FTC Calls for Better Transparency, Warns Google About Latest Changes

Federal Trade Commissioner Julie Brill has a simple message for companies that violate user privacy: We took care of Facebook, we took care of Google, and we’ll take care of you, too. Even bolder, her remarks came during an event that was livestreamed via Facebook itself.

Brill, speaking at a cybersecurity forum in Washington D.C. earlier this week, said the FTC felt that “consumers should not have to give up control over their most sensitive data as the toll to enter the information superhighway,” calling such a price “just bad business.”

(MORE: Senators Ask FTC to Investigate Google Just Two Months After Last Investigation)

Brill went on to demand a higher level of transparency from companies about the user information they harvest, saying:

Companies should provide consumers with more information about what is being done with their personal information. One way of putting this principle into practice is providing consumers with access to the information about them that a company possesses. Access is critical, particularly when we’re talking about entities that consumers can’t identify or don’t even know exist—like data brokers. These entities control details about consumers that can have a direct impact on their credit, employment status, and financial well-being.

We are also seeing entities that combine data from multiple sources, including off line and social networks… I am calling on data brokers to take the transparency principle and put it into practice. Develop a user friendly one-stop shop where consumers can gain access to information that data brokers have amassed about them and, in appropriate circumstances, can correct that information.

In the meantime, she continued, the FTC will continue to step in where it sees blatant abuses of user trust or privacy policy. “Facebook and Google learned this the hard way,” Brill said, talking about the FTC investigations into both companies that ended with settlements resulting in changes to privacy policies and transparency, along with periodic audits for the next couple of decades to ensure they’re keeping on the straight and narrow.

Such audits may figure into Google’s future sooner rather than later, in fact. After delivering her prepared remarks, Brill was asked about the changes Google is making to its services, including its controversial “Search, plus Your World” features. “We do have an outstanding consent order with Google, so it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment about it at this time,” Brill answered. “It is something that is certainly of interest to us.” Consider that a subtle warning, Google. After all, you already know what it’s like when the FTC goes after you.

Google 4Q 2011 Revenue Disappoints As Ad Prices Sink

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google's moneymaking machine misfired badly in the fourth quarter as its advertising prices fell during the holiday marketing season.

The results announced Thursday fell way below the lofty expectations of stock market analysts. That caused Google's shares to plunge more than 9 percent after the numbers were released.

Google Inc. earned $2.7 billion, or $8.22 per share, during the October-to-December period. That's just a 6 percent increase from $2.5 billion, or $7.81 per share, at the same time in 2010.

If not for certain items, Google says it would have earned $9.50 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had expected $10.51 per share.

Revenue climbed 25 percent from the previous year to nearly $10.6 billion.

After subtracting ad commissions, Google's revenue totaled $8.1 billion. That was about $300 million below the average analyst forecast.

The disappointing performance stemmed from a surprising downturn in the prices that the Internet search leader collects for each click. The average price declined 8 percent from the same time in 2010.

The erosion reversed what had been happening earlier in the year. The year-over-year increases in Google's price per ad click had ranged from 5 percent to 12 percent increase in the first three quarters of 2010.

The fourth quarter marked the first time Google's revenue surpassed $10 billion for any three-month period in the company's 13-year history.

Reaching that milestone wasn't enough to impress investors. Google shares shed $58.56 to $581.01 in Thursday's extended trading.

First Look: Galaxy Nexus and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

For all the attractions of Google’s Android mobile operating system, many smartphones based on it have a quality to which no gadget aspires: They’re less than the sum of their parts. The hardware can be clunky. Device makers slather on modified interfaces that hurt rather than help. Wireless carriers add pesky junkware. Did I mention that Android phones are frequently stuck with obsolete versions of the operating system?

Google knows about these issues, and its “Pure Google” Nexus handsets—which offer great hardware, nicely integrated with unsullied, up-to-date versions of  Android—have aimed to sidestep them. Upon their release, both the Nexus One and the Nexus S became the best Android phones on the market. The only problem was that Android in its purest form was still nowhere near as refined as an iPhone.

