Researchers say, Google can rig presidential polls

It is known worldwide as, arguably, the best search engine in cybersphere, but Google, can actually swing the results of the US presidential elections, says Robert Epstein, senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioural Research and Technology and the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today.

 “America’s next president could be eased into office not just by TV ads or speeches, but by Google’s secret decisions, and no one—except for me and perhaps a few other obscure researchers—would know how this was accomplished,” Epstein says in an op-ed published on politico.com on August 19, 2015.

Epstein said his position was based on the outcomes of an experiment he carried out with his his colleague, Ronald E. Robertson.

To carry out the experiment, “participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups in which search rankings favoured either Candidate A, Candidate B or neither candidate. Participants were given brief descriptions of each candidate and then asked how much they liked and trusted each candidate and whom they would vote for. Then they were allowed up to 15 minutes to conduct online research on the candidates using a Google-like search engine we created called Kadoodle.”

Bad News For Android Users. Another security glitch discovered!

Poor Android is enduring a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.

Security service Trend Micro on Wednesday reported a device-crashing glitch in the widely used smartphone operating system. This follows another major bug that was revealed by separate researchers Monday.

"We have discovered a vulnerability in Android that can render a phone apparently dead -- silent, unable to make calls, with a lifeless screen," Trend Micro engineer Wish Wu wrote in a blog post.

The bug is apparently able to target Android devices running versions 4.3 through 5.1.1, the current release -- which amounts to more than half of all Android devices on the planet.

That said, you probably don't have to worry so much about this one. In contrast to the "Stagefright" 

bug reported Monday, which could gain access to a user's phone from a simple media message, this new vulnerability apparently requires an individual to interact with a malicious app or website.

Also, this latest bug can be fixed just by restarting your device. In other words, it's not incredibly dangerous: If you exercise sound judgment when downloading apps or navigating the web, you'll probably be fine.

Apple Knocked Google Out of Top Brands Position.

According to the 10th Anniversary Edition of Brandz Top 100, Technology and retail each increased 24% in Brand Value, leading all categories. Many brands contributed to the technology brand value rise. The retail result reflects the inclusion of one brand, China’s Alibaba. Without Alibaba, retail grew only 2 percent.

With a 67% rise in Brand Value to $247 billion, Apple returned to number one in the BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands ranking. Success of the iPhone 6 and the related excitement surrounding the Apple brand drove the increase. Apple also led in the rate of brand value growth over 10 years – 1,446 percent, while Google only increased by 9% to $174 billion.

After Apple introduced its iPhone 6, the brand reported quarterly earnings of over$18 billion, the highest corporate quarterly profit in history for a public company, which quieted most critics who had questioned the sustained brand power of Apple.

Apple and Google have been jockeying for No1 in recent years, with Apple holding the top spot in 2012 and 2013 respectively before Google took No1 last year. While the Apple Watch has been in the news lately, it was the iPhone 6 that drove Apple's growth this year.

11 Facts You Don't Know About Google.

Trust me when i say this, that there are some things you do not know about Google.

Google has never been the world most valuable brand, but it's resilience in being the merely finding and retrieving information online by many users over and over again has build their brand for them
GOOGLE that started in 1995 as a Stanford University PhD research project has grew over time into becoming over $367 billion-dollar company today.

Below are 11 surprising facts about Google.

1. Sergey Brin and Lary (Lawrence) Page met by chance.
2. Google was originally named BackRub.
3.  Google is a play on the word "googol"
4. Google's first doodle was a Burning Man stick figure.
5. Google's first office was rented garage.
6. A former caterer for the Grateful Dead was Google's chef.
7. Google New York began at Starbucks on 86th street.
8. Swedish Chef is a language preference in Google search.
9. Gmail was launched on April Fool's day, no Joke.
10. Googlers ride colorful "gBikes" around the Googleplex.
11. Google negotiated it's acquisition of YouTube's at Denny's over mozzarella sticks.

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