1. Google boss weighs in to NBN debate
Google CEO Eric Schmidt holds a prototype of the Android Gingerbread smartphone during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco last year. Photo: Reuters
The chief executive of Google has given a big tick of approval to the federal government's national broadband strategy, describing it as a mark of “excellent leadership” and a catalyst for innovation and change.
Eric Schmidt, who steps down as the CEO of Google in a fortnight to become executive chairman, said he was convinced that the $43 billion fibre-optic cable project would be a boon for both consumers and businesses.
“I'm quite sure that I'm right in saying that the decision to have universal fibre access is one of the most important decisions the Australian government has made,” Mr Schmidt told Fairfax.
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“Every time we've seen this level of step-up in performance of an underlying network, we've seen an explosion of new and unanticipated uses.”
Speaking from Google's headquarters in California, Mr Schmidt said he decided to throw his support behind the project because he felt Australia was setting a positive example that should be followed by other countries.
“I would like to highlight what I consider is the excellent leadership of Australia so that other countries accelerate their deployments.”
Mr Schmidt's comments are in stark contrast to those made by a number of other high profile foreign technology industry leaders including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim who last year panned the infrastructure project as a waste of money and said it could be built more cheaply by the private sector.
Mr Schmidt said it was entirely appropriate for governments to take on the role of building critical infrastructure, rather than wait for the private sector to step in.
"The rough analogy you could make would be building roads: you could wait for private companies to build all the roads or you could decide that it's in the public interest to have one set of interconnected roads," he said.
"I would argue that, in terms of investment from government funds, investing in the national broadband infrastructure at this level is probably the highest leverage investment that the country can make because it touches so may aspects of the society."
Mr Schmidt's public praise should help restore Google's standing with Communications Minister Senator Conroy, who fell out with the internet giant last year over its opposition to his internet filtering plan.
Senator Conroy accused Google of perpetrating "the single greatest breach in the history of privacy" after it admitted accidentally gathering private data from open Wi-Fi networks while taking pictures for its Street View mapping service.
Senator Conroy said he regarded Mr Schmidt's approach to the incident as "a bit creepy, frankly".
The Google chief diplomatically side-stepped a question about the name-calling, saying he did not want to respond directly as he had "not seen [the minister's] comments in context".
Mr Schmidt admitted that megabit-speed broadband was also in Google's interests.
Faster networks correlate to more business for Google, which derives more than 90 per cent of its revenue from online advertising.
“We're completely guilty of that charge,” Mr Schmidt said. “As a result of this broadband infrastructure, Australian citizens will be able to get information faster, and they will be able to watch even more YouTube movies and waste their time."
He said that, while Google would benefit from the roll-out of the NBN network, so would all other internet companies.
2. 9th Time Around: New IE Is Best Yet but Doesn't Top Rivals
The latest version of Microsoft's Web browser was released this week. The company says Internet Explorer 9 incorporates more feedback from beta testers than any other previous release of the software. It has increased speed and performance, added new functionalities, and brought some new things to the table that no other browser has. The end result is without a doubt the best Internet Explorer to date, but nothing that would make most Firefox or Chrome users want to switch. It could, however, do a lot to ensure current IE users don't start getting wandering eyes.
3. In Search of the King of the Linux Distros
Here in the Linux community, debating the relative merits of various distributions is a common pastime. So when it was proclaimed in an article recently that "Debian is the most influential Linux distribution ever," it was a rare geek who didn't sit up and take notice. Sure enough, that's just what Datamation's Bruce Byfield asserted in a recent article, adding that "not everyone uses Debian, but, both alone and second hand through Ubuntu, it is the source of more derivative distributions than any other." Linuxy tongues have been wagging ever since.
4. Utilities That Belong In Every iPhone's Toolbox
I just realized that of all the things I do with my iPhone 4, talking with it is the thing I do the least. This might not be a revelation to you, but for me, until just this week, I still thought of my iPhone as a phone first. Still. I spend far more time watching videos, reading books, slogging through email, browsing the Web, taking photos, taking video, editing video, organizing my life, making grocery lists, and occasionally ignoring everything else to play a game. My iPhone 4 is my go-to tool of choice.
