Know by some as the "Evil Empire," the goings-on at Google are always shrouded in mystery. The next project, the next piece of cyberspace they will claim as their own, the newest way to search for the lowest price on a Bedazzler, whatever the operation, people are speculating.

Here are a few of the sites Google doesn't want you to see.

Google Blog Search - Wow, i can search for blogs! No more scouring the internet in vain looking for blogs with terrible poetry and links to Yahoo...oh wait, that's all of them.

Google Book Search - Librarians beware! Dewey Decimal System be damned! Google will soon have all the information in the world at your fingertips, making libraries about as relevent as powdered wigs. Can i humbly suggest the works of John Knowles be excluded? A Seperate Peace - worst. book. ever.

Google Cobrand - When i first saw this i was thinking Google
COBRAnd. When I found out the The Baroness, Storm Shadow and Zartan wern't involved I kind of lost intrest. Best guess: Google stores.

Google Preferences - I'm not really sure why they block the search engines from the preferences page. I can tell you to never take off safe search then do a GIS for the keyword "crotch," but i guess that's common sense.

Google Video Search, Video Preview and Video Program Info - Now, this is really interesting. While no page exists for any of these topics today, clearly Google is up to something. Making videos and their content searchable is a huge undertaking so while i don't expect to see anything by this weekend, the very thought of searching for particular videos is intriging.

Google PDA - Apparently Google will now be running your palm pilots and whatnots. This is great because now i know what all those dill-holes are gawking at during meetings.

Google SMS Demo - My hope was that Google is making a cell phone that will enable us all to be time travlers...Time Bandits-style. Instead it's just a way to text questions and get text answers. Not as exciting as flux capaciters and so forth, but pretty cool.

Google Mac - A Google just for Mac users? Finally, technology that will help all 20 of you. Just kidding, don't take things so seriously Jeff, Martin, Kip, Styrling, Lindsay, John, April, Maggie, Frank, Jennifer, Rod, Terrance, and the other 8. Geesh.

While my expert analysis is mainly for sh*ts and giggles, there is no denying that something is up at Google. I'm not sure the combined efforts of Encyclopedia Brown, The Bloodhound Gand, Father Dowling and Harriet the Spy could ever crack this case. but it has been fun speculating.

This week's cover story on Google in Time is a must read in understanding the company and its future.

The article says the company focuses on pursuing innovation, and then pushing as hard to make it great before pushing it out into the market, and worrying about the revenue model later. This is a focus that not enough companies have today. They let money and quarterly earnings dictate product development and not vice versa.

I disagree with the premise that Yahoo is Google's greatest enemy. Yahoo is focusing on content and "social search" which is cool today, but will never get as big as behavioral/target marketing or general search, IMHO. If you want to know what I like, ask me, because I differ with my friends on as many things as we agree.

Luckily for Google, the ad revenue model has worked well enough to support all of its ventures, but that well may soon run dry. They may have to turn to subscription services or slow growth as the advertising universe is not unlimited, or another search technology or ad model could slow them down. These things and the company itself are the greatest threats to Google.

I refuse to launch into another tired rant about how Wal-Mart has killed the local Mom and Pop general grocery. In fact, just days ago i purchased some body wash and a new toaster at my local Wal-Mart superstore. If my splurge was the nail in the casket of The Body Washery or Toasters and Such, i apologize.

No, this post is about a mystery. I realize some mysteries will haunt me for the rest of my life. How did Thundarr understand Ookla? Who would win in a fight between a ninja and an alligator if they were on neutral ground? These mysteries will probably haunt just me...

The thing that still has me shaking my head is Wal-Mart's new multimedia marketing camaign featuring the awe-inspiring tagline "Look beyond the basics."

One of the androids that works for Wal-Mart took a break from shooting the big screen version of
Small Wonder to explain; "The idea is to get people to think about the unexpected 'Wows' at Wal-Mart. They go into the store looking for a sweet like a Hershey bar and find something sweeter, or go for eye drops and find an eye-opener. It's about attracting new customers and reminding old ones about the broad range of products and the unexpected merchandise at Wal-Mart."

10 to 1 says that guy thinks he's brilliant.

Has Wal-Mart grown tired of mercilessly stomping lesser competition into the ground? Is the Grape Ape of bargain basement superstores pulling a Roy Jones Jr. and duking it out in a different weight class?

Hard to believe that the same people that shop at Pottery Barn and Saks would be tempted to look for todays fashions at Wal-Mart...tell that to Toasters and Such.

A study by Sharpe Partners confirms that the best way to have consumers talk up your product is by tickling their funny bones. Per ClickZ, eighty-eight percent of people send humorous content to friends via email.

