It has been a while now that Google has rolled out the great Panda update. The reactions are sharp and overwhelming and it forced Google to open up a new cell, to be precise a new thread, in its Google Webmaster Help center to get some direct feedbacks from the webmasters who are supposed to be wrongly affected by the recent algo shuffle. But there is a catch to it. Google would not care a fig to make an exception in its algo just because your website gets suffered badly from it. So, you need to pull your socks up and get ready for some actions if you are serious about getting your rankings back. Here are some tips that you can try out and of course best of luck:

Look At Your Content: Unique content does not mean that you hire someone and tell him rewrite some existing content from other websites so that it can pass the CopyScape hurdle. This thing is not going to help you anymore. The Panda update is primarily targeted at weeding out low quality content (even though they transpire to be unique) that does not add much value to users’ experience. If you can make your visitors happy, you would not have to do anything for Google. This is as simple as that.

Start A Manhunt: Figure out how many pages of your website are affected by the recent Panda Update. Once you track them out, you will have two options in your hands. Either you will have to edit them and replenish them with fresh and new content. Or you will have to delete them completely from the database.

Try No Index: If any particular section of your website seems worthless or is filled with drivels, get rid of that section by removing the entire thing or try ‘Noindex’. Featuring ‘thin’ content in your website can have negative impacts on the overall performance of your website. These pages are doing more harm than good, and that means you need to make them inaccessible to search engines so that Search Engines index only those pages with original content.

Supplimentary Index: Google is rumored to have a secondary database that mainly contains pages that are less important. Now, as obvious, if you find that the number of Supplimentary index has increased dramatically, it obviates the fact that Google is giving your website less priority.

Make It User Friendly: The bottom-line is that you need to make your website as users friendly as possible. Forget about Google, yes we know how hard it is, just think about the users. Google has already insinuated the fact that it is going to give more importance to users’ behavior, presence of a website in social media etc. In short, all boils down to one thing, keep your visitors busy and happy and it will do the trick.

Patience: - Do not be in a hurry to get thousands of links, just because your website is nowhere in Google SERP. It is not going to work anymore. You need to wield the power of self-control and patience and we hope, you will be able to cruise past this difficult time.

Google did it again; the nerds who performed and the fools who fell for it!! GMail Beta Motion….oh come on! Is this the 21st century or what…?

The stroke of midnight last had many Googlers excited. Google introduced its GMail Beta Motion technology; a new breakthrough in advanced technology that allowed human-computer interaction like never before.

A Google dry write-up on how a computer’s in-built webcam and their spatial-tracking technology can be used to detect and translate human movements into readable commands, had everyone hooked, err…stretching and bending.

Really, if you downloaded the “motion guide” and spent even a couple of minutes trying to to perfect those moves, you were prey to Google’s April Fool prank! But then, you may have already guessed it by now, haven’t you?

Frankly, the “motion guide” lost it for me, although I agree, the rather sad looking man in the tutorial put forth an acceptably convincing demonstration. But don’t get me started on the “safety precautions”! “Make sure to clear the area around you” – pray, who does that before sending an email?

Anything is possible, and so far as technology goes, we might yet see the day when Beta Motion becomes a reality. Until then however, to all those who have done their share of bend and stretch exercises trying to send an email, here’s to us – ‘April Fool’!

Life without Google is almost unthinkable these days. In fact, Google is everywhere. With it you can not only search and chat but also indulge in lots of other interesting stuffs, that too without paying a penny. In a nutshell, Google is here to make your life easy and comfortable. As Google launches new product or service almost every next day, you can easily have a collection of Google apps that will help ease up your workload. Here we have handpicked some of the best Google apps that you should not miss out at any cost:

Google Desktop: – With Google Desktop, you can search your computer as you search on web. You can even make a text search over your email, chats, photos, music, files and other things that you have viewed. Google Desktop puts everything within your reach, which means you would not have to spend your valuable time managing emails, bookmarks, files etc.

Google Toolbar: – It is a must-have toolbar for your Firefox browser. With it, you can share any webpage with your friends. As Google Sidewiki is preinstalled in this toolbar, contributions can be made easily and directly. It is also good at translating web pages instantaneously and automatically.

Google Health: – Google Health is a smart tool to monitor, organize and act on your health information. With this tool, you can have easy access to your own health information, anytime and anywhere. You can keep all your health and wellness information in one place and the good thing about Google Health is that you would not have pay for it.

