Apple is the most valued brand and worth $185 billion, according to BrandZ’s study of the top 100 most valuable global brands for 2013. Apple continues to hold the top spot, despite only 1% growth in the last year. Its rival Samsung is gaining rank with 51% growth and brand value of $21 billion. Google also remains a serious challenger at the number two spot, with a value of $114 billion. To read more from the study, click the above infographic.
Google announced at its annual Google I/O conference that it plans to launch a paid subscription music-streaming service. The company signed licensing agreements with record labels Sony, Universal, and Warner Music Group.
Last month Twitter launched a music-discovery app, in a similar attempt to rival services such as Spotify and Pandora.
The highly anticipated Google Glass is already raising concerns over privacy and surveillance with proposed bans of the smart device, according to The New York Times. A bar in Seattle is already imposing a ban of the gadget, and a spokesperson from Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas said Glass will be not be allowed at gambling tables and at shows. West Virginia legislators have also proposed a bill to ban using Google Glass while driving.
Google released guidelines Monday for software developers who want to build apps for its Glass, which includes information that restricts developers from selling ads in apps, collecting user data for ads, sharing data with ad companies, or distributing apps elsewhere. To get a glimpse on usage, Gizmodo shared some of the first videos shot on Google Glass.
Some pranksters did some work on Sergey Brin’s Tesla Model S, and oh is it magic. (When clicking on the link, crank up this track at the same time.)
Google has drawn backlash from some conservative and religious media for featuring a Google Doodle of farm labor leader Cesar Chávez on the Easter Sunday holiday. President Obama proclaimed March 31 as Cesar Chávez Day in 2011. “We enjoy celebrating holidays at Google but, as you may imagine, it’s difficult for us to choose which events to highlight on our site. Sometimes for a given date we feature an historical event or influential figure that we haven’t in the past,” Google spokesperson Samantha Smith told Politico in a statement.
Stunning shots of Google’s massive data centers throughout the globe.
(via Forbes)
Google announced on its official blog that it will retire Google Reader on July 1. Some loyal Google Reader users expressed their outrage on Twitter, while some started a Change.org petition to urge the company to reverse its decision.
Google agreed to pay a $7 million fine Tuesday after a multi-state investigation into whether the company violated consumers’ privacy rights. The case involved a software program that allowed Google to intercept emails, passwords, and other information sent over unprotected wireless networks.
Google claims a rogue engineer is to blame. The unidentified person reportedly rigged a data-collection program into equipment that was supposed to only detect basic info about Wi-Fi networks. However, the Federal Communications Commission found some of Google’s managers knew about the engineer’s plan.
