Google - The Internet God

Meaning of Rakeback

2008-05-08T16:20:00.000-07:00

The definition of rakeback has to be understood in two parts. The first is ‘What is rake?’

Rake is a method of how online poker sites earn their income. When individuals play cash games the house gathers a percentage out of each hand. This percentage taken from each player is the income of the game house and this is known as rake.

When an affiliate gives a percentage of the amount collected to its players then it is known as rakeback. Thus rakeback is a means of income to the game house and money got back by players.

YouTube news and information

2008-04-29T19:23:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been to youtube only to find that it is very hard to have to go through the best of the videos on youtube? Then you are not alone. Thankfully, there is this excellent website that has done all of that for you. You do not have to visit youtube and spend a lot of time there looking for the top videos. Topyoutubevideos.com has a listing of all the top video clips available on youtube. With the easy user interface, you can easily find all the top videos on youtube in any category on this website with the confidence that it can be viewed even by 13 year old kids.

Quality & Reliability Ink cartridges

2007-07-21T08:04:00.000-07:00

Eezytrade stakes its reputation on being able to deliver ink cartridges(d92 ink) to your door as fast as possible, often within 24 hours of ordering, with the minimum of fuss. Most orders received before 4:00pm should be delivered in the first class post the following day. To guarantee your order arrives the next day we offer a special next-day delivery service (Monday to Friday)

Our rapid and efficient response has earned us the praise of many of our clients, and we aim to continue offering this top-level service to future customers. Another benefit of using Eezytrade is the simplicity with which you can order your ink cartridges online. All products can be found within a maximum of two clicks from the homepage. There is no complicated navigation, annoying pop-ups, or long forms to fill out. Just click your type of printer and go straight to a list of all printer ink cartridges for that machine, and choose the right one for you. And we will even re-cycle your old HP and Lexmark cartridges if you send them back to us in the provided freepost envelope - we care about the environment too. And if you need compatible Epson or Canon ink cartridges then we supply these as well. Whatever kind of cartridge you require, we probably have it in stock and will get it to your door as quickly as possible. d92 ink

JSTL and Expression Language

2007-06-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL) is a custom tags collection that executes common functionalities in web applications, including iteration and selection, data formatting, XML manipulation and database access. JSTL allows JSP developers to focus on development specific necessities, instead of reinventing the wheel.

JSTL is composed of:

An expression language.
Standard actions libraries.
Validators (2 validators).

What is Expression Language (EL)?

Expression Language is a simple language based on ECMAScript (also known as JavaScript) and XPath. It provides expressions and identifiers and type conversion.

Expression Language makes easier the access to implicit objects, such as request / response servlet, scope variables and stored objects on JSP scope (page, request, session and application). EL reduces drastically the need of using JSP expressions and scriptlets, increasing web applications maintainability and extensibility.

Expressions

EL expressions are invoked with this syntax: ${expression}. Expressions consist of:

Identifiers.
Operators.

YouTube Redesigns and Moves to Google Accounts

2007-06-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

After updating their embeddable player, YouTube experiments with a new layout for the site. The new design places the search box in the center, moves the metadata below the video, makes it easier to rate the video and to find other related videos. There's also an option to embed a video using the old player.

To get the new interface, add &v3 at the end of a YouTube URL, like for this video.

YouTube also added to the homepage a list of videos that are being watched right now using active sharing, cleaned their search results and included a new option to view the results as thumnbnails.

But more importantly, you can now use your Google account to login to YouTube. You can link an existing YouTube account to a Google account or create a new one, but you'll still be able to use your YouTube credentials, so this is more like a temporary solution.

The login page proudly lists YouTube's features:

Upload, tag and share your videos worldwide
Browse millions of original videos uploaded by community members
Find, join and create video groups to connect with people with similar interests
Customize your experience with playlists and subscriptions
Integrate YouTube with your website using video embeds or APIs

Export Your Google Bookmarks

2007-06-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

Google Bookmarks offers a simple way to export your favorite links: as a bookmarks.html that can be imported natively in most browsers. You can also use this to backup your list of links, to view them online or to move them to other bookmarking web services.

