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Google launches Public Alerts

Maps just got smarter, as Mountain View announced the launch of Google Public Alerts. Google Maps users will now be able to see relevant ‘Public Alerts’ when using the popular tool, getting warning of weather, public safety and earthquake alerts. “Today marks the launch of a new Google Crisis Response project: Google Public Alerts, a platform designed to bring you relevant emergency alerts when and where you’re searching for them,” Public alerts engineer Steve Hakusa wrote on the Google blog . The tool is designed to alert users to things that might be happening in their area – tornado warnings, for example – and provide information about where and when the disaster might occur, as well as how severe the storm is expected to be and where resources can be found to help. “The Google Crisis Response team works on providing critical emergency information during crises. Our goal is to surface emergency information through the online tools you use everyday, when that information is relevant and useful,” Hakusa said. Users can search directly on Google maps for specific warnings in their area, or alternatively, can go directly to the Public Alerts Page, where users can find a list of current emergency warnings from around the world. Warnings are displayed as hotspots which users can hover over or click to view more information. “We’re learning as we go and we’re working hard to continuously improve the range and relevance of the content you see,” Hakusa said of the newly-launched service

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Twitter throws the first stone at Search plus Your World

As news about Search plus Your World spread like wildfire through the internet, the web’s biggest microblogger was quick to throw the first stone at Google . It seems Twitter is less than enthused about the proliferation of social search results in the latest Google update – users can now see a mixture of social and global results for search queries, including stories gleaned from Mountain View’s own social network, Google+. Former Google employee and Twitter general counsel Alex Macgillivray tweeted that it was a “bad day for the internet”, and Twitter followed suit, releasing a formal statement : “Often, [users] want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we’ve seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results. “We’re concerned that as a result of Google’s changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that’s bad for people, publishers, news organisation and Twitter users.” As part of Google Realtime Search, Twitter signed an agreement in 2009 with the search titan to carry results gleaned from its microblogging site. When the deal expired this past July, Twitter opted not to renew it, and shortly after, Google announced it had disabled Realtime to explore other options. Google responded to Twitter’s statement , saying: “We’re a bit surprised by Twitter’s comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer, and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions.” Digg | delicious | Reddit | Google | Twitter | Sphinn | StumbleUpon | YahooBuzz | Facebook | Mixx | Contact bigmouthmedia

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Google brings Your World to your search results

Seeking to deliver on CEO Larry Page’s promise of a more social Google , the search seraph announced earlier today another new initiative to infuse social signals in search. Your World marks the third major revamp tooled toward social search in the approximately nine months since Page ascended the search throne atop Mountain View. “We’re transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships,” Google Fellow Amit Singhal explained on the Official Google Blog . “We began this transformation with Social Search, and today we’re taking another big step in this direction.” Google’s three major plays with the revamp include finding results catered to individuals, and integrating the profiles of those with similar interest or who may be close to your social circle in results and autocomplete features. Your World also places Google+ pages related to search terms within easy reach for users to visit.

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Google sued by BT over Android OS

British Telecom has now entered the legal fray over smart phone patent infringement, lashing out at Google’s Android. The telecommunications giant is suing Google for billions of dollars over claims the Android operating system infringes on a number of its key patents, adding to the intellectual property actions already taken by Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, eBay and Gemalto against Mountain View. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for Delaware and relates to six patents, which BT said are infringed by Google Maps, Google Music, location-based advertising and Android Market products on Android. According to the lawsuit, “BT brings this action to recover the just compensation it is owed and to prevent Google from continuing to benefit from BT’s inventions without authorization.” The filing goes on to name a number of US patents BT applied for and, except for one, were granted in the 1990s, which it alleges Android is infringing on. If successful, the suit could mean Google or the mobile’s handset makers will have to pay BT royalties on each Android handset in use and that is produced. That could be expensive business – Android is currently the bestselling smartphone globally, with its handsets making up more than 40 per cent of sales and more than 40 million produced every quarter. Florian Mueller, an independent expert who closely follows international patent litigation, said: “Android already had more than enough intellectual problems anyway. Now Google faces one more large organisation that believes its rights are infringed

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Chrome closes in on Firefox

Chrome may soon have the upper hand in the browser wars, as the Mountain View browser closes in on Mozilla’s Firefox. According to Net Applications latest worldwide browser usage measurements, Chrome is only 4 per cent behind Firefox – which dropped in popularity by 2 per cent since January. Stiff competition from both Internet Explorer and Chrome have caused the popular browser’s numbers to flag this year – Firefox numbers slipped 0.4 per cent while Chrome inched forward 0.7 per cent. Firefox and Chrome now account for 22.1 per cent and 18.2 per cent respectively – compared to Internet Explorer which holds a clear lead with more than 50 per cent of the browser market under its belt. “Firefox once was the prime challenger to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, which for years languished in the doldrums of software development.

