Ångströ represents the ability to hone in on highly focused, relevant news across professional networks. Where search engines such as Google and other news aggregator services have immense infrastructures that return a huge array of random results, Ångströ analyses a wide breadth of information from multiple data sources to deliver very few, yet very intelligent results.

The pundit consensus is that this is about Google’s yet-to-emerge new social networking effort — and I’m sure it is — but there are probably some search-specific applications of this technology that we’ll see in the future.

Mainly the Angstro buy made me wonder what the supposed “Google Me” (as a metaphor for Google’s broader social strategy) will turn out to be. Google now has numerous properties that have explicit or implicit social dimensions: Orkut, Buzz, Latitude, GMail, Maps, Contacts, Calendar, iGoogle, YouTube, Vevo, Google Talk, Google Reader, Picasa, Profile, Docs, (the now abandoned Wave) and more. There’s also a coming Google Music service and, reportedly, a Zynga investment and a gaming site to arrive later.

Google has also reportedly put former mobile chief Vic Gundotra in charge of social. Gundotra is highly capable but it will take intense work, creative inspiration and even luck to figure out how to bring all these disparate pieces together into a coherent and compelling whole.

Yet maybe there isn’t a single “social network” or product per se (Orkut 2.0) that Google has in mind. Perhaps the company is going to embed a social layer into each of its properties, more deliberately and explicitly than it has done to date. However that probably wouldn’t be enough by itself to capture the public’s imagination.

An earlier and very thoughtful presentation by Google Senior User Experience Researcher Paul Adams criticizes Facebook privacy and hints that groups might be the center of a new Google network. Though provocative, groups doesn’t seem splashy enough by itself either.  However Google “Social Circles” (contacts + social media content), which is not quite a product but is the basis of social search, does seem to be ripe for further development. The term “circles” even suggests a product name focused on groups.

Gaming and mobile are additional, fruitful areas for Google to attack from a social standpoint, so might shopping be as well. But other than building a kind of “me too” offering, there’s no obvious social media strategy for Google. Orkut, Wave, Buzz and several other weak or shuttered products (e.g., Lively) argue that Google can miscalculate, in some cases badly, when it comes to social and product development.

However with the recent spending and acquisitions Google has signaled that it’s very serious about building a product — or products plural — that will help it compete with Facebook and/or provide a kind of social infrastructure to keep it relevant as the Internet continues to evolve. This is a very public and high stakes effort for the company.

I’m eager to see what it produces.

Postscript: Google just bought social-mobile game development company SocialDeck. So add that into the mix. Gaming definitely is emerging as a primary entry point for Google in its effort to build a social network or more social experience.

What is interesting is that Google closed down their Google Answers site back in November 2006, yes over three years ago. Is Google Guru their way of getting back into the social Q&A space? Yahoo is dominate right now with Yahoo Answers, maybe Google feels they can make a run at that as well?

Postscript from Greg: Google’s rumored, potential Aardvark acquisition might play into this offering. Aardvark calls itself a “social search engine” but I see it more specifically as an “answer community.”

Google sent Wired a response that read:

It turns out there was a bug, a specific bug, that affected search within a specific group. That bug is something we’re working on fixing, and I think that will be fixed by tomorrow. Thanks for writing this, because that’s how we discovered this specific bug.

Wired confirmed the fix is actually working, but there are still some issues with searching by date ranges. Google acknowledged that issue and said they are working on a fix. Why did it take Google over a year to fix the issue? Supposedly, Wired embarrassed them into fixing it. All it took was a day of some engineering time to get it done. Wired did note that Slashdot wrote about the issue 11 months ago.

Google’s Small Business Network was created to give small business owners the information and tools to promote business-friendly policies in Washington, D.C. and state capitols. The Internet provides an unparalleled opportunity for small businesses to start up, grow, and reach a worldwide customer base. But realizing its potential requires your participation.

Google wants to know about the issues that are important to you so that we can better invest in your goals and objectives and ultimately, your success. New laws, regulations and other public policy initiatives at the federal and state levels should be designed with your best interests in mind.

There’s also a little bit of what one might call “reciprocal lobbying” going on:

We want to help you stay on top of many issues, the first two of which are increasing high-speed Internet or broadband access and preserving an open Internet. An open, accessible Internet is a critical element in helping you reach beyond yesterday’s customers. The Internet has given you the power to compete in new markets and stay in touch with partners across the U.S. or overseas. Infrastructure that enables high-speed Internet and standards that keep it open have the potential to help create jobs in your hometown and around the world. Learn more and sign our open letter to Congress.

Assuming that Google can get enough attention from SMBs, this effort could be quite valuable in several ways: in product development, PR/communications, customer acquisition and loyalty and so on. Google might also develop an effective tool for grassroots lobbying on its issues (i.e., net neutrality).

• Pages. Create and contribute to shared web pages with simple drag, drops, cuts, pastes, and clicks (i.e., no coding).
• Customized look and feel. Select pictures, colors, and styles to express your group’s style.
• Member profiles. See who else is in the group and read their profiles. Personalize your own profile with a photo and other details.
• File sharing. Post documents that anyone in the group can access.
• Easy reading of group discussions. Read easily in a Gmail-style interface.

The official Google press release on the new Google Groups can be found here. Google Blogosoped has the before and after screen shots, the official Google Blog has a post on it leading to the tour of the new Google Groups.