Tech Brief
Today on Tech Brief: The new kid on the block in search, things get catty in the world of mobiles, and the joys of an electronic lollipop.
• The race to be the best in search often seems to be one that Microsoft is doomed to lose. But the latest statistics from Nielsen suggest it may be starting to win the psychological battle. For the first time Bing, along with MSN and Windows Live, overtook Yahoo.
Microsoft has grabbed 13.9% of the share market, while Yahoo is down to 13.1%. But with Google still commanding 65.1%,Tech Brief thinks Bing had better start searching for some super-powered trainers if it is ever going to catch up.
The rivals tend to match each other like for like when it comes to offerings and .
"Will Bing implement instant search on its own, or decide that it's not an idea worth imitating?"
• The threat of rogue employees abusing access to privileged information is one that haunts most big organisations but when that organisation is Google the amount of data that can be accessed is frighteningly huge.
This is illustrated by details emerging in the case of David Barksdale, a 27-year-old engineer sacked by Google for using his privileges to spy on and harass people, including four children.
that in the harassment of one 15-year-old, he
"tapped into call logs from Google Voice, Google's internet phone service, after the boy refused to tell him the name of his girlfriend."
Barksdale's motivation seems - as far as we can tell on these scant and scurrilous details - to have been purely to show off how much data he had access to, rather than any more nefarious purpose. Even still, it will ring further alarm bells for those banking on the fact that Google "won't be evil".
"[I]t is absurd that there aren't more dire consequences facing those that choose to molest that data. If a Google employee rampages through my e-mail, Google Voice or other data for no justifiable reason, I expect a lot more from the company than simply terminating them."
• Tech-minded readers will no doubt have noticed that Nokia World's second day in London had an almighty clash with handset-maker HTC's extravaganza today. Nokia proved it's back in the high-end handset game this week, with claws out.
Nokia provided journalists departing Nokia World for the HTC event with "HTC Press conference survival kits".
"They described the enclosed sandwich as 'The HTC. Ham, tomato, and cheese (not the most exciting) sandwich,' and listed the remaining items: 'an energy bar in case you need a boost. A giant foam finger to use during the Q&A (just to make sure your question gets answered). A pen and pad for doodling. Ear plugs and an eye-mask in case you feel snoozy.'"
Meow. Our own Jonathan Fildes was indignant when asked if he received one of the kits; in the service of you, dear readers, he spent all morning at Nokia World.
• Bringing the world we live in within our screens closer to the one we actually live in has long been the dream of scientists. Not so many, however, are working on bringing that hi-tech world directly into our mouths. being done by Professor Adrian D. Cheok.
"An electronic lollipop, for instance, could let you taste your favourite wine or your mother's home-made cookies, a jacket could deliver a hug to your children, while a text message could taste sweet or bitter by activating certain parts of the tastebuds."
Tech Brief likes the idea of a memory-inducing lollipop but draws the line at Professor Cheok's idea of a web-connected jacket for virtual cuddles.
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