Google Search blog

Google’s planning to take over 111 Eighth Avenue, designed by Lusby Simpson and completed in 1932 to house the Port Authority of New York. It’s one of the largest buildings in the city, an architectural marvel, and a landmark. As a red-brick 15-story structure, it has a footbrint that’s larger than 2 football fields and occupies an entire city block.

Alan Eustace, senior vice president of engineering and research, said: “Can you build global products with a workforce that is only in Mountain View, California? The answer is, no you can’t. The technical talent that we need to solve the next generation of problems in search does not all live in Mountain View, California.”

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Analyst Jordan Rohan of RBC Capital Markets maintains his “outperform” rating on Google, Inc.,  with a target price of $465. In a research note published yesterday, the analyst mentions that recent channel checks indicate an increase in web activity over the past month. Google’s share price is likely to appreciate in the near term, if the company’s international segment posts higher-than-expected results for the current quarter, the analyst says.

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Virtual habits can get just as boring as habits in the real world: e-mail, news reader, weather, check. But the routine can cause us to miss the weirdness and wonder of the Web. Companies like StumbleUpon.com try to counteract the doldrums with Web-recommendation software, and now Google has its own cure. A software developer has built a Google plug-in called Interesting things for you, which points to popular sites and gadgets related to an individual’s search history. People can add the module, via RSS, to their Google home page and see new recommendations whenever they log onto to their account.

news.com

Google likes its logo graphics. The signature logo changes, drawn by Google Webmaster Dennis Hwang, appear on Google’s home page for a variety of events, including (but not limited to) celebratory occasions like July Fourth, esoteric holidays such as Persian New Year, and the World Cup. The logos are such an ingrained part of Web topology that sites like Fark spoof the graphics. But where’s the 9/11 logo, Google? Does the event incite too many conflicting emotions? Arouse too much passion on both sides of the political spectrum? Are you worried about politicizing your otherwise impartial technology? Ask.com changed their home page, so why didn’t you?

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Philipp Lenssen of Google Blogoscoped was invited  to post on the Official Google Blog from Germany. His post, 55 Ways to Have Fun With Google, is named after his self-published book by the same title.

Here’s what I found to be the most interesting part:

The book is self-published with Lulu.com, an interesting service. Basically, Lulu allows you to upload your Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer file along with your cover, and then convert it to a print-on-demand book. If you pay a little extra, your book will also appear on Amazon. The process ain’t free of headaches but I gotta say, it’s worth it. Lulu will also make sure the book’s findable through Google Book Search.

I’ve thought about writing a book, and this looks like a very good way to do it. With modern technology, the only thing really holding you back from being an author is writing the book itself. Publishing and marketing are readily available to individuals and small content creators, thanks to services like Lulu, Google Books, search, and AdWords. Try it out.

Up until now, Google Books only showed short snippets of books. Now they’ve launched a new service that allows users to download some books to their computers.

It sounds revolutionary, but it’s not much different from what’s offered by other websites: the only books available for download are those in the public domain. Thus, Google isn’t violating copyright laws. And, since it takes decades for books to enter the public domain, there’s an emphases on classics.

Download the Classics (Google Blog)

Nestled within the Silicon Valley landscape, residents of Mountain View, California, enjoy free wireless internet, thanks to the hometown hero Google. Launched August 15, the Google Wi-Fi service uses approximately 380 access points, spread across city light poles and volunteered rooftops, to cover nearly all of Mountain View’s 12.2 square miles in an 802.11b/g-compatible spectrum.

While Google caps the network at speeds of 1 Mbps for upload and download, the company takes a decidedly hands-off approach to limiting users’ ability to access all kinds of content.  Anything’s fair game when you’re connected to the “GoogleWiFi” SSID, save for any outgoing transmissions on port 25.  Google blocks the often-used route for e-mail in an effort to discourage spam.

“We, as a company, support net neutrality in the fullest and we’re going to apply those principles here,” said Chris Sacca, Google’s head of special initiatives.

The only barrier between your laptop and complete, unrestricted, Google-given access to the Internet is a login screen.  You’re required to have a Google account before you can hop online. Put the privacy flag back down, though; Google doesn’t track your web movements.

