Remove me from Google, oh wait....

Several Belgian newspapers "filed a lawsuit against Google in 2006 claiming the web giant had no right to post links to their articles on Google News without payment or permission. They won, and a Belgian appeals court upheld their victory in May"

So Google blocked their content from News and Web Search:

Google spokesman William Echikson said the court decision applied to web search as well as Google News and the company faced fines of 25,000 euros, or $35,359, per infringement if it allowed the newspapers' websites to keep appearing.

And now they are complaining:

An article Friday on the web site of one of the newspapers, La Libre, took issue with Google's interpretation.
"It is necessary to distinguish the Google search engine from the Google news service," the article said. "The news editors do not oppose having their content referenced by the Google search engine, they refuse on the other hand for their informational content to be included in Google News," the article said.

Better be careful what you wish for.

Google Desktop on a File Server

DNKA is a  remote desktop search tool

From http://dnka.com/

It acts as a web server (search server) by interacting as a layer between Google Desktop Search (Enterprise) and user. And allow other users to search, view and download your files, emails, chats and web history.

Install it on a workgroup file server and use it to index/search/view the contents.

Playing with Google

I use Google Reader to read my feeds (you might see some of them in the feed links to the right). That was always a great way to read things I've previously found - but it was hard to find new things.

Then I saw the invite to Google Reader Play at http://www.google.com/reader/play/ - and I'm hooked.  Its clean and simple interface makes it easy to move through new blogs, images and information sources. It knows what I've subscribed to in past and seems to be able to find great new things for me to connect with.

So addictive. Must. Click. Next.

Using Google wave

I've been using Google Wave for some time now - and have found it to be very good at some things. For instance, I was recently asked to be the VP for the Sydney branch of the the Usability Professional's Association. In this role we've been putting together a proposed calendar and Wave has made it really easy to suggest topics and get the executive to comment and vote on each idea.

I do wish you could remove someone from a Wave and I'm finding their spell checker to be a pain. Finally, I'd like to be able to reorder wave comments to make them more logical - rather than simply time based.

I'd also like to have Google Chat embedded, cause that would help when you want to ping someone or not make a record of a side chat.

Finally, while I can upload attachments, why can't I embed images from the web?

Next up - a short review of Google spreadsheets.

Yay for Google

I'm proud of Google.

"We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all"

See

• Google's Chinese search engine displays images of Tiananmen Square 'Tank Man'
  http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-defies-chinese-internet-censors-with-banned-images-of-tiananmen-square-tank-man/story-e6frfro0-1225819075307
• Google may quit China over filtering, cyberattacks
  http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-may-quit-china-over-filtering-cyberattacks/story-e6frfro0-1225818752682

Update from http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2010/01/researchers-identify-command-servers-behind-google-attack.ars

Researchers identify command servers behind Google attack
Citing sources in the defense contracting and intelligence consulting community, the iDefense report unambiguously declares that the Chinese government was, in fact, behind the effort. The report also says that the malicious code was deployed in PDF files that were crafted to exploit a vulnerability in Adobe's software.

Relationships and Google

At http://www.predictablyirrational.com/?p=704 the author investigated the results when you type the following into Google suggest:  "how can I get my boyfriend to" and "how can I get my girlfriend to".

The first entry on both lists (seen below) are telling, but I love the fact that the forth one is the same - how can I get my boy/girl friend "to trust me again".

I wonder if Google Suggest results are tailored to your location - if so what do these say about the US.

Finally, compare them with the changes that arise when you get married - see http://trueslant.com/erikkain/2010/01/12/google-sex-and-matrimonial-bliss/