Google Calendar: – Do you feel embarrass when you miss an important event? If yes, you need to have this tool – Google calendar where you can add details of important events. Moreover, you can access your calendar on the fly. Text message can be sent directly to your cell phone with Google calendar and that means you will never have to miss another event.

Google Reader: – Most of us find it hard to manage our favorite blogs and websites. As the number of bookmark sites increase, you will realize that you need to do something to make them searchable. Here is something that can relieve you from this tiresome job. Google Reader is here to declutter your virtual life. With its built-in public page, you can share interesting items with your friends and of course, it is free.

Google Docs: – Google Docs is a viable alternative of Microsoft Word. But unlike MS Word, you can access it anywhere, anytime. All you need to have is a PC with internet connection and nothing else. With this magnificent online tool, you can make presentation, conduct surveys and manage documents effortlessly.

Google Trends: – It is another powerful tool to check out the current trends of virtual world. All you have to do is put the keywords and hit the “enter” button and you will get all the info that you need.

Google has always tried to empower and encourage website designers and developers so that they can build engaging website that can add value to user experience. Over the years, Google has launched different tools and almost all of them are highly effective for building, improving and maintaining website. However, the most interesting thing about them is that they do not come at a price. You need to have a Google account and nothing else if you wish to try these website design and development tools. Here in this article, we have enlisted a list of some of the best Google products that may prove instrumental in designing and developing a website:

Webmaster Tools (google.com/webmasters/tools/home?hl=en)
Of all the Google products, Google Webmaster Tools is the most versatile. It comes with loads of interesting features that can help you analyze website in myriads of ways. You can check whether or not your website has been attacked by virus or malware and you can also pinpoint spider crawl errors. It also offers HTML suggestions and some information on how to speed up the loading time of your website.

Google Chrome Developer Tools (blog.chromium.org/2009/06/developer-tools-for-google-chrome.html)
Testing and debugging your website in a web browser is the most convenient and easiest way of ensuring the stability and performance of a website. Being aware of this vital issue, Google Chrome has come up with an all new suite of effective tools that help you inspect different elements of your website meticulously before making it live. Some website developers even argue that this tool works even better than the popular Firebug.

Page Speed (code.google.com/speed/page-speed/)
As Google is passing more importance to loading time of a website, website owners are getting cagey about it since the ranking of a website is invariably associated with it. Page Speed is one such tool that lets you speed up your website by trimming redundant things as far as possible. You just need to install this amazing tool in your web browser and it will analyze your website automatically and then will show you the results.

Google Code Search (google.com/codesearch)
You are writing a mail function but it is not working somehow. Now, do not bang your head against the table rather do some searches in Google Code Search to find out what is wrong with your written codes. Google Code Search finds out results from different publicly available sample codes and it comes with an advance and intuitive search interface that will let you specify your search queries specifically.

Google Website Optimizer (google.com/websiteoptimizer/b/index.html)
Usability of website usually tops the list of concerns of most of the website designers and developers. Now if you are unable to make decide between two different designs, you can get some valuable feedbacks from the users by using Google Website Optimizer. With this powerful tool, you will be able to experiment with your website look and feel by launching A/B testing.

Browser Size (browsersize.googlelabs.com/)
You need to check out how your website gets loaded in different web browsers. Browser Size is one such powerful tool that will give you an excellent opportunity to explore how your website renders in different web browsers.

Google Analytics (google.com/analytics/)
This is an excellent and the most powerful tool of all Google products that will give you useful statistics about how your website is performing in terms of traffic. Various options are available to analyze traffic source of your website.

mod_pagespeed: A Tool With Unlimited Opportunities
Google’s fascination with speed is not showing any signs of ebbing down anytime soon. In fact, Google has gone an extra mile by coming up with a tool that can make your website load faster than ever. It is a part of Google’s noble initiative to enhance web experience by making it faster and safer and thus releases a new tool “mod_pagespeed” that has little to do with the complexities that are quite common when you are dealing with CSS, JavaScript, HTML and other related server issues.

What mod_pagespeed is?
“mod_pagespeed” is basically a module for the Apache HTTP Server that is developed to perform different page speed optimization processes automatically. Though this tool is still in the development stage, it is powerful enough to redress some common optimization issues such as payload size, client-server round trips, cache and some other aspects of web performance. It has been observed that mod_pagespeed is powerful enough to reduce page-loading time by 50% and if it can be employed properly, it can do better than this.

