Google Maps To Add “Google Store Views”

Feb 4, 2010 at 12:22pm ET by Barry Schwartz

Is Google working on an addition to Google Maps that will take users inside stores? According to a tip received by Search Engine Land, that’s exactly the case, with their source labeling the project “Google Store Views.”

Oh Nuts — a New York nut and candy retailer — e-mailed the blog outlet claiming that someone from Google “came to their store to take pictures for a new Google Maps product,” and that “they took pictures of the inside of the store, every 6 feet, in all directions. They also took pictures of products.”

Oh Nuts accompanied this bit of intel with the photo seen below, which shows a nondescript man with camera equipment photographing the store (as seen by the store’s security cameras).

At the moment we have no way to confirm if the addition of in-store images to Google Street View is a legitimate product in the works (obviously those photos could be staged). We e-mailed Google for comment, and an official representative gave us the same statement that was communicated to Search Engine Land: “We are always experimenting with new features for Google Maps. We have nothing further to announce at this time.”

The non-confirmation is not a denial, which definitely piques our curiosity. Should the intel be legit, we think it would be an interesting experiment and evolution of the current Google Maps Street View functionality.

One thing that does add up is the fact that Google Street View has its origins in New York City (the city was one of five populated with images at launch), which means any additional enhancements to the offering would likely begin in New York as well.

In some ways, being able to virtually browse through a store without having to physically walk in could be a big timesaver, but in other ways it could be conceived as more intrusive than necessary.

While we wait to see what comes of this rumored new product, we’d like to leave you with the following video as a parting thought. Remember, Google Street View is watching.

[content credit: Mashable - img credit: Search Engine Land]

The Pope tells Priests: We Must Blog

Pope Benedict XVI has demanded in a recent message that the Priests start using Social Media outlets including Blogs. As the Catholics 265th Pope, Pope Benedict XVI has been a very surprising and extremely supportive advocate of Social Media and Social Marketing. After the support and momentium gained by social media for the now President Barack Obama it appears as if many of the world leaders has chosen to start using the internet to help them gain and retain followers.

It looks like even though Pope Benedict XVI is a fan of Social Marketing and Blogs, he does not have a Twitter account yet. Last year, he launched a YouTube channel, and six months ago, he released Facebook and iPhone apps to spread the Church’s message. It looks like that he hopes Catholic priests will follow his digital example. It is going to be very interesting to watch the evolution of the Catholic Church’s Social Strategy.

Here is a very small excerpt from the Popes message:

“The spread of multimedia communications and its rich “menu of options” might make us think it sufficient simply to be present on the Web, or to see it only as a space to be filled. Yet priests can rightly be expected to be present in the world of digital communications as faithful witnesses to the Gospel, exercising their proper role as leaders of communities which increasingly express themselves with the different “voices” provided by the digital marketplace. Priests are thus challenged to proclaim the Gospel by employing the latest generation of audiovisual resources (images, videos, animated features, blogs, websites) which, alongside traditional means, can open up broad new vistas for dialogue, evangelization and catechesis.”

How do people search on Bing

This question has finally been answered by Bing with the end of year 2009 search query top 10 search queries being published.

Here is the list Bing came up with:

1. Michael Jackson
2. Twitter
3. Swine Flu
4. Stock Market
5. Farrah Fawcett
6. Patrick Swayze
7. Cash for Clunkers
8. Jon and Kate Gosselin
9. Billy Mays
10. Jaycee Dugard

How do people search on Google

This question has finally been answered by Google with the end-of the year 2009 Zeitgeist report being published

Beyond search queries rising for Michael Jackson, swine flu, Twitter and Lady Gaga, what else did Google searches reveal last year?

Google Explains Real-Time Search

Google explains Twitter integration into Google Search Appliance.

Yahoo has already released a real-time search integration into its search engine but Google is quick to follow with the recent announcement.

Search Appliance gets real-time: Twitter feeds now available on the GSA

Real-time information is becoming an increasingly important part of searching online – both for business and consumer search users. Yesterday we announced the launch of real-time results on Google.com, and today we’re announcing that the Google Search Appliance (GSA) can show users tweets from Twitter next to their internal Search Appliance results.

Social information is important for businesses: employees searching for information needed to do their jobs benefit from real-time news too. They might be developing a new breakfast cereal, or designing a marketing plan for a clothing line, or writing strategy report for a political campaign. In all of these cases, understanding what is being said just as Twitter users are saying it can be invaluable.

Google’s focus is to provide the most relevant search results to users. In the case of the GSA, this means accessing information from multiple sources, aka universal search. To this end, we already offer a feature called Related Web Results, which allows employees to view results from Google.com alongside corporate search results.

Customers have told us that placing web results next to intranet ones often allows employees to think differently about a particular topic and approach it in new ways. By integrating enterprise search with more of the information that exists in the cloud, like tweets, employees can more easily leverage the wisdom of the crowd.

To turn the Twitter box on in GSA results, follow the instructions provided here. It should take no more than 15 minutes to get up and running. It can be enabled for only some users, all users, or set up so users can choose themselves whether they want to see the Twitter results by using a keyword trigger (like ‘twitter’). Integration info and how-tos for this feature can be found here, and happy realtime reading.

Posted by Cyrus Mistry, Product Manager, Google Enterprise Search

Maps Compare

Compare Maps online with ‘Maps Compare’. This is a unique tool that allows you to see the same map results from the 4 leading map sites; Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, and Google Earth. This is a very simple idea and does not include a lot for programing to make it happen but the idea is still a good one. You are able to compare the map data from the main 4 map sites. For anyone interested in exact map data for comparisons this can come in very handy.

