Clint Boulton

Google’s launch into the Domain Name System space Dec. 3 is bringing criticism from competitors and cheers from users who find the service functions swiftly. A DNS is basically a switchboard for the Internet, translating computer host names into IP addresses. When a user enters a URL for a Web page, the Web browser asks […]

Google is working on a mobile application that lets users take a picture of a location from their Android-powered smartphone and trigger a Google search that pulls up information associated with the image. Google, which revealed its plans on CNBC’s “Inside the Mind of Google,” segment Dec. 3, calls the application Google Visual Search. In […]

On Monday, Dec. 7, Google will host a search event at the Computer History Museum in Google’s Mountain View, Calif.,hometown. However, Google trotted out a few tools ahead of the event to whet our appetites: translated search in its search options, a fade in search trick, and, as unearthed by the LA Times, Google Dictionary. […]

Microsoft and Yahoo Dec. 4 said they have finalized a deal that would enable Microsoft Bing to power Yahoo search. “Microsoft and Yahoo believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers [with] real choice, better value and more innovation,” the companies said […]

Twitter Dec. 3 introduced a mobile Website that provides a richer experience for users of Apple’s iPhone and smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system, among others. To this point, people have accessed Twitter from their smartphones via m.twitter.com, the original mobile site. But this site merely allows users to tweet and read the tweets […]

Microsoft’s Bing team trotted out a new version of Bing Maps Dec. 2 that eschews AJAX for the company’s Silverlight technology (users must download the plug-in, a la Adobe Flash). In short, Bing Maps’ graphics are amazing compared with Google Maps. As my colleague Nick Kolakowski pointed out, key among the new features are the […]

Indexing tweets isn’t the only way Google is leveraging the microblogging zeitgeist of Twitter. The search engine Dec. 2 said it is letting users sign into its more than 9 million Google Friend Connect sites with their Twitter login identification. Launched in May 2008, Google Friend Connect is a service that enables Website operators to […]

Privacy watchdogs for the Electronic Frontier Foundation have sued the Department of Justice and five other government organizations for cloaking their policies for using Facebook, Twitter and other social networks to investigate citizens in criminal and other matters. On behalf of the EFF, Berkeley Law School’s Samuelson Clinic filed suit against the agencies Dec. 1, […]

In its latest effort to accelerate the rate at which Web pages load for users, Google Dec. 3 launched its own free Domain Name System, Google Public DNS, into a crowded market that includes several providers already. A Domain Name System is basically a hierarchical naming system for computers or any resource connected to the […]

Google Dec. 1 extended an olive branch to newspaper publishers by letting them limit the number of articles readers can view for free on Google News to five per day. The move came the same day News Corp. founder and publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch, speaking at a Federal Trade Commission workshop on the future of […]

When I wrote about the TwitterPeek back in November, I was intrigued about this gadget, which lets users access and and post tweets to Twitter. I asked its maker, Peek, to send me a copy to test. Peek was kind enough to comply, and I soon received a charcoal gray device (it also comes in […]

I’ve made a point to point out how Google and Microsoft duel each other in search. Actually, of late it’s been Bing that’s been beating Google to certain things. Case in point, Microsoft announced its deal to index Twitter tweets on stage at the Web 2.0 Summit in October. Google followed hours later by pre-announcing […]