Google Top iFrame not appearing

Today I noticed when I Google for any word that has results, there is an iFrame above the results that results in 404 Page Not Found. I thought in the beginning it's only my slow connection timeout, but I keep getting it in both Firefox and IE7. Opera did not have that iFrame for some reason. At least I didn't see it. See below the image.


Does anybody else have the same thing?

Yahoo doing Evil against Google?

Marketing Pilgrim are posting the incident of an individual who download Yahoo Messenger, and upon installation, he got an innocent vague looking auto-update option, which he normally assumed it's Yahoo Messenger related update and decided to keep it. What he found out later is that the update downloads the IE7, sets it as default browser with Yahoo as the main page, and not only that. It changes the default search engine to Yahoo from what it was, Google.

This is a very strange incident to be, and someone already mailed Yahoo for comments. Read more and see snapshots from the original post.

Google brings live stock price!

Google have been in discussions, and are moving on with the SEC, NYSE, and NetCoalition about what seems to be not a desperate attempt to bring the live stock market prices through all various Google services, including but not limited to Google Finance, Google Mobile, and Google Personalized Page.

The negotiations are still going on very well as it seems from Google Blog's tone and if it happens, this will give them a jump ahead over Yahoo, who have their prices delayed for at least 15 minutes. But in the meantime, Google Finance has all it takes of a stock market site, from searching quotes with on the fly suggestion, related news, share holder info, and now your can create your Portfolio to track your favorite stocks, mark down the shares you have and track your gain/loss over time.

Basically, Google Finance now has it all except for the live quotes. Could we see Google soon turning into an online stock market as well? I am eagerly waiting for that to be honest. Since the launch of Google Finance, I hardly see my self going to any other financial site, which is not healthy ofcourse.

Best 100 Companies to Work for in US, Google Tops Them

CNN Money have compiled a list of the best 100 companies to be working for in the US for 2007, and Google fairly tops the list. Competitors Yahoo and Microsoft came in the 44th and 50th position accordingly. Is it a coincidence the order is inversely proportional to the company age? And that with time and as Google grows bigger it will become more vertically structured oriented and start to lose it's advantages? Possible, but still avoidable.

Click here for the full list.

Santa's Toy Hunt on Google Earth

Starting from Dec 12, up till Christmas eve, every day there will be a clue outside Santa's north pole, which if you could solve will lead you to the hidden toy on Google Earth. This is the new quest launched by Google, thats sounds really interesting and fun. Education to the end user as well. Google can use it to pin point the hot areas that people might miss otherwise.

Read more about it on the Google Blog or go to the main quest page.

Bye Bye Google Search API

It was never complete great, it was never carefully taken care of. It was something that's done once and left for Beta forever. Google Search SOAP API has been (quitely) taken out of service for good. No more users are accepted in the program, and pretty soon we are likely to see existing ones not able to query anymore.

The service was introduced in Beta back in 2002, and remained so with limited 1,000 query a day, and 10 results per query, until it was canceled for good. I was working with the API, I loved it although it had some stability issues. I and many others were waiting for it to go live with unlimited queries and have more flexibility. Unfortunately, this thing never happened. Tough luck for the Google Hacks author and people who bought it like me!.

Google are inviting users to use the AJAX Search API, which is apparently even more restrictive and does not allow reordering or mixing of results. Shall I agree to change to AJAX API and obey by the terms, what makes me sure the AJAX API will not be dumped in 3 years time again?

Google Answers cancellation may have been a must, as it was a wrong concept perhaps. But the search API is a strong slap in the face of programmers. Now geeks have another reason to scrap content of Google search their own way!

Original source

IE7 optimized for Google released

When Microsoft provided the IE7 browser developer APIs, they didn't think Google would actually use it against them. Google have officially released an IE7 version optimized for Google, with Google as the default page, Google Toolbar included, and Google as the default search engine. Interested people can download it from here.

While it might sound like a bad move against Microsoft Live.com, it may be a good one however for IE7 that now Google are promoting it. It all depends on which half of the glass you are talking about.

Google Patent Search released

What's best than introducing new service, simply by summing up what services you already have. Google have their search engine, and Google Book Search technologies both applied to come up with the Google Patent Search . The new service allows people to search for the full text of U.S. patents and browse through them just as they do with Google Book Search.

Source: Google Blog