahoo Mobile before launching a start-up called Mowser, has given up on the mobile sector. He writes: “The general answer is that I don’t actually believe in the ‘Mobile Web’ anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at… Continue Reading
Roundup: McCain and Obama lead in California, AOL acquires buy.at, Blue Frog bankruptcy, and more
Here’s the latest action:
1) Super Tuesday looks good for McCain, Obama in California
Update: But California went to Clinton / McCain
2) AOL acquires affiliate network buy.at
3) Blue Frog Media files for bankruptcy
4) Google Apps adds security from Postini
5) Solar panels that work even when the sun’s down
6) Baidu sued for linking to pirated music
7) Middle East cable break speculations
Flickr users still hate Microsoft
Super Tuesday looks good for McCain, Obama in California — According to the third… Continue Reading
Baidu’s click-fraud problem, and more on Fraudwall
Chinese search engine Baidu is apparently having more problems with click-fraud that Google is — and it has hurt Baidu’s stock.
Click-fraud is a major problem, and it is rampant in China. Click-fraud is when people click on an online ad and have no intention of buying anything, thus driving up the cost for the advertiser, who pays on a per-click basis. The fraudsters can be any number of people, including competitors who want to drive… Continue Reading
Roundup: SpotDJ for iTunes, reporter embedded in Second Life & more
SpotDJ, an angel-backed start-up in San Francisco, yesterday launched a service that lets people insert “spots” within iTunes music, which can be listened to by other SpotDJ users. The short spots can be descriptions of the song’s artist, a back-story to the song, or a recommendation about a different version.
Here’s how it works: Once you’ve downloaded SpotDJ, you can listen to a song on iTunes, and then hit the “spot this song” button. That lets… Continue Reading
The story of Robin Li, the guy clobbering Google in China
Here’s a notable NYT story about Robin Li, who grew up in an impoverished city during China’s cultural revolution, but who worked hard to get to the U.S., became a frustrated engineer at Infoseek, and then left to China to found his own search company, Baidu, in 1999.
Now, seven years later, he’s running a $3 billion market value company. And after a few years when the jury was still out on the competitive race… Continue Reading