Google Alerts

I came across this nice and useful feature from Google, which is Google Alerts.

Anytime a certain keyword or word combination is searched, you can receive a notification, and you can set that alert in several ways: (1) as it happens, (2) daily, and (3) weekly.

You can also set the number of results, which can be (1) 20, or (2) 50.

As in all things so wonderful (I say it is!), don't get too excited.

You just might be overwhelmed.

Test the waters, and decide your comfortable level. You're good to go!

I've just set up my alerts of 7 keywords, and I'm starting to enjoy it. Hopefully, the main purpose of it being a useful tool be fulfilled in me.

Have you tried Google Alerts yourself?

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Chinese official blasts Google

Image by bfishadow via Flickr

I was looking up on the status of Google in China, and seems like the news is not that much. Anyway, this news article may already be a couple of weeks old, but some details may yet be unknown to some, if not many.

I would like to know what's your reaction to this world event. I say that it is a world event, as everybody is watching. Read on.

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A Chinese official has blasted Google for "violating its written promise", following the U.S. company's decision to move its search traffic to Hong Kong while leaving just its sales and research and development teams in China.

According to a China Daily news report filed Tuesday, the unnamed official from the Internet bureau under the country's State Council Information Office, said Google went back on its agreement to filter its search engine. His allegation was unleashed four hours after Google announced in a blog post its move to Hong Kong.

"Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market, by stopping [the] filtering of its [search] service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks," the official said. "This is totally wrong. We're uncompromisingly opposed to the politicization of commercial issues, and express our discontent and indignation to Google for its unreasonable accusations and conducts."

According to one Chinese analyst, Google's stance smacks of "big power" gestures by Western countries harking back to the 19th century in attempts to prise the once-closed economy.

The unnamed commentator, who wrote in the Hong Kong-based Chinese newspaper Sing Tao Daily, noted that China's top leaders have themselves stressed the issue of opening the country up to the world. Google, however, is challenging the Chinese government's sovereignty by demanding it accepts Google's definition of "opening up", he said.

Source article is here.
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What's on your mind? Do leave your comments.

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Find Me A Domain

Image via CrunchBase

I got into blogging when a choir member introduced me his, and persuaded me to create and keep mine. "An alter-ego," he said. That was 2006. It's been a long time since, and I've gone through a lot of reading and writing, and many other sort of things that a blogger usually does (or is it only me?)

One of the things that I learned is that with blogging comes adsense, or in websites there are ads. These usually bring in some money, big or small, through what is called click-ads. I learned that in a few books, but specifically in Eric Giguere's Make Easy Money With Google, who happens to also have created a web site using the books initials, so that is www.memwg.com.

After I finished reading the book, I subscribed, and I've been receiving posts and articles that help me get informed and updated on anything and everything (is it really everything? well, almost...) about blogging.

Now, Eric is celebrating his 5th year on Make Easy Money With Google, and he has some nifty things to offer. One of these is Find Me A Domain program. It helps most when you are thinking of creating  a new website, and you want to check which of these possible domain names are still available, and which are already taken.

Getting interested already?

Check it out here: Find Me A Domain.

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Google to leave China

Undermining Freedom of Expression in China: The Role of Yahoo!, Microsoft and Google

Image by Shekhar_Sahu via Flickr

Google to leave China on April 10: state media
Posted: 19 March 2010 1211 hrs

SHANGHAI: US Internet giant Google will close its business in China next month and may announce its plans in the coming days, Chinese media reported on Friday, after rows over censorship and hacking.

The China Business News quoted an official with an unidentified Chinese advertising agency as saying Google would go through with its threatened withdrawal on April 10, but that Google had yet to confirm the pull-out.

The agency is a business partner of Google, the report said.

The report did not specify whether Google would close all or part of its operations in the country.

The newspaper quoted an unidentified Google staff member as saying the company may announce on Monday the details of its exit from China and compensation for its local staff.

Google China spokeswoman Marsha Wang declined to comment on the report, telling AFP only that there had been "no update" on the company's situation.

The report was the latest in a series of clues to emerge recently indicating Google planned to leave China, which has the world's largest population of online users, at 384 million.

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A Chinese Google user presents flowers in front of 'Google' sign outside Google China headquarters building in Beijing.

