Miscellaneous

Dr. Brilliant to leave Google.org's helm

Dr. Larry Brilliant, the executive director of Google.org, is stepping down to become Google's chief philanthropy evangelist.

Brilliant, who had managed Google's philanthropic unit for the past three years, will be replaced by Megan Smith, who will also continue to act as Google's vice president of new business development.

Brilliant announced the move Monday in a company blog:

I think this is the highest contribution that I can make both to Google.org and to fighting the urgent threats of our day: from climate change to emerging infectious diseases, to issues of poverty and health care. … Read more

Wealth-flaunting app arrives on Android phones

An application that did nothing beyond showing a person was willing to spend gobs of money for it didn't last long on Apple's App Store, but now we'll begin to see if Google lives up to its more laissez-faire approach to its rival Android Market.

Apple banned Armin Heinrich's "I Am Rich", which cost $1,000 and only showed a red ruby, from its App Store last August. Now the conceptually similar "I Am Richer" has arrived on the Android Market from Mike DG.

Perhaps owners of T-Mobile's G1 phone are … Read more

Worried about Facebook privacy? Use controls

All of the hoopla about Facebook's controversial user policy sidesteps the point about what social Web users really need to know about protecting their privacy and intellectual property.

The latest controversy erupted last week after a blog trumpeted an otherwise largely ignored change in Facebook's terms of service that would have granted Facebook an "irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license" to use your material and "use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising."

Needless to say, the privacy and users' rights community and a lot of bloggers … Read more

Week in review: Facebook's about-face

Facebook users take their privacy very seriously--and the social-networking site received that message loud and clear.

Facebook created a firestorm of controversy earlier this week as word spread that it had changed a longstanding but little-publicized claim to an "irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license" for promotional efforts--which would no longer expire if a member deleted his or her Facebook account.

Facebook reorganized its terms of service on February 11. In a blog post, company legal representative Suzie White provided an explanation. "We used to have several different documents that outlined what people could and … Read more

Podcast: Privacy advocate, Facebook official speak out

As is now well known, Facebook angered some of its users and some privacy advocates when it recently changed its terms of service to give itself the right to permanently retain user information even if a user deletes an account.

That policy was rescinded after an uproar and a likely federal complaint from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a Washington-based privacy watchdog group.

To try to better understand the issue, I spoke with EPIC's executive director, Marc Rotenberg, as well as Facebook's chief privacy officer, Chris Kelly.

Microlending site now pays 5 percent

I've long been a fan of microfinance or microlending where a small loan can make a big difference. To date, I've made several small investments via both Microplace.com and Kiva.org. And, in addition to doing good, I'm doing well. Kiva doesn't pay interest but it does make it easy to give gift certificates. Microplace, in the past, paid up to 3 percent interest, but Tuesday it announced a fund that's paying 5 percent.

Have you checked bank and CD rates lately? Five percent is great compared to the rates paid by most banks … Read more

Podcast: Zmanda offers cloud backup for small businesses

Zmanda CEO Chander Kant tells CBS News & CNET Technology Analyst Larry Magid how his company is providing online "cloud" data backup services for small businesses. Rather than store the data itself, Zmanda is contracting with Amazon's S3 Simple Storage Service to store its customers' data.

The company sells an easy to use Windows program that connects directly with Amazon's S3 backup servers. The software costs $50 and the storage costs 20 cents per gigabyte per month.

Devices, 4G helping Sprint CEO lead comeback?

You might recognize Sprint CEO Dan Hesse from those black-and-white commercials. When I met with him last week at a hotel bar in Oakland, Calif., two women at the next table certainly did. They treated him like a celebrity.

I wouldn't go that far, but he does appear to have a good handle on the mobile industry and what Sprint--the No. 3 cell phone service provider behind AT&T and Verizon--needs to do. And he knows more than a little something about phone companies, having spent 23 years at AT&T, including a stint as CEO of … Read more

Week in review: Valentines for green tech

Cupid was sweet this week on the environment, with Congress earmarking billions for energy in the economic stimulus plan, a contract awarded for a big solar power plant in Southern California, and even Google crashing the smart-grid party.

The $789 billion economic stimulus package, which the House approved Friday afternoon, includes tens of billions of dollars for energy through direct government investments and tax incentives. A vote in the Senate is expected Friday evening.

Overall, there is $50 billion for energy programs, much of it focused on energy efficiency and renewable energy, and $20 billion in tax incentives for renewable … Read more