Ben Charny

It has never been a secret that Google and partner EarthLink intend to track the whereabouts of people using a free wireless network the companies want to build in San Francisco. But the reality of what that means struck home this week when a key city committee tapped the partnership to actually build the network. […]

A growing number of Google Gmail e-mail users are getting angrier by the day about how the once-beloved feature is letting them down all too often. Scores of people say they’ve been having major problems almost daily, judging from online rants about not being able to log on, messages never making it to intended recipients […]

Search giant Google and Internet provider EarthLink have been tapped by the city of San Francisco to build a universal wireless network in the city. Both the city and the two companies, which submitted a co-proposal, plan to hammer out the details of the pact over the next few weeks, and then construction will begin, […]

The city of San Francisco has tapped Google Inc. and partner Earthlink to build a city-wide wireless network. The decision was made late April 5 by the city’s TechConnect Committee. In doing so, Google/Earthlink had beaten out some very high profile competitors for the same contract. motorola and tro[pos It couldn’t immediately be determined when […]

PHOENIX—Whats under Googles hood? A lot of pre-fabricated hardware, a Google executive told a gathering of information technology executives here on April 6. The uniformity helps Google engineers tackle day-to-day problems of running a global Internet firm, and, just as important to Google, it also helps maintain the same “Googley” culture in each office it […]

A lot of people saw this coming: Google, the realtor. The Mountain View, Calif., firm has been quietly offering a new feature that combines Google Local, a mapping feature, and real estate listings provided by Google advertisers. The results look similar to other online real estate listings services. But there’s a lot more going on […]

The number of visitors to Google Base, Google’s online classifieds marketplace, has already started to level off just a few months since the feature was introduced, says an Internet traffic monitoring concern. In a report issued April 4, HitWise said the amount of Internet traffic to Google Base was nearly the same in January as […]

Harvard University researcher Ben Edelman has released a new report this week accusing Yahoo Inc. of click fraud. His report raises a troubling question whether the same abusive system Edelman says he found at Yahoo exists at Google and other major search engines. What’s happening is Yahoo is selling its ads to marketing firms, which […]

An Internet phone service called JaJah will become standard on a significant cell phone operating system, and the Opera Web browser for computers and cell phones, the company announced April 5. The announcement was expected from the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company, and the enhancements will be available in June. With the moves, JaJah is advancing […]

A new version of Google Talk has found its way to various Internet locales not associated with Google. It appears the search giant’s mostly redesigned the user interface by adding avatars, and a choice of IM environments. Google would only confess to testing a new Google Talk version, but declined to say anything further about […]