Here are some tasks that can augur well for your website but it is painful to do so manually:

• Extending cache lifetime of the images and logo of a website without affecting updation of these images at the same time.
• Re-compressing Images
• Making small tweaks in the pages that are developed in CMS

These are quite complex issues and sometime may appear nerve wracking but with Google mod_pagespeed, you will be able to ride past them. Google has already teamed up with Go Daddy and they are optimistic about making the web faster that goes in line with the guidelines of Google. In addition to that, Google is also working with Cotendo for the same purpose.

You can download this revolutionary app here .

Google is showing its benevolence by offering a web clinic for the US webmasters so that they can get some good advice regarding the visibility of their website from none other than the search engine giant. This is definitely an ambitious move of Google, who is clearing targeting webmasters to make their websites more user-friendly and search engine friendly. However, this offer is available exclusively for the non-profit organizations and Google as it seems is not interested in extending this facility to other websites.

Though Google Clinic is going to focus on the problems of non-profit organizations, government and business sites are likely to get benefited from it. Interested webmasters are invited to get registered and post information about their website. Google will then analyze those websites and will suggest how to improve the quality of the sites to improve its visibility. Analysis of the websites will be posted in the follow-up post.

Google has already outlined the guidelines for the participants that include:

• The website has to be associated with an officially registered non-profit organization.
• You need to verify the ownership of your website via Google Webmaster Tools. You can do it easily by signing into your Google Webmaster Tools account (https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/)
• Before you get registered to Google Clinic, you need to make sure that your website meets all the webmaster quality guidelines, as Google will analyze your website against those guidelines later on.

So, are you ready to get registered? If yes, just furnish some basic details about your website here and there you go.

Interestingly, Google has never mentioned the term SEO in the entire post though the entire effort is geared at making sites for SEO friendly. So, wait few more days to get some good advice from Google and hopefully, they will give us some good inputs on how we can make our website more search engine friendly.

Google is now having an all-pervasive presence in both virtual and physical worlds. It is in your office, in your home, in the roads (Google Street View) and by making a foray into the Television industry, it has sneaked into your bedroom. Now, do not hate it for doing so because Google is redefining the very concept of Home entertainment as well as website design, and users are getting a thundering opportunity to surf between TV and web content and that even at real time.

Opportunity and Challenges
The synchronization of TV content and web content has definitely heralded a new era in but it has at the same time opened us Pandora ’s Box, since designers are going to face a barrage of troubles to make a website looks impressive even when it is being viewed in TV. Though it is relatively a new area of work, you need to arm your website with adequate ammo so it can face the challenges of the coming generation with equal ease.

Area of Focus
Since TV viewers sit far from the TV screen, you might find it hard to make your website readable at that distance. Navigation is another segment where troubles are expected to surge since just putting links on the right side panel would not work here at all. Here are some other issues that you need to focus:

• Blank space between different elements has to large enough so that viewers can figure out the difference between them without making any strenuous effort. This typically known as white space or padding and you need to be a little particular while using white space your website for TV.
• Use large fonts and graphics so that viewers can recognize them even when they are viewing it from long distance.
• Since wide screen monitor comes with a large and usable horizontal space, it is always better to feature navigation in the side, as it will help you place important elements horizontally.

Layout
Layout is another important area where you need to give utmost attention. Since TV screen contains a limited number of pixels, you need to be a bit cautious while using images in your website.

Make It Easy On the Eyes
Try to shun lightweight text or narrow text. Instead, keep your faith on simple sans serif font and apply anti-aliasing in order to increase readability. It is good to make a choice between Droid Serif and Droid Sans font families, since both of them are supported by Google TV.

• Font embedding techniques can be adopted for further customizing users’ experience.
• Try to sum up a line within 5 to 7 words. Do not make it longer than 12 words.
• Break long text into small chunks.
• Use light text on dark background.
• Paragraphs should not exceed 90 words.

Color Guidelines
Compared to computer screen, TV screen have higher saturation and contrast level and therefore, you need to maintain some guidelines to make your website look impressive and unique:

• Do not use bright colors since they can cause strain on eyes and can get distorted at times.
• Be sure to test your website in different TV modes such as Games, Vivid, Standard, Theater etc.
• Try to use pure white sparingly. Instead, you can use 240/240/240 (RGB) or #F1F1F1.
• Test your website on lower quality displays.