To import bookmarks or to easily manage them, you need Google Toolbar. Hopefully, Google will improve the way bookmarks are displayed, integrate the tool with Google Notebook and Google Reader and let you share your links.

Until then, Google Bookmarks is a cool way to bias Google's search results towards your favorite sites...

Fishing Stories

2007-06-15T22:58:00.001-07:00

We are here for you to ask, tell, show, lie, or anything else about your fishing. Jump in and start sharing with everyone today!

A Fishhing Story

This is a story related to me by my father when I was small. He said he actually saw this happen in a fish weir, and have never forgot it.

Well, I never forgot it either, but I cannot for the life of me decipher its meaning. Or perhaps I don't see the forest because of the trees?

The following story was embellished a little to make the story a bit more exciting, except that the embellishments are what might have happened had they been witnessed. Anyroad, just read on.

There was once a squid and a black-striped croaker who were caught in a fish weir. After several days of captivity, they were very hungry and saw the other as food. But being of roughly equal size, and both relatively dangerous, they were naturally leery of the surroundings and wary of each other. So they kept an unobtrusive vigil, neither letting its guard down.

For days they circled the confines of the weir, keeping a sharp eye on each other. Finally, the croaker cannot take it anymore and made a sly and purposeful sudden attack. But the squid was alert, squirted some ink, changed color and escaped. The croaker rushed the dark ink anew before it realized the squid was not there anymore. So it prowled the cage again until it spotted the squid camouflaged against a mossy weir post.read more

Will You Ship Overseas?

2007-06-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

You can count on it. In fact we pride ourselves in shipping anywhere in the world. Not only will we ship overseas, but also APO, FPO, and anywhere else you can imagine. If the U.S. Post Office can get it there, then we can do it. read more about just tees

MilitaryChallengeCoin.net

2007-06-15T22:25:00.001-07:00

We have been in the Military Challenge Coin and Military Patch business for over 3 years now. We deal with several manufactorers that we trust to give us high end coins and patches. We are not so known out on the world wide web just yet, but our customer satisfaction is unmatched. If your not 1000% satisfied with your dealings with us, you money back garenteed. How can I be so cocky? I have mastered my business skills and prove it each day. You can visit their site http://www.MilitaryChallengeCoin.net

Ppen PowerPoint attachments as slideshows - GMail

2007-06-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

Now you can open PowerPoint attachments as slideshows, without having to download anything. Just click "View as slideshow" next to the .ppt attachment you want to preview. Since you can open .doc and .xls attachments with Google Docs and Spreadsheets too, there's no need to leave your web browser to check out your Gmail attachments. Learn More.

Semel's not cool in Google's shadow

2007-06-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Just before Google went public nearly three years ago, Yahoo Chairman Terry Semel assured a roomful of securities analysts and money managers that his company would remain the Internet's brightest star. To punctuate his high hopes, Frank Sinatra's "The Best Is Yet to Come" played in the background.

Google has so thoroughly eclipsed its rival since then that a growing contingent of Yahoo shareholders believes the company would be better off without Semel, who could face a chorus of discon tent when he takes the stage at Ya hoo's annual shareholders meeting tomorrow.>>

Google Complains About Microsoft's Vista

2007-06-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

Internet search leader Google Inc. is trying to convince federal and state authorities that Microsoft Corp.'s Vista operating system is stifling competition as the high-tech heavyweights wrestle for the allegiance of personal computer users.

In a 49-page document filed April 18 with the U.S. Justice Department and state attorneys general, Google alleged that the latest version of Microsoft's Windows operating system impairs the performance of "desktop search" programs that find data stored on a computer's hard drive.

The Vista operating system, which became widely available in January, includes a desktop search function that competes with a free program Google introduced in 2004. Several other companies also offer desktop search applications.

Besides bogging down competing programs, Google alleged Microsoft had made it too complicated to turn off the desktop search feature built into Vista.

