Steve Bryant

Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the UK’s conservative party yesterday that politicians don’t understand the importance of the Internet, or that Internet content can alter people’s perceptions of their leaders. In an interview with the Financial Times, Schmidt said his speech to the conservative party was part of a global attempt to educate the world’s […]

The search engine market has metastastized into an online media market. The bar set by the world’s largest search engine now includes a heckuva lot more than fancy algorithms running in a data center. So how much is a good piece of Google-killing software worth? Today there’s news that a company called Powerset is trying […]

Google hosted a small open house at their new Manhattan offices today. They were kind enough to invite me, so I lugged along my ancient digital camera and took twenty-odd photos. Check them out here. Below, four photos from the tour. Other notes: Engineering director Craig Nevill-Manning said Google chose the building because it fit […]

Only 3% of of opt-in e-mails were treated as spam by Gmail, according to a new report from Lyris, a maker of e-mail marketing software. That’s a 15-fold improvement in performance compared to when Gmail launched in 2004. The Lyris report also notes that: MSN Hotmail has improved its false-positive spam detection, but remains high […]

Google has added another piece of real estate to its burgeoning empire, only this one is the original garage where Larry and Sergey set up shop. From the AP: “The Mountain View-based company bought the 1,900-square-foot home in nearby Menlo Park from one of its own employees, Susan Wojcicki, who had agreed to lease her […]

Google released a significant redesign of Google Reader yesterday that addresses much of the criticism the app received when it first launched. The G Poppa also separated its instant messaging and voice call product, Google Talk, from Gmail. When Reader debuted last October, it had a lot of problems, chief of which was the app […]

Pixelated portriats of Larry, Sergey and Eric Schmidt. Courtesy of eBoy, found via Kottke. Does eBoy dislike Google? All the image files have the word “jerk” in them.

The University of California at Berkeley is using Google Video to deliver college courses free of charge, according to Reuters. The university has placed over 250 hours of video online for the public. They’re also the first institution to have their own branded page. If you’re an education institution, would you rather put your video […]

Throughout most of its eight-year history, Google has taken the high road when it comes to criticism and debate. When Google has been criticized, whether by click fraud watchdogs or copyright mavens, the company has remained relatively quiet. But in not responding to accusations in a timely manner, Google sometimes let public opinion get away […]

Google turns eight today. I think I’m supposed to maintain some sort of journalistic remove from congratulating it directly, or drooling my praises for its good work, or generally being in awe. So I won’t say that stuff. You can try to see how the Google home page has morphed over time at the Internet […]

update: After talking to some people who have the wrong impression of this post, I’d just like to clear things up by saying yes, Comcast probably just had a DNS problem and yes, it would be very silly for them to intentionally block Google. It just doesn’t make sense for them to block Google, especially […]

The world’s largest wealth management firm, UBS, issued a note this week advising investors that the unpredictable results of Google’s adjustments to ad systems and algorithms, combined with an expected 3Q seasonal downturn in online advertising, makes investing in GOOG a risky proposition in the short-term, at least until 3Q results are published. Longer-term, the […]