Capital Berg

Keeps People Up-To-Date

Sunday, March 7, 2021
Log in
  • United States
  • Business
  • Health
  • Science
  • Technology
  • About CapitalBerg
    • Analysts & Contributors
    • Advertising
    • Contact US
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use

Pages

  • About CapitalBerg
  • Advertising
  • Analysts & Contributors
  • Contact US
  • Investor Relations
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • SEC Disclosure
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • Tennessee Rapist Breaks into Woman’s House Three Times the Same Night to Assault Her June 29, 2018
  • Mentally Ill Man Arrested After Breaking into Retirement Home to Grope a Woman’s Chest June 28, 2018
  • “Syndrome” Author Blake Leibel Sentenced to Life in Prison for the Murder and Torture of Girlfriend June 27, 2018
  • Michigan Dad to Be Sentenced in the Beating Death of 3-Year-Old Infant June 26, 2018
  • Ohio Patrolman Booted from Police After Pulling Over His Daughter and Boyfriend June 26, 2018
  • Utah Mayor Shares Heartwarming Letter of Man Apologizing for Stealing a Stop Sign 75 Years Ago June 25, 2018
  • Mississippi Man Beheaded Mother After A Spat over Credit Cards June 25, 2018

Pokemon Go Fake Privacy Concerns

July 16, 2016 By June Harris

Pokemon Go

                               Pokemon Go proved to be immensely successful in the US.

The Pokemon Go obsession resulted in privacy rumors that provoked hysteria among users. A blog post published an article accusing Niantic Labs and Nintendo of illegally getting access to Google accounts.

It seems that the app had an issue with permissions’ implementation on iPhones. The developer fixed the problems immediately.

However, the rumors continued, and spirits rose in a privacy panic. For a whole week, the scared users started to uninstall the app, not knowing what exactly could leak online from their private data.

The Pokemon Go Experience

Pokemon Go met an incredible success. The game involves a treasure hunt that is orientated by GPS data and uses the smartphone camera. People are moving out in the world looking for Pokemons and are forced to interact with one another. The whole experience proved to be immensely entertaining in the US.

The stories around the treasure hunts are way more interesting than the game in itself. People started to have real-life adventures while looking for Pokemons in churches, gay bars, police stations and courthouses. The social media presented the case of an individual who found a dead body, while another one that managed to get robbed.

The whole affair made police issue safety guidelines for Pokemon Go players. However, the game has proven to have even mental health benefits, making people explore their environment and seek adventures. Since its release, the game brought $11 billion to Nintendo.

The Rumors and the Fix

The Gmail access requested by the app meant that Niantic could get information such as email address and a phone number. The issue proved to be only a mistake on the part of Google and Niantic and not an actual privacy error. Moreover, the information had never been used maliciously.

By a mere coincidence, the lack of availability of the signup process was unavailable during last week. The explanation is that the Pokemon servers did not manage the incredible activity of the increasing number of users.

Other apps have similar privacy issues. For example, Runkeeper records the location even after the app is turned off. Facebook was accused of tracking the users’ location and matching them with other profiles of people in the vicinity.

The experts recommend being careful when offering access to social media profiles. Social login permissions can provide third party companies with personal data, and they are tough to control.

Pokemon Go privacy issue was in fact not a problem at all. The access permissions were negotiated between Nintendo and Google beforehand, and the information needed by the app was restricted to basic personal details such as phone numbers and email addresses.

The malfunction of the app was observed only on iPhones, and the bug was fixed in no time. The rest of the discussion is just a matter of rumors and induced mass hysteria.

Image Source: YouTube

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: geocaching, Google, mass hysteria, Niantic Labs, Nintendo, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Go Fake Privacy Concerns, privacy concerns, rumors

Google’s Trans-Pacific Telecommunication System

July 3, 2016 By Denise Ehrlich

world telecommunication system

Google inaugurates its first telecommunication system traversing the Pacific.

