GoogleAddiction is CLOSED

I have some bad news and some good news for my fellow addicts. Thank you to everybody who has supported me over the past couple months, your comments and contributions were very welcome and I had lots of fun with it.

The bad news first:
GoogleAddiction.blogspot.com is closing it's doors. I would have kept posting here for many years to come, but I have to pull the plug. It was a slice, and I'm really going to miss that great logo ;)

The good news:
ZDNet has hired me to blog about Google for them! Not only is this a huge step for me personally, it will also be better for the readers. With more exposure we will get more comments, feedback and tips which always keep the content interesting.

With any luck there will be even more google addicts running around in the near future. I'm really looking forward to this opportunity and I will see you all there! Update your bookmarks, and get ready for more of what you have come to love at googleaddiction.

The new address is http://blogs.zdnet.com/Google

Recent Google Video Buzz

Over the last day, readers have been starting to "buzz" about Google Video. Some people have wrote to tell me they have noticed there is a new "Google Video Blog" link at the bottom of pages when a search is performed (see below). Others have been mentioning that you can now resize video, though I think that feature has been there for a couple of weeks.

Maybe Google is gearing up to integrate Google Video with Google Base? Only time will tell, but it definitely looks like they are putting more resources into this service.

Google has also mentioned you can "charge" people to download videos. As of right now, Google does not display videos that require payment. No doubt this feature will require some sort of payment processing power (ie. Google Purchases). With these three things: purchases.google.com, base.google.com, video.google.com... we can start to visualize the future of this service.

Imagine visiting video.google.com in hopes to find last week's airing of a special broadcast you saw on your favourite TV network. When the network uploads their video (possibly to Google Base in the future), they specify that the broadcast will cost $25 dollars to download.

As the customer, you will be able to watch a small portion of the broadcast to know what you are getting for your money, similar to how Google Print works. Once you have decided that this is in fact what you were looking for, you can now use Google Purchases to make payment.

This type of system does not only apply for videos on Google Video, it could have uses in many other present or future Google services. For example, When you upload any type of information to the Google Base you may be able to specify a price for it (all payable through Google Purchases of course).

Google has been scrutinized in the past about how their services don't seem to integrate with each other. This might be the beginning of a new "Integrated Google Experience".

Purchases On Logout

I just logged out of my Google account, and it had information regarding Google Purchases. About an hour before, I had attempted to log into the purchases.google.com but I haven't seen this result before.

Below is a screenshot...

Base is Back!

Google Base has just come back online.

Check out out at http://base.google.com

Update:
The only screen that seems to work is the main one... any other page you request you will get one of two error messages. Attached are some screenshots.







Update:
And it's gone again.

Will Google Purchases be a Download?

Since Google Earth has now started to be available for users choosing to "Check for Updates", I have been poking around the dl.google.com domain using telnet to view headers and I have found something quite interesting. I was testing subdomains and this is a screenshot of what I think I have discovered.



Basically what it looks like is Google Purchases will have some sort of downloadable component to it. The headers are a bit "off" for the sub directory "/purchases". It mentions something about "Starlight Server", and that it "Moved Temporarily". This is strange because when you try and visit a subdirectory that doesnt exist at all (test1234) the message is quite different.

What could Purchases possibly need a physical application for? Maybe Google will allow people to store sensitive information on their own computers to counter the privacy concerns that surround information such as credit card numbers and bank accounts.

Does anybody have ideas as to what this download might be?

What is Google Base?

From when the service was live, briefly, here is what Google says Google Base will be used for:

Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.

Examples of items you can find in Google Base:

• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures

You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local.”

To me this is confusing. Doesn't this sound a bit like what a normal search engine does, only all the content is hosted on Google's server? Is Google starting their own "internet"?

It's also interesting that the logo does not contain the word "beta"... Either it has been making its way through QA for years, or they are still working on the details and probably won't be launched any time soon.

