Google Toolbar Vulnerable ! (CastleCops)

Google Toolbar, is one of the latest utilities able to permit a hack attack and allow intruders to deploy malicious applications. Aviv.Raffon has reportedly found a way to exploit a Google Toolbar vulnerability.

Google Toolbar allows spoofing the information presented in the dialog which is being displayed when adding a new Google Toolbar button. This can allow an attacker to convince the users that his button comes from a trusted domain. This button can then be used to download malicious files or conduct phishing attacks (e.g. show a login form of a bank).

Google has acknowledged this and are already working on a fix. Until a fixed version is provided, it is suggested that you avoid adding new buttons to the toolbar.

More at Source

Google Knol: Not Setting the World On Fire
(Seeking Alpha)

Google (GOOG) has become the new EF Hutton: when it speaks, people listen. So when I first heard about Google Knol I was curious and intrigued: a true competitor to Wikipedia? A new spin on expert networks? An easier way to discover high value content? These are all areas about which I have a high degree of interest and some degree of knowledge.

But after reading the description on the Official Google Blog and thinking about it here is what I've concluded: NO BIG DEAL. Unless I am missing some big conceptual point here (which is always possible, of course), I don't see any benefits to creators of high-value content that don't already exist - and are perhaps manifest in better ways - through personal blogs and message forms, vertical search engines and Wikipedia.

8 bold predictions on Google's next moves
Insiders offer their insights on the Internet behemoth.
(Computer World)

December 20, 2007 (Computerworld) -- There's little doubt that Google Inc. is indeed king of online media. In August 2007 alone, Google captured 57% of worldwide market share among search engines, with more than 37 billion search inquiries, according to analyst firm comScore Inc. in Reston, Va.

Add to that a mind-boggling stock price of $711 per share on Nov. 5. Not surprisingly, this dominance has led to endless rumors about where Google is headed next.

Google Toolbar: A New Malware Threat
(Team Think Blog, ZDNet.com)

Now there’s another source of potential malware to worry about. A researcher has released code that shows how a hacker can use the Google toolbar to get users to install malicious software or expose themselves to a phishing attack by installing a new toolbar button.

The report from TrendLabs Malware blogsays that the attack uses a “…specially crafted link to that refers to the button’s XML file, which when clicked displays a dialog box summarizing the details of the button to be installed.”

The hacker manipulates the URL within the dialog to make it appear non-malicous by adding special redirector strings. Trust is increased, improving the likelihood that the user will click on the link. Once installed, the user must click the link to install the malicious code or launch a fake log-in process.

According to the report, Google classifies the attack as non-critical due to the steps required for its execution. Google is said to be looking at a way to fix the bug.
The attack affects Google Toolbar 4 for Internet Explorer and Firefox as well as Google Toolbar 5 for IE.

Read also:

Google And The Big Brother Nomination
(Search Engine Watch)

Erase Your Search Tracks (BusinessWeek)

Most people probably don’t realize that their online searches are tracked by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. With a new feature called AskEraser, Ask.com is hoping to give people control over the privacy of their online searches.

It’s a real issue for some people, especially given the uproar that ensued last year when AOL let slip search data from 650,000 users, some of which got tied to specific individuals.

AskEraser, launching on Tuesday, will let people delete records of their future search queries from Ask.com’s servers. That includes the user’s IP address and the text of the search queries. However, search query info will continue to be sent to Google, which runs ads on Ask. (There’s much more detail at Search Engine Land.)

2007 Search Blogs Awards : Nominations Now Open
(Search Engine Journal)

Search Engine Journal is now opening nominations for blogs to be included for this year’s Search Blogs Awards in the following categories: […]

Is Google a Grinch or a good guy? (The Guardian)

The giant search engine has been accused of 'stealing Christmas' from companies by changing how it ranks results. Sean Hargrave finds out if their complaints are valid.

How to stop javascript from websites infecting clients
(SANS Internet Storm Center)

Greg wrote in to ask how to protect users in his organization from getting infected with malware by visiting websites for business reasons that got hacked.

Knowing we like to recommend to disable javascript by using e.g. Firefox+NoScript, he asked for other solutions aside of disabling javascript as it's not an option in his environment.

So went looking for success stories with our audience and you came up with: […]

Googlepedia is coming (THE AGE, Australia)

Google is working on a new internet encyclopedia that will consist of material submitted by people who want to be identified as experts and possibly profit from their knowledge.

The concept, outlined late on Thursday in a posting on Google's official blog, poses a potential challenge to the nonprofit Wikipedia, which has drawn upon the collective wisdom of unpaid, anonymous contributors to emerge as a widely used reference tool.

Smile! You're on Google's camera
(NEWS.com.au)

THE controversial Google Street View project has arrived in Australia taking snaps in our major cities and towns.

The project has already captured images at street level in 17 US cities and attached them to the highly popular Google Maps online application.

It was launched in the US in May, and quickly attracted controversy after claims several images breached privacy.

Some images identified men outside strip clubs, women sunbaking in parks and even captured a woman's g-string as she emerged from her car.

