…after 4 years

Firstly, Google Suggest is an auto-complete tool for searches on Googles homepage. The service will allow users to see the most commonly searched phrases after they’ve typed in the first few letters of query. A little like Firefox does when you use the Google builtin search bar.

The service isn’t live just yet but should be with us in a week or so. If you’re interested in trying it out now here’s the link - Google Suggest.

Although the Suggest feature was started back in 2004 it’s already been incorporated into Google Labs, Toolbar, Firefox, Maps and web based search (for a select group of countries) and YouTube.

This should make searching simpler and cut down on the number of spelling mistakes made by searchers (is this the end of making bank on adsense using typos?) but is by no means original. Yahoo have had this feature for some as has Cuil. Let’s see if Microsoft joing the party?

Popularity: 5% [?]

Outage dampens enthusiasm for Google Mail service

Internet darling Google has publicly apologised to users for an outage that prevented users from accessing free and paid services. On the Google blog, the company has promised to carry out a review to see what went wrong and implement processes to ensure it doesn’t happen again. No money back for paid subscribers?

The Gmail problems follow Google Docs and Spreadsheets access problems in July when customers were locked out of their cloud-based applications for over an hour.

Google really can’t afford problems like this to happen again. Microsoft is preparing to launch a rival to the Gmail and Apps services in 2009 which could leech customers away from the Goog.

The Microsoft offering, Business Productivity Suite (do they really pay someone to think of these names?) will offer customers a subscription service. A range of Microsoft software will be available to customers, including Exchange, Dynamics, and Office SharePoint, Communications and Meeting for around £90. Hmm, time for Google to sort their house out!

Popularity: 22% [?]

Not a scratch on Google…

…but what do you really expect? Ok, the founders of Cuil are ex-Google employees but remember ther early days of Google search results? I do - they were crap!

I’ve had a look at Cuil and all I can say right now is that it’s ‘ok’ - not great but I’m sure that a little more time and money may just make this a real competitor for the Goog!

As a search technology, the Cuil results don’t really match up to Google or even Yahoo in some respects - there’s no image search for a start and I REALLY like pictures, so much easier than reading! However, Cuil do state that they have indexed over 120 billion web pages which leaves Google trailing on a paltry 40 billion. I’ve done some testing here and I would like to know where those pages are coming from as I searched for a couple of well known sites that have a high number of inbound links using a specific anchor text….err, nothing! I’m not suggesting that the Cuil front page is lying but I’d expect to see at least a couple of hits for the searches I entered.

Ok, so Cuil could eventually knock Google of the search top spot but they some serious cash injections if they are to catch up in other areas i.e GMail, Google Apps, YouTube, Knol…. the list goes on.

All interesting news, I’ll leave you with a well thought out and deliverd quote echoed by many of the search engine users community, “…it’s crap.”

Popularity: 32% [?]

Dubbed a “burglars charter”.

Some of you may already know this, but Google has sent cars around the UK to take close-up pictures of houses, road, hospitals and everything inbetween. This mammoth task is being carried out to allow Googles Streetview website to show a 360 degree picture of every UK address of postcode.

There’s one small problem - data protection. People can still be easily identified leaving, say, a sex shop! The Information Commissioners office is so concerneed that they have written a letter to Google  demanding privacy guarantees. Hmm, I wonder if that’s like the strongly worded government letters we hear so much about? I can just see Mr. Horrendous Despot wiping his arse on the letter as we speak (I am in no way suggesting that Google is despotic!)

In addition, checking out access points and weak spots becomes far easier for Mr B. Urglar - I wonder, could you sue Google if it was proven that a burglar used the Streetview service to break into your home? Now there’s something for the Goog to think about.

Popularity: 53% [?]

It’s all up in the air!

Now this is amazing; mid air views with users interacting with Google Earth using their hands. The potential for Human Computer Interface (HCI) is awesome.

The holographic interface is being developed by lm3labs…I’m going to stop talking now, check it out here.

Popularity: 38% [?]

DoJ launches anti-trust investigation.

It would seem the US Department of Justice is a little edgey about the deal which allows Yahoo to serve Google ads. To be honest, I’m not really surprised when you consider that the deal effectively wraps up 80% of the search market between two companies!

Ok, the deal hasn’t actually gone ahead yet as Google and Yahoo have agreed to give the DoJ 3 months to investigate but as the companies aren’t merging the deal doesn’t need upfront approval. If found to be anti-competitive the deal could be stopped or modified.

Given that the advertising rights are not exclusive, I would say that this deal will be approved with little or no change to the wording.

I wonder how Microsoft will answer this!

Popularity: 46% [?]

MS eating Google dust!

In fact, they are also chewing on Yahoo’s dust. Figures for May show Google with a huge 61.9% of search market share followed by Yahoo with 20.6%. Google have a very long lead. To be fair, Yahoo have actually managed to improve their share by 0.2% over Aprils figures.

Erm, then there’s Microsoft. The software giant managed grab 8.5% of Mays search figures. That’s not too bad for an offering that is still relatively new to the game (if you discount the figures that show market share of 0.6% since April!)

I wonder if there’s any room for another search engine in the market?

Popularity: 62% [?]

To the tune of 87.3%

That’s a whole lot of search going on here even though figures are down from 87.69% in the previous month of April. That said, the May figures represent an overall market gain of 9% compared to the same period in 2007. There’ll be some happy faces in Google.

Googles competitors haven’t done so well. Yahoo dropped from 8.58% to 4.09% whilst MSN dropped from 5.46% to 3.07%. Ouch!

The US market offers a slightly different set of figures:

• Google - 68.29%
• Micrsoft and Yahoo - combined figure of 26%

It looks there’s life in Yahoo yet.

Popularity: 40% [?]

But the nappies are still on.

Yes, Google Gears (now officially just Gears) reachs it’s first birthday today. The application allows you to cache online apps and use them offline. I’ve been using Gears for some time now and I love it. I can take my Google Apps with me, modify them and upload the changes when I go back online. Ok, in the early days it was a little clunky but Google have worked hard to make this a real winner.

But Gears isn’t just about using Google Apps free software. Remember that Google is commited to the SaaS market. Combining deals with the likes of SalesForce and offline working has huge potential for Enterprise software.

So how does it work? It’s relatively simple; Gears installs an open-source SQLite database engine on the client machine. This allows Gears-enabled pages to cache data for offline use. SQLite allows Gears to overcome the key problem with online apps: no connection, no applications.

Google is currently in the process of adding support for Firefox 3 and Safari. Windows Mobile supports Gears but functionality is limited - hmm, no surprise there.

Popularity: 42% [?]

13 new features added.

I have my own business mailbox but, like many of you, also have a Gmail account. Users of the Google mail service are in for a treat. Google has announced the release of 13 new enhancements to your mail account. The addons are available in the ‘labs’ tab of Gmail.

Let’s have a look at some of the offerings:

•  A quick-link tool - allows you to bookmark specific Gmail messages
• Superstars - custom stars selection to label mail
• The ‘email addict’ - lock yourself out of your email account for 15 minute…hmmm!
• A fixed-width font option to view a message within a font whose characters are the same width — not sure but apparently it’s good for formatting challenges
• Mouse gestures - take actions based on mouse movement
• Custom keyboard shortcuts
• Signature tweaks - add a signature file above quoted text in an email reply
• ‘Muzzle’ - conserves buddy-list screenspace usage by hiding status messages

Google is  planning to open the system to outside developers in order for them add more custom features - if they can find a way to integrate the code.

Popularity: 28% [?]