How To Find Your Website Niche

Increase Your Following By Going Niche, How To Find Your Website Niche.

First of let me explain a few things about finding a targeted or niche industry to do business in. There are only a handful of companies who are able to be the all-in-one retailer online or off and can get away with it, and in many cases the places are still within a niche. For exmpale Wal-Mart; you may think that they do anything and everything from fixing your car to selling groceries. But in fact they are following a very specific goal and niche. The goal that wal-mart is trying to accomplish is to allow you to do all your general shopping from them within one stop. This is why they have hobbie related goods, electronics, recreational, groceries, and simple car maintenence services and goods. Lets not forget that they also have toys (which are conveniently on the opposite side of wal-mart as anything else a child may need like clothes.

Wal-Mart has the goal in mind to be able to sell you all you would ever need to get through the month and to do it at a discount price. They are not known for quality, they are only known for cheap products at cheap prices.

So you are probably asking what in the world this has to do with choosing a website niche to operate your online store, but in reality this concept has everything to do with your store. You must narrow down exactly what you goals are and what price ranges you want to sell within (if you are selling products or services. And you also must narrow down your products to be very niche. I recommend going as niche as possible to allow you to rank easier for those specific term or keyword phrases. For example: assuming that you would like to sell crafts for the house but your not sure what products to use, I would recommend finding the products that you are the most familiar with and enjoy selling. In this example we will choose candles. But in order to sell a niche product you will want to be more specific than just candles or crafts. You will want to sell scented candles, or fake candles, or multi-colored candles. Once you have narrowed the niche down to its core you can then break it down even further to get the most out of your website. For example you may want to then allow users to search by size, color, or scent.

All of this may seem to in-depth but trust me if you are going to start a website that sells products you are going to want to narrow your selection down to its core to find out what your niche is based on product, price, and how much you love are endorse the product that you are selling.

Google the “Giant Monopoly”

German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger calls Google a “Giant Monopoly”

BERLIN (Reuters) – Internet search engine Google Inc is becoming a “giant monopoly” like Microsoft and could face legal action if it does not become more transparent, Germany’s justice minister said.

In an interview with weekly magazine Der Spiegel Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said she was concerned the firm was accruing too much power and information about citizens via programs like Google Earth and Google Books.

“All in all, what’s taking shape there to a large extent is a giant monopoly, similar to Microsoft,” the minister said.

“My initial response is not to ban something or stop something. But I do want to create more transparency and ensure that users know what is going on with their data,” she added.

“I think the companies have an obligation here, and a lot of things ought to be improved. If that doesn’t happen soon we may have to take action as legislators.”

A liberal member of the business-friendly Free Democrats (FDP), Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger also served as justice minister between 1992 and 1996, when she stood down in protest about moves to allow the state more scope to snoop on citizens.

A spokesman for Google in Germany said offering users full transparency was central to how the company operated and that it was constantly working to make improvements in this realm.

(Reporting by Dave Graham and Klaus-Peter Senger)

Google Goes Mobile

Long are the days when Google was know to the world as just the search engine. Now Google has put almost all of its effort into its mobile devices and not as much into search for computers. The search engine is gearing more towards mobile devices and personalizing itself to you specifically. The latest thing that Google has done to get in the news was the addition of the “Near Me Now” feature.

This allows Google to tap into the GPS functionality of your mobile device and show results only near you at the time of the search. This is great for directions to your local pub, restaurant, library, or grocery store. But has Google been putting their focus in the right place? For quite a while the greatest minds known to man have been telling us that everything is going towards mobile. Several years ago Bill Gates was telling us that everything would be moving towards the PC Tablet. And for all intensive purposes he was right. The world is going mobile and is using more bandwidth than ever before. And thanks to Micro-Blogging like Twitter, and the ability to connect your mobile device to social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, and others you are seeing an increase in live activity. But then things have gone another step further with the recent additions to the mobile 3G network allowing most Smart Phones to access the internet at a fast connection comparable or beating several high speed internet connections. Then the final piece of the puzzle is video and photos, we are seeing a lot more activity, photos, and video in almost real-time of events happening around the world.

Do you think the world is going crazy, or just plain mobile?

Google Adds “Near Me Now” for mobile

Google Adds new feature called “Near Me Now” for mobile

Google Adds “Near Me Now” to its mobile home page, so here is the reviews and descriptions for Google “Near Me Now”. When doing a Google search you may now select the link “Near Me Now” this allows you to do a search query and to make the query relevant only to the specific location that you are at the time of the query, the function works through the GPS functionality of the phone or mobile device and your location can be updated on demand by selecting “Update”.

The Google Mobile “Near Me Now” feature is currently ONLY available for iPhone and Android phone users in the U.S.

In order to use the “Near Me Now” Google Mobile functionality you must first activate the ‘location feature’ on your Android (Droid), or Appla iPhone mobile device. Then go to www.Google.com and select the “Near Me Now” tab. You can also explore the whereabouts of specific locations including reviews or rants of other people about a specific restaurants and their menus and services.

The new Google mobile homepage feature lets you easily search for popular categories of nearby places. Just by clicking or tapping on the “Near me now” link right on the Google mobile homepage, you will find categories of places. And if you want more you can just select the “browse more categories” link.