Google inaugurated the underwater cable system with a length of almost 5,600 miles that will connect the west of the US with Japan.

The system is called FASTER and contains optimized fibers that can deliver a bandwidth of 60 terabits per second.

The global infrastructure for internet and communication services includes a few hundred submarine telecommunications cables.

The FASTER Telecommunication System

The name of the project was given by the team of engineers working on the project. One of them explained that at the beginning of the project, everyone hurried to get things done and to keep up with the tight schedule, so they repeatedly told one another to do it faster, everything needed to be done faster – and thus, the word became an emblem for the project.

The telecommunication system was an initiative of a consortium composed of Google, China Mobile International, Global Transit, KDDI, China Telecom Global, and Singtel.

The construction started in 2014, and it was managed by NEC Corporation. The total investment is estimated to value almost $300 million.

FASTER includes a 6-fiber-pair cable and transmission technologies that rely on 100 Gb/s x 100 wavelengths of optical cables.

The engineer responsible for NEC’s submarine network division said that the cable would bring benefits to the entire Asia-Pacific region. It seems that the construction involved many technical challenges.

The cable originating point is in Oregon and has two landing spots in Japan. On the American side, the FASTER system is connected with Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. Through Japan, the cable is linked to other Asian locations.

The cable will be ready for service during the summer of 2016.

Facebook’s MAREA Project

Earlier this year, Microsoft and Facebook announced their intention to build an underwater cable across the Atlantic. The project will be named MAREA, and it will connect Virginia Beach with Bilbao in Spain. It will ensure an improved data connectivity for Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

MAREA will have an open design that will allow future upgrades to better and more reliable technologies. The system will reduce the costs for customers and will guarantee a better quality of their services.

The bandwidth offered by the optical fiber technology will bring benefits to streamers and gamers all around the world.

In 2015, there were almost 300 underwater cables built around the world. Apart from the Trans-Pacific cable, there are six other systems categorized by their region: Trans-Atlantic, Intra-Asia, Intra-Europe, Asia-Europe-Africa, Asia-Australia, and Australia-USA.

Image Source: Wikipedia

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: bandwidth, facebook, FASTER system, fiber optics, Google, Google Trans-Pacific Telecommunication System, high-speed internet, telecommunication system, Trans-Pacific underwater cable, underwater cable

Google Might Be Designing Their Own VR Headset

January 26, 2016 By Carol Harper

"google cardboard"

There have been a few moves made to suggest that Google might be designing their own VR headset to further expand their reach into the virtual reality market. It will likely be the theme of 2016. Virtual reality is getting closer, and many experts have high hopes for the new industry.

Major companies seem ready to make more investments in VR, with Facebook, HTC, Samsung, and Sony putting in efforts to bring products on the market. Google has not been far behind. In fact, it’s expected that their Google Cardboard will remain in the top of VR products this year. That’s because of its convenience, easy use, and incredibly low price in comparison to the upcoming hardware.

Google Cardboard is more of a support than a true headset for VR. It’s a do-it-yourself kit that you put together, supports your smartphone, and it becomes the tool through which virtual reality can be enjoyed. The apps themselves are downloaded in your phone, so Cardboard is more like a vessel. However, Google seems to have a vested interest in the market, so it’s possible that they’re planning a better performing hardware.

New hires and job openings at Google

Recently, the company created its own division that will be strictly focused on VR. In fact, former Vine CEO Jason Toff left the company for the purpose of working with Google’s new virtual reality department. It remains to be see what this will entail, but Toff expressed his plans to “work on VR”. It’s also recently that Google hired Scott Broock as YouTube’s “VR Evangelist”.

The rumors have been propelled forward by online posts of job openings at the company. One of the offered positions is for a PCB Layout Engineer which implies the “development and sustaining of actual products”. It also mentions the possibility of building multiple consumer electronic devices and putting together a team that will be on scale with the company’s offering. The bigger the product, the larger the team.