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Google has cried foul over what it said were cyberattacks aimed at its source code and the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists.

The Financial Times reported last week that Google was "99.9 per cent" certain to abandon google.cn, citing an unnamed source.

Chinese media said Wednesday that Google sent a notice to clients saying google.cn could close at the end of March.

The issue has sparked a simmering war of words between China and the administration of US President Barack Obama, which has called on Beijing to allow an unfettered Internet.

The dispute has exacerbated mounting tensions between the two over a range of trade and diplomatic issues.

Beijing tightly controls online content in a vast system dubbed the "Great Firewall of China", removing information it deems harmful such as pornography and violent content, but also politically sensitive material.

Google has continued to filter google.cn results to abide by Chinese censorship demands, but says it will eventually stop the screening.

Google confirmed earlier this week that it had received a letter purportedly from a group of 27 Chinese advertising agencies calling for the US company to open talks on compensation for possible business losses if it leaves China.

However, representatives of several of the firms subsequently told AFP they knew nothing of the letter and Chinese media reports have raised doubts about its authenticity.

Google's Wang told AFP the company is still "reviewing" the letter.

- AFP/yb

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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Google's Very Own Flu Trends Tracker

Saw this in one of the online papers I'm browsing, then I can't find the write-up anymore. Was quickly glanced over, but I remember what it said:

Google has launched its own swine flu A(H1N1) tracker.

Check it out: Google Flu Trends. Places and maps and some other useful info.

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Microsoft unveils new Bing search engine

Posted: 29 May 2009 0132 hrs

SAN FRANCISCO - Microsoft on Thursday unveiled a new search engine, Bing, designed to intuitively understand what people are searching for on the Internet and challenge online king Google.

The US software colossus refers to Bing as a "Decision Engine" and said it will begin deploying it online at bing.com in the coming days.

"Today, search engines do a decent job of helping people navigate the Web and find information, but they don't do a very good job of enabling people to use the information they find," said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.

"When we set out to build Bing, we grounded ourselves in a deep understanding of how people really want to use the Web."

Bing search employs semantic technology intended to help it recognize not just key words but what is intended by phrases typed in as online queries, according to Microsoft.

Internet search engines have traditionally relied on matching key words to words found at websites.

Bing is built to "go beyond today's search experience" by recognizing content and adapting to query types, according to the Redmond, Washington-based company.

Bing takes aim at Microsoft arch-rival Google, which dominates the online search market. Bing will replace MSN Live search, which has languished in a distant third place behind Google and Yahoo!.

- AFP /ls

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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20 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute

Posted: 21 May 2009 2200 hrs

WASHINGTON - YouTube just keeps getting bigger. The Google-owned video-sharing site said late Wednesday in a blog post that 20 hours of video are being uploaded to YouTube every minute.

It said that in mid-2007, six hours of video were being uploaded to the site every minute. It grew to 15 hours in January of this year and now stands at 20 hours a minute, YouTube said.

"Let's see if we can get to 24 hours -- a full day's worth of video uploaded every minute," wrote Ryan Junee, a YouTube product manager.

Google bought YouTube in 2006 for 1.65 billion dollars but the Mountain View, California-based Internet search and advertising giant has not yet managed to turn a profit with the site despite its massive global popularity.

YouTube has been gradually adding professional content such as full-length television shows and movies to its vast trove of amateur video offerings in a bid to attract advertisers.

It recently announced partnerships with Sony Pictures and other Hollywood studios and rolled out new platforms for watching television shows and movies.

- AFP/ir

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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Google adds automatic translation to Gmail

Posted: 20 May 2009 0827 hrs

WASHINGTON : Google added automatic translation technology to Gmail on Tuesday, allowing users of its email service to translate messages in another language with a single mouse click.

The Mountain View, California-based Internet giant said it had integrated its Google Translate programme into Gmail, allowing automatic translation of messages in several dozen languages.

"When you receive an email in a language other than your own, Gmail will help you translate it into a language you can understand," Google said in a post on the company blog.

"If all parties are using Gmail, you can have entire conversations in multiple languages with each participant reading the messages in whatever language is most comfortable for them," Google said.

Google has already made Google Translate available to provide automatic translations of entire Web pages or blogs.

- AFP/il

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

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