Get in, get out. That’s the idea behind the new Windows Phones: get access to content quickly and “get back to your life.” Personalization and simplicity are also key themes of the new Microsoft mobile experience, which officially launched this morning with speeches from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la […]
Yesterday Google announced that it was shutting down 800-GOOG-411, the free directory assistance (or voice search) service it launched in April, 2007. Back in those days the mobile landscape looked very different than it does today. It was challenging to conduct searches on most mobile phones and the iPhone was in its infancy. The first […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Time To Think Carefully About Which Country Hosts Your URL Shortener In my “how to choose a URL shortener” article last year, I warned that the country domain that a shortener […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Close-Up With Google’s New QR Code Generator At first blush, generating a QR code while shortening a URL seems like a great idea. If you need to generate unique QR Codes […]
Yahoo is launching a number of search enhancements this evening that start to deliver on the UI innovation that the company has been promising since the Microsoft search deal was announced. It’s part of Yahoo’s bid to remain relevant in search by spicing up the user experience and trying to bring more utility to page […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Firefox To Add Bing As Search Option Bing announced that in the upcoming version of Firefox, Bing will be added as one of the standard set of search provider options. This […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Integrates Visual Search Into Mobile App For iPhone Google Goggles is an imperfect but promising technology that allows users to search with their cameras instead of their keyboards. It’s a […]
Good morning! It’s almost time for day two of SMX East to begin and the plan is to live blog this morning’s keynote conversation between Yelp COO Geoff Donaker and Search Engine Land Executive Editor, Chris Sherman. But first, I’m the master of ceremonies and so I need to run up to the stage and […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Twitter’s Promoted Accounts Now Live As was rumored last week, Twitter has formally introduced its latest advertising option: Promoted Accounts. Promoted Accounts will show up in the “Who to follow” section […]
News broke yesterday that Microsoft was suing Motorola for Android-related patent infringements. Microsoft said in a blog post that its patents cover a range of software functions used by Android devices (presumably this would apply to the iPhone as well): The Microsoft innovations at issue in this case help make smartphones “smart.” Indeed, our patents […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Pulls Dead Body Images From Street View Brazil Google has removed Street View images in Brazil that showed dead bodies on local streets. One image showed a partly-covered body lying […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google URL Shortener Opened To The Public Just what the world needs, another URL shortener, right? Google seems to think to, and it’s making its own widely available to anyone — […]
Google rolled out a new Google Phone Gallery today, a handy way to see the amazingly huge number of Google-backed Android phones out there. But if you’re looking for what Google CEO Eric Schmidt called the best rival to the iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy, it’s missing for Verizon. Why? Verizon’s Galaxy phone uses Bing as […]
It’s the return of the Nexus One online store. In fact the old URL for the Nexus One site is now occupied by a mini shopping comparison site for Android handsets called the “Google Phone Gallery.” Note that it’s called Google Phone Gallery and not “Android Phone Gallery.” Indeed, it’s meant to showcase “Android-powered devices […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Will Your Inhouse Social Program Win Awards? Recently I decided to delve deeper into social media than I ever have. Trying to wrap my head around the actual value behind social, […]
The Google Operating System blog posted a demonstration by Google of a new Google Translate feature. The feature will be available on Android phones in the next few months and it is named Google Translate Conversations. The video demo below shows how one person is talking English to another person, who responds in German. The […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Turns 12 Years Old Today Today is Google’s 12th birthday and to celebrate, Google has posted a special Google birthday logo cake. The birthday cake was designed by Wayne Thiebaud, […]
Wolfram Alpha announced a native Android app is on its way to the Google mobile operating system, Android. It is expected about a year after they introduced the Wolfram Alpha iPhone app. The launch date is October 6, 2010 and they are working with T-Mobile to launch the app. The app will be available for […]
With the Facebook movie’s debut a week away, how about something to keep you entertained while you wait? A book. About that other major internet drama story, Google. The book? “Googled, The End Of The World As We Know It,” by Ken Auletta. Googled came out at the end of last year, and I’ve been […]
One of the disturbing things about the Skyhook Wireless lawsuit against Google is the allegation that Google made Motorola drop Skyhook as a location provider, especially when Google CEO Eric Schmidt said last week that such restrictions would be “violating the principle of open source.” Schmidt’s comment came during a press lunch at the Google […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Maps Aggregates Midterm Election Forecasts Google has joined forces with a handful of political web sites to track forecasts for the upcoming U.S. mid-term elections. Those forecasts are available now […]
