Posts tagged Google

Motorola sued by shareholder

MG Siegler:

But what’s crazy is that it’s from a Motorola shareholder who claims that the company did not get the best price possible.

Um. Was he holding out for $100 billion? Maybe an even trillion? Who the fuck was going to pay more than the insane amount Google just laid down for a dog with fleas?

Via ParisLemon

Rope-A-Dope

MG Siegler:

This all begs the question: over the past two years, would you have gained more knowledge by reading Lyons, or by having your head up your own ass?

Tough call, indeed.

Word of the day – Defending

J.K. Shin, President, Samsung, Mobile Communications Division

We welcome today’s news, which demonstrates Google’s deep commitment to defending Android, its partners, and the ecosystem.

Bert Nordberg, President & CEO, Sony Ericsson

I welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.

Peter Chou, CEO, HTC Corp.

We welcome the news of today‘s acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem.

Jong-Seok Park, Ph.D, President & CEO, LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company

We welcome Google‘s commitment to defending Android and its partners.

Reality: Google Wireless

Larry Page, August 2011:

Given Android’s phenomenal success, we are always looking for new ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem. That is why I am so excited today to announce that we have agreed to acquire Motorola.

[...]

This acquisition will not change our commitment to run Android as an open platform. Motorola will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open. We will run Motorola as a separate business. Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing to work with all of them to deliver outstanding user experiences.

Eric Schmidt, July 2010:

The idea a year and a half ago was to do the Nexus One to try to move the phone platform hardware business forward. It clearly did. It was so successful, we didn’t have to do a second one. We would view that as positive but people criticised us heavily for that. I called up the board and said: ‘Ok, it worked. Congratulations – we’re stopping’.

Full announcement on the Official Google Blog

This all happened before

Daniel Eran Dilger:

Google’s Froyo was a bit like Microsoft’s Windows 95: the marked end of any pretense of respect for Apple’s original user interface intellectual property, and the shameless beginning of a wholesale rip-off of any and all intellectual property that might be between it and market dominance.

Full article at RoughlyDrafted Magazine

Do Java anyway

Andy Rubin

If Sun doesn’t want to work with us, we have two options: 1) Abandon our work and adopt MSFT CLR VM and C# language – or – 2) Do Java anyway and defend our decision, perhaps making enemies along the way

Florian Mueller:

Judge Alsup — the federal judge presiding over this litigation — attaches a great deal of importance to that particular document. At a recent hearing, he essentially said that a good trial lawyer would just need that document “and the Magna Carta” (arguably the origin of common law) to win this case on Oracle’s behalf and have Google found to infringe Oracle’s rights willfully. The judge told Google that “you are going to be on the losing end of this document” with “profound implications for a permanent injunction”. Let me add that a finding of willful infringement would not only make an injunction much more likely than otherwise. It can also result in a tripling of whatever damages will be awarded. […]

It’s certainly remarkable that those two emails show a consistent attitude: the Android team basically says “let’s just infringe” whenever an intellectual property issue comes up. If they did this to Oracle, what about the intellectual property of other companies like Apple, Microsoft, eBay and Skyhook?

Google used to be the “Do no evil” company. I guess stealing somebody’s IP is just that. You know, since patents are evil.

Full article on Florian Mueller’s site

Via Daring Fireball

The long, sad story of Ask.com

  • March, 2005: IAC announces plans to buy Ask Jeeves
  • April, 2005: Nothing significant happens for almost a year
  • February, 2006: In a landmark move to improve user experience and search quality, Ask drops its butler mascot
  • May, 2006: Influenced by IAC, Green Giant brand drops its mascot in an effort to improve the quality of canned peas—comes to senses 30 minutes later and reinstates the giant (OK, I made that one up)Qe at doing exactly the same thing a year earlier
  • March, 2007: The South Park kids announce to the world that nobody uses Ask Jeeves in the “The Snuke” episode
  • April, 2007: Ask’s creative shop Crispin Porter & Bogusky effectively generates awareness of a term no one understands or cares about—”the algorithm”
  • May, 2007: The Algorithm fails to find itself an audience– in spite of media initiatives from May 2006 to May 2007 Ask.Com percent of US searches falls to 3.92% from 4.40% according to Hitwise
  • June, 2007: Ask 3D is launched in response to Google’s Universal Search
  • July, 2007: No one hears about 3D ever again. Wall Street Journal runs a piece on search engines, Ask.com Is not referenced
  • October, 2007: Ask Launches PPC Bid Platform 2.0—the exact number of advertisers who noticed the change
  • December, 2007: Hoping to capitalize on media hyped privacy panic; Ask offers to delete search data even if people don’t opt out after 18 months
  • January, 2008: Nothing really happens until Ask closes its search doors over 2 years later

Full article at Advertising Age http://lnkd.ca/ch

MG Siegler on iPhone 4

MG Siegler:

The Mac vs. PC debate has often found people using a car analogy to explain things. I keep coming back to that when thinking about iPhone vs. Android. For a long time, iPhone felt like a Lexus while Android was more like a Kia. With recent upgrades, Android has transformed into more of a Honda. But with iPhone 4, the iPhone is now an Aston Martin (it was James Bond, remember).

But the crazy thing is that the iPhone is an Aston Martin with a Honda-price. Meanwhile, Android remains a Honda at a Honda-price — it’s a good deal, but it’s not an iPhone-deal.

Full article at Tech Crunch (via Daring Fireball)

Google to Add Picture Backgrounds to Search Home Page

Marissa Mayer:

Today, we’re introducing a new feature that brings a whole new level of personalization to Google by letting you add a favorite photo or image to the background of the Google homepage.

Step-by-step instructions to get it to work today:

  1. Go to http://bing.com/
  2. You’re done.

Via Daring Fireball

Google Maps Directions for Romania

It’s back, and works like a charm on the iPhone.

[Update]

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