Earlier this week, a Federal Judge summoned Apple, Google and five other prime companies to court over allegations of violating the antitrust laws; these big boys conspired poaching employees from other companies.

The issue revolves around whether or not, these companies attempted to hire employees from one another’s firms.

A probe was conducted by the Justice Department of the U.S, which revealed at least six such companies that kept aside a “Do Not Call” list with their recruiters. Although the companies have managed to settle these complaints; the employees that were involved in the incident are now seeking compensation for damages.

The lead attorney for the employees, Joe Saveri, pit forth an argument that the alleged conspiracy has resulted in the stifling of competition which had lowered the salaries of employees. He stated,

“They are definitely putting the interests of the company ahead of their employees. That’s fundamentally wrong.”

Some of court filings that were released recently also included an e-mail from Steve Jobs, Apple’s former CEO, to Eric Schmidt, Google Executive, about the recruitment of Apple’s engineer. Jobs wrote:

“I would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this.”

Google then went ahead to sack the recruiter and replied with an email that read:

“Please extend my apologies as appropriate to Steve Jobs “

Joe Saveri now states that these were agreements that were formulated, implemented and spread as well as concealed at the highest possible levels of the hierarchy. He also presented documents which proved that there were a few executives who were not very comfortable with the agreed arrangement. Steve Jobs received an email from the past CEO of Palm which was worded as follows:

“Your proposal that we agree that neither company will hire the other’s employees, regardless of the individual’s desires, is not only wrong, it is likely illegal.”

As of now, all of the mentioned companies have insisted that the case be dismissed and have argued that these allegations of involvement in a grand conspiracy are implausible. However, lawyers say that if this lawsuit gains the class action status, the compensation for the damages could run into millions of dollars. Phew!

Besides Google, there are 21 social media companies who are scheduled to appear in the Delhi Lower court on March 13th 2012.

This is what Google India’s Chief Business Officer, Mr. Nikesh Arora had to say,

“I’m hoping there will be a balanced debate around it and eventually the right thing would happen. We cannot censor the Web. We cannot censor the ability of people to express themselves around the world.”

He also added,

“I think the idea of censoring everything and pre- clearing everything is going to fundamentally, sort of, taint the growth of the Indian economy in India and vis-a-vis the world.”

The 21 companies in question, including Google and Facebook have challenged summon in Delhi High Court.

The current legal actions are based on a petition filed by a Delhi resident, Vinay Rai, who  had evidence of obscene depiction of Prophet Muhammad, Hindu deities and Jesus Christ, against the listed websites.

Not too long ago, it had been reported that Google introduced a few changes to suit their search engine preferences. Thanks to these new settings, the entire aspect of Search Rankings has lost its purpose mainly due to the fact that there will be no term as a consistent Google Ranking.

In fact, what users now see in their Google Search results for any query is actually two different sets of results arising from the following criteria:

• Search results that are personalized based on our very own search history.
• Search results that have been influenced on the basis of the search histories of our friends
• Localised search results
• Mentions of brands on web pages and in social media
• The query will have results will also include some images, news, videos, products and other such types of results along with some freshness and some diversity
• Also there is the fact that there are changes made to the algorithm around 500 times a year

Apart from all this, Google has also started up an Integrated Universal Search Model. What? Why?

This only confirms the death of the uniform ranking system that was based on the links.

With the evolution of the Google web search as well as the Search+, there will be further changes that one will see being added to the search results and its prioritisation.

The Search Ranking System was highly dependant on consistency. Now that there is no reference to that factor at all, there is no possibility of search engine rankings. So what we have now is known as Search Engine Placements. Yeah, I know…

The case is based on the petition filed by Vinay Rai, in December 2011 who reported obscene pictures about holy deities like Prophet Mohammed and the Son of God, Jesus Christ and many others. The Delhi High Court has thus responded by charging these internet companies for criminal conspiracy. Apparently, there are around 21 companies who are in hot water because of this. Some of renowned brands include the likes of Google, Facebook, Orkut and so on.

