Google+ Bug Affected 52.5 Million Users Leading To Accelerated SunSetting. Google+ Will Shut Down In April 2019.

Google plan to shut down its social network effort, Google+ much sooner than planned after discovering a second bug that revealed millions of customers' private information via GOOGLE+ API.
Google admitted that 52.5 million Google+ users were affected by a bug in the November software update. The latest bug allowed app developers to access profile information not marked public. App developers inadvertently had access to this data for six days. Google is working on the system to curb any other issues.
In the light of all the missteps, Google will will shut down Google+ in April 2019

Our testing revealed that a Google+ API was not operating as intended. We fixed the bug promptly and began an investigation into the issue.
Our investigation into the impact of the bug is ongoing, but here is what we have learned so far:

• We have confirmed that the bug impacted approximately 52.5 million users in connection with a Google+ API.
• With respect to this API, apps that requested permission to view profile information that a user had added to their Google+ profile—like their name, email address, occupation, age (full list here)—were granted permission to view profile information about that user even when set to not-public.
• In addition, apps with access to a user's Google+ profile data also had access to the profile data that had been shared with the consenting user by another Google+ user but that was not shared publicly.
• The bug did not give developers access to information such as financial data, national identification numbers, passwords, or similar data typically used for fraud or identity theft.
• No third party compromised our systems, and we have no evidence that the developers who inadvertently had this access for six days were aware of it or misused it in any way.

We have begun the process of notifying consumer users and enterprise customers that were impacted by this bug. Our investigation is ongoing as to any potential impact to other Google+ APIs.

Google Security

AI for Social Good, Google's Collective AI Initiative For Our World Through Google AI Impact Challenge

Google has been working on AI, Artificial Intelligence both internally and with external partners. While AI is wide field what is in focus here is the AI for Social Goodness.
 Google mentioned in post;

For the past few years we’ve been applying core Google AI research and engineering to projects with positive societal impact, including forecasting floods, protecting whales, and predicting famine. Today we’re unifying these efforts in a new program called AI for Social Good. We’re applying AI to a wide range of problems, partnering with external organizations to work toward solutions.

As a part of AI for Social Good, Google is launching the Google AI Impact Challenge. It is an invitation for  nonprofits, academics, and social enterprises from around the world to submit proposals on how they could use AI to help address some of the world’s greatest social, humanitarian and environmental problems. Google will assist chosen organizations to make their proposals successful with coaching from Google’s AI experts, along with Google.org's grant funding from a $25 million pool, and credits and consulting from Google Cloud. Further the Grantees will be a part of a specialized Launchpad Accelerator program, with data science nonprofit DataKind.
Apply and present your proposals, as in spring of 2019, an international panel of experts, who work in computer science and the social sector, will help Google to choose the top proposals.

To give you a sense of the potential we see, here are a few examples of how Google and others have already used AI over the past few years:

• Wildlife conservation: To better protect endangered whales, we have to know where they are. With AI developed at Google—in the same vein as research by college student Daniel de Leon—it’s possible to quickly scan 100,000 hours of audio recorded in the Pacific to identify whale sounds. We hope one day we can not only better identify whales in these recordings, but also accurately deploy this system at scale to find and protect whales.
• Employment: In South Africa, Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator helps connect unemployed youth with entry-level positions. As a participant in Google Cloud’s Data Solutions for Change program, they’ve used data analytics and ML to match over 50,000 candidates with jobs.
• Flood prediction: Floods affect up to 250 million people, causing thousands of fatalities and inflicting billions of dollars of economic damage every year. At Google, we’ve combined physics-based modeling and AI to provide earlier and more accurate flood warnings through Google Public Alerts.
• Wildfire prevention: Two high school students in California built a device that uses AI to identify and predict areas in a forest that are susceptible to wildfires. This technology could one day provide an early warning to fire authorities. 
• Infant health: Ubenwa is a Canadian company that built an AI system to analyze the sounds of a baby crying and predict the risk of birth asphyxia (when a baby's brain and other organs don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients during birth). It’s a mobile app so it can be widely used even where doctors aren’t readily available.

Tackling Teen Substance Abuse, One Kid, One Family, One Tablet At A Time For Drug-Free Kids.

The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids has been working hard to reduce teen substance abuse. The initiative is also aiding families impacted by addiction.  The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids is a family-focused nonprofit that help families prevent and cope with teen drug and alcohol abuse by providing resources and direct support.
Sometimes it is hard for families to manage these as the environment has changed much since the parents were teens, both positively and negatively. So reaching out via web and mobile devices takes major part in the project.

