[Ncsi-net] News for all googlers

[Ayesha Taranum]

Hi,
 
After the interesting debate on Google and libraries
on 5th May 2005...here's a bit for the google fans. 
 
Regards,
-- Ayesha
 
Google Releases Web Accelerator 

http://www.personaltechpipeline.com/news/162800050



Google Inc. has launched in beta software that the
company says will speed up the time it takes to search
the Internet and to load web content. 

Web Accelerator, which is available at no charge, runs
alongside a browser and directs all searches and page
requests through Google's servers. The software
supports Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer and the
Mozilla Foundation's Firefox browsers. 
In improving performance on the web, the application
makes use of a cache, or data store, on the local
computer, as well as caches on Google's servers,
Marissa Mayer, director of consumer web products for
Google, said Thursday. The software is only available
for broadband users. 
The desktop cache is for web pages that are pre-loaded
based on a person's web activity. The software uses
mathematical formulas to try to determine what web
content the person is most likely to seek, based on
prior behavior. The cache on Google's server is
populated with popular web content based on the
activity of Web Accelerator users as a whole. 
Feeding web pages either from a desktop cache or a
Google server is normally faster than getting the
content from the public Internet. In addition, Google
compresses the data for faster movement to the
browser. 
Google estimates that people who spend 20 hours to 30
hours a week on the Internet, could shave off about
two to three hours a month in the time spent searching
and loading web pages. 
Privacy advocates, however, expressed concern over
storing people's web browsing activities. Such
information could be subpoenaed later by law
enforcement agencies investigating criminal cases or
by lawyers in civil cases. 
"Google promises never to rent or sell the information
to third parties, but it's still subject to handing
over information through the subpoena process," Kurt
Opsahl, staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a privacy-rights group in San Francisco,
said. 
For consumers, the question is whether use of the
software is worth the privacy risk, Opsahl said. 
Under Google's privacy policies, the company does not
track an individual's web activity, but does collect
aggregated data from people using its services. Data
collected from Web Accelerator users as a whole won't
be used in Google's advertising services for now. The
company, however, could decide to use it later. 
"When you proxy your web surfing to Google, it does
mean we will see the requests (for web pages and
content)," Mayer said. "We have to, in order to
optimize your web experience." 
The software does not cache encrypted secure web
pages, which, for example, are used in online banking
sites and retail sites. The application also can be
shut off, and users can clear its desktop cache at
anytime. 
Mayer argues that the benefits of the software
outweigh any privacy risk. 
"It's a product that can save you minutes everyday,
and that adds up to hours over time," Mayer said.

 

Ayesha Taranum
Executive - Information Services
DSL Software Ltd.
The Senate, #33/A 
Ulsoor Road
Bangalore - 560 042
Ph: +91 80 51906790







		
__________________________________ 
Do you Yahoo!? 
Make Yahoo! your home page 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs