Google Play is going to have an even greater impact than what was originally expected. In an article from this morning, The Washington Post reports that Google has added over 500 more movies to its already extensive list of movies available to rent on Google Play or YouTube. These movies will apparently be available in both the United States and Canada. These 500 movies are a result of an agreement with Paramount Pictures, which now makes it five of the major six studios working with Google on this project. Paramount joins Warner Bros. Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Walt Disney Pictures, and Universal Pictures, with 20th Century Fox being the last one to not have a deal in place with Google. To rent one of these movies for a 48 hour period, it would cost a customer $3.99 for new releases, and $2.99 for older movies. There will also be a $1 charge for HD.
Google refuses to get left behind when it comes to any form of technological innovation or idea. Whether it be keeping up with Apple, Amazon, or Netflix, they always seems to at least be able to match the competitor. I am very interested to see how well Google Play does, in particular with this movie rental idea. I read an article a little while back about how Wal-Mart is now entering the movie rental business, offering to transfer a movie from the hard copy you own to the cloud, allowing you to view it anywhere you like. It costs the customers only $2 to make this transfer. We all know about Netflix and their streaming or movie delivery options. And now there is Google. The $3.99 is certainly a lower price than going to the movies, but seems to be a little more than perhaps stopping at a RedBox and renting a movie for $1 per night. I think the ability to view it from your computer, phone, tablet, or maybe even TV will help make Google Play a real player in the growing movie rental industry.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Google building data center in Taiwan
Google currently has six data centers throughout the United States, two in Europe, one in Hong Kong, and one in Singapore. They recently announced that they plan to build a third one in Asia, located in Taiwan. The data centers hold computers, servers, and other hardware and software that process the huge amounts of information Google has to constantly handle. Google believes this third data center in Asia will help meet the increasing demand for Google's products and hopefully increase their popularity.
What is interesting to me is the increasing demand for Google's services in Asia and the strained relationship Google has with China. Obviously, the government of China is quite different from those of these other three countries, but I can't help but wonder what the deal is. Is Google attempting to gain so much popularity in these neighboring countries to rub it in China's face? Maybe it is just a coincidence that the place where more users are getting on the internet everyday in the world is right next to the country where Google has had public problems with for a number of years. I am not exactly sure what is going on, but it is also worth noting how Google has relations with entire countries. They are so large, popular, and powerful, they have their own foreign relations. It is crazy that they almost represent the US when they interact with foreign nations. I just hope they behave and if Asia has a great demand for their services, hopefully they can bring it to them.
Article: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/technology/google-building-data-center-in-taiwan/article_95e493a3-351d-5e0a-9d62-bdec17bbffdb.html
What is interesting to me is the increasing demand for Google's services in Asia and the strained relationship Google has with China. Obviously, the government of China is quite different from those of these other three countries, but I can't help but wonder what the deal is. Is Google attempting to gain so much popularity in these neighboring countries to rub it in China's face? Maybe it is just a coincidence that the place where more users are getting on the internet everyday in the world is right next to the country where Google has had public problems with for a number of years. I am not exactly sure what is going on, but it is also worth noting how Google has relations with entire countries. They are so large, popular, and powerful, they have their own foreign relations. It is crazy that they almost represent the US when they interact with foreign nations. I just hope they behave and if Asia has a great demand for their services, hopefully they can bring it to them.
Article: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/technology/google-building-data-center-in-taiwan/article_95e493a3-351d-5e0a-9d62-bdec17bbffdb.html
Google found guilty in Australia
It seems as though Google AdWords service has gotten them into a bit of trouble. As stated in a previous blog, Google AdWords is what appears first when you use their search engine. Companies create advertisements, and give them to Google to display on their search engine. Google has a complex algorithm that scans the page you are on, your search history, and combines it with your search query to determine which advertisements to display. It displays the ones it believes the user is most likely to click, and thus creates traffic for the advertiser and revenue for Google. Four of these advertisers used the names of their competitors as key words, so that when someone searches for their competitor, their advertisement appears. This was deemed by the court to be misleading to users and begged the question: is Google at fault or does all the responsibility lie with the advertisers.
Federal judges in Australia have made up their mind on that question. They believe Google is indeed at fault, saying, "It is Google’s technology which creates that which is displayed. Google did not merely repeat or pass on a statement by the advertiser: what is displayed in response to the user’s search query is not the equivalent of Google saying here is a statement by an advertiser which is passed on for what it is worth." They are basically saying that Google does not just pass along these advertisements. They have their algorithm which manipulates which ads get displayed, and thus are at least partially responsible for what the ad displays. As damages, Google will pay all costs of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as well as set up a compliance program, aimed at making sure this doesn't continue to happen.