Google Indexing Even Faster?
(Search Engine Guide)

Over the last year I have really noticed a decrease in the time it takes Google to index pages, specifically articles and blog posts. Pages being indexed used to take days and then hours and now I am noticing minutes. This is without being logged into my Google Account.

Earlier this year I got the chance to attend Google's Searchology where they announced the integration of Universal Search results and later that afternoon I sat at the same table as Larry Page where he elaborated that Google would eventually like to be indexing instantaneously. Larry's vision was to index content as a user was writing his/her blog post/article.

Are the people telling Google it’s time for a redesign?
(Between the Lines | ZDNet.com)

Might it be an idea for Google to consider a slightly more modern, more visual, more, well, human and visionary welcome than that of a sixty-year-old croupier in Reno whose varicose veins are playing up?

Google India engineers build voice-based search feature
(SiliconIndia, India)

Bangalore: The India research lab of Google, is building a voice-based search feature for markets in India. The voice-based search feature will allow phone users to ask for information on neighbourhood restaurants, services and theatres, reported Livemint.

Search Engine Spam - What You Don't Know Can Hurt You (Search Engine Guide)

If you are a small business owner, you may have spent a fair amount of time learning about the generally accepted ways to improve your search rankings. What you probably glossed over or skipped all together was reading about the tactics used to game or "cheat" your way up the search engines.

You may be thinking "but I'm not planning to spam the search engines!" That's great, but are you absolutely positive the SEM firm you're thinking about hiring feels the same way? If you know nothing about those tactics, how can you be certain your company or your SEM firm aren't using them.

Mike Moran, who writes about search marketing for Revenue magazine, has written an excellent three part series for the magazine aiming to help people get a solid overview of search engine optimization spam tactics.

'Zombie' exploits cached by search engines
(Computer World)

More than a year after first coming to light, the caches of major search engines are still providing a safe hiding place for malicious code, a security company has revealed.

The latest warning comes from security company Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd., which logged an attack against a university Web site that was eventually traced back to just such a "poisoned cache." The originating site had been taken offline, but the code from it was still able to spread by living on in the caches of a major search engine.

To make matters worse, cached malicious code could circumvent URL filtering systems because they would stop only the original site address and not the site as found via a search engine indexing it from cache.

Baidu: A Search Engine Searching for New Direction
(Beijing Review, China)

Baidu: A Search Engine Searching for New Direction Baidu, the world's largest Chinese search engine, has expanded its activities in recent months

Ve haf vays of making you search
(The Sidney Morning Herald, Australia)

"Google is massively invading privacy," the study [made by Boffins Hermann Maurer, chairman of Graz University's Institute for Information Systems and Computer Media] said, with the company able to access knowledge about individuals and companies, but not bound by national data protection laws.

"Google's open aim is to know everything there is to know on Earth," the researchers concluded. "It cannot be tolerated that a private company has that much power: it can extort, control, and dominate the world at will."

A Google spokesman said in a statement: "These allegations are premised on numerous inaccuracies, conspiracy theories and fundamental misunderstandings about Google's products and services. They're completely without foundation and, frankly, a little strange.''

Press Release SEO Tips
(Online Marketing Blog)

Many search marketing tactics come and go, but one channel of promotion that has steadily evolved is the practice of optimizing press releases for search engines.

While it’s true that the future of the traditional press release has been up for debate over the past few years, wire services and the web sites they syndicate content to continue to produce results for the clients of savvy public relations professionals and online marketers.

Spyware top threat, CompTIA says (eChannelLine)

"While spyware has always been somewhere on the radar, it's been generally down the list of concerns -- definitely within the top 10 but not in the top two or three, which is the case this year. That was a bit of surprise, as it's taking up so much time and causing so many problems for organizations," Ostrowski told eChannelLine.

Spyware has moved up in rank to take the number one spot of security threats to organizations right now, but over the long term, spyware is slightly less of a concern, the report found. Spyware took the top position of current threats, followed by lack of user awareness (54 percent), viruses and worms (49 percent), authorized user abuse (44.2 percent) and browser-based attacks (41.5 percent).

No Thanks, Google, We'll Keep Our Own Data
(CBS News)

Readers responded to Tuesday's column about Google's plan to being offered a robust online data storage plan with great skepticism.

Malware Poisoning Results for Innocent Searches
(eWeek)

Tens of thousands of malware-serving pages, crafted to reach a high search engine ranking, are showing up in the first page of returns from Google, Yahoo and Live.

Forgotten your password? Google can find it for you. Unfortunately (Guardian Unlimited blogs)

When a Cambridge University team wanted to break a hacker's password, they turned to Google - with startling results. But there's a lesson for you too..

My World, According to Google (Red Herring)

What exactly does Google, Salesforce.com, or another Internet application provider do with my information, my documents, or my browser tracks?

Google is fairly upfront: It will mine my data and serve up ads that reflect my interests. But do I want ads popping up to remind me or anyone who looks over my shoulder of topics that I’d rather not share?

