Google Logs

Google may harm your computer?

2009-01-31T07:18:00.001-08:00

Something very unseen and unexpected is happening around the web while I am writing this post. I searched for some term on mighty Google.com and all the results came with "This site may harm your computer" link. I tried searching same text on some other computers and operating systems and even gave a call to few friends to check it. It is returning the same erratic result set. I searched for the term "Google" and the result is (Screenshot below)Then I clicked on the 1st result which was google.com itself and the page opened was
What the heck? Google is hacked or is it some stupid mistake by googlers. This event looks like a solar eclipse in the world of Internet to me. I hope we get an explanation soon and the error fixed.

Update 1: Just now, the bug was fixed and it started behaving properly after more than an hour's erratic behavior. Are we getting an explanation, Google?

Update 2: And, here comes the explanation from Google ;) . A human error.
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/this-site-may-harm-your-computer-on.html

Open Handset Alliance | Android , Google's mobile initiative

2007-11-14T21:19:00.000-08:00

Last week Google announced an Open Handset Alliance to group world's biggest mobile technology companies, chip manufacturing leaders, mobile operator giants and software companies altogether. Giants like Motorola, Intel, Samsung, LG, nVidia, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Ebay and more are combined under the alliance to prepare an open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices.

Google envisions huge possibilities for the alliance as there are 1.5 billion television sets in use around the world. 1 billion people are on the Internet. But nearly 3 billion people have a mobile phone. And, it will keep growing being world's most successful consumer product.

Android - the operating system, middleware and a set of key mobile applications. Android as a platform will technically collaborate all companies, services, developers, devices and users in the alliance. the SDK for developers is out now and probably it is based on Linux.

What does all this actually mean?

There will be one open platform for all mobile devices in alliance, named Android.
Android will be able to communicate to device features as well as applications.
Developers can develop applications on the Android SDK which will run on any mobile device.
All companies under the alliance are giants in their fields, which ensures the success of the alliance.
Google's vision for the alliance is really futuristic and well timed.
Like OpenSocial is for social networks, OHA is for mobile phones.
Being open ensures the rapid and unrestricted growth of the alliance and will also make it a success anyway.
It is going to benefit all, the service providers, the mobile operators, users, and all companies anyhow connected to the alliance.

Also, Google has announced an open challenge to developers worth $10 million for Android SDK.
All the best, thinktanks ;)

Google to offer a facebook like platform for developers

2007-10-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

"Google Inc will offer Internet developers an open system to create applications across Web sites, a move that could challenge the features behind the explosive popularity of social network Facebook.
The OpenSocial system offered by Google, which lost out last week to rival Microsoft Corp in securing an investment in Facebook, gives developers standardized tools to write applications and embed them in many sites.
This will eliminate the need for small startups or even one-person shops to customize their programs for each site.
It also has the potential to lure developers mostly allied with Facebook by allowing their applications to find a home on many other Web sites.
"This is about making the Web more social; how do you have your friends go along with you to any site on the Web?" Joe Kraus, Google director of product management, said in an interview on Tuesday.
In May, Facebook opened its site to outside developers whose programs let users do everything from comparing favorite books to buying friends a virtual cocktail or mapping travels around the world.
Thousands of applications have since been attached to the site and are credited with helping Facebook -- valued at about $15 billion after the Microsoft investment -- to increase its user base to more than 48 million.
UNLEASHING A CHALLENGE
Google said it has signed on about a dozen partners so far, including social network LinkedIn for business professionals, its own Orkut network and Friendster. The sites combined reach about 100 million people, the company said.
Developers who are testing the program include key companies behind Facebook applications, such as music recommendation service iLike and Slide, which created the "Top Friends" ranking application.
Industry blogs have speculated for nearly a month that Web search leader Google was seeking to unleash a major challenge to Facebook, which is due to announce its own new advertising strategy on November 6. "
courtesy, Michele Gershberg of Reuters

YouTube India to be launched

2007-10-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

Google is planning to launch the Indian flavor of its popular video sharing site YouTube. The launch is expected between January and March 2008(as Shashi Seth, head of monetization at YouTube, San Bruno California told). YouTube India is supposed to aggregate Indian movie trailers, music videos, independent films and TV content. It has already tied up with an Indian film and music production giant, Eros Entertainment to showcase its new releases etc. Even they are looking to tie up with other big productions both in films and TV too. Also, the news channels are on the list.

As they say,

The site will help Indian surfers what they want. It will also be an excellent platform for young filmmakers to launch their work.
YouTube charges $20 for every 1,000 impressions internationally but may have separate pricing for India.
A Rajnikanth video was recently ranked in the top 100 YouTube videos of all time.

My impression about why Google is launching a special edition of YouTube for a country sharing less than one percent of the global traffic is,

India is the biggest film production country in the world which proves it has a great potential in video content ofcourse.
Indian viewers are so interested in movies, music and TV. All they need is an Indianized easy source of entertainment.
There are so many big production houses to tie up with and earn money publicizing their video products.
Number of YouTube users is not much but number of video entertainment lovers is the highest in the world. It indicates there is a huge scope of business out there.
Indian content lovers are not just in India but in whole world.

We’re waiting, Google.

Zingku, acquired by who else? Google

2007-09-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

A few moment ago, it was confirmed that Google has acquired the mobile social networking site Zingku. Also, Zingku has announced the news proudly as " We've entered into an agreement to have Google acquire our Zingku service."
Also, the new user registrations are frozen after the buyout.
What Google might be doing of zingku? My guess is, may be it's going to be integrated with Orkut.

Zingko have been doing really well and has social features like share, invite, poll, flyer and even mashups.

Happy B'day Google. You turn 9 today.

2007-09-27T11:05:00.000-07:00

Google,
you turn 9 today. You've grown from

google.stanford.edu(1997)

to
www.google.com(2007)

one of your creaters, Sergey Brin in 1999 says, “A perfect search engine will process and understand all the information in the world ... That is where Google is headed.”

