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Google Secrets

Google doesn't broadcast its strategic plans. Here are eight critical areas where its decisions will shape the industry. -- InformationWeek

Google's Achilles' Heel

Wall Street loves it. Consumers are begging for more of it. Other companies want to be it. But Google has its vulnerabilities--excessive reliance on search advertising, lawsuits, eroding public trust, lack of focus and the competitive threat from Microsoft. How long can Google's run last? -- InformationWeek

Review: Google Pack

InformationWeek , January 23, 2006
Google Pack is designed to be a single, easy-to-use package containing a dozen different desktop applications for personal productivity, communications, security, and just for fun. How well does it work? -- InformationWeek


REVIEWS Google Maps Vs. Microsoft Virtual Earth The real story behind Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth has less to do with road directions than with their potential to change creative landscapes. -- Desktop Pipeline Google Desktop 2.0 Beta Google's upgrade to its Desktop application, with new features and plug-ins, brings a lot more than search to your desktop. -- Desktop Pipeline TRENDS & ANALYSIS The Google Effect The company's move to offer free Web-site analytics may attract businesses and drive down the prices that competitors charge. -- InformationWeek Software Powers Talk Out Google Challenge Google hopes to penetrate the corporate sanctum while, legacy software makers, epitomized by Microsoft, try to adapt to a new software as a service worldview. -- CRN The "Google-ization" of IT Is your IT department ready to roll out flexible services built on top of an open, IP-based architecture? It better be, say tech leaders at this week's IP.4.IT show, pointing to Google as the perfect working model. -- Network Computing Leaked Gates Memo Highlights Perceived Threat From Google Indicating the urgency with which Microsoft views the threat from Google, a leaked email from Bill Gates has him telling top managers to act quickly and decisively to offer more Internet-based software and services. -- TechWeb News Free Wi-Fi? What's Google Up To? Google's bid to provide free Wi-Fi access throughout San Francisco has people wondering what the company's up to. Hint: location, location, location. -- Mobile Pipeline Interview: Cerf Discusses His Jump To Google Vinton Cerf, often called the "father of the Internet," sees a growing need for innovation in software that can find creative uses for the sea of data flowing into the Internet each day. -- TechWeb News Is Microsoft The Next Google? The pundits are puffing Google as the next Microsoft, but given Microsoft's history isn't it more likely to be the other way around?. -- Desktop Pipeline BLOGS & OPINIONS Google Desktop: Friend Or Foe? In the small workgroup I've been a part of the last couple years, I've become somewhat notorious for the chronic loss -- or inability to retain -- E-mail messages and documents. I can almost hear the frustration running through the minds of others as I request -- on an almost daily basis -- yet another resend of a doc or message. By Tom Smith, InformationWeek Condemning Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Is Cheap And Easy Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo have been acting like grownups recently in their decision to cooperate with the Chinese government in censoring Internet comment. You may not agree with their course of action -- you may even condemn what they're doing -- but you have to admit that they've taken responsibility for their actions and decisions, and not tried to claim that the whole thing is beyond their control. By Mitch Wagner, InformationWeek Google Wants To Own The Video Industry And Software Desktop Google Video and Google Pack are intriguing hints of possible future strategic directions for Google, even though the products and services themselves are only mildly interesting. Google is apparently looking to be the decider of what's popular in online video and software, the same way it decides what Web pages are popular and which Web pages languish in obscurity. InformationWeek Is Google Investing In An Obsolete Business? Google had lots of reasons to want to invest in AOL. It gets a potential advertising audience of 20 million, an opportunity to stick it to Microsoft, preservation of a substantial, existing ad revenue stream, and an investment in a sizeable, family-friendly island in an ocean of Internet porn. By Mitch Wagner, InformationWeek Google's AOL Deal Undermines Its Principles Google has gone to great pains to assure users and advertisers that it provides fair and balanced search results. "We believe you should know when someone has paid to put a message in front of you, so we always distinguish ads from the search results or other content on a page," the company says in its corporate overview. "We don't sell placement in the search results themselves, or allow people to pay for a higher ranking there." Now, it seems that claim is open to