November 20, 2009

Google News Updates Mobile Site for iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre

Google has made some enhancements to its mobile news site. The updates are just for the iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre.

The look and feel is pretty much the same. What's new is more stories, sources, and images.

A new "Jump to" link brings a pop up box offering quick access to a specific news category.

Any personalizations you make on your desktop will be accessible via your mobile now, as well (as long as you're signed into the same account on both).

Screenshots:

News.Google.com on an iPhone

Jump to

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 6, 2009

5 Google Updates for 11/6/09: News, Maps, Books, Music and Mobile

It's the end of another eventful week in search blogging, and once again there are several Google updates just piled up waiting to be written about. So, we're saving everyone some time and just compiling them into one post. Check them out:

Google News has a new sitemaps interface. You have six months to adopt the new sitemap.

Google Books now has a magazine search page.

Via Google Search's new music search, you can now access exclusive songs hosted by MySpace and Lala for artists such as Lady Gaga and Arctic Monkeys.

Google Maps has released imagery of Berlin from 1945 to 1953.

The Google Mobile App is now available at Best Buy (still free, which is the ultimate "best buy").

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 3, 2009

Digging into Google Analytics for Mobile Applications

Last week, Google Analytics expanded to offer reporting features for mobile applications on the iPhone and Android. But how does it work for mobile applications (or parts of mobile apps) that don't render HTML pages?

Google says mobile app developers can tell Google Analytics what actions taken by users would trigger the analytics tracking. Google uses those triggers to determine views, session lengths, and bounce rates.

Developers can also use Event Tracking to track actions such as watching a video, clicking a button or conducting a download.

The data provided by Google Analytics for mobile apps can be highly useful for developers as they choose to enhance and update their apps over time. It can also inform future app development by helping developers meet customer needs and desires.

Check out this video on how online real estate brokerage Redfin used Google Analytics to track their mobile application.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

November 2, 2009

Google Search by Voice Expands to Nokia S60s, Mandarin Chinese

Google has expanded its Search by Voice to its mobile search app for Nokia S60 series. The series includes devices such as the N95 and the E71. The update is available for Nokia S60 series device users worldwide.

But users of such devices who speak Mandarin Chinese are getting an extra update. Google has added the language to Search by Voice for the Nokia S60 series phones. Google is working on extending Mandarin Chinese to Search by Voice for additional devices as well as additional accents.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 23, 2009

7 Google Updates: Custom Search, AdWords API, Maps, Search Appliance and More

Google had another busy week pushing out updates. That's really no surprise considering Apple released product refreshes and Microsoft released Windows 7. Google hasn't let any major update from any competitor go by without their own news and this week was no different.

We've already covered Google getting a deal with Twitter (similar to Bing's deal with Twitter) as well as a new social search experiment set up in Google Labs.

Here are 7 updates that are slightly minor but you'll still want to know about:

Custom Search is now available for mobile search experiences on smartphone and higher-end devices. Google will even host your mobile-optimized custom search pages for you, or you can host it on your mobile site.

AdWords API has a new version that includes asynchronous calls, keyword and placement ideas, and a location extensions preview.

Google Maps for Mobile has introduced layers for Blackberry users.

Google Search Appliance, an enterprise search server, released an update that includes a Self-Learning Scorer.

Google Friend Connect has a new Wordpress plugin.

Webmaster Central has new instructions for verifying a Blogger blog in Webmaster Tools.

Google Reader added Popular Items and Personalized Ranking features.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 1, 2009

Google Syncs Mobile and Desktop Searches

Google has enabled new sync features between desktop computers and mobile devices, specifically for local search and query suggestions. You need to be signed in, of course, to makes use of the sync. Here's what to expect if you do:

Local

If you're searching on Google Maps, you can star various local businesses. Later, you can pull them up on your phone on Google.com under the Local section. Just look for "Starred Places." Once you bring them up, you can access mobile optimized Place Pages, the new local content pages Google just released.

There's also a new category browse feature if you're looking for something to do, but you're not quite sure what it is or where to go.

These features are available in the US and China.

Query Suggestions Typing on a mobile phone is tedious, so to make querying Google a little easier on your mobile device, Google is syncing queries. If you've searched something on your desktop, it will now show up as a query suggestion in your mobile search. You have to sign in on your mobile search with the same account that you use on your desktop. Web history also needs to be enabled to use the query suggestion sync.

This feature is available for iPhone, Android, and Palm OS phones.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 24, 2009

Google Mobile App for Windows Mobile Updated with My Location, Search Features

Google has updated its mobile app for Windows Mobile. The update includes My Location, Google Suggest and Search with Maps.

My Location gives local results for searches. Now, if you're searching for local pizza, simply type in pizza instead of a longer query like "pizza + city + state."

Google Suggest is Google's query suggestion feature.

Search with Maps, like My Location, enables local search. You'll need to have Google Maps installed on your phone. Then enter a local search and little red pins will show you relevant search results.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 21, 2009

YouTube App for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 Adds More Languages

YouTube has added five languages to its application for Windows Mobile and Symbian S60 phones. The new languages are:

Brazilian Portuguese
Polish
Russian
Swedish
Czech

This brings the total languages supported by the YouTube mobile application to 12. The other 7 are US English, French, UK English, Italian, Spanish, German, and Dutch.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 6:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Rolls Out Updated Image Search to Additional Phones

Back in March, Google updated its mobile image search but just for iPhone and Android devices. Now, Google says just about every feature phone in 38 languages is getting the update. The update includes larger thumbnail images as well as search filters.

Something to know about the results is that when you click on an image, it takes you to a detail page on Google image search instead of to the page where the image is hosted.

To use Google image search on your phone, simply browse to Google.com and select "Images." You can also just click "Images" after you conduct the search.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 10, 2009

Google Product Search for Mobile Updated for More Languages and Devices, Adds Google Suggest

When Google Product Search for Mobile was launched, it was only for the iPhone and Android phones. Now, it's available for all internet-enabled devices in the US, UK, Germany and South Korea.

Additionally, Google Suggest, a query suggestion feature, has been added to Product Search for Mobile, but it is limited to iPhone, Android and Palm Pre phones in the U.S.

To use Product Search for Mobile, simply browse to google.com on your mobile phone and conduct a search. Then clcik on "Shopping results" to view products.

You an also access Product Search for mobile directly by browsing to www.google.com/m/products.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 2, 2009

Google Mobile Optimizes Search Results for 38 Languages

If you can access the mobile internet via your cell phone, then you now have access to newly optimized Google Mobile search. It reaches 38 different languages in over 60 countries.

The optimized Google mobile search experience began last December when it was rolled out to iPhone and Android phones in the US. Then in March, it was rolled out to iPhone and Android phones in over 20 countries.

The optimizes mobile search incorporates universal search when appropriate. There's also a focus on local search due to the nature of searching on the go.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 4, 2009

Google Mobile App Now Available for Nokia S60 Smartphones

Nokia S60 devices are finally getting a Google Mobile App. They join the iPhone, Blackberry and Windows Mobile devices. Of course, Android is fully Google-icious.

With the Mobile App for Nokia S60 devices, Google says it's addressing three main issues related to immediacy: access, location, and query formulation. The app can be launched from the home screen and offers quick button links to search, Google Maps, GMail, and Google Mobile services. It also features "My Location" which helps the app return relevant local results. The app also keeps track of search history, serving up past keywords in order to enable repeat queries. Plus, search suggestions are part of the mix as well, to reduce the amount of typing required to search.

This isn't the first Google app to come to the Nokia S60 series. Back in March, a YouTube was released for this set of smartphones as well.

Image via Official Google Mobile Blog.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 3, 2009

Google Launches Local Search Application for Android

"Places Directory" is a new app for Android that finds businesses that are close to your location. The app will list various business categories, such as restaurants, hotels and banks. Click on a category and get a listing with distance and star ratings. Click on an individual listing to see reviews and photos.

The app is available in the Android Market and initially supports English and Chinese. "Places Directory" is a Google Labs product.

The application was developed by Taipei Software Engineer Aries Hsieh and fellow Googlers in their 20% time. Hsieh says the inspiration came from his travels to Google headquarters in Mountain View. While visiting, he would try to check out new restaurants, but would also need to know where businesses such as banks were located.

Image via Official Google Mobile blog.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 2, 2009

Acer to Launch Android-Powered Netbook; T-Mobile to Offer Second Android Device

Coming late this summer or early this fall is a new Acer netbook that will be powered by Android, Google's mobile operating system. This will be the first official netbook with Android running on it. Of course, we've seen hacking of netbooks with Android in the past, showing the obvious desire to see this provided for consumers. Looks like it's finally happnening.

If you're not familiar, netbooks are mini laptops, usually ranging from 7-12 inches. Many of them run on Windows XP or Linux. Netbooks are designed for people on the go. You may notice mobile carriers such as Verizon offering broadband internet deals for netbooks. I've seen deals where you pay $99 for the netbook with a 2-year contract at about $60 a month. It's very similar to purchasing a mobile phone.

Of course, Android's first venture was on the T-mobile/Google co-branded phone, the G1, which is manufactured by HTC. T-Mobile's second Android device is expected "early this summer" according to the blogosphere. Since it is essentially early summer, might the new phone be out any day now? Details are still vague, so stay tuned.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 14, 2009

Barcode Scanning Now Available for Google Product Search on Android

If you're the lucky owner of a G1 and are out and about shopping, mobile product search just got a whole lot easier - and fun. Now, you can use Google Product Search on your phone and do Barcode Scanning. (You'll need to install the Barcode Scanner app first.)

Google Product Search was made available for the Android during the last week of April 2009.

Have you tried out the Barcode Scanning in Android? Tell us how amazing it is or isn't by leaving a comment below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 23, 2009

Google Releases Product Search for iPhone and Android

Ever since Smokey Robinson reminded us that our mamas told us to shop around, finding the best bargain has been an American pastime. That pastime has gotten easier in recent years with fancy mobile phones giving us access to product information such as price and reviews at our ever-instant fingertips.

Now, Google is trying to be part of the on-the-go purchase decision process. They've made product search available to Google.com searchers on the iPhone and Android.

So, let's say you're out there shopping for camping tents for the upcoming summer. You'll a link sandwiched between paid results and the universal shopping results included at the top of the organic results:

Clicking on that link will take you to the product search page:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 14, 2009

Google Offers Developers Early Look at Android 1.5 SDK

Google is offering developers an early-look release at Android 1.5 SDK. Version 1.5 introduces APIs for features such as

Soft keyboards
Home screen widgets
Live folders
Speech recognition

Additionally, the new version will allow the installment of Android SDK add-ons. The early look version has an add-on for the Google APIs that provides support for the Google Maps API.

The final release of the Android 1.5 SDK will occur around the end of this month. Future versions, including 1.5, will include multiple versions of the Android Platform. The early-look provides versions 1.1 and 1.5 of the platform. This will enable developers to target various platforms from a single installation.

Google first debuted Android in November of 2007.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 25, 2009

Blackberry Users Get Voice on their Google Mobile App

Last November, Google added voice search to their iPhone mobile application. Now, Blackberry users are getting the perk.

The updated Google Mobile App for Blackberry now has the ability to conduct a voice search. If you have a Blackberry and want to download the app, browse to http://m.google.com on your device.

