Search Engine Strategies Forum

I have just been reading about the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4365.html"]YouTube Porn Day scandal[/URL] and it reminded me that I had been meaning to pass this little snippet of information on, direct from a YouTube Team Member and serving to illustrate just how popular the Google owned video clip sharing site has become. …

I am not a great fan of online translation services, or at least not the free variety which almost invariably end up making some huge gaffs. However, Google obviously likes the idea as it has been providing just such a tool for a while now in the shape of Google …

First let's deal with the big negative I've seen on a number of websites including the BBC: [URL="http://www.wolframalpha.com"]Wolfram Alpha[/URL] is American-centric. Well, yes, it kind of is. This will be because it's starting up and America is the biggest market it has to serve. Personally I find that understandable - …

It has not been the best of days for Google. First there were the [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4339.html"]reports about Gumblar[/URL], a Google SERPs manipulation that is growing at an unprecedented rate. And now it seems that porn has been thrown into the Google mix, or at least into the Google Gadgets mix. I …

I was watching an ad the other day for Panasonic where it showed people watching YouTube on a big flat screen TV in the living room. Yet most people don't watch content from the web on TV, probably because it still takes a technical leap that's simply too difficult for …

[URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10234622-93.html"]Ms. Mayer went to Washington[/URL] the other day to defend Google against recent attacks that it is responsible for the ongoing problems of newspapers. Marissa Mayer, who is the Vice President, Search Products and User Experience at Google testified before a Senate sub-committee on '[URL="http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=7f8df1a5-5504-4f4c-ba34-ba3dc3955c61"]The Future of Journalism[/URL].' Not surprisingly …

The cheap Netbooks you see advertised at discount stores might not turn out to be so cheap after all. If you see a Netbook advertised at $100 or less, beware--it will end up costing you many times the regular price of $275-$400 USD. As I predicted in my post, "[URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4188.html"]Branded …

Looks like Google could be in deep water, along with the Open Handset Alliance and some 40 or so companies, over an apparent trademark infringement. Now you might think that there had been some pretty heavyweight due diligence before Google and the OHA determined to call the open source mobile …

Last evening, my friend [URL="http://blogs.zdnet.com/perlow"]Jason Perlow[/URL], IM'd me and told me to go to this [URL="http://download.cnet.com/Presto/3000-2094_4-10910300.html?tag=mncol"]link[/URL] and download a program called [URL="http://www.prestomypc.com"]Presto[/URL]. He had just returned from some "green" IT show in New York City and apparently had seen, or heard about, this Presto thing--a new Linux operating system that …

As you probably have heard, Oracle bought Sun for $7.4 billion today. I'm no Larry Ellison fan, because frankly, I think he's a few cards short of a full deck but I think in the long run, this is good for Sun. Not all of Sun but a lot of …

The Nasdaq is down 43 points this morning, with Google (down $12) and RIMM (down $3) leading the charge down the hill, so to speak. I think we’re seeing the first symptoms of anther false bottom, which sounds incredible after hearing from so many experts on Wall Street that the …

It seems, at long last, that Google has added some semantic thinking into the search mix. Ori Allon, the Technical Lead with the Google Search Quality Team, and Google Snippets Team Engineer Ken Wilder, have [URL="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/two-new-improvements-to-google-results.html"]confirmed[/URL] the roll out of the improvement to Google search. With immediate effect, Google is …

[URL="http://earth.google.com/"]Google Earth[/URL] now supports the use of historical imagery -- back to 1945 in some areas -- that lets users see how certain areas have changed over time. As described by [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_earth"]Wikipedia[/URL], Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographic information program that was originally called Earth Viewer, and …

Not as though it's ever going to happen, but suppose I were at a party one night and [URL="http://www.businessweek.com/it100/2005/executive/GOOG.htm"]Eric Schmidt[/URL], CEO of Google happened to be there. I would love to corner him and get him a glass of wine or scotch or whatever it is that CEOs at large …

Remember [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3344.html"]last fall[/URL], when people were terrified that pedophiles were using Google Streetview to find parks and schools so they could more readily find their young victims? Apparently a California legislator has been listening to them, or someone like them. Last month, California Assemblyman Joel Anderson, R-El Cajon, introduced a …

Stephen Wolfram is a British physicist perhaps best known for his work in creating the computational software Mathematica. That could all soon be forgotten if his Wolfram Alpha computational data engine proves to be the Google killer that some are suggesting. After all, it claims to be able to answer …

[I]This is the mystery of the quotient - Upon us all a little rain must fall. ~Led Zeppelin, The Rain Song. [/I] It's been quite a couple of weeks for Google. First there was the mistake that caused the entire Internet to be [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/31/google-flags-whole-internet-as-malware/"]flagged as malware[/URL]. Next came the great …

