Google Wins! Government Down By 1

That's right, Google has beat the Department of Justice (DoJ) and does not need to hand over search records.

A post at the official Google Blog explains it in detail. From it, I quote:

The government's original request demanded billions of URLs and two month's worth of users' search queries. Google resisted the subpoena, prompting the judge's order today. In addition to excluding search queries from the subpoena, Judge James Ware also required the government to limit its demand for URLs to 50,000. We will fully comply with the judge's order.

Clearly a great vctory for Google. Shows you that the good guys always win. I'm not saying the government is evil, but this isn't a political blog either. So, I'll leave it up to you for comments.

Also, it's interesting to note that this is the first blog post here for... several months. Google slowed down a few months ago and I lost interest in upkeeping a blog that fewer and fewer people read. Turns out that the counter I had on the blog was inaccurate. Now, it's tracked by Google Analytics and I'm watching your every move (anonymously, of course) - so if the blog picks up traffic, you can expect new posts all the time. Hence the design upgrade.

Gmail Users Aren't Happy About Antivirus - And what software is it?

Recently, Google added an antivirus service to their popular Gmail web-based client. Already, a filetype blocking system was implemented to prevent .exe's and .com's (etc) from being sent, which are potentially harmful files that users may be (no offense...) too stupid to actually run.

Since Google added the antivirus service, users have been complaining that they have very little control over their incoming email: Many users of Gmail are web or application developers, and even just friends, that send programs back and forth. Supposedly, with antivirus in place, why do they need to block certain filetypes? And what system are they using to detect viruses?

While I agree you all have good points, I must say that why can you not trust Google on their choice of backbone software? They've always used some, if not the best: Urchin site stats, Jabber for Talk, a highly customized version of Linux for their search, and others.

Well, I read an article on Digg the other day that talked about someone who tested the virus blocking service against several virus databases by various antivirus companies. His test returned results: Brightmail is powering Gmail. Brightmail was recently acquired by Symantec: So, essentially, Symantec powers Gmail's antivirus.

Perhaps someday they'll disable the filetype blocking - I must admit I find it rather annoying myself.

Is Google Base the Google Grid-to-be?

Not too long ago, Google released a new service called Google Base. It allows any users to submit their content to Google - and Google locally stores it on their own servers, for quick indexing and reliable information.

If you've watched the EPIC 2015, which I hope you have since it is the basis of this blog, Robin Sloan mentions the Google Grid, which eventually turns into the EPIC. The Google Grid functionality that is depicted is similar to what Google Base beta already allows us to do - did anybody think it would be this soon?

With the recent, sad news that Google was not offering free WiFi access to the world, I don't want to raise my hopes OR yours too much, but this innovation early on in the market is giving Google the lead it needs. Already, millions of articles and content have been published to the Base. While it is not fully compatable to what Sloan says the Grid is, it's similar enough, and will continue to evolve and improve as time goes on... one only has to wait.

(By the way, Google's stock shares have just passed $423 per share. Will they split sometime soon?)

Google Announces: No Worldwide WiFi Access

Turns out that Google WiFi popularity boom was all a big mistake - Google has published in their official blog that they are only providing free WiFi to the city of Mountain View, CA.

But still, I am wondering, they want to make information easily accessable. How else could they do this better?

Google Analytics - Website Statistics, And Google Space

I've been quietly wondering when Google would create a web statistics platform, or buy one out. Urchin is a nice service, and since Google bought it, now even better.

I'm personally impressed with it, but since this isn't the point of my blog I will stop reviewing it and tell you what I think they're up to.

Free web statistics is a big deal. Alternatively you could pay hundreds per month for Omniture's professional services (they're the industry leader), but already Google has had to disable new registrations because Analytics is so popular.

I'll post some more on this later, I hope... as for Google Space, looks like Google is going to support free Internet terminals at airports for passengers to check their email, browse the web, etc. London Heathrow Intl already has this implemented. So far, over 90% of passengers questioned say they are interested in using it.

Adsense Referral Program - For Firefox Too?

Google just released a referral program for their Adsense program (website advertisements), which allows users that get referrals to earn extra money.

Surprisingly enough, Google is offering $1 for a Firefox referral - when somebody downloads and runs Firefox for the first time, you get $1. The difference? This Firefox has Google Toolbar built in.

It's very cool that Google is supporting Firefox like this. Hopefully this will give Google a boost from the Yahoo! Publisher Network, which recently has been challenging Google Adsense. (Adsense referrals give $100 once the new user gets $100 in his/her account.)

Also, an update to Google Base: Google has retracted the pages they let slip publically and now is offline again, I guess we'll have to wait to find out more.

Taking on eBay with Classifieds

Google leaked, probably accidently, a new feature they are adding to their hoarde of excellent services: Google Base.

(I'll post an update tomorrow, getting late right now but I thought you should know.)