We have all experienced the persuasive power of the viral video, such as the hilarious stuff from JibJab, the Star Wars send-up from theOrganic Trade Association, and Beer.com (and remember Pets.com?).

You would think that even more companies would regularly tap into the rich comic vein of creative writers and animators producing stuff for sites like iFilminstead of creating one annual Super Bowl shtick.

The cost of distributing viral videos online is very low compared to television advertising, and test marketing concepts is a snap. Building a brand through humor (even if it's not exactly product related) should be serious business, so someone should start a viral video clearinghouse that sells the best ideas to marketers.

I saw a clip on Sportscenter involving the changing face of Nascar. The basic premise was that Nascar fans aren't a bunch of PBR-swilling, toothless rednecks and that Nascar is finally being recognized as an actual sport.

Apparently the marketing execs at Ford don't watch Sportscenter.

Do you like to drive fast? Do you like fast cars and fast women? How about 1978 Camaros and a can of Kodiak? The roll-out of Ford's new online promotional campaign is as close to a monster truck show announcement as you will see on your computer screen. SUNDAY, SUNDAY SUNDAY! COME SEE BOUNTY HUNTER, THE SCARLET BANDIT AND IRON OUTLAW! BYOB! KIDS HALF PRICE!

The fictitious disease OAD (Overactive Adrenaline Disorder), is supposed to help bridge the gap between Ford's drivers and their fans. However, by targeting the hot-rodding speed afficianado, Ford is essentially preaching to the choir.

I'll give them credit, the faux-informational campaign is kind of funny, but if this is Ford's best attempt at reaching out to new audiences, then Sportscenter has lied to me...and that is something i cannot forgive.

I came across some tips about blogging for profit, including how to get the most out of AdSense and SEO. The article also got me thinking about the valid business purposes of blogging.

Even in the Internet and 24/7 cable era, blogs are accelerating the pace and volume of information. You can learn about nearly everything that affects your job, including not just what happened, but more importantly a variety of opinions on the ramifications of the event.

Business blogs are used by analysts to promote themselves and show how astute they are, while communications experts can pump up their industries, friends and clients. One of the most important purposes of blogs is to have a conversation with users of their products to discuss things technical and new uses.

This flow of communications can promote the blogger as a "brand" and build a reliable audience of folks that may someday become a client or partner. Bad ideas are marketing blogs that are solely devices to give personality to a brand (like clothing or cars). Also, blogs that are out of date are an embarrassment.

The danger as a blog reader is in over consumption. You can justify to the boss woman that you were reading about business stuff, but wouldn't those 3 hours have been better used working on your project that is due Friday? Perhaps companies should budget time into employees schedule for appropriate blog/news reading and not rely on people to use their off the clock hours to stay informed.

Finally, blogging increases the amount of thoughtful print communication. Telephony, IM, and email have promoted impromptu conversation that lacks the forethought of writing that will be out there for the world to see and reflect on. It's highly positive that everyone involved gets to have a say, and that we'll have a record of what our industry peers thought about current events and future possibilities. These writing exercises are good for the brain and help us to improve our "deep thought" communication skills. Now get back to work.

A few months ago I had a first look at MSN's adCenter and while mostly I was a fan, it still had some flaws. Well, it looks like Microsoft is listening to the people, MSN has planned a large upgrade to adCenter within the next two weeks in order to make some major changes. According to the MSN adCenter blog some highlights of this next release are:

1. Order creation process simplified into 4 steps
2. Broader differentiation between campaigns and orders
3. New pricing tab includes all budget, bidding, and incremental pricing
4. Negative keywords can be applied at the order level
5. Keyword / ad rejections include reason codes…

Additional changes and a little more detail on the stated changes, I have found the following:
-A redesign of the Campaigns page provides a snapshot of all the orders you have under your campaign.

-You can select audience targets for your ad when you start creating a new order.

-You can now research keywords on the same page where you build your keyword list.
-Targeted bids are now percentage-based so you don’t have to learn a new bidding method.

-Excluded keywords have replaced negative keywords to help you further narrow the audience who will see your ad.

-MSN adCenter API now supports updating order items, as well as targeting orders towards a specific date or time, geographic region, plus age and gender.

-City-based targeting now automatically associates a state or region with your selection. (Tip: make sure to check these associations if you previously targeted a city, as some city names are used in more than one geographic area.)

This all seems very like it will be very helpful and make adCenter a little more user friendly. Most of the PPC world has used Google Adwords or the Yahoo DTC so bringing a little more familiarity to adCenter should be an excellent thing. It is good to see they have actually made good use of all the beta input myself and other testers have given to them.