The voice feature is available for Blackberry devices with O/S 4.2 and higher (except the Storm). The app without voice is available for devices with O/S 4.1+. The app for Blackberry Storm is not available yet - but they're working on it.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 12, 2009

Google Launches New Image Search for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android

iPhone, iPod Touch, and Android users in the US, UK and Japan are getting a brand spanking new image search from Google. Now image search results on these platforms return 20 results on a single page.

From the results, users can view a larger thumbnail image, visit the site where the image is hosted, or view the image alone in its full size. The new version also includes a filter where users can narrow their results to display people's faces, clip art, line drawings, or photo content. This type of filter was added to the regular Google Image Search last December.

To use the search, browse to Google.com on the iPhone, iPod Touch or Android browser and then select "Images" before searching.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 19, 2009

Google Launches Mobile App for Windows Mobile

Google has launched its Mobile App for Windows Mobile. It can be downloaded at m.google.com.

The app provides faster search. The origin of search begins in the app instead of first waiting for the browser to load.

Windows Mobile users in the US, UK, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, and Germany can download the Google Mobile App. The app has already been released for Blackberry, the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Check out this video to learn more about Google's Mobile App for Windows Mobile:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 13, 2009

Google Opens Android Marketes to Paid Apps

Early on in the unveiling of Android's on the G1 by HTC and provided by T-mobile, we learned that the first 90 days of their application store would include free apps only.

Today, the time has come to unleash paid apps by US and UK developers onto the Android Market. Google Checkout will be the platform for billing and payment.

Meanwhile, Australia will be getting free apps on February 15th and Singapore will be getting free apps soon as well.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 11, 2009

Google Unveils Adsense for Mobile Search

Google has launched AdSense for Mobile Search. This enables mobile website developers to place a Google search box on their sites. The search box can be co-branded with a site's brand and logo. They can generate revenue through the text link ads included in the search results.

The program is available in a private beta-test only. If you're interested in becoming a beta-tester, click here to apply.

Google launched Adsense for mobile content in September of 2007. Last December, Google began offering mobile AdWords offerings for the iPhone and G1.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 7, 2009

Google Maps for Mobile Updates Servers for Easier Local Business Search

If you've ever typed in the name of a business into Google Maps for Mobile, you may have been a bit frustrated. Google would return results of street names that contained the search term you typed in instead of finding the business itself.

That all changes today. With a new update to their servers, Google Maps for Mobile is smarter. Type in Starbucks and find a local Starbucks store.

If you're using a smartphone such as a BlackBerry, Nokia S60, T-Mobile G1, or iPhone, you do NOT need to download anything new to see the change.

If you don't have Google Maps for Mobile downloaded on your phone but would like it, click here. Warning: it won't be available for all devices.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 2, 2009

Google Wants You! (To Vote for Mobile Product Ideas)

Have an idea to improve a Google Mobile product? (Like the ability to edit Google Docs on the iPhone? Just sayin.) Now you have a way to suggest it.

Or vote for it, if someone else has suggested it.

Google Mobile has launched its Product Ideas site and once you're signed in, you can suggest and/or vote on ideas you want to see implemented - or taken away. Click here to access the site.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 18, 2008

Google Search Results Now (Visually) Optimized for the iPhone and G1

Google has launched visually optimized search results that are designed to fit the screens of the iPhone and G1 mobile devices. With the new look, users shouldn't have to zoom in or scroll side to side.

The update was previously released on the iPhone, but only when you manually went to Google.com in the Safari browser. Now, for the iPhone, the new results page will appear when you use the default Google search box in the Safari browser.

For the G1, you can access the new results page after searching via the search widget on the Android home page or also through Google.com in the browser.

Here's what the new results page looks like:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2008

Google Updates Search Results for iPhone

iPhone users, get happy. Google has updated the search results for your device. It's a cosmetic change that displays the results in a more user-friendly way.

However, I was only able to get the updated results by going directly to Google.com in Safari on my iPhone. I was not able to get the results via the Google app or the default Google search box in the drop down top bar in Safari.

Here's a video from the Google Mobile team to show you all about the update:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 16, 2008

Google Makes "My Location" Circle Smaller, Larger Depending on, Er, Your Location

Google has made some adjustments to the blue "My Location" circle on the mobile version of its mapping product.

If you're in a metropolitan area, the circle will be smaller. If you're in a rural area, the circle will become bigger. The reason behind the change and the sizes has to do with cell tower triangulation.

Google gathers data from cell towers near your phone to determine your location. If you're in an urban or suburban setting, you're likely to be close to more towers, giving Google the ability to pinpoint your location more precisely. If you're out in the boondocks, you have access to fewer or maybe just one tower, so the location is more approximate.

What do you think about the change? Let us know in the comments!

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 12, 2008

Google Adds "My Location" Search Feature to Windows Mobile Devices

Google has added the ability to search by a user's location to mobile search on select Windows Mobile devices. The feature, dubbed "My Location" uses the Google Gears Geolocation API, which employs Cell ID Technology aka cellular triangulation.

"My Location" will be available in the U.S. and U.K. initially and on the following devices:

HP IPAQ hw6900
HTC 4350
HTC 8525
HTC Atlas
HTC MTeoR
HTC P3300
HTC P3450
HTC P3600
HTC P3650
HTC Touch (not supported on some devices)
HTC Touch Dual
HTC Touch Diamond (only works in IE Mobile)
HTC TyTN
HTC TyTN II
o2 XDA Orbit
Palm Treo 750
Samsung Blackjack II
Samsung i780
Samsung SCH i760

Two devices can also use "My Location" via GPS:

HTC Mogul on Sprint (users can enable GPS with a firmware upgrade*)
Motorola Q9

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 31, 2008

Google VP Marissa Mayer Appears on Fox Business Network

This morning Google VP Marissa Mayer appeared on the Fox Business Network. She talked about what's next at search, privacy, working at Google (including 20% time), being a woman in tech, and how mobile is the next hot thing.

Check out the video below to see the interview.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 29, 2008

SEW Experts: Google's Sergey Brin on Local Mobile Search

In 2005, O'Reilly proclaimed it the "Year of Local Mobile Search," but that didn't work out. In today's Search Engine WarGames column, "Google's Sergey Brin on Local Mobile Search," Kevin Heisler points out that while this year may not merit that title either, Google sees 2008 as a key year in the battle for multiplatform search dominance.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 21, 2008

Google Mobile Search for iPhone 2x Faster, on 3G and EDGE

Whether you stood in line for hours for an iPhone 3G or are still hanging with your first gen iPhone (that's me), you are likely to use your touch-screen gadget to conduct searches. Google has not only created a downloadable application for its search product, but has also increased the speed of its web-based mobile search application. Users should now find search to be twice as fast as it used to be - and that's not just for 3G, but EDGE as well.

There's also easier access to other web-based apps including Calendar, Gmail, and Reader. (Hey Google, any chance of getting downloadable apps for those products? Just sayin')

The web-based apps also all have new icons. Thank goodness.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 17, 2008

Google's Mobile Ratings Increase Need for Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management just became much more crucial. Google has enabled reviews and ratings for businesses, restaurants, etc via mobile. Now people don't have to wait until they get home (and have time to cool down on the way?) to write a review after a negative (or perceived negative) experience.

On the flip side, you could encourage your customers to write a review if they had a positive experience.

Don't freak out too much yet - it's still not available for iPhone customers. But, it will be soon.

Never fear, we've got you covered. Read up on online reputation management to keep your virtual image afloat:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 10, 2008

Google Mobile Releases MMA-Compliant Ads

In April, Google launched image ads as part of their mobile ad service. 5 days later, the Mobile Marketing Association released new guidelines for mobile image ads. Today, Google is announcing that their mobile image ads are compliant with the new MMA specifications.

But don't freak out if you're using the old formats. Writing on the Official Google Mobile blog, Product Marketing Manager Alexandra Kenin said, "if you have an ad in an old format that's already uploaded to your account, it will continue to run. From here on out, though, we'll be accepting uploads only in the MMA-compliant formats."

Not advertising on Google mobile yet? SEW Columnist David Szetela suggests you get started and shows you how.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 3, 2008

Blackberry Pearl Gets Google Voice Search for Mobile Maps

If you're a Blackberry Pearl user in the US, then you have a new way to conduct searches on Google Mobile Maps: voice search. The feature has been made available for models 8110, 8120, and 8130. The Google Mobile Team says the feature is experimental and should improve better over time as more and more people use it.

And here's how to access the feature on the device, according to the Official Google Mobile blog:

1. Press "0" to center the map view around your location 2. Press the left-side key and hold it while you say the name or type of business you're looking for (for example, "pizza") 3. When you're done speaking, release the left-side key, and our voice recognition technology will figure out your request and find the business you've been looking for, no typing needed.

Do you have a Blackberry Pearl and have tried out the voice search for Google mobile maps? Let us know in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 27, 2008

Google Updates BlackBerry Search Results Pages

Two weeks after launching faster pages for mobile search, Google Mobile is announcing updates to search results pages for BlackBerry devices. Included in the update:

Improved Comprehensive Results: Incorporates results from Product Search, Blog Search, News archives search, and more.

Blended results: Web, image, local and news results are now combined. But, Google says they've made it easier for you to focus your search on any one of these categories, just check out the links at the top of the page.

Longer snippets: Google says they did this to try and give you your answer on the results page.

Related searches: Look for them at the bottom of the results page.

Need a visual? Here's a video demo of the new BlackBerry search pages:

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 23, 2008

SEW Experts: Hot, Tiny Ads: Banner Ads for Mobile Screens

Mobile content ads have to work especially hard, given their small size. In today's Content Advertising column, "Hot, Tiny Ads: Banner Ads for Mobile Screens," David Szetela winds up the Content Advertising series with a recap of best practices for designing small ads with big impact.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 16, 2008

Google Dominates Mobile Search Market Share in Q1 2008

Continuing its dominance in search, Google saw 61% of mobile searches in the first quarter of 2008, according to data released by Nielsen Mobile. Yahoo came in second at 18%, while MSN lagged behind at third with 5%.

65% of Google searchers were male while 63% of Yahoo searchers were male.

When it comes to what mobile searchers are looking for, Google and Yahoo users are alike:

Google searches: Information 33% Local listings 29% Websites/navigation 27% Yahoo searches: Information 33% Local listings 24% Websites/navigation 26%

But finding satisfactory results is still a bit of a challenge when it comes to mobile search. Only 44% of Google searchers and 40% of Yahoo searchers rated their experience in the 8-10 range on a scale of 10.

Last week, Google announced that it updated its mobile search offering to make it faster for searchers on the go.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 13, 2008

Google Mobile Search Feels the Need for Speed

Mobile is the wave of the future and accessing the web is increasingly becoming a must for mobile phone users. Smartphone sales are up and the iPhone is hot! But the internet is not as fast on your phone as it is on your laptop. That's why Google's news about an update to mobile search will come as welcome news to many.

Writing on the Google Mobile blog, Software Engineer James Watts explains:

"When you navigate to google.com in your browser, we cache the homepage on your phone. If you bookmark this homepage, then returning to Google using the bookmark is almost instantaneous."

iGoogle has also been improved for mobile. Start by going to iGoogle on your computer, and choose which widgets you want to access on your phone. Again, bookmarking iGoogle on your phone helps it load faster.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 9, 2008

Google Opens Location-Aware Application to 3rd Party Developers

Last year, a Google maps for mobile upgrade included the "My Location" feature. It allows users to find out where they are even if their phones don't have GPS. Now Google is opening up the application to 3rd party developers.