The usual image of a stalker is some creepy bloke obsessed by some TV star, following them around and making unwanted advances. When it comes to the online realm, however, it would appear that we might have to redraw that stereotype. New [URL="http://www.yasni.co.uk"]research[/URL] has revealed that while 50 percent of …

BlackBerry smartphones get love from Google and iPhone gets love from, well, everybody. Most companies that develop mobile apps worry about these two user bases before any other, leaving other mobile phone users out in the cold. According to an announcement out of the [URL="http://reviews.cnet.com/gsma-world-congress/"]GSMA Mobile World Congress[/URL] in Barcelona, …

As my colleague [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3927.html"]Davey Winder pointed out earlier today[/URL], Google has launched yet another cool tool, [URL="http://www.google.com/latitude/intro.html"]Latitude[/URL]. For the most part, its usefulness doesn't extend much beyond social gadflies, but I can think of at least one practical implication for the workplace. Google Latitude is an opt-in location tracking service …

Topping the news this morning is an announcement by Citigroup that it will finally crack open its wallet, stuffed with over $45 billion tax-payer funded TARP cash, and start lending again. The financial giant had come under fire in recent months for taking the TARP money and sitting on it. …

Well that was, err, interesting. For the best part of an hour this morning (Saturday 31st Jan) Google search effectively broke. In fact, it blacklisted the entire Internet so that any search just returned a screen warning users that whatever site they had searched for "may harm your computer" and …

[URL="http://briefcase.yahoo.com/bc//home"]Yahoo![/URL] announced this week plans to shut down its free online storage service, Briefcase. Users have until March 30th to find a replacement service before their files become inaccessible. There are loads of free online options to choose from, but here are three of my favorites: [URL="http://www.idrive.com/"]IDrive[/URL] -- This service …

For the last 10 years Google has been on an upward trajectory making gobs of money and astounding us all with there seemingly endless fount of innovation. For a time, there seemed to be a new product announcement every week. Google has always been very savvy about exploiting the news …

It’s earnings week in Silicon Valley, even as the world is focused on the historic events in Washington today. Some heavyweights are on the financial reporting docket, including Google Inc., eBay Inc., Apple Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Here is a quick run-down of what we can expect this …

There was a big fuss earlier this week when The Sunday Times of London published an [URL="http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5489134.ece"]article[/URL] claiming that every Google search was the equivalent of boiling a pot of tea. My my, talk about a tempest in a tea pot. The Times attributed this bit of profundity to a …

All 43 police forces across England and Wales have now published crime maps on the Internet, according to the UK Home Office. This means that people can access details of crime in the areas they live in via the neighbourhood crime maps scheme. What a monumental waste of time and …

I write a great deal about Google mostly because it is always trying new things and putting them out there for free for the world to try. The tools are easy to access and use from wherever you are--any device with a browser and an internet connection--and you can't beat …

After a year featuring tectonic shifts in the stock market and the economy, 2008 is set to go out with barely a tremor. A quiet Monday in the technology market, with the big news that palm looks like it’s going to get its own version of a bailout. That after …

In a wide ranging [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/10/marissa-mayer-at-le-web-the-almost-complete-interview/"]interview[/URL] with Tech Crunch's Michael Arrington on Wednesday at [URL="http://www.lewebparis.com/"]Le Web[/URL] in Paris, Google's Marissa Mayer talked about all things Google, but what I found most interesting was when the conversation turned toward the future of search. Mayer said the key to the future of search …

[I]Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane ~Police, Too Much Information. [/I] Yesterday, Seth Godin wrote a post in his blog called, [URL="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/12/warning-the-int.html"]Warning: The Internet is almost full[/URL]. It's not of course, and he had is his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, but …

With much fanfare Sun announced its new JavaFX platform yesterday, but curiously [URL="http://channelsun.sun.com/video/javafx -- do more!/3856260001"]in a video introducing the platform[/URL], Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz, made the browser the enemy of content owners, and set up JavaFX as the platform to give developers and content owners direct access to users. …

According to a recent [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/11/23/microsoft-to-rebrand-search-will-it-be-kumo/"]TechCrunch article[/URL], Microsoft is planning to rename its Live Search product, Kumar, which means cloud or spider in Japanese. What Microsoft needs to learn, and what the [URL="http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/"]Get a Mac ads [/URL]have captured so well, is that it's not about PR or branding or the name …

I was watching a [URL="http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1568178642/bctid1906856143"]video[/URL] of a panel from the Web 2.0 Summit on [URL="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/cloud_computing_panel_at_web_2.php"]ReadWriteWeb[/URL]. I've had a growing fascination with Cloud Computing in recent months, and this particular panel included key players from Google, Salesforce.com, Adobe and VMware (with Tim O'Reilly acting as panel moderator). As each man made …

