Poor Microsoft. They’re so desperate to get a better grip on the search market that they’re paying people to use their engine. It’s called the Live Search Trial Program. Yup – Microsoft’s new big bad search strategy isn’t a new algorithm or a better user interface. Instead, Microsoft is bribing you with prizes.

Nice try, Microsoft. I might have given your engine a little love just to win a prize, but I can’t even figure out how to participate in the program. Do I have to be a Hotmail user?

I’d rather try Blingo, powered by Google’s search engine (although Google’s universal search features are somewhat depreciated in Blingo’s interface). For 25 searches a day, you are automatically entered to win a prize on Blingo. When you refer your friends, any prize they win, you win as well.

Feel free to be one of my friends….

Oh what fevered dreams bid to rip the cellular industry a twain? With Google’s new mobile OS out, talks about a 700Mhz bidding war, and a possible Sprint acquisition rumor, the wireless industry is becoming very interesting.

Content providers like Google are increasingly becoming worried over being squeezed by network owners, and with the recent Comcast debacle, Google’s fears are appearing well-founded. The major network owners could destroy content providers’ revenue models if the cost to reach customers skyrockets.

Owning their own networks is the best insurance policy content providers can have, and Google knows this. My guess is, when everything shakes out, Google will own one or more major pathway to its customer. It may be cellular, land-based fiber, or a combination.

There have been a lot of rumors about Google releasing a mobile phone. Well folks – they’re not gonna do it, they’re just going to give away the software for you to create your own phone. I’m calling mine the _Phone.

Available as of yesterday, programmers can download Google’s SDK for Android. Android is Google’s open source mobile phone operating system. This is probably a very good strategic move for Google – remove obstacles for accessing its applications, making it very, very easy to work within Google’s burgeoning framework of applications from Google Docs to Google Maps….

Anyway – I’ll let Sergey tell you all about it.

After many months of speculation, today Google finally confirmed their intentions for the mobile device market. Some expected a radically new take on the cell phone, while others speculated Google would stay in its comfort zone, and begin their foray into the cell industry with mobile software.

The latter group was correct, Google announced a mobile software platform named “Android”. Android is part of the Open Handset Alliance, which aims to create an open and powerful set of tools that will power a new generation of mobile devices.

This all sound slightly familiar. I could swear a few years ago another company tried the same thing and failed. I would write the Open Handset Alliance off, but hey, it’s Google. I have a feeling things are about to get very interesting in the world of cell phones.

These days everyone’s first stop for information, any kind of information, seems to be Google. For instance, if you want to find out which rehab clinic a specific celebrity is currently occupying, you could easily find out.

Not surprisingly, Google serves millions of queries for famous names, but chances are they also receive a few queries for your name. To know when people use Google to dig up dirt on you, all that’s required is a Google account, credit card, and five minutes of time.

1) Setup a Google Adwords account here
2) Create a fake ad, something ridiculous so no one will click on it (remember clicks cost you money)
3) Choose the keywords you want to target, make sure to put in all permutations of your name

Once everything is setup you can use Google’s excellent reports to track searches for your name. When done right, this handy service will cost nothing. Although, in case you suddenly become really popular, remember to set a small monthly budget.

Here is my ad in action:

Remember two or three years ago? Before Britney got fat, the dollar tanked, and the iPhone was only an Apple fanboy’s wildest dream? Back then urban computer nerds were promised fast, cheap, wireless Internet access courtesy of their good friends at the government.

I am, of course, talking about municipal Wi-Fi. In my fair city of Minneapolis things are under way with US Internet. Although I can’t sign up for it yet, the fledgling networking proved critical in the bridge disaster response.

Other cities are not having as much luck. Various explanations exists for the failure of municipal Wi-Fi, and even Google seems to be unable to pull of this feat. I believe the final nail in Wi-Fi’s coffin will be driven by 3G.

I have a Treo 700p on Sprints 3G network, and enjoy DSL like speeds throughout the city, and even in Wisconsin Dells. Why would I bother with Wi-Fi, when my phone gives me lighting fast access to email, and can even be used to connect my laptop to the Internet?

As cell speeds increase, and cities struggle with Wi-Fi, more and more people will discover they don’t need municipal Wi-Fi. Poor Wi-Fi (sniff), we hardly knew ye.

Google’s done it again. By incorporating historically disparate search results such as videos, news, and blogs into the main body of the first page of search results, Google has effectively closed itself to some of the more disgusting SEO habits.

Some in the burgeoning SEO industry are clearly already a little upset and suggest that Webmasters try to move past Google. I say, good luck. Seems stupid to me–Google’s not going anywhere.

All in all, this is great news for us at ArcStone. We mostly practice organic SEO, which emphasizes quality content rather than obsessive use of keywords by writing content and creating links that are useful to humans and search engines alike.