The online store that was announced late Tuesday marks another step in Googles crusade to convert the world to “cloud computing,” the idea of running applications in Web browsers instead of installing them on individual hard drives. The information entered in the programs also is stored in data centers run by third parties such as Google.
More than 50 software makers have agreed to sell their Internet programs through Google, which will keep 20 percent of the sales. The prices are expected to range from $50 annually to several hundred dollars annually per user.
Intuit Inc., a maker of business accounting software, [...]

The new bicycling directions available on Google Maps starting Wednesday supplement the guidance already provided to motorists and pedestrians. The biking directions initially will be available only for the United States.
Google spent the past six months tweaking its mapping service so it could recommend routes that would steer bicyclists away from big hills and heavily congested streets. The feature can be used to pinpoint bicycling trails in more than 150 cities.
Bike directions already have been available on some smaller Web sites, but Google is the first major Internet mapping service provider to add the option.
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Bob Boorstin, Googles director of policy communications, said the Web search company would now be able to offer some of its other products in those countries, such as the mapping satellite software Google Earth, photo management program Picasa and Internet chat client Google Talk.
“This is a great accomplishment,” Boorstin told a human rights meeting in Geneva. “We are hopeful this will help people like yourselves in this room and activists all over the world take a small step down what is certainly a long road ahead.”
The U.S. Treasury Department said the change to existing trade sanctions was intended to help [...]

More than 50 companies are involved in the store initially, Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering, said yesterday at a software developers event at Googles headquarters in Mountain View, California. The company will take a 20 percent cut of application sales and charge a one-time fee of $100.
“Its a great way to discover, to find and install applications into your business,” Gundotra said. The marketplace offers “not just any applications, applications that are deeply integrated with Google Apps.”
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Senkut, Gil and their dining circle are alumni of Google Inc. Since going public six years ago, Mountain View, California-based Google has generated more than $170 billion for its employees and investors. Many of the millionaires the company has produced are active angel investors, attempting to add another zero to their bank accounts and another company to their list of accomplishments, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports in the March 8 issue. “I feel like we have such a strong network, its almost like weve recreated Google outside of the Google walls,” says Andrea Zurek, a 39-year-old backer of 26 startups and, until [...]

ISEC said it discovered the additional targets while working with victims of the attack, which originated in China. Google initially alerted 30 companies to the problem, San Francisco-based ISEC said.
Google disclosed last month that it suffered “a highly sophisticated” cyber attack on its corporate infrastructure and threatened to withdraw from China. The Mountain View, California-based company said Gmail e-mail accounts of Chinese human-rights activists were targeted by the hackers.
Chief Executive Officer Eric [...]

Google should shorten the time it keeps the original photos from one year to six months, regulators also said in a letter to the company obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
In a statement, Google said its need to retain Street View images for one year is “legitimate and justified.”
The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., said it also already posts notifications on its Web site about where its Street View cameras are clicking. The alert system on Thursday indicated Googles picture-taking vehicles have been cruising the streets of Cagiliari, Italy, Nantes, France and possibly other nearby cities.
Street View launched [...]

In a blog posting Tuesday, Google indicated that the grievances revolve around how it ranks Web sites in its search results and the online advertising system that generates virtually all its revenue.
Google didnt say whether the European Commission has opened a formal investigation.
The complaints were filed by: Foundem, a price comparison service in England; ejustice, a legal search engine in France; and Ciao, a European shopping search engine owned by Google rival Microsoft.
Google said its confident all its practices comply with European laws governing fair competition.
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AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp., T-Mobile USA Inc. and Google Inc. made their comments in letters filed with the Federal Communications Commission late Tuesday in response to an FCC inquiry into early termination fees.
The companies told the agency that such fees allow them to subsidize handset purchases - including purchases of cutting-edge smart phones - for customers. Wireless carriers normally recover those subsidies over the life of a contract, but cannot do that when a customer breaks a contract early.
In addition, the companies said the U.S. wireless industry is highly competitive - with four national carriers and [...]

Investigators have created profiles of the hackers that show they have been involved in cyber attacks on large defense, financial and energy companies, said the person, who asked to remain anonymous. The person declined to name the firms.
The security expert couldnt confirm a story by the New York Times that said the attacks on Google e-mail accounts, which were disclosed last month by the Mountain View, California-based company, originated at two Chinese educational institutions.
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