Google Maps: A Pithy Abstract
February 23, 2022
If you want to see an example of a very interesting précis navigate to this Twitter sequence. Google’s terms of service for Google Maps is very Googley. You can read the stipulations at this link. A tweet thing user using the entity name “pzakrzewski” offers this summary:
Don’t use it.
The “it” is Google Maps.
Never fear pzakrzewski I am not able to figure out [a] how to find a location, [b] locate street view, and [c] go to the Cuba Libre restaurant, once ostracized because the establishment did not play Google local or Google ads.
I agree with the spirit and intent of your excellent distillation of Googley writing.
Stephen E Arnold, February 23, 2022
A Google Dork for Everyone
February 21, 2022
In my lectures about open source intelligence for law enforcement and other government professionals, I mention Google Dorks. I won’t go into detail, but the “dork” is a fancy way of saying a person who is an information professional with a knowledge of specialized commands can get semi-on point results from the online ad outfit. See for example this link. Do Googlers wear T shirts emblazoned with the phrase “Don’t be evil.” I saw such a shirt with the message “Don’t be Google,” but I may have misread.
What’s interesting is that Google Dorking is finding its way into the mainstream of the people who perceive themselves as “experts in online research.” Yep, the expertise is often similar to mastering an automatic teller machine, but that’s possibly a characteristic of our Covid era.
“Google Search Is Dying” has undergone a number of updates. The write up states:
Google still gives decent results for many other categories, especially when it comes to factual information. You might think that Google results are pretty good for you, and you have no idea what I’m talking about. What you don’t realize is that you’ve been self-censoring yourself from searching most of the things you would have wanted to search. You already know subconsciously that Google isn’t going to return a good result.
The punch line is “Google is dying.” Yeah, no kidding. When the wizard from Verity and Yahoo got involved, it was not dying. It was gifted a MOAB (that is the mother of all bombs or a disconnect from a query and stuff like precision and recall).
So what’s the fix?
A Google Dork.
Enter a query and stick “reddit” in the query. The idea is that some entity (bot or humanoid) will have posted more useful, authentic, relevant information on that service. One can be sporty and try wiki at the end of a query as well.
Google Dorking for everyone even the self proclaimed experts in online information search and retrieval! The challenge is that Google advertising is pumping cash, and that plus the bonuses for senior management is what makes Google search the outstanding service it is.
Stephen E Arnold, February 21, 2022
Smart Software and the Cloud, Google, How Is That Working Out?
February 19, 2022
I read “Google Drive Is Flagging Some MacOS Files for Copyright Violation.” The flagging is using Google’s smart software. The copyright violations concern the outfit Google pays a billion or so each year to make Google search the right choice for iPhone users. Yep, the right choice because Google has smart software. Smart software can connect to automated systems which send legal sounding letter which threaten fines and more to alleged offenders.
The write up states:
A disgruntled Reddit user recently reported that a ‘.DS_Store’ file on their Google Drive was flagged by the search giant for violating its copyright infringement policy. Apparently, this isn’t the first time this issue has been encountered as MacOS users also reported experiencing similar problems last month.
This is a small sample and the flagging may have been just some fantasy moment in the metaverse.
I noted this follow on statement:
A similar incident occurred recently when Google Drive accidentally flagged almost empty files containing just a few numbers for violating the company’s copyright infringement files.
Are violators able to call a Googley humanoid to provide input? Sure. Plus Google is working on a fix. A job for an intern? Maybe.
Stephen E Arnold, February 19, 2022
Google Joke: A Googler Walks into a Coffee Shop with a Regulator and…
February 17, 2022
I read an amusing write up called “Google Keeps Android Ad Tool Into At Least 2024, Exploring Other Options.” I think the writer of the article is serious, not crafting a joke for Joe Rogan’s much admired “Man Show” comments. Here is the passage I found semi amusing:
Google said it would give “substantial notice” before axing what is known as AdId. But it will immediately begin seeking feedback on its proposed alternatives, which Google said aim to better protect users’ privacy and curb covert surveillance.
But better than what? What happens if there are technical issues in 2024? A Googler walks into a coffee shop with a regulator and says, “We need more time to better protect users’ privacy and curb covert surveillance.”
The regulator laughs out loud because he was thinking of Apple marginalizing Facebook. Perhaps the Google is delivering some Meta-Aid. Whoops. I meant to type Meta AdID.
Stephen E Arnold, February 17, 2022
Google Minus: Putting Wood Behind Confusion
February 17, 2022
I read “Google+ Is Dead Again, Maybe for Good This Time.” Here in my redoubt in rural Kentucky, the social network thing has not been a thing. We do try to keep track of some of the Googley management decisions.
The write up explains that Google+ was terminated sort of in 2019. Then the article explains that Google Minus became Currents, also a backwater in this here hollow. But here’s the summary of Google management’s ability to create helpful services and serve its customers:
Google said that the introduction of the Spaces group chat app last year negated the need for Currents, so it plans to wind it down starting in 2023. Before it does that, however, it will add new capabilities to Spaces to accommodate some of Currents’ social features… As was the case with Google+, the usage and purpose of Currents was likely unclear to many users. That issue extends to Spaces, as well, unfortunately. As Google described it last year, Spaces is an evolution of Rooms but is a part of Google Chat that’s designed for group messaging, much like Slack. Got it?
