Google announced some new features for Google Instant. They haven’t released it for the browser or for mobile yet, but they have added some desktop functionality. 

First off, they have added keyboard navigation, so you can use Google Instant without touching your mouse, should you choose to do so. The navigation lets you scroll through Google’s search suggestions to bring up more instant results. 

Google has introduced a feature for Google Video for Business that allows viewers to adjust the playback speed. There is a speed control button/slider on the video player that can be used to speed up or slow down a clip.

If you’re unfamiliar with Google Video for Business, it’s part of Google Apps Premiere and Education editions, and lets users share rich video information, keep videos secure and private, and collaborate on videos.

Google Video for Business has got a couple of new features. They are captions and larger uploads.

Captions can obviously open up communication on a whole new level with subtitles alone. This makes videos more accessible to those who cannot hear well and those who speak other languages. As far as uploading, users with Google Gears can upload videos of up to 1 GB. Before it was only 300 MB.

Last week, Google announced the end of some of its services, and among them was the ability for users to upload videos to Google Video. They said they would be refocusing their attention on building a more comprehensive video search engine, and why not? They’ve already got YouTube.

Google has decided to shut down some of its services, as well as trim some recruiting jobs, and consolidate engineering offices. Services that Google is shutting down include:

Google Video’s existence continues to be a bit of a mystery; after Google paid $1.65 billion for YouTube, you’d think the company would be able to concentrate on just it.  Still, users of Google Video are likely to be happy about a new redesign.

Google will make use of an extension to the Sitemaps protocol to do a better job of indexing the videos people publish.

The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) sent a report yesterday to members of Congress detailing the extent of likely copyright violations on Google Video.

The National Legal and Policy Center has launched a list of the "Top 50" full-length movies, cable programs and music concerts hosted on Google Video, which they say, are likely without the copyright owner’s knowledge or permission.

Since misunderstandings occur so frequently between just two or three people, it’s possible to appreciate how a much larger group could get mixed up.  Still, when that larger group is Google, and the mix-up involves Google Video, YouTube, and a copyrighted film that has yet to be released, somebody’s bound to get angry.

Google Video went through many reincarnations in the past. It allegedly started out as one of those 20% side projects within Google, and Larry Page admitted, “We’re not quite sure what we’re going to get, but we decided we’d try this experiment.”

Google Video is now more search engine than video site as the search giant revamps it to include framing similar to how they present images on Google video.

Google Video Search

Loren Baker found a DigitalPoint thread exposing a potential security weakness in Google Video this week which could raise a legitimate privacy concern. Use the Google Video feature to “Post to my blog” and your password and login information are not protected. No https, no encryption, no SSL: they’re listed right in the headers.

If Google Video doesn’t have the clip you’re looking for, you may be able to find it at Metacafe – through Google Video.  Yes, Google’s (less popular) video-sharing site now appears to be offering search results from sources other than Google Video and YouTube.

It seems like only yesterday that we first heard Blinkx would go public.  It was actually around 20 days ago, but still, the video search engine has now, in the figurative blink of an eye, announced that it expects the financial maneuver to bring in 25 million pounds.

The idea of a “Google killer” has lost most of its meaning – challenger after challenger came along, assumed that title, and proceeded to fail miserably.  Google Video may face a real threat in the form of Blinkx, however – the Autonomy corporation has announced plans to demerge that video search engine.

Ever since Google’s widely publicized acquisition of YouTube, video enthusiasts have been chomping at the bit to see how the search giant would integrate the video-sharing site into the framework of its proprietary services. It appears that Google has chosen Orkut for its first YouTube mashup.

Want to find an old Monty Python clip? Or watch a Mr. Bean sketch? Odds are that you can do so at Google Video, even though the BBC never gave its permission. This story isn’t about some impending lawsuit, though – reports indicate that “the Beeb” wants to strike a deal with Google and make even more content available.

As online video has evolved, the question of how to advertise and when to advertise has been burning. There are no experts in this realm, only testers, debating about post-roll or pre-roll ads, layered content, and how long an online video viewer would view a commercial. Google is latest to try it out, and they may have a winner.

Online video as a social marketing mechanism has hit full stride with the pervasive popularity of video-sharing site, YouTube. Network television and various record labels have begun to embrace the platform as a new and untapped advertising resource. The presence of major sports entities, however, remains fragmented.

Flach Film, a Paris-based film distributor, has filed suit against Google in Paris Commercial court, citing copyright infringement regarding a movie that appeared on Google Video.

If you follow this industry long enough, you know the slightest alteration of any Google offering, from holiday logos to something between Sergey’s teeth, gets extensive coverage in the blogosphere. Google swapping out the Froogle link on its homepage for Video was another snoozer.