Google

Google users have reported an unexpected message saying their account is about to be shut down. It looks like a phishing scam but appears to actually be a bug in Google systems. The reports came in a Google support thread that has now been deleted. ... More than 300 people "upvoted" the original posts, suggesting they had a similar experience. The users were confused as they received an email saying "Your Google Account will soon be considered inactive" and that if they didn't log in it would be classed as having not been used for 18 months. That was a major surprise to users ... (view more)

A software engineer has sparked a controversial debate with the claim that "Google Search is dying." Dmitri Brereton says he is talking about the quality and relevance of results rather than the number of people using the tool or the revenue it ... generates for Google. Brereton's claims were sparked by a post showing the number of Google searches for the discussion site Reddit are steadily increasing. He believes this isn't because the site itself is becoming more popular but rather because people are using Google but restricting the results to posts from Reddit to get more useful ... (view more)

Google has rethought its plans to overhaul the way targeted advertising works online . It's the latest attempt to balance user privacy and accurate targeting. At the moment a large proportion of online ads are powered by third-party cookies. That's ... where an advertiser or ad network operator uses cookies to track a user's online activity and try to figure out their tastes and interests. This data then powers the ads they see on many websites, which are shown specifically for them. It's good news for advertisers as they can theoretically do a better job of reaching suitable customers, but bad ... (view more)

Google's plans to block third-party cookies in Chrome have prompted "hundreds" of complaints in from businesses in Germany. They say the move is anti-competitive because Google will still be able to track users for its own advertising business. ... Apple's Safari browser already blocks third-party cookies. That means websites can issue and use their own cookies (for example, remembering somebody's location or interests to customize a web page) but cookies originally issued by another site won't work. That makes it considerably more difficult to track a user's activity across multiple websites. ... (view more)

Google is set to pay a fine of more than $2.5 billion for unfairly favoring its own shopping comparison service in search results. But critics say the fine is too small to have a serious effect on the company. A European Union court has rejected an ... appeal by Google against a 2017 fine imposed by the European Commission for breaking antitrust rules. The case involved the way the main Google Search service handled queries about products. As well as relevant product pages on retailer and manufacturer sites, the results list would often include relevant pages on price comparison services. Google ... (view more)

Google says it will no longer place ads on pages that make false claims about climate change. The move is as much about keeping advertisers happy as it is a political statement. The policy doesn't affect whether pages appear in Google search results ... or how highly they are ranked. Instead, its all about the ads which Google places when acting as a middleman between advertisers and websites. It also affects ads shown before, during or beside YouTube videos. The move "demonetizes" the content in two ways. Sites affected by the move will no longer be allowed to carry Google advertising, nor be ... (view more)

Google is testing two key changes to it search tools. The idea is to make both searching and Search History tools more useful. The first change is to searches themselves. At the moment, users see a search results page and choose one to click on and ... visit the page in question. If they don't find the page useful, they'll click the back button and look for another possibility in the results list. That can be a little fiddly, particularly on some mobile devices where the back option isn't always easy to use. It also makes it even more annoying when a website (against all good design practices) ... (view more)

Google is to warn users when results for a search might not provide reliable information. It's designed mainly for breaking news stories. The warning will be an update feature for the existing "About this result" tool that Google has been testing ... publicly since February. The tool means results on mobile devices now have a menu option that brings up a pop-window that describes the source, with the description taken from Wikipedia. The idea is to give users a quick insight into sources they don't recognize and help them decide how authoritative or otherwise they may be. Warning Message Issued ... (view more)

Internal Google documents suggest the company intentionally made it harder for users to stop it accessing their location data. The documents have become public through a lawsuit that claims Google broke data consent rules. The state of Arizona is ... suing over the way Google handles location tracking. Officials say that even when users switched off location tracking for specific apps, Google continued tracking in the background. It only stopped when users switched off a tracking setting for the entire Android system. That's led to the lawsuit, based on the logic that Google made profits from ... (view more)

Google is making five tweaks to its Map services. It says the differences will make it safer and more useful. The most spectacular, if arguably gimmicky, change is to Live View. That's an augmented reality feature which lets users hold up their ... phone and see the view from their camera with overlaid information from the Maps app. It's meant for pedestrians (and preferably ones standing still) and will now include information such as details about shops and restaurants in view. It will also show the direction of chosen landmarks and show virtual street signs for navigating confusing ... (view more)