In-between being a search engine and staying one, this is what also happened during the last 9 years, in semi-particular order:

The Google homepage goes out of Beta
A Google Friends newsletter is started to address “Googlers,” originally the term for Google users
Google teams up with RealNames to bring now-forgotten Internet Keyword support to their search engine
Google bought a huge Newsgroup archive from Deja News and turned it into Google Groups. The first mention of Madonna on the internet is now owned by Google Inc.
Google created a technology playground called Google Labs, where they release tools such as Google Sets
Yahoo switches to Google results, but later changes their mind and develops their own search engine back-end to compete with Google and Microsoft in the club of the three only high-scale search engines worldwide
Eric Emerson Schmidt, then 46, replaces Larry Page, then 28 years old, as boss of Google
Google shows context-relevant AdWords in search results, and later AdSense on external websites
Aaron Swartz starts posting news on Google on the Google Weblog
Google releases more and more company blogs to communicate with people outside the company
Google releases Gmail, which many thought was an April Fool’s prank due to the at the time incredible storage of 1 Gigabyte
Google went through an Initial Public Offering, meaning the company gets special attention from stock market investors
Google enters China and decides to compromise its mission by self-censoring human rights websites, proclaiming a change from “don’t ever be evil, period” to “scales balancing what Google thinks is least evil”
Google releases a set of programming frameworks called GData
Google releases a set of client-side, ad-powered JavaScript APIs, ditching support for their server-side, ad-free SOAP API
Google releases a word processor, a spreadsheet editor, and later a presentations tool, all with a focus on online collaboration
Google publishes their Google Apps suite for companies
Google starts showing good-resolution photos of people on the streets as part of mining public information and making it accessible
Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin in a speech given on a Google Developer Day says we’ve come full circle, as the generation which grew up with the web is now starting to create on the web, determining its shape... a self-increasing feedback loop causing exponentially growing development (or so one would hope).
and much, much more.

according to Philipp Lenssen of blogoscoped

Good going Google. We're with you :)

Gmail getting a new look

2007-09-25T06:22:00.000-07:00

It has been long time since last post on this blog.
now we will try to keep the post coming in constant flow.

so getting back to the original topic

gmail is getting a new look.

first evident scene is the account creation page which has been revamped and looks good,
secondly there have been rumors about the label feature of gmail getting an uplift.

We can expect some security features including some checks to tell when an account has been accessed simultaneously on two different places.

some side jacking attempts were made on gmail and were quite successful in the defcon2007, so we can expect gmail security to be beefed up.

a little improvements in terms of its usability on low bandwidth systems is a thing which could or could not be in the list of improvements.

Will inform more as an when possible.

Desktop v5 released

2007-03-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

Google just announced their latest version of Google Desktop. The new release gives users a better sidebar, a preview "plusbox" in search results and better security. The Gadget directory was given a major facelift too — it looks very apple-ish with the reflective gadget previews.

"The sidebar has a completely new look and feel. It samples the color of your wallpaper and fades in the sampled color so that it fits seamlessly onto your desktop. Some of our gadgets have been redesigned so that they are easy to tell apart, easy to read, and easy on the eyes. More differentiated gadgets allow for faster scanning of information through the sidebar. And we've created a new dialog for adding gadgets so it's easier and faster than ever to find the right gadgets for you." — Inside Google Desktop Blog , according to Garett Rogers

Google Office out now, oops! its Google Docs

2006-10-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

After acquiring Writely, everyone knew that google is rolling out its own Web Office. Then came Google Spreadsheets which is really a great tool so far but still needs improvements if comparing to Microsoft Office or Open Office.
Now, Google has combined both, writely and spreadsheets into one application named Google Docs. The google version of writely has following features according to ajaxian:

Use our online editor to format documents, spell-check and more.
Upload Word documents, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML or text.
Download documents to your desktop as Word, PDF and more.
View your documents’ revision history and roll back to any version.
Invite others to share your documents by e-mail address.
Edit documents online with whomever you choose.
Publish documents online to the world, or to just who you choose.
Post your documents to your blog.

Here we see the Google suite slowly getting together.

But wait, there is one more highly noticeable something on the internet. Yes, I'm talking about ZOHO Virtual Office. It sure will be a challange to Google in future. You can access it at Zohox.com or ZohoVO.com. Zoho has a big range of web solutions along with the office suite. It already has its Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet and Zoho Show(an online presentation tool). Sure deserves attention.

Google has acquired YouTube. GooTube confirmed!

2006-10-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

As reported by me on my previous post, Google and YouTube were talking about an acquisition deal for about $1.6 - $2 billion.
The deal has been done and confirmed a few moments ago. Google has acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. Very few of us know that YouTube just started in 2005 with two guys as a core team. This is the largest deal google has made yet for an acquisition.

Both companies have approved the deal, which should officially close in the fourth quarter. YouTube’s 65 employees will remain with the company at YouTube’s San Bruno headquarters.
Details are also emerging that Yahoo was in the bidding war until very close to the end.
Google is hosting a conference call and webcast to discuss the deal. It is just starting now. You can hear it live at http://investor.google.com/webcast.html. If you miss it live, a replay of the call will be available until midnight Monday, October 16 at 888-203-1112 domestically and 719-457-0820 internationally. Confirmation code for the replay is 2260624.

What Google may be planning to do with YouTube?

To integrate its AdSense for video in YouTube as its user exposer would be perfect for google.
To earn lots of benefit from YouTube's largest Video database for search and all.
To benefit from YouTube's great new technology to auto recognise video wheather its copyrighted or not.
To Enjoy its popularity as Google video has made its biggest rival a part of history now.

The way to go Google... keep going

What's next?. . . GooTube?

2006-10-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Rumors are, Google is talking to YouTube(the most popular video sharing site) for a buyout, according to Michael Arrington of TechCrunch. The price? $1.6 to $2 billion according to his sources. And, if rumors are not just rumors, it will be a huge deal. However, the deal is not final yet.