Limit scrolling
It is a fact that Google TV does not scroll down seamlessly and smoothly and therefore, try not to feature large content in your website.

Know The Safe Area
Every TV has a safe area i.e. an area that is surrounded by a small amount of screen space. If you place anything beyond this safe area, it will not be displayed. Therefore, try to keep 10% margin at each of these resolutions:

• 1920×1080 resolution, recommended width is 1728×972
• 1280×720 resolution, recommended width is 1152×648

Keep navigation Simple
Since people watch TV to relax, you should stop playing with the navigation system. Make it dead simple.

Google is good at delivering search results instantly so what the heck is all about Google Instant Search? Google Instant search is basically a new feature that is purely based on the assumptions of the users behavior and it gives random suggestions on probable search queries that users may find useful or interesting while typing certain words in Google search box.  So, with Google Instant, you are about to get a preview of search result of a search  query while you are typing.  But was it not there in Google? Then what is new about it?

Wait ! Have you checked how the search results is getting changed automatically whenever you choose a particular search query from the list of drop-down queries. Google Instant search is using a new autocomplete technology for showing probable search results of predicted search terms even when you are not hitting the Search button.

So, what purpose does it serve?

• It relives your from making searches with different combinations of keywords since now on you will be able to get a fair idea of the probable outcome of a particular search query thanks to the newly introduced Google Instant Search.
• Webmasters are likely to notice a significant rise in Impressions in Google Webmaster Tools as your website will appear each time a user start typing a keyword that is somehow related to your website.
• Users will be able to save their time and effort since they will now have a preview of different search queries.
• Google Instant is expected to cut down average time that users spend for making a search in Google so far. Users are likely to save at least 2 to 5 seconds each time they search with Google Instant.
• Power users are definitely going to adore it, since it much faster and smarter than previous Google search.

Will It work in all Platforms or in all conditions?
Definitely not. This new feature has been rolled out for web searches and that means, you are not going to try this in your cell phone for the time being. One more thing, if your internet connection is slow, Google might make this feature invisible.

Google Instant search might not work with those queries, which are considered to be offensive or lewd.

So far so good but still you may find it utterly disgusting and want to get rid of this thing as soon as possible. So, here it goes.

Disabling Google Instant

Google knows that it cannot make everyone happy with a new product and which is why there is an option to disable this feature in Google Search. There is a small link to the right of the Google search Box that bears these three words: “Instant is on”. Just click on to that link and choose “Instant is Off”.

There is an alternative way making it off permanently. Go to Google search preferences and you will find there an option to make it disable for once and all.

Not an Yahoo moment for Yahoo as its millions of loyal fans are crying hoarse over its much speculated and much anticipated integration with Bing that is supposed to ring the death bell of a great search engine. This is pathetic reduction of a great search engine to an appendage of Bing. Yahoo which was once considered to be the arch rival of Google, has sold itself to Bing and it is no more a search engine. All its secrets that were developed painstakingly by some of the best developers of the world for years are in the hands of Bing, who is now revving up use this new arsenal to invade the territory of Google.

Yahoo Up For Sale
However, Yahoo is not going to acknowledge this fact. It still believes that it will be able to retain its position as a search engine in coming years. Shashi Seth, Senior Vice President, Yahoo! Search Products, in his latest post in YsearchBlog has proudly stated “Yahoo! Search will always be a Search Engine”. But the reality does not say so. It seems people are already shifting their attention from Yahoo search to Bing and we believe that Bing is relishing it.

Yahoo: The New Yes-man
The process of annihilation was started most probably on August 17, 2010 since in that day, Yahoo has posted three posts in its YSearchBlog for making people aware of the coming changes. As was to be expected, it tried its level best to convince the readers that this move is going to benefits the users by enhancing users experience but this is nothing more than just a façade. When the merger will be completed, we will like to have a new Yahoo, which will lack all its originality. It will just be a mere shadow of what it had once, it will be transformed into a yes-man of Bing.

Bing Is Better, Smarter
From now on, search listing on Yahoo! Search is likely to be powered by Bing. However, this change will come into effect in the US and Canada at the initial stage. It is likely to take 2 years more to complete the full transition in other parts of the world. Yahoo! Video, Image and Web search are now powered by Microsoft platform in Canadian and the US market.