(MORE: 50 Best iPhone Apps of 2011)

Now there’s the Galaxy Nexus, a new Pure Google phone which is, like the Nexus S, a collaboration between Google and Samsung. It’s the first handset to feature Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, Google’s ambitious new upgrade. Judging from the brief time I’ve had with a unit loaned to me by Google, Ice Cream Sandwich makes the Galaxy Nexus a bit of a breakthrough. This phone lives up to its potential in ways that even the Nexus One and Nexus S did not.

The Galaxy Nexus that Google provided is an HSPA+ version that works with T-Mobile, but the first one to go on sale in the U.S. will run on Verizon Wireless’s zippy 4G LTE network. As I write, Verizon hasn’t announced availability and pricing; my guess is “real soon” and “$300 or thereabouts,” respectively.

One of Android’s defining features is the openness that permits device manufacturers to put it on phones that vary widely in features, size and style. Despite that, most major Android handsets are actually pretty darn similar. They’re big touchscreen slabs, with displays that dwarf the iPhone’s 3.5″ screen.

If that’s the kind of phone that appeals to you, you’re going to like the Galaxy Nexus. It has a 4.65″ Super AMOLED screen—expansive even by Android standards and packing 1280 by 720 pixels for true HD capability. As with the AMOLED displays on other Samsung phones, this one offers remarkably vivid colors; it’s much crisper than the one on Motorola’s Droid RAZR. It also retains the Nexus S’s subtly curved glass, which adds to the general feel of refinement.

Big-screen phones aren’t better than smaller ones by definition–in fact, they can be a tad unwieldy, especially for one-handed operation. (There’s a limit to how far your thumb can stretch.) But I enjoyed this one, and found that its roominess permitted some of the most error-free typing I’ve ever managed using an on-screen keyboard.

Thanks to Ice Cream Sandwich, the Galaxy Nexus dumps what was until now a signature Android feature: Its reliance on hardware buttons. Previous Android phones have had four of ‘em: One took you to the home screen, one let you step back to the previous screen, one pulled up menus and one was for search. It made for a cumbersome interface, especially since Google and phone makers kept changing their minds about the ideal order for the four buttons.

(MORE: Android Ice Cream Sandwich Explained)

Like Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablets such as Motorola’s Xoom, the Galaxy Nexus doesn’t have any dedicated buttons on its front at all. Instead, there are on-screen ones that appear as needed and which swivel when you rotate the phone. They include the home button and the back one, plus one which pulls up thumbnail images of the apps you’ve recently used so you can bop between them. (A menu button appears when apps require it, but Google seems to be trying to wean Android programs off their reliance on menus.) All in all, the software buttons make for a much more streamlined feel than their hardware-based predecessors.

And the Top Android App for Men Is...

According to a new survey by Nielsen, the most used app by men as indicated by metered device usage is—drumroll, please—Google Maps.

In taking a look at how many Android owners used an app in the past 30 days, the study found that 77.1% of males used Google Maps (disregarding the requisite Android Market app).

(MORE: Guess How Big Android's Lead Over Apple is Now?)

Gmail came in a close second (75.5%), with Google Search (72.4%), Facebook (66.9%), and YouTube (53.7%) rounding out the top five. Angry Birds was also on the list with a respectable 27.3%.

So why do men love Google Maps so much? Here's my guess: It's not that we (men) don't like asking for directions, it's that we just don't trust other breathing humans to point us in the right ones. As a guy with an awful (and I do mean awful) sense of direction, I'd much rather bury my head in my phone and poke through a bunch of menus than cave in and ask a stranger on the street to send me towards a place he or she's never heard of. I'm not speaking for all guys; it's just a hunch. Google's all-knowing omniscience > all. (Unless my girlfriend's there—she's impatient and likes talking to people.)

The most used app by women? Facebook sits at the number one spot with a commanding 81% lead, followed by Gmail (73.4%), Google Maps (71.9%), Google Search (71.3%) and YouTube (48.7%). Here are the full results:

Nielsen

So why do women love checking Facebook so much? (It's nearly an 8% jump between first place and second place.) I have no idea, but I'm guessing you do.