My Location uses cell phone towers to approximate the location of a cell phone user. Writing on the Google mobile blog, Zhengrong Ji and Ravi Jain of the Google mobile team explained:

"If the phone has GPS, the Maps application on the phone sends the GPS coordinates along with the cell ID to the Google location server. Over millions of such updates, across multiple phones, carriers, and times, the server clusters the GPS updates corresponding to a particular cell ID to find their rough center. So when a phone without GPS needs its own location, the application on the phone queries the Google location server with the cell tower ID to translate that into a geographic location, i.e., lat/long coordinates."

Gears for Windows Mobile and Android already have location APIs, and Google says they expect to see the My Location API implemented on the Apple iPhone applications as early as this month, as Apple launches their highly anticipated store for iPhone apps.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 6, 2008

Google Maps for Mobile Adds Public Transportation Directions

When Google Maps added a public transportation feature for bus and train routes, it was only available on the desktop maps product. Now, Google Maps has brought the feature to its mobile maps product, which is where it should really shine, don't you think?

The mobile version will have a few tricks that the desktop version does not have. Writing on the Google mobile blog, Software Engineer Joe Hughes explained. "For instance, you can find the last transit trips of the day (to figure out how late you can stay at the party) and more easily browse through earlier or later trips. The My Location feature, available on most phones, also makes it easier to set the start point of your journey."

The update is available for Blackberry and other java-based phones. Google made a video about the update, check it out:

Will you be using the public transportation feature on Google Maps for Mobile? Leave a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 10:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 27, 2008

Google Releases Study on Mobile Search Query Suggestions

Google has released the results from a study on query suggestions for mobile search. The study tested search queries for phones with a numeric keypad. Typically, a 15 character query requires approximately 30 key presses to perform, according to the study.

But when query suggestions are added to the mix, workload and key presses declined while enjoyment increased. However, the suggestions did NOT decrease the amount of time spent querying a search.

Google has already implemented query suggestions for the iPhone.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 1, 2008

DoubleClick Mobile Integrates with Mobile Ad Networks

Just one week after Google announced mobile image ads, the newly acquired DoubleClick is announcing the integration of its mobile ads with mobile ad networks. The networks are AdMob, Google Adsense, and Millenial Media's Mbrand and Decktrade networks.

"This integration is a great example of how DoubleClick is working with key industry players to bring value to publishers by enhancing the liquidity of mobile display inventory," said Ari Paparo, group product manager for DoubleClick products. "We believe that the ability to sell mobile inventory directly and indirectly will provide mobile advertisers with more options, ultimately leading to better monetization for publishers."

Yesterday, Admob was included in a Marchex announcement of its agreement with mobile ad networks to provide pay-per-call services.

"AdMob is always eager to extend our engineering investments in mobile advertising relevance and optimization to new platforms," said Omar Hamoui, AdMob's founder and CEO. "We are excited that DoubleClick's clients will now be able to join over 4000 existing AdMob publishers in leveraging AdMob's ad liquidity and mobile specific ad serving technologies."

An estimated $1.7 billion is expected to be spent on mobile advertising this year, up from $878 million last year. Projections have the spend reaching $6.5 billion by 2012.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:09 AM | Permalink

April 24, 2008

Google Launches Mobile Image Ads

Google has announced the addition of images to their mobile ad service. They compare the ads to a smaller version of desktop web pages. The ads run on the mobile content network.

Only one image ad per mobile page will be displayed. Google says the ads will be great for branding and have shown solid clickthrough rates.

Google assured mobile users that the ads will be relevant and unobtrusive. Contextual targeting will be used to place the ads and they hope that only one ad per page will be acceptable to mobile web surfers.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 8:19 AM | Permalink

April 4, 2008

Google Opens Up About Spectrum Auction

The gag order on details surrounding the recent FCC spectrum auction has been lifted, and Google is revealing some behind-the-scenes information about their participation in the bidding.

While some had speculated Google only made the minimum $4.6 billion reserve price to force the C block into accepting open applications, Google said that it did bid above the reserve. They also said they were winning for several days, but in the end Verizon won the C block auction.

All was not lost, however, as the FCC did agree to 2 of the 4 "open" conditions Google was pushing for. And Google is lobbying the FCC to auction off "white spaces" on the TV spectrum to make more options available for mobile users. Plus, they re-affirmed the expectation that the first Android handsets will be released later this year.

And in case you've ever thought that bidding on a high-ticket item on eBay was nerve-wracking, consider this: Google says, "Bidding took place electronically, and literally billions of dollars were at stake with every mouse click."

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:39 AM | Permalink

March 25, 2008

Google's New Wifi Push Will Drive Mobile Search

There's unused "white space" lying between the regulated TV signals and Google has big plans for them. In new lobbying effort, Google is asking the FCC to auction the unused airwaves. The search giant hopes to use any airwaves it wins to establish faster internet access that has a wider reach.

Expanding Wifi will have major implications for mobile search. If the FCC goes along with the request, and if Google wins airwaves, then devices supporting the technology will be out as early as next year. Should all of this happen, get ready for mobile monetization.

Google has some obstacles in convincing the FCC of its plan. The government agency has concerns about the use of this "white space" interrupting existing TV signals. But Google doesn't want to touch all of the signals, and recommends that some be left alone.

The other FCC concern has to do with the devices. Microsoft had an embarrassing flop when its prototype broke during FCC testing. Google again, has done its homework, backing a Motorola plan that would require a device to receive permission from a local transmitter before using one of these wave lengths.

This effort comes less than a week after Verizon and AT&T were the big winners in the 700 megahertz spectrum auction. But Google didn't bear a complete loss. They were able to get a requirement for one part of the spectrum to open its network to any devices and internet services.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 9:27 AM | Permalink

March 24, 2008

New Google Mobile Search Feature Gives Your Thumbs a Rest

Do you dream of searching Google for local information with your mobile phone without having to use your thumbs? Soon, you may be in luck. It seems that Google is working on such a feature.

A new and curious listing in their robots.txt file prevents spiders from indexing http://www.google.com/m/lcb. Go to the site, type in a city, and you can see the top searches for that town as well as browse categories. The page won't be winning any juried art competitions anytime soon. And the results would be far more relevant if Google took into consideration your exact location, which always brings cheers and jeers depending on how freaked out you get about privacy issues.

So far, this is a bit of a slow way of doing local search, as it requires so much effort on the part of the searcher. But hey, you could just call 1-800-GOOG-411 instead.

Posted by Nathania Johnson at 11:29 AM | Permalink

January 24, 2008

Google Takes Gold and Silver in Japan: NTT DoCoMo and KDDI

Soon 80 percent of the mobile phones in Japan will feature the Google search engine.

That doesn't necessarily mean Google will have an 80 percent share of all Japanese local mobile searches. Google partnerships with the #1 and #2 mobile carriers in Japan forces Yahoo and MSN to compete for the bronze.

Here's the math: Google (NTT DocCoMo + KDDI) = 80 percent of the Japanese mobile phone market. Not a bad equation.

Google announced today a partnership with NTT DoCoMo to place the Google search box, apps and services on 48 million mobile users in Japan.

Nothing extraordinary here -- bigger share of searches, ubiquity of Gmail -- all in search of local mobile ad revenue, and of course, indexing all the world's information.

The partners aren't strangers: Google NTT Docomo are shooting for 10 billion yen (only 942 million USD) in shared ad revenue (split undisclosed) with a Linux-based mobile handset in Japan.

Expect more partnerships post-Davos and pre-Google earnings announcements.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 1:38 PM | Permalink

January 21, 2008

AT&T iPhone Google Deal Pits Apple Against Blackberry

Pitting Apple against Blackberry, AT&T will offer a corporate plan for iPhone users, Engadget reported today.

The iPhone Google AT&T alliance made news at MacWorld with the launch of new Google apps and features for the iPhone.

Today's announcement, though, may be the biggest search engine industry news to come out of MacWorld. If the iPhone succeeds in dislodging Blackberry from the enterprise -- and Google maintains its iPhone-Apple ties -- then Google's share of local mobile searches could increase significantly over the next two years.

Google doesn't enjoy the same dominance in local mobile search as in desktop search. Google's strategic business development deals a couple years ago bundled Google desktop search with Dell computers and made Google the default home page on the computer's pre-installed browser.

Engadget blogger Thomas Ricker notes the move by AT&T iPhone comes in lieu of a 3G announcement by Apple. 3G, with service at 5-10 Mb per second, would make wide-area wireless voice telephony and broadband wireless data available in mobile.

With faster speeds and more bandwidth, 3G would likely increase the total volume of local mobile searches.

Increasing the number of searches is the only win-win for the search industry. Slicing and dicing search inventory increases the long tail of searches. With Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask battling for small gains against Google's dominant share of searches, local mobile search -- and the enterprise -- may be the final frontier.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:06 PM | Permalink

January 14, 2008

iPhone Google Search News and Google iPhone Search News

Google announced new improvements to the "integrated Google experience" on iPhone. Call the GOOGiPhone upgrade what you like. It's still all about search.

iPhone Google 1.0 UI -- only 30 something days old -- combined Google web applications (Google Search, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader for RSS feeds) in a single interface.

Now Google has streamlined the UI, making apps faster and improving usability.

Google promises a slicker look-and-feel and speedier applications on the iPhone touch-screen.

Here's a quick overview of updates to Google iPhone search:

Faster Gmail: In a nod to Blackberry, new emails are pushed to inboxes. Auto-complete works for contacts.

Faster Google Calendar? Not sure if Google's new "month view" qualifies as faster.

Google iPhone users can access their iGoogle home page for weather, stocks, and news feeds. That's one more step toward making Google the home page for Gen X, Y, Z.

Key takeaway: Google's share of searches will see hockey stick growth with iPhone users driving massive amounts of traffic to Google Search and Google Search Apps with the built-in Google Search box.

Click here to discuss at the Search Engine Watch Forums

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 12:05 PM | Permalink

December 12, 2007

SEW Experts: Google Mobile Search Gamble: Everybody Wins?

If you had billions of dollars lying around, what would you do with it? Google has billions, and has turned its attention to the upcoming FCC auction for Spectrum 700-MHz. What's next: Google phone? Google mouth? Google brain? In today's Searching for Meaning column, "Google Mobile Search Gamble: Everybody Wins?," Kevin Ryan discusses the potential ramifications of Google's mobile dreams.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink

November 5, 2007

Google Android: Mobile Platform, No Gphone (Yet)

Google today unveiled a new mobile operating system, user interface, and applications platform dubbed Android. It's being developed by Google and about 30 members of the "Open Handset Alliance," a group comprised of mobile technology providers, carriers, and other mobile industry players.

Some of the participants include Google, Broadcom, eBay, Intel, LG, Motorola, NTT DoCoMo, Qualcomm, Samsung, Sprint, Telefonica and T-Mobile. The biggest missing partners are Verizon and Vodafone, which still may join in, and AT&T, which threw its hat into the ring with Apple's iPhone

Android, named after the company of the same name that Google acquired in 2005, is being spearheaded by that company's founder, Andy Rubin, who's now director of mobile products at Google.

"Through deep partnerships with carriers, device manufacturers, developers, and others, we hope to enable an open ecosystem for the mobile world by creating a standard, open mobile software platform. We think the result will ultimately be a better and faster pace for innovation that will give mobile customers unforeseen applications and capabilities," Rubin wrote at the Google Blog.

There's no mention at the outset of monetization, but ads served by Google into the mobile platform seems like the logical direction this will lead. That could potentially ruffle the feathers of some of the partners in the alliance, since they're all interested in serving their own ads on their own decks.

