Google News & Press Archives

CNet News reports that Google is the best brand -- once again -- for the third year in a row, according to a market research firm. Google's brand, according to the data (which is calculated based on interviews and financial information), topped the charts at $86.1 billion. (Compare this to the second place holder which was GE with a value of $71.4 billion and Microsoft which hit third place with $70.9 billion.)

Surprised? Probably not. After all, this is the third year that Google has struck gold with these guys. And forum members don't seem to be fazed at all either.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Udi Manber, VP of search quality for Google, sat down with Popular Mechanics for a rare interview and issued some insights into the state of Google search today.

The article deserves a read in itself, but some WebmasterWorld members particularly liked some of the statements about Manber's emphasis on keyword density and how Google rolls out tests (at least with regards to algorithm analysis):

I wish people would put more effort into thinking about how other people will find them and putting the right keywords onto their pages.

I’ll give you an example of something that came last week. We were evaluating a certain algorithm that adds diversity to the result. We did live experiments, which means we launched the algorithm to a very small percentage of users and then see how that compares to the result without the algorithm.

The results we show you are based not only on what we know of the Web, but also what other people have searched for.

Furthermore, forum members were happy to see that the algorithm changes have no relationship to Google AdWords.

All in all, very informative and useful, and forum members welcome the insights.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Good news, analytics folks: Google Urchin 6.0 is now in beta. It looks a lot like the free version of Google Analytics but the cost is pretty high: $2995 after the beta period ends.

As one member puts it, "who is the target audience for that price?"

Clearly, there is one:

Larger business and corporations who are nervous about using Analytics because they don't want to share their data.

In the meantime, it's great that Urchin 6 is finally out and I look forward to reading more about the beta.

Forum discussion continues at Search Engine Watch Forums and Webmasterworld.

Dozens of reports are coming from DigitalPoint Forums that when they tried to go to any Google property on the Google.com domain, they are unsuccessful. It seems like it was an issue limited to many users in India.

Some reports say this was related to a 2005 issue Google had when Google had a DNS glitch, which redirected some users to SoGoSearch. The same issue apparently sprung up last night for many Indian Google users. When they tried going to Google.com, they were shown this page from SoGoSearch.

It is weird that an issue from 2005 can come up again, but it seems to be true. The number of reports seem way to high for this to be a lie.

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Since Google can, Google will. With their interest in Facebook (as Marissa Meyer said at a recent keynote at SES San Jose), Google has taken advantage of installing the Google News app on Facebook (account required).

One forum member believes that "two of the greatest internet sites working together" could be a great thing. I think so too... if using Facebook apps is your thing. ;)

Here is how Google News is being used on two different profiles:

By the way, Vanessa Fox wrote about the Google News Facebook application on Search Engine Land too.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google has announced its Q3 results and they're doing just fine.

Google reported revenues of $4.23 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2007, an increase of 57% compared to the third quarter of 2006 and an increase of 9% compared to the second quarter of 2007.

Their stock as of this writing is over $639.

Will they hit $700? Some people say yes. Others are not so sure.

Coverage continues at Search Engine Land and Techmeme.

Maybe this is why AdSense publishers are doing so well. But then again, a forum member suspects that the financial gains have something to do with higher PPC costs. Supply and demand, my friends.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Yesterday, Google announced that it had acquired Jaiku, a microblogging platform similar to my favorite Twitter.

According to Google's announcement, current Jaiku members are still able to use the service but Google is now focused on expanding the technology behind Jaiku to make it more useful and compelling. The focus is probably going to be on mobile technology.

Interestingly enough, that's exactly what DigitalPoint Forums members think will be the case -- since Google has just announced AdSense for mobile, this is a natural progression. Jaiku will likely have a heavy mobile presence and Google will capitalize upon it.

By the way, Google stock is at $615 as of this writing. ;)

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

Google is getting richer and richer. Two weeks ago, shares of stock cost $564 which was up from $519 in June. Yesterday, it broke $600. It now sits at $609. In 2004, when Google reached IPO, the price was $85. Oh, how I wish I bought millions. ;)

Is this the target? Will Google exceed expectations? In 2006, it was predicted that Google would reach a $600 share, according to DigitalPoint Forums members. Some analysts think that Google will reach $700 by the end of next year. Possible? Anything's possible.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

DigitalPoint Forums members report that Google (GOOG) stock has reached new heights: at $564, it's higher than it's ever been and is $45 more than our June reporting of $519.

