Should Google Be Getting More Bing-Like?

This week Google released its new design for Image Search. The new design includes a tiled layout with instant scrolling between pages. This has already drawn some inevitable comparisons to Bing's image search, which is particularly interesting given Google's overall more Bing-like user interface launched earlier this year. 

In fact, Google has been drawing a great deal of criticism, and general observation this week regarding its increasing "Bingness". A very large percentage of the articles written this week about Google's new image search, not only make comparisons to Bing, but mention it in the title.

Some question why Google is trying to become more like Bing, while it already controls a much larger part of the search market. Others think the changes are for the better. After all, it's not like Google has changed its algorithm to match Bing's.

Still, "It seems that almost every time that Google makes an improvement in its aesthetic appeal, it looks more and more like Bing, notes  Converseon's Mike Moran. "Remember the short-lived attempt to customize the Google home page recently which has since been removed?"

Let's Look at the actual new design...

You can get up to a thousand images in one scrolling page, and the pages will have page numbers so you can keep track of where you are. This has been a feature lacking from Bing's image search (though it does at least display a number for the range currently displayed...such as 377-416 of 6,400,000 results).

Google is also providing larger thumbnail previews on the results page, with a hover pane that appears when you mouse over a thumbnail. This includes more info and other features like "similar images."

"Once you click on an image, you’re taken to a new landing page that displays a large image in context, with the website it’s hosted on visible right behind it," explains Google Images Product Manager Nate Smith. "Click anywhere outside the image, and you’re right in the original page where you can learn more about the source and context."

Finally, you can use Page Up/ Page Down to scroll through pages quickly.

Some webmasters have taken issue with Google's new image search design, complaining that it puts their ads further away from being clicked. "The main issue from a webmaster perspective, as noted in WebmasterWorld, is that when you click on an image, it doesn't take you to the site," writes Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable. "Instead, it keeps you on Google, overlays the image in large format on top of your grayed out web site."

"So any ads on your site won't be clickable after the first click from Google. Users are instructed to either go back, click on the web site with the image or click on the actual image source file," he explains. "I should note that clicking anywhere on the background web site will take you to that web site."

Remember, the new design did come with a new ad format too. The format is called (appropriately) Image Search Ads.  

"These ads appear only on Google Images, and they let you include a thumbnail image alongside your lines of text," explains Google Images Product Manager Nate Smith. "We hope they’re a useful way to reach folks who are specifically looking for images."

Yahoo/Microsoft Search Alliance in Cartoon Form

Microsoft and Yahoo have released a new video illustrating how the two companies intend to create a "powerful new choice in search" with their Search Alliance, due to begin making its way to customers before the end of the year.

There is not much in the way of news about the alliance to come from the video, but it does put its goal into a simple, easy-to-understand 2 minutes without going into all of the specifics.

On the site for the Search Alliance, Microsoft and Yahoo say they still plan to launch the transition (at least in the U.S.) before the holidays season, but they also say they may wait until 2011 if they decide that it will be more effective. 

Chrome Team Names Favorite Extensions

Anyone who's still at a loss as to why they should try Chrome - or is using it, but feels a little adrift - may want to look at a new list Google's put into circulation. The Chrome team has identified 19 apps that can make the browser much more useful.

Here's the list of apps in the order Google named them: Opinion Cloud, Google Voice, AutoPager, Turn Off the Lights, Google Dictionary, After the Deadline, Invisible Hand, Secbrowsing, Tineye, Slideshow, Google Docs/PDF Viewer, Readability, Chromed Bird, Feedsquares, ScribeFire, Note Anywhere, Instant Messaging Notifier, Remember the Milk, and Extension.fm.

Together, those options cover all sorts of contingencies. Not that other apps might not fulfill the same functions for Firefox users, of course, but Google's list makes these apps easy to find, and the Chrome team's official endorsement counts for a lot with regards to quality. It's possible Chrome will see an uptick in use as a result.

Certain developers should definitely see the installation rates of their apps increase, too, making this move a nice and unselfish gesture on Google's part.

Jonathan Rosenberg, a senior vice president product management, concluded on the Official Google Blog, "We're proud of the Chrome browser and the great extensions that its developer community has created, and we hope you enjoy them!"

Fring: Skype are Cowards, Skype: Fring are Liars

Skype and Fring have become engaged in something of a battle of words on the companies' respective blogs today.

Well, first, Fring issued a press release claiming Skype forced Fring to stop Fring's use of the service, threatening legal action. Fring posted on its blog, "Now that fring expanded capacity to support the huge demand for video calling for all users, Skype has blocked us from doing so. They are afraid of open mobile communication. Cowards."

Skype's Robert Miller then fired back from Skype's blog:


An hour or so ago, Fring reported on their blog that we had blocked their access to Skype. I want to make one thing absolutely clear: this is untrue.

Fring was using Skype software in a way it wasn’t designed to be used – and in a way which is in breach of Skype’s API Terms of Use and End User License Agreement. We’ve been talking with Fring for some time to try to resolve this amicably.

However, over time, Fring’s mis-use of our software was increasingly damaging our brand and reputation with our customers. On Friday, for example, Fring withdrew support for video calls over Skype on iOS 4 without warning, again damaging our brand and disappointing our customers, who have high expectations of the Skype experience.

Miller adds that "there is no truth to Fring's claims that Skype has blocked it," and that Fring made the decision to remove Skype on its own.

It's highly unlikely that this is the last we will hear from either side of the argument, but if nothing else, it has given Fring some press and some a great deal of commentary about both Skype and Fring from comments on both blogs.

Yahoo's CFO Pledges To Improve Buying/Selling Strategy

If you've ever heard about a Yahoo acquisition and thought that the price sounded excessive - or heard about a sale and thought the opposite - know that Yahoo's CFO is aware of the problem. Tim Morse recently indicated that the company is trying much harder to spend wisely.

Morse told Brian Womack during an interview, "You've seen our track record on M&A with buying really high and selling pretty low. We've got to be careful." So from now on, when Yahoo considers buying a company, Morse stressed, "It's got to have a business model, it's got to fit into our strategy."

And that strategy - or at least the goal it's supposed to lead to - is an impressive one. Morse wants to increase his company's return on invested capital from five percent (which is all it achieved in 2009) to between 18 and 24 percent in 2013.

The changes aren't going to stop with what Yahoo buys and sells, either. Its CFO said, "One of the big efforts in the company is to kind of change the culture, create more of a culture of efficiency."

Database Administrator Sentenced To One Year For Hacking

A former senior database administrator for electric provider GEXA Energy in Houston was sentenced today to one year in prison for hacking into his former employer's computer network, the U.S. Department of Justice said today.

Steven Jinwoo Kim, 40, of Houston pleaded guilty on Nov. 16, 2009, to one count of intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization and recklessly causing damage. Kim was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore in the Southern District of Texas. Kim was also ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution to GEXA Energy and to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term.

According to court documents, on February 5, 2008, GEXA Energy fired Kim from his job as senior database administrator and took away all of his administrative rights and access to the company's computer network.

In pleading guilty, Kim admitted that in the early hours of April 30, 2008, he used his home computer to connect to the GEXA Energy computer network and a database that contained information on approximately 150,000 GEXA Energy customers. While connected to the computer network, Kim caused damage to the computer network and the customer database by inputting a number of Oracle database commands.

Kim also copied and saved to his home computer a database file containing personal information on the GEXA Energy customers, including names, billing addresses, social security numbers, dates of birth and drivers license numbers. According to court documents, Kim's actions caused a $100,000 loss to GEXA Energy. source: www.webpronews.com/topnews/