Let's talk about some aspects of it.
Definitely google video is lagging behind YouTube in number of customers and the video database size.
The cost is not too much for something like Google Inc. and alone the number of customers YouTube has, is worth its cost.
Google can earn more bucks by its video ads program alone on this huge database and number of users.
Now, some negative aspects.
Google folks have to be aware of the fact that the minute they buy YouTube, they are going to have to deal with lawsuits by truckloads, which could cost them money, but more importantly distract them from their core business. Anti youtube lobby is waiting for youtube to be bought and than file a suit against that big pcoket company. The company breaks lots of copyrights.

you can read detailed story on a wall street journal article by Kevin J. Delaney.

Google To Predict Accuracy of Political Statements

2006-10-06T00:10:00.000-07:00

Google CEO Eric Schmidt talks about a service which can give the probability of the accuracy of statements made by politicians, among other things. From the Reuters article, Schmidt says: "We (at Google) are not in charge of truth but we might be able to give a probability." Can Google's 'truth predictor' bring an end to sound bites and one-liners? I'm not holding my breath...

will Google be doing this? Sure it can.

Powerset ?

2006-10-06T00:04:00.000-07:00

According to Om Malik,

The Internets are all chattering about Powerset, a new natural language search start-up, that plans to out-Google, Google. There are a bunch of varied opinions about this company, some good, and most not so good. Danny Sullivan calls it overhyped.

What do you think?

Google releases Code Search

2006-10-05T23:39:00.000-07:00

For developers, Google releases a Code Search like Krugle or Koders. It was expected from a long time as google has the biggest database of code directories. For now, it looks like it is following things what Krugle or Koders have been doing. The source codes it searches in are definitely the huge open source collections available on the internet like SourceForge, Freshmeat and many others.
To search, you need to use Regular Expressions which are better described here.

Google Movies may be launching soon

2006-10-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

Google has just added a "/movies?" to its robots.txt file which means they might be cooking something next like a movies search. Following this fact, I tried looking up google.com/movies which returned a movie search page, a location based movie search. You can enter your zip code and search for local showtimes for your movie.

Google Gadgets - now on your homepage

2006-10-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

Gadgets which google provided for its personalised homepage, now are open for your web pages. All you need to do is simply find a gadget in the Gadgets directory and copy a small snippet of code onto your website.
Also, Google has extended its Ajax Search API and now, its easier to put a google ajax search on your page with lots of features like Video Bar , Map Search, Search for Blogger etc.

EBay bans Google Checkout

2006-10-02T05:48:00.000-07:00

eBay has barred its users from employing Google Checkout on its site.
eBay’s new Acceptable Payments Policy states “sellers may not request payment through online payment methods not specifically permitted in this policy,” and the document does not specify that Google Checkout is an acceptable payment method.
The reason behind this? as it looks obvious to me, the reason is Ebay's own PayPal. Google Checkout was rumored as a "PayPal Killer". And, it is the one greatest ever competitor to PayPal.

There are over held a dozen requirements that Ebay requires of payment methods in order to get Ebay approval, including a track record of providing safe and reliable financial banking.

So, no Google Checkout on Ebay now, or maybe ever....

Happy Birthday Google.

2006-09-26T23:11:00.001-07:00

Its Google's 8th b'day. In these just 8 years what have google been. 8 years ago it was started by the two stanford univarsity minds. It was named Googol by them. But, when their first angel investor wrote a check to them by name Google mistakingly, they decided to rename their thing as Google only. However, everyone knows this.. but, in these years nobody knew it will grow like this and will be the god on the internet.
here is a overview of the strategy google follows according to me:

1. To start up with the most simple thing which they think they can be best at.
2. To excel in the field and to be unbeatable without diverting any efforts.
3. After that, to start other ventures the simple and easy way.
4. Not to annoy their customers(by ads and all).
5. Personalisation of every service and try to be closest to the human brain.
6. To never misuse the personal data of their customers and to use them only to make their products better and more familier.
7. Simple outside. Brilliant inside.
8. Future Vision which lets them think out of the box.
9. respect their customers as well as employees. to be liberal to all the employees so that they love Google Inc. and devote everything they can to it.
10. To learn from each and everything that is worth learning. Many of small businesses Google has converted into large projects and succeeded.

there are more but, i guess this would be enough for now.
We got to learn business the Google way.
Happy B'day again Google. Cheers!!!

Need Google Analytics Invitation Code?

2006-08-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

Want to register for Google Analytics(Urchin) and don't have the Invitation Code?
Get you Google Analytics(Urchin) Invitation Code in a day or two. Here is the trick ;) .

Usually Google people send you the Invitation Code in one two or three months. But, using this trick you can get it in a day or two.
When I requested for it using my gmail ID, I didn't receive my Invitation Code for about two months now. But, I again requested it using another email id of mine which is gautam@storedprocedures.org and which is on my company domain, they sent it in a day and half.

So, the trick is so simple. Use a private or company domain email and not the email address providers' email address to request the invitation Code.

if you get an invitation code, leave a smile back in my comment box . . .

Google Paint , Not by Google

2006-07-23T14:46:00.000-07:00

Amazed? :P

there is a webpage hosted on Google Pages by some stuart j moore called Google Paint. A web clone for microsoft paint tool. I used it and found quite interesting but still there aren't some features available. Hope stuart will launch them soon. Nice idea and great work stuart.

Google Paint - have a look

Blogspot blocked, a challange to blogger

2006-07-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

Indian govt. has put a ban on all blogspot sites earlier on 17th of this month. The reason they provide for the ban was kinda ridiculous as they say, there were some blogs used to provide terrorists with some info and some of the blogs were publishing some not-too-friendly articles.

Not only blogspot, they blocked even typepad and geocities too. Afterwards, the govt. said they told BSNL(Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, the indian govt. telecomm. company) to ban only the 22 blogs which were in the list provided by intelligence. But, the BSNL never worried about the other blogs or they weren't so expert to ban only those 22 subdomains and they just blocked the whole domain name (Blogspot).

