I am not firing on all cylinders this morning. The goose is in recovery mode. Despite my weakened condition, I noted the brouhaha over Google’s getting tangled in the Apple Safari thorn bush. Allegations are zooming through the datasphere, and I noted on

Walter Isaacson: Steve Jobs I have just begun reading it, and while sad knowing the end for SJ, it puts many a smile on the face, seeing how fascinated my kids are by a man they never knew (but whose products they love), and recollecting the last book th

Researchers have discovered that Google deliberately bypassed the privacy settings in Safari, the Web browser on the iPhone and other Apple devices, so it could customize Web ads. The crux of the story, as reported by The Wall Street Journal in an articl

In the latest high-profile flap over online data privacy, Google has been caught bypassing the privacy settings on Apple's Safari Web browser, letting advertisers track users in unintended ways. A Wall Street Journal investigation published Friday drew a

The day after a Wall Street Journal report that Google and other ad networks bypassed settings on Apple‘s Safari Web browser — which doesn’t allow certain third-party cookies — reactions are mixed. While some tech bloggers are saying, basically, that the

DJRumpy points out an article (based on a possibly paywalled WSJ report ) describing how Google and other ad networks wrote code that would bypass the privacy settings of Apple's Safari web browser. 'The default settings of Safari block cookies "from th

The Journal mischaracterizes what happened and why. We used known Safari functionality to provide features that signed-in Google users had enabled. It’s important to stress that these advertising cookies do not collect personal information. In short, App

Tech writing from an earlier era There have been many, many times over the last few decades when a new technology delivered a certain moment of awe: the first time I saw a video stream over the Internet, or the first time I navigated a touchscreen. But w

As long as Amazon's and Facebook's interests are aligned with those of authors, every writer should take full advantage of the situation and start getting paid to write. Yet when the day comes that they change their policies to take more of our value, do

Is Facebook a threat to the open web?: There was still a lot of smart commentary on Facebook’s filing for a public stock offering rolling in last late week, so I’ll start with a couple pieces I missed in last week’s review: Both The Atlantic’s Alexis Mad

Josh Constine is a technology journalist who specializes in deep analysis of social products. He is currently a writer for TechCrunch. Previously, Constine was the Lead Writer of Inside Facebook, where he covered Facebook product changes, privacy, the Ad

Not that long ago, the open web seemed to be the default for most users: America Online, one of the longest-lasting of the old walled-garden portals, was mostly an afterthought, used only by older consumers who were tied to its dial-up business (a busine

For quite some time now, John Battelle, author and general search guru, has been looking to understand how the 'great unwashed' signal their motivations and wants by using search engines and social media channels. In his original blog post he articulated

We asked veteran technology writer and investor Esther Dyson, a longtime friend of Personal Democracy, for her thoughts on a current controversy: is the open web dying? With Faceboo

On This Whole “Web Is Dead” Meme | John Battelle’s Search Blog "No one site on the web is any more or less accessible than any other site. If it’s on the web, you can find it and visit it. This is a corollary of “no gatekeepers,” but again, it bears eluc

When nobody values the URL the URL will no longer have any value. Oddly Google is helping bring this about with everything being dispatched through G+. So the web may die, but the internet will still live. So i don’t get how you’re trying to save the ope

As part of digesting the meaning of the Era of the Facebook IPO, please check out an essay today by Dave Winer, which builds on one yesterday by John Battelle, which itself was a response to one the previous day by Keith Woolcock. All are worth reading,

In his letter to prospective shareholders in the middle of the 201-page “Form S-1” that Facebook filed yesterday afternoon to launch its much-anticipated initial public offering, company founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that one mission of Facebook

When Facebook offers stock for sale to the public in the coming weeks, it hopes to raise a lot of money. About $5 billion dollars. If it succeeds, it would be the biggest initial public offering of any technology stock in U.S. history and would help the