Well, last week it was at $560. It already went up since then.

Forum members attribute this to Google's popularity (as "top dog") and mobile ads. But as one forum member reports, "it keeps growing in a market it basically created a need for. "

What next?

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

The Google Blog announced yesterday that Google Presentations have now been integrated fully into Google Docs. And it's true! I played around with it. Some screenshots below:

Look at the highlighted menu item. That's new, my friends. Huzzah!

Here are slide layout options:

You can also upload images, change fonts, change text colors, use background themes, and more.

Search Engine Land reports that Google Docs & Spreadsheets has now been renamed to Google Docs. And forum members are obviously pleased.

So what else is offered? I created a presentation using the new Google Docs and it's available for the entire world to see. Comments welcome. :)

By the way, Nathan Weinberg notes that you can also embed PowerPoint presentations on your website. One thing to note, however, is that there could be security concerns with this in the future. That's why I'm not embedding my slideshow, but I encourage you to watch it. I promise that it's worth it. ;)

Forum discussion continued at Search Engine Roundtable Forums and DigitalPoint Forums.

According to an Australian newspaper, a watchdog group feels Google is selling the top result in its search engine to commercial partners rather than sorting the results organically. In other words, consumers are clicking on the top result assuming it is organically relevant when the reality is that the top result is really a sponsored listing.

GOOGLE has been selling off the top rankings on its search engine results to commercial partners, rather than sorting them by relevance as it claims to, a Sydney court has heard.

The consumer watchdog alleges Google does not do enough to differentiate "organic" search results - those ranked by relevance - from sponsored links which appear at the top of the results page.

I personally don't think these concerns have any validity to them. After all, the top sponsored listing is paid, after all. If you click on it, the advertiser is responsible for paying Google for that click. If you don't like the top listings, click on them all you want scroll down to see the other results.

DigitalPoint Forums members feel the same way. In fact, one has been kind enough to share the Google Terms of Service with us, where it specifically says that Google is entitled to display advertisements.

17. Advertisements

17.1 Some of the Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions. These advertisements may be targeted to the content of information stored on the Services, queries made through the Services or other information.

17.2 The manner, mode and extent of advertising by Google on the Services are subject to change without specific notice to you.

17.3 In consideration for Google granting you access to and use of the Services, you agree that Google may place such advertising on the Services.

Others are just peeved that Google is being held accountable for people's inability to differentiate between sponsored listings and organic ones. And why should they? Google is not owned by the residents of Australia but exists rather to serve them to find information.

Google hasn't done anything wrong. They're basically being sued because [people] can't read the writing that says "Sponsored Links".

I totally understand that frustration. There are many folks around here who don't find any fault with the display of listings.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

Yesterday, Google announced on its blog that it acquired Zenter, a company that provides software for creating online slide presentations. The goal would be for "more sharing" and information collaboration, as the blog title suggests. Google has been planning to expand their family to presentations for quite some time when they announced their acquisition of Tonic Systems which allows for document conversion and presentation creation as well.

Discussion at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint express similar sentiments. For one, this is a competitor to Microsoft Office, or as one calls it, this is the new "Google Office." After all, Google presentations was pretty much all that was left to complete their office suite.

Forum dscussion continues at WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint.

Google has reached its all-time stock high at $519, closing today at $518.84.

DigitalPoint Forums members wonder "when Google will run out of fuel."

As it continues to buy out companies, it will be hard to say when and if there will be a downfall. However, some members suspect that it cannot sustain this growth for very long.

Discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

A New York Times article says that Google will be investigated for its $3.1 billion dollar acquisition of DoubleClick to see if the company has violated any antitrust laws.

Last month, Google acquired DoubleClick for $3.1 billion and was challenged by rivals, particularly Microsoft. However, a month later, Microsoft acquired aQuantive for a value of $6 billion.