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Spotify gets appy

Popular music streaming service Spotify has taken the next step towards total world domination, announcing the addition of music-based apps to their platform. The free apps can be accessed by users through ‘App Finder’, and are designed to be fully integrated with Spotify to enhance user experience. “Once you take a look, you’ll see why we believe this is truly the beginning of something game-changing for digital music,” Spotify founder Daniel Ek said. “We think this will lead to integrations that keep Spotify beautiful and simple, but layer in great musical experiences designed to be social and fun. It’s what our users have been looking for.” The company has teamed up with 13 global partners for the launch of the app service – including Billboard, Fuse, The Guardian, and Rolling Stone to name a few. Users can do everything from checking show listings of bands on their playlists, to looking up lyrics of songs as they stream. “Our integration with Facebook in September has made more people than ever excited about sharing music again, adding more than 7 million new Spotify users in just over two months,” the company said in a press statement . As part of the new service, Spotify has also invited developers to get involved and build music-based apps for the service – currently, Spotify Apps features 16 partner apps, with more to come as the program develops. “With the Spotify Platform, we want to enable innovation on top of music and add many more layers of music enjoyment.

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Google to make text jump off the page

Google has acquired multimedia company Apture to bring users beyond the realm of 2D in Chrome. Founded in 2007, Apture’s technology is designed to help users make ‘contextual searches’, where relevant information and text ‘jumps off the page.’ “We’ve always believed that by transforming flat web pages into interactive multimedia experiences, we could enable readers to see, hear and truly experience the ideas on the page,” Apture said. Apture’s in-page search technology gives users instant access to additional information including text, images and video from sources across the web without leaving the page – a feature that, when powered by Google , could prove an incredibly useful resource for Chrome users. The feature also gives publishers an added opportunity for revenue – for example, a mention of a local sports team on a webpage could prompt an Apture search of that team and return results for videos, images, and ticket sales. Apture’s past customers have included the New York Times, Financial Times and Reader’s Digest. Google has yet to disclose financial details of the merger or whether Apture will move from its headquarters in San Francisco to Mountain View

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Google guns for Groupon with G+ data

Google seems to be upping its efforts to steal Groupon’s coupon-clipping crown, as the firm announced it will now be using Google+ data and a new personalisation mechanism to better target deals. According to The Financial Times , Google let slip that it’ll soon be using G+ social signals as well as a new personalisation quiz in a bid to top the daily deals market by better targeting individual consumers and driving uptake. Google will now ask Google Offers subscribers to indicate what kind of deals they would like to receive information about. Group Project Manager at Google Offers Nitin Mangtani wrote on the Google Blog : “There’s a universe of amazing daily deals out there, but it’s hard to find them all in one place – and it’s even harder to discover the ones that really matter to you.” To solve this problem, the firm will use personal and social sharing data extracted from Google+ user profiles to determine what deals might be of interest to individual consumers, and ask users to weigh in on the kinds of deals they’d like to receive.

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Google guns for Groupon with G+ data

Google seems to be upping its efforts to steal Groupon’s coupon-clipping crown, as the firm announced it will now be using Google+ data and a new personalisation mechanism to better target deals. According to The Financial Times , Google let slip that it’ll soon be using G+ social signals as well as a new personalisation quiz in a bid to top the daily deals market by better targeting individual consumers and driving uptake. Google will now ask Google Offers subscribers to indicate what kind of deals they would like to receive information about. Group Project Manager at Google Offers Nitin Mangtani wrote on the Google Blog : “There’s a universe of amazing daily deals out there, but it’s hard to find them all in one place – and it’s even harder to discover the ones that really matter to you.” To solve this problem, the firm will use personal and social sharing data extracted from Google+ user profiles to determine what deals might be of interest to individual consumers, and ask users to weigh in on the kinds of deals they’d like to receive. Mantingi wrote: “We’re also introducing a personalisation quiz to help you find just the deal you want, all in one place.” The move has been labelled game-changing by Opus analyst Greg Sterling. Sterling explained that Google’s plans to utilise social data and user engagement platforms should help the company displace Groupon as a daily deals market leader, as the coupon clippers currently only track user purchases in an attempt to gauge individual interests. BIA Kelsey analyst Jed Williams added that increased personalisation could help alleviate the ‘deal fatigue’ felt my consumers who feel their inboxes are clogged with coupon-clipping, money-saving spam

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Facebook ‘now linked into the largest commerce ecosystem’

eBay announced yesterday at Innovate, its developer conference, it will integrate Facebook’s Open Graph 2.0 into its global commerce systems to create social shopping experiences. These systems will be part of X.commerce , a new business unit that also includes PayPal and Magento. “Facebook is now linked into the largest commerce ecosystem,” X.commerce’s vice president and general manager Matthew Mengerink said. This is significant because it allows Facebook access to eBay’s 25 million sellers and 97 million users, who make an estimated $60 billion worth of transactions on its site annually. “Technology is changing the way consumers shop, and eBay Inc.’s integration with Facebook will make shopping social for consumers and retailers worldwide,” Mengerink said in a statement. “Retailers and developers need a technology-driven global commerce partner to help them engage and connect with consumers anytime, anywhere.

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