: Evil or Not?

Official Google Base Blog: Taking care of custom needs

By Sundar Subbarayan, Google Base Partner Solutions team

Lana, Ed and I from the Google Base Partner Solutions team work primarily with partners who have a lot of content and need some help getting it into Google Base. We work with companies across a lot of verticals including vehicles, jobs, products, people profiles, merchants, and reviews, among many others.

For example, a few months ago we worked with the U.S. government to get clinical trial data from http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. When we contacted the folks from this agency, they were more than happy to have their data in Google Base, but they didn't have the resources or the capacity to generate a feed for it. So we worked with them to crawl their site, find the clinical trial pages, extract the attributes, generate a Google Base feed and have it submitted. (Now you can search for them.)

Another example of a particular request is helping traditional brick and mortar retail stores get their product inventory data into Google Base. For a retailer who may have several hundred stores and several thousand product items in each one, generating a feed is not an easy task. We help mitigate this problem by taking two separate feeds -- one a store location feed for all of the stores, and another a product inventory feed of all products they might sell in these stores, with a reference to one or more store IDs in the product feed. Then we merge the two feeds to generate a single really large Google Base feed.

The really cool thing about all this is that whether it's a single listing from an individual, or a feed we generate by doing custom work for a partner, both are treated the same way, and they could potentially appear side by side in the search results, depending on what a searcher is looking for.

What makes working on Google Base exciting for us is the feedback we get from our partners -- like hearing anecdotally about a site's traffic quadrupling because people could now find them on Google. Of course, it's not always such praise that keeps us ticking. Sometimes it's the fun of the challenges our partners bring in. The work we did for traditional brick and mortar retail stores was born out of such a request. Either way we'd love to hear more from you.

Techmeme: Flash Turns 10 - Flash, the premiere platform for presenting audio ... (Michael Calore/Wired News)

Flash Turns 10  —  Flash, the premiere platform for presenting audio and video on the web, turns 10 years old Tuesday.  Over the last decade, the technology has grown from a simple sketch tool to a near-ubiquitous rich media application used by sites like MySpace.com, YouTube and Google Video …

Source:   Wired News
Author:   Michael Calore
Link:   http://www.wired.com/news/technology/software/0,71558…

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InsideGoogle: New Google Video Page Layout

Google is testing out a new page layout on Google Video, and a simple bit of text lets you try it out, too.

Newsvine - google: MyApartmentMap: Efficient housing searching

Searching for apartments can be a pain, and craigslist doesn't do much to help. The power of craigslist searching combined with the advanced mapping options of the Google Maps API, you get a great way to search for housing.

Search Engine Watch Blog: Tune In Now To Eric Schmidt's Talk At SES Today Live

Want to listen to my conversation with Google CEO Eric Schmidt at Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2006? It's happening in 15 minutes. Instructions on how to tune in are covered in full on this page, as well as a rundown on how to download a podcast of the keynote after the fact and other special podcasts coming out of the show.

Valleywag: Are the Google boys flying their jumbo jet?

The Hindu Times, reporting on an India visit from Larry Page, says the Google co-founder "flew down to Madurai by a special plane." Just how special? Is it the Boeing 767 that Larry and co-founder...

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Geeking with Greg: More on privacy and anonymized data sets

Techmeme: Google Talk on the mylo (Mary Himinkool/Google Talkabout)

Google Talk on the mylo  —  For the past several months we've been working with partners who are leveraging the tools of Google Talk's open platform.  Sony has just announced that its new WiFi device will feature Google Talk.  The mylo communicator will be hitting stores in September.

Source:   Google Talkabout
Author:   Mary Himinkool
Link:   http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/08/google-talk-on…

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Newsvine - google: University of Calif. joins Google book scan push

The top Web search company said it will fund the scanning of "several million" of the 34 million titles in the University of California's libraries, as part of a year-and-a-half old project to make major library collections searchable online.

Search Engine Journal: Google Dance Photos and Google Food

Google Dance Photos and Google Food So last night was the Google Dance at GOOGplex in Mountain View with lots of Google-riffic stuff going on such as Robot Wars, a live soulful & funky band, and some nice conversation. Lee Odden has an excellent photo summary of the event and a simple search on Flickr will [...]

Search Engine Watch Blog: Google To Open Research Center In Shanghai

Vnunet reports that Google will be opening a research center in Shanghai, China. Kaifu Lee, a Google vice-president in China, gave this information to Shanghai Daily. Numbers of Google hires for that location has not been disclosed, instead Lee said, "we will hire people who are qualified, without any limit."

Search Engine Watch Blog: Google Jet Lawsuit, Over Bed Sizes, Has Been Settled

Finally, Google Founders Silence Designer Of ‘Party Plane' reports the New York Sun. Danny has been pointing fun about this Oklahoma designer who spoke out about some of the requests made by Sergey Brin and Larry Page about the the interior design of the jet they bought. I mean, Google went far to try to silence this man from talking. But after enough persistence and encouragement, the designer, Leslie Jennings, has notified the NY Sun, "The case was settled to the satisfaction of both parties."

