Tag: google

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The 9pm Humanity, with added confusion

The Internet of Trees: click to embiggen

This episode of The 9pm Edict heads into a eucalypt forest in search of the internet, and encounters a dog.

You’ll hear about the National Broadband Network’s fibre-to-the-node trial, Russell Brand, Bertrand Russell, the 20th anniversary of a sarin nerve gas attack in Japan, the 25th birthday of the internet in Australia, the 60th birthday of nuclear power stations, Hillary Clinton and the mangoes, Google co-funder Larry Page’s threat to kill 100,000 people, and the arsehattery of Village Roadshow co-CEO Graham Burke.

And there’s the dog, of course.

And a cat. Sort of.

But don’t forget the dog.

Continue reading “The 9pm Humanity, with added confusion”
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Weekly Wrap 211: Cold, briefly, with secret television

[This post was actually written on 3 July 2014, but I’ve dated it 22 June 2014 so it appears in the archives in the correct sequence. This post is part of an attempt to clear the backlog of routine posts, hence the lack of photo, detail and finesse. — Stilgherrian.]

My week of Monday 16 to Sunday 22 June 2014 was both unproductive, thanks to what was probably a cold, and over quite some days ago — so let’s keep this brief.

I also spent an entire day being a consultant on a new television series, a political thriller which has hacking and surveillance as key plot elements. I can’t talk about that any further, but it’s fun, and I daresay you’ll find out more soon enough.

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Talking Google-Facebook links on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide

FIVEaa logoInteresting news today that Facebook will start using Google’s browsing history data to better target their advertising. It triggered an equally interesting conversation just now on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide.

According to the USA Today report run on Fairfax mastheads, Facebook is looking to ramp up revenue as it competes with Google for advertising dollars.

“Let’s say that you’re thinking about buying a new TV, and you start researching TVs on the web and in mobile apps. We may show you ads for deals on a TV to help you get the best price or other brands to consider. And because we think you’re interested in electronics, we may show you ads for other electronics in the future, like speakers or a game console to go with your new TV,” the company said.

Afternoon presenter Will Goodings wanted to chat about the privacy implications. But then I showed him the recent Bloomberg report which described how researchers could use smart meters — the electricity kind — to figure out what TV programs you were watching by analysing the TV’s power consumption patterns.

Here’s the full interview, plus the subsequent conversation with lawyer Paul Gordon from Finlayson’s Lawyers, who called in while we were chatting.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.2MB)

The audio is ©2014 dmgRadio Australia.

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Talking Google and forgetting on ABC 666 Canberra

ABC logoFollowing a ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Google has instituted a system to enable “the right to be forgotten” — and they’ve been flooded with requests.

More than 12,000 requests for certain pages to be removed from Google’s search results were received in the first 24 hours — that’s an average of seven per second — and it’s still unclear how they’ll all be dealt with.

In any event, it won’t work.

I discussed some of the issues with Genevieve Jacobs on ABC 666 Canberra this morning, including the case of Michael Trkulja, the Melbourne man who successfully sued both Google and Yahoo! for a total of around $500,000 — but who has yet to pay his lawyer — and the wonders of the Streisand Effect.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.4MB)

The audio is of course ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Talking Apple vs Android on ABC Download This Show

Marc Fennell, Claire Reilly and Stilgherrian on Download This Show

ABC logoJust like last time, one segment of this week’s Download This Show was also turned into a video segment, the one where Claire Reilly and I were talking about what we’d like to see Apple’s iOS adopt from Google’s Android, and vice versa.

Yes we spoke about Windows Phone too.

In the great battle between Apple and Android phones — what if they stopped making war and started reproducing? We’re asking what iPhone features you would like in an Android, and what Android features you would like in an iPhone.

The video is over the fold, immediately below.

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Prime Minister Edna, while it lasted

Screenshot of Google Search resultsIf you’d done a Google Search for “abbott government” last night Australian time, or any time up until lunchtime today, this is what you’d have seen. Dame Edna Everage as prime minister.

According to Crikey [paywall. free trial]:

It’s likely that a News.com.au article titled “Seven ways the Abbott Government may change your life” is responsible — the Google search algorithm has “crawled” all pages with the words “Abbott government” and chosen the best “hero image” to appear in the search summary box in the top right-hand corner. The PM does love a good Dame, though — perhaps Dame Edna should run for a seat in 2016?

A shame it didn’t last, in my opinion.