Google and Facebook: voracious giants with the power to create the future

The internet powerhouses are using their billions to challenge in sectors far removed from their original business modelsThe webs biggest consumer companies make the bulk of their incomes, and have built up vast assets, from targeted advertising. It accounts for around 90% of Facebooks revenue and much the same for Google. By supporting a vast range of services that variously offer search, chat, email, file storage, video and photo-sharing, they can track every nuance of online activity, preference and behaviour, targeting and adapting advertising and services.Yet with such a simple and lucrative core business, Facebook and Google are investing significant sums in new, exploratory and seemingly unrelated technologies. Facebook astonished the industry with its $2bn acquisition of Oculus Rift, a promising but niche and untested virtual reality headset. Google X, the companys notionally secretive experimental wing, has bought 14 specialist startups since March 2013, covering robotics, machine learning and gesture recognition, but has also been developing Googles self-driving car project, the augmented reality Google Glass headset and Project Loon, which is developing ways of using a network of balloons in the stratosphere to bring internet connectivity to developing regions. Why? Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #oculus rift #machine learning

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Google and Facebook: voracious giants with the power to create the future'


Google and Facebook: voracious giants with the power to create the future

The internet powerhouses are using their billions to challenge in sectors far removed from their original business modelsThe webs biggest consumer companies make the bulk of their incomes, and have built up vast assets, from targeted advertising. It accounts for around 90% of Facebooks revenue... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #oculus rift #machine learning


Giant advertiser Unilever threatens to pull its ads from Facebook and Google over 'toxic content'

One of the world's largest advertisers is threatening to pull its ads from social sites such as Facebook and YouTube if the tech companies don't do more to minimize divisive content on their platforms. Unilever's chief marketing officer, Keith Weed, will call on Silicon Valley on Monday to better... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #largest advertisers #social sites #silicon valley


Publishers Creating Facebook Instant Articles Can Now Simultaneously Work on Google AMP (Apple News Soon)

The software-development kit for Facebook's Instant Articles media-rich, quick-loading stories from publishers now supports Google AMP, and the social network said support for Apple News is on the way. Partner engineering director Piyush Mangalick said in a Facebook Media blog post that an... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2017-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #enable publishers #apple news


Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo balk at UK's Investigatory Powers Bill

The Investigatory Powers Bill may only be in draft form at the moment, but the UK government has already come in for criticism for its plans. Today, scores of pieces of written evidence, both for and against the proposals, have been published, including input from the Reform Government... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2016-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #uk government #issue warnings


Google, Beware: Facebook to Open Ad Exchange Powered by LiveRail

Facebook continues its campaign to invade Google's ad-tech turf.Facebook is building an ad exchange that would automate the sale of other publishers' ads, according to people familiar with the matter. LiveRail, the online video ad-tech firm that Facebook bought last summer, will be the one... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2015-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #display ads #publishers sell #ad exchange #facebook continues #facebook bought #people familiar


News publishing giant Gannett sues Google for monopolizing ad tech

Gannett, a news publisher accused of monopolistic behavior, is suing Google for monopolistic behavior. It’s the latest in a string of lawsuits against the search giant, and it repeats many of the arguments made by the Department of Justice in its second lawsuit against Google, filed earlier this... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-06-20 16:46:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #advertising business #anticompetitive behavior #news publisher #publishing giant


Google and Facebook urged by EU to label AI-generated content

Call comes amid moves to combat disinformation from Russia, while Twitter is warned to comply with new digital content lawsSocial media companies including Google and Facebook have been urged by the EU to “immediately” start labelling content and images generated by artificial intelligence as... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2023-06-05 13:06:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #artificial intelligence #digital content


Google Drive now caps the number of files you can create

You might not want to use Google Drive for large system backups or other many-file transfers. Ars Technica has learned Google quietly instituted a user "creation limit" of 5 million files sometime in February. As Reddit user ra13 discovered, personal (Google One) and business (Google Workspace)... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2023-04-03 19:12:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #make room #find alternatives #libraries