According to the New York Times article, "Google said it was confident that the deal would withstand scrutiny." I think given recent events and in response to the latest acquisition by Microsoft, this will indeed be the case.

Techmeme has more coverage, as does Search Engine Land.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

According to a DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld posts, Google and Salesforce.com are in potential talks for a partnership. A Yahoo News article expounds on this possible relationship:

The paper said one outcome could be a Web-based offering that integrates some of Google's online services such as e-mail and instant-messaging with those of Salesforce.com, whose customer-relationship management tools help salespeople track their accounts.

So, why this acquisition? For the betterment of the Google Apps platform, it seems. Digital Point Forum members feel this way.

Salesforce is a pretty powerful software far superior to MS CRM. I have used both and can see why google wants to go after it.

If it was integrated with other Google apps it would be the daddy of all business focused web applications.

I have no experience with this CRM software, but if that's true, this is a naturally strategic move on Google's part. And maybe another DigitalPoint Forum member is right, "Google wants to spread their business to every market!"

Or maybe it's just competition at its finest. As a WebmasterWorld member says:

Man, they're really in an all-out war now, aren't they, GOOG v. MSN. G fired the first shot with the DoubleClick buy, and since then it's been wild.

Forum discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

Additional coverage is at Techmeme and in the Washington Post article.

According to a DigitalPoint Forums thread, Sergey Brin has married Anne Wojcici in the Bahamas last weekend. The scoop has been covered at ValleyWag.

In similar news, Barry attended the wedding of Gary Price and Lisa Cohen last weekend as well. The Ask.com blog has more.

From the writers at Search Engine Roundtable, Mazel Tov to Sergey and Anne and to Gary and Lisa!

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint.

A DigitalPoint Forums calls to attention Ziff Davis Media's Top 100 Most Influential People in IT, where Sergey Brin and Larry Page have scored the #1 spot as "World Conquerors." Eric Schmidt is in position #23. Brin and Page are said to not be slowing down, and with net worths apiece of over $14 billion, they shouldn't have to.

...they realized that "the area we were in, search, was too important to the world for a small company to really succeed in it. To fulfill that mission, we had to grow. Now we really are accomplishing a lot by making information more accessible."

Is this undeserved? Hardly. Forum members are happy for them.

Congrats to them! they had a good idea and turned it into a billion dollar company, their success is well deserved.

Not a single person thinks otherwise.

Discussion continues at DigitalPoint Forums.

For a ten-year-old company, this isn't half bad. Barry reported it on Search Engine Land, and it was picked up on DigitalPoint as well. According to Gary Price, Google has placed #1 in Millward Brown Optimor's Brandz Top 100.

Here's the chart of the top 10:

1	Google	$66.4 billion
2	General Electric	$61.9 billion
3	Microsoft	$55 billion
4	Coca-Cola	$44.1 billion
5	China Mobile	$41.2 billion
6	Marlboro	$39.2 billion
7	Wal-Mart	$36.9 billion
8	Citigroup	$33.7 billion
9	IBM	$33.6 billion
10	Toyota Motor	$33.4 billion

Yahoo was ranked #42 with $13.2 billion.

What do you think? Are these results accurate? According to the folks at DigitalPoint, they may not be completely accurate, but Google is still way above the rest.

A WebmasterWorld and DigitalPoint Forums thread mentions that the Google (GOOG) is performing very well in the stock market, with a net profit of 69%.

What is the secret to Google's financial success? Advertisements. From the DigitalPoint forums discussion:

yup, making profit on both advertisers and publishers. smart price the publishers and decrease the quality score of the advertisers, thus charging more and more for keywords. it's a no lose situation for them as long as they control both ends of the equation. no wonder they are making money hand over fist...

On Search Engine Land, Barry refers to additional articles related to Google's Q1 earnings, including the financial tables.

Meanwhile, Yahoo (YHOO) has performed dismally in Q1 with a 11% decrease in earnings, despite its release of Panama. A WebmasterWorld thread has more:

The drumbeat over Panama raised expectations

Barry weighs in on the financials of Yahoo as well in Search Engine Land. One of the articles he references is that Yahoo is evaluating whether Terry Semel, Yahoo's current CEO, is truly the man for the job.