5. iPhone Security: Priceless
The Android operating system continues to grow in popularity and the options it offers also have grown tremendously. Diversity can be a wonderful thing, but it may be coming at a cost in the form of a security risk. That's right -- everything you do on your phone is risky if you don't play by the rules. So what are the rules? The rules are that you sign up for and stick to an expensive carrier plan and use the phone's features and approved apps as they were designed to be used. Sideloading, or transferring files directly from your computer to your Android phone, puts the phone and everything you do on it at risk.
6. What’s new with Blogger
2010 was a big year for Blogger. We cemented ourselves as one of the largest blogging platforms and the sixth largest website in the world, according to Alexa. Blogger users published more than half a billion blog posts, which were read by more than 400 million active readers across the globe. We introduced template designer,real-time stats, comment spam filtering, mobile templates, web fonts and more. And to top it all off, we weredubbed the most reliable blogging service around.
2011 promises to be another exciting year.
To start, we’re kicking things off at SXSW by giving folks a sneak peek at our next-generation user interface. The new design is not only cleaner and more modern, but it also uses Google Web Toolkit, delivering the latest in web technology.
7. Post-earthquake imagery of Japan
In response to the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan, we’ve worked with our satellite imagery providers to get the latest available data of the areas affected most.
To view this high-resolution imagery, courtesy of our partners at GeoEye, download this KML file and explore it inGoogle Earth. You can also explore the imagery with Google Maps, or have a look at this Picasa album of before-and-after shots. Here’s a sample:
Before and after the earthquake and tsunami. Above is Yuriage in Natori, below is Yagawahama; both are in Miyagi prefecture. High-resolution version of this photo.
We’re working to provide this data directly to response organizations on the ground to aid their efforts. We hope this new updated satellite imagery is valuable for them as well as everyone else following this situation to help illustrate the extent of the damage.
You can find more information regarding the disaster and resources for those in need at our Crisis Response page in English and Japanese. You can also follow @earthoutreach on Twitter to stay up to date with our mapping and imagery efforts.
Google CEO Eric Schmidt holds a prototype of the Android Gingerbread smartphone during the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco last year. Photo: Reuters
The chief executive of Google has given a big tick of approval to the federal government's national broadband strategy, describing it as a mark of “excellent leadership” and a catalyst for innovation and change.
Eric Schmidt, who steps down as the CEO of Google in a fortnight to become executive chairman, said he was convinced that the $43 billion fibre-optic cable project would be a boon for both consumers and businesses.
“I'm quite sure that I'm right in saying that the decision to have universal fibre access is one of the most important decisions the Australian government has made,” Mr Schmidt told Fairfax.
Advertisement: Story continues below
“Every time we've seen this level of step-up in performance of an underlying network, we've seen an explosion of new and unanticipated uses.”
Speaking from Google's headquarters in California, Mr Schmidt said he decided to throw his support behind the project because he felt Australia was setting a positive example that should be followed by other countries.
“I would like to highlight what I consider is the excellent leadership of Australia so that other countries accelerate their deployments.”
Mr Schmidt's comments are in stark contrast to those made by a number of other high profile foreign technology industry leaders including Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim who last year panned the infrastructure project as a waste of money and said it could be built more cheaply by the private sector.
Mr Schmidt said it was entirely appropriate for governments to take on the role of building critical infrastructure, rather than wait for the private sector to step in.
"The rough analogy you could make would be building roads: you could wait for private companies to build all the roads or you could decide that it's in the public interest to have one set of interconnected roads," he said.
"I would argue that, in terms of investment from government funds, investing in the national broadband infrastructure at this level is probably the highest leverage investment that the country can make because it touches so may aspects of the society."
Mr Schmidt's public praise should help restore Google's standing with Communications Minister Senator Conroy, who fell out with the internet giant last year over its opposition to his internet filtering plan.
Senator Conroy accused Google of perpetrating "the single greatest breach in the history of privacy" after it admitted accidentally gathering private data from open Wi-Fi networks while taking pictures for its Street View mapping service.
