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the Free CMSWire NewsletterGoogle took this week as an opportunity to beef up its social search, show up Apple on the digital subscription front, and release yet another version of Chrome.
Google Social Search Integrates Twitter, Quora & Flickr
Internet users are relying more and more on location based services and peer recommendations than general search results. Accordingly, Google has updated its Social Search feature with three new levels of integration, including Twitter, Quora and Flickr.
The first level mixes Social Search results with regular results based on their relevance (previously they were only displayed at the bottom). The second level includes notes for links people have shared on Twitter, Flickr, Quora, and other social sites. For example, if someone you’re connected to has publicly shared a video link for a super bowl ad on Twitter, that link may appear in your super bowl ad search results along with an annotation that is only visible to you when you're signed in.
Lastly, users now have more control over connected accounts. You can still connect accounts publicly on your Google profile, but now there's an option to do so privately (in other words, without displaying your username).
MPEG LA Prepares Attack on Google's Open Video Codec
Google aimed to create a completely free and open standard for HTML5 video last year when it open sourced VP8 under a royalty-free licence, but patent-licensing organization MPEG LA may have officially burst that bubble with the announcement of a call for patents that cover V8.
Most see MPEG LA's recent call for patents as a direct attack on Google, but a recent statement from a Google spokesperson claims the Internet giant refuses to be fazed:
MPEG LA has alluded to a VP8 pool since WebM launched… The web succeeds with open, community-developed innovation, and the WebM Project brings the same principles to web video. The vast majority of the industry supports free and open development, and we’re in the process of forming a broad coalition of hardware and software companies who commit to not assert any IP claims against WebM. We are firmly committed to the project and establishing an open codec for HTML5 video.
Even so, the company will likely face litigation if legitimate patent-holders decide to come forward. Further, Google's biggest competitors don't seem to be on the same page. Microsoft and Apple are both part of MPEG LA's H.264 patent pool, and both include H.264 in their respective browsers. With that in mind, how valid is Google's "vast majority" claim, really?
Google One Pass Financially Friendlier Than Apple's Digital Subscription Plan
Apple's digital subscription plan for apps was criticized for being too restrictive and pricey when it was announced earlier this week. What a nice window this provided Google, when one day later the company revealed its own publisher-friendly and inexpensive (by comparison) payment service.
Google One Pass provides online publishers with an avenue to sell digital content on the Web and via mobile applications using Google’s existing payment service, Google Checkout. Some highlights include:
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