"Google's announcement may be misconstrued as a forum for interoperability to advance mobile applications and services, yet it is actually a part of Google's multilayered strategy to win over the wireless search and advertising industries and commoditize all key players," said Dan Olschwang, CEO of white label mobile search and advertising provider JumpTap. "By losing control of key services such as search and advertising, operators are at risk of losing everything – customer data, their brand, revenue and ultimately the customer."

ClickZ News has more details on Android and the Open Handset Alliance.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:39 PM | Permalink

October 8, 2007

GPhone a Linux-based Mobile OS?

While rumors of a mobile device in the works by Google pop up every few weeks, those speculators may be off the mark. In a New York Times article today, "For Google, Advertising and Phones Go Together," sources have allegedly confirmed what others have guessed: that GPhone is a mobile operating system, rather than a device.

The OS will be based on Linux, and free to hardware providers, since it's supported by Google ads. It will also include rich mobile versions of its applications, including mobile search and maps. According to the article, "Google is expected to unveil the fruit of its mobile efforts later this year, and phones based on its technology could be available next year."

They're not likely to be welcomed with open arms by the carriers, who've spent millions to develop their own content to keep subscribers on their own mobile properties. Many are also using a white-label version of a mobile ad platform from startups like JumpTap and Medio Systems. It will also face competition from Microsoft, whose Windows Mobile OS is distributed by 48 handset makers and 160 carriers around the world.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:48 AM | Permalink

September 24, 2007

DoubleClick Launches Mobile Ad Serving

Like its soon-to-be parent company Google did last week with AdSense for Mobile, DoubleClick today launched a new mobile ad serving product, DoubleClick Mobile. The new platform integrates with its DART for Publishers (DFP), providing support for all functions involved in mobile ad sales, trafficking, and reporting.

DoubleClick plans to release a mobile ad management product for advertisers sometime in 2008, Ari Paparo, DoubleClick's VP of rich media and emerging technologies, told ClickZ News.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:22 AM | Permalink

September 11, 2007

Google Mobile to Start Running AdWords

Google will shortly begin showing AdWords ads within Google Mobile Search. According to the email I received, this will start up in the next few days, and will be free to users of the service through November 18th. Google indicated that they will only show ads for sites whose landing pages that can be adapted for showing on a mobile phone screen.

The announcement made it clear that AdWords account holders could opt out of the service at any time. This is reitirated in the AdWords on Google Mobile FAQ. As a result, it seems that if you want this new service, there is really nothing you need to do. However, if you don't want it, you need to go into your AdWords account and turn the feature off. This will be something you need to remember to do.

The other interesting thing to speculate on is how and where the ads will show up on the mobile devices. All that the FAQ indicated is that the ads will show up on Google Mobile Search pages. The FAQ does indicate that "Ad displays with more than 70 characters are adapted so that only the Headline and URL is displayed when the ad appears on a mobile browser".

It's interesting to see this step take place, as the perennial "year of mobile search", as highlighted in this article by Kevin Newcomb, depends on the proper commercialization of the medium. One of the big challenges is how to manage the usability of ads in that medium. The mobile browser has large space challenges already.

Posted by at 1:23 PM | Permalink

July 17, 2007

Google Planning Mobile Media Search Engine?

Google is planning to launch a mobile media search engine to help consumers find and buy ringtones, games and other mobile content, according to a Wall Street Journal report (subscription required).

According to the WSJ, "people familiar with the matter" say that the system will allow users to find and pay for mobile content, and that Google will eventually monetize the search with AdWords. Google has reportedly been working with mobile content providers to index their content for several months, but technical issues have delayed its launch.

The service will also potentially include a social networking element, allowing Gmail users to exchange content.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 11:23 AM | Permalink

July 16, 2007

Google Confirms Mobile AdSense Beta

Word of a new version of AdSense for mobile users began spreading last week, and a Google spokesperson has confirmed that it is running a limited beta of the product, according to ClickZ.

"Google is committed to finding new and better ways to get users the information they need while on the go, and to opening up new revenue opportunities for our partners," the spokesperson said. "We are currently conducting a limited beta to test AdSense for mobile, a monetization product for mobile publishers. We will continue to evaluate the beta and will refine the product based on feedback from our users, publishers, and advertisers."

Google has been seen testing mobile search ads in the U.S. and U.K. in September 2006, and in more of Europe, Asia, and Australia in November. This is the first time Google ads have been placed on third-party mobile publisher sites.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:22 AM | Permalink

May 24, 2007

Google Patent Details Mobile Search Plans

A new patent application published today may reveal some of Google's plans for mobile search, according to ZDNet blogger Russell Shaw.

The application, Local Search and Mapping for Mobile Devices, describes a method that geo-targets a local search based on user-submitted text info, a location currently being displayed on a map, or using the location of user detected via GPS.

The application also goes into detail on some possible page navigation methods, with stored query histories, visual hints of which direction on the map has more results to a query, and click-to-dial functionality.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 2:10 PM | Permalink

May 16, 2007

Google Mobile Search Ad Checker Improved

Google has made some improvements on its mobile search checker tool. Our forum rep from Google (AdWordsRep) bumped a post about the topic today.

The search page may not be pretty but it appears to be functional.

Give some feedback in the forum.

Posted by Frank Watson at 3:09 PM | Permalink

January 9, 2007

Movements in Mobile Search Land

Mobile search has been quite, well, mobile lately. Becoming a regular topic in search marketing conferences, and often discussed in various forums and blogs, mobile search certainly seems to be one of the bigger trends emerging in late 2006 into 2007.

As announced and discussed in various blogs and news sites, Yahoo! seems to be making most of the news in the past couple of weeks, but there are plenty of others to keep an eye out for.

Greg Sterling discussed the acquisition by Yahoo! of Dash on January 3. This deal will help Yahoo! provide mobile search in cars, and as Mark Walsh points out in MediaPost, allows Yahoo! to claim a spot in the field of automobile mobile providers along with Google. Mark reminds that Google is currently working on a project with Volkswagen (nice intro here) to provide what may would hope would the "farfegnugen" (interesting definition in this thread) of mobile search.

Today, Mark wrote in detail about Yahoo!'s announcement of oneSearch for Go 2.0 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas , previewed yesterday at Search Engine Land.

In addition, and with good timing some will feel, 4info announced that they are upgrading their mobile search product to provide one click search instead of requiring text message responses to queries. Mark at MediaPost is on top of this story as well, and there is no announcement as of yet at the 4info Blog.

Mobile search is "where it's at," to quote Beck. Two sessions at SES Chicago covered the latest technology and how search engines are helping to provide platforms for more user-friendly mobile search. Coverage can be found here and here.

Posted by Chris Boggs at 10:32 AM | Permalink

November 28, 2006

Google Tells Mobile Internet Providers To Stop Blocking Them

ZDNet reports that Google's Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives at Google, spoke at Oxford University and said mobile operators are trying to block Google's applications, specifically Google's Mobile Maps.

"We've been getting notes from some of the telco carriers who are saying 'look, you need to stop our customers from downloading this thing'."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:09 AM | Permalink

November 15, 2006

Google Expands Mobile Text Ads Beta

Google has expanded its mobile ads beta test beyond the U.S., U.K., Japan and Germany to eight more countries: France, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, China, Ireland, India and Australia. Ads appear above and below Google search results on mobile devices.

Here are some bullets from Google PR about the program:

-- Mobile Ads are text-based ads that will appear above and below the search results and will be clearly marked '[Ad]'.

-- The auction bidding model will be based on Quality Based Bidding. Mobile Ads will not bid against Text Ad keywords that appear when a user searches Google.com from their desktop.

-- Mobile Ads enable advertisers to link users directly to their mobile website or provide users with a phone number that they can click to call.

-- In the US, Google offers advertisers the option to target specific carriers.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 1:04 PM | Permalink

November 13, 2006

Google's Schmidt Says Cell Phones Should Be Free

CNN Money reports that Google's CEO Eric Schmidt saying, "Your mobile phone should be free." He said Google has no plans to give phones away itself, but he foresees advertising making phones free or near free, in the way newspapers are.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:34 AM | Permalink

October 17, 2006

Google Mobile Ads Found In U.S.

Gary Price spotted Google testing mobile ads on Google Mobile search on his Treo. We know Google has been testing mobile ads in the U.S., U.K. and in Germany but this is the first case I have seen of anyone noticing these ads on their mobile devices, outside of a Google employee. Gary has posted screen captures at Flickr showing how Google places the ads in Google Mobile web search.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:08 AM | Permalink

October 12, 2006

Google And Palm Launch Maps For Smartphones

I'll resist the "maps in the palm of your hand" jokes here. But Google and Palm announced the launch of Google Maps for Treo smartphones. The site indicates that currently the application supports the Treo 600, 650 and 700 models. But I've seen reports that also say the new 680 is being supported, and so I would assume is the forthcoming 750.

Maps on a smartphone makes much more sense than a tiny Google map on a tiny mobile screen. The Google Blog has more information.

Posted by Greg Sterling at 4:33 PM | Permalink

September 6, 2006

Google Launches Mobile Ads On Google Mobile

ClickZ reports that Google is now testing ads on Google Mobile. The ads are being tested in U.S., U.K. and in Germany and are priced similar to how normal AdWords ads are priced, based on auction. Google has a whole help section for Mobile Ads here. It explains what the ads look like; "Mobile ads contain two lines of text, with a limit of 12 or 18 characters per line, depending on the language in which you write your ad. Your destination URL appears on a third line if you choose to enter one. If you select the option that allows customers to directly connect to your business phone, a Call link will appear next to your destination URL." For more information check out the ClickZ article and the Google Mobile Ads help page.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 12:52 PM | Permalink

August 27, 2006

New Search Patent Filings: August 27, 2006 - Google's Recommendations, IBM's Speedier Pagerank, Napster's Search

Google looks at search history and user behavior to rerank results and offer ecommerce recommendations, provides a way to rewrite navigation on web pages for users of a proxy system to access the web, and shows some of the inner workings of Desktop Search.

IBM was granted a patent based upon providing advertisements to people based upon sites that they have visited, another that allows people to download information from specified pages which can be indexed and searched locally, a way of speeding up pagerank, and a method for organizing bookmarks.

Microsoft published a couple of patent applications, one which looks at using game playing to provide user rankings for web pages, and a method of providing contextual advertisements for non-textual content.

Napster's peer-to-peer filing sharing system is described in a patent originally filed in August, 2000.

Google

This patent from Google describes a way to use past search history and user behavior to rerank search results and provide ecommerce based recommendations.

Interface and system for providing persistent contextual relevance for commerce activities in a networked environment Invented by Donald R. Turnbull and Hinrich Schuetze Assigned to Google United States Patent 7,089,237 Granted August 8, 2006 Filed on January 26, 2001

Abstract

A search and recommendation system employs the preferences and profiles of individual users and groups within a community of users, as well as information derived from categorically organized content pointers, to augment electronic commerce related searches, re-rank search results, and provide recommendations for commerce related objects based on an initial subject-matter query and an interaction history of a user. The search and recommendation system operates in the context of a content pointer manager, which stores individual users' content pointers (some of which may be published or shared for group use) on a centralized content pointer database connected to a network. The shared content pointer manager is implemented as a distributed program, portions of which operate on users' terminals and other portions of which operate on the centralized content pointer database. A user's content pointers are organized in accordance with a local topical categorical hierarchy. The hierarchical organization is used to define a relevance context within which returned objects are evaluated and ordered.

