tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141Sat, 03 May 2008 00:56:11 +0000http://googlefan.com/news/RobertBlogger573125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-8156413686548149628Sat, 03 May 2008 00:54:00 +00002008-05-03T10:56:11.711+10:00arthttp://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-Articles/Trends/20080502-Googles-new-weapon-in-the-traffic-war-art.html?source=cmailer 70 of the world’s most famous artists gave provided their art to make your iGoogle page more beautiful. Note that it was Google that came up this, not Yahoo or MSN. They still lead in innovation.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/05/google-offer-serious-art.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-2825267807322864295Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:13:00 +00002008-04-30T20:20:01.682+10:00content networkMost Google lawsuits are frivolous, but I'm all for this one. Almost everytime I create a new campaign in Adwords, because they do not prompt me to do so, I neglect to find and deselect the Content Network option. Consequently I check in a day or two later to see all these worthless clicks I have paid for. In my business, the content network converts so poorly, I never want to use it. The http://googlefan.com/news/2008/04/google-content-lawsuit.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-1163586904334567683Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:51:00 +00002008-04-21T16:02:44.191+10:00whois If you are in the USA, a quick Google search consisting of the word whois and a domain name will provide you with its age, and a link to the full results at DomainTools.com - which is pretty good for that business! Proof that being the best gets lots of free link juice and occasionally a big boost from Google.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/04/google-offer-whois.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-883352034237318396Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:34:00 +00002008-04-14T10:53:24.564+10:00mapsYet again the courts need to decide whether "you can always ask us to remove it" is reasonable. As more and more sites and services potentially infringe on copyright and privacy, are companies and individuals expected to constantly crawl the web and look for their image/info/work being listed, and then look for a way of opting out? I'm pretty sure that Google are legally allowed to take photos http://googlefan.com/news/2008/04/couple-sue-google-over-house-image.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-6224725043633931535Tue, 01 Apr 2008 13:49:00 +00002008-04-02T00:56:37.614+11:00april foolsWell, there's so many this year, one guesses they are dreamed up by individual employees, rather than professional comedians. Some are funny, like every "featured video on the YouTube homepage linking to Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up", or Google's aim to "organize all of human ignorance". Some are mediocre, like Virgin and Google planning to colonize Mars. And then there's the unfunny http://googlefan.com/news/2008/04/google-april-fools-not-funny.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-5634694745505280775Sun, 16 Mar 2008 05:36:00 +00002008-03-16T16:40:16.198+11:00easter eggOver at ZDNet is a leprechaun who follows you around in Google Maps. And Blogoscoped has found a disturbing cross between Google's logo and "Clippy" the weird little fellow from Microsoft Office that was universally hated.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/03/some-new-easter-eggs.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-5017694696835925086Thu, 06 Mar 2008 11:43:00 +00002008-03-06T22:47:32.526+11:00amazonA new experiment from Google has site search boxes within the search results. This example make great sense: Because many/most folk who visit Amazon, the first thing they do is search for a product. Google has saved them making that extra step. The only downside is they miss out on seeing whatever Amazon are promoting on their home page.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/03/search-within-search-within-search.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-5984709646835357214Fri, 29 Feb 2008 20:47:00 +00002008-03-01T07:49:58.180+11:00adwordsAdwords will be rolling out a "feature" in which all an advertisers unused budget will be spent on keywords of Google's choosing. This might be ok for some, but there are others who bid $10 but pay 5c, and those people often necessarily have budgets way higher than they are comfortable with. Google say it is opt out, but I really hope they see commonsense and make it opt in before they launch ithttp://googlefan.com/news/2008/03/all-your-budget-is-ours.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-2345417737796669449Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:48:00 +00002008-02-21T20:28:34.655+11:00checkoutIt's just a possibility, based on a rumour that says:...nearly 90% of merchants have dropped the use of Google Checkout after the discontinuation of their “free” processing period.I think Google will be needing Checkout in the future, for other projects, and they will keep it running even if nobody is using it.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/02/end-of-google-checkout.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-897482394096961186Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:11:00 +00002008-02-13T19:17:40.563+11:00adwordsSome AdWords users can now utilise a beta function that allows you to only show your ads to people of certain age and gender. Obviously the regular Google search doesn't have this - because you and I have not told Google this information. It will only apply to those sites in the Google search network that can make this info available to Google.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/02/adwords-age-gender-targeting.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-7758810358597780664Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:42:00 +00002008-02-08T13:49:38.348+11:00maps100 Things to do with Google Maps Mashups - and these are really just a sample of the possibilities. Basically anything that exists in the physical world can be mapped, from pedophiles to Great White Sharks (if they have a GPS tag), from McDonalds to public toilets. The link is to Google Maps mashups - where somone has combine an XML file that contains location data, with a map from Google. Theyhttp://googlefan.com/news/2008/02/100-google-maps-things.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-610358441293360595Tue, 05 Feb 2008 21:58:00 +00002008-02-06T09:00:17.605+11:00matt cuttsUse his name in the title of your blog post: Matt Cutts, Why Am I Still Being Punished? The result, lots of comments and advice from the man himself, regarding penalties for paid links and paid blog posts. Prediction: within the next week a dozen bloggers will try this.