Google joined hands with Drug-Free Kids and providing much needed help in the form of  online content and tools. By having information at hand, people will be able to prevent the problems ever from happening and in the unfortunate side, once in the mire of drugs, to get out of it.
So far Google has funded search advertising campaigns, helped develop a mobile app with substance abuse-related information. Also improved Drug-Free Kids website, and revamping of its YouTube channel is in the works. 
On the other hand, Google is helping the process by other means, like efforts of fighting rogue online pharmacies, one of the sources for prescription drugs. This year Google has removed more than 7 million these types of ads.
The Medicine Abuse Project, is bringing together people from all works of the path, parents, educators, health care providers, communities, and law enforcement to help prevent teens from abusing substances like prescription drugs and even the over-the-counter cough medicine. 

The Partnership for Drug-Free Kids via Google

Google Helps Restoring Oldest "Search Engine", Bletchley Park, Block C!

After helping out last year with the bid to buy the papers of the British computer scientist and wartime codebreaker Alan Turing and return them to their rightful home at Bletchley Park. This February.the papers came to it's rightful place.

Google is going still further by kicking off a campaign to help restore and preserve Block C at Bletchley Park;

"Today, Block C is derelict. We hope to help restore it to serve as a visitor and learning centre for both Bletchley Park and the UK’s National Museum of Computing. The fund-raising campaign kicked off this week with a Google-supported garden party in the Bletchley Park grounds, at which over £10,000 was raised. We still have a long way to go, though, so if you’d like to contribute, please donate at the Bletchley Park website."

Please visit the links to learn more about the place, Turing and others as well as Colossus—the world’s first electronic programmable computer.

Official Google Blog: Restoring Bletchley Park, birthplace of modern computing

We See Alan Turing

Would you “Like” the name Like?

After hearing some people naming their babies with likes of "facebook", and other dumb things, it is less painfull to hear about the Israeli couple who named their baby "Like" after facebook's like button.At least it is more likable than the rest!
I am sure Google must be waiting for someone to name their child "Googlie" or Twitter looking for "Tweetie". In any case I feel these are insane decisions made without thinking about the child it self.
I always wondered why most kids say that they hate their parents because I did not. I think now I am begining to understand.
Via Mashable

"dash of social" With Google Friend Connect

Google Friend Connect is open to all webmasters in it's beta form, according to the official Google blog.
"We're pleased to share that Google Friend Connect is now available in beta to any webmaster looking to add a "dash of social" to his or her site. This service lets webmasters add social features to their sites by simply copying and pasting a few snippets of code — no advanced coding or technical background required."
So tell about yourself and find out about others and we will learn to see people for what they are and we all can say we see people.
If you did not know already, you do not have to come up with a new username and password to use Google Friend Connect, you can use your existing Google, Yahoo, AOL, or OpenID account. You also can use your existing profiles form social networks like orkut or Plaxo who have joined Google Friend Connect.

Official Google Blog: Google Friend Connect: now available

Tags: google, friend connect, Google Friend Connect, orkut, Plaxo, Google, Yahoo, AOL, OpenID, "dash of social"

Google Lively Goes Offline!

If you were a Google Lively player developer or a user, Google has some bad news for you! After considering pluses and minuses, they have decided to take the site off line. You will only be able to see an image of your former site/room.
"After careful consideration, we have decided to shut down Lively.

Since Lively's launch, we have been delighted to see the creative ways you've used the product. We enjoyed hanging out in Jen's coffee house, and checking out the Brasil Party room. We got a kick out of the YouTube videos in a variety of languages telling stories about your avatars. And we've been awed by the elaborate rooms that you've constructed, using mosaic tiles and photo gadgets in novel ways.

We will shut down Lively on December 31, 2008. Embedded rooms in blogs and other web pages will continue to show an image, but users will no longer be able to enter Lively rooms and interact."

Official Google Blog: Lively no more

Tags: google, lively, google lively

Google Sees People And Says No Prop 8 In California.

Instead of further ado, here is why Google says no;
"further government encroachment on personal lives, ambiguously written text -- it is the chilling and discriminatory effect of the proposition on many of our employees that brings Google to publicly oppose Proposition 8. While we respect the strongly-held beliefs that people have on both sides of this argument, we see this fundamentally as an issue of equality. We hope that California voters will vote no on Proposition 8 -- we should not eliminate anyone's fundamental rights, whatever their sexuality, to marry the person they love."
We Do.
Official Google Blog: Our position on California's No on 8 campaign

Tags: Prop 8, google, California, Google See People

Down Under, Going to school with Google Is The Norm Now.

