Hmm...Google censoring in U.S now?
Likely nothing more than a "manual mistake" since Google now does "manual" filtering of content.
Still, it's somewhat disturbing that a video entitled Ownage which appears to be nothing more than a home video of a gamer is "Not playable in your country". Given that I currently live in the U.S.A with its liberal free speech and libel laws, I can't imagine that the censoring is accurate.
(sigh) One more, likely un-intended, side-effect of Google's new evil policies.
Google being Evil
Sure, the consumer experience on their video store sucks. Sure, they've been keeping thngs in perma-beta status for no good reason. Sure, they need to figure out what sort of archival policy makes sense now that the general public knows that every single search's IP is recorded. Fine. I can handle all of that. What I distinctly can not abide by is the following shift in censoring policy.
"Google does not censor results for any search term. The order and content of our results are completely automated; we do not manipulate our search results by hand. We believe strongly in allowing the democracy of the web to determine the inclusion and ranking of sites in our search results. To learn more about Google's search technology, please visit ..." – Google's full help entry on "Principles - Does Google censor search results?"
cache'd page here. A current version of this page doesn't exist.
"Google is committed to providing easy access to as much information as possible. For Internet users in China, Google remains the only major search engine that does not censor any web pages." – The Google Team, September 2004 (in a reply on why Google News self-censors some sources).
Now Google is launching Google.cn which very distinctly filters search results.This is evil no matter how you slice it. Google, do not filter your search results, just let the great firewall run by the Chinese government censor the sites. It already blocks access to things like Free Tibet. How should search result policies for China be any different than a country like Quatar? Don't filter your search results and let the government-run agencies be responsible for the filtering/blocking.
The world is waiting for Google to do the right thing here. Don't let us down.
More detail can be found on this fairly decent piece of journalism from C|Net...yeah I know..."C|Net" and "good journalism" in the same sentence; Go figure.
Followup: A nice set of counter-points by Bill Thompson of the BBC. I still think that Google.cn is an abomination, and clearly this is far from a knee-jerk reaction. This is a fundamental change to the way Google does business in other countries. This appears to be only due to the the size of the potential Chinese market. Similar actions have not been taken with other, less economically promising countries. This is still very wrong and Google, if it continues to do this, needs to modify the "Integrity" section of their technology page.
Things that make 'ya go hmmm
Via jwz
Or, more precisely, how do you spell "Hmmm". Nice use of multi-dimensional visualization. Yet another Google API mash-up...still in beta...meh.
I wonder what a chart for Khaaaaan!(Quicktime required) would look like?
Windows Vista..de ja vu
A hilarious rip on Microsoft. You see a current MAC desktop (OSX Panther build I believe) as the user goes through pre-existing features whilst the CES demo soundtrack of Vista plays in the background. Priceless.
Who even uses MSN-Spaces anyways...blech.
And no, I didn't get up early today. I haven't slept...again.
Bush Presidency as Zork
Via Winterspeak
What if being president was a text adventure game like Zork?
If you don't get it, you probably never played any games produced by Infocom. It was an 80's thing.
"Gumbowling the Contraflow"
Umm...yeah.
My new weird phrase of the week. It refers to the practice of knocking over traffic cones which demarcate the lanes of contra-flows on some European roads during the Gumball 3000 rally. You can see an example of this at roughly 57 seconds into this video.
The soundtrack is courtesy of the German DJ ATB. The killer intro soundbed sync'd largely to the antics of British supermodel Jodie Kidd is called "Ecstasy".
Side effect of Google Video
Sites such as Diggnation/Revision3, YouTube, et. al. can get their videos on their infrastructure for free. They have to give-up all rights to the distribution revenues for the content, but it's worth it as a loss leader since their business models are still based on eye-balls.
Speaking of eye-balls, you may have to shield them from this David Hasselhoff music video. Just when you think it can't get any worse...it does...again and again. This may be the single most horrible piece of 'professionally produced' music video ever.
David versus Goliath
Google Analytics (formerly Urchin) versus MeasureMap. An aquisition by a billion dollar company versus a small start-up project offshoot headed by Jeff Veen of AdaptivePath.
I bet Mr. Veen et. al. feel how Ev (of Odeo) felt after Apple launched podcast subscriptions on iTunes.
Let the battle for best metrifier begin!
Follow-up: No, I'm not a member of the private beta on either site.
Funny chemical names
On a day when I feel like utter crap due to a combination of allergies and lack of sleep caused by allergies I needed a laugh. Where else but the Internet could I turn to for a list of funny chemical names. Props go out to Moronic Acid, Fukitol, and Conantokin. Science ftw!
Top Gear on Google Video
The title says it all. My favorite car show ever; freshly imported from the continent thanks to Google and the BBC.
British humor, sensibility, and directness, with the world's greatest automobiles. This is perhaps my favorite episode(looks like it's been removed...perhaps it will be back on pay-per-view).