Archive for November, 2007

So, Yahoo has settled with the people they helped the Chinese government throw in jail and torture. Big whoop.

Yahoo Inc., reeling from a growing backlash over human rights and its China operations, settled a lawsuit Tuesday that accused it of illegally helping the Chinese government jail and torture two journalists.

Neither side disclosed details other than to agree Yahoo would pay the attorneys fees of Shi Tao and Wang Xiaoning and the family member who sued on their behalf. Yahoo also said it would “provide financial, humanitarian and legal support to these families.”

The settlement has reopened debate over Internet companies cooperating with governments that deny freedom of speech and crack down on journalists.

Is there anything in the settlement that guarantees they won’t pull that crap again? No. If you’re going to be dealing with Yahoo! you might want to invest in some family insurance. You never know what they’re going to do.

Finally, a new solution from Google that I can actually see everyone using, and I mean everyone. Well, everyone except the guy who won’t stop and ask for directions in the first place.

Lost drivers soon will be able to Google for help at the pump. As part of a partnership to be announced Wednesday, the online search leader will dispense driving directions at thousands of gasoline pumps across the United States beginning early next month.

The pumps, made by Gilbarco Veeder-Root, include an Internet connection and will display Google’s mapping service in color on a small screen. Motorists will be able to scroll through several categories to find local landmarks, hotels, restaurants and hospitals selected by the gas station’s owner.

After the driver selects a destination, the pump will print out directions. Eventually, Gilbarco Veeder-Root hopes to enable motorists to type in a specific address and get directions.

I’ll take the maps anyday, rather than those annoying news clips they play at some stations.

OpenSocial? For developers, great news, for everyday people, not so much.

Google on Friday launched OpenSocial, a common platform for developers of social websites, in a

The Internet search leader said it hopes OpenSocial’s set of common application programming interfaces (APIs) will revolutionize the Internet’s social powers.

“The web is fundamentally better when it’s social, and we’re only just starting to see what’s possible when you bring social information into different contexts on the web,” said Jeff Huber, senior vice president of engineering, Google.

OpenSocial will make it much easier for developers to create new interfaces and applications for social networking. The problem with that, is there will soon be over 100,000 different applications and interfaces, but only a few, like the originals, will be worth using.