Bing is visibly happy with the outcome. In its blog it has expressed its unbridled happiness for the successful completion of this task. Here are the excerpts:

Today I am happy to share that Bing is powering Yahoo!’s search results in the US and Canada (English only for now, the other languages will come in the weeks and months ahead).

What Should Webmasters Do?
Try to please Bing. This is all you can do since there is no need to please Yahoo anymore. If you can manage to get better ranking in Bing, we hope that you will be able to get better ranks in Yahoo as well. Try to keep a close eye on the latest developments and pray to God.

Has Google ultimately found its calling in shopping or is it becoming a shopalcoholic? This is probably the most debated question as of now, as Google has gulped down another popular website and this time it is none other than Like.com, which is one of the most favored destinations for a majority of online shoppers.

Google Loving it
You may like it or not but the fact is that Like.com has eventually been overtaken by Internet behemoth Google. Like.com, which was a having a good time with its loyal visitors, but as it seems, it could not resist the temptation of getting merged with Google. And as far as Google’s motif is concerned, what it is trying to do is to revive its long-forgotten product: Google Product search but this is just a wild guess since no one at Google is willing to spill the bean. There was no disclosure on financial term but the market is abuzz with the rumor that the takeover might cost Google a whopping $100 million. However, Google is keeping a mum on this issue.

Like.com will continue to operate separately as stated by Google and therefore, there is no reason to press the panic button yet if you are a regular visitor of Like.com. This website is specialized in a technology that is basically built on visual search. People used to visit this website for gathering information about latest fashion trend and for getting supercool shopping deals at a mind-blowing rate. Here, you can get almost anything for making a fashion statement that may range from handbags to hanky, from clothing to garments.

Like.Com Not A Loser:
Like.Com is not going to lose its identity as dictated by its owner in its home page. This deal in all its probability is like to supervise its vision and supercharge its passion and probably, it is going to create a fertile ground for Google so that it can develop new and revolutionary products. Like.com is visibly excited and ecstatic about this deal as evident from the remark of Riya chief executive Munjal Shah.

Doubts Creep In
But there are some serious doubts over this acquisition. Critics are not sure whether this deal would do any good to Google or not. Another disturbing fact is that for the last couple of months, Like.com was finding it difficult to increase its popularity and therefore, when Google approaches it, it agreed to its proposal.

However, this move is quite expected since Bing is turning the heat on Google in the search engine market by initiating the process of integrating its algo into Yahoo results.

Google is getting smarter day by day as evident from its latest move to roll out another major update for its image search option that is posed to revolutionize the way we used to search images so far. Its image search engine now appears to be armed with a number of new refreshing features that are sure to give users enough reasons to smile. After testing huge success in the field of web search, Google, as it seems, is not leaving any stone unturned for expanding its presence further. Since it had drawn flak from different sources for presenting somewhat disjointed or loosely jointed images before, Google is now cautious in its move.

In its post, Google has announced that it has already indexed a staggering number of images, approximately 10 billion images, so far which is certainly a rare feat. As more and more people are taking the image search route for finding related information, Google is treating this issue carefully and with meticulously attention. It even vowed to make it more powerful and feature rich in coming years.

Here are some of the refreshing features of Google Image search: -

Thumbnail Preview: – Google image search is now offering thumbnail preview of images in the result page and it is a much larger than what it had earlier. Moreover, you are likely to have better browsing experience as it is specifically designed for high-resolution screens and modern browsers.

Quick View: – Google image search is offering dense tiled layout that will enable users to locate desired images more quickly than ever.

Instant Scrolling: – With this new interface, you will be able to scroll between pages and can wade through the muddles of thousand of images without getting lost. However, page numbers are there so that you would not get lost.

Larger Preview: – This new interface comes with a hover panel that allows users to get a larger preview of images whenever one mouse over a given thumbnail image.

But all is not picture perfect with Google image search. It has some serious shortcoming that it needs to redress if it wants to make its presence felt in this field too. Here are some:

Main Page Gets Sidelined: – It seems that Google is focusing too much on the images rather than the source of the images. For example, when you click onto an image, you are likely to get redirected to a page where the main website appears just underneath the image. This is not certainly what we are looking for. It is deliberate attempt to sideline the source of the image.

Clumsy Appearance: – We are not at all impressed with the appearance of the search results. The gap between images is too thin and therefore, they run the risk of overlapping one another.