With its allegations, Google hopes to show that Microsoft isn't complying with a 2002 settlement of an antitrust case that concluded the world's largest software maker had leveraged the Windows operating system to throttle competition.

The consent decree requires Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft to ensure its rivals can build products that run smoothly on Windows — something that Google says isn't happening.

"The search boxes built throughout Vista are hard-wired to Microsoft's own desktop search product, with no way for users to choose an alternate provider," Google spokesman Ricardo Reyes said in a statement issued Monday.

In its own statement, Microsoft said it already has made more than a dozen changes to address regulators' concerns about Vista and pledged to address any other legitimate problems. "While we don't believe there are any compliance concerns with desktop search, we've also told officials we are committed to going the extra mile to resolve this issue," Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said.

Justice Department spokesman Eric Ablin declined to comment Monday, citing confidentiality concerns.

Although he wouldn't discuss Google's allegations, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal confirmed that several states are taking a hard look at whether Vista is affecting the effectiveness of programs that aren't made by Microsoft.

"We really have reached a turning point in the process and expect to make a decision on how to proceed by the end of the week," Blumenthal said in a Monday interview.

Describing the Vista complaints as "troublesome," California Attorney General Jerry Brown said he has been in touch with the Justice Department, other state attorneys general and technology industry representatives in an effort to resolve the issue.

"Our goal is to provide consumers using the Vista operating system easier access to competing features," Brown said in a statement.

In a story Sunday, The New York Times reported that the state attorneys general are more inclined to press Microsoft to revamp Vista than the Justice Department.

A court hearing to review Microsoft's adherence with the consent decree is scheduled June 26.

Google's complaint is just latest example of its escalating battle with Microsoft — a duel that figures to shape the future direction of personal computing.

With its search engine already established as the Web's most popular gateway, Google has been offering an array of additional services that could become the building blocks for a Web-based computing platform that lessens the need for Microsoft's products.

Besides e-mail and instant messaging, Google also is distributing word processing and spreadsheet programs aimed at the Office suite of software that has long been one of Microsoft's biggest cash cows.

Google has been able to offer most of its services free because it makes so much money from the ads that it serves up alongside its search results and other content published by the thousands of Web sites that belong to Google's network.

Hoping to siphon away some of that revenue, Microsoft has invested heavily in its own search engine, which still ranks a distant third behind Google and Yahoo Inc.

Microsoft engineered Vista so its desktop search and Internet search engine would operate independently in an effort to avoid legal problems, said Brad Smith, the company's general counsel.

"If we were creating a feature in Windows and somehow requiring people to jump from our feature to our Internet search, then I could at least understand an antitrust argument being raised," Smith said.

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt has been a longtime critic of Microsoft's business tactics. After raising antitrust concerns about Microsoft in his previous jobs at Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell Inc., Schmidt again has been on the attack as he steers Google.

Last year, the Mountain View-based company reached out to the Justice Department to raise alarms about how the latest version of Microsoft's Web browser threatened to make it more difficult for computer users to install the toolbars of competing search engines. Although regulators decided not to intervene, Microsoft subsequently modified the way Explorer handled the selection of search toolbars.

Before putting its most recent misgivings on paper, Google began discussing the desktop search issue with authorities last year.

Those talks were apparently touched upon during a hearing in March when the Justice Department said it was investigating a claim that Microsoft had violated its antitrust settlement. Without identifying the complaining party, the Justice Department said the grievances were related to "middleware," or software that links different computer programs.

Google filed its written complaint just a few days after Microsoft publicly urged antitrust regulators to scrutinize Google's planned $3.1 billion acquisition of online ad service DoubleClick Inc. Microsoft contends the deal will give Google too much power over the rapidly growing online ad market. The Federal Trade Commission has opened a formal inquiry into the matter.

Java Forums - The largest Java Community

2007-06-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

In this blog post I am going to review about the one of the fastest growing Java Developers Forum.
You can view the forum Java Forum . They are maintaing the network of site for the Java Developers. In this forum you can post any doubts on Java Technologies. This is the link for java announcements where they post anything important happeings in the Java Industry. The following are the NetWork of sites maintained by them :

Java Headlines
Eclipse
NetBeans

Please visit these site and laern Java.