What data does Google provide about me to advertisers, to government, to anyone else?

Microsoft, Google and Yahoo Acquisitions Compared
(O'Reilly Radar)

The LibraryHouse blog has a nice summary of recent acquisitions (July 2006 through June 2007) by Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo!, roughly color coded by category:

Yes, Google Is Trying To Take Over the World
(Slate Magazine)

When Google conquered Internet search in the early 2000s, it was strictly a Web company and faced only Web competitors.

The 2005 launch of its controversial "book search," which enraged the New York publishing industry, shows what can happen when Google leaves its comfort zone.

Now, with its recently announced plans to enter wireless communications, Google is making its deepest foray yet into a foreign territory where its allies are few. It faces the challenge of not just entering the wireless world but also converting its inhabitants.

Provided that Google has the nerve and resources to try to remake wireless in its image, it'll either prove its greatest triumph or its Waterloo.

EU tougher than US on Google-DoubleClick merger (Builder AU - Australia)

Google's megamerger proposal with DoubleClick could face greater scrutiny in Europe than the US if antitrust regulators decide the deal takes the companies into new markets.

Google’s Android an iPhone rip-off?
(Pocket Picks, UK)

Google has just released the software development kit (SDK) for Android and it’s already apparent that the SDK’s very heavily influenced by Apple.

So where does the Apple link come in? The platform for Android’s web browser is the same as for Apple’s Safari (as seen on computers and the iPhone).

And that’s not all: other areas of the OS also resemble existing Apple operating systems – including the need to tap and finger-drag to scroll round pages. There’s also a Mac OSX-style dock and a Cover Flow-style interface for pop-up notices (as seen on the iPhone).

Germans Lead Europe in Music Downloading (eMarketer)

Germans are getting their tunes on the digital autobahn.

Europeans — especially the French — aren't too keen on digital rights management (DRM) with their music.

Still, the German market for legitimate music downloading grew by a third in the past year, according to new data from BITKOM.

Germans downloaded 26 million singles and albums in 2006, up from 20 million the year before. BITKOM estimates that the number of downloads will grow another 27% this year, reaching a total of 33 million in 2007.

Thirty Free Image Resources on the Web
(About.com)

Looking for free images? Here are thirty sites where you can find completely free images, available for use on your blog or web site. All of these sites offer royalty free images for your use (be sure to check each site for specific guidelines that they request you follow in order to use their images).

Top 12 Free Internet Downloads (About.com)

(this list is in random order)

1. Thunderbird Email Client
2. VLC media player
3. Picasa digital photo organizer
4. WinRar compression/decompression
5. Ad-Aware personal anti-spyware
6. Audacity audio editor
7. Fox It .pdf reader
8. Firefox web browser
9. Skype communication software
10. Google Earth
11. Open Office spreadsheet, word processing, and presentations software
12. Trillian instant messenger
13. Special mention: uTorrent

Worldwide Internet Penetration Grew 10% in 2006 (eMarketer)
The days of US dominance in Internet users are numbered.

INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS
The Internet Big Picture
(Internet World Stats)

Top 10 Useful Web Tools from Pandia
(Phil Bradley's weblog)

"Pandia has come up with their listing of Top 10 Useful Web Tools. Worth a look, though I don't entirely agree with their selection."

How Hackers Hack (About.com)

The tricks hackers use, and what you can do to foil them.

Google: In Search of Itself (Knowledge@Wharton)

“In a span of four days earlier this month, Google launched an initiative to enable social networking tools to work across dozens of web sites and rounded up 33 partners to develop software to power a new generation of cell phones.

While these efforts illustrate Google's determination to keep expanding its territory, they also increase the challenges faced by the $200 billion company.

And they pose a question that seems to crop up more and more these days: Where is Google headed?”

The Top Ten Most Popular Portals on the Web (About.com)

1. Yahoo
2. Google
3. MSN
4. YouTube
5. Windows Live
6. Wikipedia
7. Baidu.com
8. Ebay
9. Flickr
10. The Internet Movie Database

Bloglines Debuts Top 1000 [SearchEngineWatch]

“Bloglines today launched the Bloglines Top 1000, a list of the most-subscribed blogs in its feed reader.

It's been tracking the Top 200 for a couple of years, but the list was expanded to include the next level of feeds beyond the most popular.”

Content is Dead, Community is King? [SearchEngineWatch]

“These days, every web publisher wrestles with finding the right balance between producing their own content versus relying on contributions from visitors. It’s almost magical when visitors return to your site just because they can find appropriate experts or like-minded people there. A combination of both professional and user generated content can also increase organic traffic and create more ad inventory.

One major dependency for user content is the quality of the actively participating community. At last week's Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) brown-bag session, experts in "how to grow" communities for major brands were on hand. Their advice and approach seems worth sharing, to help optimize your site.”

Yahoo, Google, Microsoft censor the Internet (AlterNet)

A new Amnesty report and campaign sheds light on the tech giants' nefarious overseas activities.