On 11th January, Google and Facebook, in their defense told the Delhi High Court that controlling content is not entirely in their hands and that they can control it only when alerted. They said,

“No human interference is possible, and moreover, it can’t be feasible to check such incidents. Billions of people across the globe post their articles on the website”

, to which the Delhi High Court very abruptly replied,

“You just have a stringent check. Otherwise, like China, we may pass orders banning all such web sites.”

Today a lower court has fixed the next hearing for the executives of these companies on the 13th of March. Google and Facebook have appealed against the decisions of the lower court which will be considered next Monday.Well, let’s hope that the matter is taken care of in an appropriate manner as we all will definitely be as good as helpless without Google and even Facebook.

This game, called ‘Play Your World’ is a marble madness styled game wherein users will have to guide a ball through levels of mazes. These mazes will be based on real world maps and geographical locations on a 3D cube. Interesting, isn’t it?

Play Your World is rumored to be launched in February 2012. This game will not only engage gamers on Google +, but will also help in promoting Google’s new Mapping features such as indoor maps, map editing and other customized Google Maps.

The video description of this game reads “Coming soon, play your world like never before with a game from the Google Maps team on Google+ Games powered by WebGL,”.

Although this is not a first attempt to promote Google Maps through a game, it surely has a lot of eyeballs glued to it before its release.

Henceforth, there will be two modes in the Google Search – the Global search and Personalised search. The Personalised Search option in Google  carries out a search through the content on your Google+ Profile whereas the Global search shows the results that would have appeared if you were not logged into Google+.

This new feature presented by Google gives the user the control of the search with the “Search, Plus Your World” option which is the name given to it by Google. Both are different types of search styles. If you do not wish to search through the content of Google+, simply use the Global mode. And lets not forget the option of turning off this personalised search.

The new feature has already gone online but will not be visible to everybody until it has been launched officially which is in the course of the next few days. Currently, the new search feature is available to all those who log into Google.com and have set their language to English. You, as a user, will know that you have the new search option when you receive your search results with the following update: ‘This new system of organising the results will be beneficial for many people as it will allow them to make a detailed search not only on the web but also in the various media that they themselves have shared on the internet. This effectively saves them the trouble of making two separate searches in two different locations.’

As is the case with all things great, there are certain reservations associated with this new search feature. One of the biggest worries is the fact that all private user content appears on a public search engine in the same way that all public content is displayed. Also the issue of one’s private information may become public if it is shared much more than it may be intended. However, Google may also come under fire for favouring the content from their own sites first which may seem like an attempt to crowd out competitors.

Google has been providing the users with personalised results right from June 2005. There was a ranking boost that was provided to results which were of special interest to people based on its personalised nature. Without this boost, such results might never have made it to the top of any search listings. This personalisation of results was expanded in a modified way in February 2007.

Google provided all the users with a default personalised search from December 2009, without the compulsion that you had to sign-in to Google. However, the Social Search has been active on Google since October 2009 along with a personalised listing based on the people that are known to you instead of your personal behaviour.

Initially, these listings and the regular listings were being differentiated. But by February 2011, both the listings were blended into one and the results included content that had been created by people known to you on other social networking sites.

Last December, the chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt, was reported to have stated in an Italian newspaper that,

“The company plans to market a tablet of the highest quality in the next six months.”

However, there is a possibility here that the newspaper may have misquoted Schmidt. Google, however, has not made any attempts to clear the air of this comment.

This Taiwan news site has not been keeping up with the times when it comes to accurate information. Previously, in mid-December, they reported that Apple would be launching a 7.85 inch tablet soon to compete with the Kindle Fire. This site then reported that Apple is scheduled to unveil two 9.7 inch versions this month at the Macworld iWorld Conference in San Francisco.

