Inside Google

by Mike Elgan

Mike Elgan is a Silicon Valley-based columnist, writer, speaker and blogger who specializes in the most complex part of any machine: the user.

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Google announces that it will sell books. But should it?

Posted May 04, 2010 - 02:06 pm

Google will open an online bookstore this summer, competing directly against Apple, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Unlike most competitors, Google plans to support many devices, and offer books from a wide range of sites.
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- Internet, Amazon.com, books
New Chinese law may force Microsoft, Yahoo to follow Google out

Posted Apr 29, 2010 - 11:11 am

The Chinese government today made sweeping changes to its state secrets law that directly affects Internet companies operating in the country. The amended law goes further to force these companies to help the Chinese Communist Party suppress free speech and censor the Internet.
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- Internet, Yahoo, censorship
Do you want a Google TV?

Posted Apr 27, 2010 - 03:22 pm

I want my GTV. Or do I? Korean electronics giant Samsung is reportedly thinking about building a line of TVs running Google's Android platform, which they're already referring to as Google TVs.
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- Internet, Android, Google
Should Google be broken up into several companies?

Posted Apr 20, 2010 - 09:35 pm

A Santa Monica, Calif.-based consumer watchdog group called, er, "Consumer Watchdog" intends to ask the U.S. Justice Department tomorrow during a press conference to investigate and take antitrust action against Google. The action they're calling for includes breaking up the company into "baby Googs."
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- Internet, antitrust, Google
Google Search gets smarter. But is it better?

Posted Apr 18, 2010 - 03:23 pm

Google this week quietly improved search input, spell check and auto-correct by applying available contextual knowledge to results.
Why Twitter is better than Google for real-time results

Posted Apr 14, 2010 - 02:56 pm

Google announced today the addition of a timeline feature to its Twitter search results. Google says the timeline lets you "zoom to any point in time and 'replay' what people were saying publicly about a topic on Twitter."
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- Internet, Google, Twitter
Why doesn't Google Docs work on iPad?

Posted Apr 13, 2010 - 05:02 pm

iPad? Check. Bluetooth keyboard? Check. Word processing app that creates Microsoft-Word-compatible documents? Er, I don't know. Let me check.
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- Internet, apple ipad, google docs
What was behind Steve Jobs' AdMob cheap shot at Google?

Posted Apr 08, 2010 - 07:32 pm

Apple today rolled out it's new iPhone OS 4.0 platform, and also a new program for mobile advertising called iAds. But during a Q&A session, Jobs said: "We tried to buy AdMob, but Google snatched them up because they didn’t want us to have them, so we bought another smaller company, Quattro."
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- Mobile & Wireless, AdMob, Apple
Google Voice + iPad multi-tasking = no more iPhone?

Posted Apr 08, 2010 - 05:40 pm

Steve Jobs announced today that the next version of the operating system (OS) that powers both the iPhone and the iPad would support multi-tasking. Jobs said the iPhone gets the new OS this summer, and the iPad gets it in the Fall. Jobs also said iPhone OS 4.0 would support VoIP.
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- Internet, Apple, Google Voice
Is Gmail better on iPad than iPad's own Mail app?

Posted Apr 06, 2010 - 06:21 pm

Just before the launch of the Apple iPad Saturday, Google announced the iPad-optimization of its mobile e-mail interface for Gmail. When you add the Gmail site to your iPad desktop, it functions like an app, but it's really a web site executing in the Safari browser. The tweak made Gmail much nicer for iPad than it would have.
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- Internet, gmail, ipad

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