Google

Safari users win right to sue Google over privacy

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BBC:

A group of users claim that Google bypassed security settings on the Safari browser to install tracking cookies on their computers in order to target them with advertising.

Magic Leap

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Magic Leap is an augmented reality company, developing technology that blends computer generated imagery with reality. Take a look at the video to get a sense of what they have in mind. Cool stuff.

Apple Watch and the power of focused design

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If price was no object, if every single watch in both the Apple Watch and Android Wear collections cost exactly the same, and if both watch lines worked equally well with your personal choice of platform, which watch would you choose?

The thing Apple and Microsoft do not get about Gmail

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Every time I hear about a new email client that will support multiple services, I get excited. Is this finally the one that will free me from gmail’s native iOS app? And time after time, I am disappointed, all because of one missing feature.

Predicting the future

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In April of 2013, less than two years ago, Google Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and Kleiner Perkins announced the Glass Collective, “an investment syndicate among our three firms, to provide seed funding to entrepreneurs in the Glass ecosystem to help jumpstart their ideas.”

Follow this link and take a look at the picture. Does this look like the future? Two years ago, it did, at least to some pretty smart people.

British government proposes 25% Google tax

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New York Times:

As some in Europe call for multinational companies to pay more taxes, Britain on Wednesday proposed a new 25 percent tax on the local profits of international companies, including tech giants like Google that use complicated structures to reduce their tax burden.

EU legislator who introduced Google breakup bill has ties to other side

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From the New York Times:

Andreas Schwab, a German member of the European Parliament, has been making headlines in the last week after drafting a resolution that calls for the breakup of Google.

But Mr. Schwab is not just a legislator, he is also “of counsel” at the German law firm CMS Hasche Sigle, which has represented some of the German publishing interests that have been most eager to declaw Google.

Google’s massive Android billboard

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What I find most amazing is the before and after sliding article at the top of the article. In a sense, someone got the bright idea to cover the face of the Marriott Marquis hotel with this giant screen, an entire city block long.

NYTimes: Malicious software said to spread on Android phones

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This New York Times article calls out a specific piece of malware, but there appear to be many others:

A particularly nasty mobile malware campaign targeting Android users has hit between four million and 4.5 million Americans since January of 2013, according to an estimate by Lookout, a San Francisco mobile security company that has been tracking the malware for about two years.

Buy a Disney movie in iTunes, watch it on Android device, and vice versa

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Back in February, Disney launched its Disney Movies Anywhere (DMA) service on iOS. In effect, Disney movies you buy via iTunes are available in your DMA locker for you to stream on your iOS devices. Now, Android has joined the fray, meaning you can watch all those iOS-purchased Disney movies on your Android device and, if you buy movies on an Android device, you can watch them on your iOS device.

Here’s why public WiFi is a public health hazard

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Maurits Martijn, writing for Medium:

In his backpack, Wouter Slotboom, 34, carries around a small black device, slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes, with an antenna on it…Wouter removes his laptop from his backpack, puts the black device on the table, and hides it under a menu. A waitress passes by and we ask for two coffees and the password for the WiFi network. Meanwhile, Wouter switches on his laptop and device, launches some programs, and soon the screen starts to fill with green text lines. It gradually becomes clear that Wouter’s device is connecting to the laptops, smartphones, and tablets of cafe visitors.

On his screen, phrases like “iPhone Joris” and “Simone’s MacBook” start to appear. The device’s antenna is intercepting the signals that are being sent from the laptops, smartphones, and tablets around us.

Part of this is an education problem, teaching people how to be careful. But it’s foolish to think that any public WiFi connection is safe. It’s just far too easy to spoof trusted networks.

Ireland to phase out ‘Double Irish’ tax break

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This will impact a lot of companies, Google being a bit of a poster child here. note that the elimination of the “double Irish” provision will not, by itself, change the tax rates negotiated by companies like Apple. That’s a separate issue.