When “Harry Potter” series author J.K. Rowling announced she would finally allow e-book versions of her titles to be sold, though exclusively on the soon-to-be-launched Pottermore.com, it was noted that the move bypassed retailers like Amazon.com. Google has managed to get in on the action, however — at least from a PR perspective — as […]
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 Labs To Be Closed As Larry Page’s Product Streamlining Continues Is there any doubt that things at Google have changed under new CEO Larry Page? Today the company has announced […]
A Google attorney told a federal judge today that the two sides involved in the long-running Google Book Search lawsuit settlement are negotiating an “opt-in settlement” in an attempt to finally put the case to rest. As The Laboratorium reports, Google’s attorney Michael Boni told Judge Dennis Chin that both sides “have been aiming for […]
We’re another step closer to the US Federal Trade Commission launching an expected antitrust investigation of Google. If it does, the FTC will join the EU and Texas in doing broad investigations. But Google’s been examined for antitrust issues many times before this and mostly come through OK. Here’s our comprehensive guide to Google 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: Is It Time For A New Compensation Model For Search And Digital Marketers? Pay for performance is certainly not a new concept. But a number of digital marketing industry pundits have […]
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 Buys Sparkbuy: Comparison Shopping Site Now Closes, Team Remains Google has acquired Sparkbuy, a comparison shopping site that has focused on laptops. The site closed today as part of the […]
Now within Google eBooks you can search, define and translate words within the book using the click of your mouse. Using the Google eBooks Web Reader, which works in all modern browsers, you can highlight words with your mouse and select from a contextual menu to Define, Translate, Search Book, Search Google and Search Wikipedia. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Matteo Lopez Wins The 2011 Doodle 4 Google Competition Google has announced the winner of the 2011 Google 4 Doodle, “What I’d like to do someday.” The winner is Matteo Lopez […]
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 Sees Highest “Sustained” Activity Ever In Wake Of Osama Bin Laden News Twitter has released new numbers showing last night’s announcement that Osama bin Laden was dead generated the most […]
Former Googler, Andrew Norman Wilson posted a very interesting video on his blog about a group of Google employees who were portrayed as a “lower class” of Googlers. These Googlers were primarily responsible for the Google Book project where they manually scanned books all day. Andrew Wilson documented how these Googlers worked, starting their day […]
It’s not even April 1st in Mountain View, but the April Fools Day comedy game is already over and I’m declaring Google the winner. Hiring autocompleters? YouTube 1911? Gmail Motion? Chromercise? Ding, ding, ding and ding. Game over. If you’re planning any big pranks tomorrow, skip it. Below, what’s out there now — and a […]
Remember the Google Book (Class Action) Settlement? It’s been some time since there’s been any news. After many months of waiting, the court handed down its decision today — a defeat for Google and those who supported the settlement. The Authors Guild brought a class action lawsuit against Google in 2005 for “massive” copyright infringement […]
Five years ago, I wrote a story called “25 Things I Hate About Google.” It went viral, to my surprise. I thought it was worth revisiting that story on its five year anniversary, to see how many of those “hates” have been fixed. So let’s dive in!
At a hearing Monday in Brussels, the European Commission issued a report calling for a 7-year limit on exclusivity deals that Google and other companies are signing with libraries and other cultural institution to digitize their material. At the end of seven years, other groups would be able to use the digitized works for commercial […]
Google launched its Google Books Ngram Viewer this week, a tool that lets you research how popular words and phrases have been over several centuries, based on their appearance in books. But can you trust it? In the case of the F-word, no — and perhaps in many other cases, as well. I read several […]
Google has rolled out its long awaited digital ebooks program, the next step in the company’s ambitious but controversial project to scan and make searchable the estimated 130 million books that exist in print versions. “The next logical iteration for us is to open up a bookstore,” said Scott Dougall, product management director for Google […]
While a US court is still deciding the fate of the Google book scanning settlement, the company has announced a deal with the biggest publisher in France that gives Google the go-ahead to scan some French books. But the key word there is “some.” As The New York Times reports, publishing company Hachette Livre will […]
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 […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Inside The Google Voice Phone Booths Over the coming weeks, UK-style phone booths will pop-up around the US in airports and at universities, allowing anyone to make free calls to anywhere […]
While the wait continues for a decision in the long-running Google Book Search lawsuit and settlement proposal, a new study throws cold water on the idea that Google Book Search is bad for the publishing industry. And the study suggests that Google’s scanning and digital previews of books may be helping publishers sell more books. […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Where Is Search Going? Surf Canyon’s Mark Cramer Some time ago, a gentleman by the name of Mark Cramer emailed me wanting to talk about the future of search. It was […]
