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SearchNews

Google Rumored to Be Working on Apps Store

According to unnamed sources cited by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, Google plans to launch a store where it will sell online business software for use with its own Google Apps products. The Times cites "a person familiar with the project" and the Journal cites "people briefed by the company."

Stanford Endorses Google Books Settlement

The last few months were probably long and hard ones for members of the Google Books team; it had started to seem like the whole world objected to their proposed scanning and sharing settlement.  But it turns out that Stanford is on Google’s side, as a new deal was announced this afternoon.

Old Version of AdWords API Nears Expiration Date

Update: Google is reminding users of the AdWords API that on April 22, most of the services related to v13 will be turned off.

Google is telling users to switch to v200909 as soon as possible to avoid any complications.

Original Article: Google has launched the newest version of the AdWords API v2009 beta. That would be version 200909. Google cites the following as the highlights of the new API:

Google Luring More Account Users with New News Feature?

Google News continues to become a much more personalized experience for users. Back in November, the company launched the Custom Sections Directory feature, which lets users set up sections on topics of interest, which they can share with other users.

Now Google has added the ability to star story clusters that are of interest to each user. You use this feature, just as you would star messages in Gmail or stories in Google reader.

Google Voice Simplifies SMS to Multiple Recipients

Google has taken steps to make sending text messages to multiple recipients a little bit easier with Google Voice. In the past, users had to copy and paste the message for each person on the list.

Google is now letting users send the message to multiple people at once. Users now just need to click on the SMS button at the top of their Google Voice inbox, enter the names/numbers in the "To" field, separated by commas, and write the message.

Businesses Benefit as Customers Share Current Locations

Is the world really ready for geo-location? That’s a question that a lot of companies are answering with a resounding "yes." The rise of smartphones has led to a variety of businesses looking to cash in on your whereabouts. Smartphone users have their devices on them all day long, wherever they go. Naturally, these companies can find ways to capitalize on this.

Report: Google Planning “Aggressive” Pursuit Of AOL Deal

Last month, we learned that AOL’s CEO, ex-Googler Tim Armstrong, doesn’t intend to blindly renew AOL’s search deal with Google when it expires in December.  Google doesn’t appear ready to stand back and let Microsoft or some other company take its place, however.

Google Chrome Extensions Not Limited to Gallery

Google recently launched its extensions Gallery for Chrome, but today the company is reminding users of the browser (which continues to gain popularity) that there are a lot more things you can do with it beyond just what’s in the gallery. Google Chrome 4 supports Greasemonkey user scripts.

Chrome users can use Greasemonkey, which is a Firefox extension that allows developers to customize web pages using javascript, to install any user script with a single click.

Customer Connections Now Important for Google Results

If you are one of those people still skeptical about the business uses of social media, you may be interested to know that Google’s Social Search is no longer just an experiment. Though it does have the beta tag on it, it is now mainstream. This is something we’ve all known would come sooner or later, but now it’s here.

Google Analytics, Chromium Receive Language Upgrades

The folks in charge of science fiction movies that are currently in development may, for the sake of accuracy, want to feature Google’s name on any universal translators.  The company’s continued to move forward in its work with languages by tweaking Google Analytics and a build of Chromium.