When we search over the internet for indian bloggers' profiles, we get about 114,000 profiles.
So, 114,000 people in india and millions of their blog visitors were affected due to these 22 blogs and the stupidity of BSNL.

We can realize the sentiments and businesses of bloggers got affected by this action at Digg, Boing Boing, Google News and thousands of blogs and user groups like yahoo and google groups too.

Due to this ban and being an indian, i was also not able to update or even check my blog GoogleLogs . Finally today the ban is lifted and im thankful to indian govt. as well as BSNL for this pity on us bloggers.

I wil keep updating Google Logs like always and will keep providing you great news and plans right from inside google and outside too. Thanks visitors for visiting and increasing PR(google pagerank) :) keep visiting.

VOIP in Google Talk???

2006-07-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

Garett Rogers discovered that Google added the directory /call to the Google robots.txt file. So when he checked out http://www.google.com/call he noticed that it is an XML file that contains and error and also a "caller id" field. What can we guess that this means? Do you think they may be adding VOIP services to Google Talk? Can this be related to AdWords Click to Call features? Or do you think Google is opening a Vonage like service named GoogleCall? Again, this is just a rumor, no one really has any idea what the /call directory is, as of yet.

Source: http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/060612-145435

Picasa, Linux ver.

2006-05-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

Google Labs page has now a new entry "Picasa for Linux". it is available for download now.

the downloads are available as:

Dell and Google join hands...

2006-05-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

Dell and Google made a deal on may 26th under which dell will ship its PCs with a few of Google applications like Google Toolbar, Google Desktop applications and may be Google Pack would be there too.
Also, Google has hosted a Google Personalized Homepage for Dell. We can just hope, they might be planning to put the pretty rumored Goobuntu, the Google OS on each dell PC sold.

Google announces Video Ads

2006-05-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

Google gets smarter by diversifying its most money earning part, Google AdSense and AdWords to Video Ads. Till now, they earned lots by text ads and a few by picture ads too. But, why to let anyone else rule the high bandwidth customers or users?

Finally they announced Video Ads through Adsense and Adwords. Its good for you google.

Google Music, next?

2006-05-27T10:18:00.000-07:00

Google Music is rumored for quite some time now. Now, its not just a rumor. Google has just added "/music" to its robots.txt file. So, all it means is Google music is getting real close. It is not so easy to predict any file name present in that directory and I never got any time for it too. Try yourself and let me know if you get some clue.

Disallow: /music

in the robots.txt file, google has disallowed crawlers for /music directory like they always do for each of there projects.

Larry Page, Sergey Brin talk about Google success story

2006-05-14T09:45:00.000-07:00

Watch the video, its a must for all Google fans and also, who hate or are jealous of Google. Google gets greater with time.

Gmail Pictures: Great new feature

2006-05-11T23:48:00.000-07:00

Today when i logged in to my gmail account, i saw a New features! link on top right corner. And, on the new features page, they say that Gmail is soon coming up with Gmail Pictures.

We would be able to associate a picture with an email address in our Contacts or may be we can associate our picture with our gmail account.

Even, there is a screenshot which shows, you can suggest a picture to another user.
Also, Gmail Chat will have a ping sound when a message is recieved. makes it more noticeable...

Google Press Day 2006

2006-05-11T23:14:00.000-07:00

Marissa Mayer of Google announced about some really great new products from google and also, she gave some hints about what Google is planning to do next.
As always, Google Press day has brought users more Technology and has made google more like God on the web.

I will try explaining a few of those Google Products:

Google Co-op is a new way for content providers to create their own vertical search through a Google OneBox. Reading through the developer guide reminded me of the first time I saw Google Base — confusing. I'm sure that once I spend enough time with the documentation and experimenting with some code it will eventually make sense, but it's not as easy as they made it out to be.

Google Trends is really cool. As was said at the Press Day, they are basically giving users the keys to Google Zeitgeist. Since comparing things using this tool is extremely simple (use a comma) I can see a new breed of "Google Battles" about to make an appearance.

Google Notebook isn't quite ready yet, but from what I gather, it's basically a plugin that will follow you around from page to page. It acts as a convenient way to store and share important information from websites. From the webcast, it looked like they are using the same engine that is behind Google Pages in the full screen mode.

An upgrade to Google Desktop was also released. With this new version, you are able to use "gadgets" on your desktop or in your sidebar.

After the dust settled, it was an exciting day for Google. Google Co-op and the new Gadgets for Google Desktop should attract some developers that will likely create some pretty interesting things. It will be interesting to see what comes out of these new products. They say, even a 12 yr old can understand their Desktop API

Google Related Links were released some time before this press day. but, I will still consider it as a new product from Google.
it show news and posts on other site related to your content on the page. But, it ain't any new AdSense scheme. Google wont pay u any bucks for the stuff. Still its good to provide your viewers more than u alone can.

Girls go Google... ;)

2006-05-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

Google Girl

Firefox Girl

Now Google Health ?

2006-05-04T23:49:00.000-07:00

According to an article found by Barry Schwartz on the USAToday blog, we could be seeing Google Health next Wednesday at the annual Press Day.
Google Health will likely give users a better way to search for health related material — a Google version of kosmix perhaps? Providing a convenient way for people to search for this information could turn out to be another easy way for Google to reel in additional advertising dollars.
In fact, Google is playin it real smart. They can earn like anything in health or medical services. Even advertisements can make more money in medical field rather than others.

Google Suggest now for Google News

2006-04-28T23:51:00.000-07:00

Google has now Ajaxified its News Search like Google Suggest. In real time, when u type for a news search query, it suggests search terms by cross referencing what you are typing with what's in the news — all in real time. i.e. relevent to both, the query you are typing and whats hot in news.

