9 Reasons to be Scared of Google

Posted Apr 11, by Greg Porter

Google developed a neural computer network that learned what a CAT was without human interaction!

This fact may leave you scratching your head wondering what the heck that means, and while the technology is extremely advanced, the concept is actually quite simple. Besides reinventing the world as we know it with new gadgets such as the Google Glasses and the Google Car, they have now created one of Earth’s largest self-learning “unsupervised” neural networks, which roughly translates to a robot brain.

The computer is so sophisticated it is able to perform tasks considered impossible using traditional algorithms, such as finding cute cats on the Internet. To test the network, a team fed the machine 10 million thumbnails of random YouTube videos. Without telling the software what to look for, by itself the program sorted the data in a hierarchical fashion, forming groups of similar videos.

After “watching” the YouTube videos, scientists asked the program what a cat looked like, and amazingly it created its own image, shown on the side, from prior data that looks almost exactly like a cat! In other words, this proved that the software is able to think for itself and recall images just like a human brain!


Google maps uses anonymous cell phone data to give its live traffic feeds.

If you’ve ever used the mobile Google Maps application to navigate your way through an unfamiliar place, then you’ve probably also unknowingly returned Google the favour. When you choose to enable Google Maps with My Location, your phone sends anonymous pieces of data describing how fast you’re moving, back to Google. 

A collection of different people’s speeds from across thousands of phones moving through city at a given times, gives a pretty accurate picture of live traffic conditions. Google Mobile’s privacy policy includes an entire list of private information that Google is allowed to gather; your phone number, your carrier, basic usage stats about your device, etc. Google claims that it uses this information to create practical solutions and create a better user experience. 


A Google programmer accidentally blocked off every website in the Google index for an hour!

Google has programmers whose job is to block websites with malware. They do their work by entering dangerous websites into a registry for Google to block. The computer than warns users of the dangers of accessing such a site, and won’t let them on the site.

Basically, once a website is on Google’s malware registry, no one will ever see the site again. The problem came when one of programmers entered just a slash into the registry (/). As you will notice, every website address contains slashes because they are pretty much the punctuation of web addresses.

Since the slash was on the registry every website in the Google index was blocked including Google websites. It was a horrible mistake that, in effect, stopped the Internet for working for 55 minutes until programmers fixed the error. Google quickly admitted their mistake and apologized for the error.

Few remembered it after that sad, Internet-free morning in 2009. It does show, however, how huge a problem the slightest error can make. It only takes a small detail to completely derail the Internet!


Google has developed a driverless car!

This new technology sounds as if it is right out of a science fiction movie, and that’s because it’s not far off. Over the past several years Google engineers and scientists have been working tirelessly at Stanford Laboratories to develop a technology that will change the way we live in the upcoming decades: the Google Car. 

This car is completely driverless. It combines information from Goggle Street View with artificial intelligence software that communicates with a sensor on top of the car, which in turn speaks to the wheels and steering wheel to drive the car without any human interference. So far the car has clocked over 175,000 miles and had zero accidents. 

In fact, the technology has caught on so fast that the state of Nevada has passed the first laws allowing for automated cars! To see a Google Car in action check out the video below! Are you excited or hesitant about driverless cars? Let us know in the comments

There’s a fake town on Google Maps!

The town is called Argleton and was located south of a town called Ormskirk in England. The supposed location of Argleton is an abandoned field west of the A59 motorway. The town was removed from google maps in 2010, but it still lives on in the minds of the internet and even has its own wikipedia page!

 Nobody is quite sure how the town came to be on the map. One explanation is that it’s a paper town, a fake place added to maps to make counterfeits easier to spot. 

Another example of a paper town would be Agloe, New York. This town was created by a map company but was made real by a man who founded the Agloe General store in its supposed location, therefore bringing it into existence. 

Google, however, sticks by the explanation that an error was made when creating the map. They are still not sure how it came to be in their databases.

The mystery of Argleton caused a stir in the local community when it first showed up. One man even walked to the field where it was supposed to be, just to see if it really did exist!  


Universal Music has a deal with Google that lets them take down ANY video they want on YouTube!

This fact came to light this week because Universal Music Group (UMG) took down a video released by MegaUpload for 'copyright infringement.' 

The video included may celebrities like Kanye West, Chris Brown and Kim Kardashian singing in support of MegaUpload. This video was released because UMG classified MegaUpload as a 'rogue site' and one of the biggest threats in online piracy. 

UMG does NOT have a valid copyright claim to take down the song under DCMA law. So MegaUpload sued UMG for the takedown.

When UMG responded to the court, they indicated that the video was not taken down according to DCMA law. Rather, they have a special contract with Google that lets them take down any video on YouTube, for any reason, even if they do not own the copyright to it!

There's no telling where this case will end up, but it's scary to think these are the same people asking for Congress to pass a law letting them take down ANY website for whatever they deem is copyright infringement.

Go here to read more about the MegaUpload case and here to help support the movement to stop the restrictive censorship legislation going through the US Congress right now

A woman is suing Google for showing her underwear on Street View.

A Japanese woman claims that images of her underwear hanging on a clothesline severely worsened her obsessive-compulsive disorder and caused her to fear everything she does throughout the day. She is suing the company for a sum of $7,000. We do not believe she has much of a case, however - Google Street View just captures photographs of various public locations around the world. If her underwear was clearly visible from the street, it could be seen by both the general public AND Google's cameras. She should not hang out her drawers in plain sight if she is really that concerned about her privacy!

For more funny sights on street view, check out this website.

\"\" The Google Maps satellite image of Fairfield College in New Zealand shows a pair of enormous penises burnt into its grass!

The lawn artwork was the result of a prank performed by a pair of students with weed killer back in May 2009. The deed was done over a weekend, so the perpetrators were never caught and once the 40-foot phalluses were discovered, it was too late to do anything! The school’s principal used more herbicide to kill ALL the grass and hide the giant genitalia, but it took months for the lawn dongs to be hidden completely. As luck would have it, the massive members were photographed by Google Maps’ satellites later that year and the practical joke has been immortalized on the Internet for all to see!

You can check out the prank for yourself here on Google Maps!

Pakistan is the country that looks up the word sex the most on Google!

You would think that more 'liberal' countries like the United States or the United Kingdom would be at the top of these rankings, but the top ten is actually comprised of mostly Middle East, European and Asian countries.

After Pakistan, Vietnam came in 2nd place, while India and Egypt were in 3rd and 4th place. Eight out of the top ten countries were either Asian or Middle Eastern nations. Maybe they just don’t have sex education in their schools and they're curious? What do you think?.


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