Apple and Google - Partnership Next Week?

2007-06-10T07:40:00.001-07:00

With Apple’s WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC) on schedule for next week, this is the time for rumors to come flying. The latest one and highly-probable one: Apple and Google partnering up on updating Apple’s .Mac service.

Apple’s .Mac service provides consumers with one gigabyte of shared email/web storage that users can back their own documents up to and also host websites on. They also provide online calendar, synchronizing of bookmarks to multiple computers, and more, for $99/year. While this is all put on by Apple and seems like a good round-up features, Google, the search-engine giant, has most, if not all of these features for free and are in some cases better than what Apple currently provides. Google’s GMail service provides users with a continuously growing amount of storage space for their email, as well as Google PageBuilder to create your own site on, Google Calendar, and many other features that Apple provides.

Apple has been bashed for not updating these features to catch up with competitors, but that may change. Wired is reporting that Apple and Google may partner up with each other to update the .Mac service to make it more comparable to other solutions. In an interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google and also an Apple board member, he believed that this was bound to happen. “We’re a perfect back end to the problems that they’re trying to solve. They have very good judgment on user interface and people. But they don’t have this supercomputer (that Google has), which is the data centers. What they have is a manufacturing business that’s doing quite well.”

This could be a hint to an upcoming re-release of the .Mac service. Also, when Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, was asked at the D Conference last week, he said that they “will make up for lost time in the very near future” for their putting off .Mac upgrade. We will see how this all folds out on Monday, June 11 at the WWDC keynote speech.

Firefox 3 Will Include Malware Protection

2007-06-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Mozilla intends to extend Firefox's phishing protection to include a list of sites that try to install malware. "Similar to how Firefox 2 blocks Web sites that are potentially going to try to steal your personal information, Firefox 3 will block Web sites that we believe are going to try to install malicious programs on your computer. Mozilla is coordinating with Google on this feature," says Alex Faaborg.

ComputerWorld quotes Gervase Markham, a developer for Bugzilla, who says: "What we are actually doing here is giving Google veto power over any Web page." The list of potentially harmful sites is managed by StopBadware, an organization that fights against spyware, malware, and deceptive adware. StopBadware is sponsored by Google, Lenovo and Sun.

Google already shows alerts if you try to visit a search result that may install malicious software on your computer. The feature is also included in Google Desktop, which automatically updates a list of suspicious or malicious sites from Google's servers. Firefox will probably work the same.

Other new features that will be included in Firefox 3: a unified way of storing bookmarks, history, and information about Web pages, microformat detection, private browsing, support for offline web applications. Firefox 3 should be launched at the end of the year, but you can still try the Alpha 5 version at your own risk.

Picasa2Flickr - Upload Photos from Picasa to Flickr

2007-06-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

One of the most important advantages of Picasa Web Albums compared to Flickr is that it's easy to upload photos and to download photo albums if you use Google's photo organizer, Picasa.

Picasa2Flickr is an open source plugin for Picasa that lets you upload photos to Flickr. You can just select some photos from your albums, click on "Send to Flickr" and a small dialog will let you enter some information about your photos: tags, privacy options, the name of a set.

The plugin uses Flickr's authentication API, so you'll enter your credentials in a browser, without passing them to the application.

Notifier for Google Reader

2007-06-09T18:40:00.000-07:00

Google Reader Watcher is a Firefox extension that monitors your feeds from Google Reader and shows alerts when there's something new to read. The extension shows the number of unread posts in the status bar (this number is only an approximation, because Google Reader doesn't count past 100 for an individual feed). If you hover over the icon, you'll see the list of feeds that have unread posts.

Another way to keep up with your Google Reader feeds is to subscribe to this feed locally (for example, using Firefox Live Bookmarks or Opera's feed reader): http://www.google.com/reader/atom/user/-/state/com.google/reading-list?n=100. Note that the n= parameter represents the number of items from the feed and can be adjusted. As expected, you need to log in before accessing the feed, because it's not public.

