In the spirit of not being evil, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) started a layoff spree yesterday at recently acquired DoubleClick. According to The New York Times, Google will cut 300 employees from DoubleClick's American workforce of 1,200. As for the remaining overseas employees, the Times reports that Google CEO Eric E. Schmidt says they're-a-comin' for you too, so sit tight.
Now. Nobody likes to hear about layoffs, but other recent news suggests we may have to cut Google some slack.
Sure, Google may be laying off scores of unsuspecting, hard-working employees and crushing their wills to live for its own selfish, ad-purveying, money-eating purposes – but give these guys a break. At least they're using some of that aggressive energy to help fight Al Qaida and protect our national security... right?
A recent article on SFGate, entitled "Google has lots to do with intelligence," reported that Google has contracts with some of America's top intelligence agencies – as well as the U.S. Coast Guard – providing internal computer networks for sharing sensitive, secret agent-style data. Additionally, Google licenses Google Earth to agencies and provides servers for Intellipedia – or the Wikipedia of the CIA. (The CIA agent quoted in the story declined to assess the quality of Google's products...)
Some of these government contracts can be highly lucrative: The article cites the National Security Agency as paying over $2 million for four search applications.
"Agencies can use the devices to create their own mini-Googles on intranets made up entirely of government data," says the writer, Verne Kopytoff. (Really. Kopytoff.) You got that? Frosted Mini-Googles. With government data. Three cheers for national security!
So, you nit-pickers you, before you go slandering Google for cutting jobs across the DoubleClick board, take a moment to salute our freedom fighting friends in Mountain View. Google may not be able to create a successful social networking site, or follow through on any viable ideas besides "search" and "making money," or emerge past Web 1.0... but, hey – they sure can secure our nation against terrorism!
Glad you included the link Nicole. Perhaps evolution will include increased Google teaming with companies, governments, pros and public... perhaps they will be proven to be a great help in advancing the usage of software, technology and information for good (e.g., to increasingly help with high purposes to overcome some of the greatest challenges of our time... for a couple related posts see i & ii).
Don't hold your breath for that response from Google, RPR, they only like to read blogs written by their own employees: Google's Exclusive Bloggers Club
When one considers the potential role of social media (and excellent search engine capabilities) in facilitating new approaches to improving the effectiveness of government, at all levels worldwide, increased partnering seems a good idea.
We strongly believe that a globally cohesive group of IT Pros can change the world simply because successful change management is an inherent character trait of all IT Pros. — Culminis
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Ahh, the holiday season is upon us: People have begun bargain hunting, department stores are donning premature decorations, turkeys are being shot to death, and email inboxes everywhere are being graced with season-appropriate promotional materials so absurd, one might think they were actually written by the clinically insane.
Considering President Obama went and took the Nobel Peace Prize this year (attention hog, much?), Internet Evolution had to settle for a nomination for the second best prize in the world: a MIN Editorial & Design award. And we're happy to say that we won. Big time.
NEW YORK -- Web 2.0 Expo -- Here at the Javits Center in New York City, several industry innovators have come out to take the stage at the Web 2.0 Expo. But some are having a hard time keeping the audience's attention. The culprit? What else? Twitter.
The debate over whether Google is fairly aggregating newspaper content online has been going on for a while, with Rupert Murdoch and News Corp. leading the discourse. Typically it's followed a consistent pattern: Murdoch complains about Google stealing its content to no real benefit to his company, someone suggests hiding the content from Google, and things get quiet on the News Corp. side of the room.
While Google introduces its new Chrome OS (which I'm hearing will be widely available in one year? Did I mishear that?), IBM announced 10 new products today to help companies using IBM System z mainframe technology.
Smarter Collaboration: How to Thrive in a Challenging Business Environment Market conditions are changing faster than ever, and organizations need to improve their agility and adaptability in order to provide better service and improve processes. The ability to work with customers, business partners, and employees as effectively as possible - while at the same time holding down costs - is a key to success. READ THIS eBOOK
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In the final episode of this series about the death of Internet anonymity, Saunders describes how the Internet of the future will start to attain a level of intelligence that requires no human intervention. Scary.
What can users today do to protect their online privacy? The simplest and most obvious option is to not use the Internet – at all. However, once all digital information is consolidated over the Internet, trying to protect digital identity by simply unplugging from the Internet becomes impossible – a fact that has manifest implications for civil liberties, Saunders says.
By 2011 the number of Internet-connected sensors will exceed 1 trillion, making your chances of doing anything or going anywhere unnoticed pretty much zero. Saunders talks about how the 'sensortization' of the Internet is eliminating the traditional divide between online and offline populations.
The 20th Century Internet was characterized by the ability to interact with other people and information on the Internet largely without anyone knowing who you were. The Internet of this century, conversely, will be defined by identity. Saunders explains how Internet users are unwittingly contributing to the demise of the anonymous Internet.
Steve Saunders talks about the risks inherent in uncontrolled, widespread profiling of Internet users, and how one day this practice could form the basis of a new industry, the Outernet, which in economic terms will have outgrown the commercial value of the Internet itself.
Search companies and social networks are collecting incredibly detailed information about their users, says Steve Saunders, who predicts that these 'profiles' could one day become commodities to be bought and sold by companies on 'profile markets' or 'identity exchanges’ – the digital DNA equivalents of the financial and commodities exchanges on which stocks, oil, and gold are traded.
One of the most important Internet issues of all time is being ignored by the media. In this three-part video series Steve Saunders explains how search companies are turning the tables on their users by creating user profiles for financial gain, and how soon this trend will explode into full scale profiling.
More companies are trolling social networks to find and vet potential job candidates. Beware the pitfalls of blurring the line between personal and professional lives.
Industry initiatives and government stimulus funds are giving enterprise software vendors a great opportunity to help build out and manage smart grid technologies.
The problem with telepresence is that it's not universally accepted, because video calling isn't. While we can all do video calling, we also apparently worry too much about how we look. If we want HD telepresence in our future, we have to dress down, mess up our hair, and dive into our online life.
The US loses about $20 billion a year on pirated software, movies, and music. But public policy can help stem the tide of digital theft. For example, France has recently passed a 'three strikes and you’re out' law, whereby if after two warning letters an individual continues to download pirated software then his Internet access will be cut off. US policy makers should consider adopting similar policies.
Financial management planning does not need to include Voodoo economics, but it does help to tap into the knowledge base of your team through some sort of real-time system. We explore your options.
When Reiter gets incensed over incompetent Verizon FiOS order-taking and support, he broadcasts it via Twitter. Did it do any good? How should your company offer Twitter support? Watch this for all the answers.
The successor to the BlackBerry Bold 9000 – the Bold 9700 – will be available soon in the US. Is it worth upgrading? Reiter's got one, and offers advice.
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