Sandra Wilson

Förra veckan kom uppgifter om att EU-kommissionen har för avsikt att begära 28 miljarder kronor i böter av Google för att man anser att företaget bryter mot konkurrenslagstiftningen.För några månader sedan utdömde den franska kommissionen Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés ut ett bötesbelopp på ett betydligt blygsammare belopp, 112 000 euro, en dryg miljon.Nu uppges EU-kommissionen fundera på att införa en särskild skatt för aktörer, som Google, som aggregerar innehåll från andra.Till sist handlar det också om skatteupplägg.Precis som sina kolleger bland amerikanska it-jättar är Google bra på att hitta vägar för att hålla nere skatten.EU-kommissionen granskar just nu en skatteöverenskommelse med Storbritannien eftersom beloppet på 130 miljoner pund, motsvarande 1,5 miljarder kronor, misstänks vara alltför lågt.

Förutom att EU väntas slå till med rekordböter inom kort pågår också en rättslig strid i Frankrike kring rätten att bli glömd.Och så är det där med medierna och skatterna.För några månader sedan utdömde den franska kommissionen Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés ut ett bötesbelopp på ett betydligt blygsammare belopp, 112 000 euro, en dryg miljon.Nu uppges EU-kommissionen fundera på att införa en särskild skatt för aktörer, som Google, som aggregerar innehåll från andra.En fingervisning om Googles makt över mediendustrin, samtidigt som Google försvarar sig med att man ger tidningar 10 miljarder sidvisningar varje månad.EU-kommissionen granskar just nu en skatteöverenskommelse med Storbritannien eftersom beloppet på 130 miljoner pund, motsvarande 1,5 miljarder kronor, misstänks vara alltför lågt.

The row first blew up on Thursday night, May 19, when AFP officers raided an office used by Senator Stephen Conroy and the home of a staffer to the opposition Labor party's communications spokesperson Jason Clare.Australia's Communications minister Mitch Fifield on Saturday issued a statement saying that he was aware of the AFP's investigation into leaks of confidential nbnTM documents.A journalist The Register believes from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation asks whether the relevant portfolio minister, Senator Fifield, his department, or his office were aware at any point since December that this investigation was under way , and Colvin answers no .The staffer has been identified as Simon Lee-Steere, nbnTM's general manager for security investigations, although in the only public document below his name has been redactedThe facts, as they're known, are spelled out in this letter from the ALP's lawyers, Galbally & O'Bryan, to AFP Commander Paul Osborne.An nbnTM staffer who accompanied the AFP, with the AFP's authorisation, took more than 30 photographs of documents in Senator Conroy's office and at the homes of ALP staffers also raided;Although subsequently deleted from the nbnTM staffer's phone, the photographs were shared outside the group executing the warrants;The AFP authorised the nbnTM staffer's actions.Later, in defense of the staffer's actions, nbnTM corporate communications executive Karina Keisler Tweeted that the company's staffer was acting with the authorisation, and under the instruction, of AFP officers.

The plan was to purchase as much as $10 million in preferred shares from Uber s most recent round of financing and package them in an investment fund to be sold at a premium, according to offering documents obtained by Bloomberg.SharesPost said it wouldn t pursue the transaction, citing a lack of investor interest.Brogger is now SharesPost s chief executive officer and chairman, and the company is registered with the SEC.SharesPost's spokesman called the 2012 settlement completely irrelevant to a 2016 fund that never got off the ground.She highlighted the lack of transparency in such deals as cause for concern.For the proposed Uber transaction, the documents said a fund managed by a member of SharesPost s board of directors would buy the shares at a 2 percent premium to their price in last year s funding round, which valued the company at $62.5 billion, and then resell them for 5 percent more.VC Experts, a private-market research firm, estimated that the transaction would give Uber an implied valuation of more the $70 billion.If the deal had moved forward, Uber would need to give approval to the fund manager, SharesPost said.Our disclosures and risk factors are significantly deeper and broader than anybody else in the marketplace, Brogger, the SharesPost CEO, said in an interview.Prospective investors need to meet the SEC definition for accredited, meaning they make at least $200,000 in two consecutive years or have a net worth of $1 million or more excluding their home .

View photosMoreBoard Director of Product Division for SoftBank Robotics Kazutaka Hasumi R performs with SoftBank's emotion-reading robot Pepper during a demonstration with the robot, to show its compatibility with Google's Android software, at the company's headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, May 19, 2016.REUTERS/Toru HanaiTOKYO Reuters - Japanese developers of a robot are asking the public to come up with ideas for what their waist-high humanoid can do and they are offering a software development kit for programmers to get creative.The fast-selling robot, known as Pepper, can already laugh and serve coffee and is being used as a waiter, salesman and customer service representative in about 500 companies in Japan, including Nestle, Mizuho Bank and Nissan.Now its creators, SoftBank Corp, have started offering a kit, Pepper SDK for Android Studio, that will allow programmers to develop new tasks.The offer comes ahead of the July pre-sale launch of the robot in the United States.The first six batches of the robot, each averaging 1,000 units, sold out in less than a minute.