The second opening is for a Hardware Engineering Technical Lead Manager, which will have a bigger focus on design and execution. The employee will be responsible for the consumer hardware products.

While the openings themselves might only suggest the possibility of creating a new device, reports have it that “consumer product” actually replaced a mention of “virtual reality”. Whether that was a mistake on Google’s demands or the desire on the company’s side of not giving away too much information it remains to be  seen.

However, the possibility itself is exciting, and given Google’s interest in virtual reality, it is possible that they are working on a headset to rival the upcoming Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.

Image source: cloudfront.net

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: cardboard, Google, google cardboard, google job, google job opening, google vr, reality, virtual, Virtual Reality, vr, vr divison, vr headset

Uber and Google May Become Strong Rivals In the Race of Driverless taxis

February 4, 2015 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

Google car hailing service

Uber and Google, former partners may turn into biggest rival soon. The two firms are all set to enter the race of driverless taxis.

A latest rumor suggests that Google is planning to begin a ride-hailing service. In comparison, Uber has started to work together with Carnegie Mellon University for the creation of driverless cars.

Thus Far, the world’s largest tech giant and Uber have worked together on numerous occasions. Two years ago, Google venture invested a large sum of nearly $258 million in the car service firm. Google Venture is considered as the venture capital arm of Google Inc.

Currently, majority of the Uber apps depends entirely on Google Maps. The most shocking thing is that Google senior vice president and chief legal officer joined Uber board of directors.

Recently, David Drummond warned Uber about the ride sharing service of Google. He showed several screen shots of new ride sharing service app of Google to the members of board.

Susan Shaheen, co-director of UC Berkeley’s transportation Sustainability Research Center states that it looks like a strong but hostile relationship between the two companies. Thus Far, Uber has dominated the transportation service industry for a long time. However, there are chances that Google’s brand name may give a tough competition to Uber in future.

On the other hand, Uber and Google refused to make any comment on this particular matter.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Google, Google Map, investment, new app, Uber

Mobile Payment Company SoftCard sought by Google

January 17, 2015 By Carol Harper

Softcart

There are reports surfacing that Google is interested to buy the mobile payment company, SoftCard and there are sources that state that the deal is very much likely to occur after Google stashed up $100 million for the mobile payment services.

SoftCard, who previously ventured into the market with the name of ISIS but after that name made headlines for all the wrong reasons pertaining to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS, the company revamped its name to SoftCard. The mobile payment service SoftCard is a collaboration amongst the top mobile service providers AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. This service even has Windows and Android compatibility and also its users to make payments via various payment terminals.

Both Google and SoftCard have refused to comment on the ongoing deal.

A google spokesperson branded this as a rumor and said “We don’t have a comment, background, deep background, off-the-record steer, nod, wink or any other verbal or nonverbal response to these sorts of rumors.”

Presently the mobile payment service is accepted by more than 200,000 merchants in the U.S alone that also includes names of the likes of McDonald’s and Subway. Most financial institutions including American Express Company, Wells Fargo & Co along with several others are backing the service in the market.

Google also has its own mobile payment system, Google Wallet which was one of the first in the market, but in total honesty Google Wallet has failed to gather much users. And there are also reports that SoftCard also hasn’t done much better as well in recent times. Only last week, it axed 60 employees and the morale in the company is also at an all-time low.

Filed Under: Business, Technology Tagged With: $100 million deal likely, Google, Google in talks to take over SoftCard, mobile payment service, SoftCard

Facebook Rolls Out the Trial Version of “Facebook at Work”

January 15, 2015 By Andreas Petersen

Facebook at Work

Finally, Facebook rolled out the trial version of “Facebook at Work”. The new application will draw a fine line between the work place a home of the user.

Today, Facebook launched the app and site of “Facebook at Work”. The social networking media released the site for both Android and iOS users. Unfortunately, the company has not said anything regarding the desktop release of the new application.

