Did YouTube Block Marijuana Questions in Obama Interview?
Google’s YouTube allowed viewers to submit a question for US president Obama. Over 11,000 questions were asked and over 667,000 votes were cast, YouTube writes, saying they “collected the top questions”. Now, Toke of the Town however writes that “YouTube Censors Marijuana Question In Obama Interview”:
Yes, questions about marijuana were the most popular in the CitizenTube voting Monday afternoon.
But YouTube, in a gutless move, decided at the last minute not to present the highest ranked questions to the President. (...)
So they chunked all the votes, and just picked the questions they would have asked anyway.
It seems obvious now that when YouTube said “We’ve collected the top questions,” they didn’t mean the questions viewers thought were tops. They mean the questions they picked to be tops.
Sorted by popularity, the top 3 questions of the “Other” category on the Google Moderator board set up for the purpose were:
- “Mr. President, When you asked the country to give you questions, one of the most asked was ’Are you going to legalize Marijuana’. When you read it, you laughed like it wasnt serious. Why is that?” -Anonymous, Florida
- “What are your plans for cannabis legalization?” -Anonymous, Oklahoma
- “Why don’t you legalize marijuana, it seems like a great way to gain tax money, and people should have to right to use it if they please, and it would cripple gang activity? Do you plan to?” -Lussy Picker, Kentucky
(“Other” was one of several categories, and questions were also submittable by video. Of the top 10 questions in that category, 8 were related to cannabis legalization. One other was about ensuring that the internet remains free of censorship, and another about DMCA takedown reqests suppressing freedom of speech and fair use on sites like YouTube.)
The YouTube employee doing the interview puts it this way during the introduction of the video (my emphasis): “Hello everyone, we’re here at the White House today for a very unique event: an exlusive interview with President Obama, in which the questions come from American people who’ve submitted them and chosen them online.” He continues that “all of the questions you’ll see here today were voted into the top tier of the thousands of questions we received, and none of them have been chosen by the White House, or seen by the president”.
If anyone of you has more information, please add a comment. Is above outline correct?
[Via Reddit.]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Did YouTube Block Marijuana Questions in Obam ... | Comments]
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An App Store for Google Docs, Gmail?
The Wall Street Journal writes:
Google Inc. is preparing to launch a store selling online business software that integrates with its Web services, according to people briefed by the company, enlisting software developers in its battle against Microsoft Corp.
These people said the store will sell business software designed by outside developers to integrate and add capabilities to Google Apps, such as enhanced security features or the ability to import contacts.
Google eventually plans to allow customers to purchase its partners’ software through the site, taking a cut for itself and sharing some revenue with the developers, these people said. Google will allow users to quickly access their purchased applications through the menu at the top of their screens within Gmail or Google Docs, they said.
[Thanks MBegin!]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: An App Store for Google Docs, Gmail? | Comments]
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Picasa Web Album Limits (1000 x 1000)
Google apparently previously said that on Picasa Web Albums, you can “Store up to 8,192,000 photos from a 5MP camera”. However, Picasa is limited to 1000 albums containing 1000 pics each... which is far less than the advertised 8,192,000. People complained about this, some wanting a refund for buying additional Picasa storage, and now Google’s explanatory text reads “Store up to 10,000 photos from a 5MP camera”. [Thanks Dave K.!]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Picasa Web Album Limits (1000 x 1000) | Comments]
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Wikiracing
Wikipedia states: “A Wikirace ... is a race by as many people as you wish, using wikilinks to travel from one Wikipedia page to another. The first person to reach the destination page, or the person that reaches the destination using the fewest number of links, wins the race.”
Anyone dare race from Google to Doink the Clown?
[Via Milivella.]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Wikiracing | Comments]
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Gmail Buzz?
Scott noticed that when you create a label named “buzz” in Gmail, the app will tell you:
“Sorry, you can’t create a label named ’buzz’ (it’s a reserved system label). Please try another name”
Does anyone know what this could be? The label wasn’t always reserved, according to Scott, who says he had used the name buzz before.
Looking up the word “buzz” in Google, we get several definitions, like the following: “If a place is buzzing with activity or conversation, there is a lot of activity or conversation there, especially because something important or exciting is about to happen.” Other definitions include “a long continuous sound” and “a word, idea, or activity which has recently become extremely popular” and “If you buzz someone, you call them, usually using an internal telephone line or a buzzer.”
