Google News Roundup: Browser Sync, Google.cn

By Mae Kowalke

TMCnet Associate Editor

 

A couple of recent news items from search engine giant Google present a mixed view of the company’s apparent fingers-in-lots-of-pies business strategy.

 

 

First, the good news (at least, for people who keep website bookmarks on multiple computers).

 

Last Wednesday, Google (News - Alert) introduced a new tool for users of the Firefox browser. Google Browser Sync provides synchronization of Firefox bookmarks, Web site visit logs, saved passwords, and persistent cookies across multiple computers.

 

Browser Sync also “allows you to restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions,” Google said on its product page for the tool.

 

The only downside, Google warned, is that—because Browser Sync must update settings when Firefox launches—it may take a bit longer than normal for your browser to start up. 

 

 

Firefox users may be happy, but the news is not so bright about Google’s online presence in China.

 

The company launched a Chinese version of its search engine—google.cn—earlier this year, and has drawn quite a bit of slack for self-imposed censoring to comply with demands from the Chinese government.

 

In a news report published June 7, International Herald Tribune (IHT) said Google may now be reconsidering the viability of google.cn—the self-censored version that co-exists in China with google.com—given that only one percent of Chinese Internet users actually perform searches at the site.

 

According to the IHT report, Google’s founder, Sergey Brin, also now is re-evaluating his doubts that self-censorship complies with the company’s motto “Don’t be evil.”

 

“We felt that perhaps we could compromise our principles but provide ultimately more information for the Chinese and be a more effective service and perhaps make more of a difference,” the report quoted Brin as saying. “Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense.”