Facebook at work site is quite similar to the current facebook.  However, the differences are in the policies of advertisement and third party developers. As per the new strategies, the company would not sale the data of the new app to third parties or to other adverting agencies.

The main goal of the new social networking site is to increase the productivity of employees through communication. It will provide a platform to workers to share their ideas with other employees.  The users would not be interested in the useless videos and posts of old friends.

Facebook started working on Facebook at work in 2013. Initially, the social networking service tried the new version in its London office.  It seems like the site showed good results in its trial. Hence, the company launched the new site for a wide range of people. Currently, Facebook has released the new app for particular offices. The firm has not announced the public resale date of the site.

A few other tech companies such as Microsoft and Google have already launched special versions for offices. Nevertheless, this is the first time when Facebook designed something related to work.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: facebook, Facebook at work, Google, Microsoft, new workplace version

Google Rolled Out Real Time Voice and Text Translators Update

January 15, 2015 By Marlene R. Litten

New update for Google Translate

The Translation app of Google is extremely useful for frequent travelers. As per the reports of Google, around 500 million people make use of Google translate on daily basis. The figure makes approximately one billion translations every day.

Recently, the company rolled out another update for the application. Earlier, translator can only recognize 36 languages.  However, the new update will add 90 more languages to the feature.

On Wednesday, the biggest internet service provider firm released the new update for Android and iOS users.  The update can increase the popularity of the application in few days.

The new update contains two noteworthy features: visual translator and voice translator. The voice translator will instantly identify the spoken language and will present it in the form of text.  . It can also work like a user friendly interpreter, users can utilize microphone to record the foreign language. . As soon as the translator becomes aware of the other language, it will display the translated text on the screen.

Barak Turovskly, the product leader of Google Translate states that it is quite difficult task to talk with someone who speaks unfamiliar language. It takes a lot of time to type and translate the language of the other person. Hence, the company has launched the new update to save users’ precious time. The chief purpose of the voice translator is to make conversation more natural. The feature can easily defeat the issue of language barrier.

The second feature is visual translator which can translate signs and text in few seconds. People are only required to capture an image of the written text and put it into the visual translator. The feature will show translation of the text on the screen.

 

 

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Google, language Barrier, new update, Translation Technology, universal translator, Visual Translator, Voice translator

Google’s updated Translating App emerged with amazing linguistic oomph

January 14, 2015 By Denise Ehrlich

google-translating-app

Consider two different lingual persons sitting in a room; say one can only speak English while the other can only speak French. Now imagine the linguistic barrier that lies in between them.

Now Google has solved the issue with the update in its Translate App. The two Googlers — Parisian-born product manager Julie Cattiau and software engineer Otavio Good unveiled the company’s latest Translate app, supercharged with what Google calls the biggest update in years.

“I’d like a cup of coffee without milk or sugar,” Good says in English into the phone, which almost immediately repeats his words in French. “I’ll bring you that right now,” Cattiau replies in French, her response rendered aloud in English.

Get ready for your own interpreter as it would be released soon. The machine assisted translation will fill the linguistic gap among the followers of the different languages. Google’s free app, which was officially launched to the world, early Wednesday, is an advanced mobile-translating tool, recognizing more than three dozen languages. Similar researches have been undergoing by Microsoft’s Skype who planned to design a translator which can translate multi-lingual video chats in real-time. Twitter is using Bing translation technology to instantly translate tweets, while Facebook pursues its own translation efforts.

Young Cattiau, who has worked at Google the past three-and-a-half years says “I’m passionate about translation. With our new app, we’re able to detect the languages being spoken so you don’t even have to press the translate button on the phone each time you talk. It’s now so much more natural.”

While the users and critics who have not used the recent updated app had largely praised the previous version of the app, with CNET calling it “feature-packed” and “extremely versatile.”