Discussion about Google's earnings continues at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld. Discussion about Yahoo's earnings continues at WebmasterWorld.

According to a WebmasterWorld Forums discussion, Google will be trialing out television advertisements in a move intended to "improve user experience and bring value to advertisers."

At Google, we are constantly looking for ways to improve user experience and bring value to advertisers, publishers and partners. Users spend a lot of time watching TV so improving the relevance of advertising information on that medium is important. That's why today we are excited to announce our trial to deliver Google TV ads. Working closely with our partners, EchoStar and Astound Cable, we are currently running a trial to deliver better ads to viewers and help advertisers, operators and programmers more efficiently buy, schedule, deliver and measure ads on television.

A number of comments in Google's official press release raised eyebrows and piqued interest.

With regards to Google's claim that the "entire process is automated," a member said:

hmm, a turnkey solution for getting video ads on television - could open the market for the little guy. Am I right to assume that the major networks have proprietary solutions to semi-automate this process currently? It could be as simple as the content producers tagging their videos with keywords, demographic or otherwise, which when dumped into a system with other variables would let media buyers construct a campaign. or is this level of automation an actual shift forwards in the industry?

Another took interest in mention that the press release states that "Google TV ads are bought using an auction model" and feels that this may end up excluding smaller advertisers:

So it's going to go from $2 a click to $2,000 a view. Just how much that will open things for the "little guy"?

Others were interested in Google's success online and are hoping that Google will provide more relevant ads:

If it helps make TV ads more relevant, varied and interesting it will be just what the doctor ordered for the cable/dish companies IMO.

In all, this is an interesting move, though I expected it. Will Google introduce something new and unprecedented in their television advertising model? I suppose we'll just have to wait and see.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

A WebmasterWorld member points out that Viacom is being directly sued in a "reverse" lawsuit that claims that Viacom removed a parody of The Colbert Report on YouTube.

However, he's quick to say that:

Note - neither Google nor YouTube were mentioned in this "reverse" lawsuit. It goes directly to Viacom.

According to the lawsuit, the video which was removed was protected under "fair use" copyright provisions and should not have been taken down.

But it was. Viacom claims this is a complete waste of judicial resources. Do you agree? Should Viacom have sued Google in the first place? Wouldn't people say that Viacom's $1 billion lawsuit against Google is a waste of judicial resources too? (I think it is.)

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Remember the KinderStart lawsuit, where Google was sued because the KinderStart site lost its rankings in the Google SERPs? Yesterday, a judge ruled in Google's favor.

"KinderStart had failed to explain how Google caused injury to it by a provably false statement ... as distinguished from an unfavorable opinion about KinderStart.com's importance," the judge's ruling states.

Is Google relieved? It seems so.

"We always felt these claims were unjustified, because courts have consistently rejected complaints over search engine rankings, so we're pleased that [the judge] promptly dismissed this case," Google litigation counsel Hilary Ware said in a company statement.

Matt Cutts has also updated his blog about the ruling.

With Google indexing tens of millions of sites, it would be incredibly ridiculous for a company to call suit against the search engine under the assumption that the site is being purposely ranked low and it was Google's malicious intent to to do because KinderStart is a competitor. This sets an interesting premise for any other company who wishes to do the same.

Forum discussion continues at WebmasterWorld.

Google has once again been ordered to not index and display the content from a group of Belgian publishers. It started back in September 2006 with Google Cache & Google News Not Allowed in Belgium and then in late November Google & Belgium: Google Goes to Court Over News Inclusion. It appears that Google lost the case and will try to appeal once again.

Danny Sullivan has the ultimate write up named Google Loses In Belgium Newspaper Case:

A Belgium court has found that Google did violate copyright when including material from several Belgian newspapers in its search index. Google may have to pay a fine, but the ruling is far more positive for the company. Google can continue to index content without explicit permission, while content owners in Belgium must now ask for removal via email rather than using the long established mechanisms of robots.txt and meta robots tags.

Google lost, but won. From now on content owners in Belgium have to ask for removal of their content via email (not via robots.txt or meta tags).

Danny has spoken with Google on the ruling and has more insight on the details of the case, if interested.