Actually, no. I do understand the management acumen behind this modifications. No big time revenue, no wood.
Stephen E Arnold, February 17, 2022
France Wants Another Google PEZ Pellet
February 16, 2022
The craving for Google cash bundles is amusing. “France’s Privacy Watchdog Latest to Find Google Analytics Breaches GDPR” explains:
The French data protection watchdog, the CNIL, said today that an unnamed local website’s use of Google Analytics is non-compliant with the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — breaching Article 44 which covers personal data transfers outside the bloc to so-called third countries which are not considered to have essentially equivalent privacy protections.
What will Googzilla do? Threaten to pull out of Europe like the Zuckers? Pay up? Drag the matter through the highly efficient French legal system?
Probably all three options. France will continue punching the PEZ dispenser for Google outputs.
Stephen E Arnold, February 16, 2022
Praise and PR for Google and Its AutoML Push
February 14, 2022
I read the explainer PR essay called “The Data Scientist of the Future, According to Google.” The author is not a real Googler. He/it/her is a Googley contractor. No skin in the game of course. A one sentence summary is:
Become and expert and use Google machine learning tools.
This is okay, but Google wants to make darn sure that squeaky wheels like those who criticize Google’s approach either get greased or changed at the next conference stop.
The write up says:
With Google’s investment in industry-leading products such as Vertex AI, I believe Google has demonstrated a realization in the value of coupling sophisticated Auto ML products with domain knowledge experts, and abstracting away much of the programming and statistics required by the Data Scientist of yesterday. Domain knowledge will rule the future. Understand the relationship between inputs and outputs in human-interpretable ways, and having the skills to communicate this knowledge is the most important input to predictive modeling.
PR or objective praise. Both share the two letters “PR.”
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2022
Google: More PEZ Dispensers for Alphabet Cash?
February 14, 2022
I read a rather odd ball New York Times’ story today. “Google Vanquished a Rival in Prague. Payback Could Hurt” explains the alleged action of Google to achieve search market share in the Czech Republic. [Yes, you will have to pay or chase down a dead tree version of the write up.] The story reminds me of the Foundem claim about alleged Googley behavior. The PEZ angle is that a legal action can be undertaken. A victory for the plaintiff can cause the Google to emit a chunk of money. Hence, the PEZ dispenser for Alphabet cash.
Here’s the PEZ dispenser idea:
The new antitrust law, the Digital Markets Act, would speed up tech-related competition investigations and require tech companies of a certain size to give users access to rival services. The penalties could be up to 10 percent of a company’s global revenue, worth about $18 billion for Google. On new Android smartphones, users would be able to choose an alternative search engine or browser to use, a remedy that was also included in the 2018 penalty against Google in the Android case.
Will it work? Russia is testing its own PEZ dispenser with a nifty brown bear head now.
Stephen E Arnold, February 14, 2022
Another Hopeful Tap on the PEZ Dispenser Outputting Google Bucks
February 11, 2022
Click, click, click. The clicks on the PEZ dispenser with the Googzilla decoration keep on coming. “Google Hit with $20 Million Verdict in Nest Thermostat Patent Trial” reports as “real” news:
“The only place in the world that a small-but-innovative company like EcoFactor is on equal footing with Google is inside a courtroom, in front of a jury,” Mirzaie [an EcoFactor professional] said.
If those courtroom visits in West Texas deliver the cash, will others follow this tactic. Asserting that Google was a bad actor and getting paid could become more popular. France is now employing the tactic after finding the Google trampling on data protection policies.
Click, click, click.
Stephen E Arnold, February 11, 2022
Google Has Competition: Little Outfit? Nah, a Country-Linked Company
February 11, 2022
For many years, my personal view of Google is that it has operated as a nation state. I have pointed out in my essays and lectures that Google lacks only an army. I suppose if the online advertising company needed a kinetic arm, the Wagner Group would be available.
Due to its perception of itself as a servant of its users (regular people, companies, and governmental entitites), Google has mostly operated with the spirit of the American Wild West. You know. Shooting buffalo from trains, doing the treaty bait-and-switch, and doing what was necessary to capture mother lodes.
I read “TikTok Takes on YouTube with 10-Minute Videos – But Will People Watch?” The write up states:
10-minute videos may be a stretch. We’re getting perilously close to the range of a web movie or TV show. The 2003 series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a good example here, where episodes could range between three and twelve minutes. To be fair, we rather enjoyed that series. With the new 10-minute-range, TikTok could start bringing more episodic series to the platform. In the near term, though, TikTok’s new competitor is clearly YouTube, a platform that’s already attracting some TikTok creators anxious for more time on the digital stage. TikTok creeping in on YouTube territory can now upload videos up to 10 minutes long.
My thought was that Google has some competition, and that competition not only can make rules like Google, deal in high value transactions with few limitations, and has a loyal (witting and unwitting) “community” of billions.
If anyone can make Google feel a bit of competitive pressue, it may be the China-linked TikTok outfit. If TikTok is successful in nibbling on the big toe of Google, that in video eCommerce might catch the increasingly unreliable delivery king nervous as well.
Is it a good idea to have a company so large that only a real nation state can mount a challenge to the outfit which once said it would try to solve death? By the way, how it that going?
Stephen E Arnold, March 15, 2022
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