Google comes with an animated doodle for 2014

Only few hours are left to welcome the New Year with a lot of hope and wishes. People all over the world are excitedly waiting to celebrate the New Year Eve by greeting their friends and family members. It looks like that Internet giant Google has moved one step ahead to celebrate the New Year with an animated doodle.

In this animated doodle, net users can see the numbers 2, 0, 1 and 3 dancing left, right and center while the digit 4, which actually represent the year 2014, is waiting impatiently on the sideline with a hope of making its place in the middle. Two big speakers are also appeared above the dancing digits. Between the two speakers there is the word “Google”, where one of the ‘O’ represents a rotating disco ball.

If the users take the mouse over the doodle, a message ‘Happy New Year!’ will be visible. Even a message from Google “What did the world search for this year?” followed by “Remember the moments of 2013” will be seen below the search bar.

http://youtu.be/qW91y6xrukE

Google is targeting low-cost tablet PC

It looks like that internet giant Google is going to compete in the growing tablet PC market as it is planning to make low-priced 7-inch tablet computer with a co-operation of Asia-based hardware makers to challenge offerings by Amazon.com and Apple.

Google will make partnership with companies like Samsung and Asustek to compete with iPad and Kindle devices has its own operating system that is Android. Google has its own operating system that is Android. They will get support from their partners for making the hardware.

It is heard that Asustek would release their tablet PC as early as May with a price tag of $199. No doubt, its low cost will make an option for the shoppers to consider it instead of other low cost tablets like the Kindle Fire.

No doubt, this kind of decision from Google would likely to put pressure on other tablet makers to lower prices. However, did not say anything about it.

It is now sure if they will get good response on the tablet segment. Google launched its own smartphone and did not get good respond in this field.

Foreign Journalists Suffered Gmail Hacking Too

Until today, most of us thought that human rights activists mainly suffered from hacking of their Gmail accounts. Now, it seems that the foreign journalists were also the target and they suffered too. This is now hot news and this accusation just came to the western media a few hours ago.

PC World wrote:

The hijacked Gmail accounts used by the journalists in Beijing had been set to forward all e-mails to a stranger's address, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China said in an e-mail to members. The group did not name the news organizations hit by the attack or say when the hijacking occurred.

"We remind all members that journalists in China have been particular targets of hacker attacks in the last 2 years," the group's e-mail said. 

There is yet any official reaction from Chinese government. I personally think that Chinese government should take this issue very seriously. After all, now a days, everything is Internet related. If the foreign suffer this kind of attack then today or tomorrow, foreign companies would suffer too and that would not be a good thing for a country like China. 

Chinese government blaming Google for the current problem

You know that Google and Chinese government are at odds with each other about the hacking of some Gmail accounts of human right activists. Now, Chinese state run media has publicly criticized Google for its commercial agenda. In the last few days, Chinese government did not say anything clearly but now it seems that they are now going to take a tough stance. You can find the open editorial in China daily.com in which they criticized the move of Google and has stated that it was done mainly to find an exis strategy after not getting huge success in the Chinese market. Google has strongly denied this accusation and stated that they had good revenue in China in the last quarter.

It also criticized the motto of Google "do no evil” and termed it as “hypocritical"

About the hacking, this open editorial said that hacking happens in different parts of the world and it was unfortunate to single out China about this problem.

Now, it seems that Chinese government will act some strongly with Google and other internet companies who are not willing to listen to the censorship regulations of the country. On the other hand, it can be a strategy for bargaining. It is really not clear that what Chinese government wants or Google wants.

Google is stating that it would not follow the censorship regulations and on the other hand, Chinese government is strict about censorship because China is a communist country. So, we are still not sure whether the two sides are willing to bargain and compromise or whether they will stand on their positions and Google will have to come out of China very soon. 

Google Dominating in India and Brazil

There is no doubt, Google has a vibrant presence in many countries when it comes to search and other internet services. However, Google’s dominance is much more vivid in internet in India and Brazil. In India, people use 29 percent of their total time spent online on a Google service. The percentage becomes 30 when it comes to Brazil. Google’s overall average is 9.4 percent. So, you can now understand clearly the dominance of Google in India and Brazil.

New York Times reported:

In Brazil, Google captures nearly 90 percent of all searches, 71 percent of the time spent on maps (compared with just 42 percent here) and 43 percent of the time spent on blogs (compared with 30 percent here). In India, it represents 88 percent of searches, 64 percent of maps, and 48 percent of blogs. Gmail accounts for nearly half of the Indian Web e-mail market, compared to just 6.4 percent here.

Well, it is pretty much understandable that Google has done very well in the developing markets. India is ranked 7^th and Brazil 9^th in the list of global internet usage. However, the good thing for Google is that both India and Brazil are among the fastest growing countries and both have huge population. So, there is every opportunity for Google to grow and strengthen their foothold in the years to come. Moreover, Google has good presence in other big markets like China and Russia.

Baidu Growing in China but Not that Much

Google may the top name in search engine, but in China, it is Baidu in search engine market. Google has tried a lot, but yet could not do anything in the Chinese market. Well, I feel that one of the reasons that Baidu has become so successful in China is that Baidu people understands the local market very well. Now, the financial result of the company has come out and it showed that in the fourth quarter, its net income has increased 31%. Well, it is good, but it is not enough and in fact, the revenue did not increase compared to the third quarter. Not only that, there is fear that the revenue of Baidu may not increase in 2009 that much. It shows that the Chinese economy is not doing well and there is a sense of slowdown in China. This is very bad news for the country as still millions of people are poor. The expectation of ordinary people has increased a lot and that is why, people are now expecting that the government will be able to do something for them. On the other hand, the Chinese government is now at a very tight condition and unfortunately, the condition of global economy is not good and they are helpless.