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There's a Google Video for mobile devices, but not from Google. Independent developer Scott Robbin has created the unofficial version of Google Video for mobile phones. It lets people search, download and view content off Google Video directly from their mobile phones. All you need is a phone that has an XHTML-compliant browser and enough storage to hold large video files. It helps if the Internet connection is fast and if the phone has an application capable of playing AVI or MP4 files.

Robbin has also posted a video demonstration on YouTube. "I've got it running on … Read more

Searching for answers? Google. No matter how big your staff, no matter how large your army, Google helps.

President George W. Bush admits to Googling. The Wall Street Journal's blog on politics has a transcript of a TV interview where the president talked about Googling.

To quote the chief Googler: "One of the things I've used on the Google is to pull up maps. It's very interesting to see that. I forgot the name of the program, but you get the satellite and you can--like, I kind of like to look at the ranch on Google, … Read more

According to a new report on the scope of fraudulent clicks on search-related ads, the click-fraud rate among top-tier search sites like Google and Yahoo is dropping. It fell to 11.9 percent in the third quarter, compared with 12.8 percent in the previous quarter.

But at second-tier search providers, it rose to 23.2 percent from 20.3 percent. The overall industry rate inched down to 13.8 percent from 14.1 percent, according to figures released on Wednesday from Click Forensics, which operates the Click Fraud Index. The index compiles data from more than 2,500 online … Read more

Talk about an interactive search engine. A new search site called Ms. Dewey features a sultry woman who makes wisecracks related to the keywords that are typed in. The search results appear as a long, scrolling list in a window that pops up on the upper right.

Set against a futuristic cityscape background, Ms. Dewey--with her hair pulled back--probably represents a digital-age librarian. Her name refers to the Dewey Decimal classification system used for cataloging books in libraries.

Her quips relating to keywords range from mundane and silly to provocative. For instance, during a search for "George Bush" … Read more

Every deal is unique. Every deal gets compared to past wins and losses. Most deals look good the next day.

Google's YouTube deal is worth just over 1 percent of the infamous January 2000 deal between AOL and Time Warner.

Former AOL CEO Steve Case has rued that deal publicly. Hordes of other Time Warner shareholders have suffered as well. Time's stock hit a high of $90 shortly after the deal. By the next year it was below $60. By 2002, Time Warner shares were below $30 to stay. They've now remained under $20 for over a … Read more

This story has everything: big bucks, big user numbers, big promise, big risk, big buzz, big deal. There's even one video satirizing another prominent YouTube blogger and asking about users' opinions of the Google deal for YouTube.

Those intrepid mavens at Google clearly think, or hope, they can deal with one realm of uncertainty: What about copyrighted material?

Today, the forty most popular YouTube videos included the usual mix of home videos, cartoons, personal vlogs and copyrighted videos from major TV networks. Eight of them were soccer ("football" in the real world) clips, including two from my … Read more

Google is sending subpoenas to Microsoft and Yahoo as part of its legal defense in a copyright lawsuit brought against it by authors and publishers.

In addition, Google will subpoena documents from Amazon, Random House and the Association of American Publishers and agree to keep confidential files under a protective order, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The lawsuit filed last October by the Association of American Publishers revolves around Google Print. The plan is to digitize large parts of the book collections of the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University, the New York Public Library and Oxford … Read more

I have a quick assignment for you. Go to Google. Type "search." Hit "I'm Feeling Lucky."

(No, really, do it. I'll wait.)

Back? It's amusing--and more than a little ironic--that Google's algorithm intended to take you to the top search result for "search" does not point to itself, but to Microsoft's Live Search tool, which officially went live last month. It's bound to inspire conspiracy theories, but a Google spokeswoman says it's not a bug or a hack, but a matter of mathematics.

"This is a … Read more

Google has created a search site without any Google branding to test new features. The site, SearchMash, has a simple blue and white interface with a search bar and an option to click on "popular searches." Once keywords are entered, the results page features links to results running down the left side of the page and the top three image results on the right side.

SearchMash also lets you click on a result and drag and drop it to change the order. Also, when a link is clicked on, the user is offered the option of opening the … Read more