The month long standoff between Google and China is now experiencing an unexpected thaw with the China’s announcement to renew Google’s license. However, it is not a one-side victory for Google since it has already stopped redirecting its visitors to Google.com.hk. Therefore, it is a win-win situation for both the belligerent parties. China has taken a soft stance in this issue to uplift its global image whereas what Google is trying to do is to regain its lost position in China.

Google has already made an announcement that it is pleased with the decision taken by the Government of China and it is looking forward to continue its operation in China. However, Google has already made it clear that it is not willing to cooperate on the sensitive issue of imposing censorship and it is going to show uncensored results in google.com.hk. Jessica Powell, Tokyo-based Google spokeswoman has cleared that they have asked the Chinese government to renew license on those products that do not come under the purview of any censorship.

This news has already bought fortune for Google. Price of Google’s share rose 4% in pre-market trading whereas share price of Google’s main rival Baidu has taken a sharp nosedive by falling as much as 7%. This is a clear indication of the return of Google’s fortune.

The search giant has already stopped Chinese users from getting automatically redirected to its Hong Kong search engine, instead it is offering an option for the users. However, as it seems that this move has not pleased the Chinese government.

Though not all is good for Google in China, still at it has managed to get a much-needed lifeline to keep its hope alive.

As virtual platform is getting crammed with millions of websites and blogs all churning out thousands of web-pages and articles each day, it is becoming increasing tough for Google and other search engines to determine which website deserves to be on the top of a particular search query. However, there is no apparent reason to demystify the importance of link juice, content, website design and website relevancy as of now, but the importance of page speed as it is dictated by Google itself is sure to play a decisive role in determining the ranking of a website in Google.

In a latest announcement, Google made it clear that it is trying out incorporate the value of page speed in its algo. Though it will have minimal impacts on the current rankings in Google, it has already sent shockwaves around the world and sparked wild and widespread rumor. But there is no need to press the panic button yet, as this incorporation will not initiate any drastic change in the current ranking.

Page Speed depends on a website’s response to a user’s query. As Google always tries to deliver relevant results to its users to improve users’ experience, it is trying to take page speed into account while considering ranking of a website. Now, how on earth you will be able to evaluate the current page speed of your website. Here are some simple tools that you can try out:

Webmaster Tool: – Just log in to your Webmaster Tool Account, then go to Labs > Site Performance. It will show your site’s speed as experienced by the users.
WebPagetest:- It is another useful tool that allows website owners to analyze the load performance of their website.
Yslow:- It is superb tool from Yahoo that will give valuable inputs to enhance the page speed of your website.
Page Speed: It is fabulous open source Firefox/Firebug add-on with myriads of features that will definitely help you to make proper analysis.

At the initial stage, the impacts of page speed can only be felt in Google.com. Rankings in other country specific results such as Google.co.in or Google.com.au will remain unchanged for the time being. Do you want to more about page speed, just get in touch with us. We will definitely help you out in every possible way.

The long tussle between China and Google has ultimately snowballed into an unprecedented crisis. Google has finally announced that it is not interested to continue its operation in Mainland China, and has finally redirected Google.Cn to Google.Com.Hk, where users will be able to view uncensored version of Google search result.

Google is aware of the fact that Chinese Government may ban its people from accessing Google.Com.Uk anytime soon, but still it refuses to budge under any pressure. Google’s strong stance against the Chinese hegemony is clear indication of its unwillingness to kowtow to Chinese authority or to make a compromise with its core policy. Though both the parties have made it clear that this development will have no impact on Sino-USA relationship, but things may take an ugly turn if Chinese government takes any stern action against this leading search engine company in near future.

So far, Chinese Authorities have taken draconian actions against Google by censoring its search result. So, Google did not have any other alternative to hit back to it by discontinuing its web search in China.

Has the time come to bid adieu to our old friend Facebook or our new found love for twitting? Still wondering why? Simple, Google is once again in the headline with the launch of Google Buzz, which is all set to give Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites a run for their money. Well we are neither devoted worshippers of Google, as you are taking it to be, nor are we adamant to sort out the flaws in its newly launched social networking sites forcefully. What we are trying to do is to conduct a reality check here in this article.

Is it something groundbreaking, is something awe-inspiring or is it the repetition of another failure project of Google. Well, Time has the answer but for the time being, we will try to decipher what is missing out there in Google Buzz or what is most amazing about it.