Senator Conroy said he regarded Mr Schmidt's approach to the incident as "a bit creepy, frankly".
The Google chief diplomatically side-stepped a question about the name-calling, saying he did not want to respond directly as he had "not seen [the minister's] comments in context".
Mr Schmidt admitted that megabit-speed broadband was also in Google's interests.
Faster networks correlate to more business for Google, which derives more than 90 per cent of its revenue from online advertising.
“We're completely guilty of that charge,” Mr Schmidt said. “As a result of this broadband infrastructure, Australian citizens will be able to get information faster, and they will be able to watch even more YouTube movies and waste their time."
He said that, while Google would benefit from the roll-out of the NBN network, so would all other internet companies.
2. 9th Time Around: New IE Is Best Yet but Doesn't Top Rivals
The latest version of Microsoft's Web browser was released this week. The company says Internet Explorer 9 incorporates more feedback from beta testers than any other previous release of the software. It has increased speed and performance, added new functionalities, and brought some new things to the table that no other browser has. The end result is without a doubt the best Internet Explorer to date, but nothing that would make most Firefox or Chrome users want to switch. It could, however, do a lot to ensure current IE users don't start getting wandering eyes.
3. In Search of the King of the Linux Distros
Here in the Linux community, debating the relative merits of various distributions is a common pastime. So when it was proclaimed in an article recently that "Debian is the most influential Linux distribution ever," it was a rare geek who didn't sit up and take notice. Sure enough, that's just what Datamation's Bruce Byfield asserted in a recent article, adding that "not everyone uses Debian, but, both alone and second hand through Ubuntu, it is the source of more derivative distributions than any other." Linuxy tongues have been wagging ever since.
4. Utilities That Belong In Every iPhone's Toolbox
I just realized that of all the things I do with my iPhone 4, talking with it is the thing I do the least. This might not be a revelation to you, but for me, until just this week, I still thought of my iPhone as a phone first. Still. I spend far more time watching videos, reading books, slogging through email, browsing the Web, taking photos, taking video, editing video, organizing my life, making grocery lists, and occasionally ignoring everything else to play a game. My iPhone 4 is my go-to tool of choice.
5. iPhone Security: Priceless
The Android operating system continues to grow in popularity and the options it offers also have grown tremendously. Diversity can be a wonderful thing, but it may be coming at a cost in the form of a security risk. That's right -- everything you do on your phone is risky if you don't play by the rules. So what are the rules? The rules are that you sign up for and stick to an expensive carrier plan and use the phone's features and approved apps as they were designed to be used. Sideloading, or transferring files directly from your computer to your Android phone, puts the phone and everything you do on it at risk.
6. What’s new with Blogger
2010 was a big year for Blogger. We cemented ourselves as one of the largest blogging platforms and the sixth largest website in the world, according to Alexa. Blogger users published more than half a billion blog posts, which were read by more than 400 million active readers across the globe. We introduced template designer,real-time stats, comment spam filtering, mobile templates, web fonts and more. And to top it all off, we weredubbed the most reliable blogging service around.
2011 promises to be another exciting year.
To start, we’re kicking things off at SXSW by giving folks a sneak peek at our next-generation user interface. The new design is not only cleaner and more modern, but it also uses Google Web Toolkit, delivering the latest in web technology.
7. Post-earthquake imagery of Japan
In response to the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck Japan, we’ve worked with our satellite imagery providers to get the latest available data of the areas affected most.
To view this high-resolution imagery, courtesy of our partners at GeoEye, download this KML file and explore it inGoogle Earth. You can also explore the imagery with Google Maps, or have a look at this Picasa album of before-and-after shots. Here’s a sample:
We’re working to provide this data directly to response organizations on the ground to aid their efforts. We hope this new updated satellite imagery is valuable for them as well as everyone else following this situation to help illustrate the extent of the damage.
You can find more information regarding the disaster and resources for those in need at our Crisis Response page in English and Japanese. You can also follow @earthoutreach on Twitter to stay up to date with our mapping and imagery efforts.
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