Neowin.net: 2 Year Old Pirated Keys Defeats WGA

On July 18, Microsoft's WGA team promised to send me a disk with a product key from their blocked list. It was supposed to arrive via overnight service, but it was never sent. After several follow-up messages, I was assured on July 26 I would have something by the end of that week. The package finally arrived the next week, on August 1. It contained a CD-R with a handwritten label that read "Windows XP SP2 - VLK," and a 25-character product key on a small slip of paper.

Over the weekend, I hoisted the Jolly Roger, cleared a partition on a test machine, slid the CD into the drive, and prepared to join the ranks of Windows pirates. Unfortunately, the product key that Microsoft had sent me didn't work. Instead of a smooth installation, I got an error message: "The Product ID which you entered is invalid. Please try again." I fired off a request for assistance to my contacts at Microsoft. Nearly 72 hours later, I still haven't received a response other than a note that confirms my message was forwarded to the correct person.

No problem, I thought. I'll just do what any red-blooded pirate would do and Google for a working product key. It took me about 15 minutes to find a web page containing five volume license keys that had reportedly been posted on September 9 2004. Surely if I can find a leaked VL key on a search engine, Microsoft can too, right? If these keys have been floating around the Internet for two years, surely they've been tagged as stolen by Microsoft, and I'll get a WGA failure that I can show the world.

View: Full Article @ ZDNet
Source Link: Neowin Back Page News Thread

Read full story...

Search Engine Watch Blog: University of California Joins Google's Book Scan Project

Reuters reports that the University of California is working with Google on the Book Search Project. Google will be funding "the scanning of "several million" of the 34 million titles in the University of California's libraries." Will this fuel some of the controversy around this Google initiative.

Search Engine Watch Blog: The Google Doctor Interviewed

Philipp Lenssen links to an interview of the Google Doctor, Taraneh Razavi at Blogs for Companies. The interview really goes over more about why the Doctor started a blog at Google, then anything else. So you know, Sergey Brin suggested to her that she start her blog at http://dr-razavi.blogspot.com/. Other than that, she helped improve the nutrition and health of the meals provided at Google, and of course, does the day to day doctor duties at Google.

Official Google Blog: Welcome to the University of California libraries

Newsvine - microsoft: Employee to Leave Microsoft, Claims it's Scaling Back Spending

Microsoft Corp., which is fighting to catch Google Inc. in Internet searches and advertising, is scaling back a plan to spend billions building Internet services, according to an employee who is leaving the company.

Search Engine Watch Blog: Yahoo & Google Commit To An Other Independent Click Fraud Audit At SES

Donna Bogatin snagged both John Slade, Yahoo Search Marketing, and Shuman Ghosemajumder, Google Trust & Safety into agreeing to an other clickfraud audit. This commitment is for an IAB "independent auditing against the complete guidelines." Donna grilled Yahoo & Google during the Q&A session of the Auditing Paid Listings and Click Fraud Issues, which I hear was pretty heated.

Search Engine Watch Blog: Google Talk & Sony Partner With Mylo Device

The Google Talkabout blog announced that the new Sony Mylo device will support Google Talk features such as Google Talk IM support, see who's online and available, manage your contacts, hold multiple chat conversations at once, plus some Gmail features. This is not big news, but when you see your kids running around with Mylo's this September, they may think you are cool if you ask them to add you as a Google Talk buddy.

Search Engine Watch Blog: How To Listen To Eric Schmidt's Talk At SES Today Live

Can't make Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2006 today but want to listen to my conversation with Google CEO Eric Schmidt? Here's how to listen live through the internet or how to pick up the podcast of the talk after it ends, plus news on other special podcasts we'll be doing from the show this week.

Search Engine Watch Blog: Daily SearchCast, August 4, 2006: Google Hires Former Time President To Head Ad Sales; Del.icou.us Gets Badges; Google Warns Of Hazardous Sites & More!

Today's search podcast covers a former Time Magazine editor joining Google to head ad sales; del.icou.us offering site owner info badges; Google warning users of sites that might have malware before they click to them from search results. and more! SearchReturn editor Detlev Johnson sat in for Danny Sullivan, who is away this week.

Tune-in by listening to this MP3 file, listening via WebmasterRadio at 11:30am Eastern and repeated at 2pm Eastern Tuesday through Friday, via our Odeo channel or through iTunes via this link (or use alternative iTunes instructions explained here) or though our Yahoo Podcasts channel. Need more help tuning in live or finding the chat room? See the Daily SearchCast FAQ.

Below are links to items discussed:

Google Blogoscoped: Google's Doc

Roland Piquepaille intervieweed Taraneh Razavi, a doctor at the Googleplex, about her blog. Also see the blogs of her and other Google employees all on one page.

John Battelle's Searchblog: Topix

Topix expands its News Search ---providing access to article archives long past their expiration in Google or Yahoo news services. From a year of results, you can browse through a graphic timeline of stories relating to you search. Caps sensitive searches are also now a go, "for the true...