Google undermining trust in Microsoft?

2007-06-08T22:21:00.003-07:00

oogle Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has had a good time recently nipping at the heels of what many consider its largest enemy -- Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT). While I'm not agreeing that Microsoft is in Google's direct cross-hairs more than other companies, the area of customer security and privacy is one area where both companies have taken potshots at one another recently. Google has taken criticism for the immense privacy breaches it apparently is making available to the world, while Microsoft's Windows operating system and other software constantly have security issues, from malware to spyware.

Google recently posted an entry to its security blog that lists the most common web servers that are used to host malware, which then gets distributed to consumer PCs -- turning them into "zombies" for illegal online activity. Yes, you guessed it -- Microsoft's Internet Information Server (IIS) was listed along with the Apache web server (which runs the free Linux operating system) as responsible for distributing 49% of all malware on the internet. You probably know malware -- it's what is responsible for those annoying popups on many millions of PCs, and it generally slows down a PC significantly or crashes it altogether.

Now, to be fair, Google did list the open-source Apache web server as responsible for hosting and distributing malware on the internet as well, so I don't think this was a direct attack on Microsoft, but more as a statement of fact.

But, Google did take its analysis further and determined that Microsoft's server software was actually responsible for distributing malware twice as much as the Apache web server software. While this will not come as a surprise to many IT professionals, it seems that Google could have a motive of undermining trust in Microsoft's products by using published research and analysis showing weakness. Well, it's free to do that, and perhaps Microsoft could turn the tables on Google and point out weakness in the company's software -- except that Google does not make software for web servers.

Google buy

2007-06-08T22:21:00.001-07:00

Analyst Henning Wagener of AC Research reiterates his "buy" rating on Google (GOOG.NAS).

According to AC Research’s research note dated June 6 and published this morning, the company has made another acquisition. Google is taking over server specialist PeakStream, a corporation that, among other things, develops software for server computers. The systems are designed to run on work stations as well as on servers. With this acquisition, Google is able to enhance its own technology. As for the financial details of the deal, the parties agreed to disclose no further information.

Moreover, Google announced a close cooperation with salesforce.com, a producer of customer management systems. Salesforce.com is offering internet based solutions for the administration of client relations. The core of the agreement is the integration of the AdWords Google platform into the Salesforce Edition customer management software. With the development of a joint software package, the companies want to address in particular smaller sized corporations with less than 200 employees. Among other things, the Salesforce Group Edition shall enable companies to directly launch ads in the search results lists via Google AdWord. The analyst believes that this cooperation makes a lot of sense, since it ill probably enable Google to further expand its customer base. At Wednesday’s closing price of $518.84 and a 2007 P/E ratio of roughly 35, the company’s stock still seems to enjoy a somewhat moderate rating, considering the continuing rather large growth potentials. With the cooperation with salesforce.com, Google is reinforcing its competition with Microsoft in the corporate software market, the analyst says. Here, with internet word, mail, and calendar functions, Google is now offering more and more alternatives to the Microsoft office software. Against this backdrop, Google is likely to be able to gain some additional market share at the expense of Microsoft in this segment. AC Research reiterates its "buy" rating on Google

Google to digitize Big Ten school books

2007-06-08T22:20:00.001-07:00

Twelve major universities will digitize select collections in each of their libraries -- up to 10 million volumes -- as part of Google Inc.'s book-scanning project. The goal: a shared digital repository that faculty, students and the public can access quickly.

The partnership involves the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, which includes the University of Chicago and the 11 universities in the Big Ten athletic conference (yes, there are 11): Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Purdue and Wisconsin.

"We have a collective ambition to share resources and work together to preserve the world's printed treasures," said Northwestern Provost Lawrence Dumas.

The committee said Google will scan and index materials "in a manner consistent with copyright law." Google generally makes available the full text of books in the public domain and limited portions of copyrighted books.

Several other universities, including Harvard and California, already have signed up to let Google scan their libraries.