How Retelling Indigenous Histories Create a More Just Future

Emergence Magazine is an online publication with annual print edition exploring the threads connecting ecology, culture, and spirituality. As we experience the desecration of our lands and waters, the extinguishing of species, and a loss of sacred connection to the Earth, we look to emerging... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-10-11 08:52:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #emerging stories #emergence magazine #online publication #sacred connection #narrated essays


What’s the point of Saudi Arabia’s giant sideways desert skyscraper? ‘A big, long symbol of power’

A linear city in the desert is a provocative vision of the city of the future—but it’s been tried before. Saudi Arabia’s proposal for a 105-mile-long building called the Line has all the stuff of a science fiction paperback. The stark desert setting. The kingdom in control of vast amounts of one... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2022-08-04 04:30:19 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #saudi arabia #long history #science fiction


West Virginia newspaper publisher sues Google, Facebook

A West Virginia news publisher has filed an antitrust suit against Google and Facebook, who dominate the online ad market Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2021-01-29 23:10:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #antitrust suit #news publisher


Black Futures Co-Creators to Guest-Curate Facebook App’s Lift Black Voices Section

Kimberly Drew and Jenna Wortham, co-authors of visual anthology Black Futures, will become the first-ever guest curators of the Lift Black Voices section in its flagship mobile applications. Starting Monday and lasting for three weeks, they will personally select collections of dialogues, essays... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2021-01-11 18:55:42 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #kimberly drew #jenna wortham #anthology


Coke in giant agency review and FTC threatens Facebook: Thursday Wake-Up Call

Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our Wake-Up Call newsletters. Coke’s giant review Coca-Cola is undertaking a massive agency review that... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2020-12-10 10:59:27 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #i-hsien sherwood #adrianne pasquarelli #buddhist monk #staying safe #@adage #cmo strategy #newsletters galore #subscribers make #corporate subscriptions #find options #—including access


Penguin to buy Simon & Schuster, create publishing giant

German media giant Bertelsmann says that its Penguin Random House division is buying rival Simon & Schuster Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2020-11-25 20:24:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #penguin random house #bertelsmann


With CRISPR, humans can create their own evolutionary future

Kevin Davies explains the rise and controversies of a powerful gene-editing tool. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-11-20 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


What Google and Facebook need to do to fight disinformation

Both Google and Facebook have acted surprisingly quickly to remove disinformation related to the COVID-19 virus over the past few weeks, considering their somewhat mixed track record when it comes to removing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and trolls related to political campaigns. But experts... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-04-09 11:45:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ve learned #answer questions #climate change #normal circumstances #$185 million #infinite scroll #public libraries


Reuters, Facebook Journalism Project Create E-Learning Course on Deepfakes

Multimedia news publisher Reuters teamed up with the Facebook Journalism Project on an e-learning course aimed at helping newsrooms more easily detect deepfakes and manipulated media. Identifying and Tackling Manipulated Media contains tips on identifying and rejecting manipulated video, images... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2019-12-17 19:35:26 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #real-world examples #news publisher


With the Help of Washington, News Publishers Fight to Recapture Advertising Dollars From Facebook and Google

Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of News Corp and co-chairman of Fox Corp., who built his fortune in the newspaper Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-10-01 07:00:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #rupert murdoch #executive chairman #news corp


‘Linear cannot exist by itself’: OpenAP wants to help TV ad sellers contend with Google, Facebook

At the center of the TV industry’s audience targeting efforts is OpenAP, which will roll out a marketplace for advertisers to buy targeted TV and digital video ads. The post ‘Linear cannot exist by itself’: OpenAP wants to help TV ad sellers contend with Google, Facebook appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2019-05-30 04:01:33 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #facebook appeared #tv industry


Facebook's pivot to privacy will make data more powerful than ever

The platform is increasing its focus on Groups, where algorithms will have even more influence on the content users see. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2019-05-29 13:15:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #content users