To experience it, you'll have to put "?complete=1" after "http://news.google.com/" so the link for Google News(suggest) is :

http://news.google.com/?complete=1

Edit your Google Base ... A Javascript Hack!

2006-04-26T22:54:00.000-07:00

According to Garett Rogers of Googling Google , a Zdnet blog... Google is going to allow users to edit Google Base like we can do in Google Pages. here is provided a javascript hack for it:

Use these scripts when you are at base.google.com/base/processstep1offer (the first page when you decide to add an item). Between trying each of these scripts, be sure to reload the page.

Show Trogdor toolbar

javascript:function showToolBar(){ document.getElementById('d').parentNode.innerHTML = '' + document.getElementById('d').parentNode.innerHTML; gb_pa(); } showToolBar();

To show the Trogdor toolbar, enter the script into your address bar when you are on the processstep1offer page. This is the toolbar that will be used to help users create HTML for their items.

Show HTML area

javascript:function showHTMLArea(){ document.getElementById('d').parentNode.innerHTML = '' + document.getElementById('d').parentNode.innerHTML; objWhatever=gb_pa(); objWhatever.rawHtmlDialog.show(); } showHTMLArea();

This script shows a HTML preview/editor window. I'm not sure where it fits in — probably when you click the "edit HTML" link on the toolbar found above. This editor lets you type raw HTML and preview it.

Show link box

javascript:function ShowLinkBox(){ document.getElementById('d').parentNode.innerHTML = '' + document.getElementById('d').parentNode.innerHTML; objWhatever=gb_pa(); objWhatever.Wb(document.getElementById('d')); } ShowLinkBox();

This link box lets users add links. When a user selects text and clicks the "link" item on the toolbar, this popup will be presented.

These are probably only a few of the hidden things we can find in the source for Google Base — but while digging through it I seemed to keep going in circles. If you have any luck finding more let me know, I will confirm it and post an update.

The ability to edit the HTML of Google Base items is an important step. Users like to customize how their items appear (just like eBay) — the addition of this feature will help the service gain wider adoption.

Give it a Try !

Summer of code 2006 got start

2006-04-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

The Summer of Code is officially on again this year. As of today, we're taking in applications from mentoring organizations, so watch that list of mentoring organizations grow! Then, starting May 1st, we'll start taking student applications. We've prepared two FAQs, one for Mentors and one for Students. We've also have created an IRC channel and Google Group for you. The website for the Summer of Code can be found at http://code.google.com/soc/.

Google Calender is out...

2006-04-16T09:22:00.000-07:00

After months of rumors and speculation, Google Calendar is now live. It features integration with Gmail, full iCal support, and a bunch of other goodies I'm just starting to discover. The wait is over!

waiting for... Google Voice Search !

2006-04-16T09:20:00.000-07:00

The master of text-based search could be looking to lend a voice to Internet users everywhere, or so it appears based on Google's latest patent. Patent #7,027,987, issued today by the US Patent and Trademark Office, covers a 'Voice interface for a search engine.'

A Javascript Google Search Tweak

2006-03-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

A new search results interface is in the works at Google. Originally the domain of rumor sites,

it's now possible for almost anyone to get a glimpse of the new look. The existence of a simple
trick that enables the interface for nearly any browser makes it all possible.

The steps are as follows. First, navigate to google.com (or whatever Google search server
you use, e.g., google.co.uk). Second, paste this string into your address bar, and hit enter
(and ignore whatever message it spits back at you):

javascript:alert(document.cookie="PREF=ID=fb7740f107311e46:
TM=1142683332:LM=1142683332:S=fNSw6ljXTzvL3dWu;path=/;domain=google.com")

Note: the sting must be a continuous, single-line entry. Additionally,
the portion "domain=google.com" should be modified to whatever Google search server
you are using (e.g., google.co.uk; we have verified that this works with the UK and US
servers... it may work with others). Third, search away. You should now see the interface.

<< The tweaked layout.

And there you have it. As you can see, the changes are minimal, but they give some
insight into Google's plans. The biggest change is the relocation of Google's search
categories. Originally on top of the page in a horizontal layout, Google has now placed
them on the left alongside visual representations of the search query's relevance in
these other categories.

Google's intentions aren't clear, but in the last day of using this interface,
I've noticed myself repeatedly looking directly at the leftmost column. It's where
the results used to be, and perhaps more importantly, it's a natural place to start
scanning the page for left-to-right language types. Since the relocation surely
serves a purpose, I'll take a stab at what that purpose is.

First, the position is privileged for the reasons outlined above. Furthermore, by
displaying a visual representation of your query's success in these categories,
Google is enticing users to explore. In short, the move is meant to draw more
attention to Google's niche search areas.

Two other side-effects can be noted. First, the relocation allows for the actual
search results to start higher up on the page. This is good because it means
that users can expect to see more per "window." It's also "good" because this
means that Google's text ads can start higher on the page as well. Second, by
displaying the categories in a column, Google has plenty of vertical space to
play with when it comes to adding additional categories. Its previous placement
was limited by horizontal space, and was pushing the page down. With this layout,
Google has room to grow.

Google Official Blog Hacked !!!

2006-03-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

This morning when I tried opening the official google blog there was this page claiming that it was a 404 domain and he just registered as a user and succeeded. May be its true but Google being a leader in web technology, needs to fix and avoid such things in future.

The original google blog is now not on the web and can be found only in google's cache of Google blog .

till i finished writing this post, the Google blog looked like this only.

Beware Google

Google: Ten Golden Rules - Issues 2006 - MSNBC.com

2006-02-18T00:24:00.000-08:00

Google: Ten Golden Rules - Issues 2006 - MSNBC.com: "Issues 2006 - At google, we think business guru Peter Drucker well understood how to manage the new breed of 'knowledge workers.' After all, Drucker invented the term in 1959. He says knowledge workers believe they are paid to be effective, not to work 9 to 5, and that smart businesses will 'strip away everything that gets in their knowledge workers' way.' Those that succeed will attract the best performers, securing 'the single biggest factor for competitive advantage in the next 25 years.'"

