Larry Page named ‘CEO of the year’ by Investors Business Daily

Jordan Kahn

Following Google Cofounder Larry Page taking over as CEO of the company in April, Investor’s Business Daily named Page its “CEO of the Year.” While noting that Google has increased revenues over the last two quarters by approximately 32 percent, IBD said Page took an “aggressive approach to inspiring one of the Internet’s top performers into something even better.”

Here is an excerpt from IBD’s announcement detailing some of Page’s accomplishments that landed him CEO of the Year:

He reorganized the company’s management structure, redesigned the face of the company’s products and pushed forward with a multibillion dollar deal to acquire a cellphone manufacturing outfit. He also launched two other products aiming at Groupon, the leader of online coupons, and Facebook, the top social networking site.

Google’s Senior Vice President of Search Alan Eustace commented on Page’s transition into the CEO role following his previous position as president of products:

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Sweet Android High-school: A Japanese comic where Motorola is married to Google

Jordan Kahn

A new Japanese comic called “Sweet Android High-school” chronicles the relationship between major Android vendors and the rest of the smartphone market (Apple) as students each representing a company.

Some of the characters include Laura Moto-chan representing Motorola and Sam-Sung-chan representing Samsung. Other students include HTC, LG, Sony Ericsson, and Apple. As an example of what might take place in the comic’s storyline, Laura Moto-chan apparently married the character representing Google (the school’s teacher) to mirror the Google/Motorola acquisition.

The comic runs in “extra editions of Weekly ASCII, a PC magazine with long history in Japan,” and a breakdown of the characters can be found here.

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Millions of Google search page views will soon promote Google services under revamped trial design

E. Betters

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Google launched a revamped homepage, but it is still in the trial phase and only a limited number of users have access to the new design. Meanwhile, some experts and lawmakers are claiming Google’s recent face lift intends to promote more of the company’s businesses without cluttering the homepage.

The website’s redesign has undergone various changes since its initial debut over a month ago. The current version omits the black menu bar that runs horizontal along the top of the website, and it is now replaced by a gray Google logo. Upon clicking the new graphic, seven services under the search engine appear with an option to view 13 more services.

The core seven services in the trial design are Google Plus, Search, Images, Maps, YouTube, News, Gmail and Documents. The “More” tab below the vertical menu reveals options for Calendar, Translator, Mobile, Books, Music, Offers, Wallet, Shopping, Blogger, Reader, Finance, Photos, and Videos.

Google users can also change the background image of their homepage with the trial design, and they can access iGoogle or their Google Plus notification center and Settings options from the main search page.

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Google launches US edition of ‘Politics & Elections’ resource for 2012 elections

Jordan Kahn

Previously only available to Egyptian users, Google launched (via Mashable) a new “Politics & Elections” landing page today for the United States – a day ahead of the Iowa Caucuses at Media Filing Center on Tuesday. The website acts as a hub to information on the 2012 elections, providing the ability to filter news articles and video by candidate or specific issues like the economy, immigration, or healthcare.

Along the right side of the page are links to resources like the Google+ Politics & Elections page, the YouTube Politics channel, and the 2012 Political Calendar on PBS. Also available are two interactive tools: “Trends” and “On the Ground”.

Clicking Trends gives you an interactive graph and timeline that charts trends for each candidate based on search volume, mentions in Google News articles, and views on YouTube channels. Clicking Play will let you watch how trends have changed for each candidate through the days, month, or years. The On the Ground tool provides a Google Map with links to election related events as shot by YouTube users.

According to Mashable, Google will also display content from the new website on large screens at the Iowa Caucuses on Tuesday. They will also be holding Google Plus hangouts live from the event.

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Chrome Browser ends 2011 within 12 points of Internet Explorer, will likely become the No. 1 global browser in 2012

Seth Weintraub

Just a few years ago, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer owned the browser market with three quarters share and the only real alternative was Mozilla’s Open Source Firefox.  However, in 2008, Google noticed Apple’s WebKit Browser engine and built their own Chrome browser.  In late 2009, Chrome started to break out of the “other” category in StatCounter’s figures and started its rise to what will likely to be the world’s most used desktop browser in 2012.

A few months ago, Chrome passed Firefox and if you look at the slope of the graph over time, it looks like Chrome’s rise is still accelerating.  Even if it only grows at its 2011 rate and IE continues to fall at its 2011 rate, Chrome will pass Internet Explorer in late Summer 2012 according to Statcounter’s numbers.  Below, I have extrapolated IE and Chrome’s 2011 numbers over the first half of 2012…


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Verizon back-tracks, will not impose $2 single payment fee

Jake Smith

Verizon Wireless has been under fire this week after announcing it would begin imposing a $2 fee on customers who do not have their bill set to be paid automatically, and instead pay it through electronic check. Today, the Federal Communications Commission announced they would begin investigating Verizon’s new fee. Shortly after, Verizon announced on its website that they will not impose the fee to meet with customer’s requests.

The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides.

Verizon said this fee was going to help move customers to a more convenient payment method. Luckily, they have chosen to go the other way.
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