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No Easy Explanation for Racial Bias Found in Google Ads February 07, 2013
Google ads appear to have a racial bias, according to a study conducted by a Harvard professor. Google AdSense ads relating to the word "arrest" tend to appear more often in the search results for names commonly identified with black people than for those more often associated with white people, Latanya Sweeney found.
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How to Fine-Tune Your Privacy Settings for Facebook Graph Search February 07, 2013
Facebook Graph Search is coming, and now -- before it hits -- is a good time to tweak your Facebook privacy settings. What is it? Graph Search is a new search function within Facebook. It's not yet been officially launched, but it is available in Beta. Graph Search differs substantially from existing Facebook search functions.
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Volunteer Pirate Crew Gives Mega Its Own Search Engine January 31, 2013
A user-created search engine reportedly makes it easy to scour the new, controversial file-sharing site Mega. Unveiled two weeks ago by Kim Dotcom, a German national living in New Zealand and wanted on a slew of charges in the U.S., Mega initially did not have a search function to scour its own content. The new search engine was built by users voluntarily providing links to files.
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Google Peels Away Some of North Korea's Mystery January 30, 2013
Google has added more detail to its map of North Korea this week, giving users a better glimpse into the infrastructure of the highly secretive country. Much of the map is still relatively blank compared with Google's detailed maps of other countries. In some parts, though, the map shows information such as roads, schools, parks and waterways, especially near the capital and largest city, Pyongyang.
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Graph Search: Cultivating Big Data in Facebook's Walled Garden January 29, 2013
Facebook's recently announced beta of its new Graph Search resulted in the sorts of stories and headlines one has come to expect from a company whose every move is subject to media dissection. Some were skeptical about the value of the feature, especially its built-in restrictions: leveraging Facebook content alone and excluding well-established search entities like Google and Bing.
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Google's Transparency Report Serves as Subtle Call to Action January 25, 2013
Governments around the world peppered Google with 21,389 information requests on about 33,634 users from July through December 2012. That represents a 2 percent year-over-year increase, according to Google's latest Transparency Report, released this week. The U.S. led the barrage, with 8,476 requests for information -- a 6 percent year-over-year increase.
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Facebook Graph Search: Welcome to the Phishing Pool January 21, 2013
Facebook may have given phishers a reason to rejoice last week when it announced a new way to search for information about its billion members. Graph Search allows a Facebook member to use semantic search to find and aggregate information about people on the social network. Because Graph Search can find groups of people with similar interests in an organized way, it could become a phisher's best friend.
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Facebook's Graph Search Turns Up Privacy Issues January 19, 2013
Facebook's introduction of Graph Search has been greeted with -- wait for it -- complaints about privacy. Graph Search is a feature Facebook introduced to allow users to enter parameter-based searches to find friends -- and friends of friends -- who share certain interests. A search for "friends who ski" or even more specifically "friends who ski in Arizona" will narrow the results within that field.
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Google Denies Killing Donkey on Street View Expedition January 17, 2013
Google seems to have had a dustup with a donkey -- literally. Images plucked from Google Street View have raised questions about whether a Google Street View car ran over a donkey in the African nation of Botswana. Images culled from Street View show a donkey lying in the road. One of the images also shows dust hovering over the donkey, possibly suggestive of a recent tumble.
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Facebook Gets Serious About Discovery With Graph Search January 16, 2013
Finding anything on Facebook has been a difficult exercise for years, but that's about to change. After a year of intense, secret development, the social network on Tuesday rolled out its new search technology called "Graph Search." The technology is designed to make it easier for Facebook members to find information about their friends and others.
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Schmidt's Visit May Help Open Up North Korea January 10, 2013
The visit to North Korea this week by a team led by Google Chairman Eric Schmidt and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has stirred up controversy. The U.S. State Department has criticized the move, while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has described Richardson and Schmidt as "useful idiots."
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France Thwarts ISP's Ad-Blocking Swipe at Google January 07, 2013
France reportedly has stymied an Internet service provider's attempt to let users block ads. Free, a French telecommunications company with more than 5 million users, had said it would allow its customers to block online advertising. Google, the world leader in online advertising, was mum about Free's move, which "raised alarm among companies" that subsist off of paid advertisements.
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State Dept. in a Snit Over Schmidt's North Korea Trip January 04, 2013
The U.S. State Department gave a measured but clear rebuke of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt's upcoming trip to North Korea. News broke this week that Schmidt will join former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson on a humanitarian mission to the impoverished nation. "We don't think the timing of this is particularly helpful," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said.
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FTC Puts Lid on Google Search Teapot Tempest January 03, 2013
The FTC and Google have reached a settlement on a two-year investigation the agency conducted into the search engine giant's business practices. In short, Google has agreed to give competitors access to standard-essential patents and allow its advertisers more flexibility in how they use rival search engines.
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Mr. Schmidt Goes to North Korea January 03, 2013
Don't expect google.nk anytime soon, but hey, it's a start. Eric Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google, will travel to North Korea for a private, humanitarian mission. The trip, to be led by former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, will mark the first time a top exec from Google has gone to North Korea, which is among the world leaders in backwards Internet policies.
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Google Feeds More Personal Data Into Search Trials December 21, 2012
Google is a company that's always in Beta, goes the joke, but there's some truth to it. The company began its latest search field trial a few months ago, and it just added a few new capabilities to make it more interesting: the ability to search for personal information stored in Gmail and Google Drive, such as reservations, recent purchases and package tracking.
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Path Makes Social Search Personal December 21, 2012
Path, a social networking startup designed for the mobile environment, on Thursday launched a new social search feature that is both simple and highly intuitive -- and that plays to Path's unique strengths as a private mobile social network. A user might search for "rainy day in New Orleans" or "winter in Washington, D.C.," or "Mom happy at her birthday party," for example.
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Report: Europe May Have Scuttled Google's FTC Deal December 20, 2012
The postponement of Google's deal with the Federal Trade Commission may have been caused, at least in part, by Europe's tough stance with the company. As of a few days ago, reports suggested that Google was close to hashing out a deal with the FTC, but that the European Commission's two-year antitrust investigation was far from resolved.
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EU Sets January Deadline for Google's Antitrust Response December 19, 2012
The European Union gave Google a January deadline to devise detailed proposals to resolve a two-year antitrust investigation into whether Google used its market dominance to thwart rivals. The Union's antitrust chief, Joaquin Almunia, issued the deadline Tuesday in Brussels to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt.
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Google in Talks to Resolve Antitrust Issues in Europe December 18, 2012
While Google is poised to agree to changes in the way it displays search
results and skirt an antitrust investigation in the U.S., things are still unresolved with the European Commission. Google is reportedly still negotiating with European Commission antitrust chief Joaquin Almunia.
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