Google only collects four pieces of information from any Wi-Fi user: the MAC address of the machine joining the network, the specific access point to which its attaching, how long it’s ultimately attached for, and the amount of data that was transferred during the session.

“The network doesn’t really have that much information,” Mr. Sacca added.

Ultimately, the privacy question becomes a matter of trust between you and Google.  However, Red Herring did get a chance to test Google’s claims of accessibility.  Before we could begin, we spent nearly 10 minutes driving around Mountain View to find a working access point (hint: anything under 20 to 30 percent connectivity doesn’t really work).

We eventually found a sweet spot, and were treated to the Google login page within seconds.  After a brief user name/password exchange, we were on.  We started by running a quick bandwidth test, courtesy of speedtest.net.  The results were pleasing:  our download speed on the San Francsico test server hovered around 1,000-1,100 Kbps, and our upload speed nearly hit 900 Kbps over the three successive tries.  Network latency was an enjoyable 36 milliseconds.

While our download of popular BitTorrent client Azureus wasn’t nearly as fast as it is on a cable modem or in the office, the file cruised in without connection interruptions or any other difficulty.  We installed it, headed over to torrentspy.com, and picked a file with a good chunk of seeding clients as a test download.

Red Herring

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, has joined Apple’s Board of Directors.

“Eric is obviously doing a terrific job as CEO of Google, and we look forward to his contributions as a member of Apple’s board of directors,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Like Apple, Google is very focused on innovation and we think Eric’s insights and experience will be very valuable in helping to guide Apple in the years ahead.”

“Apple is one of the companies in the world that I most admire,” said Eric Schmidt. “I’m really looking forward to working with Steve and Apple’s board to help with all of the amazing things Apple is doing.”

Yesterday Google announced that they’ll introduce a feature that allows users to talk to advertisers via Skype, instead of just clicking over to an advertiser’s website. The feature will be called click-to-call and will also have the option of using Google Talk or standard telephones.

Early tests indicate that there are some advertisers, including mortgage brokers, who are willing to pay $8 to $15 for each call from a web searcher. That’s about ten times what they’ll pay for just a click. The Google-eBay deal says that the money paid by advertisers will be split between the two companies, although the proportion was not disclosed.

Most tests so far are focused on calling using regular phones, not services like Skype. eStara, a company that provides pay-per-call advertising technology to companies including Verizon’s SuperPages.com unit, offers both telephone and PC calling options.

NY Times

Props to Spam Karma. If your WordPress blog has a spam problem, try it. Akismet is not enough.

Google announced today the Japanese-language version of its Gmail email service, open to anyone who wants to sign up. Japan is third, after Australia and New Zealand, to get open access to Gmail. Gmail is currently offered in over 40 different languages. In other markets, sign-ups are limited to those receiving invitations from existing users or get access via a mobile phone.

Google doesn’t disclose the number of accounts it has opened for Gmail, a free service launched in April 2004. Gmail generates revenue for Google as an automated system that displays advertisements linked to the details of emails sent and received. Angela Lee, Tokyo-based product manager at Google, said: “We want as many people [as possible] to have access to our service.”

Anyone can now register for Google’s online word processing program, even though it’s still in beta. Google began compiling the Writely waitlist in March and started sending invitations in July. This month, they reached the bottom of the waitlist– so now they can accomodate anyone who wants to use the program.

Writely allows users to compose, store, collaborate and share their documents. It seems like a competitor to Microsoft Office, although PC Magazine in July said it’s no real competition to Word. Online document management probably has its own place, since users can collaborate on a single document and access their documents anywhere there’s an Internet connection.

“One hundred percent of people agreeing on one thing? I don’t think so,” she said. “The poll is really a litmus test and it’s been a great way to solicit feedback from people who wouldn’t normally give feedback.”

Although Google did not release a statement about opening registration for Writely, Mazzon announced it on the Writely bloglast Thursday.

As predicted by many in the blogosphere, Blogger.com is now migrating to Google Accounts. Users wanting to create a new blog can now do so with their Google Account. However, there still seems to be problems with moving your old Blogger blog and account over to your Google Account.

The upgrade includes a Google Page Creator-like AJAX page which allows dragging, creation, and customization of various page elements. Also included in the update are labels, a few new Blogger template options, blog permissions, and more site feed settings.

This Blogger help article hints to some features coming in future Blogger updates.