Ben Charny

Google says it plans to let the U.S. government examine a miniscule snippet of its stockpile of indexed Web sites. The company was ordered to do just that on March 17 by U.S. District Court Judge James Ware. Ware has given Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., until April 3 to hand over a randomly […]

Google seems to be getting its lunch handed to it in a very lucrative front in its battle with chief rival Microsoft. According to some figures Microsoft released today, in January 20 million or so people made a phone call using either Microsoft’s MSN Messenger instant messaging feature, or its heir apparent Live.com. Also that […]

Several news reports suggest Time Warner plans to resurrect its once high-flying Netscape division by turning it into a social networking hub. Media tracker Paid Content.org says the Netscape name is soon to be attached to a social networking Web site, in which news stories and other items can be freely traded. In order to […]

A teen-ager has managed to point out Google News’ credibility problems. Sixteen-year-old Tom Vendetta says he was motivated into devilishness by an article on fooling Google News he found on the Digg Web site. Using a free newswire service, he circulated a fake, typo-riddled press release claiming he’d been hired by Google. In the release, […]

Acquicor Technology, a “blank check” company founded by three former Apple Computer honchos, says it has raised about $150 million this week in a public stock offering. The financing will help Acquicor get started buying Internet convergence companies, which is its stated purpose. While open to any kind of firm, its focusing on companies specializing […]

Microsoft said March 15 that it is suing seven U.S. residents and a New York-based company, for allegedly using Internet auctioneer eBay to sell pirated Microsoft software. Customers suspecting something was wrong with what they bought tipped off Microsoft to all but one of the alleged offenders, the company said. The lawsuits, filed March 10, […]

@Last Software, the makers of 3D rendering software, is Google’s latest acquisition. The six-year-old, privately-held firm sells software to architects, builders and others using heavy-duty computer graphics. Expect Google to make more of these kinds of buys, as it ramps up its offensive against chief nemesis Microsoft Corp.

U.S. District Court Judge James Ware ultimately handed the Bush administration a partial victory over Google. Ware decided Google must turn over to the U.S. Department of Justice a few thousand Web sites it has indexed, which in turn will used as evidence in a separate court case. Ware made his proposed ruling at the […]

Internet search top dog Google has bought @Last, a company that makes tools to add three-dimensional figures into computer-aided designs. Financial details were not disclosed. The deal was a announced on March 14. This and other recent Google acquisitions are part of a broader strategy to fatten up Googles array of features to fare better […]

SAN JOSE, Calif.—A U.S. Federal Judge said on March 14 that he is inclined to allow the government to see snippets of Google users search habits. U.S. District judge James Ware said he will “very quickly” decide the exact nature of what Google has to turn over. Ware made his comments at the end of […]

Google’s now officially out of this world. Google Mars debuted March 13. The feature is very much like Google Earth, but rather than the blue planet, users explore the red one.

Ladies, gentlemen and Google watchers everywhere, I give you Mel Brooks, economic theorist! One of Brooks’ infamous early comedic roles was of a man born before the time of Jesus, Yaweh or Allah. Did he worship anything? “A guy named Phil,” the clan’s biggest, baddest dude, Brooks explains to an interviewer. When Phil is killed […]