Archive for April 11th, 2008
What happened to Google’s Do No Evil rule?(0)
I guess money and greed took over. Google just hired Frank “the crook” Quattrone to advise them on Yahoo and Microsoft merger.
Legally, Google faces hurdles if they want to buy Yahoo. So they are trying to bend the rules and trying to find a loophole to do that. Why such big and profitable company like Google needs to do that? It is all about money and Microsoft. Microsoft is not only trying to get Yahoo, they are in talks with News Corporation that bought MySpace. Microsoft missed the search engine boat, and Google missed the social networking ship. That makes Google nervous about their future if Microsoft catches up on the social networking side. Yeah Google has Orkut, but Orkut is no MySpace or Facebook. That reminds me, Orkut started with stolen software. The possibility of Microsoft getting Yahoo and teaming up with MySpace is something that scares Google. So it is time to call up old buddy who knows a thing or two about bending the rules. Mr. Quattrone is an old buddy of Google CEO Eric Schmidt. No one is surprised that Mr. Schmidt called his friend for “expert” advice on how to go around the laws.
So what happened to Do No Evil principle? Well it is easy for a startup to come up with a catchy phrase, but really hard for a giant to live up to it. Maybe all these years we blamed Microsoft for nothing.
Are we going to get emergency alert in our mobile?(0)
May be soon. FCC has just approved a plan for nation wide emergency broadcast system over the mobile network so that anyone with a cell phone can get text messages about all sorts of crisis from natural disaster to terrorist attack.
The Commercial Mobile Alert System (CMAS) would reach 250 million people with cell phones. The idea is not new. Given the popularity and availability of cell phones, people already used them as a primary means of communication in times of crisis including 9/11 and Virginia Tech killings. The plan combines the national alert system with the cell phone network to quickly reach more people. There would be three kinds of alerts: imminent threats for natural disasters, Amber alerts for missing children, and Presidential alerts for national emergency such as terrorist attacks. For now, the system would send text messages, but in future it would include multimedia.
Though FCC and all the major mobile carriers are supporting the move, there are some hurdles to cross. FCC does not have the authority to run the public alert system and wants FEMA, which runs the current TV and Radio based alert system, to take the responsibility. However, FEMA is not ready due to budget and other constraints. For now, we just have to wait a bit longer for emergency SMS to arrive.