A new key feature designed by Good, named Word Lens technology was integrated into the updated app after Google bought his company last May, stands up with the phone to show off the app’s other key feature: the ability to point the camera at foreign-language text, whether it’s a street sign or a restaurant menu, and have an English translation appear like magic on the smart phone or tablet screen.

Good showed the Demo by pointing his camera towards one of the demo signs in different languages on the wall at Google’s San Francisco headquarters. Instantly the same picture appears on the screen with the English translation on the screen. The best part is that this feature works without an Internet or data connection. Good performed this action with multiple lingual signs and the app successfully translated all the instructions on the signs, into English.

“Often the hardest part of traveling is navigating the local language,” Google developers say in a blog post about the new app. “If you’ve ever asked for ‘pain’ in Paris and gotten funny looks, confused ’embarazada’ (pregnant) with ’embarrassed’ in Mexico, or stumbled over pronunciation pretty much anywhere, you know the feeling.”

Good says that this technology got boost after the introduction of technology that could recognize symbols in Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas. “Achieving a robust recognition of text has required a lot of work” Good says.

According to Good, Google’s purchase of his company last May has put things on the fast track.

The app was first introduced in 2001; saw a great peak in its energy in 2006 when developers began using “statistical machine translation,” essentially mapping languages across the Internet. As Google’s algorithms learn to pair up, say, “maison” in French with “house” in English, the computers gradually build a dynamic translator, word by word.

“We base translation on machine learning, by looking at billions of Web pages that have been translated into other languages,” says Cattiau. “We find ‘dog’ has been translated millions of times into ‘chien,’ for example, so the computer now knows the two mean the same thing.”

Up till now the updated app can translate 38 languages and the number of language are expected to grow.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: 38 languages, extremely versatile, feature-packed, Google, Julie Cattiau, Otavio Good, Translating app, updated

Puerto Rico chosen by Google as a Testing ground for its Modular Phone

January 14, 2015 By Cliff Jenkins Scott

google-modular-phone

Google is surely one of the most innovative tech firms in the modern era. After revolutionizing the Android handset market, the company continues to provide the most cutting edge innovations to the smartphone world in Google’s project Ara smartphone or more commonly called as the modular phone is all set to be previewed before the end of this year after the tech giant takes it into commercial market some time during the next year.

The modular smartphone is all set to be tested in the Puerto Rico, a new testing ground for Google. The announcement was made at a Project Ara developer’s conference held in Mountain View, California. Regina Dugan, the Googler in charge of one of the most ambitious attempts in order to design and market a fully customized swappable modular smartphone running on Android, made the inspirational announcement.

The phone would be displayed to the public via food trucks, while Claro and Open Mobile are the two cellular networks on the island that are also partners in the pilot. Google also released that it would have released over 20 modules for people to test and use when customizing their modular phones by the time the pilot launches.

This would present Google the shortcomings of the phone as well as would also present opportunities as to what type of problems may arise and how to tackle those issues as well, before taking it to the next level.

These types of projects are often hyped with uncertainties, but if the phone gathers audience and makes a mark, then it would possibly alter the way in which we look at phones as of now, because modularity can bring with it a lot of opportunities. It would completely revolutionize the way we look and expect of our phones because these customizations would possibly usher the smartphone market into the future of ubiquitous computing.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Android, Claro, customizeable modular smartphone, Google, Googler Regina Dugan, Modular Phone, Open Mobile, Project Ara, Puerto Rico, smartphone

Apple, Google New Settlement To Resolve Employee Poaching Lawsuit

January 14, 2015 By Denise Ehrlich

A Google logo is seen at the garage where the company was founded on Google's 15th anniversary in Menlo Park, California

4 Silicon Valley firms including Apple Inc. and Google Inc. have consented to a new agreement that would resolve an antitrust legal claim by tech workers, who blamed the companies of scheming to abstain from poaching each other’s employees.

