RIP AltaVista

AltaVista, once the best search engine in the world, was put to rest by Yahoo! The announcement of its demise was made on June 28 as part of some other services Yahoo! was shutting down. When you visit AltaVista.com as of July 8, you will be automatically re-directed to Yahoo.com.

Google eBookstore launches in Canada

Google has launched its competitive Google eBooks in Canada. They're going head to head against the likes of Amazon.ca and Indigo.ca (Chapters). Barnes & Noble does not have a Canadian presence. Google's offerings can be read on any current technology platform: Android operating system devices, smartphones, Apple products, Web browsers and "any dedicated ebook reader that supports the Adobe eBook platform, including the Reader™ from Sony".

While there are supposed to be around two million public domain books you can download for free, there is no one-click way to find them. You have to search for and then click the "Free Only" button on the search results page. There are, however, two "Best of the Free" lists, one for "classics" and one for Canadiana. The Canadiana one is rather short and I suspect is based on the number of times users have downloaded the titles.

The search results sorting options are also rather primitive: Any price or Free, and Relevance or Date published. The Date published is in descending order (most recent to oldest).

For this to be a useful tool, there need to be many more filtering options such as by author (A-Z and Z-A for starters), by title (A-Z and Z-A for starters), by date range (by decades and specific years for starters) and by publishers. How hard is it to figure this stuff out ahead of time Google?

Gigapixel art, the Google Art Project

The Google Art Project was started by Google employee Amit Sood. Launched on February 1, 02011 at London's Tate Britain gallery, the Art Project contains content from 17 major galleries and collections around the world and allow a virtual visitor to explore these museums and one art art using "gigapixel" technology. The virtual tours use the same technology as the Street View you experience through Google Maps.

SepiaTown, sharing historic photographs the Web 2.0 way

SepiaTown.com is a new Web site that allows individuals and institutions to share historic photographs the Web 2.0 way, via a Google Maps mashup. According to the site, "The objective of SepiaTown is to map a virtual past by collecting and mapping a vast collection of historical and vintage photographs, prints, film, audio and other media." SepiaTown, Inc. is based in Sunnyside, New York. PCMag.com named SepiaTown one of its Top 100 Web Sites of 2010 in the Undiscovered: Info category.

Real Live Search with the Bing API was there first

Over at Search Engine Journal, Yvonne Bell reports that an Australian developer Long Zheng created an app in 02009 called Real Live Search that uses the Microsoft Bing search engine API to produce the kind of "instant search" results Google was touting in its announced improvement on September 9, 02010. But while USA Today's Technology Live interview with Bing director Stefan Weitz referenced Zheng's app, it is not an official Microsoft offering. Here's what Weitz said:

Weitz: The [Google Instant Search] interface itself isn't anything new. There was a site put up last year that does the same thing with Bing APIs. The magic was they (Google) were able to do it at scale, for all of their searchers. It's an impressive technical accomplishment for sure.

In response to the question of whether Bing will counter Google Instant Search with something like Zheng's app, Weitz stated that "We have a fundamentally different philosophy about how search is evolving. It's not about giving you much more links faster, it really is about getting you the information you need to make a decision faster in the format that makes the most sense."

Six Apart's Vox blog publishing service closing September 30, 02010

While the comment spammers who invaded the Vox blog publishing system will be disappointed and possibly helped initiate the process, Six Apart has notified its Vox blog users that the service is shutting down effective September 30, 02010. You can either migrate to Six Apart's subscription-based TypePad service or use an import tool at WordPress.com or Posterous to move your blog. I was able to migrate my one Vox blog, The Fictional World of Archives, Art Galleries and Museums, so that it too is now part of Google's Blogspot service.

Google Real Time Search launches, ho-hum, or, bah, humbug

After being caught out by Google on Google Wave, I can't say I'm all that excited by Google Real Time Search, a new Web site for those who want only "real time" results. According to the Learn more about Realtime Search link below the search field box, "Realtime Search lets you see up-to-the-second social updates, news articles and blog posts about hot topics around the world."

Basically, what this "new" search feature from Google provides is results from the Updates link first, in other words, you're taken straight to the Updates results page instead of the Everything results page. From what I can tell at first glance, this is exactly the same stuff you'd see on a normal Google search of Everything and then clicking the Updates link to see what's there.

Ho-hum, or is it, bah, humbug.

Added the new Tweet button from Twitter

I read about the new Tweet button from Twitter on TechCrunch that was launched on August 12, 02010 and decided to give it a go as a gadget to replace the TweetMeme button. Tweet away!

Google slides deeper into the social media apps game

Looking for an out-of-the-field hit, Google purchased social media apps company Slide in early August 02010.

