Google Watching

Downtime

2007-01-01T21:49:00.000-06:00

As you may have noticed, I will be putting little effort into Google Watching for the foreseeable future. However, I recommend the sites to the right for Google news.

I will be blogging here: http://www.copyrightings.blogspot.com

Google News Archive

2006-09-06T21:21:00.000-05:00

Starting today, Google is releasing historical news articles for search. Some articles are pay-per-view while many remain free. Initial sources include the Wall Street Journal, Times, CNet, Lexis/Nexis and the Washington Post. Reportedly, more sources will be released in the coming days. Articles are arranged chronologically.

I think this will be a great tool for students and researchers. Google has just taken a giant step towards making all the world's information "universally accesible".

See Google Blogoscoped posting for further information and reaction.

A Beginner's Guide to Google, Part II

2006-09-05T18:56:00.000-05:00

See the initial post for information on Google's search and business model. In this section, we will discuss Google's second main form of revenue, AdSense. Recall that AdWords refers to the asvertisments placed next to the Google search results.

AdSense is an ad-serving program where Google links marketers with content (webpages). Webmasters can sign up and embed some code to allow Google to scan their site for relevant information and then serve relevant ads in boxes on the sites. This quickly became the dominant advertising model for blogs and small web start-ups. In recent months, Google has expanded this service to allow more than just text ads and now includes image and video ads.

Next up, How Google's Business Model is Self-Fortifying.

A Beginner's Guide to Google

2006-09-04T22:01:00.000-05:00

Google is synonymous with search. It consistently provides the most useful and relevant information to internet users while continuing to wow investors. In the little over two years since its initial public offering Google's share prices have grown nearly five fold. How does a company with free services prove so profitable. And how do they know just what you are searching for?

Search

Google started as the project of two Stanford grad school student, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. In the closing years of the 20th Century, the internet was growing at an astounding rate. Major companies like Yahoo! were attempting to catergorize the web like a librarian might classify books, but the immensity of the internet made computers necessary.

The Google founders came up with the idea to treat links between pages as recommendations. They figure if CNN links to the New York Times, CNN must think there is something noteworthy at nytimes.com. This, along with countless other algorithmic information made Google's search much more useful than products which just scanned the text for clues to the subject.

Yet, how does a company which does this for free make any money?

Money

Well, for some time, Google wasn't profitable. They relied on the support of venture capitalist investors who believed in the Google technology. However, a solution did present itself.

Borrowing from a start-up called Overture, Google began to sell contextually relevant advertising next to their search results. Advertisers would partake in an auction to have their ads appear higher up on the page and for certain search terms. Furthermore, they would only be charged if Google users either view or click on the ad. This system was called AdWords. The few cents paid by the advertiser could easily yield a return on investment highly beneficial.

Below, a typical search result with the advertising being labeled "Sponsored Links"

So, as more people used Google for their great search technology, more advertisers flocked to the company to market to the growing users.

Check back soon for recent updates to the Google business model and why it is self fortifying.

GMail Shortcuts

2006-09-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

Via Ionut Alex. Chitu's great blog comes this "cheat sheet" of keyboard shortcuts for Google's email client, GMail. If you spend a lot of time composing and replying to emails, keeping your hands on the keyboard will save you needed time.

For more great productivity tips, check out Lifehacker and 43folders.

Google CEO Joins Apple Board

2006-09-04T10:27:00.000-05:00

This past Wednesday, Google CEO joined the Board of Directors for Apple. The official p res s release has more information on his background at Novell and Sun Microsystems (two companies which have battled against Microsoft for ages). His tenure at Google and new connection with Apple makes him among the most powerful and well-connected men challenging Microsoft's hegemony.

So, what does this mean for Google? Reportedly, 3% of Google searches come from the Safari search box, so this is, in my opinion, a defensive move to protect that source of revenue. On the other hand, Apple now has a veteran director as they continue to battle Microsoft.

I think we can expect to see more Google applications ported to the Mac (as we have seen recently with Google Earth and Picasa Uploader), but I doubt much more than that. What do you think?

Google Image Labeler

2006-09-04T00:09:00.000-05:00

On Friday, Google released the Image Labeler which allows users to partake in a simplistic game whereby he is paired randomly with another player and try to label pictures with matching terms. This represents Google's second major move into utilizing their users to impove search. Earlier this year, Google introduced Co-op which lets developers use their expertise to help others find information with Google search.

This is a savvy move. For example, a picture of President Bush may include both Airforce One and the President, but traditional search has trouble seeing inside the photo the way humans do. With Image Labeler, the labels (or tags for the rest of the internet) accumulated, will match both topics.

The game was initially developed by Luis von Ahn as the ESP Game and has reportedly been licensed by Google. Watch the video for Mr. von Ahn's presentation at Google earlier this year.

Here's a video showing what a typical game is like. Sorry for the poor quality.

Download Books from Google

2006-09-03T23:42:00.000-05:00

Google Book Search is now allowing downloading of public domain books from their database of scanned works. Because the copyright has expired, Google (and anyone, for that matter) is free to distribute copyrighted material without paying licensing or other fees.

To find public domain works, go to the book search page and choose "full view books" before you search. Here's Aesop's Fables.

Link.