Google

Connecticut's top law official says he may be joined by others in investigating Google's alleged WiFi privacy breaches . It follows similar action in both Europe and Australia. The dispute came about when it emerged that, while taking photographs ... for its Street View mapping service, Google used its vehicles to scan for local wireless networks, a move it says was designed to allow it to show the locations of free public hotspots on its maps. However, in this process it "inadvertently" collected snippets from emails and data from websites which were being transmitted wirelessly, with ... (view more)

Google's forthcoming Chrome operating system (OS) will be able to run applications from other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows. The procedure is a relatively simple technical solution, though one which has practical limitations. The ... Chrome operating system, which has been released in a form developers can experiment with works in a different way than most web browsers. It's designed to run when the computer is online and is, to a major extent, a souped-up version of Google's Chrome web browser. Chrome OS Goes Easy on Old PCs Instead of standalone applications on the computer, most ... (view more)

Google has designed a new course that teaches students how to hack. Those students of Google's "Web Application Exploits and Defenses codelab" will learn how hackers uncover security vulnerabilities and exploit web applications. Jarlsberg ... Application: The 'Sitting Duck' The entire codelab uses a program called Jarlsberg as the perfect example of a "sitting duck" target. Similarly named as the kind of cheese filled with holes, Jarlsberg is a small, yet full-featured microblogging application with plenty of security holes to boot. While the Jarlsberg application allows users to publish text and ... (view more)

Google is once again at the center of controversy in Europe over the use of its technology in regard to privacy rights. Recent claims were made by German officials that the tech company is scanning for private wireless networks and recording the ... details through the use of its Street View service. According to Germany's federal data protection commissioner Peter Schaar, Google has been collecting MAC (Media Access Control) addresses of private citizens for some time now. A MAC address refers to a specific network adaptor -- and in this case, individual wireless routers. Schaar said that he was ... (view more)

It's no secret: Gmail (along with Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail) users face the wrath of spammers all the time. Fortunately, most of that virtual junk mail ends up in a designated spam bin, never to be bothered with. However, a recent report suggests ... spammers may now be hacking gmail accounts to get their message across. "The Gmail team takes security very seriously and is investigating the reports we've seen in our user forums over the past few days," Google noted in an announcement on Tuesday. "We encourage users who suspect their accounts have been compromised to immediately ... (view more)

It's rumored that Google is close to launching its own rival for the Apple iPad tablet device. Google's tablet computer will reportedly blend an e-reader with the multi-functional and very popular Android operating system (OS). Google Opts For ... Android Operating System The choice of operating system is certainly a surprising one, given that Google has been pushing its own Chrome OS, due sometime this year. The reason the Chrome OS won't be a part of Google's tablet is actually pretty simple: Chrome will be extremely slim, offering only minimal software support and the Chrome Internet browser. ... (view more)

Google has announced it will ask all users to reconfirm their preferred privacy settings on its social networking site 'Buzz'. It follows a controversial launch in which many believed, correctly or otherwise, that their privacy had been compromised. ... Buzz is Google's rival to Facebook and Twitter. It's integrated into Gmail and allows users to follow and reply to posts made by people they decide to follow on the service. The service also allows users to share information from other Google-owned services such as Google Reader (an RSS newsreader) and picture-sharing site Picasa. It was clearly ... (view more)

Google has unveiled several changes to its cloud-computing based office application service, Google Docs. Changes include the ability to collaborate on documents in real time and improvements to the spreadsheet editor. While Google Docs is a free ... service, and meant as a more basic edition of Google's paid Apps package, it is used by many business users -- particularly those on tight budgets. That explains today's launch of the Docs updates at Google headquarters, which was attended by chief information officers from 400 companies. Google Docs Allows for Collaborative Editing The big update ... (view more)

Google has upped the ante in its dispute against China by uncensoring its previously censored search results. Officially, Google has not breached Chinese rules which insist on search results being filtered to remove content officials class as ... objectionable; this includes political information and viewpoints the government wants to suppress. Instead, Google has set its Chinese home page (google.cn) to route directly to Google's search tool via the Hong Kong version of the site (google.com.hk). It looks inevitable that China will simply block access to that site altogether. The government has ... (view more)

Google has been considering pulling out of China for a few months now, saying it is no longer prepared to meet official demands to filter results its in line with Chinese government rules. The dispute heated up around the time Google was the victim ... of a substantial hacking attack , and while no link to the Chinese government has been proven, it's believed in some circles that the attack was an attempt to access the Gmail accounts of political opponents of the ruling Communist party. Officials Forewarn of Google Closure Chinese officials are now said to have contacted several major websites ... (view more)