Google’s My Tracks GPS-powered Android app the ultimate outdoor activity companion

Over at The Official Google Blog, a GPS-powered Android application called My Tracks has been announced. The application uses the GPS built into Android handsets such as T-Mobile’s G1 to capture your location during outdoor activities and presents live statistics such as speed, total distance, and elevation.

It’s a great application for running, biking, hiking and any other outdoor sport/activity that can use data analysis for training purposes. Plus you can send your performance statistics to Google Docs and mark places or describe activities for others via Google Maps.
Okay, so how’s it different? It doesn’t require a secondary GPS receiver or software installation on your computer for one. Secondly it doesn’t require you to upload your training statistics to the computer once your workout or activity is over. It can all be done directly from your phone.
My Tracks is the latest location-based service to be announced by Google coming from its 20% program. The program allows Google employees to use 20% of their work time for outside development projects. The location signatures now present in Google’s email platform Gmail is an example of another 20% project. Between these two new services and the launch of Google’s friend-finding application Latitude last week, it’s clear the company believes location is gradually integrating itself into every aspect of our lives.
My Tracks is now available to download from the Android Market. Check out the demo video below.


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Google Puts Free Books on iPhones, Androids

If you have an iPhone/iPod Touch or an Android phone you can now access over 1.5 million ebooks for free in your phone's browser since Google has opened and optimized its huge books archive for these mobile devices! All you have to do is head over to: Book Search in your phone's browser and you'll be set to go. A lot of the ebooks are accessible for US users only, but if you're outside of the US you'll still get access to about half a million books!

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Track your friends with the new Google Latitude for Google Maps for Mobile

Way back in November 2007, we location-enabled all of our Google Maps for mobile clients to bring location awareness to the masses and improve the local search experience. Using My Location, millions of you have been able to easily find yourselves on a map at the touch of a button. But what about finding other people? Lots of you have been requesting to see where your friends are on a map, too. Well now you can with Google Latitude.

Latitude is a new feature of Google Maps for mobile, as well as an iGoogle gadget, that allows you to share your location with your friends and to see their approximate locations, if they choose to share them with you. You can use your Google account to sign in and easily invite friends to Latitude from your existing list of contacts or by entering their email addresses. Google Talk is integrated with Latitude, so you and your friends can update your status messages and profile photos on the go and see what everyone is up to. You can also call, SMS, IM, or email each other within the app. Check out the video below to see Latitude in action.


We've gone to great lengths to put this on as many smartphone devices as possible from day one so that most of the people you know will be able to use Latitude right away. There are two primary ways to use Latitude right now:
On your mobile phone: visit google.com/latitude from your phone's mobile browser to download Google Maps for mobile with Latitude. We currently support most of the popular smartphone platforms: Android, Blackberry, Symbian S60, and Windows Mobile, and we are hoping to see Latitude on the iPhone soon. It will be available through Google Mobile App, and you'll just need to download or update the app from the App store to find Latitude in the Apps tab.
On your computer: go to http://google.com/latitude from your browser and add the Latitude gadget to your iGoogle homepage. What's neat is that if you've installed Google Gears or if you're using Google Chrome, you can choose to automatically share your location from your laptop or desktop computer -- no smartphone required!
Latitude gives you control over how much or little location information you want to share, and with whom. And of course Latitude is 100% opt-in. Learn more about using Latitude and its privacy features in our Help Center or check out our privacy video.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention - it is available in 27 countries and 42 languages. See in which part of the world your friends are now!
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Is Google Safe Browsing Really Safe?

Google Safe Browsing is a Google search engine feature. Google Safe Browsing warns users of a possible malware attack if bad websites have been identified as phishing sites. At one time, Google Chrome identified Facebook as a phishing site. This was brought about by Facebook Virus/Kooface Virus. Google safe browsing is not fool-proof. Recently, users have seen a warning “Warning Visiting This Web Site May Harm Your Computer!” and according to some, this is a Google malware.

With recent events involving a possible Google malware attack on the most popular search engine, people now question if Google safe browsing is still reliable. How can people determine what sites are safe and what site are not? Google is obviously broken down at this time. All search results are tagged unsafe for browsing. How can this be? Even personal blogs with no other content but daily activities are branded as phishing web sites. Is Google safe browsing really safe? Only Google can answer this and the team has a lot to explain to users and webmasters alike.
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Warning Visiting This Web Site May Harm Your Computer!

"Warning Visiting This Web Site May Harm Your Computer!” Yeah, this is what Google search results indicate today. All search results on all search terms, Google tells the “Warning Visiting This Web Site May Harm Your Computer!” Are you kidding me? Is this a Google Malware? Is Google broken down?

