Clint Boulton

In June 2009, Google moved to mimic the look and feel of Microsoft Outlook, which some 500 million business workers are comfortable with (or just forced to use by their employers). This effort took shape in the Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook plug-in, which lets these users access their Google Apps e-mail, contacts and […]

How Google Book Search Will Serve Users if Approved by Clint Boulton Google Books Settlement Agreement The landing page for the Google Book Search deal lists the changes coming to the Google Books service. What People Can Search Today Readers can search Google’s Books database for over 7 million books. Where the Books Come From […]

Google Feb. 13 replaced the auto-follow feature in Google Buzz with auto-suggest to assuage major privacy concerns about the social service. In effect, users will be able to choose whom they follow on Buzz, making the service opt-in. Launched directly into Gmail Feb. 9, Google Buzz lets Gmail users post status updates, inline videos, photos […]

Google one day is going to have Labs for everything it does. Well, maybe not, but the company Feb. 12 formally introduced Google Maps Labs. Like the other Google Labs before it, Maps Labs is an experiment devoted to building new features that let users view Google Maps in different ways and augment them with […]

Social media experts aren’t sold that Google Buzz is going to take much market share from Facebook and Twitter unless it adequately connects with the social sharing services with which it is geared to compete. Google Buzz lets users post status updates and share Picasa photos, YouTube videos, Twitter tweets and other content-comparable to the […]

Less than one day after Google improved the privacy controls in its Google Buzz social service, the company said it is plugging more privacy flaws and is mulling a version of the social service that is not integrated with Gmail. The search engine launched Google Buzz Feb. 9, offering its 176 million Gmail users the […]

Google confirmed Feb. 11 that it had indeed acquired social search engine Aardvark, a rare departure from the stock “we have nothing to share at this time” rejoinder to requests for information. But Google refused to offer other details. Until today. Google and Aardvark CEO Max Ventilla wrote blog posts discussing the move, which includes […]

IBM pledged to let its social networking software, instant messaging and other Lotus applications run on Apple’s iPhone and forthcoming iPad tablet computer, an IBM executive said at Macworld in San Francisco Feb. 11. IBM Lotus General Manager Alistair Rennie said that IBM’s Lotus Connections social networking suite, Lotus Sametime instant messaging and Lotus Quickr […]

Google Feb. 11 acknowledged the backlash of privacy concerns over its new Google Buzz social service by making privacy controls in the service more transparent. Google launched Google Buzz in Gmail, offering a portion of its 176 million Gmail users the ability to post status updates, links, photos and videos. Because Buzz is geared toward […]

Google fans who are Mac users got a treat Feb. 11 when Google launched a fresh beta of its Chrome browser for Mac with extensions and bookmark sync. Existing Chrome for Mac users should be automatically updated to the new beta — officially Version 5.0.307 — within a day. Google first launched Chrome for Windows […]

Google’s pledge to build high-speed broadband networks may be just a test, but it’s geared to swing network neutrality more closely in the search engine’s favor, some industry experts believe. Google Feb. 10 said that it will build broadband networks that zip 1 gigabit of data per second to users’ computers in a handful of […]

Google Feb. 11 confirmed TechCrunch’s report that it has acquired Aardvark, a social search engine formed by ex-Google employees. A Google spokesperson told eWEEK, “We have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Aardvark, but we don’t have any additional details to share right now.” A departure from the math-oriented search services of Google and Microsoft […]