Post Classified Ads at Google Base

Google is testing an online classified business. This is something for GOOG investors to get excited about. When combined with Google Maps and sponsored by text ads, there is no reason why Google cannot turn this into a business as big as eBay.

Dubbed "Google Base," the service enables users to submit content to a searchable database. For real estate listings, for example, users have the option of entering price, property type, and photos with content.

More at Clickz

Google Drops 'Gmail' Name in UK

Google replaced "Gmail" with "googlemail" after negotiations with London-based Independent International Investment Research over the rights to the name failed.

It's the second time Google has voluntarily withdrawn the "Gmail" name in a European country _ it dropped the trademark in Germany in June following a similar dispute there. The German case is still before the courts.

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GOOG hits new high

Google shares rose from $36.18 to $339.38 (over 11 percent) in Nasdaq trade after a strong 3Q. GOOG stock is now up more than 300% from its IPO 14 months ago, and is approaching $95 billion in market value.

Publishers sue Google over book scanning

Five large U.S. publishing companies filed a lawsuit against Google on Wednesday, charging that the company's Google Print for Libraries program, which aims to make searchable, digital copies of nearly all of the books in five major research libraries, violates copyright

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Ex-employee loses loses $37m age discrimination fight

Found at the Telegraph:

Last week Reid told a Californian court that a senior Google executive said that he was pushed out because he did not fit in with the search engine's "youthful atmosphere".

His dismissal, in February 2004, cost Reid an annual salary of $200,000, plus 119,000 stock options which would now be worth $37.6m, based on Google's current share price.

Last Friday the Santa Clara court ruled that Reid had failed to present enough evidence to prove that he was sacked because of his age.

Google hires Gaim lead developer

Gaim is a multi-protocol, multi-platform instant messaging client that accesses the MSN Messenger, AOL AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, IRC, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu and Zephyr networks and runs on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

Sean Egan publicly broke the news on the Gaim Web site this week, revealing that he has been working in Google's Seattle office for a month and a half on the company's Google Talk IM application.

Google UK Domination

Google UK continues to dominate the search engine market in the UK, powering 63% of all internet searches in the four-week period ending 1 October 2005. Collectively Google UK and Google.com power 70% of UK Internet searches.

MSN.co.uk placed second with 8% of all UK searches for the same four week time frame.

Found at Search Engine Watch

Google’s Testing New Dictionary Feature

Google is testing a drop-down box that offers alternative spellings when it thinks you have the spelling of a keyword wrong.

I'm starting to wonder if the clean Google interface is slowly being chipped away... Perhaps it'll end up like ICQ?

Google.org giving $1 Billion to Charity

Google gave the first details yesterday of how it would carry out its commitment to devote a share of its lucrative public stock offering to charity and social causes. It said it had donated $90 million to a new charitable foundation it started and would give another $175 million to nonprofit groups and what it considers socially useful businesses over the next two to three years.
Among the first causes to benefit are - $5m to fund anti-poverty and healthcare schemes in the developing world, $400,000 for efforts to improve rural water quality in Kenya and $500,000 for a competition to find and fund business start-ups in Ghana.

More at the BBC

Ex-Microsoft exec to head Google office in Israel

Google Inc. hired a former Microsoft Corp. executive to open an office in Israel to tap online advertising spending in the country.

Meir Brand will be country manager of Google Israel and will be based in Tel Aviv, Google said Friday in an e-mailed statement from its Mountain View, Calif., headquarters.

Google and Microsoft, currently locked in a legal battle over Google's hiring of former Microsoft China executive Kai-Fu Lee, are seeking technological talent to develop new products and expand in emerging markets.

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New ant species named after Google

Found at SlashDot:

"In Google's official blog, Dr. Brian L. Fisher (an entomology researcher) writes about a newly discovered species of ant that he has named after Google (Proceratium google). The reason for this name is a tribute to the usefulness of Google Earth in his research. This is not the only species with a company name, there is also the GoldenPalace.com Monkey (Callicebus aureipalatii)."

Googld offers San Francisco free Wi-Fi

Google is a bidder to connect the city of San Francisco with a free Wi-Fi service.

It's nice to see large, cashed-up companies willing to be adventurous, rather than waiting to see what others do. When was the last time Microsoft innovated? - I think it was MS-DOS...