Google's Patents Reveal Strategy To Beat Microsoft

2005-10-01T10:15:00.000-07:00

According to 'The Google Legacy,' history is about to repeat itself. From the article: 'Microsoft today is where IBM was years ago. And Google is in a position to do to Bill Gates what he did to IBM. The result could be a new industry kingpin. Arnold, author of The Google Legacy, said in an interview this week that it appears that Microsoft doesn't understand Google in much the same way that IBM didn't understand Microsoft 20 years ago. "It will be the Googleplex from 2004 to 2020 - a network paradigm," said Arnold. "It will be enabled by Google's approach to innovation."

GoogleNet Continued...Welcome To The Future

2005-10-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought Google couldn't get any more jaw-dropping
with its latest explorations, you realize with a sudden and
exasperated "omigod" that this is bigger...much bigger than we
imagined. Google, NASA, and MIT are going to change the
world...again.

It was titillating enough to think of the seemingly inevitable
GoogleNet, an ad-supported wireless network that would transform
the Internet into a broadcast-style medium like radio or television.
The scope of that, in the immediate future anyway, was hedged by US
borders (or North American borders perhaps).

Then, Google hires the exalted Father of the Internet, CEO Eric
Schmidt gets over his CNet freeze out, decides to move in with NASA,
and is a sponsor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's
massively philanthropic ambition to put $100 drop-it-in-the-mud-if-
you-want, hand crank powered laptops into the hands of the poorest
children of the globe in countries like Brazil, Cambodia, Thailand,
China, Egypt, and South Africa.

And you're all, "huh?" Be careful to avoid anyone that may pat you
on the back, your face could freeze that way.

Eric Schmidt says, "Google and NASA share a common desire-to bring
a universe of information to people around the world."

Google Finally Forms Partnership With NASA !!

2005-09-30T13:57:00.000-07:00

Google Inc. confirmed Wednesday that it will build up to 1 million square feet of offices at NASA Ames Research Center and collaborate with the space agency on research surrounding topics such as supercomputing that could benefit everything from moon launches to online searches.

The new partnership will involve R&D on biotechnology, information technology and nanotechnology, as well as supercomputing. The news article notes some of the mutual benefits: "Google stands to gain from learning about NASA's supercomputers, which could come in handy as the Mountain View search engine compiles even bigger indexes of information and video. NASA leaders cited the benefits of getting access to Google's search expertise to pick out nuggets of information from the volumes of data streaming back from satellites and human space launches."

"Google and NASA share a common desire to bring the universe of information to people around the world," said Eric Schmidt, in a statement. "Imagine having a wide selection of images from the Apollo space mission at your fingertips whenever you want it."

Great, no?

Google + NASA = ???

2005-09-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

Google and NASA the two big bosses of technology which according to me are taking this world too high, are going to collaborate on technology.
The BBC reports that Google will be assisting NASA with new technology from a campus facility in the NASA Research Park at Moffett Field." From the article: "As part of the venture, Google will develop one million square feet of real estate at the Nasa Ames research centre. The centre, built in 1939, has been at the heart of the US space program for many years, conducting research into the Apollo moon missions between 1963 and 1972. Nasa recently unveiled plans to make another moon landing by 2020. Examples of areas of potential collaboration include the development of new types of remote sensors and improving analysis of engineering problems." More details available from the official press release and MSNBC.

Firefox Toolbar Out Of Beta

2005-09-27T13:20:00.000-07:00

Google has released Firefox search toolbar (Version 1.0.20050923) after two months in beta. One interesting addition is Google Suggest, which guesses what you're typing and offers useful suggestions in real time.
Also, the PageRank meter is horizontal instead of vertical one. Its now easier to predict the exact pagerank of a page.

Google to Remove Boast About Index Size

2005-09-27T11:50:00.000-07:00

According to Yahoo! news, Google Inc. will stop boasting on its home page about the number of Web pages it has stored in its index, even as the online search engine leader continues a crusade to prove it scans substantially more material than its rivals.

When Google started the practice in mid-2000, the index spanned 1 billion pages; as of Monday afternoon, Google's home page said the search index contained 8.17 billion pages.

That figure qualified it as the largest in the industry until last month, when nemesis Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news) revealed its database included 20.8 billion documents and images. Unlike Google, Yahoo never listed that figure on its home page, disclosing it only in a Web posting by one of its executives.

Happy B'day Google... you are 7 now

2005-09-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

Seven years ago, Google first opened its door in Menlo Park, California. The door came with a remote control -- because it was a garage door. Yes, it was started in a garage. But, now its a different story.
On this day, in 1998, Google was born. Seven years later, and it has not only become the most popular search engine on the internet, but it has also become an integral part of many people's online life. From Google search to Google mail, Google Earth to Google Moon. It has even made its way into language as a common word.It is quite undeniable. Google is an amazing achievement. Happy birthday Google, and here's to many many more!

GoogleTV Coming Soon?

2005-09-26T13:28:00.000-07:00

Flexbeta writes that Google is looking to hire a full time project manager for GoogleTV in Mountain View, CA. The candidate must posses experience developing/launching products in one or more of the following areas: interactive TV, set-top-boxes, personal video recorders, video-on-demand, IP TV or cable TV technologies. Google recently announced their interest in the text messaging market by releasing GoogleTalk; this came to no surprise to many that were already hearing rumors month's before GoogleTalk was released. Google is also working on providing free WiFi service to some regions of the San Francisco bay area. Google is without a doubt expanding their operations beyond the search engine market which makes the possibility of GoogleTV realistic.

Blog Search by Google

2005-09-18T19:26:00.000-07:00

Google has finally released a long overdue Blog Search. I don't know about you, but I have been waiting for this feature for about a year now and am glad that it is finally here. Why do we need a blog search? Simple. Blogs are a quick way to get a feel for what people are thinking on any topic. Just type in your term and whammo! You get blog entry after blog entry from people like you and me spouting their opinions. Try it for yourself. Search for "ipod nano", the newest iPod, and see what people are saying. You'll get 17,840 blog entries of people talking about it.