‘Google is not ahead of us,’ Microsoft CEO says (MSNBC.com)

TOKYO - Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, in Tokyo to launch new Windows Live services, played down the threat of Google on Thursday, denying the rival was ahead in any way but in online searches.

“Google is not ahead of us,” he told reporters at a Tokyo hotel. “In the area of search specifically, Google would lead.”

The Best Fifty Web Sites You Don't Know About (About.com)

“There are millions and millions of Web sites out there. Unfortunately, there are many Web sites that go under many searcher's radar. Some of these sites might be familiar to you, others not so familiar, but all are worth taking a look.”

FTC reviewing Google ad deal "expeditiously"
(Yahoo! Asia News)

“WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust authorities are reviewing Google Inc's purchase of advertising company DoubleClick as quickly as possible, Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Leibowitz said on Thursday.

But Leibowitz warned that privacy advocates could be disappointed. U.S. privacy and technology groups have raised questions about the deal because Google stores information on the Internet-surfing habits of users and uses it to sell ads. DoubleClick connects ad agencies, marketers and Web site publishers.

"(The review) can't be about privacy, per se," said Leibowitz, who made his remarks at an FTC public meeting on the privacy implications of Internet advertising.”

MySpace gets social with Google
(Yahoo!7 News, Australia)

“Internet social networking leader MySpace is joining Google's open source platform community, a move that may undermine the rapid growth of their common rival, Facebook.

Google announced the coup two days after revealing its plans to create a distribution network for open source web applications, known as widgets or web apps.

Widgets make it easier to share music, pictures, video and other personal interests on social networking sites.”

Search Headlines & Links: October 31, 2007 (SearchEngineWatch)

“Want a snapshot of the day's search marketing news? Here we've collected today's top news stories posted to the Search Engine Watch Blog, along with search-related headlines from around the We:”

.
Common SEO mistakes — and how to avoid them
(DMNews)

Here’s a list of common SEO mistakes and specific steps to make sure you avoid them:

Advertisers Ask EU To Carefully Probe Google/DoubleClick Deal (CNNMoney)

“BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- The World Federation of Advertisers Friday cautioned the European Commission to examine Google Inc.'s (GOOG) proposed takeover of Internet advertising broker DoubleClick carefully to make sure it wouldn't reduce competition in internet advertising.

WFA, which represents advertisers accounting for around 90% of global marketing money and 40 of the world's top 100 marketers, submitted a letter to the European regulator stressing the importance of understanding the changes underway in the online advertising markets.”

Top search engines in September 2007
(IT Facts | ZDNet.com)

Nielsen//NetRatings published a list of top search engines in September 2007.

FAST: Illegal file sharers should be struck off net
(PC Pro, United Kingdom)

“The [UK] Government has threatened to crack down on illegal file sharing with new legislation, if the industry doesn't find its own way to protect rights holders.

Now, in an exclusive interview with PC Pro, John Lovelock, the director general of the Federation Against Software Theft (FAST), offers his own, highly-controversial, remedy to the problem.”

In Browser War, It's Really Google vs. IE (BetaNews)

“While Mozilla may get all the credit for finally dethroning Internet Explorer as the only dominant Web browser with its development of Firefox, the man behind the curtain continues to be Google, which provides the vast majority of the cash that keeps Mozilla going.

According to financial statements posted this week by Mozilla CEO Mitchell Baker, the company brought in $66.8 million in revenues during 2006 - a 26 percent improvement from 2005's revenues of $52.9 million. A full 85 percent of Mozilla's revenue for 2006 came directly from Google through its search box partnership.”

Google beats Street, revenue up 57% (CNN Money)

Internet search and advertising giant reports strong increase in sales and profits that surpass estimates but stock is flat after hours.

Top Ten Most Popular Video Sites (About.com)

1. MySpace TV
2. LiveLeak
3. Break
4. Dailymotion
5. Metacafe
6. YouTube
7. VideoSift
8. MegaVideo
9. Yahoo Video
10. Veoh

The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines, October
(Alt Search Engines)

“Every month on AltSearchEngines, we update our list of the Top 100 Alternative Search Engines (ASE).

Out of the 100 finalists, we select one above all the others to be the Search Engine of the Month (SEM).

We also name ten honorable mentions (hm) randomly because we know that no one can check out all 100 - so we encourage you to visit the SEM and the 10 hm.”

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Web Searchers (About.com)

Every time I need to find something on the Web, I am successful. Right? Uh, not exactly.

Google's stock price tops $600 (CNNMoney)

“Google's stock price sailed past $600 for the first time Monday, extending a monthlong rally propelled by the lofty expectations surrounding the Internet search leader's upcoming third-quarter earnings report.”

Yahoo tries to catch up with Google (AndhraCafe)

“San Francisco, Oct 3 (DPA) Yahoo Inc. has unveiled a new internet search technology in a bid to close the gap on search leader Google, but executives at Yahoo admitted that the best they could hope for was to 'chip away' at their rival's lead.

The new Yahoo Search, previously codenamed Panama, was launched Tuesday and introduces features like 'universal search', which automatically includes different content types in search results.