InsideGoogle: Washington Post Letter The Real Deal?

The Washington Post says it got a letter from Google complaining about its article about "Google" entering the dictionary.

Newsvine - yahoo: Google, Yahoo! agree to independent click fraud audits

As the outcry by advertisers grows louder than the assurances from Google that click fraud is not a substantial problem, representatives from Google and Yahoo! publicly stated today that they would accept independent click fraud audits.

Google Blogoscoped: Planet Google

Planet-Google.com aggregates lots of Google-related information all on one page. Piotr Konieczny, a Polish IT journalist, created the site to track Google for a book on internet searching he's currently writing*. Piotr explains, "I'm checking RSS feeds from selected sources and parsing it against defined words (google, gmail, Picasa, etc. in this case). If the keyword is present in a particular message, the message is then placed on the site." (And some sources, like Google's official blogs, are placed on the site even without target keywords present.) *The Polish title will be "Zaawansowane metody wyszukiwania informacji w sieci". Piotr explains the book "is mainly focused (80%) on using not obvious features of Google's tools and services to make one's Internet research ...

Google Operating System: The Value Of Videos

Google Operating System: Gmail Without Invitation In Australia

The only thing that hinders Gmail's growth is the fact it's still an invitation-only service (except in the US and few other countries). PC World informs that, as of today, Australian and New Zealand residents can get a Gmail account without invitation.

"As we prepare to broaden availability, we have decided to launch these efforts in Australia and New Zealand first," said a Google Australia spokesperson. The Google representative said that Gmail will be out of beta when "strong internal metrics" will be met. Those who use Gmail know that there are days when Gmail is not accessible or is very slow, so there are still problem with scalability.

InsideGoogle: Yahoo: “Uh, We Do Search, Too”

Do a search on Yahoo for "google.com" and you know what you'll see? A Yahoo shortcut above the search results with a second search box, reminding you to search the web with Yahoo.

Google Operating System: MySpace Will Use Google For Search

News Corporation and Google have reached an agreement in which Google is the exclusive provider of search and text ads for Fox Interactive Media's sites, that include MySpace. "The agreement calls for Google to power web, vertical and site specific search for MySpace.com and the majority of Fox Interactive Media properties. Google will be the exclusive provider of text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads through its AdSense program, for inventory on Fox Interactive Media's network," informs MarketWatch. The pearl of the crown, MySpace, has more pageviews than Google in the US, according to a Hitwise study.

"MySpace.com is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world's information universally accessible and useful," says Google's Eric Schmidt.

Well, sometimes the quantity is more important than quality.

Search Engine Watch Blog: Marchex Building Out Local Search Domains

Today Marchex announced the launch of 100 new local and vertical search domains. These sites have real content, user ratings, dynamic category specific navigation and other features, which make them much more interesting than typical parked domains. Marchex is able to do this because of the recent integration of OpenList's content and search functionality. Read more on my blog.

Threadwatch.org - Marketing and Technology Discussed: Google Says Clickfraud Worries are Overblown

Google Inc. released a report yesterday criticizing independent consultants and researchers who have raised questions about click fraud, a growing concern of online advertisers worried that they are being overcharged for illegitimate clicks on their ads.

Googling Google: Is Google looking past MySpace?

News Corporation has settled with Google to provide search and ad services to the web properties of Fox Interactive Media -- these include MySpace, IGN, Rottentomatoes.com and more.  The deal does not include Fox Sports and according to their conference call, two unnamed countries are also excluded. I wonder if Google fought to [...]

Google Blogoscoped: Google Releases AdWords API Sandbox

If you want to test programming the Google AdWords API but you don't want to waste quota points, you can now use the AdWords Sandbox API. Just change the subdomain of the WDSL file for your SOAP request to from "adwords.google.com" to "sandbox.google.com". (Hey, we saw that subdomain before!) [Thanks Sankar Anand.]

InsideGoogle: Sony mylo To Feature Google Talk

Sony has announced its upcoming wifi communicator, the mylo, will feature Google Talk.

Techmeme: News Corp, Google Deal Deconstructed (Om Malik/GigaOM)

News Corp, Google Deal Deconstructed  —  The $900 million deal between News Corp. and Google might seem to be all about MySpace, but in reality its all about other Fox Interactive properties, such as IGN.  It is also a tactical admission by News Corp., that when it comes to running big ad networks …

Source:   GigaOM
Author:   Om Malik
Link:   http://gigaom.com/2006/08/08/google-myspace/

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Newsvine - google: UC Libraries Join Google Inc. Project

The University of California is joining Google Inc.'s book-scanning project, throwing the weight of another 100 academic libraries behind an ambitious venture that's under legal attack for alleged copyright infringement.

Newsvine - google: UC Libraries Join Google's Book Project

The University of California is joining Google Inc.'s book-scanning project, throwing the weight of another 100 academic libraries behind an ambitious venture that's under legal attack for alleged copyright infringement.