Google is not the first engine to have a blog search. Before Google there were others who blazed the trail:

* Technorati (20,319 posts about ipod nano)
* Feedster (88,341 results)
* Daypop (834 results)
* Bloogz (140 results)
* BlogDigger (2,852)
* IceRocket (14,637)

I'm still not sure which blog search service is the best. I suspect I'll probably bounce between my previous favorites, Technorati (good, but often slow) and IceRocket, and I'll throw Google into the mix.

Blogger: Now publish from MS Word

2005-08-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Blogger introduces a new plug-in for blog writers who find MS Word easy and handy to write in. Also, MS Word is proffered by people because it avoids spelling mistakes.
After downloading Blogger For Word from here, install it on your pc and just type in word what you want to publish. You will see a new Blogger toolbar in it. Just hit the publish button and you are done. So easy, no?

Google Loses AdWords Case

2005-08-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

Google has lost a case brought by a company whose name was being used my Adwords users. Insurance firm GEICO, who had not been using Adwords themselves, objected to Google allowing it's advertisers to use the term in their campaigns.
Note that A federal judge decided that Google is able to sell ads under the GEICO trademark, claiming that this is fair use of the trademark. GEICO's contention was that competing insurance companies were using the name GEICO under which to buy Google Ads, so that when someone searches for GEICO, their ad would come up.

Google and Yahoo Creating Brain Drain?

2005-08-03T08:09:00.000-07:00

Software-engineering talent is flocking to Google and Yahoo. Business Week explores the possibility that the big two search companies are creating a brain drain on the rest of the industry. Google snapped up about 230 engineers last quarter. Some stolen superstars are Louis Monier, director of eBay, advanced technology research, and Kai-Fu Lee, a top-flight researcher at Microsoft. Yahoo hired dozens of top engineers, including Larry Tesler, former vice-president at Amazon.com. 'While the Internet leaders snatch up top tech talent, that creates headaches elsewhere. Some startups, for instance, say the talent drain has made their own hiring more difficult.'

Google Patents RSS Advertising

2005-08-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

Google filed a patent application for targeted advertising in RSS feeds about a year and a half ago. The USPTO has now assigned it a number and placed it online. The patent application covers both targeting in RSS feeds and geotargeting by IP address. It gives some insight into how Google's ad servers work.

Microsoft Testing Rival to Google's Start Page

2005-08-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

It looks like Microsoft has quietly put up their version of Google's start page. It's interesting in several ways. First, the layout and use of javascript is strikingly similar to Google's. Second, one of the few major differences is that there is no MS equivalent banner or other flashing indication that it is an MS site.

New Google Homepage Features

2005-07-26T08:16:00.000-07:00

It seems that Google has added new features to it's Personalized Home. To edit the content of your personalized homepage you click 'Add Content' in the top right, and a list of options slide out from the left. You can add your own bookmarks, select from more news feeds, and add your own RSS news feeds.

Google Includes NASDAQ Results

2005-07-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

Google includes information of NASDAQ in the search results. Search for something like GOOG and you'll get all the recent stock information about Google as first result.

Google Launches Scholar Beta

2005-07-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

Stand on the shoulders of giants' is what Google claims its new service allows you to do. Google Scholar enables you to search specifically for scholarly literature, including peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports from all broad areas of research. Use Google Scholar to find articles from a wide variety of academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories and universities, as well as scholarly articles available across the web.

Google Offers Hybrid Satellite and Map View

2005-07-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Google Maps now offers a hybrid view which combines their map view with their satellite view. The Google blog has a notice on the update. It appears to use 8-bit alpha transparent PNGs to make it work.

Orkut Linked To Drug Ring Bust

2005-07-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Google's Orkut service has been allegedly used to sell drugs by a Brazilian outfit, according to a BBC news report. According to the report, the dealers offered pot and ecstasy for sale via the system to Brazil's large Orkut user community. Google is reported to be investigating. One interesting issue that springs to mind is: how can you monitor and moderate such a large, multilingual community such as Orkut? And what are the limits of criminal liability in a case like this?

Google and Microsoft Lob More Lawsuits

2005-07-22T10:23:00.000-07:00

According to a Business Week article Google has filed a counter-suit against Microsoft in reaction to the lawsuit that Microsoft filed when a corporate VP left to join the ranks of Google. Microsoft claims that the VP violated his non-compete agreement and Google claims that Microsoft is violating California laws giving workers the right to change jobs. Interestingly enough, the VP in question never lived in California!

Google's Share of Searches Falling? Or Increasing?

2005-07-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

Get two research companies in the room, and you'll likely end up with three opinions. Bear Sterns quotes ComScore Networks data, which says that Google's share of searches is slipping, down to 36.9% in June 2005. WebSideStory, a Web research company, on the other hand, claims that in June 2005 Google hit a new record as far as share of searches, hitting 52%, and leaving rivals far behind.

Search Form for Finding Only Playable Google Video Results

2005-07-21T09:07:00.000-07:00

Someone's cooked up a form for finding Google Video results with only playable video in them; try it at http://www.strix.org.uk/misc/video.google/index.php.
The site also points out that the special syntax source. upload can be used directly at Google Video. I found that a little bit faster, though I appreciated how many clips the Strix.org.uk site would load on the page at a time.

Googlers have money

2005-07-21T08:45:00.000-07:00

The Google money is here so Look Out for Googlers. They are buying lots of the homes in the elite Atherton area(California, US) just minutes from the Google headquarters in Mountain View as Wall Street Journal says. Looks like Google effects traffic to more than just your website.