I was honestly shocked when Google, the top search engine gives results warning me that my own sites allegedly have malwares. There is also an option where the user is recommended to report a site at stopbadware.org (which is unfair to legit sites receiving the message “Warning Visiting This Web Site May Harm Your Computer!”). This alleged Google malware is really annoying and bothering some publishers. Imagine if your site is tageed with the warning message “Warning Visiting This Web Site May Harm Your Computer!” eveytime a user finds your site in Google search results. what a joke from Google.

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Legal Sports Gambling at CentSports.com (Cool)

CentSports.com was mentioned in one of the email newsletters I received this morning and I have to admit, I am a little pissed that I didn't think of this idea myself. There is almost no way that this site won't be successful if they promote it properly. I almost deleted the email too because I was just trying to clean out my Inbox but luckily I took the time to scan it quickly. Once I saw "free sports gambling", they had my full attention.

I joined one of the online gambling sites a few months back and after winning about $100, I soon realized that a) short money does not last long in gambling and b) losing real money sucks donkey balls. I quickly lost that $100 plus the original $100 I put in and I was back to zero. It was fun while it lasted. I will not be back to that site any time soon. ESPN's Streak for Cash is pretty cool because you have the chance to win $1 Million but you also have to be in the zone and win 27 bets in a row. If you do get on a streak, you are wasting all of those good "bets" that you will never get paid out on. That blows!

CentSports.com actually seems like a nice and legal alternative. It turns out that paying out winnings on a sport gambling is legal in the U.S. if the players aren't actually paying to play. The way it works is that the site pays you for watching ads. Pretty simple. They also show you an ad when you sign up so you earn $.10 right off the bat which can be used for your first bet. It sounds like nothing but it can add up quickly if you win a few bets and watch some more ads. They also offer you the ability to put a multiplier on your bet if you watch another ad right after the bet is placed. It's a pretty painless process and you are a hell of a lot more likely watch and even pay attention to an ad if you know you are "making money" from it. The site seems pretty legit and they have already had someone win a cash out of $1,000. That's free money right there, homey! You can't beat that.

I just signed up a few minutes ago and already placed my first bet. Even if I lose, they will always allow me to earn $.10 by watching a new ad, so my account will never be at zero. That sounds like a great way to feed an addiction and keep you in the game! You can also link up with and keep track of your friends bets so there is a fun social aspect to it all too. You can copy the bets of your friend that's on a roll or you can gang up and rip on the clown that just lost 10 bets in a row. That sounds like good times all around.

Sports are always a lot more fun when you gamble on it (see the NFL), so I highly recommend you check it out and at least give it a chance. It may take a little time and effort to "earn" your money but I think you'll have some fun doing it and won't have to worry about getting your knees smashed by some mafia dude trying to collect your debts. It sounds like a win/win situation, in my opinion. Get after it!


If you are in a giving mood, please click on this link here so I can get credited for signing you up. Once you do, I recommend doing the same yourself and promote this site to your friends so you can earn some extra cash in your account too. I'm assuming the more people that join, the better the advertising payouts should be in the future. That means more money for you to use with your bets. Holla!
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Google May Lay Off up to 10000 Workers

Google has been quietly laying off staff and up to 10,000 jobs could be on the chopping block according to sources. Since August, hundreds of employees have been laid off and there are reports that about 500 of them were recruiters for Google.

By law, Google is required to report layoffs publicly and with the SEC however, Google has managed to get around the legal requirement. In fact, one of the ways Google was able to meet Wall Street’s Q3 earnings expectations was by trimming “operational” expenses.

Google reports to the SEC that it has 20,123 employees but in reality it has 30,000. Why the discrepancy? Google classifies 10,000 of the employees as temporary operational expenses or “workers”. Google co-founder Sergey Brin said, “There is no question that the number (of workers) is too high”.

The classification affords Google several advantages such as:

1) Hire full time employees without full time benefits. The classification enables Google to pay them above minimum wage, provide no health benefits, no insurance coverage, no stock options, and no offer of permanent employment.

2) By under-reporting actual employee headcount, Google looks good to Wall Street. A low headcount gives the illusion that productivity per employee is more than it actually is, which in turn looks good in the eyes of Google shareholders which is ultimately good for Google’s stock in the short term.

So, how does Google get around the SEC requirement regarding material information? Google has hundreds of lawyers figuring out how not to get caught. One of them is by moving workers from job to job every few months so that their status remains temporary. That is why you probably have never spoken to the same person twice at Google and that is also why there is somebody new on the job and most times you know more about their job than they do.

A bulk of the workers have been there for up to five years and many know others who had been there for seven years or more moving from job to job.

There is no question the economic downturn is hitting Google hard and with the slowdown in online advertising, their troubles are just beginning.

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