google.cn

I usually feel guilty about making Google-related posts, especially at a time when they release such great things as the Nexus One, Near-Me-Now, and a feature of GoogleDocs now lets you upload any type of file for storage (the elusive "G-Drive"). But somehow, this post seems different.

Yesterday, Google made a post about their China branch

1. Four years ago, Google decided that the benefits of having "increased access to information for people in China ... outweighed [Google's] discomfort in agreeing to censor some results". To abide by laws, certain search results on google.cn are filtered.
   (For example, looking up an image of the "tiananmen-square tank man" in Canada vs. China yields very different results.)
2. Last month, Google (among "at least twenty other large companies") faced a particularly strong "cyber attack", which they have reported was likely to gain access to the email accounts of human rights activists.
3. Yesterday, Google concluded its post with this option for the Chinese government:
   
   We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

I absolutely love that conclusion, and I look forward to seeing how this plays out.

I can only imagine flawlessly.

I do wonder though... What brought them to these options?

• Helping China within their own legal system is more trouble then it's worth. (Especially if some part of the PRC government is not.)
• Google is a major part of many peoples lives. Perhaps the PRC will submit to having an unfiltered search giant?
• The cyber attack might not have been possible without Google's presence in China. Perhaps the best way to "don't be evil" is getting out.

I have no idea, but I'm glad that some action is being taken.

Comments and insights would be much appreciated.

WebCT Exams - Am I the April Fool?

This term, I decided (against all better judgement) to take a couple of courses online. I don't trust WebCT, nor do I trust their technical staff, so before I started an online quiz I decided to contact the technical support to assure it is safe to do so.

Here is the transcript of the events that transpired:

me: With the webCT technical difficulties, is it safe to write an online quiz this afternoon?


them: Despite the problems WebCT is currently experiencing, writing quizzes appears to be working correctly. This feature (quizzes/assessments) has been tested this morning without problem.

WebCT goes down as I begin my quiz

me: Followup question: If I begin a timed quiz, and WebCT goes down... Will WebCT count that as an attempt, or do I have to contact my professor and have things cleared up?



Way to go, Laurier. Why do they insist on using the WebCT system?

We share a few programs with other schools, so I would like to invite our school to examine the online systems of other institutes. Namely, Nippissing's effective use of Google Apps. Their system provides the following resources that ours does not:

• All resources (including email) in the same system.
• Laurier uses both WebCT and Novell. - Neither are proving to be reliable.
• Discussion boards with RSS feeds.
• Laurier does not supply RSS syndication, but if you log in you can see a green star beside new items. As of right now, even this feature is on the fritz.
• Ample space for online storage.
• 20 Megs? I have a PDF file bigger than that!
• Calendar, able to sync with Outlook, blackberrys, or whatnot, with different views to see exactly which courses you want to see.
• Although WebCT does have a calendar feature, professors have learned long ago that it's not worth trying.
• Online document editors for word processing, spreadsheets, and slideshows.
• WebCT is now integrated with turnitin.com - something that I don't think Google offers (yet)... but we could use the old system of turnitin.com if we didn't have WebCT anyway.
• Compatible with all browsers.
• Compatible with browsers made three years ago. Officially unsupported by newer browsers (which work anyway, except for the annoying popups that say "Your browser may be unsupported!").
• Still supported by its makers.
• Laurier's version of WebCT is no longer supported by Blackboard Learning Systems. (Huh... so that's why ITS takes so long to fix things.)

I don't think any of these are a stretch for reasons why we should abandon WebCT for a better system.

--

D. Phillips

Double Feature: Cute and Fuzzy Controversy!

If you found out your best friend had cancer, what would you do? This couple (lower left) got their beloved Sir Lancelot cloned, for a meager one hundred and fifty five thousand dollars by BioArts, a South Korean company. This company auctioned their service to the Otto family's dog, who won the bid against four other family pets.

I have nothing against cloning. I mean, if we're talking about people then it might be psychologically traumatizing to the individual in todays society... But we're talking about a puppy today, and a Woolly Mammoth in the near future. I don't think that's asking too much.


Admittedly, though, I'm sure a lot of crazy people are probably campaigning outside the Otto's household. It must be very hard on the family to know that a good chunk of the world hates their puppy. (Don't worry, Sir Lancelot the Second! I still think your neat!)

* * *

In other news, the one of the cars that drive around taking pictures for Google Earth's "Street View" feature has, reportedly, killed a deer. Furthermore, the van drivers proceeded to upload the pictures of the deer getting hit. Although the pictures are no longer available on Google Earth or Google Maps, they are still floating around the internet. I've uploaded two of them (right and below), but there are at least four pictures with the different states of the deer visible.

Yikes!


Google has responded to this incident, saying that "the deer was able to move and had left the area by the time the police arrived".


There are plenty of good sightings out there on Google Streetview - from drug deals, to police brutality, to a "this is your speed" sign that shows the Google van speeding -  though I can't find too many good websites that collect them. When they get around to touring Ontario, you can bet I'll out on the streets posing pretty!


--
D. Phillips

Google's not invincible?

My feeds just came in... It seems that Google is not the sole proprietor to the economy. In fact, their not even immune!

If I understood Google's two apologies from the past few hours, it seems their restructuring many of their engineers and sacking their contracted hiring squads. Some 70 engineers are being asked to relocate, and Google doesn't seem to expect that they all will...

As for the recruiting "changes":

Our first step to address this was to wind down almost all our contracts with external contractors and vendors providing recruiting services for Google. However, after much consideration, we have with great regret decided that we need to go further and reduce the overall size of our recruiting organization by approximately 100 positions.

If I were a company who probably hires a great majority of the great thinkers of the world, and I decided not to hire anyone for a while... I'd probably fire the people who do the hiring too. But hey, they've still got a hell of a lot more tact than Yahoo.

But I kind of thought that was just me.

All hail Google.

--
D. Phillips

Just call it Dr. Google

They say Santa Claus knows when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good, et cetera.

Good for him.

I could know all of that too, if I were to have a camera follow you around 24/7.

But does Santa Claus know when you've got the flu? Not unless you're outwardly displaying symptoms.

That's where Google, the Santa Claus of the 21st century, comes in - with Google Flu Trends!

GFT looks through all Google search logs, and highlights every search term related in some way to the flu. They then break them down for each US State - and through five years' worth of analysis, have determined that flu-related searches are generally higher when more people are reported sick with the flu.

Not only is this a neat little tool to tell you where the virus is going, traditional methods of gathering flu statistics generally take a week or two before completion, by which point most of those infected will be healthy. Google provides instantaneous data!

Best of all, maybe this will convince Madagascar to stop closing their ports as soon as somebody coughs.

--Ryan

P.S.: Look down! I've started using labels! Maybe not for their intended purpose, but baby steps, right?