It’s Easter and there’s far too many Google tales to post separately, so for those munching on hot cross buns and planting Easter eggs, all the Google News for Easter that’s fit to post:

Google Launches Free 411 Service
Google has launched it’s own automated 411 directory assistance product, Goog411. If you’re in the US (and maybe Canada, not sure) dial 1-800-GOOG-411 to find the number you’re looking for: the GoogleBot is on standby and is waiting for your call! Call in the next 15 minutes and receive a free….whoops, wrong spiel, but you get the idea.

Google Adsense payout rates exposed
ThreadWatch reports that one of the biggest Adsense publishers in the business, Markus of PlentyofFish has let slip Google’s publisher payout rate on Adsense: 43%. At rates that low you’ve got to wonder why there’s not stronger competition out there.

AOL To Sell Ads Direct, Using Google’s Tools
Search Engine Land reports that the AOL/ Google advertising deal embargo has been lifted: the deal allows AOL to sell ads directly using a white label version of Adwords.

Moves against Google Bombing not effective
Also from Search Engine Land, US President George W Bush is once again ranking highly in Google’s search results for the term “failure”. So much for the much written about crackdown/ fix on Google Bombing.

Originally posted on April 6, 2007 @ 5:39 pm

Soon to be bought by (insert company name here) online advertising giant DoubleClick is planning on entering the Ad Exchange business.

According to a NY Times report, the exchange will be a “Nasdaq-like exchange for the buying and selling of digital advertisements.

The move will see DoubleClick go head to head with Right Media, which currently offers a similar setup, although having previously checked it out, without much success. To be fair though, the idea is a fairly good one, at least on paper, and an organization as large as DoubleClick would most likely deliver a much better product than is currently offered by Right Media, which suffers greatly from a lack of quality advertisers.

Originally posted on April 4, 2007 @ 12:05 am

Mozilla, the folks behind Firefox, have announced that they are developing a new social networking feature for FireFox, dubbed “The Co-Op” that they describe as thus:

“We want to create a fun and easy way to share links with your friends, and to browse the set of links that friends have shared with you. We also want to make it easy to “subscribe” to a friend in order to make it easy to keep track of the pictures, movies, blog posts and status information that they might be posting on a variety of services”

The project already has its own page here. The prototype is available here, but can only be accessed if logged in to Mozilla.

Will it change the world? the mind boggles, but certainly given the increasing market penetration of Firefox, Mozilla has a much better chance than other companies of delivering a product such as this to a wide audience. One to watch.

Originally posted on April 3, 2007 @ 7:34 pm

FBI investigators have been staking out online gambling venues in Second Life, as part of an investigation as to whether the service violates U.S. anti-gambling statutes, including the Illegal Gambling Business Act or the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.

So far the FBI has not confirmed whether they will be taking action against Linden Labs, owners of Second Life, however the company faces not only fines but potential jail time for its directors.

According to a Reuters report, Linden Labs actually invited the FBI in to investigate Second Life so it could be clear on the legalities of it all so they could eventually get an answer either way, but interesting most legal advice would indicate that they are indeed in breach of current laws.

Originally posted on April 3, 2007 @ 8:11 pm