This news is great but keeping in mind DigiTimes’ reputation of providing shaky information, it is safe to say that Google is definitely coming out with a tablet that is going to make every phone lover’s heads turn. So be it Apple’s iPad or Amazon’s Kindle Fire, make way for Google.

In June 2011, Google initially acquired 1,000 IBM patents, followed by another 1,000 in September 2011. Another set of 200+ IBM patents, were acquired on 30th December 2011. One particular patent from this list can offer the search engine giant, Google, with a new tool that might prove beneficial for its social network, Google+.

According to Google officials, acquiring patents is one way to prevent the company from intellectual-property lawsuits that are filed against it. Patents also help to boost the ability of Google to defend itself. William Stofega, an IDC Analyst, said that it is difficult to determine which patents are intended for litigation protection and which ones represent technology that Google is planning to develop.

William also quoted saying

“Google has had a great run with what they’ve done so far and it’s clear their patent portfolio isn’t as rich as those of others, especially in mobile,”. “If you’re going to be a mobile platform player, you need to make sure you have your ducks in a row regarding intellectual property.”

The acquisition of semantic social network patent may help Google+ in expanding its abilities someday.

So, what do you think, can Google+ fizzle out Facebook? Feel free to express your views regarding the same in our comments below.

A true fact it is that the U.S Elections that are to be held on 6th November 2012, can be viewed online. The web giant launched the Google.com/elections page this past Monday, which allows you to browse by issue or candidate. This means that if you wish to check for any news regarding the workings of your favourite candidate, all you need to do is click on that particular name and Voila! You have all the news that you need right in front of you.

This new page also provides an ‘on the ground’ feature which is a map that offers links to all the recent political events. The ‘trends’ feature on this page shows the popularity of each candidate when it comes to Google Search results, YouTube views and even mentions in Google News.

Google elections team member, Eric Hysen, stated that, Google has launched an

“election hub where citizens can study, watch, discuss, learn about, participate in and perhaps even make an impact on the digital campaign trail as it blazes forward to Tuesday, November 6, 2012.”

He further mentioned that,

“ There are a lot of miles to cover and coffee to be consumed before Election Day. We hope you’ll make Google.com/elections one of your regular online stops along the way.”

Well, looking at this new development in the political world, it is safe to say that communication has never become so ‘effective’ and ‘reachable’. The upcoming elections will definitely be something to watch out for.  Thank you Google!

Clever Sense is a company that came into existence in 2008 who are solely responsible for inventing an artificial intelligence engine that has the ability to search the web for place information and also be in sync with the way a mere human being would understand and describe a particular location. This led to an amazing creation called ‘Alfred’.

If you turn to this . Amazing isn’t it? It even makes spot on suggestions as to where you could have your next coffee, lunch, drink and even a dinner date. What is even more amazing is that Alfred can understand your situation keeping into account the time of day and place where you are currently present and even manages to inform you of what  food is good for your health and what not.

But the question here is whether it can be as efficient as Apple‘s Siri.

Sure, both these apps can search the internet and provide precise recommendations, but Siri holds the upper hand here as it has voice command facilities. We all hope that Alfred can catch up.

Google has stated that,

“ The Clever Sense team is at the forefront of developing a recommendation engine that connects the online and offline worlds by delivering personal and sophisticated information to users at the right time, the right place, and within the right context. By combining their technology and expertise with our team and products, we’ll be able to provide even more people with intelligent, personalized recommendations for places to eat, visit, and discover.”

Clever Sense  co-founder and CEO, Babak Pahlavan stated on their website that,

“Together with the Google team, we will accelerate our efforts toward this shared vision. Google helps local businesses connect with potential customers, and its worldwide presence can bring the value of Clever Sense to a much larger audience.”

Google however, isn’t fully determined to take on Apple’s Siri, but this initial step of joining forces with Clever Sense is definitely a battle cry in that direction. It is safe to say that knowing the potential that Google possesses, we all can definitely look forward to many of such pleasant surprises.