Google TV Is Updated, Yahoo Changes Its Search Engine, Google Tests Page Previews, & More

Google TV Update

HBO, Netflix, the NBA, Pandora, and TNT are just a few of the growing number of networks and companies inking deals with Google TV. Web sites are also jumping on the Google TV optimization bandwagon, including CNN.com and Twitter, which will be formatted to allow users to post to the site while watching a show. Other companies and outlets, such as The New York Times, CNBC, and Napster, are creating apps for the Google TV platform, with others sure to join the crowd soon.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Yahoo Tweaks Its Search Engine

Yahoo released a changed search experience on Thursday, aiming to make the process smoother and more visual while improving mobile capabilities and adding a list of trending search topics to the Yahoo homepage.

Although Yahoo uses virtually the same technology as Microsoft’s Bing, the Yahoo search engine provides the user with a box with vertical tabs that give you many options when looking into an entertainment or news story. Check it out of you haven’t done so, because it definitely a different query experience.

Source: Mashable

Google Tests Full Page Previews

Google has begun testing full page previews in their search results. When you simply hover over a desired link, a screenshot preview shows up on the right hand side of the screen. This is also interesting because the hover preview ends up covering up the ads, but that could change before this becomes a regular feature.

Source: The Next Web

Facebook Rolls Out Groups

Facebook Groups was created to fend off competition from Google Me, which includes open, private, and closed groups. Of course, Facebook may have a little problem on their hands in the privacy department, as you can apparently add your friends to a group without their knowledge or consent.

Source: Search Engine Land

Yelp Gets Close To Going Public

Yelp COO Geoff Donaker announced the local search company’s intentions to go public at some point in the future. However, Donaker didn’t lay out a specific timetable.

Source: Search Engine Land

WordPress Link Forwarding Service Is Excellent

If you decide to sever your blog from WordPress and fly solo, WordPress offers to handle the redirects for you, for a small fee.

Source: BoingBoing

As You Read This, The Teddy Bear Robots Are Learning

This year at CEATEC 2010 (Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies) Fujitsu presented “Social Robots” that respond to humans. The bears have sensors in their noses that recognize human faces in front of them, and they interact based on facial recognition and the person’s position. The bears also react depending on the behavior of the person, and are currently being sold to nursing homes and schools.

Source: Crunch Gear

Why The Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted

Analysis from Malcolm Gladwell as to why Social Media are not effective tools for activism.

Analysis By: Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker

Why We Can’t Decide

This article looks at “ambivalence”, which is basically the levels of uncertainty an individual has. High ambivalence usually results in the inability to make a decision. Can Adwords trace people’s online browsing and buying habits to determine ambivalence levels? Then, we can block ambivalent users. Perfect!

Analysis By: Shirley S. Wang, Wall Street Journal

How To Diagnose And Improve Crawls

When you are reviewing a website, whether for your own projects or for a client project, one of the important areas to review is crawl-ability. Here are some of the ways you can look for and diagnose crawling issues.

Analysis By: Michael Gray, Wolf Howl

Google’s New QR Code Generator

At first blush, generating a QR code while shortening a URL seems like a great idea. If you need to generate unique QR Codes for your printed or mobile advertising strategy this is one way to get the job done.

Analysis By: Mark Sprague, Search Engine Land

Lateness In The Cellular World

Don’t you love getting the “I’m sorry I’m late” texts? This column is worth reading just because we’ve all been on the receiving or the sending end of one of these messages.

Analysis By: Elizabeth Bernstein, Wall Street Journal

Toddlers Online? Sounds Like A Bad Sequel To “Baby Geniuses”

Just imagine if you had on online presence, either by a photo or domain name, before you could even walk. This article unearths some pretty interesting information about trends in that field.

Analysis By: Lauren Indvik, Mashable

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