Rattleblog: Tales from the blogosphere

09-10-2006

by Damien Mulley

For a company that really hasn't embraced blogging and sometimes doesn't know how to secure its own blog, Google is one of the most popular obsessions on blogs this week.

Joel Cere reports that CurrentTV, an American TV channel that airs content created by their viewers is now going to be coming to Sky in the UK and Ireland. We're not sure what the shows will be like but expect many crying babies at birthdays and shaky videos from weddings when Aunty Sheila does something inappropriate while dancing to "Come on Eileen".

Staying with online video, the big buzz online right now is the strong rumour that Google will buy YouTube for a staggering USD1.8 billion. Om Malik rightly points out that if Google does buy YouTube it could open itself up to hundreds or even thousands of lawsuits. Why sue YouTube now when they have no money? Instead why not sue one of the most cash-rich companies in the world?

Once again it seems the official Google Blog has been compromised. This time it was a hack, while last time someone in Google accidentally deleted the whole thing. The irony about this hack is it occurred just after a blog post from Google telling readers how seriously it took the security features of its services.

TCAL reports that you can now embed Google Gadgets on your website and blog. These range from weather maps to simple games. Previously these gadgets were only accessible through Google Desktop.

The Inside Google blog covers the latest search option from Google which was released this week, and it's finding all sorts of fun things. The Google Code Search feature has uncovered cracking software to overcome paying for software, thousands of lines of code for software that wasn't meant to be shared, and even passwords for websites. If you put it online, Google will find it.

Many blogs are talking about the first Apple and Google linked feature to occur since Google CEO Eric Schmidt joined Apple's board. Though not officially rolled out, users have discovered you can attach coordinates from Google Maps to your photos in iPhoto so you can see where the photos were physically taken. Stay tuned for more Apple and Google combined products.

Staying with Eric Schmidt, he recently told a conference that a future Google product might be a truth predictor which would automatically match political statements to facts and see how well they match up. He thinks the software is about five years away. At long last an election will be worth watching!

Damien Mulley is an Irish blogger and works as a technical writer in Cork.