Results pages now include embedded video, photos from Yahoo's extensive Flickr collection and results that are customised for specific types of searches, such as those for celebrities, musical artists and news.

The service now sports an attractive drop-down box called search assist that appears as users type, offering spelling fixes and search suggestions based on what's being typed.”

10 Great SEO Tips, Part 1 (E-Commerce Times)

“There was a time when companies could simply boot up a Web site and their content would immediately begin showing up in various search engines. For better or worse, those days are long gone.

To have content displayed, corporations need to understand what the search engines are looking for and then provide it to them. If one company does not want to do that, a competitor certainly will.”

10 Great SEO Tips, Part 2 (E-Commerce Times)

”Garnering the attention of the search engine vendors requires a delicate balance. While there are some steps that companies can take to improve their ranking, there are other items that lower the company's search rankings, and can even result in them being blacklisted in some cases. Consequently, they need to maintain a proper balance.”

Google Blackout? (Searchviews)

“A friend e-mailed a link to a very peculiar site this morning - a stark, black page, filled with a giant white number that appears to be counting off seconds.

There’s nothing else on the site no links or meta info in the code.”

Yahoo[!] gets serious about search (Media Biz)

“Yahoo! (YHOO) unveiled significant upgrades to its search engine Tuesday, the company’s latest salvo in its battle with search industry leader Google (GOOG).

Among the new features, Yahoo will be integrating video, images and audio into a single search results page. The company also announced something called Yahoo Search Assist, a box that appears at the top of search pages that offers suggestions for related searches.

Yahoo also rolled out a feature called Yahoo Shortcuts, which pops up during certain searches for local information, movies, music and sports news among other things. The Shortcuts box offers relevant info and links about the search keyword.”

Ten Ways To Keep Your Search History Private (About.com)

Now, most of us have no need to hide our search history, but there's no harm in more cautious Web surfing.

Here are a few ways you can keep your searching history private:

1. Private information
2. Clean out your search history
3. Clean out your cache
4. Search with a proxy
5. Avoid registrations
6. Clean up your cookies
7. Use an independent search engine
8. Disable auto-complete
9. Careful of your downloads
10.Be careful where you surf

Microsoft complains to senators about Google buying DoubleClick (San Francisco Chronicle)

"This merger will undoubtedly result in higher profits for the operator of the dominant advertising pipeline, but it will be bad for everyone else," Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft, told the Senate panel. "It will be bad for publishers, bad for advertisers and, most importantly, bad for consumers."

David Drummond, Google's senior vice president for corporate development and chief legal officer, went on the offensive at the hearing, noting that his company is not the only one gobbling up online advertising companies this year.

In April, Yahoo bought Right Media, an online ad exchange, for $680 million. In May, Microsoft bought aQuantive, an online ad company, for $6 billion, and AOL bought AdTech AG for an undisclosed amount.

Drummond insisted the deal does not violate antitrust law because the two companies are in related businesses, but do not directly compete.”

Women Execs Have Better Online Presence
(Search Engine Watch Blog)

“An online career survey indicates female executives at the VP and C-levels have a considerably better career presence online than male executives at the same level.

Results from the Career Distinction Online Identity Calculator showed that female, VP-level executives had an average score of 6.26 out of a possible 10, compared to 5.86 for their male counterparts. At the C-level, the female scores were slightly higher: 6.59 compared to 6.33.”

The History Of Google (Micro mart, UK)

“In just eight years, Google has grown into one of the largest companies on the Internet. But what's behind its spectacular success, and what does the future hold?”

Search Engines [Reviews] (Web-User, UK)

Blogging Toolbox: 120+ Resources for Bloggers (Mashable)

Google Shares Hit All Time High Friday
(Seeking Alpha)

“Google (GOOG) shares Friday hit an all time high. The search engine giant now has a market cap of close to $175 billion, just a few billion below Wal-Mart (WMT) (to provide just a modicum of perspective here, current Street revenue estimates for the current year are 33x higher for Wal-Mart than for Google: $377.8 billion vs. $11.5 billion).”

Search Engine Decoder | Relationship Chart
(Search-This)

Search Engine Chart (ihelpyou, Inc.)

Seven Habits of Highly Effective Web Searchers (About.com)

“Every time I need to find something on the Web, I am successful. Right? Uh, not exactly. Eventually, I get to where I'm going, but it takes some work sometimes.

Over the years I've developed a few search habits that have made me a more effective searcher, and with just a little practice, you can too. After all, searching the Web is a snap - it's actually finding what we're looking for that's the trick!”

Daggle: Danny Sullivan's Blog

The Best Firefox Add-ons for Web Search (About.com)

“Some of the most underrated Web search tools out there are Firefox add-ons, small tools that add functionality of some type to your Firefox browser.

The following are just a few of the best Firefox add-ons I've come across so far to help me in my Web searching.”

Users Wrongly Trust Higher Google Results
(The Post Chronicle)

“A U.S. study suggests Internet users mistakenly have an inherent trust of Google search results that appear higher on a page.