But Google still faces a lawsuit by the Association of American Publishers and the Authors Guild over its plans to incorporate parts of copyrighted books.

Newspaper Alliances Help Yahoo! Expand Ad Reach

2007-06-08T22:15:00.005-07:00

The alliance between newspaper publishers and Yahoo! that was unveiled last November has now grown to 17 publishing groups representing over 400 daily papers, reports Red Herring. Hearst, the publisher of 12 daily newspapers including the San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, said the alliance has already generated millions of dollars in additional revenue this year.

The partnerships, which are currently based around job classifieds with Yahoo!'s HotJob's service, allow newspapers to greatly expand their audience. "Most newspapers' web sites reach between 10 and 20 percent of their audience in their local market. Yahoo!'s reach in the same audience in local markets is 70 to 80 percent," Hilary Schneider, executive vice president of Yahoo! marketplaces, said at a conference this week. The alliance will expand to search advertising on the newspapers' websites later this year, and display advertising during 2008.

While the alliance may help Yahoo! compete with Google, who is in the the process of acquiring DoubleClick in part to bolster its display advertising business, it is the classified ad tie-ups that may turn out to be the best part of the deal. Internet ad spending in the first quarter of 2007 was $4.9 billion (a year-over-year increase of about $100 million). Search ads continue to dominate, followed by display ads, but the fastest growth was in lead generation and classified ads.

While Google's DoubleClick acquisition will give them access to industry-leading software, Yahoo!'s strategy of partnerships with premium media properties gives them access to top dollar advertising space. JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan upgraded his rating of Yahoo! last week in large part because of these partnerships.

And the tie-ups don't have to stop with advertising and classifieds, according to analysts. Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence told Red Herring, "Social media, community tools, shopping, and maps mash-ups could all be tapped into. Newspaper sites could really benefit from these tools." These alliances could really help push Yahoo!'s non-search products to a wider audience, and in turn ultimately help their overall brand (including search).

What are your thoughts? Can alliances with newspaper publishers and other media sites help Yahoo! take on Google in advertising? Or will Google's search dominance equate to continued dominance of the online ad market?

Postini IPO Coming

2007-06-08T22:15:00.003-07:00

We’ve been hearing that Postini, a security and compliance company, is on track to file for their initial public offering in the next few weeks.

They recently hired a new CFO, Murray Demo, who can handle the IPO process. He was with Adobe for ten years and served as CFO for the last six. According to our source, the company held what is called a “bake off,” which is a selection process for the investment bankers who will market and sell the company’s stock in the IPO, and selected Merrill Lynch as the lead underwriter. Merrill Lynch just happens to be one of Postini’s early customes, so loyalty may have played a part.

Postini’s revenues are rumored to be at around a $75 million run rate, and is “very” profitable.

This is the year that IPOs may make a big comeback. We are tracking a few companies that made it through the downturn, sometimes by resorting to drastic measures to keep the company going, and who are now planning to hit the public markets. Postini will likely not have the $1 billion valuation that Netsuite is looking for, but it is a healthy and profitable company nonetheless.

New Ask.com UI Gives 20%+ More User Satisfaction

2007-06-08T22:15:00.001-07:00

This week Ask.com released a new user interface, which they nicknamed Ask3D. The vertical layout scheme looks very unusual for a general purpose search engine. However it's aesthetically pleasant. But as well as the visual enhancements, the new vertical scheme has other wisdom behind it. Let me explain with this graph:

In the above examples, I queried my name "Emre Sokullu" on Google and Ask respectively. The results: Google gives me 5 results in the first page, Ask has 7. Assuming that most users don't even scroll down, my satisfaction probability is 40% higher at Ask. You might think that people do scroll down, but past usability experiments have shown that most do not. Or even if they do, they do it very carelessly. Indeed users don't just give up at the first page if they don't feel satisfied, they also are likely to give up at the first eye shot if they don't feel satisfied - this is a natural consequence of increasing user expectations.

