Fresher query stats in Webmaster tools

Query stats in webmaster tools provide information about the search queries that most often return your site in the results.
Google changed the way to calculate them and how frequently, Google explain also in this post how they calculate query stats :
Fresher query stats in Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

Google Talk open for all


Google Talk is now open for all (Gmail accounts no longer required ); but there are still some features including chat histories and mail notifications that will only work if you sign into Google Talk with a Gmail account.

Now anyone can Talk

New version of Google Reader Today

Google launch today a new version of Google Reader with new features


Your inbox for the web in Official Google Blog
Google Reader

Google Transit add more cities

Google Transit Trip Planner added today five more cities to their coverage:
Eugene, Oregon
Honolulu, Hawaii
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Seattle, Washington
Tampa, Florida
Now riders in these cities (and Portland, of course) can use Google to plan trips using public transportation, and in some cities, compare the cost of public transportation with the cost of driving. You can also specify when you want to leave or arrive, and see different route possibilities.
Happy trails with Google Transit in Official Google Blog.

Google add weather to Google Calendar

Google add weather to Google Calendar:
"You can add web content events to your own calendar for weather forecasts, moon phases, and even Google doodles (those special-occasion logos you sometimes see on Google.com). Now you can be the first to know when there's a new one!"
Google Calendar does something about the weather
Google Calendar

AJAX Search API for Beta Blogger

Blogger template hacking-via-javascript:
Notable stuff:
- the sidebar's "Google Search" field searches multiple indexes (Web and BlogSearch), as well as individual sites (in this case the AJAX Search API blog, the Google blog and www.blogger.com) - you can customize all of these things
- the sidebar's "Video Search" field displays (and plays!) results inline
- links in the main blog section can dynamically link directly into the sidebar's embedded Map and Video boxes (try clicking the 'Sakana' and 'Jimi Hendrix' links)


AJAX Search API Hackery in blogger official blog
further details about the tweaks and integrations:
AJAX Search in TypePad and Blogger

Happy birthday Google

This week google celebrate Google's 8th birthday
a commemorative logo appears on today's homepage
How long is 8 years in Internet time?

Google explain his approach to content

After having legal problems with Belgium's newspapers content in Google News, Google try to explain his vision to using content that are in copyright;
Google's approach is explained: "effectively democratizing access to human knowledge" and "organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible" but also "bring benefit back to content owners by partnering with them"
Our approach to content in Official Google Blog.

New Google Notebook

Google launched a new improved version of Google Notebook with new features such a much slicker drag-and-drop UI to let you organize better, a trash bin for all your deleted items, and the ability to undo your last action. And now you can see your notebooks on your personalized homepage.

Google explain Google News case in Belgium

Google explain in official googleblog they did nothing wrong inof newspapers case in Belgium;
"Google News is no different than Google web search in this regard: We only ever show the headlines and a bit of text. If people want to read the entire story they have to click through to the newspaper’s website."
"And after all, it’s not just users that benefit from these links but publishers do too -- because we drive huge amounts of web traffic to their sites."
"if publishers don’t want their websites to appear in search results (most do) the robots.txt standard enables them to prevent automatically the indexing of their content"

New release of Google Search Appliance

A new version of "Google Search Appliance" is available today with increased document capacity to handle(up to 30 million document) and some new features such as date and number range search. The interface is now available in 16 languages.

New version of Picasa

Google announce a new version of Picasa, Google's photo organizer; It has new features like Picasa Web Albums that lets upload and share photos online. Google say also they've fixed a whole bunch of things so Picasa can work better.

Historian Google

Google News added a new feature: Google News Archives provides copies of articles, journals and news stories from international news sources dating back to 200 years.

"In addition to finding the most relevant articles for your query, you can get an historical overview of the results by browsing an automatically created timeline. The archive search results include articles about an incredibly wide variety of topics, people and events over the last 200 years or so" History as it unfolds on Googleblog.

happy photoblogging!

that what's end a bloggerblog post that announce they're fixing some image uploading problems, they’ve just released an additional change on the Blogger beta site to show thumbnails of photos after the upload
In my opinion the best way is to use firefox, it's possible with it to copy/past photos directly on the post without any upload
By the way, while reading the notes of the new bloggerblog "Known Issues for Blogger in Beta";
it seems that beta blogger have a lot of problems with Internet Explorer so they say: "The best workaround is to simply use Firefox".

New blog for Blogger in Beta

The Blogger blog announce today a new blog as response for users' interrogations about the beta blogger:
"We’re addressing these questions with today’s launch of Known Issues for Blogger in Beta, a new blog that will contain fresh information about the status of issues and bugs that affect you."
The post explain also the various other communication channels that exist between the users and the Blogger Team:
Support form
Blogger Status
Blogger Buzz the blog
Blogger Help Group

Google's rivals

Google's rivals
Search under 'Google, competitor.' The list of prospective rivals grows longer every day. How these various clashes play out will have major consequences for small businesses.

Microsoft
Google's free productivity applications (Gmail, Writely, and Google Spreadsheets) will offer ad-supported alternatives to Outlook, Word, and Excel. Can a free Google version of PowerPoint be far behind? Compelling scenario: Small businesses get free software. Google gets a fresh source of revenues. Microsoft's Live programs are reduced to also-rans in the brave new world of software as a service.

Yahoo
This is a Coke-Pepsi rivalry. Google currently dominates the $9.5 billion search-term ad market, with a 60% share to Yahoo's 30%. But the two giants are duking it out in the ad-supported free software market, with competing e-mail, instant-messaging, blogging, and mapping services. Good news for small business: The rivalry should keep service quality up and prices down.

Craigslist and EBAY
Many small Internet vendors would welcome a viable alternative to eBay. Hence the buzz over Google's new online payment program called Checkout. Meanwhile, Google's new Base service is user friendly and appears well suited for posting classified ads. Look out, Craigslist!

Everyone else
Google's experiments in Internet telephony threaten Vonage, Verizon, and Skype. Its acquisition of dMark Broadcasting, an online broker of advertising airtime, threatens traditional ad agencies. Last year Google's hometown of Mountain View, Calif., accepted the company's offer to wire the entire town for Wi-Fi, an obvious boon for local businesses. Expect communities nationwide to follow suit. Main Street will be the clear winner as these various skirmishes result in better and cheaper services.

(from: money.cnn.com)

Site optimization by Google Analytics

post on Google analytics blog give advices on site optimization in four steps using the data available in Google Analytics.

Have fun with Google !

Philipp Lenssen author of the blog "Google Blogoscoped ", wrote a post in googleblog about his book "55 Ways to Have Fun With Google".
In the book, he present "Google-related games, cartoons, oddities, tips, stories and everything else that’s fun".
The book is available here in PDF.