Google Moon, a one week project by google

2005-07-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Google launches Google Moon today. As Google says, it is just one week project suggested by Chikai, a google earth engineer a week earlier.
From the FAQ: 'One small step for Google... On July 20, 1969, man first landed on the Moon. A few decades later, we're pleased to cut you in on the action. Google Moon is an extension of Google Maps and Google Earth that, courtesy of NASA imagery (thanks, guys!), enables you to surf the Moon's surface and check out the exact spots that the Apollo astronauts made their landings.'

Google's Site Ranking Secrets

2005-07-20T05:05:00.000-07:00

Ever wonder how Google's site ranking works? Wonder no more. Google recently filed United States Patent Application 20050071741 on March 31, 2005. This patent reveals a great deal of information about Google's site ranking algorithm and makes very good reading. For example, one of the criteria that they use is the number of years that your site has been registered. If your site has been registered for less than a year, then it counts against you. A site registered for a longer period of time means that the owner is probably serious about the site, and the site is probably legitimate. Google's Site Ranking algorithms reveal how hard they are making it for spam sites to get listed (on Google). This information will also make it easier for you to make sure that you get listed well in Google.

Who Will Google Buy Next?

2005-07-19T04:57:00.000-07:00

Kuro5hin is running an article entitled Who Will Google Buy Next?, which features a list of all Google's previous buyouts and some interesting suggestions for the future.

Google Extensions for Firefox

2005-07-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

Google has released a few extensions for Firefox browser(which I recommend most for google or the whole internet). Take a look at these. An extension is for enabling Google Suggest in firefox and another is Google send to phone.

Google Sued Over Click Fraud

2005-07-19T04:23:00.000-07:00

A seller of online marketing tools has sued Google over click fraud, accusing it of failing to protect clients from spurious clicks over web ads. The suit claims damages of $5 million and is seeking class action status. Sites get money per click from the advertisers. Rival companies of the advertiser may employ people to repeatedly click on the advertisers link on Google costing them large amount of money. Google denied the allegations. From the article: 'We believe the suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves against it vigorously.'

Cracking the Google Code... Under the GoogleScope

2005-07-18T05:25:00.000-07:00

From the analysis of the code behind Google's patents: "Google's sweeping changes confirm the search giant has launched a full out assault against artificial link inflation & declared war against search engine spam in a continuing effort to provide the best search service in the world... and if you thought you cracked the Google Code and had Google all figured out ... guess again. ... In addition to evaluating and scoring web page content, the ranking of web pages are admittedly still influenced by the frequency of page or site updates. What's new and interesting is what Google takes into account in determining the freshness of a web page."

Google Wallet to Compete With Paypal

2005-07-18T05:21:00.000-07:00

Google plans to offer an electronic-payment service that could help the Internet-search company diversify its revenue and may heighten competition with eBay's PayPal unit. Codenamed Google Wallet, a payment service could represent a significant expansion beyond online advertising, which generated 99% of its $3.2 billion in revenue last year. Google's move could potentially threaten eBay's successful PayPal service, which generated $233.1 million, or 23% of eBay's revenue in the first quarter.

Google Toolbar for Firefox Released

2005-07-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

Google has released their toolbar, available in 10 languages for the Firefox browser, and available for 3 operating systems (Windows, Mac and Linux). You can download it from the Google Toolbar homepage, and you can read the Google Blog for more information.

Google Wins 'Typosquatting' Dispute

2005-07-18T03:59:00.000-07:00

from the wrongful-clacking dept.
JeiFuRi writes "The National Arbitration Forum has awarded Google the rights to several web addresses such as googkle.com, ghoogle.com, and gooigle.com, alleging that Sergey Gridasov of St. Petersburg, Russia, had engaged in 'typosquatting.' Business Week comments that Gridasov relied on typographical errors to exploit the online search engine's popularity so computer viruses and other malicious software could be unleashed on unsuspecting visitors."

Google Raises maximum word search limit to 32

2005-07-18T03:40:00.000-07:00

Google has increased the search limit to for keywords to 32, it used to be only 10, Now it is a great inprovement,

Check this screen shot,

Numrange, search for a range of numbers.

2005-07-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Lots of times I've wanted to search for something that involved a range of numbers - and I discovered that I can. It turns out you can use two periods (no spaces) to have your search include multiple numbers that form a range. For example, if you wanted to search for inventions of the late 19th century, you could use inventions 1850..1899. I got to know about this feature when I was trying to track down the hottest recorded temperature on Earth. I knew it happened in Death Valley, but couldn't remember what it was. I found it by searching for death valley 130..140 degrees."

Google Suggest, the best a search engine can do

2005-07-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

You might have heard of this cool new tool which is still under developement. the name is "Google Suggest".The current address for this tool is www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en . i have never seen such an efficient use of javascript over net. when u start typing a search string in the text box, a js dropdown list of top 10 possible search strings with the no. of results google database contains.
the tool Google Suggest is still in its beta and google is going to release its final version soon. However, if u r using Firefox Browser, you dont need to type the whole address for google suggest or even bookmark it. There are extensions available on the Firefox site which are used to enable Google suggest whenever u open normal Google search page.
I personally use and suggest you Firefox for browsing pleasure and to avail lots of its great features in comparison to old useless Internet Explorer. Lots of extensions, enhancements and many more things make Firefox much superier than IE.

Google Logs, an unofficial google blog

2005-07-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Hi my name is Gautam Kishore. I have been studying and researching lots about Google Inc. and i found that its a really great company. I don't think technology is improving itself faster anywhere else. As I keep watching all the developements it does in the field and also I keep analysing and comparing its work with other competitors.
So I just thought to start an unofficial blog for google and its emerging technologies. Through this blog I will keep you informed and will discuss about new things coming outta Google box.
I should let you know that this blog is not in any way affilated with or supported by or sponsored by Google Inc.
I will appreciate the comments and suggestions from you guys, you are always welcome. You can mail me at gautamkishore@gmail.com .
Also, you may like another work by me as Only Google . Check out yourself at OnlyGoogle.blogspot.com.