If the Web has a single point of failure, you’d think it was Google, given the outcry over the the outages suffered by some of the company’s services Thursday. Something went wrong at the company this morning and whatever it was had widespread effects on a broad spectrum of Google services. The source of the disruption? A system error that sent a bunch of Google Web traffic to Asia, apparently.
If 2008 (or 2007, 06, 05, 04…) was the year April Fools on the Web jumped the shark, then 2009 was the year it was eaten by it. The Web is so overburdened with pranks this year, it may that the best April Fools announcement of all proves to be Palm’s, a company promising to deliver real news and not some over-thought hoax. Google alone has posted no fewer than 12 pranks–and none of them match Pigeon Rank in wit.
Well, this brings new meaning to Offline Gmail… Google’s Gmail email service suffered a major worldwide outage early this morning, leaving millions of users without access to the popular service for hours.
The first Android-powered handset debuted this morning at a T-Mobile launch event in New York. Manufactured by HTC, the G1 is largely as anticipated. Peter Chou, CEO of HTC describes it as “iconic,” but that’s being a bit generous, I think. In design, the device seems to borrow quite a bit from the T-Mobile Sidekick, and its touchscreen GUI clearly owes a thing or two to Apple’s iPhone.
The HTC Dream, the first handset based on Google’s Android mobile platform, has been given the Federal Communications Commission seal of approval. With that last hurdle cleared, the device is ready for market–though it looks like it may now arrive a bit later than expected.
Google’s facing another billion dollar lawsuit–and, whaddaya know, it’s not from Viacom. It’s from LimitNone, a small software developer that claims Google’s Email Uploader tool copies the look, feel, functionality and distribution model of its gMove application.
Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff wasn’t kidding when he said in May of 2007, “We’re the Google of business.” The customer-relationship software pioneer this morning announced an alliance with Google that will see it integrating Google’s online services into the Salesforce.com platform.
Soldiering on in its quest not to compete with Microsoft’s core office-productivity software business, Google last night added another component to its Web-based productivity suite– Google Sites. Created from JotSpot, the hosted wiki platform Google acquired back in 2006, Sites is essentially a lightweight version of Microsoft’s business collaboration program SharePoint.
Yahoo finally beat Google to something. It brought its email client out of beta before Gmail.
This morning Yahoo officially relaunched Yahoo Mail, ending a two-year public test of the Web-based email service that began in September 2005. Its overhaul completed, Yahoo Mail is no longer just a Webmail client, it’s a “social communication” tool. “Our [...]
Apparently, Google’s “Store 100%” reality will come at a price. Yesterday, the company announced the beginnings of a shared online storage service–and a pricing schedule to go with it. “In a few hours we’ll be rolling out extra storage that you can purchase to use across several Google products (today, Picasa Web Albums and Gmail; soon, other applications like Google Docs & Spreadsheets),” Google engineer Ryan Aquino wrote in a post to the company’s blog.
“You’re an idiot if you use T-Mobile HotSpot.” That’s what Robert Graham, the CEO of Errata Security, had to say last Thursday about checking email from public wireless hotspots.
And he knows of what he speaks. Earlier in the day, Graham hijacked a Gmail session in front of a packed audience at the Black Hat [...]
With .Mac’s mediocrity so impressively well realized, it was only a matter of time before Apple wised up and improved the archaic online services suite.
And some observers are wondering if it already has. Perhaps in partnership with Google. Over at Wired, Fred Vogelstein suggests Apple may use its Worldwide Developers Conference next week to announce [...]
It was not the market-defining partnership many expected, but Google and Salesforce.com did announce an alliance yesterday. The first fruit of their collaboration: “Salesforce Group Edition featuring Google AdWords,” a joint service through which Salesforce.com will resell Google’s online-advertising tools to businesses.
John Paczkowski has been poking fun at the tech industry and the personalities that drive it since 1997. From 1999 to 2007, he wrote the award-winning tech news Web log Good Morning Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News, Silicon Valley's daily newspaper. Read more »
Here is a statement of my ethics and coverage policies. It is more than most of you want to know, but, in the age of suspicion of the media, I am laying it all out.
12:58 AM: Breakfast: Two schools of fish from Tokyo Bay. Calories: 782,000. How I was feeling when I ate this: confused, irradiated, hating my size.
11:37 AM: Exercise: “Taxi Stomp” (alternating legs, for 30 blocks). Calories burned: 148,900,183.
1983. The Beatles announce their first tour in thirteen years, but likewise announce that Michael Jackson will be going on tour with them as a one gigantic mega-concert event.
Best video mashup ever.
A Facebook Memorial
Wow.
Worth it for the Rickrolling photo alone.
Excellent.
Flughumor!
… you vacuous, toffee-nosed, malodorous perverts
Stephen Fry and zoologist Mark Carwardine meet the kakapo — a fat, flightless and very randy rare parrot.
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