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/02/how-to-get-attention-of-matt-cutts.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-185117232726698345Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:43:00 +00002008-02-05T08:45:21.113+11:00yahooGoogle isn't happy - here's a snippet: Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets. Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow http://googlefan.com/news/2008/02/google-on-yahoomicrosoft-deal.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-4994074695346275090Sun, 03 Feb 2008 08:51:00 +00002008-02-03T20:07:28.040+11:00wikiayahooNo, they haven't, and I doubt they will. Google's competition is not really Yahoo or Microsoft. It would be Ask, except Ask is old and it's too hard for them to get new users. If Microsoft buys Yahoo, they'll probably screw up on search, and that will leave lots of room for a newcomer Google will save their money, and when the next search king comes out of the woodwork, they will buy it. And http://googlefan.com/news/2008/02/google-bids-on-yahoo.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-2030025280911289670Mon, 28 Jan 2008 03:43:00 +00002008-01-29T12:08:22.175+11:00adwordsObviously this new beta feature will only apply to the parts of the search network that know the sex/age etc of their members - sites like MySpace, Friendster, HotOrNot and Flirtbox are part of the test. This might be a useful way for find out how well ads on these sites convert...http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/adwords-demographic-bidding.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-1664960385454400248Thu, 24 Jan 2008 23:28:00 +00002008-01-25T10:37:44.661+11:00employeesWhat would you do if you were flush with $10 million or $100 million? Would you retire, go to work every day at the company that made you rich, or chase other dreams? That's the multimillion-dollar question for hundreds of early Googlers. By some estimates, more than 900 employees became instant millionaires when Google went public in August 2004, and that total has likely ballooned along with http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/xooglers-retire-or.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-7624656814463451849Sun, 20 Jan 2008 23:35:00 +00002008-01-21T10:46:33.667+11:00adwordsCheck out this US search result for a very popular keyword "ringtones" (click on it to see the full size) Loads of ads from the same advertiser - something that Google does not allow. There is an ongoing discussion at WebMasterWorld concerning Google's role in this, highlighting the possibilities of Google deliberately letting this happen to increase revenue, or perhaps just failing to policehttp://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/blatant-rule-breaking-in-adwords.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-2699173478379608155Sat, 19 Jan 2008 04:52:00 +00002008-01-19T22:53:52.763+11:00gpsI guess this will be common in the future: 1. Driver of car feels hungry 2. Passenger (or driver if she/he pulls over) types in "pizza" into GPS keyboard 3. GPS device provides options for pizza nearby, and directions to each 4. Google gets paid by the pizza provider 5. Phone company that provides internet connection to GPS is paid by you Get this soon with the new Magellan Maestro Elite 5340+http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/gps-device-gets-google-local-listings.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-2418049618126079728Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:56:00 +00002008-01-17T08:56:03.876+11:00statscomScore reports that while Google properties accounted for nearly 7.4 billion searches this month (over 52% of total queries). The number of searches on Google.com actually fell 4.2%...The previous month rose by over 14%, so this isn't really a long-term trend! More here.http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/google-used-less-now.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-7568497843605790966Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:37:00 +00002008-01-14T12:26:58.681+11:00google earthNice collection of Google Earth highlights: http://www.flixya.com/post/NicheFunny/93744/The_Strangest_Sights_in_Google_Earth Including UFO, sea monster, impossible parking, tragedies and bikinis!http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/some-google-earth-highlights.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-4332542282141665506Tue, 08 Jan 2008 00:09:00 +00002008-01-09T07:50:34.293+11:00parody Enuff said!http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/google-circa-1950.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-4992374246360542374Sat, 05 Jan 2008 00:57:00 +00002008-01-06T08:50:31.799+11:00Rick Aristotle Munarriz thinks it will be a success, and even suggests that "Yahoo! and Microsoft will have to scramble to copy Google before their own models are coated in cobwebs. Copying the copier? It sure beats the sound of the rustling tumbleweed." Meanwhile an unofficial Google blog has published evidence that Google "Questions and Answers" is real:http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/google-answers-rises-from-grave.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-8069992799149974448Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:36:00 +00002008-01-02T09:45:49.678+11:00matt cuttspaid postsno followMatt Cutts has extended his opinion on what links should use the no follow tag to include "paid posts". Basically, if a blogger is paid to promote a product via a blog post, and that post includes external links, they should be tagged no follow, regardless of whether they are to the sponsor, or just regular info (say a Wikipedia page on the topic). Mr Cutts didn't say you can't use plain links,http://googlefan.com/news/2008/01/paid-posts-no-follow-debate.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-4247719370515378117Sat, 29 Dec 2007 22:49:00 +00002007-12-30T09:52:13.668+11:00gmailCurrently Yahoo's offering has 240 million users vs Gmail's 80 million - but it had a huge headstart, and many people choose to keep legacy emaild addresses for obvious reasons. But soon GMail will be as well known as Yahoo! Mail, because it is growing at 53% per year! More at Marketing Vox.http://googlefan.com/news/2007/12/gmail-to-overtake-yahoo-mail-in-2010.htmlRoberttag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15812141.post-2266512578913462483Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:35:00 +00002007-12-28T23:37:44.695+11:00readerprivacyLots of talk about the "shared items" feature now meaning that people in your contact list can see these. Common sense says that the word "shared" is enough. Just like in Windows, if you have a "shared folder", it's one that other folk can look at. More at Mashablehttp://googlefan.com/news/2007/12/google-reader-privacy-problems.htmlRobert