Department of Justice, in Court Filing, Urges Major Changes to Google Settlement

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), in a “Statement of Interest” filed with the federal court considering the proposed Google Book Search settlement, acknowledged the potential benefits from the settlement—including increased availability of books “effectively off limits to the public,” full-text search, and access for those with print disabilities—but said the “significant legal concerns” it raises require major changes.

The rest of the story…

Fast Flip: Google’s Attempt to Help News Industry Monetize Content

“Google has unveiled a service called Fast Flip to let users consume news more quickly and boost the flagging fortunes of the news industry.

The search giant has been likened to a “parasite” for making money aggregating content it does not create.  The product is designed to mirror the way people literally flick through magazines and newspapers.  Google has teamed up with over 30 media providers including the BBC to provide what it calls a new reading experience.

“I don’t believe we are part of the problem. I believe we are part of the solution,” Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search told BBC News.”   Full Story

Try Fast Flip (pick a source, then flip around)

Google Opt Out Feature, Complete Solution to Privacy Concerns

Google Caffeine – Their new search algorithm is faster and has bigger index

If you want to try it out, use this link.  At some point, it’s expected that google will flip a switch and all google searches will be performed using the Caffeine algorith.  If you want to test it against normal google and report on any findings, please post them in the comments.  For my purposes, the non-caffeinated Google seems pretty darn fast, and has a pretty big index, but I guess bigger and faster is always better in search.  They have to keep up with Bing, afterall.

Google’s Operating System (Chrome OS) Is Coming – Microsoft Probably Not Happy

“So at long last Google is making its move. Promising a lightweight but fast operating system – Chrome OS – the internet search company is poised to strike at the heart of Microsoft’s software empire.

The Windows operating system is Microsoft’s cash cow, powering about 90% of the world’s personal computers, and as a result accounting for the majority of its profits.  The benefits are wider, though. Every Windows desktop comes with an invitation (and at times the imperative) to use other Microsoft software and services.  This, in turn, hobbles Google’s ambition of organising all the world’s information, and making money on the back of it.”   Full Story

Hands-on with Google Voice, as Launch Nears

from Ars Technica:

“Google is preparing to launch a new service called Google Voice which gives users a single phone number that can seamlessly route calls to their existing phones. It has its own built-in voicemail service that can be accessed from any phone or through a browser, with GMail-like archiving features for audio messages.

The Google Voice service launched in March for closed testing with a limited audience that consisted of existing GrandCentral users. Google introduced a number of highly impressive features such as automatic message transcription and free SMS delivery. The transcription feature will convert voicemails to text and make them searchable. The service can also automatically forward voicemail transcripts directly to your preferred e-mail account.”  Full Story

Librarians Vs. Google

Is it really war? This article seems to think so.

“Critics of Google’s book-searching agreement with publishers and authors were cheered last week when antitrust regulators in the Justice Department set their sights on the search giant’s publishing deal, demanding more information….”           Full Story

Collecta, New Search Engine For Realtime Searching of Blogs, Twitter, Flickr, etc.

“As we become inundated with more and more streams of data from Twitter, Facebook, blog, Flickr, and everywhere else, we need better ways to search what is happening right now. Twitter, Facebook, and Google are working on their own real-time search efforts, along with a slew of startups including OneRiot, Scoopler, and CrowdEye (which launched last night). The latest entrant in the real time search wars is Collecta It just launched a few minutes ago, and it scours the Web for real-time information. Results come from Twitter, of course, but also from news feeds, blog posts, comments, and Flickr photos. Status updates on Jaiku and Identica are also captured.”     Story

New – Google Book Search Scans Embedded in Your Website, Blog

Google Book Search announced some new features today, making it easier to find and share the content you’re looking for in the search giant’s archive of scanned books and magazines. It’s clear that Book Search is moving away from being just a landing site for reading to become more of a tool that brings the content in books to the rest of the web.”     Story

BlindSearch: A Test To See Which Search Engine is Best

We’re bombarded with advertisements and articles about which search engine is the best, but how is a person to know?  Of course you can have your favorite, or like parts of one and parts of another, but don’t you want to know which one gives you the results that are best for you?  BlindSearch may be the answer.

Just enter your search term and 3 sets of results will be displayed without any logos or hints as to where they’re from.  Click the column you feel provides the best results and you will find out if you voted for Google, Yahoo or Microsoft.      Try BlindSearch