YouTube and Checkout Non-profit programs

Google blog has announced YouTube and Checkout Non-profit programs.

YouTube unveiled its Non-Profit Program at the Clinton Global Initiative to help non-profit organizations more easily connect with the world's largest online video community. Online videos has emerged as a unique tool for demonstrating the needs of organization in a uniquely compelling fashion. Initially there are 13 participating organizations including American Cancer Society, Friends of the Earth, and YouthNoise.

Google Checkout for Non-profits offers the ability to collect & process donations. Checkout for Non-Profits can be implemented directly into a non profit site. Another major feature is that It offers supporters the satisfaction of knowing that 100 percent of their contributions will be sent to the non-profit, as Google has committed to processing donations through Checkout for free through at least the end of 2008.

More information available at http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/youtube-and-checkout-for-non-profit.html

HAVE GOOGLE, YAHOO, MSN, MAMMA, ASK, ALLTHEWEB, WIKIPEDIA TOOLBAR IN ONE TOOLBAR

Yes, You can have all these toolbars in one toolbar i.e. Groowe Search toolbar.

Groowe Search toolbar bundles toolbar functions for many search engines, shopping sites, download sites, including Google toolbar, Yahoo, Amazon, EBay, Ask, Msn, Download.com, Wikipedia, Digg, del.icio.us and others. The entire toolbar reconfigures when you select a different site and it includes many advanced features found in each engine or site. You can also easily repeat your search on all sites included in toolbar.

Toolbar is available for Internet Explorer and Firefox.

More information available at http://www.groowe.com/

Google on Top again

Google has received 64% of all US searches in August 2007. Hitwise has announced that Google has accounted for 63.98% percent of all US searches in the four weeks ending September 1, 2007. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 22.87%, 7.98% and 3.41% percent respectively. The remaining search engines encountered 1.68% of all search engines.

MSN Search percentage has gone down from last months 8.79% to 7.98% & Ask.com percentage has increased from 3.21% to 3.49%. Google & Yahoo are rock steady on the top.

More info available on Hitwise

Official DMOZ blog

Open Directory project has launched the official DMOZ blog. The blog will be the official source for information, insight, and updates about DMOZ, the Open Directory Project (ODP).

The blog will be used by them for:

- Provide authentic messages about DMOZ and the efforts of our volunteer community.
- Highlight enhancements, both current and future.
- Allow editors to showcase their categories and describe, in their own words, why DMOZ is so important.
- Recruit new editors

Additionally they also want to use the blog to get the feedback from the community as what they think about DMOZ, is there anythin which they want to get fixed etc. etc.

More information available at http://blog.dmoz.org/

New Adwords feature

Google Adwords blog has announced that they have launched a new Adwords feature: the Conversion Optimizer beta. This feature will automatically manage bids according to a maximum CPA goal. Maximum cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bid is the amount advertiser is willing to pay for a conversion. With this feature the process of monitoring and adjusting cost-per-click (CPC) bids in order to get more conversions for a lower cost is automated. You simply specify a maximum cost-per-acquisition (CPA) bid for each ad group. The Conversion Optimizer manages your CPC bids for you, making adjustments and showing your ads only when you're likely to get conversions.

More information is available on Adwords Blog

Microsoft in Talks to Buy Facebook Stake

Microsoft is in talks to buy 5% stake in Facebook, putting the valuation of Facebook at $10 billion or higher according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.

The articles also states that Google has also expressed strong interest in a Facebook stake which can lead Microsoft to another battle with Google.

More information about this is available on The Wall Street Journal.

Google Search trends are now updated daily

Google blog announced that Google Trends will now be updated daily with the latest information. Before that it was updated only once a month. In addition to that they have also created a feed for Hot trends. Hot trends can give you information about the fastest rising search queries are on Google.

Emoticon search :)

Ask.com blog reveled that they have started emoticons search. You can simply search for most popular emoticons by simply entering the characters into a search box. Each result appears as a Smart Answer at the top of a results page, containing a definition of what the emoticon stands for..

They have also given few examples of what people can search for:

:-)

:-(

;)

X(

:-O

Smiley -:) is 25 years old

Happy Birthday Smiley -:) ...

25 years ago, the first email message with a smiley emoticon :-) was sent by Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Professor Scott E. Fahlman.

Now Internet is changing and text is not the only way to communicate online, emoticons have become an essential part of communicating online. We are using them into e-mails, message board posts, and instant messages.

More information is available on News.com

Google Gadget Ads

Google has introduced Google Gadget Ads. This enable individual advertisers and agencies to create ads using maps, images, audio, video, Flash, HTML or JavaScript. The ads can reach Internet users in more than 20 languages and over 100 countries. Advertisers will be able to choose between cost-per-click and cost-per-impression pricing models as well as target their ads based on site context, domain, geography and demographics.

http://www.google.com/adwords/gadgetads/