Google creates a spectacle with ‘smart glasses’ project

Google's Project Glass opens a new world of possibilities—and challenges. (AP)

If you think it’s hard to keep students’ attention in class now, just wait until everyone starts wearing Google’s futuristic, internet-connected glasses.

While wearing a pair, you can see directions to your destination appear literally before your eyes. You can talk to friends over video chat, take a photo, or even buy a few things online as you walk around.

These glasses can do anything you now need a smart phone or tablet computer to do—and then some.…Read More

After Gmail adoption, some college students aren’t making the switch

Seventy percent of Brown students were already forwarding school eMails to their personal Gmail accounts.

Gmail is unquestionably popular with college students, but IT staffers on some Google-friendly campuses have had to formulate carefully crafted public relations campaigns to get students to make the transition from their school’s legacy eMail system to their brand-new Google inboxes.

Students have been a driving force behind the widespread adoption of Google’s eMail system – the most popular outsourced eMail option among U.S. colleges and universities – so for students to delay their conversion to a university-issued Gmail account has proven baffling in higher education.

Some campus technology decision makers say many students have become so comfortable with forwarding their school-related eMails to their personal Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo! accounts that they ignore consistent pleas from campus technology departments to make the change.…Read More

Colleges laud Google+ age restriction change, safety features

An ed-tech expert says Google is erring on the side of caution.

Campus technology officials said they are more likely to create an official Google+ presence after the nascent social network announced Jan. 26 that the former Google+ age requirement of 18 has been lowered to 13.

Google’s age restriction had prevented at least one university from expanding its social media reach into Google+, because some of its students come to campus while they’re still 17, and until Jan. 26, were not eligible for a Google+ account.

Along with the lowering of its age requirement–which could help Google+ compete with Facebook–Google detailed a series of safety measures that would be included for its youngest social network members.…Read More

Google to merge user data across more services

Google says it will 'suggest search queries' for users.

Google announced a plan Jan. 24 to link user data across its eMail, video, social-networking, and other services that it says will create a “beautifully simple and intuitive” user experience. But critics raised privacy concerns like those that helped kill the search giant’s Buzz social networking service.

The changes, which take effect March 1, will remove some of the legal hurdles Google Inc. faces in trying to link information across services from Gmail to YouTube to the Google Plus social network that replaced Buzz.

More than 70 different company policies are being streamlined into one main privacy policy and about a dozen others. Separate policies will continue to govern products such as Google’s Chrome web browser and its Wallet service for electronic payments.…Read More

Colleges join Wikipedia in SOPA blackout protests

A key U.S. senator withdrew his support for SOPA Jan. 18.

Syracuse University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) joined several of the web’s most visited sites, including Wikipedia, in a partial blackout to speak out against pending anti-piracy legislation that critics say could curtail internet freedom in the U.S.

Visitors to the homepages of MIT’s admissions office and Syracuse University’s School of Information – known as the iSchool – Jan. 18 were confronted with information about the House of Representative’s Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), both of which have received bipartisan support as a way to curb online piracy.

Many in higher education have said in recent weeks that SOPA could have a long lasting impact on college and university websites. If those sites are suspected of being complicit in sharing copyrighted information, the government would have legal authority to shut down the site.…Read More

Google search gets more personal, raises hackles

Activists says Google's latest announcement is 'unfair' to web users.

Google is sifting through the photos and commentary on its blossoming social network so its internet search results can include more personal information.

The additional personal touches that began to roll out Tuesday mark another step toward one of Google’s most ambitious goals. The internet search leader eventually hopes to know enough about each of its users so it can tailor its results to fit the unique interests of each person looking for something.

Different people should start seeing different search results more frequently now that Google Inc. is importing content from its 6-month-old Plus service, a product that the company introduced in an attempt to counter the popularity of Facebook’s online hangout and Twitter’s short-messaging hub.…Read More

Eric Schmidt envisions a home where every gadget knows you

Google wants to do a little remodeling over at your place. Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt said the company’s Android software, which already powers smartphones, tablets, TVs, and laptops, could give rise to a household where personalized appliances communicate with one another and alter their performance based on the people present in the room, The Huffington Post reports. Text messages could be sent to your television, or emails to your fridge. “What you really want to be able to do is when you walk into your house with an Android device, you have all these things with computers that adjust as necessary,” Schmidt said during a panel hosted Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, the world’s largest consumer tech tradeshow.

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Google’s most popular colleges of 2011

NCAA basketball powerhouses made the Google Zeitgeist list.

Two of the universities on Google’s top-10 most searched list for 2011 made the cut thanks to far-reaching scandals, campus tragedies, and public relations nightmares.

The search giant’s 11th annual Zeitgeist list, which ranks the most popular people, events, and news items of the past year, includes the colleges and universities most frequently search for on Google.

Colleges have long vied for search-engine supremacy with careful use of web analytics, engagement with website visitors, and a consistent social media presence. But if Google’s Zeitgeist rankings are any indication, bad news might be the best way to make the vaunted list.…Read More

Online piracy bill could be major burden for colleges

SOPA has not yet been voted on in Congress.

Campus librarians and IT staffers could be legally required to comb through digital traffic for signs of copyright violations if Congress passes online piracy legislation that has met stiff opposition from higher-education groups that see the law as broad censoring of the internet.

The House of Representative’s Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s PROTECT IP Act, backed by the influential entertainment industry as a way to crack down on web-based copyright violations, could impose a lasting workload on college and university officials charged with tracking online piracy on their school’s network.

SOPA, introduced in October by a bipartisan group of legislators, would let the U.S. Department of Justice and copyright holders secure court orders against websites accused of contributing to internet copyright infringement.…Read More

Google kills Knol, Wave, and others to focus operations

Google continued to kill off businesses Nov. 22 as it streamlines operations, axing its would-be Wikipedia rival, Knol, and Wave, a real-time collaboration tool, CNET reports. Earlier this year, Google Chief Executive Larry Page announced plans to shed businesses that didn’t offer big opportunities in order for Google to focus on the ones that do. Along the way, the company has killed off Buzz, a social-networking attempt; Google Health, a personal health records service; and Google Desktop, a PC application that let users search for files and documents on their computers, among others. The latest round of cuts, announced in a blog post by Urs Holzle, senior vice president of operations and a Google fellow, includes Google Bookmarks Lists, which let users share bookmarks with friends, and Google Friend Connect, which let webmasters add social features to their site…

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