Google announces participation in 700 MHz Auction

Google has ended all doubts (there were indeed some who doubted) and announced that it will indeed participate in the 700 MHz auction.

Here's the Official Google Blog making this announcement: Who's going to win the spectrum auction? Consumers.

And the press release: Google Will Apply to Participate in FCC Spectrum Auction.

The blog post is more detailed than the press release, giving a basic primer on the auction process for the next few months. After this announcement, Google can talk no more about the auction until the auction ends. This is explained in the blog post as well:

Monday, December 3, is the deadline for prospective bidders to apply with the FCC to participate in the auction. Though the auction itself won't start until January 24, 2008, Monday also marks the starting point for the FCC's anti-collusion rules, which prevent participants in the auction from discussing their bidding strategy with each other.

These rules are designed to keep the auction process fair, by keeping bidders from cooperating in anticompetitive ways so as to drive the auction prices in artificial directions. While these rules primarily affect private communications among prospective bidders, the FCC historically has included all forms of public communications in its interpretation of these rules.

All of this means that, as much as we would like to offer a step-by-step account of what's happening in the auction, the FCC's rules prevent us from doing so until the auction ends early next year.

Another interesting point about the auction process: the auction will be completely anonymous - nobody will know what anybody else is bidding and who has won each block of the spectrum until the auction ends probably in March 2008.

Now that the question of whether or not Google will participate in the auction is settled, there are still some people who are speculating that Google will not bid to win. They claim that Google will only participate as a formality, since it has made so much noise about this auction already. There are few others who say that Google will bid upto the reserve price of $4.6 billion for the C Block spectrum, in order to ensure that the pre-conditions of allowing any application and any device to use the network will remain safely in place. The FCC has mentioned that if there are no bids which at least match the reserve price, these pre-conditions will be taken off and fresh bids welcomed.

That last point makes a little more sense, but I don't believe that Google will not bid to win. Google knows the worth of this prime spectrum. Billions of dollars is not small money. But compared to the value of what can be done on this spectrum, it is fair money... may be even a low price! So, I believe that Google will bid to win... unless something totally unexpected or outrageous happens. I cannot even speculate on what that could be.


[via The Official Google Blog and Google Press Center]

Google Maps mobile with "My Location": Privacy Loophole

I had quoted earlier from the Google Help page on Google Maps mobile's My Location feature, that it was totally private and Google did not record or store any person's or phone's identifiable information, tied to a particular location.

The New York Times' Bits blog has this to say about a loop-hole when you use Google Maps mobile which has the My Location feature to do a search for say a close-by business:

The payoff for Google from building out its mapping service is to get people to conduct searches from their cellphones. This is a nice feature. Push a button on the map software, type “Starbucks” and it will display a map of the closest source of a latte fix, based on the cell tower or GPS data. The catch, is that this query, with your location, is entered in Google’s log files along with your phone’s unique ID.

So, the "My Location" feature itself will not uniquely identify you. But doing a search will uniquely identify your phone, and tie it to a location. That is a damned good catch by the Bits blog, I say!

Needless to say, if Google wants, it can tie your uniquely identifiable phone to the uniquely identifiable Google login ID you might use on the phone. I am not saying that Google does that. I am saying that Google can do that. Perhaps, under pressure from a subpoena or the Chinese government?


[via the The New York Times' Bits blog]

Group Chat on new version of Gmail

After the Google Talk gadget, it is Gmail's turn to offer group chat. Apparently, the group chat feature will work only if all the people invited to the group chat are also on a version of gadget or Gmail that has the group chat feature. So, if your buddy is on the old version of Gmail or using the GTalk desktop client, s/he won't be able to join the group chat.


[Via Google Operating System blog]

Link: Android Projects that caught Google's eye so far...

• A Maze of Twisty Little Passages

[via Android Developer Blog]

Google Mobile: Products & Countries Lists

Google has a mobile-friendly page which lists its mobile products available in your country:
http://www.google.com/m/products.

Each product is presented as a link and clicking on it takes you to that product. In mobile format, of course.

Tip: You can bookmark that always up-to-date products page on your phone's browser, to quickly access all the Google mobile services available to you. Neat.

At the bottom of the products page is a link which reads: Not in [country name]? That takes you to another mobile-friendly page:
http://www.google.com/m/products/countries.

This page lists all the countries where Google has some mobile service available. Right now it lists 56 countries. Doesn't that number appear a little on the low side? There are about 192 or 194 countries in the world. Would you not be able to access at least Gmail (or Google Mail - it's not called Gmail in all the countries!) on the phone in any of these countries, if you could access the Internet on the phone? Don't tell me you cannot access the Internet on the phone in 136 or 138 countries in the world!

Official Google Mobile Blog launched!

Yesterday, Google launched the Official Google Mobile Blog!

Get the Google Mobile Blog's Atom feed here or the Feedburner feed here.

Google Maps for Mobile: Now location aware without GPS!

Google Maps for mobile phones has announced a new feature called My Location (still in beta). This feature brings an approximate location information to Google Maps on your mobile phone, even if the phone does not have GPS functionality. Google uses cell tower identification to provide the location information. So, a lot depends on the number of cell towers at the location. The accuracy could be off by as much as a couple of kilometers (over one-and-a-quarter mile).

Here's a video from Google explaining how this feature works:


The My Location feature is available on a few selected devices right now.

Regarding the all important question that lot of people would have, this is what Google Help says:

Will Google always know where I am if I use My Location (beta)?

No, Google does not know who you are when you use Google Maps for mobile. All handsets are anonymous. When you use our product, we do not collect personal information like your username or phone number, so we do not know who owns or is using the handset. Therefore, when we identify approximate location [as part of the My Location feature], all we can determine is the approximate location of the handset. This location information is also only in our system when a user has opted-in to the My Location (beta) service. If the My Location (beta) feature is disabled, we will not continue to send radio information back to Google servers to determine your handset's approximate location while you use Google Maps for mobile.

Good job answering that question upfront!


Android Update: This feature is sure to be available in future versions of Android (if it is not already). This means, any Android application which needs your location information would work, kind of, even if your Android cell phone does not have GPS! Wow!


IMPORTANT "My Location" Update: Google Maps mobile with "My Location": Privacy Loophole


[via the very new Official Google Mobile Blog and Bits blog]