WebProNews

Google Tries To Save You From Swine Flu

The media frenzy over swine flu may have died down a little since earlier this year; it's no longer a top headline on every other news site, at least.  But people remain extremely concerned about it (anyone care to guess how many tons of hand sanitizer have been sold?), and Google's trying to help out by pointing them towards flu shots.

Google Search Results About to Get a Dose of Caffeine

It appears that the effects of Google's Caffeine update may be felt sooner rather than later. That is if you really do feel the effects at all. What are your thoughts on Google's Caffeine update? Discuss here.

Google Street View Hits Hawaii, Mexico

Attention all Street View fans: another update's been announced, and this one could be considered especially significant.  Images of Hawaii were released, meaning Street View now has coverage of all 50 U.S. states. Street View's come a long way since its early days of functioning as a fun little distraction/curiosity.  It's now a useful resource for travelers, an advertising aid for businesses, and even a friend of some tourist agencies (the Hawaii Visitors and Conventions Bureau worked with Google on this latest update).

Google Seeking Not To Cross The Creepy Line

Google CEO Eric Schmidt while appearing on Fox Business made some interesting comments about Google's emergence as a huge Microsoft-like business power. I thought most interesting was Schmidt's statement about Google becoming like Microsoft, "Hopefully, we won't repeat the mistakes that Microsot made ten years ago that ultimately led to all these things that happened with them". Schmidt elaborated:

The Traffic News Corp. Would Lose Without Google

As you may know, Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and CEO of News Corp., is saying he may block search engines from accessing the organization's content. He expressed this notion in a recent interview. If Murdoch were to act upon this, it would mean theoretically that you would no longer be able to find Wall Street Journal, New York Post, etc. content on Google. Of course that would be in a world where scraped content isn't frequently crawled by search engines.

Google Gives AdWords Users New Alert Options

Google has introduced a couple of new alert options for AdWords advertisers. Users can of course use account alerts, and can also use custom alerts. Now Google has added new alerts for keyword and budget ideas, which are personalized tips to help users improve their campaigns' effectiveness. These are in the "opportunities" tab.

Google Offering Free Wi-Fi In Airports During The Holidays

Google said Tuesday it is working with airports in the U.S. as well as Boingo Wireless, Advanced Wireless Group, Airport Marketing Income and others to provide free Wi-Fi as a "holiday gift" through January 15, 2010. The free Wi-Fi is available in 47 airports, including Las Vegas, San Jose, Boston, Baltimore, Burbank, Houston Indianapolis, Seattle, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, St. Louis and Charlotte. As a result of this project, Burbank and Seattle airports will begin offering airport-wide free Wi-Fi indefinitely.

Google Okay With Blocking News Corp.

In a recent interview we wrote about this morning, Rupert Murdoch indicated that News Corp. may block search engines from indexing its sites.  Now, it doesn't exactly look like Google's going to offer money to him (or throw a fit) in response, as the search giant's more or less replied by saying "fine."

(Another) New Google Books Deadline Set

It could be said that the Google Books case is becoming the new Microsoft-Yahoo deal, having created all sorts of controversy and dragged on and on.  And on some more, as it turns out, since the involved parties are pushing a target date back again.

Report Indicates Google Bought Gizmo5

Not long ago, Eric Schmidt estimated that Google would start making monthly acquisitions.  Today, it's almost looking like the dial got bumped up to hourly, since following this morning's confirmed acquisition of AdMob, a report has indicated that Google's bought Gizmo5, too.