A Busy Week For Google / NNf

Being the number one way to find things on the web, Google is always busy, but this week had an extra portion of hustle and bustle in the Google news department.

Here are just some of the news items highlighting recent Google activities and products:

1. Google released a beta product to search for patent information.
2. You can register domain names through Google.
3. NASA and Google announced details of their collaborative efforts.
4. Google bought parts of a Swiss mapping company to improve their European map capabilities.
5. The Google AJAX Web Toolkit was released under the open source Apache license.

If you're interested in details of the above items, click on the above links to read more about them. Or search with one or more of the news search engines, such as Google News, Yahoo News or Findory.

Three of the above items are particularly interesting to me. First, the patent search function. A large part of AMW Process Group (Abba Makolin Waldron & Associates, LLC) deals with innovation design and implementation, and AMW founders have over 25 patents collectively. Making patent and other intellectual property information more accessible will help make us more effective in our jobs.

Second, the domain name registration is something which will likely be useful to me in the next few weeks. Registering a couple names through Google and using Google Apps for Your Domain are a couple items on the short term to-do list.

Third, NASA partnering with Google will mean only good things for civilian and sport aerospace activities and progress. Only time will tell where the NASA/Google collaboration will lead, but there is no doubt that a few of the kids who use the Google/NASA tools and information in the upcoming years will eventually become key players in the civilian aerospace movement.

If you haven't checked out Google's online tools lately, come to a NEW NET meeting, or just go to www.google.com/intl/en/options/ and spend some time looking over what SkyNet has to offer!

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Below is the final list of issues for the TUESDAY, 19 December 2006, NEW NET (Northeast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 6:50 pm weekly gathering at El Meson/Mister Churro, 207 N. Richmond St., Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.

The ‘net

1. The Shrinking Long Tail - Top 10 Web Domains Increasing in Reach http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/long_tail_shrinking.php
2. Internet2 and National LambdaRail not merging any time soon http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061213-8415.html
3. Adobe hitches long-term wagon to Flash, Apollo http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=4153
4. Renkoo launches event service — in time to schedule holiday cocktails http://venturebeat.com/2006/12/15/renkoo-launches-just-in-time-to-schedule-holiday-cocktails/
5. Mozilla Delivers Thunderbird 2.0 Beta, Preps Firefox Update http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20061214/tc_cmp/196603919
6. Web King: MySpace Takes Throne From Yahoo http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Business/story?id=2725192&page=1&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312
7. Adobe tackles browser incompatibilities http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/12/14/HNcssadvisor_1.html
8. The Great Internet Brand Rip-Off http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2006/tc20061215_022904.htm
9. I Spent Sunday Evening Playing kdice http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/17/i-spent-sunday-evening-playing-kdice/
10. Flickr Increases Account Sizes for Holidays http://www.searchenginejournal.com/?p=4133

Security & Privacy

1. Yahoo Messenger releases security update http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1009_22-6144110.html
2. Rustock Trojan A Model For Future Threats http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20061214/tc_cmp/196603916
3. Zeroday Emergency Response Team to the Rescue http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2072955,00.asp

Mobile Computing & Communicating

1. iPhone Officially Announced http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=5374
2. Skype unveils yearly long distance package http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061213-8410.html
3. How Skype & Co. get round firewalls http://www.heise-security.co.uk/articles/82481
4. Skype Supports Smart Phones http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20061213/tc_pcworld/128179
5. Goodbye To Freebies, Hello To Freedom http://news.yahoo.com/s/bw/20061215/bs_bw/b4015152

Open Source

1. What Can't Open Source Achieve in the Next 10 Years? http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000144
2. Google Opens Up AJAX http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3649066
3. Open source is where the action is in 2007 http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/12/15/HNossaction_1.html

SkyNet

1. Google now searches U.S. patent database http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/12/14/HNgooglesearchespatents_1.html
2. Google to Sell Domain Names http://www.internetnews.com/ec-news/article.php/3649306
3. Forget iPhone, Think Google Phone http://gigaom.com/2006/12/17/google-phone/
4. Google's Holiday Wish May Come True: An Online Clone Of Microsoft Office http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20061216/tc_cmp/196700217
5. NASA-Google partnership ready for liftoff http://news.com.com/NASA-Google+partnership+ready+for+liftoff/2100-11397_3-6144508.html
6. Company to give Google Earth a European mapping boost http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/12/18/HNgoogleeuropean_1.html

General Technology

1. Wallops launches rocket for Va. pad's first success http://tinyurl.com/yaa3hr
2. End of an Era: FCC to Drop Morse Testing for All Amateur License Classes http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2006/12/15/104/?nc=1
3. Microsoft Lends a Hand to Robots http://news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20061214/tc_nf/48770
4. IBM, Yahoo Team on Free Enterprise Search http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,128180-pg,1/article.html
5. Nintendo to replace 3.2 million straps for Wii controllers http://www.sltrib.com/ci_4851040
6. Sony applies for motion-sensitive controller patent http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061215-8434.html
7. Mac minis help automaker Ford http://news.yahoo.com/s/macworld/20061219/tc_macworld/miniford20061219

Economy and Technology

1. iPod to rule holiday shopping again this year http://news.yahoo.com/s/macworld/20061213/tc_macworld/ipodshop20061213
2. Ignoring an inconvenient truth http://news.com.com/2010-1041_3-6143968.html
3. Modern economy gives more workers opportunities http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/modern-economy-gives-more-workers-opportunities/2006/12/17/1166290414095.html

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