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

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Germany’s biggest publisher sales houses unite to fight Google, Facebook and Amazon

Axel Springer and Funke Mediengruppe’s joint sales house Media Impact has joined forces with the joint sales house of fellow publishing juggernauts RTL Groupe and Gruner+Jahr to solidify an advertising alliance that sells the combined inventory of all four media groups. The post Germany’s... Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2019-05-28 04:01:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post germany #amazon appeared #fight google #axel springer #joined forces


The Guardian view on Facebook: power without responsibility | Editorial

Social media cannot ensure they only publish truths. But what about deliberate falsehoods designed to damage?Are social media companies responsible for the lies their users tell? Both the obvious answers, “yes” and “no”, are clearly wrong. Complete responsibility is a bad idea, and impossible in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-05-27 17:25:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #conspiracy theories #alex jones


Facebook and Google Pressured EU Experts to Soften Fake News Regulations, Say Insiders

Google and Facebook pressured and “arm-wrestled” a group of experts to soften European guidelines on online disinformation and fake news, Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2019-05-21 15:02:38 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fake news


Google unveils new digital ad formats, and Facebook issues a warning

Google is giving advertisers a ton of extra digital real estate, adding new promotional formats to online search, YouTube and its increasingly popular Discover service. Meanwhile, Facebook Inc. is close to rolling out a long-awaited privacy feature, but it issued a warning to advertisers... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-05-14 18:20:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #google unveils #facebook issues #giving advertisers #promotional formats #online search


Google unveils new digital ad formats, and Facebook issues a warning

Google is giving advertisers a ton of extra digital real estate, adding new promotional formats to online search, YouTube and its increasingly popular Discover service. Meanwhile, Facebook Inc. is close to rolling out a long-awaited privacy feature, but it issued a warning to advertisers... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-05-14 18:20:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #google unveils #facebook issues #giving advertisers #promotional formats #online search


HUD accuses Facebook of housing discrimination — and eyes Google and Twitter too

The Department of Housing and Urban Development alerted Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google last year that it is scrutinizing their practices for possible housing discrimination, a sign that more technology companies could be ensnared in a government probe of their lucrative demographic... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-28 23:15:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #eyes google #housing discrimination #technology companies #government probe


HUD accuses Facebook of housing discrimination — and eyes Google and Twitter too

The Department of Housing and Urban Development alerted Twitter Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google last year that it is scrutinizing their practices for possible housing discrimination, a sign that more technology companies could be ensnared in a government probe of their lucrative demographic... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-28 23:15:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #eyes google #housing discrimination #technology companies #government probe


Europe backs new laws that clamp down on Facebook, Google, Big Tech: Wednesday Wake-Up Call

Welcome to Ad Age's Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. You can get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device. Search for "Ad Age" under "Skills" in the Alexa app.What people are talking about todayEurope just pushed through another... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2019-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #digital news #audio version #alexa device #alexa app #copyright rules #pay publishers #news snippets #reuters reports


Facebook and Google broke down barriers to broadcast media — even for mass killers

The killing of 49 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, was engineered to be viewed and shared on the world’s largest technology platforms, taking full advantage of Silicon Valley’s laissez-faire approach to content moderation. It began with a racist manifesto uploaded to the... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-16 00:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #google broke #mass killers #silicon valley #laissez-faire approach #content moderation


Facebook and Google broke down barriers to broadcast media — even for mass killers

The killing of 49 people at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, was engineered to be viewed and shared on the world’s largest technology platforms, taking full advantage of Silicon Valley’s laissez-faire approach to content moderation. It began with a racist manifesto uploaded to the... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-16 00:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #google broke #mass killers #silicon valley #laissez-faire approach #content moderation


Google must be broken up due to its 'overwhelming' power, News Corp says

Media giant tells Australian inquiry Google’s search engine and advertising platform should be separatedGoogle should be broken up to restore a level playing field for media companies swamped by its “overwhelming” market power, News Corp has told the competition regulator.Rupert Murdoch’s... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #search engine #rupert murdoch #australian arm #australian competition #consumer commission #digital publishers #elizabeth warren


Ambitious breakup of Amazon, Facebook and Google is proposed by Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pledged Friday to take aim at Amazon, Facebook and Google if she is elected president in 2020, breaking apart each of the big tech companies and introducing sweeping new regulation of Silicon Valley. The proposal marks the most ambitious and aggressive effort... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-08 20:40:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ambitious breakup #elizabeth warren #pledged friday #elected president #introducing sweeping #silicon valley #proposal marks


Ambitious breakup of Amazon, Facebook and Google is proposed by Elizabeth Warren

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pledged Friday to take aim at Amazon, Facebook and Google if she is elected president in 2020, breaking apart each of the big tech companies and introducing sweeping new regulation of Silicon Valley. The proposal marks the most ambitious and aggressive effort... Continue reading at Baltimore Sun

[ Baltimore Sun | 2019-03-08 20:40:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ambitious breakup #elizabeth warren #pledged friday #elected president #introducing sweeping #silicon valley #proposal marks


Elizabeth Warren pledges to break up Facebook, Google and Amazon

Today, Democratic presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren published a post on Medium in which she detailed why she wants to break up large Internet companies such as Facebook, Amazon and Google. In her post, she accuses these companies of using their v... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2019-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jill Abramson on media layoffs: 'The villains are Facebook and Google'

The former New York Times editor skewers everyone in her new book, but ‘there isn’t one business model that’s going to save journalism’, she saysMerchants of Truth, the new book by the former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, is a deep dive into multiple crises that have bedeviled... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #save journalism #great journalism #jill abramson #business model #deep dive #media companies #local papers


Facebook Audience Network Joined Google’s Open Bidding Program

Publishers using mobile ad network Facebook Audience Network now have another bidding option: the Open Bidding program from Google. The social network wrote in a blog post announcing the move, "Publishers are increasingly using unified auctions to maximize their advertising revenue. Bidding, as... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2018-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #advertising revenue


Forget Zuckerberg – the tech giants don’t have to own the future | John Harris

Facebook, Google and Apple make the headlines, but there are many inspiring startups to dissipate the sense of techno-dreadA quarter of a century ago, the Canadian author Douglas Coupland published his third novel. Microserfs was the tale of a group of young Microsoft employees who decide to... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook’s and Google’s subscription tools offer publishers modest improvements

The subscription lift has been modest, and the tools can be cumbersome to implement, limiting their impact, publishers say. The post Facebook’s and Google’s subscription tools offer publishers modest improvements appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #post facebook


Scott Galloway: Amazon is 'beating up' on Google, Facebook and Apple

Scott Galloway's book "The Four" is about tech giants Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon and how they pose a threat to just about every other business on the planet. But he's mulling a sequel, because he now thinks the first three need to fear the fourth."Amazon is beating up on the other three... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2018-10-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #media business #original content #job openings #entire company #largest spender


Continuing charm offensive, Facebook creates tool to boost news publishers’ reach on the platform

Facebook has been testing a tool with five publishers including BuzzFeed to help them improve their reach on the platform. The post Continuing charm offensive, Facebook creates tool to boost news publishers’ reach on the platform appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday

[ Digiday | 2018-08-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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