If you like the Google Earth mapping application, there's now an application that works with it and provides information on [URL="http://earth.google.com/outreach/kml_entry.html#tMarine%20Protected%20Areas"]"Marine Protected Areas"[/URL] on the Earth. Installing the application shows all the various marine protected areas (MPAs); clicking on them provides some information, including a link to [URL="http://mpas.appspot.com/pa?id=agRtcGFzchULEg1Qcm90ZWN0ZWRBcmVhGJv9AQw"]more detailed information[/URL]. …

The group [URL="http://www.stopinternetpredators.org/"]Stop Internet Predators[/URL], claiming that the Street View 360-degree technology can be used by pedophiles to help stalk their victims, is recommending that municipalities "[b]an Street View from your neighborhoods until it is safeguarded to ensure children's safety and privacy." How Google is supposed to do that, the …

My post the other day, [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3277.html"]Does Using Gmail Mean You're Stupid[/URL], produced some thoughtful comments from people that made me me think harder about the advantages and disadvantages of Cloud Computing. There are security risks and data ownership issues that you have to take into consideration. To get another point …

Evoking [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3059.html"]Internet ads[/URL] that some people wondered might be a clue to Republican presidential nominee John McCain's vice presidential pick, the campaign is now reportedly running ads claiming that McCain has won tonight's debate -- not only before the debate had occurred, but before the candidate had even announced he …

T-Mobile has today announced the international launch of the first Android powered cellphone in the world. It is available 'soon' say T-Mobile, for customers in both the USA and Europe. The [URL="http://www.T-MobileG1.com"]T-Mobile G1[/URL], as it is called, will feature full touch-screen functionality a combined with a QWERTY keyboard and the …

Here we go again. The hypemeisters are in full swing, the prediction market is growing again - glory be, Android is coming to a phone near you tomorrow, or at least it's going to do so if you live in America. The launch is in New York, America will get …

Google quietly introduced an audio search tool called[URL="http://labs.google.com/gaudi"] GAudi[/URL] this week in [URL="http://labs.google.com/"]Google Labs[/URL]. For now, Google is using to the tool for experimentation purposes to index political content on YouTube videos, but chances are they are exploring this for more than good citizenship points and will expand it at …

If you like using Google Maps and Google Earth in your applications, you're about to get better access to imagery. GeoEye Inc. of Dulles, Va., launched last Saturday a [URL="http://geoeye.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=304"]satellite[/URL] intended to provide high-resolution black-and-white and multispectral imagery. GeoEye and Google announced in [URL="http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN2837224420080829"]August[/URL] that Google had purchased the online …

Bravo to Google for daring to compete in the two-party system of the world's desktop browser market. And kudos for bucking the status quo to design a "modern platform for Web pages and applications," as its [release statement](http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/why.html?hl=en) read. But there's also skepticism out there about Google's bravado, and about …

With dozens of freshly minted applications on hand to stock its shelves, Google's Android Market is all but ready to open-- right across the street from Apple's App Store. All Google needs now is for someone to start selling phones that use Android, its Linux-based mobile operating system. According to …

Google yesterday announced winners of the [URL=http://code.google.com/android/adc.html]Android Developer Challenge[/URL], which put up US$10 million in prize money to developers of the best applications for its nascent mobile platform. In doing so, Google also helped to stock the shelves of Android Market, a forthcoming online retail site for Android applications akin …

Why prebuying Google sponsored ads might be a bad idea. Google "lieberman mccain." Or, click [URL="http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=lieberman%20mccain&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8"]here[/URL]. The result, at least as of this writing? Sponsored Link Lieberman & McCain JohnMcCain.com/lieberman Senator Lieberman Joins McCain's Team. Learn Why You Should Join! Clicking the link takes one to "Citizens for McCain," an …

Remember the [URL="http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=3052158"]Great BlackBerry Email Debacle of 2007[/URL]? Yesterday's unexpected [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/08/11/systemwide-gmail-outage/"]Gmail outage[/URL] wasn't on quite the same scale, but if your business relies on Google's uptime to manage email, there were no doubt some tense moments around the water cooler. Was this a wake-up call for your company? Did it …

Claiming to be the biggest search engine on the web is a pretty confident thing to do on the day that your search engine launches, but that is exactly what the creators of [URL="http://www.cuil.com"]Cuil[/URL] have done today. Combining the "biggest Web index" with "content-based relevance methods" whereby results are organised …

A host of tech earnings results are pouring in from all corners, with some confidence-building numbers coming from United Technologies, Nokia and (especially) IBM. Others were a mixed bag. Microsoft checked in with better-than-expected sales of $15.84 billion for the quarter and earnings-per-share (46 cents) was in the range of …

[I]It's not always easy, And sometimes life can be deceiving, I'll tell you one thing, its always better when we're together ~Jack Johnson, Better Together. [/I] [URL="http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/07/11/schmidt_independent_yahoo_better_for_competition/"]AP is reporting [/URL]this morning that Eric Schmidt, he being CEO of the great and almighty Google, thinks it would better if Yahoo! remained …