Much like search marketers may salivate over some new piece of inside SEO info that Matt Cutts (or someone else at Google) shares, some book lovers seem to be fairly excited over an Inside Google Books blog post yesterday that answers the question, How many books are there in the world? The answer: 129,864,880 books. […]
A group of six French newspapers is partnering to create an online news site that they hope will be an alternative to Google News. France’s National Daily Press Union announced the plan yesterday and said the virtual newsstand will be launched in September. According to the Shaping the Future of the Newspaper blog, the French […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: Facebook Advertising: An In-House Guide To Getting Started If your in-house programs for Google, Yahoo and Bing are running like well-oiled machines, it’s time to start poking around for new online […]
Google is already a major player in display advertising and is poised to become even more formidable in the next few years. Not so quietly the company has amassed or built a huge array of assets that could see it best many if not most other display competitors and networks, including market leader Yahoo. 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 Takes On Travel Sites, Courts FTC Action With ITA Acquisition Google has signed an agreement to acquire travel reservations software company ITA. The purchase price is reportedly about $700 million. […]
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 No Longer Redirecting Google China To Google Hong Kong Google announced they are no longer allowed under Chinese law to redirect Google.cn to Google.com.hk. The Chinese government told Google that […]
Google’s Real Time Search is awesome. I’d love to point more people at it, but I can’t. That’s because unlike many other specialized Google search services, Google Real Time Search doesn’t have its own home page. That sucks, and it’s time to change.
After months of testing, Google is releasing a new look-and-feel for its search results today, a three column design that provides a permanent menu of search options and tools to help searchers refine their queries. Google also gains a freshly-updated logo along the way. The new user interface — UI for the tech crowd — […]
Consumer Watchdog, a consumer advocacy group that has targeted Google before, plans to call on the US government to start an antitrust investigation into Google and will suggest remedies that include breaking the company up. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, all of this will be detailed at a news conference Wednesday in Washington, DC. […]
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 Testing Live Video Stream In Street View According to the Qualite Search Marketing blog, Google has been testing live YouTube video in Google Street View maps in Norway. This is […]
Today is a worst/best day for journalists or bloggers, depending on your worldview: April Fools Day. Many technology companies come out and try to fool people with fake or funny news. Below is a collection of, what appears to be, April Fools Day hoaxes from Google and other search related companies for the day. I […]
Earlier today, a Google PR person gave me a pair of 3D glasses at the Where 2.0 conference and said I’d need them tomorrow. Hmm, was Google Maps going 3D? Or maybe an April Fool’s joke? But helping my son with his science project tonight, I came across a possible answer — a new 3D […]
A federal appeals court ruling this week may open the door for judges to increase their use of search engines during court cases. Monday’s ruling authorized a judge’s use of Google to “confirm an intuition about a matter of common knowledge,” according to Reuters. The case in question was a criminal matter in which 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 Hits All-Time High Market Share: Nielsen The latest search market share numbers from Nielsen are out, and it’s more good news for the folks in Redmond. Nielsen says Bing’s market […]
Responding to Google’s aggressive assertion that Microsoft is behind many of the anti-trust complaints that have been leveled against Google in the recent past, Microsoft in a blog post by Vice President and Deputy General Counsel Dave Heiner essentially says “get over it.” Google claimed that Microsoft was directly or indirectly responsible for the anti-trust […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web. From Search Engine Land: What Would You Ask Steve Ballmer About Bing, Microsoft & Search? Next week, on March 2, I’ll be interviewing Steve Ballmer on stage at our SMX West search marketing conference. This […]
The dust has settled from last week’s Fairness Hearing on the proposed Google Book Search, and now all parties are playing a waiting game. Judge Denny Chin began the hearing by announcing — to no one’s surprise — that he wouldn’t be announcing a decision during or immediately after the hearing. According to the Wall […]
Google was grated a patent that discusses a system of determining content access privileges by country/geography. While it undoubtedly has multiple uses, Google book scanning and search appears to be the primary intended use case. ArsTechnia brings it to our attention. Here’s the patent summary: A system comprising: one or more devices to implement: means […]
Want to follow Google cofounder Sergey Brin on Google’s new microblogging service, Google Buzz? Brin says he might join in the future. During the Google Buzz launch event, Brin spoke of being a big fan, even using it to gather opinions internally at Google about a New York Times opinion piece he was writing about […]