In this scenario, I could not agree more with the court. Google indirectly chooses which advertisements should be displayed and there is no way they can claim complete ignorance with regards to the content of the ad. They are more than just a middle man, and the Australian court has realized this and made the right decision.
Article: http://www.tgdaily.com/business-and-law-features/62517-google-found-guilty-of-serving-misleading-ads-in-australia
Federal judges in Australia have made up their mind on that question. They believe Google is indeed at fault, saying, "It is Google’s technology which creates that which is displayed. Google did not merely repeat or pass on a statement by the advertiser: what is displayed in response to the user’s search query is not the equivalent of Google saying here is a statement by an advertiser which is passed on for what it is worth." They are basically saying that Google does not just pass along these advertisements. They have their algorithm which manipulates which ads get displayed, and thus are at least partially responsible for what the ad displays. As damages, Google will pay all costs of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission as well as set up a compliance program, aimed at making sure this doesn't continue to happen.
In this scenario, I could not agree more with the court. Google indirectly chooses which advertisements should be displayed and there is no way they can claim complete ignorance with regards to the content of the ad. They are more than just a middle man, and the Australian court has realized this and made the right decision.
Article: http://www.tgdaily.com/business-and-law-features/62517-google-found-guilty-of-serving-misleading-ads-in-australia
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Google vs. Oracle headed to trial
Oracle is a Northern California based technology company. They produce and sell both hardware and software. Oracle is accusing Google of patent infringement because they believe Google's Android software infringes upon patents that protect Oracle's Java computer language. The code is originally from Sun Microsystems, which was purchased by Oracle in January of 2010. Google's defense is that before Sun Microsystems was purchased by Oracle, it was open-sourced software and could be used by anyone. The two sides recently attempted to settle the difference outside of court with a mutual agreement. However, they were unable to do so and thus will be heading to court in the next few weeks. Google offered Oracle 3 million dollars as well as a minuscule share of Android, however Oracle declined.
While reading this article, a few things came to mind. The first was that I can't understand how there is so much grey area with these laws. We have learned a lot about many different IP protection laws, although we have admittedly only scratched the surface. There are far more details in the laws that I don't know but I do know that it seems like these companies are constantly involved in some form of dispute or in court. One would think that these multi-million dollar companies would have people who know the law like the back of their hand. Because of this, it seems like in many cases a company just jumps on the opportunity to sue, knowing full well that the other company would prefer to avoid court and will end up settling. I'm not claiming this is always true but I can't imagine all these cases aren't black and white.
Also, it blows my mind how much money these companies must spend year after year on court cases. Not only does this mean actually court cases, lawyer fees, settlements that don't make it to court, and time wasted, it also include any money they end of losing in court and any type of damages they are liable for. It must cost them a fortune.
Article: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/settlement-talks-fail-in-google-vs-oracle-patent-case/932066/2
While reading this article, a few things came to mind. The first was that I can't understand how there is so much grey area with these laws. We have learned a lot about many different IP protection laws, although we have admittedly only scratched the surface. There are far more details in the laws that I don't know but I do know that it seems like these companies are constantly involved in some form of dispute or in court. One would think that these multi-million dollar companies would have people who know the law like the back of their hand. Because of this, it seems like in many cases a company just jumps on the opportunity to sue, knowing full well that the other company would prefer to avoid court and will end up settling. I'm not claiming this is always true but I can't imagine all these cases aren't black and white.
Also, it blows my mind how much money these companies must spend year after year on court cases. Not only does this mean actually court cases, lawyer fees, settlements that don't make it to court, and time wasted, it also include any money they end of losing in court and any type of damages they are liable for. It must cost them a fortune.
Article: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/settlement-talks-fail-in-google-vs-oracle-patent-case/932066/2
Google Art Project
About a half hour ago I had no idea what Google Art Project was. I could have guessed, and perhaps been pretty close, but I didn't even know something as cool as this existed as a Google service. Google Art Project essentially gives you virtual access to thousands and thousands of woks of art from over 150 museums across the world. It allows the user, similar to Google Street View, the ability to virtually tour many museums and look at the art on display. The user can view the images in extremely high quality and take as long as they want looking at them. When the project first began about a year ago, Google claimed that they had about 1,000 images in 9 countries. Today, they claim over 30,000 images in 40 countries. This announcement was made today, Tuesday April 3, at the Art Institute of Chicago by Google's President and executives. The director of the Art Institute is very enthusiastic about the project, saying, "By sharing works of art in this way all it will do is increase the interest in visual works of art and the desire to come to institutions like the Art Institute."