According to a post on Google Australia Blog, Australian and New Zealand schools and Universities going gaga over Google services for education. I have been a real fan of Google Apps and saw the value of them early in the roll out. I was always asking myself why do schools pay millions only to tie them into non standard propritary applications when Products like Google Apps and Open Office did meet most of the needs of students.
To learn more about Google Apps Education Edition (which is free to accredited K-12 or higher educational institutions) check out the overview video at Google AU site or get in touch with Google here.
Official Google Australia Blog: Going to school with Google

Tags: google, Google Education, Google Apps, Google Apps Education Edition, Open Office

Interact With Google News

To me Google news has always been a one way street. I always, few times a day, visit my customized news page and then leave for other pages.
But now Google News blog tells us that now we can use newly launched form that will make it easier for all of us around the world to report an issue with Google News. With the Report an Issue page you’ll be able to send us a quick note to inform us about the problem you’re having with your edition of Google News.
Google News Blog: Need Help? Contact our Support Team!
tag: Google News, Google

facebook Raids Google and Makes Out With Sheryl Sandberg

Facebook Inc. has raided Google Inc. to hire a new chief operating officer, providing the popular online social network with more seasoned management and advertising savvy as it strives to make more money without alienating its audience.

Sheryl Sandberg's defection from Google, announced Tuesday, represents a coup for Facebook just three months after it suffered a humiliating setback in its effort to inject more commercialism into its fun-loving Web site.

Continue reading at Business week.

tag: google, facebook

Google Adds Google Sites To Google Apps

If you are in a collaborative mood, for your team, you small business or your enterprise, Google has released another component in to it's Google Apps collection.
Google Sites was known as JotSpot a while ago and Google folded it in to it's wings and was never seen again. But after what seems like a decade in Internet time, it is back. and I am glad.
Here is a video explaining Googles Sites. See you there.

tag: Google, Google Sites, Google Apps

Google's Social Graph API, Go Find Yourself And Others.

Google code is giving ideas to intelligently connect all the people and sites that matters to users and providing an easier path for developers to give users what they want. The following describes it better than I ever could. Please follow the link below to visit the site and learn more about Social Graph API.
There is also sample applications (3) and I spent a quite long time exploring them. Now to use the API to some real work.
"The public web is made up of linked pages that represent both documents and people. Google Search helps make this information more accessible and useful. If you take away the documents, you're left with the connections between people. Information about the public connections between people is really useful -- as a user, you might want to see who else you're connected to, and as a developer of social applications, you can provide better features for your users if you know who their public friends are. There hasn't been a good way to access this information. The Social Graph API now makes information about the public connections between people on the Web, expressed by XFN and FOAF markup and other publicly declared connections, easily available and useful for developers."
Social Graph API


tag: google, Google Code, Social Graph API, XFN, FOAF, public connections

OpenSocial Gang

OpenSocial Launch Partners

amiando
Animoto
Appirio
Bebo
Bleacher Report
BonstioNet
Brad Anderson
Bunchball, Inc
BuyFast
Cardinal Blue Software
Chakpak
Chronus Corporation
come2play
CurrentTV
E-junkie
Engage.com
eTwine Holdings, Inc.
Fendoo Ltd
Flixster
FotoFlexer
Friendster
Grimmthething
HedgeStop.com
Hi5
Hungry Machine
Hyves
iFamily, Inc
iLike
Imeem
Indeed.com
KlickSports, Inc.
LabPixies Ltd.
LimitNone
LinkedIn
LjmSite
LoveMyGadgets
LuvGoogleGadgets
Mesa Dynamics, LLC
Mixi
MuseStorm Inc
MySpace
Netvibes
NewsGator
Ning
NY Times
Oberon Media
Oracle
Orkut
Outside.In
PayPal
Plaxo
PROTRADE
Puxa
Qloud
RockYou
Salesforce.com
Shelfari
SideStep, Inc.
Six Apart
Slide
Theikos
Tianji
TooStep
Viadeo
VirtualTourist
Votigo
Whizz
Widgetbox
Xing
Zytu Inc.

Tags: google, OpenSocial, OpenSocial Partners, opensocial

gOS and gPC comes before the OpenSocial

Post by Geemodo tells us about a gPC and gOS. VoIP IP Telephony carries desktop picture. I going to checkout the developer site known as Thin gOS.