Google Wave crashes on boulders of public apathy

Google announced on August 4, 02010 that it will no longer be developing Google Wave as a standalone product. As I said on my personal, the Wave has crashed on the boulders of public apathy. This must be disturbing news to Novell whose Pulse product is to include Wave support and happy news to SAP whose StreamWork was seen as a competitor to Wave. For more breaking news about Google Wave check out these Google News search results.

Google Apps for Government

According to this ITI Newslink item (July 29, 02010), Google has announced its Google Apps for Government, "the first suite of cloud computing messaging and collaboration applications to receive Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) certification and accreditation from the U.S. General Services Administration." I wonder if that includes digital archiving/preservation measures and how that functionality will be enabled through cloud computing? Digital archiving/preservation is not one of the features that Google is promoting for this service. At $50 per user per year, you get what you pay for.

Historypin to see the past through Google Maps

In partnership with Google, We Are What We Do, a social action movement based in London, England, created Historypin:

a digital time machine that provides a new way for the world to see and share history.

The site allows users to share images from their personal photo albums, as well as the stories behind them. To date, pictures have been provided from various national archives, as well as diverse contributors including Selfridges, Marks & Spencer, the Royal Albert Hall and Arsenal FC.

Developed in partnership with Google, the site finds a unique use for Google Maps and Street View, meaning pictures can be dated as well as geo-tagged and then 'pinned' into place on top of modern Street View photography.

The result is a fascinating snapshot of the changing face of local streets and well known landmarks and provides a new perspective on historic moments.

The site has ambitions to become the World's largest user-generated archive of historic images and stories, providing easy access to digitised history stretching from the invention of the camera to yesterday.

Source: An historic launch for We Are What We Do and Google, June 7, 02010 and thanks to Peter Kurilecz for his notice on a photohistory mailing list, June 5, 02010

Royal British Columbia Museum official blog soft launch

In case you had not yet heard, the blogosphere is abuzz about the Royal BC Museum Blog hosted by Google's Blogger service. The first post by Tim Willis was on March 10, 02010 and the most recent by archivist Ann ten Cate, all about a bathroom fetish, was on May 12, 02010. The RBCM is also on Facebook and YouTube.

Smithsonian Institution Collections Blog

The Smithsonian Institution has a Collections Blog using Google Blogger/Blogspot. The first post was on December 23, 02009, which was also the first and only post of 02009, and by April 5, 02010 there were a total of 48 posts for 02010. Not a high volume, but very enlightening and entertaining.

Blogger Template Designer on Blogger in Draft

Google's Blogger service has been added a number of improvements, including the Blogger Template Designer, available on the Blogger in Draft service, that I'm likely going to switch all my blogs from WordPress to Blogger. One of my main reasons for doing so is that Blogger now permits the monetizing of any Blogger site through services such as Google AdSense and Amazon Associates. The ability to create one's own templates for a unique look is also a huge plus for the designer in me.

My Information Today Newsbreak published on Google Buzz

Update for 02010 03 17:

Bad, bad, bad Google chastens FTC Commissioner Pamela Jones Harbour according to PC World as cited by Matt McGee in Search Engine Land.

Original post of 02010 02 22:

My short article on Google Buzz was published today as one of the Information Today Newsbreaks titled "Google Gets Stung by Its Own Buzz."

Google Buzz was launched by Google on February 9, 2010 and immediately generated a hornet's nest of buzzing, angered Gmail customers backed by a dark cloud of consumer privacy protection organizations. Who can resist these metaphors and puns? I was asked to write up the controversy surrounding Google Buzz for an Information Today Newsbreak that should appear on Monday, February 22, 2010. I completed and submitted it on time. This is my second Newsbreak in seven years almost to the day that I've written on Google, the first back in 2003 was on its purchase of Pyra Labs, the creators of Blogger and Blogspot.com. The title of that piece also had the word buzz in it: "Blooglelicious—the Buzz about Google Buying Pyra Labs."

Google Chrome browser extensions for search marketers

The Distilled blog has a great piece dated March 8, 02010 by Frazer Lavender titled "7 Google Chrome Extensions To Make You A More Efficient SEO" (aka search marketer).

Google Public Data Explorer available in Google Labs

The Google Public Data Explorer is now available in Google Labs. The data sources are mostly from the United States. Google is looking for feedback.

Source: "Google Adds Public Data Search Tool To Labs", Matt McGee, Search Engine Land, 02010 03 08

Google giveth, Google taketh away SearchWiki

According to this Search Engine Land item, Google's killed its SearchWiki feature that allowed signed-in Google Account users to rank and comment on Web search results. SearchWiki has been replaced by Stars or Starred Results. More info at the Official Google Blog announcement.

Wired Magazine: How Google’s Algorithm Rules the Web by Stephen Levy

From the current issue of Wired Magazine comes this great piece of field research by Stephen Levy, "How Google's Algorithm Rules the Web".