Rewriting parts of pages through a proxy server, for use with mobile devices, is the focus of this patent granted to Google. It shows a method of understanding what parts of a page is navigation, in addition to determining which navigation may be ideally rewritten for a handheld.

Identifying navigation bars and objectionable navigation bars Invented by Chade-Meng Tan and Daniel Dulitz Assigned to Google United States Patent 7,089,490 Granted August 8, 2006 Filed on November 30, 2000

Abstract

Detecting so-called "navigation bars" (or "nav bars") in a (Web) document by determining whether or not nodes of a parse tree of the (Web) document are "anchor-heavy". Generally, a navigation bar can be thought of as text, such as a hyper-text link or anchor text for example, without any immediate content. Once a navigation bar is detected, objectionable navigation bars (i.e., navigation bars, the rendering of which would be objectionable to users without special re-authoring), can be distinguished from non-objectionable navigation bars (i.e., navigation bars which would not be objectionable to users with no special re-authoring). Objectionable navigation bars may be distinguished from non-objectionable navigation bars by: (a) determining whether the navigation bar is so small that normal rendering would not be objectionable; (b) determining whether the navigation bar presumably conveys meaningful content; and/or (c) determining whether the navigation bar is a component of a non-objectionable navigation bar (where all components of the non-objectionable navigation bar are navigation bars themselves).

One of the inventors listed in the following patent application, Tomas Gunnarsson, is a Google Desktop Software Engineer according to a post he made in the Google Blog on a "quick search" for Desktop Search. It appears that this patent filing looks at some of the inner workings of Desktop Search.

Access to a target object with desired functionality Invented by Johann Tomas Sigurdsson and Tomas Gunnarsson Assigned to Google US Patent Application 20060179441 Published August 10, 2006 Filed on February 10, 2005

Abstract

A system and method provide access to a target object associated with a desired functionality. This is accomplished by creating an instance of a pre-existing object, replacing one or more functions of a table shared by all objects of the object's class, and triggering a call that ultimately causes the replacement functions to be called to allow access to the target object. The system includes software portions for enabling the method.

IBM

As a person surfs the web, the process in this patent describes a way of collecting keywords from pages visited to target appropriate advertising for that user.

Method and apparatus for providing reduced cost online service and adaptive targeting of advertisements Invented by Viktors Berstis and Herman Rodriguez Assigned to IBM United States Patent 7,089,194 Granted August 8, 2006 Filed on June 17, 1999

Abstract

A method and apparatus for adaptively targeting advertisements to a specific client computer from a server within a distributed data processing system is provided. As a user of the client browses the World Wide Web, the material that is downloaded to the client constitutes a datastream. At some location during the routing of the datastream, either on the server or at the client, the datastream is scanned to generate a list of keywords that are present within the datastream. The datastream may be analyzed in real-time or cached and analyzed on a delayed basis. The generated list of keywords represents a summary of the content that appears to be the focus of interest of the user. The keywords are compared against a database of advertisements, and the server selects an advertisement that matches the user's area of interest in comparison to the analysis of the user's browsing history. The selected advertisement is then inserted into the datastream to be routed to the client. In consideration for viewing targeted advertisements and to entice a Web viewer to allow the monitoring of a datastream so that targeted advertisements may be placed into the datastream, a Web viewer may receive online connection service for free, for a reduced cost, at a premium level of service, or for other some other value, such as frequent viewer credits that may be exchanged for goods and services.

Method and system for searching for web content Invented by Michael James Osias Assigned to IBM United States Patent 7,089,233 Granted August 8, 2006 Filed on September 6, 2001

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and system for searching for web content. Specifically, the present invention provides a system and method for retrieving web content from designated web pages and hyperlinks, indexing the retrieved web content in a local database, and searching the local database for desired web content. Retrieved content is indexed in the local database so that future access of the web content can be more efficient.

System and method for rapid computation of PageRank Invented by John Anthony Tomlin, Andrew S. Tomkins, and Arvind Arasu Assigned to IBM United States Patent 7,089,252 Granted August 8, 2006 Filed on April 25, 2002

Abstract

A method of ranking a plurality of linked documents. The method comprises obtaining a plurality of documents, and determining a rank of each document. The rank of each document is generally a function of a rank of all other documents in the plurality of documents which point to the document and is determined by solving, by equation-solving methods (including Gauss-Seidel iteration and partitioning) of a set of equations wherein:.alpha..alpha..times..times..times..times. ##EQU00001## where x.sub.i is the rank of the page indexed by i, .alpha. is a number strictly between 0 and 1.0, the summation is over all indices j such that page j points to page i, and a.sub.ij is defined to be the reciprocal of the number of links pointing out from page j (denoted d.sub.j) if page j points to page i, and zero otherwise.

Conditional promotion of bookmarks Invented by Cary L. Bates, Gilford F. Martino, John M. Santosuosso, and Vincent T. Timon, III Assigned to IBM United States Patent 7,089,305 Granted August 8, 2006 Filed on September 25, 2001

Abstract

A method and system for organizing bookmarks. A bookmark structure includes a main bookmark list and at least one bookmark folder. A bookmark search list, which includes at least one bookmark in the bookmark structure, is generated. Software is executed, wherein the software searches each bookmark on the bookmark search list through depth N (N.gtoreq.0). The searching determines whether the bookmark satisfies an upgrade condition. The upgrade condition includes a boolean text expression and may also include at least one of: a client visitation condition, a general visitation condition, a bookmark existence condition, a content-type condition, a URL-age condition, and a Top-Level-Domain (TLD) condition. If the searching determines that the bookmark satisfies the upgrade condition and that the bookmark is not in the special bookmark location, then the bookmark is moved to the special bookmark location.

Microsoft

Improving quality of web search results using a game Invented by Luis von Ahn Arellano and Josh D. Benaloh Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060179053 Published August 10, 2006 Filed on February 4, 2005

Abstract

A system combines individual estimates of the subjective appeal of web pages into a combined rating for each web page that can be used to rank web pages during a web search. In a gaming implementation, a web page recipient estimates the combined rating that other recipients of the web page have formulated. The recipient can be rewarded for accurately estimating the combined rating by receiving a subsequent web page that possesses a high rating.

Image and other analysis for contextual ads Invented by Carl M. Kadie, Joshua T. Goodman, and Christopher A. Meek Assigned to Microsoft US Patent Application 20060179453 Published August 10, 2006 Filed on February 7, 2005

Abstract

The subject invention provides a unique system and method that facilitates providing contextual advertisements based on one or more identified terms extracted from a non-text object such as an image, video, and/or audio object. Terms can also be identified and extracted from metadata associated with or other data derived from text objects such as email messages and attached text documents. One or more recognition techniques can be employed to identify data found in the non-text object (including the metadata or any other data derived therefrom) and data found in the metadata associated with the text object. Once the identified terms are analyzed, an appropriate contextual advertisement can be presented to the user. If the content of the non-text or text object is deemed of a negative nature, no contextual advertisement is provided.

Outland Research

Napster

System and method for searching peer-to-peer computer networks by selecting a computer based on at least a number of files shared by the computer Invented by Wilburt Juan Labio, Giao Thanh Nguyen, Winston Wencheng Liu, Gurmeet Singh Manku Assigned to Napster United States Patent 7,089,301 Granted August 8, 2006 Filed on August 11, 2000

Abstract

A method and system for intelligently directing a search of a peer-to-peer network, in which a user performing a search is assisted in choosing a host which is likely to return fast, favorable results to the user. A host monitor monitors the peer-to-peer network and collects data on various characteristics of the hosts which make up the network. Thereafter, a host selector ranks the hosts using the data, and passes this information to the user. The user then selects one or more of the highly-ranked hosts as an entry point into the network. Additionally, a cache may collect a list of hosts based on the content on the hosts. In this way, a user may choose to connect to a host which is known to contain information relevant to the user's search. The host selector may be used to select from among the hosts listed in the cache.

My usual reminder about patents: Some of the processes and technology described in patents are created in house, and some are developed with the assistance of contractors and partners. A percentage are never developed in a tangible manner, but may serve as a way to attempt to exclude others from using the technology, or even to possibly mislead competitors into exploring an area that they might not have an interest in (sometimes skepticism is good.)

There are times when a Google or Yahoo acquires a company to gain access to the intellectual property of that company, or the intellectual prowess and expertise of that company's employees. And sometimes patents are just purchased.

Want to comment or discuss? Visit our Search Technology & Relevancy area of the Search Engine Watch Forums.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 11:34 PM | Permalink

August 16, 2006

More than Organizing Photos? Google Acquires Neven Vision

Adrian Graham, Picasa's Product Manager, made a post Tuesday morning on the Official Google Blog titled A better way to organize photos? in which he announced that the team at Neven Vision has now joined Google. His post tells us that Neven Vision's software will make it easier for people to find and organize their photos. But, is there more to the purchase? Looking around some blogs that discussed the acquisition holds hints to possibily more.

I first read about this acquisition over on the Google Operating System Blog, in Object Recognition Is The Future Of Google, where I learned that the facial recognition software developed by Neven Vision will run on the types of microprocessors found in mobile phones.

It sounded like more might be happening than just putting pictures in order, so I tried to see if I could find any clues involving the intellectual property behind the company, with a trademark search and a patent search on their name. I came up with nothing. No patents assigned to Neven Vision, and no trademark in that name. At the time, their site was still working. A visit now yields the following message:

Thank you for your interest. Neven Vision was recently acquired by Google Inc. and Neven Vision product information is no longer available on this site. Click here to learn more.

But the site was up most of the day, and it did provide some helpful information. A search at the patent office on Hartmut Neven, one of the board members of Neven Vision, showed patents assigned to Nevengineering, Inc. A page on their site also listed a number of patents that they had been granted, and the numbers from those matched others that I found from the patent office. The oldest was originally filed back in 1996, and was followed by a number of others. The company it was originally assigned to was Eyematic Interfaces, Inc., but the patent had been reassigned to Nevenengineering in March of 2004. It seems that at some point in 2003, Eyematic Interfaces, Inc., transformed into Nevenengineering, Inc., with a focus that may have been more aimed at mobile technology.

I made a list of the patents I could find and some of the details about them in Google Acquires Neven Vision: Adding Object and Facial Recognition Mobile Technology.

While I was digging through the patents, a discussion started up at Google Blogoscoped on the purchase, and the news spread to GigaOm in Google Buys Photo Recognition Company, which both mention previous attempts by Google to purchase Riya, another recognition software company.

My friend Loren, over at Search Engine Journal, draws some other conclusions from other pages found on the Neven Vision site in Google, Neven Vision & Image Recognition. Loren ties together information from my patent post, what Liz Gannes at wrote at GigaOM, and from a number of other sources into a thoughtful analysis of what the acquisition may mean for Google in the future. And it's more than just organizing photos in Picassa.

Robin Good wrote a post on his blog at the end of July which shows an approach one image recognition company is taking in Visual Similarity Search Engine Finds Images According To Your Specs. What might we see from Google?

There are a lot of possibilities that become available with software that can recognize faces and objects. It will be interesting to see how Google might use some of the intellectual property and the expertise that they acquired with the folks from Neven Vision joining them. One of the newest patent applications published from Neven Vision, Image-based search engine for mobile phones with camera, lists some possibilities:

Image Based Searches
Optical Character Recognition with Language Translation
Mobile Advertising
Print-to-Internet
Payment System (using barcodes and labels)
Learning Tool for Children
Treasure Hunt Games
Virtual Annotation

Another, Image base inquiry system for search engines for mobile telephones with integrated camera, adds even more:

City and Museum Guides
Providing Product Information
Face Recognition
Product Part Replacement

Adding the ability to sort and search photos in Picassa is probably just the start of what we will see from this union.

