Google

The Financial Times is reporting that European mobile carriers are planning to block Google and other web ads in order to reduce demands on their networks and break Google’s hold on advertising (via TNW).

According to the story, which cites anonymous sources, the carriers have installed software from Israeli ad-blocking firm Shine in their data centers to block advertising in Web pages and apps, but not social networks.

Many websites, 9to5Google among them, depend on ad revenue to deliver free content to their readers. Any move to block ads could have far-reaching consequences … 
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Google’s fleet of self-driving Lexus cars have notched up a total of 140,000 miles on public roads, and the company is now ready to begin road-testing its first purpose-built autonomous cars.

We first saw the cute-looking cars almost a year ago, when the company explained that they were not intended to ever make it to public sale. Their purpose is to see how people respond to a next-generation driverless car before later seeking partners to actually bring the technology to market.

We learned earlier this week that Google’s existing Lexus fleet has been involved in three low-speed accidents, none of them the fault of the car, but the company still isn’t taking any chances in this latest phase … 
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Google this evening released the latest version of its Transparency Report in which it offers up more information regarding emergency disclosure requests and preservation requests. Regarding emergency disclosure requests, Google says it is now reporting requests from governments in every country. Previously, Google only reported requests from the United States.

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If you head over to the web version of Google Play Music, you’ll notice that it has received a major interface refresh to be more in line with Google’s Material Design efforts. The interface is very similar to the Play Music Android app, just with some optimization for the desktop.

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Samsung has begun sending out an email to Samsung Wallet users notifying them that the service will no longer be available as of June 30th (via SamMobile). The email says that coupons clipped with Samsung Wallet will no longer be available after the termination date, but that all “tickets & reservations” will still be available by visiting partner applications…
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Google is today rolling out updates to its Google Docs and Slides mobile apps bringing the ability to insert images directly from the app on both phones and tablets.
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Google cares about your health and wants to help you stay in shape, which is why the company today released a set of updates and new features for the Google Fit platform across Android smartphones and Wear watches that make it easier to track your daily progress and fitness goals…

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Google’s HTC-made Nexus 9 tablet

HTC appears to have a new tablet on the horizon as often reliable leaker @upleaks claims a new tablet called “HTC H7” is currently planned for a Q2 release. That means that, if accurate, we should see the tablet introduced by the end of next month in order to meet the currently planned second quarter timeframe for release.
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Google is in the process of a radical change in its approach to IT security, reports the WSJ, moving its data from protected internal networks out onto the Internet.

At first glance, it sounds like a crazy move: moving corporate data from protected internal systems, only accessible within Google buildings and via VPN, to publicly-accessible servers. But Google engineering manager Rory Ward believes that the conventional ‘perimeter security’ model no longer reflects the realities of today’s world.

The perimeter security model is often compared to a medieval castle: a fortress with thick walls, surrounded by a moat, with a heavily guarded single point of entry and exit. Anything located outside the wall is considered dangerous, while anything located inside the wall is trusted. Anyone who makes it past the drawbridge has ready access to the resources of the castle […]

However, with the advent of a mobile workforce, [this approach is] fraught with danger.

In other words, if half your workforce is accessing resources from outside the network anyway, you need a different mindset … 
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The controversy over the ‘right to be forgotten‘ by Google has often seemed destined to run forever, Google arguing that it was being asked to make “difficult and debatable judgements” based on “very vague and subjective tests,” while European courts said that the company wasn’t fully complying with the law.

Google said that it was complying with court orders by removing “outdated or irrelevant” sensitive information about individuals from its European sites, while leaving the .com site untouched. European courts want Google to remove results from google.com also.

A piece in the WSJ suggests that a compromise may be reached, however, as Google revealed examples of what it described as easy and difficult cases … 
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Greenpeace today released an update to its “Clicking Clean: A Guide to Building the Green Internet” report, and while Apple continues to lead for renewable energy efforts, Google once again increases its score thanks to new initiatives.
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Following a Reddit AMA on government surveillance, Google has admitted that while it does encrypt Hangouts conversations, it does not use end-to-end encryption, meaning the company itself can tap into those sessions when it receives a government court order requiring it to do so. This contrasts with the end-to-end encryption used by some services, like Apple’s FaceTime, which cannot be tapped even by the company offering the service.

Motherboard noted that Google has always been vague about the level of encryption offered for Google Hangouts, and that when pressed by principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union Christopher Soghoian, the company would say only that messages were encrypted “in transit” … 
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Google’s self-driving test cars have been involved in a total of three fender-benders since being licensed for use on public roads last September, a new AP report revealed today. All four of the accidents have been at speeds of 10mph or lower, so there hasn’t been any serious damage done yet.

One other autonomous car created by Delphi Automotive has been involved in a low-speed collision. The big difference between the two companies’ situations is that while Delphi only has two cars on the road right now, Google is currently running fifty of them. Strictly speaking in terms of percentages, Google has had much better luck.

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Several Google executives held a question and answer session on Reddit today to address (and avoid) a variety of different topics. Perhaps most notably, the Google executives voiced their support for the federal appeals court ruling on Thursday that said bulk collection of telephone records by the NSA is not lawful.

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Advertisers want to know that when they pay for a video ad on YouTube or elsewhere across the web, that the advertisement can actually be seen by viewers. A lot can effect an ad being seen, such as the viewer never scrolling to the part of the page where the ad is placed, or users simply scrolling past the ad too quickly to really catch a glimpse. Taking a look into these things, Google recently published the results of a study identifying the “5 factors of viewability,” or, in other words, the things that impact the chance of a video ad being seen.

Unsurprisingly, YouTube and Google’s video ad strategy seems to be strong compared to the rest of the web…

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