This whole thing is still funny to many SEMs. A publisher is asking to be kicked out of the Google index. They are asking for less exposure.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Over the weekend there was a lot of news on Google and Orange working together to create a new mobile phone. An article named The future for Orange could soon be Google in your pocket has a nice amount of details on this possibility.

Executives from Orange flew to Silicon Valley in California for a meeting at Google's headquarters, or 'Googleplex', to hold preliminary discussions about a joint deal. The companies believe that they have an affinity as brands that are perceived as both 'positive' and 'innovative'.

Now, Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt recently said publicly that cell phones should be free. So maybe, just maybe, they are pushing towards that.

Their plans centre on a branded Google phone, which would probably also carry Orange's logo... But it would have built-in Google software which would dramatically improve on the slow and cumbersome experience of surfing the web from a mobile handset.

Phone calls monetized by Google AdWords? I doubt that. But I see no reason why the web experience can't be monetized with Google AdWords...

Forum discussion at DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

The Google Blog informed us about a new program they are offering employees to offer more "competitive compensation packages" and keep good employees around. They are enabling employees with stock options in GOOG to "transfer (sell) their options to a financial institution through a competitive bidding process." Meaning, they can trade their options, almost like they would a normal stock, which is commonly not done with stock options.

With the TSO program, employees will also be able to sell vested options to the highest-bidding financial institution, which may be willing to pay a premium above the difference between the exercise price and the market price for Google stock (even when the exercise price is higher than the market price).

More details on this Google TOS program at the following PDF documents:

• The Market for TSOs
  
• Google Employees Tom and Sally
  
• Accounting for TSOs
  
• TOS FAQ
  

Very creative, indeed.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

I have been covering the Google & Belgium legal issues at Search Engine Watch for a while now and I thought it would be a good time to give a short summary for you here. Belgium publishers sued Google for including their news sources in the Google News index. They found that it was a violation of their copyright rights. Yea, shocking that a news source would ask to be delisted for the Google New index. But it is true. After a long to do, as Danny reported, Google Settles With Some Belgian Publishers Over Belgium News Inclusion. Danny has an excellent roundup of the past coverage and where it as lead to. Google is not done with Belgium...

The Belgium Court is to rule on the legality of Google including their content in the index. The ruling won't come before the end of this year, so time will tell.

You can see some of the reaction at WebmasterWorld.

I'm endlessly amazed by the number of people who insist that search engine's practice of copying data and then displaying snippets is wrong/should be made illegal/is illegal. The internet as we know it would not exist if search engines didn't do this. That, at least, is one thing upon which there can be no reasonable debate.

This is not just going in in Belgium. It is also taking place in Norway and France to some extent.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

GOOG (stock), Google's stock, has surpassed the landmark price of $500 per share. The stock closed last night at $509.65, making many stock holders and Google employees very happy.

I am shocked it is so high, but I thought the price it was set at for the IPO was way too high also. I guess that is why I am not a day trader or investment banker.

Many folks in the forums agree with me about the price, but still, the price is the price and some figure it will hit over $600 by the end of the year.

Forum discussion at Search Engine Watch Forums, DigitalPoint Forums and WebmasterWorld.

As rumored a while back, Google has launched their flavor of a Rollyo, or Eurekster or Yahoo Search Builder named Google Custom Search Engine. So why is this different? Well, it is built into the Google Co-Op, which allows you to add search refinements and annotations via topics. Also, you can easily integrate your AdSense account so that you can make money. Here is Google's check list:

(1) Specify the sites you want to include in searches.
(2) Place a search box and search results on your website.
(3) Customize the look and feel to match your website.
(4) Invite your community to contribute to the search engine.
(5) Make money from relevant ads in your search results.
(5) Learn more: FAQ and featured examples.

Here is my quick Google Custom Engine that should search only this site.

I do have the option to host a search box and search results on your own site or use the AJAX search APIs to display results but in this case I selected to host the results at Google.

How did I integrate AdSense?

