Tag: google

DoJ proposes using the antitrust Hammer of Mighty Fun upon Google.

I’m aware that it’s worrisome that PC Gamer and I are both down for this.

Earlier this week it was reported that the US Department of Justice’s top antitrust officials would likely ask a judge to enforce a significant break up of Google, in part proposing that Chrome be sold off.

[snip]

Not only will a judge be asked to enforce Google’s sale of Chrome, but the filing made to a Washington federal court also outlines that, “following its divestiture of Chrome [Google] may not reenter the browser market for five years” (via The Guardian).

Continue reading DoJ proposes using the antitrust Hammer of Mighty Fun upon Google.

Is your Android device acting up?

The latest update is making some phones go weird with Amazon and/or Google. That link has details about how to undo the update until there’s a fix. I don’t know how common it is: I only know about it because a buddy of mine had a problem with one of my Facebook links to the Amazon site and let me know I might of had a virus (I do not)…

Tweet of the Day, They’re Trustbusting Google, Huh? edition.

:monotone voice: No. Don’t. Stop.

https://twitter.com/cwgabriel/status/1318933476372967424

I use Google for the same reason that I use the other Big Tech products: because, bluntly, I have no practical alternative*. I have no inherent love for any of them, and I certainly have no real urge to keep them from being metaphorically gutted like a fish. I’m sure it’d be painful to bust the Google trust – but then, getting a new crown put on can be painful, too. Still has to get done.

Moe Lane

*I know there are alternatives, sure. Just no practical ones.

Google wants to be a bank, says your data will be safHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HAHAHAHAHA Yeah that’s not gonna happen, chummer.

The Google empire is enormous and ubiquitous, covering basically the entire Internet in one way or another. There is, however, one lucrative business the company does not yet have a foothold in: banking. And now it has plans to change that.

Google is working to launch consumer checking accounts next year, The Wall Street Journal first reported this morning. The project, code-named Cache because apparently nobody can resist a pun, is expected to launch next year, sources told the Journal. CNBC, also citing “sources familiar,” confirmed the WSJ’s reporting.

Continue reading Google wants to be a bank, says your data will be safHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Google Stadia to have a total number of… 12/26 games in 2019.

I know that a lot of services start out with clumsy launches, but that number seems kind of ridiculous. Also, after flipping through the list: I’m not really sure who wants to shell out a hundred and thirty bucks to access these games, particularly if they already have all of the ones that they want anyway. Sure, I get the idea of cross-platform support. But I guess that I just don’t care about it?

Well, Maybe my kids will when they’re my age. But for right now it just seems like the sort of early-adopter thing that you should let somebody else scream at the monitor for a change. It’s bad enough that I have to have Steam, GoG, and Epic.

Facebook breaks with Huewai; Google would rather not.

This is a complicated subject…

  • Facebook: “Facebook Inc is no longer allowing pre-installation of its apps on Huawei phones, the latest blow for the Chinese tech giant as it struggles to keep its business afloat in the face of a U.S. ban on its purchase of American parts and software. “
  • Google: “According to a report from The Financial Times, Google’s recent discussions with the US government actually argue that the Huawei ban is bad for national security. Google is reportedly asking for an exemption from the export ban. “
Continue reading Facebook breaks with Huewai; Google would rather not.

I suggest that Google NOT release a game platform.

Assuming that’s what they’re doing.

Google has been really coy about what it plans to unveil at this year’s Game Developers Conference. They sent mysterious invites out, a patent for a game controller surfaced, and now they’ve released an interesting video. The video doesn’t reveal much, but it does show several scenes that could very easily be parts of games. At the end there’s a little sound that could be their chime for a game console, which is the prevailing rumor. The video description reveals that the presentation will happen on March 19, 2019 at 10 AM PDT when they “unveil Google’s vision for the future of gaming.”

Continue reading I suggest that Google NOT release a game platform.

Google working on ways to eliminate mosqKILL THEM ALL, GOOGLE. EVERY LAST MOSQUITO.

EVOKE THE CULMINATING HARVEST UPON THEIR WING-MEATS:

“You hear that little beating sound?” says Kathleen Parkes, a spokesperson for Verily Life Sciences, a unit of Alphabet. She’s trailing the van in her car, the windows down. “Like a duh-duh-duh? That’s the release of the mosquitoes.”

Jacob Crawford, a Verily senior scientist riding with Parkes, begins describing a mosquito-control technique with dazzling potential. These particular vermin, he explains, were bred in the ultra-high-tech surroundings of Verily’s automated mosquito rearing system, 200 miles away in South San Francisco. They were infected with Wolbachia, a common bacterium. When those 80,000 lab-bred Wolbachia-infected, male mosquitoes mate with their counterpart females in the wild, the result is stealth annihilation: the offspring never hatch. Better make that 79,999. “One just hit the windshield,” says Crawford.

Continue reading Google working on ways to eliminate mosqKILL THEM ALL, GOOGLE. EVERY LAST MOSQUITO.

Google reminds world of Google+ by kill-switching it.

Stimulus:

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Google discovered a “software glitch” earlier this year that allowed third-party developers access to some 500,000 private profile data since 2015, including “full names, email addresses, birth dates, gender, profile photos, places lived, occupation and relationship status.”

Response:

In a blog post about its Project Strobe initiative, which is a “root-and-branch review of third-party developer access to Google account and Android device data,” Google announced that it will be shutting down Google+ for consumers between now and August due to “significant challenges” to maintaining a social network.

Continue reading Google reminds world of Google+ by kill-switching it.