Posted by Bill Slawski at 2:57 AM | Permalink

July 25, 2006

Real-Time Traffic From Google Maps Mobile

Google Maps has rolled out a new mobile version offering real-time traffic information in 30 US cities. The service also offers directions designed for those who are walking, in addition to driving.

The mobile version is explained more here from Google. It requires downloading Java-based software which works with many mobile phones but certainly not all of them. Count me among the ones out of luck. It also won't work on Palm devices nor, from what I can tell, Windows Mobile/Pocket PCs. The FAQ explains more. All supported devices are here.

Google's also made a new version of its personalized home page for mobile devices, using this tool. Google Personalized Homepage on Mobile Phones from Google Blogoscoped and Google Beefs Up Mobile Home Page from Micro Persuasion cover more on how this works.

Very oddly, regular Google Maps hasn't gained either traffic information or pedestrian directions. That's too bad, because if they did, I could use the regular browser on my phone to get this type of information. Since Google fails to do this, here are alternatives from its competitors.

Yahoo rolled out real-time traffic information into Yahoo Maps well over a year ago. Our SearchDay article Yahoo Offers Real-Time Traffic Reports covers more about this, and help info from Yahoo is here.

Meanwhile, Windows Live Local from Microsoft added real-time traffic info about two months ago, as our past blog post Windows Live Local Adds Traffic and Sharing covers. Help info from Microsoft is here.

Mobile Access to Info: See The Traffic from us in the past has some tips on seeing real-time traffic via the TrafficLand web site, which has expanded since our original article to cover more cities.

Ask Maps doesn't have traffic info but it does provide an option to get directions both for those driving and for walking, something Google only gives you on your phone.

Nobody walks in LA -- or The OC -- for that matter. But if Ryan on The OC really was trying to walk between locations as the TV series would make you think (see my personal blog for more), here's a rough idea of how the three hour trip by foot gets turned into only minutes through the miracle of television. Oh -- and it also demonstrates how walking directions work on Ask.

And speaking of my personal blog, I couldn't resist doing a quick post about my new favorite way of getting traffic information, via my watch. See Real-Time Traffic Via My MSN Direct Spot Watch for more on that.

Postscript: Gary Price has listed some additional real time traffic resources here

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 10:07 AM | Permalink

July 17, 2006

Google Hiring Television Engineers & Wireless Software Engineer

Search Engine Watch Forums moderator evilgreenmonkey (brand new moderator) has informed me that Google posted two new interesting jobs for the London office for Software Engineer, Television Technology & Wireless Software Engineer in Test.

The television technology job does not say much;

We are hiring well-rounded Software Engineers with a proven track record in creating and deploying robust, high-volume applications for consumer devices.

Responsibilities: To develop robust, high-volume applications for consumer devices. To develop prototype applications and manage the evolution of these to scalable, shipping products.

Seems as if they are looking for ways to create mobile solutions and methods to distribute television programming over devices other than televisions.

The wireless engineer is for QA (quality assurance) work on wireless applications.

We are looking for software QA engineers to work with the testing team and the development team to investigate, report and track defects and expand our automated test suites. Your duties will focus on creating test plans, setting up test environments, developing automated tests, executing and maintaining automated test suites and the analysis of the results. They would also include leading test efforts and exploring new ways of UI test automation. If you love coding and testing, are a quick learner, a great team player and able to work independently, this is your chance to join us in our quest to make all the worlds information accessible from the palm of your hand.

Related? I dunno.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:34 AM | Permalink

June 19, 2006

Google's Mobile Operations Expected To See Largest Growth

The Times Online UK reports that Google's mobile division, which is based in London, is expected to "become the biggest driver of new business" for Google. Search on mobile phones, wireless laptops and personal digital assistants (PDAs) are seen as a huge opportunity for many search companies. In Britain, there is a mobile phone for every person, but in some other areas, like Scandinavia, "mobile ownership is almost double that rate."

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:39 AM | Permalink

June 16, 2006

Schmidt Talks On Staying In China, GBuy & More

Conde Nast Portfolio, a new business magazine out next year, landed a nice coup of having Eric Schmidt speak yesterday at its launch party (Schmidt's also apparently set to be one of the first profiles in the new magazine). The video of the interview is online here, covering mostly stuff you've already heard Schmidt say before in other interviews (the LA Times had one last week) over the past years. But here are some things worth highlighting to me.

What would be the one do over for him? He says if Google had done any one particular thing three months earlier, it would have been better.

China was an example of this. In hindsight, he wishes Google had gotten a Chinese government approved version going sooner. "I don't think we would have changed the decision, but I think earlier, the better." He didn't say exactly why. My assumption would be that Google would be stronger in China compared to Baidu, but also that he would say they would have been serving people in China better for a longer period.

Was Google cofounder really suggesting last week that Google was having second thoughts when he said:

"Perhaps now the principled approach makes more sense," Brin said.

No -- it was either a nuanced comment, a misquoted one and there was also a whole part of what he said missing, Schmidt said. The missing part Sergey had said was, he explained, was that Google had decided to go ahead with what it considered the lesser of two evils, serving people even though it had to do censorship.

There's more of the how Google operates stuff, the 20 percent time (for engineers -- still not others, apparently), the 70-20-10 time allocation of work time, and the idea of not trying to tell people what to do, for fear of stifling creativity. Instead, Google suggests what are company priorities and hopes employees agree because they, too, want to work on what's important for the company.

He talks about Google doing ads on cell phones in Japan and says they'll come to Europe this summer and to the US within the next 12 months.

GBuy? That's the press name, not Google's name, and "It's not like PayPal at all." He says its designed to help advertisers have their customers buy things more quickly than through other mechanisms. We'll see. If PayPal means sending money between two people, it probably won't be. If PayPal means an alternative to buying with a credit card (or having a credit card account as a merchant), then I think GBuy will be very much like PayPal. And it operates this way already on Google Base. For more, see Google GBuy Launch Later This Month To Challenge PayPal?. And hang in there. Schmidt said it's coming soon.

Will Google do its own hardware? "It's much better to have a partner," and "It's much better to be in the software business," he said. The economics are better, he explained.

Biggest competition? Yahoo and Microsoft are both strong and good competitors, but Yahoo is the "primary competitor."

Is Google too powerful, especially given statements he made years ago relating to Microsoft that could be applied to Google today. There are a number of other choices consumers could go to, he said -- "and we know this."

In other words, Google knows that it could potentially lose customers at any time, so it will self-police itself. Same thing he told me back in 2002 in my Google: Can The Marcia Brady Of Search Stay Sweet? article:

"We have very poor lock in. Microsoft has very high lock in," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, when we spoke at Google's offices last month. "The switchover cost for you to move to one of our competitors is none. As long as the switchover costs are so low, we run scared. Everyday I wonder if there are very smart people at Berkeley coming up with a new algorithm," Schmidt adds -- but in a way that clearly suggests that he wants Google to run scared, in order to keep the company smart and honest.

Although to update things, Google has much better lock-in these days, given Google's many portal features. People are storing email, web analytics data, photos and spreadsheets to name only few things they may not wish to abandon, not to mention kicking the Google Habit can be hard and people aren't likely to do it unless Google gets really bad, as I've written.

As for having knocked Microsoft when he was at Sun for releasing weak products and using customers as guinea pigs, how does he respond to accusations that Google does the same? He says they have a two to three month product cycle now. To be fair, the endless betas Google used to do have gotten better.

During Q&A, Chris Anderson of Wired asks about the impact AdSense has on fueling spam across the web -- search spam, comment spam, trackback spam and so on. Schmidt responds to say Google looks had at preventing click fraud, not really answering the question.

ClickZ also has coverage of his talk in Google's Schmidt at Conde Nast Lunch Today and Reuters looks at the GBuy comments in Google tests Web buying system, says unlike PayPal.

Need more on Schmidt talking Google? See our Google , Google: Employees and Google: Revenues categories of Search Topics for archived articles going back for years, if you are a Search Engine Watch member.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 9:57 AM | Permalink

May 18, 2006

KDDI, Japan Mobile Phones, Signs Deal With Google To Provide Mobile Search

Gary Price spots that KDDI, a Japanese mobile operator, has signed a deal with Google to provide mobile search for au phones. The service is to begin as early as July 2006, and will enable not only mobile searches, but also be enhanced to provide search enabled services aimed at PCs.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 10:27 AM | Permalink

Google In Talks With China Mobile

BusinessWeek.com reports that Google and China Mobile are in talks about developing an Internet search engine for mobile devices in China. Wang Jianzhou, the chairman and chief executive of China Mobile (Hong Kong) told Business Week, "I recently met with Google's CEO for the second time. And we both share the same idea: how to turn cell phones into a new kind of Internet search engine." China Mobile is China's largest mobile carrier and is looking for ways to increase revenue per user.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:17 AM | Permalink

April 25, 2006

20% Of Google Mobile Searches Are Adult Specific

eWeek has a very interesting blog post covering how one of every five Google searches on a phone are for adult oriented keywords. That means, Google mobile searches are twice as likely to search for porn related items as compared to normal Web searches on Google. The story comes off a Google research paper you'll find here (PDF format).

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:35 AM | Permalink

April 11, 2006

April 7, 2006

Google Mobile Ads Tested In Japan

Bloomberg reports that Google has successfully tested the deployment of advertisements on mobile phones in Japan. The ads displayed on mobile phones were reportedly text based ads. Google will be developing enhanced Internet search and maps with location based features for geographic positioning enabled phones.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:25 AM | Permalink

March 13, 2006

Google Releases Google Talk for Blackberry

Nathan Weinberg reports that Google Talk is now officially supported on Blackberry devices. The 18 page PDF user guide goes through all the features of Google Talk for Blackberry. Nathan reports that "it works in real time, and you can stay signed in and receive messages while using other Blackberry apps." More information at Blackberry's Web site.

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 8:47 AM | Permalink

March 10, 2006

Google Partners With BenQ& Google Removing Ads from Mobile Content?

PaidContent links to a story at Mob Happy describing how Google Mobile has removed the ads on his site. The before and after shot display that graphical ad is missing in mobile version. PaidContent says that "the ad in question wouldn't work very well on a mobile phone but it's beside the point." A publisher lives based of the ads they sell on their pages, for Google or Skweezer to remove them, is just not right. Maybe that is why "Google has been aggressively partnering with cell phone hardware manufacturers," from SearchViews?

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:26 AM | Permalink

February 14, 2006

Vodafone to Add Google Web Search Capabilities

Reuters reports in Vodafone and Google sign deal about a partnership that will enable Google search capabilities on Vodafone's "live! 3G service." I am thinking, Google and Vodafone became friends at a soccer game (kidding of course).

Posted by Barry Schwartz at 9:09 AM | Permalink

February 3, 2006

Google Has Right to Log the Text of Messages Sent Using their Send to SMS Feature

Nathan over at InsideGoogle mentions a post by Devin Reams who points to a portion of the Google Firefox Send to Phone FAQ: FAQ that says, "we [Google] might also log the text of the message you send, in order to investigate and correct technical problems with the service."