Buzz is Here to Stay: This is the probably the most encouraging five words that you can use to predict the future of Google Buzz. Buzz may or may not be touted as a brilliant example of Google’s marketing blitzkrieg in future, but one thing is dead certain that you cannot overlook it completely. The massive marketing campaign initiated by Google is sure to tempt you to get into it sooner or later. Here lies the success of Google Buzz.

Is It Full Baked? : Most of us tired of using Google’s beta service which makes us believe that Google’s love for beta will never end but thankfully it seems that Google has ultimately managed to shed its infatuation for the beta tag. Google Buzz is a complete package; a fully backed product with delightful features. We have logged in our Google Buzz accounts (to be precise Gmail accounts) and it seems that everything is working perfectly and smoothly.

Following Footsteps of Twitter: Sound too harsh. Just give us some time to explain it. Just ask yourself what is new about Google Buzz? You will scratch your head until you reach the conclusion that there is nothing new or innovative about Google Buzz save its Gmail like interface. But this is not something unique, is it? It is more or less similar to that of Twitter and the only difference is that there is no word limit, but this is hardly anything novel.

Fuss or Buzz: Does Google Buzz really worth the buzz that is keep humming even after realizing the fact that there is nothing interesting about it? You cannot call it micro blogging site, because there is no word limit and what’s more, you cannot call it blog simply because Google does not reckon it to be. Then what the heck is all about it?

Not In My Inbox Again: You are bound to shriek with terror when you will see that the thread that will create in your Google Buzz account is getting stored in your inbox. Weird concept. Now why on earth we need them in our inboxes when most of us are struggling to keep our inboxes clean? We have not found solve this mystery. If anyone of you knows the reason please let us know about it. We will be glad to know it.

Now, the dust has finally started to settle down. Users are giving their feedbacks. But it will take some more days to decipher whether Google Buzz will survive in already crammed networking world or not. Let’s hope for the best.

The war of words has just taken a whole new dimension; as both Google and China are crossing their swords over a controversial issue that can trigger untimely exist of Google from China’s emerging Internet market. The issue came into light when officials at Google confirmed that an attack of an unprecedented level was plotted against it corporate infrastructure located at China to unearth information on some Chinese human right activists. Though cyber attack on Google is anything but new, the magnitude and the purpose of this recent attack, (as Google presents it) originated from China, is something to be noted carefully.

Google has taken a tough stance on this issue and has officially announced that it will no longer abide by the guidelines set the Chinese government that go against its core values and policy. It even went on further by stating that it is ready to withdraw its service from China altogether if Chinese government refuses to budge. This move, if taken at all, can dent China’s global image but on the other hand, Google will have to bid adieu to an emerging market consists of 300 millions users. Can Google bear with this huge lose? Will it take back the gauntlet that it has thrown down to China? Will Google be able to crumble the Great Wall of China? These are some of the questions that have kept the world guessing.

The long drama has finally ended and the climax has become evident at last. It takes more than four long months to seal an agreement between two former belligerent parties, Yahoo and Microsoft, to tie a knot of mutual understanding for ensuring better future and to give a tough competition to their main rival – the Big G. Rumor is abuzz that the hegemony of Google has come to end. Even some over enthusiastic people are crying in joy that this deal has put the first nail on the dominance of Google in search engine industry but what I think is just the opposite. The pack, which I believe has done in a hurry without caring a fig of its future implication, vindicates the sheer hapless condition of both Microsoft and Yahoo, who hitherto have become weary of building up futile resistance against the ubiquitous presence of Google.

The ground truth is that Microsoft has experienced an unbelievable setback even after launching its so-called decision search engine: The Bing, which failed miserably. On the other hand, Yahoo has virtually become invisible during this period when Google and Bing were engaged in blood curdling online battle. Ultimately Bing was humiliated in the hands of Google and Microsoft has got the worst shock when Google announced that it would offer Chrome based OS in coming year. Therefore, it is clear that this deal is just a continuation of this series of incidents. Now, lets us check out what the deal is all about:

In simple English, this revolutionary deal is aimed at improving the web search experience altogether for both the advertisers and the users. Yahoo Search will now be powered by Microsoft and Yahoo will become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both Microsoft and Yahoo. Report has it that this deal will pave the way for new innovation and better web experience, as the developers of both Microsoft and Yahoo will work in collaboration. Users will be able to exploit the power and the strength of both search engines. Check out more form here.