A College of Charleston eye tracking experiment revealed college students participating in the study trusted Google's ability to rank results by their true relevance to the query.

When participants selected a link from Google's result pages, their decisions were strongly biased towards links higher in position, even if content was less relevant to the search query.”

Why Google Web Accelerator Is (Very) Bad For Your Business (Dev Mechanic – Search Engine Tricks)

“Google's production is truly a thing of wonder. They are constantly churning out new tools that are truly fascinating, even useful.They're also very controversial. Google Maps' expansion to include street views of addresses has angered more than one resident. The prospect of people finding out you don't live in that Brownstone you're always talking about isn't a welcome one.

Google's Web Accelerator goes one step further by striking truly home - in your business pocketbook. Basically it boils down to 2 big reasons why it could hurt you, especially if its popularity spreads. You might be saying "Only 2 reasons? That's it. Doesn't sound like a big deal." Maybe, but that's like saying the only 2 things bad about being shot is that you might get hurt or die.

Basically what the Accelerator does is this - when someone searching on Google decides to click on a site's listing, instead of actually going to the site, it shows you the cached version of it from Google's servers. What's wrong with that? Plenty.”

Google, at age 10, is the official heart of the Internet
(Yahoo! News)

“Born 10 years ago, the Google Internet search engine has grown into the electronic center of human knowledge by indexing billions of web pages as well as images, books and videos.”

Google raises internet privacy concerns
(vnunet.com)

"Three quarters of the countries in the world have no privacy regimes at all, and among those that do have laws many were largely adopted before the rise of the internet," he [Peter Fleischer, Google's head of privacy] told The Guardian.

"It is said that every time you use a credit card, your details are passed through six different countries."

"A lot of data is being outsourced from Europe and the US to India, for example, but India does not have any privacy regulation," he said.”

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INTERNET USAGE STATISTICS - The Big Picture
World Internet Users and Population Stats
(Internet World Stats)
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Essential bookmarks for web-designers and webdevelopers | CSS, Color Tools, Royalty free photos, Usability etc. (Vitaly Friedman, Germany)

Japan Backing Device-Specific Search Tech To Compete With Google (Search Engine Land)

“The Japanese project is comprised of 10 partnerships, each tasked with a specific next-generation search function. For example, the government has matched NTT Data with Toyota InfoTechnology Center and Toyota Mapmaster to create an interactive, personalised car navigation system.

Other partnerships involve NEC, Hitachi and Sony Computer Science Laboratories. The ministry of trade has allocated Y14bn-Y15bn (€89m-€95m) to the project.”

The multimedia search engine Quaero, Europe’s answer to Google (Pandia Search Engine News)

“The Quaero project was announced last summer by the French president Chirac. AFP has been talking to Jean-Luc Mollet at Thompson, a project leader of the Quaero project.

Several companies are involved in the Quaero project along with Thompson. AFP’s article mentions Deutsche Telecom, France Telecom, and the search engine Exalead.

AFP also mentions some French and German research institutes: Inria (Institut national de la recherche en informatique et en automatique), IMSI-CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique), RWTH-Aachen och Universitetet i Karlsruhe.

In addition there are content providers like INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel) and Studio Hamburg. There are ongoing negotiations with other partners.”

Top 20 Temporary and Disposable Email Services
(Sizlopedia)

“Now a days Internet has become a home to spam.

Millions of spam bots crawl the web daily to find email addresses and then bombard them with spam emails thus destroying their efficiency and creating problems for users.

The best solution to this is to get a temporary or disposable email inbox which automatically expires after a certain time period.”

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Google Blogs (Search Engine Marketing Specialist)
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The Dangers of Desktop Search- Google Tool as Spyware (Spyware Guide)

”So how could this be dangerous you ask? Imagine this scenario...

A miscreant goes to a university computer or a computer at your local library and installs the Google Desktop Search application. He takes a moment to hide the icon on the system and then walks away for a few weeks. He comes back and fires up the program and begins entering strings like "password" and "Credit card".

Man vs. Machine (Fast Company)

“Serial Webmeister Jason Calacanis survived the dotcom bust and went on to sell Weblogs Inc. to AOL for $25 million. He says his new search engine--powered by people, of all things--will give Google a run for its money. We almost believe him.”

Is Yahoo! Better than Google? (eMarketer)

“From the audience point of view, as measured by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, US consumers now express more satisfaction with Yahoo! than Google, Ask.com, MSN or AOL.”

Google Remains Goliath in Online Search
(E-Commerce Times)

“More than half of the searches conducted on the Internet used Google, according to the latest report from comScore, which measures Internet metrics.

Google had a 55.2 percent share of the search field, while Yahoo had 23.5 percent, Microsoft had 12.3 percent, Ask.com had 4.7 percent, and AOL had 4.4 percent.

The numbers also reflect a change in the way comScore conducts its research, the company said.”

Google Receives 64 Percent Of All U.S. Searches In July 2007 (Promotion World)

“Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today announced that Google accounted for 64.35 percent of all US searches in the four weeks ending July 28, 2007.

Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 22.131, 8.79 and 3.21 percent respectively. The remaining 48 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.52 percent of U.S. searches.”

The top 100 web search engines no one ever heard of
(Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing)

Top 100 Alternative Search Engines (Read/WriteWeb)

Is a 'Google killer' on the horizon?
(The Christian Science Monitor)

“Industry leaders to little-known contenders are trying to develop easier ways for Web users to find what they're looking for.”

Search Engine Wish List (Part 1, 2, and 3.) [ClickZ]

“I've got a wish list for the search engines, and I asked other marketers and agencies what changes and improvements they'd love to see from the search engines.

Some wish list items are my own; others were contributed in conversations and even through a LinkedIn feature that enabled me to ask others in my network to suggest their wish list items.”

One In Ten Websites Have Malware?
(BungaTech)

“According to Google, it analyzed about 4.5 million websites over the past year and has found that 450,000 had malware that were capable of key logging, capturing passwords, and eventually identity theft.

The worst part is: one malicious code changed over 1,100 times over the past twelve months so anti-virus and other protection software were all but useless in defending us.”

Google twists FCC’s arm (Government Computer News)

“Google presented the government and the wireless industry with a curious ultimatum when it offered to bid $4.6 billion in the upcoming auction of newly available bandwidth in the wireless spectrum, but only if certain conditions requiring open access were placed on the spectrum.

As it turned out, the Federal Communications Commission ruled in favor of two of Google’s proposals, requiring those leasing in the spectrum to allow consumers to use whatever wireless devices and software they want on networks. FCC did not go along with Google’s proposal that third-party companies have a right to sublease spectrum at wholesale rates.

But what we found interesting was the opposition Google’s proposals raised.

Some FCC members were reported to be irritated by the “arrogance” of Google’s lobbyists. After all, where does Google get off telling FCC what to do and influencing it with the prospect of higher revenues from the spectrum auction?”

Hide and Seek: An Introduction to Search Engine Marketing (Online Recruitment)

“Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is definitely not a new term for advertisers, but it is unquestionably one of the fastest growing and most successful tools in on-line advertising.

Since its infancy, SEM spend has increased substantially, accounting for only 1.3% of total online spending in 2000 to now whopping 42.5% in 2006 (eMarketer, April 2007). By anyone's standards, SEM is hot and is showing no signs of cooling down.

As SEM has proven to be extremely effective for recruitment advertising, recruiters are gradually incorporating it into their media strategies. This shift has placed great importance in truly understanding SEM, its capabilities, the marketplace, and what the future holds.”

What do you mean by Search Engine Optimization
(Article Bliss)

“If you have a business website, you want to attract as many customers as possible.

That's a no-brainer. But sometimes actually accomplishing this goal is anything but simple.

With all the new policies and rules put out by the major search engines, getting your site in front of your customers is often like navigating a very complex and technical maze.

We’ve broken down search engine optimization (SEO) into some manageable bites so you can start with some basic information.”

Google, DoubleClick Address Privacy Issues
(Seeking Alpha)

“The problem is this: the described relationship between DoubleClick and Google effectively creates an online advertising monopoly.
….
In addition to the imposed monopoly, privacy groups are concerned that Google will simply have too much information on individuals; information that Google never really had permission to have in the first place. Google will literally have access to just about every demographic available about an individual.

Google has responded by announcing that all search-query data will be eliminated after 18-24 months.”

Will Google Be Destroyed By Open Source Search Engines? (InformationWeek)

“Could open source kill the golden egg that laid Google? If Wikia has their way, it just might.

The Wikia project, started by Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, seeks to the turn the process of building a search engine from a multimillion dollar project to one that could cost just hundreds or thousands of bucks. That's a game changer.”

Google Mistakes Own Blog for Spam, Deletes it
(PC World)

Readers of Google Custom Search Blog were surprised when the Web site was temporarily removed from the blogosphere.

Google to launch online music download store?
(Pocket-lint.co.uk, UK)

“As part of the Universal Music Group's announcement that it was to start trialling the sale of DRM-free music tracks, Universal named a list of companies that are to offer the downloads.

Within that list was Google. But Google doesn't sell music tracks, so why name the company as one of your online vendors?”

Scholars Push For Search Engine Regulation (WebProNews)

Here's an idea sure to start some fires: Is it necessary to consider government regulation of search engines?

Don't be arrogant (CNN Money)

Google is starting to act like your garden-variety monopoly, says Fortune's Brent Schlender.

“Seriously, when a company attains extreme market domination, hubris and a sense of infallibility can't be far behind.

It's only a matter of time before said market dominator tries to tell everyone else how to run their businesses.”

Helpful Guidelines To Increase Your Seo Visibility (Article Vista)

“Always webmasters should give more importance on search engine friendly content and keywords to get higher ranking in search engine result pages.

Unless a website proves its effectiveness, even the cleverest handling will have little effect on search engine rankings.”