Claimants blamed Apple, Google, Intel Corp. also Adobe Systems Inc. in the 2011 claim of constraining job mobility and, thus, keeping a lid on salaries.it

The case has been strictly viewed because of the likelihood of enormous harms being rewarded and for the chance to look into the world of some of America’s best tech firms.

US District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., rejected a $324.5 million settlement of the claim last year as excessively low after one of the named claimants objected.

That employee will support the new contract, his lawyer Daniel Girard said, which could be a joint payment of $415 million; the New York Times reported referring a person close to the concessions.

Delegates for Apple, Intel and Adobe declined to remark. A Google representative couldn’t be arrived at, nor could a lawyer for the claimants.

The case was based mostly on emails in which Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, previous Google CEO Eric Schmidt and some of their opponents’ detailed plans to abstain from poaching one another’s prized engineers.

In dismissing the $324.5 million deal, Koh over and again alluded to a related 2013 settlement including Disney and Intuit.

Apple and Google employees got relatively less than Disney employees, Koh said, despite the fact that claimants’ attorneys had “substantially more influence” against Apple and Google.

To match the prior settlement, the deal with Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe “would need to total at least $380 million,” Koh said.

In the short court filing on Tuesday, the firms said claimants would file a detailed clarification of the new deal “quickly.” Koh will then likely choose whether to acknowledge or reject it.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: $324.5 million settlement, Adobe Systems Inc., Apple, employee data, employee poaching, Google, lawsuit, Lucy Koh

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • Next Page »

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 44 other subscribers

Recent Articles

sleep

Tennessee Rapist Breaks into Woman’s House Three Times the Same Night to Assault Her

June 29, 2018 By Denise Ehrlich Leave a Comment

police lights

Mentally Ill Man Arrested After Breaking into Retirement Home to Grope a Woman’s Chest

June 28, 2018 By Waleed Javed Leave a Comment

gavel

“Syndrome” Author Blake Leibel Sentenced to Life in Prison for the Murder and Torture of Girlfriend

June 27, 2018 By Andreas Petersen Leave a Comment

Woods

Michigan Dad to Be Sentenced in the Beating Death of 3-Year-Old Infant

June 26, 2018 By Marlene R. Litten Leave a Comment

patrol cruiser

Ohio Patrolman Booted from Police After Pulling Over His Daughter and Boyfriend

June 26, 2018 By Waleed Javed Leave a Comment

stop sign

Utah Mayor Shares Heartwarming Letter of Man Apologizing for Stealing a Stop Sign 75 Years Ago

June 25, 2018 By June Harris Leave a Comment

Butter knives

Mississippi Man Beheaded Mother After A Spat over Credit Cards

June 25, 2018 By Carol Harper Leave a Comment

XXXTentacion mugshot

Florida Authorities Arrested Suspect in Connection with Shooting of XXXTentacion

June 22, 2018 By Waleed Javed Leave a Comment

sunset over beach

Dallas Mother Accused of Beating Four-Year-Old and Dumping Body Into the Water

June 21, 2018 By Denise Ehrlich Leave a Comment

chicken Alfredo

Ohio Man Sentenced for Trying to Seduce Teenage Boy with Naked Pictures and Chicken Alfredo

June 20, 2018 By Marlene R. Litten Leave a Comment

bedroom

South Carolina Teen and Mates End Up In Slammer for Raping a Teenage Girl

June 19, 2018 By Waleed Javed Leave a Comment

cyberstalkin

California Man Arrested for Stalking Ex-Girlfriend, Hacking Her Online Accounts

June 19, 2018 By June Harris Leave a Comment

hammer

Naked Patient Sneaks out of Emergency Room to Bash Homeowner’s Head with Hammer

June 18, 2018 By Carol Harper Leave a Comment

screwdriver

Middle School Student Attacks Teacher During Class with Screwdriver

June 18, 2018 By Andreas Petersen Leave a Comment

Categories

  • Business
  • Deals
  • Health
  • Science
  • Technology
  • United States
  • World

Copyright © 2021 capitalberg.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Contact

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.