[Thanks Scott!]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Gmail Buzz? | Comments]
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Google Reader Tracking Changes of Any Web Page
Google Reader can now act as a general web page change alert system, Google announced. This means you can now try to subscribe to updates for a particular page even if that page does not have an RSS feed. As before, submitting a URL into the “Add a subscription” box should be enough, Google says. [Thanks Abhisshek and Niranjan!]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Reader Tracking Changes of Any Web Pag ... | Comments]
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How Fast Do Friendfeed Results Appear in Google Web Search?
I just got my phone’s stop watch ready and posted the following sentence into Friendfeed (one of Google’s special partners):
“This is a unique sentence with the number 321192301 that has never been written before according to Google.”
I made sure this sentence was not yet available in Google web search:
Refreshing web search twice in brief intervals, the sentence was already appearing, and I hadn’t even pasted my explanatory comment to Friendfeed yet. The watch showed 13 seconds had passed, but it might have been appearing earlier:
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: How Fast Do Friendfeed Results Appear in Goog ... | Comments]
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Google's A-Z of How-Tos
Jeff Anderson in the forum writes, "I just set up a computer for my 7-yr old daughter, installed parent monitor etc. On to google, safe search is on, I was on it doing a search for 'how to find' – go try it now, just get as far as the 'f' in that phrase and see what it shows, and this is a 'safe search'!"
For the partly NSFW list below, all containing the first top 3 results as shown on Google.com's auto-completion, I've signed out and then set SafeSearch to its strictest level:
A
how to ask a girl out
how to apply eyeshadow
how to add fractions
B
how to bake a potato
how to bake pumpkin seeds
how to brine a turkey
C
how to cook a turkey
how to cite a website
how to cook pumpkin seeds
D
how to download youtube video
how to draw
how to draw cartoons
E
how to eat a pomegranate
how to eat a girls out
how to enable cookies
F
how to french kiss
how to flirt
how to fry a turkey
G
how to get pregnant
how to get a girl to like you
how to get rid of fruit flies
H
how to have sex'
how to hack a myspace account
how to hard boil eggs
I
how to impress a girl
how to install laminate flooring
how to induce labor
J
how to jailbreak ipod touch
how to jerk
how to jump start a car
K
how to kiss
how to knit
how to know if a guy likes you
L
how to lose weight fast
how to lose weight
how to lose 10 pounds in a week
M
how to make a website
how to make your hair grow faster
how to make a paper airplane
N
how to negotiate salary
how to not be shy
how to network
O
how to open rar files
how to open a coconut
how to open a pomegranate
P
how to play guitar
how to play poker
how to pick a lock
Q
how to quit smoking
how to quilt
how to quote in an essay
R
how to roll a joint
how to roast pumpkin seeds
how to read guitar tabs
S
how to solve a rubix cube
how to save a life lyrics
how to solve a rubik's cube
T
how to tie a tie
how to tell if a guy likes you
how to tie a scarf
U
how to unlock iphone 3g
how to upload photos on facebook
how to unclog a toilet
V
how to view private myspace profiles
how to videos
how to view private facebook profiles
W
how to write a resume
how to write a cover letter
how to wear a scarf
X
how to xray in photoshop
how to xray in gimp
how to xbox live
Y
how to yodel
how to yarn over
how to yoyo
Z
how to zip a file
how to zip a folder
how to zest a lemon
[Thanks Jeff!]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google's A-Z of How-Tos | Comments]
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Bruce Schneier: "It's bad civic hygiene to build...
Bruce Schneier in an article at CNN writes:
In order to comply with government search warrants on user data, Google created a backdoor access system into Gmail accounts. This feature is what the Chinese hackers exploited to gain access. (...)
In the aftermath of Google’s announcement, some members of Congress are reviving a bill banning U.S. tech companies from working with governments that digitally spy on their citizens. Presumably, those legislators don’t understand that their own government is on the list.
[Via Reddit.]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Bruce Schneier: "It's bad civic hygiene to bu ... | Comments]
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Gmail With Behavioral Targeting
Google is now doing some behavioral targeting in Gmail ads. “For example, let’s say you’re looking at a message from a friend wishing you a happy birthday. If there aren’t any good ads for birthdays, you might see the Chicago flight ads related to your last email instead,” Google writes at their blog. [Thanks Juha-Matti Laurio!]
[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Gmail With Behavioral Targeting | Comments]
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