a recent Apple patent request for something like this for law enforcement to have the ability to shut down cell phone functions in an area. I guess saying it is to protect children makes it look a bit less Orwellian than saying it is for law enforcement.
If you still don't remember your password send a password recovery request to the NSA. I understand they have great support for things we all loose track of.
for their own products maybe they would be more popular. At least this was somewhat creative, unlike their past Scroogled ads.
Funny thing is that while Microsoft points the finger of shame at Google they are trying to do the same thing: http://advertising.microsoft.com/international/display-ad-targeting
coastin writes: The folks at Google Labs have launched a new way to search with Google Nose BETA.
The new scentsation in search will have you “Coming to your senses” where you can go beyond type, talk, and touch for a new notation of sensation. Get acquainted with Your internet sommelier, expertly curated Knowledge Panels pair images, descriptions, and aromas. Take a whiff of the Google Aromabase — 15M+ scentibytes. Don't ask, don't smell! For when you're wary of your query — SafeSearch included.
What’s that smell? Google Nose BETA leverages new and existing technologies to offer the sharpest olfactory experience available with, Street Sense (vehicles have inhaled and indexed millions of atmospheric miles), Android Ambient Odor Detection (collects smells via the world's most sensible mobile operating system) SMELLCD 1.8+ (high-resolution compatible for precise and controlled odors)
This Swiss have just about got this figured out. It is called Direct Democracy: http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/switzerland_for_the_record/world_records/The_Swiss_vote_more_than_any_other_country.html?cid=8483932
Several years ago I was visiting a friend in Sion Switzerland, when he excused himself for a few minutes saying that he had to vote on an important issue. He then turned on the TV where the representative for that district was speaking, picked up his home land-line phone, dialed several numbers and after just a couple of minutes he hung up.
He explained that big insurance companies wanted to pass a law mandating that all vehicles be outfitted with a monitoring device that would record the drivers driving habits. As we watched the vote total shown on the TV, the representative explained that although there were vastly more cars on the roads than in the 1950s the safety of drivers had increased greatly and that the mandate was not justified. The public vote overwhelmingly defeated the new law and the representative cast his vote in favor of his constitutes.
From what I witnessed that day, it seems like a Direct Democracy works very well in most cases.
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Zonk
from the covering-their-bases dept.
Lam1969 writes "Google says it is moving search records out of China and back to the U.S. to prevent the Chinese government from accessing them, reports Computerworld. Additionally, the company will let Chinese users know when search results are being censored. According to Peter Norvig, Google's director of research, 'Some of the people want to query about democracy, but most of them just want to know about their pop stars.'"
kw writes "Microsoft will introduce a search engine better than Google in six months in the United States and Britain followed by Europe, its European president said on Wednesday. "What we're saying is that in six months' time we'll be more relevant in the U.S. market place than Google," said Neil Holloway, Microsoft president for Europe, Middle East and Africa. That timing would presumably coincide more or less with the launch of Vista."
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Zonk
from the net-just-got-a-lot-more-crowded dept.
Seoulstriker writes "Google has introduced an AJAX web-publishing application called Google Page Creator. The app is great for getting whatever photos, information, files you want published, and it doesn't have to be in the typical blog format. The published site is hosted at the gmail user page. There are several templates and page formats to work from, and as far as I can tell, everything is WYSIWYG. The published HTML is very clean, but it does have some leftover fragments from editing pages repeatedly. If you want to be precise, you can manually edit the HTML. There is a Google Groups page available for the service. It took about 30 seconds to get a rudimentary page online." PC World has a quick rundown on the service at their site.
Posted
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Zonk
from the end-run-around-the-man dept.
chris-chittleborough writes "When Beijing tried to make a journalist's pay at one newspaper depend on official reactions to their stories, a web-savvy reporter was able to create a groundswell of public opinion and reverse the move." From the article: "Just before the meeting, Li had posted a blistering letter on the newspaper's computer system attacking the Communist Party's propaganda czars and a plan by the editor in chief to dock reporters' pay if their stories upset party officials. No one told the editor in chief. For 90 minutes, he ran the meeting, oblivious to the political storm that was brewing. Then Li announced what he had done."