Specifically, there are two features of adCenter that I've always been a fan of and it looks like they are attempting to improve them; the keyword research tool and demographic targeting. AdCenter's keyword research tool provided very good information for building a campaign but the issue with it was it didn't fit naturally into the work flow. It looks like they have addressed this issue which I am happy to see. Also, a feature unique to adCenter is the demographic targeting which they have tweaked to make it even better. All advertisers, on-line and off-line, know the better you can target your ads the more successful your ad campaign will be.

While there still are some annoyances that I would like to see changed (ie, inability to bulk change keyword bids and to see which ads are running for which words in a group), this should be a very positive upgrade for MSN adCenter. There will be more changes announced later in the week and I will keep you up to speed on them, along with letting you know the date when this upgrade will happen. Currently, all the adCenter folks have told us is "within two weeks" so when an exact date is announced, you'll be the first to know. Hmmm, I wonder if it will work with FireFox?

Side Note *During the release, users will not be able to sign into adCenter, but your ads will continue to be served.*

Yahoo has published a bunch of nifty tools that help websites put their best (inter)face forward. The library of widgets includes slider bars, drag and drop tools, and animation effects.

Yahoo also has been kind enough to set up a blog to provide information on additions and tweaks for the library.

The era of being to create a site with flat pages and manual reloads will soon come to an end. Shopping experiences are soon going to look a lot more like TV than browsing a catalog, and as Martha would say, that's a good thing.

Here's my advice to the rest of you: Take dead aim on the rich boys. Get them in the crosshairs and take them down. Just remember, they can buy anything but they can't buy backbone. Don't let them forget it. Thank you.

-Bill Murray
Rushmore

If you have ever been to Myrtle Beach you’ve probably noticed the proliferation of many clothing articles you don’t normally see at the office. Confederate flag bandanas, cut-off jean shorts, Oakley Razorblades circa 1992 and some classy t-shirts. One of my personal favorite is the t-shirt that offers the sage advice to stay off the porch unless you can run with the “big dog.� I like this for two reasons. One, anytime a t-shirt emasculates me, I have to respect it and two, it directly applies to the ongoing search engine wars.

Right now, Google is the big dog. Yahoo and MSN are desperately trying to join it on the porch and are coming up with some creative ways at attracting more search traffic.

MSN is the latest entry in the rewards program for frequent searchers. Prizes include gift certificates from American Express, Target, REI and Nike. The prize list also includes Digital cameras and MP3 players. Three winners each month will also get to choose charities to receive $10,000, $25,000 or $50,000 donations.

Word on the street is that Yahoo may soon be joining MSN and Amazon in the rewards program fray. My main concern is that prizes are determined by the keywords you search for, because what the hell am I going to do with a Myrtle Beach tank top?

Microsoft's Craigslist killer is almost Live, available as a restricted beta site. Microsoft's twist on the free service, called Live Expo, includes being able to restrict who can see your listings to only known groups (such as Messenger buddies) or to everyone, any being able to start a chat with a seller from a listing.

You can specify a geographic range for your Expo search, and the service also enables you to instantly map the seller's location. For now, the beta is limited to Microsofties and folks associated with the University of Washington, and the company will roll out the beta test on a regional basis.

Being able to IM sellers instantly is a promising application, especially if you want to sell or buy things in a hurry, such as concert tickets. Instant messaging is underused as a commerce application today, and someday we'll probably be sharing our protected identities and paying each other with virtual cash that way.

Even if Expo turns out to be cooler than Craigslist, it will be hard to wrest the millions of users from the anti-corporate site. Craigslist is dealing with a highly questionable lawsuit concerning vioations of the fair housing act, but it seems doubtful that Microsoft or any competitors will keep the site from growing.

The latest iteration of Google Desktop includes file sharing function with an indexing feature that requires temporarily copying all of the content you want indexed onto Google's servers. Google is making it easier for individuals to share content from multiple computers as well as groups to share the contents of their hard drives with each other.

The company says it will encrypt the data, won't make it available to its employees, and will delete it after 30 days. Google puts all of the files in a single location to create a master index, but this same function could be done on any of the individual's computers, as long as their is enough hard drive space.

You've been able to share files between computers for many years without having to offload data to central servers, so it's a lame excuse to require it just to build an index. And while creating file sharing networks that can potentially subvert copyrights is old hat, Google Desktop will make it much easier for friends to find shared music files, videos (thanks to the new TiVo-to-PC products), and (dare I say it) pornography.

Inevitably, some folks will abuse the software for these purposes, so I hope Google is hiring lawyers as fast as it is engineers.