question. By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek Business Technology: Google Becomes An Irresistible Force Hot companies come and go -- it's Google's leadership in helping others imagine what could be that will measure its lasting impact, Bob Evans says. By Bob Evans, InformationWeek Google And Microsoft Settle Bitter Lawsuit Google said it has settled the lawsuit brought by Microsoft in July to enforce a noncompetition agreement against Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, a former Microsoft executive who left the company to work for Google. In a prepared statement, Lee, president of engineering, product and public affairs for Google China, said, "I am pleased with the terms of the settlement agreement." By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek You Search Google, Google Searches You Google collects data to help advertisers manipulate you into giving them money. By Andy Dornan, IT Architect Google's Magic Pixie Dust I definitely want some of the magic pixie dust that Google uses. Google gets away with stuff that other companies--particularly Microsoft--get hammered for. But Google gets a free pass. Because it's Google. And everybody loves Google. By Mitch Wagner, InformationWeek Free Wi-Fi? What's Google Up To, Anyway? Google�s bid to provide free Wi-Fi access across the city of San Francisco has a lot of people wondering what the company's up to. Hint: location, location, location. By Glenn Fleishman, Mobile Pipeline Opinion: Is Google Losing Sight of Search Technology? As Google unveils its Google Talk instant-messaging capability, we wonder if the Web's best search engine is degrading in its performance. By Michael J. DeMaria, Network Computing Who's Listening To Google, Yahoo, MSN? Announcements of new Web services from Google, Yahoo or Microsoft's MSN are almost a daily occurrence. With so much noise coming from these three giants, one has to ask who's listening, besides tech reporters and early adopters? I suspect hardly anyone. By Antone Gonsalves, InternetWeek Google's Plan To Take Over Your Living Room Conquering the Internet isn't enough for Google -- there's now evidence that it plans to conquer your home as well, with a Google-provided black box bristling with wired and wireless connections for your PC, TV, stereo, iPod, home automation, climate control, and just about any other device you can imagine. By Preston Gralla, Networking Pipeline Google Sounds The Retreat In Book Scanning Project Google has been negotiating with book publishers to allow readers to rent books online for a week -- one more sign that Google is in full retreat over its controversial plan to scan copyrighted books without copyright holders' permissions. By Preston Gralla, Networking Pipeline				EVER-EXPANDING GOOGLE Google Plans Monday Beta For Toolbar Upgrade Google Toolbar 4 has features for customizing the toolbar; enhanced, bookmarks hosted on Google's servers; enhanced search; and a new sharing capability called Send To. -- InformationWeek Google, VW Developing In-Car Navigation System The system will display photo-quality views of the route instead of the line drawings found with most GPS devices. -- InformationWeek Google Treading On Microsoft Turf In Dell Tests The two companies are testing pre-installed package of Google software on Dell PCs, potentially challenging Microsoft's desktop dominance. -- InformationWeek Google Rolls Out New Search Infrastructure The changes are taking place behind the scenes, in Google's data centers, to solve a couple of problems. One has to do with Google's search engine determining the correct domain name of any given site after a user types in just a portion of the name. -- InformationWeek Vodafone And Google Sign Mobile Phone Search Deal Users will be able to use Google's search engine to find content within the Vodafone live multimedia portal and on the Web. -- InformationWeek BearingPoint Partners With Google for Enterprise Search BearingPoint plans to use Google technology to help companies organize information generated by enterprise applications. -- InformationWeek Google's Long Shadow Google wasn't there, but it was everywhere at Demo 2006, a showcase for emerging technology. About a third of more than 30 startups on the first day positioned Google as the problem, and their products as the solution. -- InformationWeek Google Expands Testing Of Magazine Ad Sales The company is continuing its diversification attempts beyond the Web to magazines, newspapers, and even radio. -- InformationWeek Motorola Plans Cell-Phone Google Feature Users will be able to launch the Google search engine by clicking on an icon, Motorola said. -- InformationWeek Google Adds Support To Viiv Technology Intel Corp. will team with the search engine company to make Google Video, a form of a video-on-demand, accessible on Viiv computers. -- InformationWeek Verizon Says Google, Microsoft Should Pay For Internet Apps CEO Seidenberg says content companies who provide advertising-supported applications should share operational costs with owners of broadband networks. -- InformationWeek