Google conquered Earth… next: the Universe?

The New York Times and CNN reported last week that Google has signed on to help 19 universities and laboratories with a determined telescope project in Chile. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope would have a 27.5 foot diameter and has the ability to produce 200 terabytes worth of images each week.

Google would be helping the scientists organizing data. Will Google make the images public via “Google Solar System?” As the company has online service of maps of Mars and the moon. The telescope project should be completed by 2013.

Google AdSense Updates Program Policies & Competitive Ads Policy

Google AdSense had recently updated their plan policies, while most of them were simple to clarify and make changes to the policies. They also made a major change to publishers who use ad networks or in-house ads with ad units, which resemble AdSense ad units, or those who do ad rotation with AdSense and another network for ad such as Yahoo Publisher Network.

The most important change was made to the Competitive Ads & Services section of the program policies. Now, running anything in an ad unit which resembles the AdSense ad unit appearing anywhere on the same site is against the terms.

Google linked to local project

Blythewood has an exit off Interstate 77, but Internet giant Google would make the town a bigger stop on the information superhighway.

A massive data management center is being offered for 466 acres south of the growing Northeast Richland town.

Public records filed newly on Friday link the project with Google, though the company and most government officials won’t comment.

The proposed $200 million to $800 million data center that would be built in two stages has the capacity to employ as many as 600 people.

The complex would also include eight 10acre warehouses chock full of computer servers according to the recent proposal filed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The corps should approve the plan, presented by Arum Composites as it calls for filling in 14 acres of creeks and streams.

Online Service Launch for Weather Risk by Google

Former Google team members are now concentrating on empowering businesses to manage how weather affects their bottom line. WeatherBill offers an online service that allows companies to purchase coverage, which pays for adverse weather condition without any claims hassle. WeatherBill further offers free tools to assist businesses understand how weather impacts their financial performance.

MSN Direct Goes High Def with Clear Channel

Microsoft Corp. and Clear Channel Radio recently announced at the 2007 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that they have carried out a joint agreement to build a countrywide data delivery service using HD Radio technology, offering personalized and localized content to a variety of HD Radio receivers. This plan would be branded MSN Direct HD, an extension of Microsoft’s existing MSN Direct service that currently transmits a variety of information including traffic, weather, movie times, sports, as well as stocks to Smart Watches, weather stations, Global Positioning System navigation devices and small home appliances.

The expansion of MSN Direct to HD Radio is again apart of Microsoft’s Smart Personal Objects Technology (SPOT) initiative. The companies would initiate opportunities for consumer electronics companies and automotive manufacturers to offer MSN Direct content in HD digital radio format on their devices by 2008.

Yahoo! Announces Winners of ”Last Gadget Standing” Event at CES 2007

Yahoo had recently announced the winners of Yahoo! Tech “Last Gadget Standing” contest, hosted by Robin Raskin at Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The winners are the Data Drive Thru Tornado that was chosen by the audience during the live SuperSession event and the HP TouchSmart PC was chosen as the online winner at tech.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Tech brought consumers the most excellent information on gadgets and “Last Gadget Standing” gave those consumers a chance to pick their favorite gadget from CES.

“Last Gadget Standing” is not just about the techies telling us what hot next is. It’s about the real ‘deciders’, the consumers, voting on what’s going to appear as our next gadget idol,” stated by Patrick Houston, general manager, Yahoo! Tech

Social Features Key to Yahoo Local

Yahoo is putting more of its emphasis on social media and user generated content in its local search product.

Social features came back again during September 2006, when it added “collections” of user generated lists, such as “The Bay Area for Kids,” a collection Miller created while exploring outings with his family. Last month, Yahoo added another user generated content featured to Local, Consumer Submit. That feature allows the users to add and edit a business listing, updating contact information, store hours, or identifying businesses that are no longer open.

Yahoo views these features as “social utilities”, which attach the always present offline gossip that friends and neighbors use to find a contractor, pick a restaurant, or choose a mechanic.

Google book search adds five Catalonian libraries

LONDON – The National Library of Catalonia with five affiliated libraries have agreed to participate in Google Inc.’s bid to scan book collections of the world’s great libraries, the third in Europe to join the project.

The two organizations said in a statement that they will soon be digitizing hundreds and thousands of public domain works, counting collections by Catalonian writers such as Ramon Llull, Angel Guimera and Jacint Verdaguer in addition to Cervantes and Gongora. Google, the world’s most used search engine, is also accomplishing a pilot project with the U.S. Library of Congress.

Google debuts SketchUp Pro 6

Google has recently released an upgraded version of its pro-level 3D sketching software. Through SketchUp Pro 6 one can create models from photos, add watermarks and 3D text and even set display styles. It further has a series of tools for creating presentations from sketched scenes known to be LayOut, which is available in beta.

SketchUp also calculates the camera position, builds the 3D scene and then applies parts of the photograph as textures to the models. Multiple photographs from different angles could be combined to make multiple sides of objects.

This upgrade has the new Styles palette that hosts collections of display settings including Watermarks and Sketchy Effects. These could be saved and shared with other users as well.

Next Tier Concepts Joins Google Enterprise Professional Program

Next Tier Concepts, Inc. (NT Concepts) recently announced that it has joined the Google Enterprise Professional Program, enabling them to expand the power of both Google Enterprise Search and Google Enterprise Earth to their many viable and government customers.

The Google Enterprise Professional Program includes developers, consultants, and independent software vendors, which offers value added services for Google Enterprise products. NT Concept project teams would now be integrating Google Enterprise solutions into corporate and further government information architectures. As one of the few partners certified for both Earth and Search, NT Concepts could deliver those technologies autonomously or as an integrated solution.