If you type “iPhone” into the Google search bars in Firefox (left) and Safari (right), you get subtly different results. Why? After all, one is querying the same search engine.
Thanks to Pete for pointing it out.
Later: Many thanks to all who emailed pointing out that one search was on google.co.uk and the other on google.com. The great thing about the Web is that it enables one to expose one’s ignorance/carelessness so comprehensively. Headgear being eaten as you read this.
“To paraphrase an old industry saying about IBM…
Google’s not the competition, Google’s the environment.”
Rich Skrenta, co-founder and CEO of Topix.net, in a fascinating post arguing that Google’s real market share is closer to 70% than the fortysomething per cent habitually cited by market researchers.
Why Google Galaxy of course…
Google is extending its reach to the stars in an agreement with Nasa that will allow it to present web visualisations of the US space agency’s data on the universe. Nasa’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley on Monday announced a “Space Act Agreement” with Google that would include collaboration on large-scale data management and massively distributed computing as well as focusing on making the most useful of Nasa’s information available over the internet.
The agreement follows Google’s decision last year to build a 1m square foot campus in a science park linked to the research centre.There are plans for real-time weather visualisation and forecasting, high-resolution 3-D maps of the moon and Mars and real-time tracking of the International Space Station and the space shuttle.
Google Earth, the software programme that maps the planet, will incorporate Nasa data into future releases.“This agreement between Nasa and Google will soon allow every American to experience a virtual flight over the surface of the moon or through the canyons of Mars,” said Michael Griffin, Nasa administrator…
Hmmm….I’ve always wanted to go to Mars.
Nick Carr’s been brooding about Google’s long-term product strategy. Here’s what he predicts:
Google Search (“Google” goes back to meaning just search: for all information types, on all devices, personalized) AdMarket (a unified market place for buyers and sellers, spanning web text, web video, web banners, print, radio, TV) YouTube (YouTube expands from video to become the common interface for all media sharing) YouTools (what Apps for Your Domain morphs into, with different tool sets for businesses, families, universities, and hospitals) YouFile (a personal information management service, covering health data, finances, etc.)
Google stock passed the $500 a share barrier yesterday. (It was $85 on launch day.) Ah! — isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing? Meanwhile, the NYT comments:
Google now has a market value of $156 billion, exceeding all but 13 American companies — icons of commerce like Exxon Mobil, Johnson & Johnson and Wal-Mart. It is worth more than any media company and all the technology companies except Microsoft, whose software empire it increasingly threatens, and Cisco Systems.
Google’s success has made its founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the 12th- and 13th-richest people in the United States, according to Forbes — and, at 33, the youngest in the top 400. Their shareholdings are worth more than $15 billion each, on top of the more than $2 billion in cash that each has received for selling some shares…
From today’s New York Times…
Despite contrasting opinions, analysts and stockholders of Yahoo generally agree on what ails it. And there is a consensus that if it remained an underachiever, it would be a candidate for takeover.
The main problem is that Yahoo has not been nearly as good as Google at reaping profits from the huge volume of search traffic it attracts. Yahoo’s search revenue in the third quarter was $191 million, versus $911 million for Google, Mr. Post’s report estimated.
“Yahoo touches one out of every two people on the Internet every month, which is unparalleled reach,” said Randy Befumo, co-director of research at Legg Mason, which holds some 40 million Yahoo shares in various accounts, including funds run by Bill Miller, Legg Mason’s marquee mutual fund manager. Despite the fact that Yahoo actually has more traffic than Google,” Mr. Befumo said, Google has more revenue. “So there definitely is a problem with Yahoo’s monetization.”
According to Mr. Post, who also points to this issue, each domestic search generates about 4 cents for Yahoo, compared with 11 cents a search at Google….
I know that Google’s technology is all-powerful, but it sure as hell is baffled by this particular blog. Here is one of the ads it placed on the right-hand side in response to several recent posts about the deteriorating quagmire in Iraq!
There’s a screen in the lobby of the Googleplex which displays a continuous scrolling record of live searches on Google. Video here, courtesy of Robert Scoble. First thing that stuck me: the number of queries in Spanish. Second thought: it’s clearly been censored to take out the er, adult searches.
Er, before you go out and buy shares in Sun Microsystems, though, it would be worth checking the Official Google Blog…
Soon we plan to begin installation of 1.6 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels at our Mountain View campus. This project will be the largest solar installation on any corporate campus in the U.S., and we think it’s one of the largest on any corporate site in the world. The panels will cover the roofs of the four main buildings of the Googleplex, and also those of two additional buildings across the street. There will also be a portion of this installation on new solar panel support structures in a few parking lots. The amount of electricity that will be generated is equivalent to powering about 1,000 average California homes. We’ll use that electricity to power several of our Mountain View office facilities, offsetting approximately 30% of our peak electricity consumption at those buildings…
Here’s something I missed. According to Good Morning Silicon Valley,
Shortly before the acquisition was announced, Vivendi’s Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG each received a small stake in YouTube as part of content deals with the video sharing company. The three companies collectively stand to receive as much as $50 million from the deal, which will no doubt make them a bit more reticent than they once might have been to pursue copyright-infringement claims against the site.
Shrewd move by Google.