Google Zeitgeist '05 Starts Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the beginning of the Invitation-only Zeitgeist '05. It will be interesting to see if there are any leaks as to what is going on inside the walls either during or after the zeitgeist. The catch, for the few that dont know, is that nobody is allowed to talk about what goes on during the conference.

I hope that Google will release either (or both) Google Calendar or Google Purchases. I will be watching everything closely to see if anything changes during these next few days.

calendar.google.com and purchases.google.com both still resolve and redirect you back to google. This is usually what Google does before they launch a new product or service. Keep tuned!

Google Secure Access is History

Like Google Web Accelerator, the Google Secure Access client is no longer available to the public. Unfortunately, it is now restricted to only some Mountain View hotspots.

I really liked the concept and I hope it will become available once again in the future. It looks like vpn.google.com still resolves, however when trying to connect to the service nothing happens.

It really made me feel more secure when surfing by knowing that any data I was sending over the network was secure, https or not. Please bring it back!

"The Search" Contest #1

Can you name this city? Use Google Maps or Google Earth to determine which US city this is. You have until the end of Oct. 24th to submit your answers.

The first person to send me the correct city (one entry per person) will recieve a hardcover copy of "The Search" by John Battelle. You will also be crowned "King of Google Earth" which includes your name on Google Addiction for a week and the time it took for you to pinpoint this location.

Good Luck!

Email's Birthday

As the new googleblog post says, it is the birthday of that little symbol we know and love... "@". 34 years and counting for this thing we all love and hate. Less hate than love thanks to the amazing spam filter on my gmail account ;).

Interestingly in the post, they mention that they have some stuff up their sleeve which will hopefully "shake things up", just as GMail did.

But wait, there’s more! :) We also have a new batch of exciting innovations on the way that we hope will shake things up again and make Gmail even better for even more people.

I hope they are referring to Google Calendar!

Attention All GOOG Shareholders...

Zachery Kouwe from New York Post is looking to inverview some people who have purchased Google shares (possibly in the IPO) and have made lots of money. He is not looking for weathy people or sophisticated investors, but someone who is just a retail investor who thought the company was a good buy and was lucky enough to get shares in the auction.

If you fall into this group of people, please contact Zachary before 5:30 today (this story is for tomorrow's paper)

Google Earth .0693

About 3 minutes ago, a new version of Google Earth was released... See below for an excerpt from the changelog.

Features
---

- default Cache path moved to Local Settings (accomodates roaming profiles and avoids backups)
(note, upgrade installs will _not_ be moved)

- Creating overlays now respects the aspect ratio of original image

- "Save As" uses feature name by default

- 3D models now have better lighting

- When reloading an identically named file, a "Don't Ask Again" option is offered


Bug Fixes
---
- Embedded icons failing in kmz loaded by network link

- Filled clamped polygons Intel graphics cards now draw correctly

- unclamped floating lines now z-buffer correctly with polygons

- drag-n-drop of text in URL keyfield would (rarely) crash

- some obscure crashes after long runs

- "Wind Guru"-related crash

- custom schema regression: newlines missing from output in description balloon

- upgrading installation might cause new GE to open maximized the first time

- embedded web window "pop-out" now respects default browser

Update:
It seems as though it's still not available for download. It will probably be ready shortly.

Google Earth (Flash Edition)

I was thinking about Google Earth today and the physics of making it web-based.

With the Google/Sun alliance, I thought it would probably make sense to create a java applet for Google Earth. This theory is a good one, and it would really make sense... however, we have recently witnessed Google implementing flash-based technology into some of it's services. Google Video now uses flash to show videos, and AdWords now supports flash ads.

The beauty of Flash is it's ubiquity and it's amazing ability to load quickly in most circumstances. Wouldn't Flash be a great candidate for Google Earth as well?

This isn't an undiscovered project or anything, but take a look at "flash earth" created by Paul Neave. If only this demo would allow you to change the angle and rotate (which flash is very capable of), it would be quite similar to the core functionality of the current Google Earth!

I am quite impressed also with the load time of this project; I wouldn't hesitate to use a google-made version of it instead of "Google Local".