The wording in the privacy section of Google Toolbar 4 documentation reads,

If you send text through SMS using Send To feature of the Google Toolbar, Google logs the number and carrier the message is sent to, and in some cases may record the text sent for debugging purposes.

I don't have time at the moment to check, but I'll try to find out if other services like Vazu, Yahoo's Text-to-SMS service and some of the other web-to-SMS services have similar policies.

Postscript: You can check for yourself. Here's the privacy policy from Vazu and Yahoo (mobile devices).

Posted by Gary Price at 5:22 PM | Permalink

February 1, 2006

Google Talks With Sony and Motorola About Municipal Wi-Fi Nets

InfoWorld reports that Google has had conversations with Motorola and Sony about their products could best be used with municipal Wi-Fi networks. Google currently operates a Wi-Fi network in their home town of Mountain View, CA and is also in the running to build one in San Francisco. Google also sponsors a wireless network in New York City's, Bryant Park.

"We're doing everything we can to make this a playground for devices," said Christopher Sacca, principal in new business development at Google..."

The article also notes that Google is interested in the Sony PSP.

"There's like five million of those in the U.S. now, they've all got Wi-Fi in them. We're trying to do what we can to make those devices able to log on to this network," Sacca said.

Maybe a Google wireless games service (let's call it GGames) is in the works?

The article also touches on how Google might build and pay for wireless networks.

By keeping track of which access point a user is connected to, Google will be able to locate users within two blocks for the purposes of sending them advertising for businesses nearby, Sacca said. Google would sell ads by postal code, potentially uncovering a new class of advertisers among small local businesses that don't buy space in other media today, he said. Google's localized ads would be a more efficient way for them to reach likely customers, according to Sacca..."Highly targeted ads may be able to pay for these things," Sacca said.

In this post from October 2, 2005 I shared a scenario about how Google could eventually use a municipal Wi-Fi net to provide very targeted, time-sensitive, and localized advertising, even more localized than by Zip Code.

From the October post: One thing is for sure, this Wi-Fi info could provide truly "local" and if required, time-sensitive search advertising if Google decided to provide ads. You're using Google Wi-Fi and hitting tower near the 1600 block of Market Street at 11:20 am. Then, an ad appears asking you if you're interested in walking just a few steps and having lunch at the Zuni Cafe at 1658 Market St? If you make reservations via the Google Reservation and Ticket Service (just guessing about this initiative), you'll get 10% off lunch, 20% if you come between 1-2:30pm..." More about Google Wi-Fi in the article: Google eyes how mobile devices will use city Wi-Fi.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:38 AM | Permalink

January 15, 2006

Tools that Optimize Web Content for Mobile Web: Google Joins Skweezer and IYHY

Since lots of web content has not been optimized for the mobile web, thanks to Nathan Weinberg* at InsideGoogle for the news tip about a new (it's new to me) resource from Google that optimizes most html-based web pages for a mobile phone, PDA or any other wireless device with a web browser. You'll find the interface here. No documentation is available.

Google is not the first to offer this type of service. I've been using Skweezer for about six months but the it has been around for much longer. It works well. You don't have to register to use Skweezer but if you do (free), you can personalize the home page and basically create your own mobile ready web portal.

This handy user guide explains the Skweezer's features and how their patent-pending technology works. Questions? A user forum is also available.

I've also just learned about another player in this (will check out soon) space named IYHY that also optimzes content for mobile web browsers. More about the service here. It comes from WebJillion.

Try them all and see which service works best for your needs and browser.

* On a personal note, a big congratulations to Nathan on his his just announced engagement to Raquel. The wedding will be this summer.

Posted by Gary Price at 5:10 PM | Permalink

January 12, 2006

Google Personalized Goes Mobile

Today, your Google personalized home page has gone mobile. The new service reformats your personalized page for your phone or mobile device. The service is available for any phone or device that has an XHTML capable browser and SSL (for login/security purposes).

Deep Nishar, Director of Wireless Products at Google, told us that the new service is basically a direct conversion of the web-based personalized home page to your mobile device. For example, if your Gmail, RSS headlines, top new stories, etc. are on your personalized page, you can now find them on your phone.

Access Simply enter http://www.google.com into your mobile browser and you should be taken directly to the Google Mobile site. Then, look for the "Google Personalized" link at the bottom of the page. Login and away you go. After you login once, a cookie is saved, and you shouldn't have to go through the login process again. Nishar said it's all about "minimizing typing" for the mobile user. Of course, if your device/phone crashes or you flush your cookies, you'll need to go through the login process again. Btw, at this point the Google Personalized home page for mobile devices and phones is only available in English.

Others? Yahoo has offered a mobile version of their My Yahoo since March 2005. Yahoo also offers numerous types of alerts (including keyword-based news) delivered to mobile devices via SMS.

Another mobile service that also offers some personalized features is 4INFO, what they call My 4INFO. These features are available for their SMS (text message) service (they also offer services for mobile and regular web) and allow a user to set up shortcuts and create SMS delivered alerts.

Postscript: If entering www.google.com into your mobile browser doesn't work, try: http://www.google.com/xhtml.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:55 AM | Permalink

January 6, 2006

Canadian Wireless Software Development Company Now Part of Google

With so much attention on Google's new video service and the Google Pack today, little attention has been paid to the fact that Google has acquired Reqwireless based in Waterloo, Ontario.

According to the National Post article: Waterloo gets Googled, Google acquired Reqwirless last summer but was disclosed yesterday. The article also says Google will, "staff up a recently established research and development facility." I was unaware of this facility but have blogged about an Open Text research initiative at the university.

The acquisition of Reqwireless once again reaffirms Google's interest in the wireless marketplace. The company develops wireless web browsers (Opera is a big player in this space) and wireless email tools. Products listed on their web site include: + Reqwireless Web + Email Viewer + Hot Viewer

In August, we learned that Google acquired Android Inc., another developer of mobile phone software.

Waterloo, Ontario is also home to Research In Motion (BlackBerry), OpenText, and the University of Waterloo which is well-known for the high quality engineers it turns out. According to the article, Google has been recruiting at UoW for years.

Google, which has recruited University of Waterloo graduates to work in Silicon Valley for several years, recently placed a job posting on its Web site looking for a mobile wireless application developer based in the southern Ontario city. "Google is hiring engineers to bring our wireless products to the next level," the company says in the posting

Gary Will, the editor of Waterloo Tech Digest, has comments and background about the acquisitin on his blog.

Sun's Tim Bray has strong ties to the Waterloo area and the Univ of Waterloo. It's there he worked on the New Oxford English Dictionary and then founded Open Text (remember the Open Text web engine?) and Antarctica Systems. Of course, Bray is also one of the original developers/editors of XML.

A current student at the University of Waterloo and well-known for creating useful web search tools is Michael Fagan. Mike's the developer of FaganFinder, URLInfo, and the very useful Translation Wizard. I also see his introduction to RSS and syndication linked to fromn many sites and articles. He's also the developer of UWHub, a search tool for University of Waterloo info.

Thanks to Michel for the news tip.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:53 PM | Permalink

Google Gets Into Motorola Cell Phones With Mobile Search

Motorola and Google Align for Mobile Search is the official word from Google and Motorola that they are teaming up in a mobile search partnership. Motorola is to insert a Google button into "internet-optimized" phones beginning by the end of March 2006, worldwide. The button will take users to Google search services.

The BBC reports that eventually, Motorola will incorporate a Google link into all of its phones. Google has a variety of mobile search services, and Search Engine Watch members can read up on them via the Google: Mobile category in Search Topics.

Recently, Google released a special local search application for Java-enabled phones. It also maintains web and image search designed for mobile phones, including a more restricted index of mobile-friendly pages, along with SMS search features.

As for other mobile partnerships, Google has one with T-Mobile and way back in 2001 partnered with Sprint, though that might not still be going. I'm checking up on others and will postscript as appropriate.

Postscript: Here's another mobile phone/web partnership. Sprint and Yahoo began offering an enhanced client for Yahoo Mail last June.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 8:33 AM | Permalink

January 3, 2006

Google Awarded Patent To Make Data Move Faster to Wireless Phones and Devices

News from Alexadria, Virginia (home of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) today that Google has been awarded a new patent in the wireless arena. It's far from search related but we still thought it was worth a mention since it's Google is a company many of you watch closely (understatement). From the way the patent reads (I'm far from an expert), it seems that Google has developed technology to make more data accessible at faster speeds on CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) systems.

Could licensing this technology to various wireless providers be a new revenue stream for Google?

Title: Baseband direct sequence spread spectrum transceiver Application Filed: January 26, 2001 Application Awarded: January 3, 2006

Abstract: A baseband direct sequence spread spectrum CDMA transceiver. The data signal is modulated with a Hadamard function having pseudorandomly scrambled rows. This data signal is then broadcast baseband, absent a carrier, by a relatively short, mismatched antenna. The baseband signal is spread out across the DC to 30 MHz spectrum. A low noise, high gainbandwidth product amplifier boosts the baseband RF signal. A correlator/servo system is used to actively cancel the transmit signal from the received signal. Consequently, the same antenna can be used to receive incoming baseband RF signals as well as transmit baseband RF signals, thereby providing full duplex operation.

From the Background of Invention: The advantages of CDMA carry over into high-speed wireless digital access. Increasingly, wireless digital applications are being used to access digital data (e.g., the Internet, intranet, multimedia, business data, etc.) at high speeds. With high speed wireless access, mobile users can obtain instant access to the Internet, business data (e.g., stock market quotes, sales reports, inventory information, price checks, customer data, emails, pages, etc.), and other real time data (e.g., traffic updates, weather information, sports news, etc.). The goal is to provide cellular handsets, personal digital assistants, portable communications devices, etc. the ability to transmit and receive digital data as well as make conventional telephone calls. The trend is towards ever faster mobile data speeds to meet customer demands. With greater data speeds, it is possible to provide even more data to more users. Recent CDMA based standards such as IS-95 and 3G are proposing increased data rates and capabilities.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:03 PM | Permalink

December 29, 2005

Google Will Be Default Search Engine on Opera's Mobile Browsers

Dirson reports that Opera (the browser company) Google will be the default search tool on all of Opera's mobile browsers including the new Opera Mini set for release next month. The TechWeb article: Google To Supply Search For Opera's Mobile Browsers, has more.

From the article:

[Opera CEO Christian] Jebsen said users of Opera Mini can still use the more established way of accessing a search engine, simply by calling up book-marked search engines. He noted that Opera is comfortable with Google as a partner because it has had a good working relationship with the search colossus for several years.

I can't say this comes as a surprise. As Jebsen notes Google and Opera have worked together for several years. Until earlier this year when the Opera browser became available at no charge (sans ads), Google paid listings were visible on the free version of the Opera. Also, Google is included as a search option with the desktop version of Opera.

In fact...

As Om points out in this interesting post, it was Google that helped Opera become a free tool. He writes:

...I found out that the decision to give away the browser came after the company struck ?compensation deals? with some of the search engines. Apparently, the premier tenant for browser?s built-in search window, is Google. ?The current most important deal now is with Google,? company spokesperson Eskil Siversten wrote in an email. The company indicated that it has similar referral-for-dollars agreements with the likes of eBay and Amazon.

In recent weeks, speculation about a possible acquisition by either Google or Microsoft have been making the rounds. Opera has said that all rumors about an acquisition by any company are not true.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:51 PM | Permalink

November 15, 2005

Google Adds Two New Features to SMS (Text Messaging) Service

Google has added two new features to their SMS (text messaging) service that are available by sending a text message to: 46645

First, Google has added translation. "Translate a word or simple phrase to any of the following languages French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish from or to English."