There’s a funny and satirical 1989 British film called “How to Get Ahead in Advertising.” The movie focuses on an ad executive, played by actor Richard E. Grant, who experiences an ethical and mid-life crisis. He develops a boil on his neck, which grows into a literal head (a kind of evil twin) and eventually […]
Google added the ocean layer to Google Earth back in February 2009. In August, Google added the layer to Google Maps for Android and now it is available on iOS, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPads. With this update you can now scan the ocean using an Android of iOS device to learn more about the […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Bing Social Search Now Recommends People To Follow On Twitter Who’s an expert in a particular topic that you might want to follow on Twitter? Bing Social Search has a new […]
Over the weekend there were two much-discussed mobile-related rumors, both coming out of TechCrunch. The first — still a very hot topic on Techmeme this morning — is that Facebook is building a branded phone or mobile operating system. The original rumor yesterday was that Facebook was working on a mobile OS with a hardware […]
I just returned from BIA/Kelsey’s Directional Media Strategies 2010 Conference in Dallas, where for three days top players in the local search community discussed the future of generating leads for small and medium-sized businesses. While we all recognize that the emergence of digital and mobile opportunities is changing the fundamentals of how we market locally, […]
Talk about eating your own dogfood! Today, Twitter CEO Evan Williams took questions for an hour on Twitter, about Twitter, replying from his own account. What was he asked? Many questions about how the new Twitter works, from people who don’t yet have it. And if he likes cats (yes). I’ve compiled a transcript, below. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Maps Adds Photo Albums The experience of viewing place photos in Google Maps got a little easier this week. Google has announced that it’s now showing certain place images in […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Yahoo Previews “Rich, Immersive” Search Experience Yahoo previewed a new search experience that’s coming this fall during its Yahoo Product Runway event this morning. The event focused on several Yahoo products, […]
Google’s Latest Word On Local This session is of particular interest since it involves word from Google’s Todd Rowe, Director of Global SMB Reseller Partnerships, and changes to Google’s reseller deals in the past year have affected many partners among the yellow pages and directories industry. Live blogging here at 8:30 AM, CST. Keep refreshing […]
In a lawsuit that will be closely watched Boston’s Skyhook Wireless has sued Google for patent infringement and interfering in its business relationship with Motorola. Skyhook’s principal business is providing location to third parties through the use of cell tower and WiFi location databases often referred to as “triangulation.” Skyhook’s system and technology is widely […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: The New Twitter & Search, An Illustrated Guide Twitter’s rolling out a new design to users that makes the site more interactive and shows more information than before. What’s new for […]
Google’s gained quite a reputation for surprising attendees at conferences with an “Oprah” moment of giving them free Android phones. But phones, that’s so last year. With Google TV about to launch, Google’s upped the giveaway ante — handing out Google TV units for attendees at its Google Zeitgeist conference. Zeitgeist is billed as Google’s […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: QR Codes: Are You Ready For Paper-Based Hyperlinks? You’ve probably seen them in newspapers, magazines or other paper-based publications: two-dimensional bar codes, called quick response codes (QR codes). What are they? […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Instant And The Power Of Suggestion It’s going to be a long time (weeks or months) until anyone has a complete understanding of how Google Instant will change search and […]
Pardon the baseball metaphor but it seemed appropriate: the impending debut of Windows Phones (Windows Mobile 7) is a very high stakes moment for Microsoft, especially in the wake of Kin’s recent failure. Redmond is now poised to spend a great deal of money to promote the new mobile OS in a highly competitive environment […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Google Launches AdWords Help Site For Small Business Google has announced a new website aimed at offering tips and advice for small business owners that use AdWords. It’s called the AdWords […]
Speaking today at the IFA consumer electronics event in Berlin, Google CEO Eric Schmidt painted a vision of the future in which search is fast, personal, and all-knowing — even to the degree of providing search results when searches haven’t been conducted. “A new definition of Google would be, we’re trying very hard to get […]
Most of Apple’s announcements yesterday were anticipated. Still there were a few surprises; for example the specifics of the iTunes-based social network Ping, as well as the pricing of Apple TV 2.0 ($99). Apple pre-empted Google to some degree with both products. Business Insider does a nice job of contrasting the two TV initiatives and […]
Google Maps is now testing “sponsored map icons” in the United States. This was first tested back in March in the Australian version of Google Maps. The sponsored map icons are basically company logo enhanced points of interest icons. For example, instead of seeing a generic ATM machine icon on Google Maps, you may see […]