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The Search Wars Are Going Mobile (eMarketer)

"Mobile search is a battle to define perhaps the most important new interface with the consumer," says John du Pre Gauntt, eMarketer Senior Analyst and the author of the new report, Mobile Search: Clash of the Titans.

"Whoever cracks the consumer and commercial code for delivering and monetizing relevant answers for people on the go will secure a license to print money, at least for a time."

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The top 100 web search engines no one ever heard of

(Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing)

“Charles Knight at Read/Write Web has an interesting post about the top 100 alternative web search engines. That's right, the top 100...there are many more that didn't make the list.”

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Net Radio: 'New Song Royalties Will Kill Us' (PC World)

“Internet radio stations are mobilizing in the wake of a potentially costly new royalty fee structure approved earlier this week by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB).

The board decided Monday that commercial Internet radio stations, regardless of their size, will pay a new, higher flat fee to the record labels each time a song is played. The increase applies to songs played in 2007, and retroactively for 2006 at a slightly lower rate. As it stands now, the rates will go into effect in about a month.

"The CRB's ill informed decision to increase royalty fees to this unjustifiable level will quite simply bankrupt most webcasters and destroy Internet radio," says the Net radio stations' newly formed coalition, SaveNetRadio.org.

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Why Do We Attach So Much Importance To Google? (Super Feature)

“During the last couple of years however, it seems that ownership of the Internet has been surrendered to a new overlord! GOOGLE! And we should all point our prayer mats to face Mountain View CA... Or should we?”

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Blackle: the dark side of Google

(Hindustan Times)

“Have you too been infected by the Blackle bug? Millions of Internet users are logging on to a new search engine, blackle.com — with a black background — to save a wee bit of energy every time they want to search something on the net.

Search giant Google has customised blackle.com which means that everytime you search on blackle.com, you are using Google’s search prowess.

The argument is simple: An all-white background uses more energy to display than a black background. Now if Google, which gets gets 200 million queries a day, turns its background black, some amount of energy will be saved. So, Blackle is Google gone black. “

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SEO STUFF:

What is SEO [?] (Article Teller)

Learn SEO (Article Bliss)

SEO - Do it the right way [!] (Article Teller)

SEO Made Simple (eMediaWire)

Confessions of an SEO Know-It-All (ClickZ)

Top Ten of the Most Common SEO Mistakes
(Article Bliss)

SEO "Don'ts": 20 Fatal Mistakes You Must Avoid To Succeed (Search Engine Land)

Bringing SEO In House - Insight From The Experts (Search Newz)

Stop In-house SEO Disasters Now!

Kick Your Competitor With Negative SEO?
(Google Blogoscoped)

The Importance of Article Marketing in SEO
(Article Bliss)

How to Increase Web site Traffic with SEO Services (Article Bliss)

Search Engine Marketing- Optimizing your site for success (Article Bliss)

Organic SEO or Pay-Per-Click Advertising - Which Should You Choose? (TechLINKS)
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Google calls for US to let in more migrants

(Times Online, UK)

“Google today called on the US government to allow greater numbers of migrant workers into the country as part of a wider push by the company into the area of politics.

The ability to attract highly skilled migrants into the technology industry was one of a number of issues, including privacy, child online safety and copyright protection, that were "fundamental to the future of the internet", the search company said, adding that it planned to take a greater role in influencing public policy in these and other areas.”

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Google Is Watching You (Business Week)

“But when you type in a Web search, your words are stored by Google and other search providers, along with information tying those words to your personal computer.

If you surf the Web, the pages you visit and what you do on them are tracked with "cookies," tiny text files that download to your computer so they can report back to their ad network owners.

Many Web companies say the privacy concerns are, in many respects, overblown.

After all, the information collected online is tied to a number representing a particular computer [ IP (Internet Protocol) number, my note], not to a person's name or Social Security number.”


Frequently Asked Questions & How-Tos
(Grande Communications)

“For a given IP, you can find the owner [or his computer' Internet service provider (ISP), my note] by using the whois tool located at http://www.geektools.com/whois.php

See also What Is My IP? .

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Google At 65 Percent Of All U.S. Searches In May 2007
(Promotion World)

“Hitwise, the leading online competitive intelligence service, today announced that Google accounted for 65.13 percent of all US searches in the four weeks ending May 26, 2007.

Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 20.89, 8.40 and 3.92 percent respectively. The remaining 49 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.66 percent of U.S. searches.


Top search engines in May 2007 (ZD Net, IT Facts blog)

“Nielsen//NetRatings published the list of top search engines in May 2007. Google, Yahoo! and EarthLink displayed double-digit growth as far as number of searches.

Google improved its market share from April 2007, when it had 55.2% share, to 56.3% share in May 2007. Both Yahoo! and MSN/Live lost market share meanwhile. This is the second consecutive month that the number of searches on Ask.com has been actually decreasing.”


Google logs half of all US searches (PC World, UK)

“Research firm comScore recorded 7.6 billion search queries in May, 3.9 billion of which were made from Google, giving the search engine a 50.7 per cent market share.”
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