View photosMore2016%2f05%2f19%2f58%2fandroid aut.57685You need to have the Adobe Flash Player to view this content.Please click here to continue.One the first day of its Google I/O 2016 developer conference, Google announced that Android N will be able to run natively in cars.Is it time for Android to finally take over cars in a big way?More details: http://on.mash.to/1U10wq4

The process also gives me a glimpse into the mindset of app developers, and what the real priorities inside tech startups are.While testing a new feature in one of my favourite apps recently, I had this sad/funny email exchange below with a tech startup founder based in San Francisco, which reminded of Google's key weakness in app development.App development is a massive, massive business.Google has served more than 2 billion app downloads, the company said at its developer conference, and Facebook has served the same number, too.But Google has a problem.Despite its enormous size, the developers who fuel it are all biased toward Apple's iOS system for iPhone.And that often means that the small minority of iPhone users get apps developed just for them, while Android users are treated as second-class citizens.This situation is unfair for the majority of users, because 80% of smartphones are Androids, not iPhones.It's a weird situation: Developers want as many users as possible, but the apps they create are focused first on only 20% of the market.But the emails show exactly what it's like for Android people when it comes to app development.Here is what it looks like inserts screengrab .Me: I can't get to that in Android.

Tesla Motors Inc. has set an unrealistic goal for itself and will probably miss 2018 production forecasts by a whopping 66 percent, according to a report Wednesday by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Should that dissuade you from buying the stock?"This is the sort of wild disconnect that Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has wrought.By moving up his already-ambitious goal of building 500,000 electric cars in 2020 by a full two years, he's left Wall Street models in disarray.Tesla announced Wednesday that it's selling another $1.4 billion in stock to help fund the company's expansion.Joseph Spak, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, said the capital round was about $100 million less than his forecast, though it comes more than a year sooner than expected.Goldman Sachs joined RBC and Robert Baird in brushing aside the new 2018 goal while simultaneously adjusting their expectations for 2020 to a range that's more consistent with Musk's original target—one that until recently had mostly been considered fantasy.

Google has conventionally named its Android versions after desserts, but earlier today, the company announced it would let users choose what the N in Android N stands for.Leaving Android N s name to a free-for-all is a recipe for disaster.But Google also would never have been able to catch all the things the pervs at 4chan will come up with, and the internet has been finding its way around profanity filters for years.Point is, it seems ludicrous to suggest a company could never hold an open naming contest simply because a few boneheads won t play nice.Anyway, none of this matters.Read next: Google's new 'Family Library' pinches from Apple's playbook for shared app purchases

View photosMoreAp 747107436006Google's biggest event of the year is about to get under way.The I/O developer conference is set to begin Wednesday with a keynote from Google CEO Sundar Pichai and all signs suggest it will be jam-packed with announcements.One highlight, of course, will be the next version of Android, right now known only as "N." But we're also expecting to hear about wearables and virtual reality, Android Pay and Android Auto.Late-breaking rumors suggest we'll get a look Google's Amazon Echo killer after all.With a new venue — I/O is taking place in Google's backyard in Mountain View — and nearly three full days of sessions and announcements, this year's conference promises to be one of the most eventful yet.Pichai's keynote is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. PT and Mashable's live coverage will kick off at 9 a.m. PT so check back then for the latest news and analysis from Mountain View.

From Marketing Land:VR is coming to the Google Play store this fall with DaydreamMay 18, 2016 by Ginny MarvinGoogle s new Daydream platform is set to deliver virtual reality to Photos, YouTube, Street View, apps and movies.Amazon reaches $100B in annual salesMay 18, 2016 by Amy GesenhuesCEO Jeff Bezos says Amazon is the fastest company ever to reach the $100 billion sales milestone.Google I/O Live Blog: Home voice-activated assistant, Allo messaging app announcedMay 18, 2016 by Danny SullivanGoogle announces its rival to the Amazon Echo, unveils yet another messaging app.How to understand the value of content and measure digital emotionMay 18, 2016 by Erika TrautmanColumnist Erika Trautman explains why marketers need to go beyond surface metrics and instead focus on delivering personalized content.Recent Headlines From Search Engine Land, Our Sister Site Dedicated To Search News & Information:Online Marketing News From Around The Web:AnalyticsContent MarketingConversion 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Employees Don t Share Company News on Social Media, www.marketingprofs.comVideoAbout The AuthorAmy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land.

Helping online shoppers navigate complex buying decisions may help ecommerce retailers improve conversion rates, reduce returns, and earn loyal, repeat shoppers.Products that are new to the market and thus require more study by the consumer before deciding to purchase can also be categorized as complex, explained IBM s Robin Schwartz in a 2005 interview about IBM s enterprise guided selling solution.The guided selling solution should help shoppers make relatively complex buying decisions with ease regardless of whether the product itself is complex or simple.Another store said, Cooking surface sufficient for 45 burgers.If you ask a potential kayak buyer if she has a lot of room to store the kayak, and that shopper says no, you should presumably limit kayak recommendations to short kayaks or kayaks that can breakdown for storage.But you will need to weigh the time it takes to set up and integrate a solution against your resources and goals.