I clicked on the Make Money section, added my email address associated with my AdSense account, the zip code and the last 5 digits of my phone number. Then AdSense sent me an email saying;

You are receiving this email because you recently requested access to use AdSense through www.google.com/coop. In order to use AdSense features through www.google.com/coop, you'll need to give the site access to the ad code and performance information in your AdSense account. To do so, please follow this link:

I clicked on the link and was presented with:

I said yes and then success!

With this release comes a new product to allow you to easily add other sites to your search engine. It is called Google Marker; "Google Marker allows you to add and label sites in your Custom Search Engine (CSE) or in a Google topic."

There is advanced documentation here on this feature. It explains how you can collaborate with me or others to build a social search engine.

Collaboration is an optional feature for Custom Search Engines. It allows you to let other people whose expertise you trust contribute to your Custom Search Engine. You can either invite people explicitly, or allow anyone to volunteer to collaborate, with your approval. Your Custom Search Engine (CSE) can benefit not only from your hard work, but also from that of others who collaborate with you.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

Google released its third quarter results today, showing financial strength across the board. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google stated in the official press release:

Our third quarter results are a testament to the strength of our network of advertisers and partners, as well as our continuing focus on users. We were particularly pleased with the contributions of our international business in a seasonally weaker quarter. In addition, we continued to forge significant partnerships with companies such as eBay, Fox Interactive
Media, and Intuit that will be of great value to all involved.

The amount of advertising spend now pushed in Google's direction is mind-boggling, with revenues rising 70% from a year ago to $2.7bn. The BBC Reported:

During the three months until the end of September, its net income was $733m ($390m), a 92% increase on the $381m it made in the same time last year.

This is a kick in the teeth for rivals Yahoo, who on Tuesday posted a 37 percent drop in quarterly profit as a result of higher stock option costs and an apparently weaker corporate advertising market.

Google surpassed market expectations and the GOOG share price continues to rise as traders sit eagerly awaiting further advertising initiatives after the company's acquisition of YouTube.

Forum Discussion at DigitalPoint Forums.

Yup, Google announced the merging of Writely and Spreadsheets to form Google Docs & Spreadsheets. Danny has the lowdown on this here.

You can access it at http://docs.google.com/.

But wouldn't it be cool to have this integrated directly with one's AdWords or AdSense or even Sitemaps accounts?

Have your reports exportable to Google Docs so you can easily manipulate them and easily share them with clients.

That is a request asked for at DigitalPoint Forums.

You all heard the news already, Google To Acquire YouTube for $1.65 Billion in Stock;

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., October 9, 2006 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced today that it has agreed to acquire YouTube, the consumer media company for people to watch and share original videos through a Web experience, for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction. Following the acquisition, YouTube will operate independently to preserve its successful brand and passionate community.

There are just tons of forum threads out there, here are a some of the many thread;

• Cre8asite Forums
• WebmasterWorld
• Search Engine Watch Forums
• DigitalPoint Forums
• Jim World
• High Rankings Forum
• V7N Forums
• Phil Craven's Forum
• SEO Chat Forums
• WebProWorld
• SitePoint Forums
• I Help You Forums

Is it like Google did a huge dance, but they didn't, instead they just forked over a ton of money to two young guys for 1.5 years of work.

Now, why are SEOs buzzing so much about this? Where is the money? How can they use this to benefit their rankings? :-)

Google to buy YouTube? That is the rumor Techcrunch started and then the Wall Street Journal backed.

Web-search giant Google is in talks to acquire YouTube for roughly $1.6 billion, a person familiar with the matter says. An acquisition of the closely held company would catapult Google to the lead spot in online video at a moment when consumers are rapidly increasing the amount of time they spend viewing video clips online, and Internet video advertising is booming.

So what does the search community think?

Brett Tabke answers peoples concerns about Google having to worry about copyright woes perfectly by just linking to an article found in the Google cache related to this topic. Brilliant. :) I reported some of that at my SEW blog post named A Look At Google's Copyright Battles last week, so this is no big deal.

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.

This article was written the night before, and scheduled to go live the following morning.

Confirmed: Google has posted a press release on the acquisition.

On Saturday a post went up on the Google Blog at 05:07:34 PM (PST) with the title, "Google Click-to-Call project cancelled." The post read;

After concientiously considering, Google has decided not to continue with Google Click-to-call proj