Second, Currency Conversion "To convert a currency to another currency simply enter the conversion you'd like completed."

Details about using both of these new features can be found here.

Posted by Gary Price at 7:33 PM | Permalink

November 7, 2005

Google Local Goes Mobile

Adding to its various search services for mobile phones, Google has introduced Google Local for mobile, a stripped down version of its web-based local search, with heavy emphasis on maps and driving directions. It's a nice, but limited service, and only works on Java-enabled mobile phones at this point. More about the new service in today's SearchDay article, Google Launches Local for Mobile.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 12:00 AM | Permalink

September 13, 2005

Mobile Search Done By Few, But Still Popular Mobile Internet Activity Overall

How's search as a mobile internet activity? The Utilitarian Life of the Mobile Internet at ClickZ cites stats saying it's the third ranked category in the US for June 2005 according to Telephia, behind email (done by 4.8 percent of mobile users) and weather (3.9 percent). Search is done by 2.9 percent of the mobile audience. As you can see, all categories have a small number of the 191 million estimated mobile internet users doing anything -- but when they do go online while on the move, search is strong.

Most likely category of users to do mobile search? Those aged 35-41 (32 percent). OK, that's the most likely category to do email and weather, as well, suggesting to me they've got tech savvy plus the money to spend on devices and access. But interestingly, search is the most likely mobile activity by 18-24 years olds over others, including email and weather.

Most popular mobile search site? Google, with 2.1 percent of the mobile internet audience reach. Yahoo comes next at 1.4 percent. But Yahoo Mail is the second most popular destination overall at 2.4 percent, and Yahoo Driving Directions makes the list with 1 percent reach.

The ClickZ article has all the charts; original charts and details from Telephia here (PDF file).

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 12:50 PM | Permalink

August 31, 2005

Three New Search Shortcuts Added to Google Mobile

The Google Blog reports that three new search shortcuts are now available for users of Google's mobile web search (XHTML) service.

Shortcuts Enter: movies [film title] or movie [location] Get movie showtime info. Enter: weather [city or ZIP Code] Access four-day forecast. Enter: Ticker Symbol Access current stock price (delayed) for NASDAQ, AMEX, and NYSE listed companies. Other shortcuts listed here.

If you don't have an XHTML-capable mobile browser or just want to check out the mobile service, the user interface should is accessible here.

Yahoo Mobile and 4info.net also offer movie showtimes, weather, stock quotes, and other shortcuts.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:45 PM | Permalink

August 30, 2005

Goin' Mobile with Google Sitemaps

Word just up on the Google Blog that an extension for Google Sitemaps is now available that allows webmasters to submit content for inclusion in Google's mobile web index. Details and examples here. More about Google Sitemaps in this blog post. In June, Google introduced an index of content that has been written/optimized for mobile web browsers.

Posted by Gary Price at 1:54 PM | Permalink

August 25, 2005

More SMS Services Coming from Google

I was checking out the new service (U.S. only) that allows anyone with SMS access to sign-up for a Gmail account and noticed that Google mentions that more SMS services are in the works. Specifically, secure password recovery and SMS mail/news? alerts are noted. Surprised? Hardly. Most of the other large web search services (aka Google competitors) already offer alerts (and other info) delivered via SMS. For example, I've blogged about traffic alerts from MSN. I'm also a regular user of Yahoo text message alerts (including mail) and receive baseball scores, video game news, and more on my phone from AOL.

Postscript: Russ Beattie correctly points out that by offering the Gmail sign-up via SMS they're also building a database of active mobile phone numbers.

Posted by Gary Price at 11:45 AM | Permalink

August 17, 2005

Google Enhances Mobile Version of Froogle, Launches Service in the UK

Google engineer, Josh Redstone, posts to the Google Blog that they've made some improvements to the mobile web version of Froogle including the ability to sort results by price. Additionally, a mobile web version of Froogle is now available for the UK. If you don't have a mobile browser that can access the new service, Froogle is also available via SMS in the US and UK.

Posted by Gary Price at 4:15 PM | Permalink

Google Acquires Android Mobile Phone Software Start-Up

Google Buys Android for Its Mobile Arsenal from Ben Elgin over at BusinessWeek covers Google having quietly acquired Android Inc, a 22-month-old start up company seemingly focused on software for mobile phones.

Posted by Danny Sullivan at 6:59 AM | Permalink

July 11, 2005

Google SMS Adds Stock Quotes

It looks like Google has added another feature to their SMS search tool. You can now use Google SMS to find stock quotes.

Yahoo's SMS service that launched last week, 4info.net, and Synfonic also provide stock quotes.

Last last week, Google SMS graduated from the Google Labs but remains in beta.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:34 PM | Permalink

July 9, 2005

Google SMS Graduates from Google Labs But Remains in Beta; Web Demos Now Available

Those of you who watch Google closely might be interested to learn that sometime yesterday (about 24 hours or so after Yahoo released (beta) their SMS search tool) Google SMS for both the US and UK graduated from Google Labs. The services themselves remain in beta.

I've also noticed that Google now allows you to demo both their US and UK SMS services on the web using a mobile web emulator. You'll find the US demo here and the UK demo here.

In case you're wondering, when Yahoo's SMS service launched on Thursday, they began offering this web-based demo. Yahoo also provides this demo for their other mobile web search tool.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:20 PM | Permalink

June 29, 2005

Google and T-Mobile Announce Partnership

A Reuters story reports that Google and T-Mobile are announcing a partnership that will make Google the preset homepage when a T-Mobile customer opens their mobile web browser.

"With the Google homepage we want to tell our customers from the first moment that they are carrying with them the Internet they know from home," T-Mobile board member Ulli Gritzuhn said at a news conference at T-Mobile's headquarters.

The news release also mentions that Google and T-Mobile will work together to market mobile access to the Internet.

The full text of the news release is available here.

Posted by Gary Price at 10:13 AM | Permalink

June 16, 2005

Google Now Offering Index of Pages Optimized for the Mobile Web

Google Search For Tiny Screens from InternetNews.com report on Google releasing a new beta service for mobile web searchers that allows searching an index of pages that have been, "optimized by their publishers for the small screen."

Google does a special Web crawl to create a separate index of XHTML pages, [Deep] Nishar director of wireless product management for Google, said; he wouldn't disclose how many pages were in the Mobile Web index, but said, "Many sites are using formats that are more conducive to a better user experience on mobile devices." Users can point their mobile browsers to Google's search site, type in the query, then select Mobile Web (beta) as the search option.

Google's other mobile services including web search, image search, and local search remain available.

FYI, Yahoo is planning a similar index which authors can submit to now here. The submission page has been live for about a month or so. Yahoo hasn't yet set a date for when the actual mobile index will go live.

Google also blogs about the service here today, but the link they use to point at hasn't been working, so far. Postscript: Content owner advice on getting listed here; submitting here; the actual service for those on non-mobile browsers here.

Want to discuss? Visit our forum thread, Google Mobile Web Search Launched

Posted by Gary Price at 10:26 PM | Permalink

May 10, 2005

Google Local UK Gets Mobile Site; Google Scholar Lets Any Library Add Links

Google Local UK has gained a new mobile site and the Google Scholar program now allows any library to establish direct links to content.

Google Blogoscoped notes that a mobile version of Google Local for the UK is now online. Google Local rolled out in the UK last month with a web, mapping and SMS service. More here: Google UK Gets Local Listings & Maps.

Over on ResourceShelf, my Direct Links to Articles: Google Scholar is Now Open to All Libraries explains how the Google Scholar program has expanded to allow any library to set-up direct links from to the full text of articles found in the Google Scholar database, assuming they have institutional subscriptions to the material. This effort began as a small pilot project in February.

BTW, don't forget many public libraries provide direct access to fee-based databases from home or office for free! All you need is a library card. These databases contain full text articles, full text books, and more. Each library offers different databases so be sure to find out what you can access. Here's an article with more info and a few examples.

Posted by Gary Price at 9:26 AM | Permalink

April 12, 2005

Search Google Local via Your Cell Phone

Google has introduced mobile phone access for its local search service, and has managed to squeeze just about all of the features of the desktop version into the form factor of a cell phone. It's slick and nicely done.

Today's SearchDay article, Google Debuts Local Mobile, describes the new service in depth.

Posted by Chris Sherman at 12:00 AM | Permalink

April 4, 2005

Google Joins Yahoo & Ask With Direct Display Of Stock Market Data In Results

Google has joined Yahoo and Ask Jeeves and is now placing a current stock chart and other info directly into search results pages. Previously, you had to click a second time to get to this info.

For example: if you enter the ticker symbol GOOG, you'll see the current stock price plus today's chart.

Actually clicking on the GOOG link takes you to a set of financial info "tabs" with info from a variety of sources. Google has offered this information for several years. In fact, use the search syntax stocks:symbol (such as stocks:goog), and you skip web search results and instead go right to the financial info tabs.

Yahoo has already had direct display of stock charts in results, as you can see in this example.

Yahoo offers bit less financial info in the direct display, but they do include a couple of news headlines. If you begin your research at Yahoo Finance and enter a ticker symbol you'll find even more info. In fact, this is one of the resources that Google ironically draw upon for its Google's "financial info tabs".

Ask Jeeves offers Smart Search results box with a current stock chart, most of the same current financial data Google offers, and direct links for news and detailed company info via Marketwatch.com

This Google Blog posting has more including info about how to access stock quotes via SMS. 4INFO.net and Synfonic are two other services that offer stock quotes via SMS.

Posted by Gary Price at 12:01 PM | Permalink

March 31, 2005

Google Acquires Zipdash and More From The Google Annual Report

We posted yesterday, within minutes of it's publication, that the Google 2004 Annual Report was available.

After reviewing the document SiliconBeat's Michael Bazeley notes that ia the list of Google's subsidiaries, we learn that the folks in Mountain View acquired a company called Zipdash that offers maps and traffic info for mobile devices. Discussion threads about annual report are available in our forum and over at Webmaster World.

Posted by Gary Price at 5:28 PM | Permalink

December 1, 2004

Google VP on the Mobile Phone Industry

Google's VP of Operations, Urs Hoelze, told Ireland's SiliconRepublic.com that the mobile phone industry is not "grasping the potential of the Internet" due to standards and conflicting platforms.

Hoelze said, "Whats holding back the big revolution is that every device is different. There is software out there for at least 300 different platforms and thats not a good situation and that will prevent the emergence of widely used applications."

Even with these issues, he's "bullish" on mobile. The web part of it is becoming better and people will start using it more and more from wherever they are searches are basically question answering functions. Just as we see broadband users make more frequent use of search than modem users, the more simplistic it becomes to access the information you want wherever you are that will lead to the big explosion in mobile connectivity.

I wonder if GPhone is in the works. (-:

Posted by Gary Price at 12:01 PM | Permalink

November 3, 2004

Two New Ways to Search Froogle Via SMS

When Google launched their SMS-based search tool about a month ago you were only able to search the Froogle database by using a specific product name (Treo) or general product category (PDA).

Today, the company added two new search options for SMS-based Froogle searching.

+ Search for books by using its ISBN (International Standard Book Number).

+ Search for a specific product by using its UPC (Universal Product Code).

Smarter.Com's is another recent entry into SMS search world. It offers pricing info for more than 100,000 computer and consumer electronic products

Posted by Gary Price at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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