Ever wonder how Google manages to search the entire web and return results in half a second? Well, RobertvH from Munich did, and Mountain View’s head of web-spam, Matt Cutts, talks you through it in the above YouTube video. The short answer? Lots of backend firepower and, you know, a few years in the search game. If you remember the Google dance, Cutts explains what caused that, before going on to give a good idea about how today’s version of the site does what it does. If you’re thinking this all sounds a bit too much like SEO 101, you’d be half-way right, but as Matt’s delivery is so engaging, we’re def hoping there’ll be a follow up.
This is not your ordinary rewards program, it’s Google’s way of paying it forward… to hackers. After celebrating the one year anniversary of its unique initiative this past November — in which the coding-inclined are compensated for exposing critical flaws across its suite of web services — the folks over at Mountain View have updated the program’s policies with a bigger chunk of cash. Previously, the search giant had set a max payout of $3,133.7 for any discovered vulnerabilities (a bizarre sum, we know), but that cap has now seen an increase up to $20,000 depending on the severity of the reported bug. For a company with billion dollar coffers, the move appears to be none other than a good faith investment in the security research community. But if you lean a bit closer to the paranoiac line, it could also be viewed as a countermeasure to other, higher-paying firms with less than honorable intentions. Whether your rose-colored glasses are on or off, it’s still nice work if you can get paid for it. And who knows? You might even make it to the Security Hall of Fame.
While some might deem the One X’s combination of svelte unibody profile, quad-core power and 720p display to be downright witchcraft, we knew differently. Fortunately, there’s now scientific proof to back us up, courtesy of PCOnline, which has performed a delicate autopsy on the Chinese variant of HTC’s new flagship. To explore that polycarbonate shell, a narrow plastic tool to is eased in behind the screen and around the face of the device, with the majority of the phone’s tightly packed innards — including the Tegra 3 processor — attached to the display half. Some contacts, however, were left on the inside of the unibody, including the NFC chip. Most of the quad-core thinking parts were clustered around the 8-megapixel sensor, while the battery dominated the center of HTC’s big hitter. Anyone who gets their kicks from the gentle undoing of all that engineering hard work can watch it unravel in grisly detail at the source below.
The countdown is over and Samsung’s not offering much to whet our appetite. A medley of opaque angles of galactic travel are meant to represent next week’s big news story, alongside some brief claims of technology that fits easily in your hand. It finishes all too soon on those glossy enamel puddles shown above. The second trailer reveals more of the same, with Samsung promising the device will become “a natural side of life”, throwing in a quick jibe at those rival smartphone-carrying “sheep”. While we reckon we broadly know what to expect when it comes to internal hardware, we’re still itching see how Samsung’s looking to reinvigorate its phone design following HTC’s stylish smartphone salvo. Well, at least it’s just over a week left to wait.
At the Frequencies media summit in Seattle over the last two days, HTC walked us through the fine details on how its smartphones are developed, going from the boring rectangular ABS block to the more refined plastic mockups that are presented to carriers and focus groups — the findings of which then shape the final product. Do read on to learn the general process of how an HTC phone goes from inception to the final product. Read more…
To close out each week, the Android Developer Relations team hosts a Friday App Review video. This Friday, however, the focus is far from whatever apps are being showcased (psst… it’s Handy Scanner); instead, all eyes are on the Share to ‘Drive’ option, seen just below the ‘Bluetooth’ logo in the screen capture above. It’s shown at the 32:53 mark in the video just after the break, and while this certainly isn’t confirmation that Goog’s own cloud storage service will be hitting the masses soon, it’s one of the more tangible pieces of evidence that Google Drive is at least a real initiative. Come to think of it, we’ve got a couple of passes to Google I/O 2012, which just so happens to get going in around two months. Anyone else feeling that tug of puzzle pieces coming together? Read more…
On the off chance your cell phone is of the decidedly dumb variety, Mountain View’s engineers have worked out an alternative solution to keep your Google + circles intersecting. Initially available only for the U.S. and Indian markets at the time of the social service’s launch, the search giant’s expanding the reach of its SMS feature to over 41 additional countries, giving users the option to post updates, as well as receive and reply to notifications via text. The feature isn’t standard, so if you want to opt-in, you’ll have to enable it in the settings menu first, provided your carrier is supported. Luddites that like to have their online cake and eat it too, might want to make sure they’re packing an appropriately capacious mobile plan before those thumbs get to banging away. Of course, the rest of you modernists are more than welcome to join the party, but why would you?
If you’ve been facing signal issues with your HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus since that recent Android 4.0.4 update, you’ll be happy to know that Google’s apparently readied a minor update that might help. A small amount of owners have noticed a new build of Android 4.0.4, listed as build IMM76I, showing up on their devices. As The Verge notes, Google hasn’t publicly come out with what’s been changed from the previous IMM76D build, but many folks over on the forums at XDA-Developers and Android Central have noticed that their handsets’ cellular connectivity has improved. Furthermore, Android Central says that devices set to auto brightness aren’t experiencing lag on the lock screen as some have had issue with. Mum’s the word on when the update will hit every HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus, but move your cursor over to link below for all the information that’s currently available.
Sammy’s latest marketing ploy kicked off with a string of nonsense that could just as easily have come from the Sunday morning jumble: “Destination: tgeltaayehxnx,” declared the Samsung Mobile Twitter account. Anagram wizards will read that as, “the next Galaxy,” and wouldn’t you know it, it’s also the URL for an auspicious countdown clock. Sammy promises to let visitors take “the next step” in about 17 hours and counting. Bonafide internet sleuths can find an extra carrot strung up in the site’s source, reading, “discover how Samsung is about to challenge the way you view the Galaxy once more.” Is Samsung about to break its own May 3rd unveiling? We’ll let you know in 9 hours and change.
A Hamburg court decision has ruled that YouTube is responsible for what its users upload to the site. This therefore could make the site liable for any copyright infringement associated with that. Furthermore, the court has asked the video sharing giant to put filters in place that detect clips that are protected by the German royalties agency Gema at the point of upload. Worst of all, this could saddle the website with a hefty tab. Although this particular case only pertains to 12 videos (and the ruling to seven of those,) future fines could be as much as €250,000 ($330,000) per case. YouTube maintained that it has no responsibility over what users upload, but that it did take action when notified about protected content.
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