This project is very interesting to me, as it brings a serious cultural aspect to the different services Google offers. It allows people who might not otherwise be able to visit these famous museums the ability to at least look at a high resolution image of them. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a website with a virtual camera on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It was one large image where I could pan around and zoom in on any particular piece I wish. While I expect the actual in-person experience to be 10 times better than my online experience, I had an experience with it nonetheless. For people that don't need to spend thousands of dollars traveling overseas to see their favorite art, it seems like a reasonable replacement opportunity. Users can also save and organize their favorite images, just another accessory Google has added to help improve the experience.
Google Art Project Premieres Upgrades in Chicago
This project is very interesting to me, as it brings a serious cultural aspect to the different services Google offers. It allows people who might not otherwise be able to visit these famous museums the ability to at least look at a high resolution image of them. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a website with a virtual camera on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It was one large image where I could pan around and zoom in on any particular piece I wish. While I expect the actual in-person experience to be 10 times better than my online experience, I had an experience with it nonetheless. For people that don't need to spend thousands of dollars traveling overseas to see their favorite art, it seems like a reasonable replacement opportunity. Users can also save and organize their favorite images, just another accessory Google has added to help improve the experience.
Google Art Project Premieres Upgrades in Chicago
Google Play all about the cloud
The first time I heard of Google Play was when my Android Market app needed an update and Google Play replaced it. I didn't know this happened and I couldn't find my market app until I noticed Google Play was new and I checked that out. Originally, I thought that it was just a new name for the app market, another way to get Google's name on everything android. Turns out I was very wrong. Google Play is far more than just a market for applications. The way my friend described it, "It's like Google's iTunes." And that doesn't even cover everything it offers. According to the Wired article, it is a combination of the android market, Google Music, and Google's eBookstore. And everything is on the cloud, meaning you can access it from your android phone, your tablet, or your computer.
Like my friend noted, and like the article notes, it seems like Google's way of keeping up with Apple. Over the last few years, mainly since the iPhone became popular, Apple has seemed to be the standard for mobile technology, and this was made even more true when the iCloud was implemented. iCloud (am I supposed to capitalize that?) is basically where Apple users can store all their music, pictures, information and have it accessible when they get on their other iDevices. It's a brilliant way to store data as well as streamline users to your specific products, having them all be on one market. We have noticed Google doing this for a while now, with their personalization methods, but Google Play seems to raise the bar a little bit, bringing it near level with Apple. As an android owner, I hope Google Play can bring androids on the same level as iPhones, as least as far as their market and cloud goes.
Like my friend noted, and like the article notes, it seems like Google's way of keeping up with Apple. Over the last few years, mainly since the iPhone became popular, Apple has seemed to be the standard for mobile technology, and this was made even more true when the iCloud was implemented. iCloud (am I supposed to capitalize that?) is basically where Apple users can store all their music, pictures, information and have it accessible when they get on their other iDevices. It's a brilliant way to store data as well as streamline users to your specific products, having them all be on one market. We have noticed Google doing this for a while now, with their personalization methods, but Google Play seems to raise the bar a little bit, bringing it near level with Apple. As an android owner, I hope Google Play can bring androids on the same level as iPhones, as least as far as their market and cloud goes.
Google TV coming to Europe
According to an article by GigaOm.com, Google has decided to release its TV application over in Europe come next September. According to Google's information page, Google TV is basically when your Google account is hooked up to your television so that you can do many tasks on TV that you would normally do online. This could include using Google applications such as Google Play, their application market, YouTube, or other services such as Netflix Instant or Pandora. Google is implementing this along side Sony, a major company that produces and sells television sets. This means that when Sony sells a TV, their remote control will have a Google Play button already on it for direct access, facilitating the use of this service even further.
Samsung, LG, and Vizio are also all releasing TVs known as Google TV devices this year, with the same Google TV capabilities but much cheaper and more affordable to the average consumer. It seems as though every single day Google is implementing an application, or developing a service that is not necessarily more intrusive, but definitely a part of a new aspect of our lives. They have already done an unbelievable job at attracting internet users to their sites and applications, and now it seems as though they are moving into the TV market as well. So far they have at least stuck mostly to software and applications. I can't help but wonder if they will ever venture into the hardware market and maybe come out with a computer or television of their own?
Samsung, LG, and Vizio are also all releasing TVs known as Google TV devices this year, with the same Google TV capabilities but much cheaper and more affordable to the average consumer. It seems as though every single day Google is implementing an application, or developing a service that is not necessarily more intrusive, but definitely a part of a new aspect of our lives. They have already done an unbelievable job at attracting internet users to their sites and applications, and now it seems as though they are moving into the TV market as well. So far they have at least stuck mostly to software and applications. I can't help but wonder if they will ever venture into the hardware market and maybe come out with a computer or television of their own?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)