Tags: gOS, gPC, OpenSocial

Google Goes Maka-Maka for Social Networking.

When every one is running around and making facebook a 15 Billion company that makes about $50000, Google is finding ways to make another billion(s) dollar piece for itself.
Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and even Orkut have come up with ways to keep users cornered in their adobes within the confines of respective sites.
I could not stay in one place for a long time and I just jump in an out of these sites that I am member of. Then again don't look to me for guidance, I even found Second Life boring! ;) But that did not stop Chinese developers making one in Chinese "High-Pee-High"
But I hope you have a iGoogle page. What more do you need to make it provide the services that FaceBook provides. Since all the business tools (Google Apps) it will appeal to business users, all the Gmail users are already members. Just create it to appeal to users and provide what is already not there and in no time, Facebook will be looking for it's face.
When I log into my Google account, I see a lot of things, listed out neatly. (You think I sold my soul to Google! ;) , I don't think so.)
Anyway read about Maka Maka here at TechCrunch. (Makan makan is to eat! in Bhasa Indonesia, forgive me if I am wrong) Serve Me.

Tags: google, iGoogle, High-Pee-High, hipihi, Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Orkut, Maka Maka, Maka-Maka

Zingku Mobile social networking site to be acquired by Google.

When I visited ZINGKU today I learned that they have entered in to an agreement to be acquired by Google. All new account activations are on hold and the existing users are given the following message;

"We're Moving to Google
We've entered into an agreement to have Google acquire our Zingku service. If you want to continue with our service, you don't need to do anything; your account and service will be transferred over to Google at the completion of the acquisition.

If you'd rather not maintain your account as a result of the acquisition, no problem. You can choose to discontinue your account any time before October 4, 2007 and your account won't be transferred over to Google. We will delete your account and all information connected to your account. Your user agreements with us will terminate. To discontinue your account, email support@zingku.com. We will contact you at your registered email address to confirm your deletion request before completing it."

Zingku is one of the series of mobile communication related social networks that Google have gone after in recent history. Dodgeball and Grand central were the others

Tags: Google, mobile, social network, zingku, dodgeball, grandcentral

Google Earth Gives a Virtual telescope to see the Universe

The virtual telescope brings together images from a number of sky-mapping organisations, including the Hubble space telescope and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre.

To start exploring today, download the newest version of Google Earth, click on the new Sky button on the toolbar at the top of the screen, and navigate the skies! There are 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies in Sky just waiting to be discovered. To help you get started, we've prepared a short video.

Users can view and navigate through 100 million individual stars and 200 million galaxies.

There are also special sections on constellations, backyard astronomy, Hubble imagery, the Moon, the planets, galaxies and the life of a star.

Dr Carol Christian, of the Space Telescope Science Institute which provided images for the project, said: "Never before has a roadmap of the entire sky been made so readily available.

"Anyone interested in exploring the wonders of our universe can quickly see where the stunning objects photographed by Hubble actually dwell in the heavens."

Lior Ron, product manager at Google, said: "We're excited to provide users with rich astronomical imagery and enhanced content that enables them to both learn about what they're seeing and tell their own stories.

"By working with some of the industry's leading experts, we've been able to transform Google Earth into a virtual telescope."

Google LatLong: Sky: The final frontier

Official Google Blog: The view from the Sky

Tags: google, Google earth, google virtual telescope

Place Picasa Web Albums Feeds in GME (Google Mashup Editor)

Lev Epshteyn, GME (Google Mashup Editor) Team has written a tutorial about placing your Picasa photos in a Google maps or even in Google Earth. He has done what he teaches with his own Geo tagged photos on Picasa.
If you want to some mashups with your photos, this is a place to start with. I will do the same with each album I have! I discovered this at Google Developer Blog

Other mashups are at this gallery

Tags: google, picasa, GME, Google Earth, GME, Google Mashup Editor

Google News becoming Social News

Google is bringing a news feature to Google news to be more exciting or socializing the news in my speak. Someone writes about you or your company or a product . Either the news is right or wrong, you get to respond and work with Google News crew to add a comment to the news.

Google News Blog: Perspectives about the news from people in the news: "We'll be trying out a mechanism for publishing comments from a special subset of readers: those people or organizations who were actual participants in the story in question. Our long-term vision is that any participant will be able to send in their comments, and we'll show them next to the articles about the story. Comments will be published in full, without any edits, but marked as 'comments' so readers know it's the individual's perspective, rather than part of a journalist's report."

So I think this is the beginning of the Social News.

Tags: google, Social news, Google News