The excitement has not been subsided yet since Google has announced its much-hyped free Internet service – Google Voice. But it seems that Google is in no mood to give its competitors a slightest chance to make a foray into its bastion. Though Google Voice is now in experimental stage and cannot be accessed without getting invitation save in US, Google has cleared its intention by adding another jaw dropping feature in this service, which has not been launched in full fledged form yet! Google has introduced a change in Google voice, which will facilitate the task of making outgoing calls from ones Google Voice number. A brand new Google Voice application for Android and Blackberry has released by Google, which will enable the users to send SMSs and make outgoing calls with their respective Google Voice numbers without using Quick Call button or dialing their Google Voice number. This new mobile application is designed in such a way that it will act as an integral part of your mobile phone and thereby helping you to get rid of those nagging problems. So from now, users will be able to dial a number directly from their mobile sets through Google Voice.

It is remarkable that Google has introduced this change based on the feedbacks of those lucky few that have managed to grab the much-coveted invitation from Google Voice. Here are some of the cool things that you will be able to do with Google Voice (obviously if you were lucky enough to get invitation from Google Voice):

• Dial international number at a very reasonable rate.
• You can send those messages, which display your Google Voice Number.
• Read those messages that are being sent to your Google Voice number.
• You will be access the history of your phone call almost instantaneously.

Now the most vital question: where to download this app? Just visit: m.google.com/voice or just search with the term “Google Voice”. As Google Voice is only available in U.S., you need to apply for an invitation. So what are you waiting for? Just apply for an invitation from Google Almighty.

Nine months have been spent since the launch of Google Chrome. Much have been said and discussed in the last few months about the possibility of an imminent announcement of a new Operating System from Google. Ultimately, the wish has finally fulfilled with Google’s announcement of launching a web based OS which will bring a massive change in the traditional concept of an operating system. An open source version of Google Chrome will be available from the second half of 2010. As expected this announcement has created a furor in the online industry.

There is no doubt in the fact that Google has geared up for the next round of bout with its arch rival, which was initiated with the launched of much hyped decision search engine Bing. It matters a little whether Bing has helped Microsoft to regain its position or not, but it is crystal clear that it has incurred the wrath of Google. This announcement will definitely give Microsoft a run for its money.

Image Source – www.ff2d.com

Some Features of Google Chrome OS
Google Chrome OS is going to be designed for those who loves to live in the world of web and for those as well who use Internet in every now and then. Checking mail, getting latest updates or sending message to friend will not be cumbersome. No longer you will have to wait for your PC to boot, your browser to start up and to get things under control. Google aims at enabling computers to do these instantaneously by making its Chrome OS simple, light weight and secured. Though initially Google Chrome OS will target netbooks that performs some simple tasks similar to that of net surfing, later it will foray into other fields as well. It will have a minimalist look, which goes well with Google’s user-friendly approach. By using this web browser, users will be able to avoid the possible attacks of malware and virus.

Google has declared that it will work in collaboration with a number of netbook manufacturers for bringing a new series of netbooks in the market that will comply with Google Chrome OS. Users can use either ARM chips or x86 for running Google Chrome OS.

For more information visit Google Official Blog.

As more and more companies have started recruiting people irrespective of their race, religion, gender and nationality, they are bound to face some of the common problems associated with Multicultural Workforce. The concept of “Multicultural Workforce” is gaining currency in the US, as a large number of US business conglomerates is recruiting people of different nations for operating their worldwide business smoothly. In reality, multicultural workforce is associated with a number of advantages that have overshadowed some of its trivial disadvantages like cultural difference, personality conflict and communication problem. Some of the unique benefits of multicultural workforce are specified below:

• It gives a competitive edge.
• It inspires high level of creativity and promotes innovation in the workplace.
• Synchronization in workplace and high turn out.

Google has successfully incorporated the concept of multiculturalism in its work culture that has enabled it to promote innovation and to emulate its competitors in different fields. Half of the total Google’s employees at its Mountain View headquarter in the US are from overseas. Presently almost 2000 employees are working on temporary visas in Google out of a total number of 20000 employees and a large section of them have not born in the US. Google’s Mountain View office can be termed as a perfect showcase of international workforce and the rooms are named after some foreign cities to celebrate its multicultural workforce. Want to know more? Click here.