But there are a few important parameters here. First of all, Emre Sokullu is a typical long tail query example. As the query approaches the head of the tail, Google and Ask return the same amount of results. But most of the time, while Ask returns 6, Google has 5. Consequently, the user satisfaction is approximately 20% higher. Also note that another important parameter here is a user's screen resolution. The average mainstream screen resolution worldwide is 1024x768.

Overall, a small difference of ~ 80 pixels means a lot. Ask has basically increased the user satisfaction probability by a huge 20%, with just a UI change. This is a very good example of where user interface innovation in search may provide tangible improvements in the search experience.

The F-shape theory

The heatmaps above represent the way users read different web sites. The interesting point here is the commonality of the F-shape reading pattern during the eye tracking studies. More about this interesting work is provided on Jabob Nielsen's site.

This suggests that the current Ask interface has no conflict with the F shape pattern. The extra margin at the left side gets reflexively omitted by users, as shown in the first and second examples above.

Other Enhancements

The enhancements at Ask are not limited to UI. Additionally, in popular queries, the right panel can give you a shortcut definition from Wikipedia and other relevant results from images, videos, blogs and shopping channels. Therefore the chances of getting a relevant result at the first shot increases.

Customization

Last but not least, Ask has taken some courageous customization steps as well. It allows you to have your favourite desktop image in the background each time you visit the site. This is a feature that complements the current social networking and mobile phone customization trends. Just as you enjoy having your own background image on your cell phone, Windows desktop and MySpace page, you can now enjoy having your own background on your search engine page.

All of these fancy enhancements come at a price though - the pages get more and more bloated compared to the simple Google and Yahoo interfaces. Ask's logic is to leverage the advantages of high speed broadband connections and expand in the US market mainly - where page download differences at that level are not even noticeable.

Conclusion

A few months ago, myself and our search czar Charles Knight had a discussion around the topic of UI innovations. My point then was that user interface innovations are not that important - the important thing is to make technological advances. I still advocate this idea and think a new search engine won't ramp up significantly just because it brings a few UI innovations. However it is certainly a good idea to combine technological shifts with user interface innovations; or in some sense, feed technological breakthroughs with smart UI magic. And this is what Ask.com has done.

The Internet? You Mean That Old Thing Google Bought?

2007-06-08T22:14:00.003-07:00

The news yesterday evening: Google will buy RSS publisher Feedburner for $100 million. What to call it? Googburner? Feedboogle? Fondleburger?

Whatever. Let's just call the Internet Google and get it over with. That's only half a joke: Google buys or invests in growth trends online. Whatever technology has the potential of bringing more people online (mobile ads, video) or manages their online experience (blogs, iGoogle, maps) is a target for acquisition.

Hence Feedburner. While Forrester says only 29% of large companies use RSS today (2006 stat), 48% of current RSS publishers are overspending on the trend, to the tune of $250k each per year. Everybody wants RSS to blow up.

Other reasons Google is scooping FeedBurner up:

Analytics. One place to get combined page views and feed views.
Access to reading and viewership trends of a schload of major publishers like USA Today and MediaVillage.
Cross-analyzing readership trends for better targeting of ad data. Duh.
Advertising in feeds. Also duh.

Google Universal Search Gives Big Ups to Maps, Video

2007-06-08T22:14:00.001-07:00

Google released its universal search update a few weeks ago, and now Bill Tancer at Hitwise says the upgrade is driving a lot of traffic to Google Maps and YouTube.

Well of course the YouTube bump makes sense. Like I said three weeks ago, you don't have to sell ads in videos, you can make money selling ads around searches for video. As video becomes more popular -- and not just on YouTube, on every video site -- people will search for those videos more often on Google. Even better, for Google, YouTube's rising tide lifts all boats. In this case the boats = other video sites. Monetize those, too. Turn Google Video into a meta search engine for all types of video.

As for the increased traffic to Google Maps, I wonder if that number isn't impacted by all the attention Maps received last week from the street view feature. Lots of media around that one, including my appearance to talk about the feature with Wired's Ryan Singel on G4TV's Attack of the Show.