Apri1 1 could be another coming out day for a new Google service, according to ZDNet's Google blog. The articles suggests a finalized Gmail, calendar application or free online storage.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was something no one had talked about before. Google has had a great ability to keep its development work under wraps, so a "Say what?" launch might just be in order.

How about the long rumored/dreaded commercialized Google Base for classifieds? An events listings search engine (concerts, etc). A Priceline competitor? A redesigned news search incorporating blogs?

This could make waking up early on Saturday to log on worthwhile.

New player Find.com's spin on search adds category links as a secondary set of search results. Theoretically this would provide a set of sub- and related genres.

But even for a beta, the suggested links are curious indeed. For example, searching on "auto news," generated a link to the Golden State Warriors basketball team, while "classical music" prompted "outdoor living."

What would be useful would be a combined search and browse mashup that includes keyword searching, blog searches, digg user ratings and the dmoz.org directory.

If I want to find out about the latest immigration controversy, I'd like to see the highest rated stories on the subject at the moment, the best websites that cover the subject, as well as resources that discuss the subject in length. A Firefox plug-in to toggle between all the views would be in a word, delicious.

Thanks to the RSS feeds, Podcasts, and news aggregators, local news will soon no longer exist.

It's not because the Boston Herald or WWOR are going out of business; they are just reinventing themselves as national (and international) news entities.

Today the BBC announced that it will launch a global website that will be ad-supported. This is good news for advertisers as there will be lots of impressions available on a trusted brand.

Newspapers and broadcasters are to a certain extent unshackling themselves from being local entities as they reach broader audiences, and they should team with interactive agencies and media experts in re-branding themselves to the national audience.

Since I live in a town with a pedestrian newspaper (The Oregonian), I get most of my news from websites ostensibly serving audiences in San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia and London. Sure, I don't care about who became county water commissioner in Suffolk, but many folks will read the best investigative journalism from wherever.

In a few years the best papers should be getting more revenue from online readers outside their jurisdiction than from the papers that land in front yards.

A new hardware device for blocking spam gets the thumbs up from PC World.

While $150 may seem like a hefty investment, it probably makes sense if like me you get spammed hundreds of times per day and would like to regain some productivity. A better bet though is probably a combined spam filter and firewall that takes care of all of the unwanted intrusions.

I'm thinking about changing my primary email address just because of the honeymoon period of the first few months when the inbox is spam free. Yes, that's a weasel way out instead of setting up spam software, but who has time for that when you've got so many emails to delete?

We at Marketing Shift usually don't acknowledge this kind of blogosphere drama basically because it is a waste of time, but I can not ignore the childishness I am seeing by bloggers. For those of you who don't know, Microsoft Geek Blogger Robert Scoble, recently wrote a post criticizing non-reputable journalists and bloggers mainly focused around the misreporting that 60% of Windows Vista (the next windows) is having to be re-written. Anyone with a lick of common sense should have seen this report as false. There is no possible way that would (or could) happen. Some people apparently believed it and attacked Scoble after his understandably frustrated response. At first it was childish personal comments towards him, then it was statements saying he is the reason companies should not have corporate blogs. And now, people are saying Scoble should be fired.

Ludicrous!

First off, those who sent personal attacks to Scoble aren't even worth mentioning. I graduated from high school a long time ago and left all that childishness there. I wish everyone else would too.

Secondly, I think Scoble is the perfect reason FOR having a corporate blog. Sure he may have called unethical bloggers jerks but I don't think that reflects on Microsoft at all. Do you think Google and Apple (among others) like the misreporting and rumors that people make up (mostly linksterbaiters)? I doubt it. I'm sure they are thinking exactly what Scoble said.

Big Whoop.

I think it is important for a company with the size of Microsoft to have a corporate personality and blog. It makes them seem more real. People already have their premeditated and unfounded hate for Microsoft. No matter what Scoble says, their will be critics flaming with their anti-Microsoft propaganda. Mostly its uniformed propaganda formed by personal opinions of why they think Microsoft is Evil. Nobody is perfect, and no company is perfect. For bloggers and non-bloggers to expect perfection is insanity. Companies are run by people, people make mistakes and I think covering them up to portray a perfect corporate image is a waste of time, the truth will surface.

In todays technology world, you need to have that personality that bloggers and people can relate to. You don't see much blogosphere talk about IBM do you? Maybe they should have a corporate blog.

And the whole firing of Scoble issue, is nonsense. He is not the one behind the Vista delays (try pointing the finger at someone else), he does a great job of killing the ridiculous rumors that always seem to surface, and does not sugarcoat things to the extent so many people would suggest.

People need to layoff attacking Microsoft employees (ie Scoble) and maybe look towards the Microsoft leadership to find the problem with the company. But that would require people to take off their Google-colored glasses and realize Microsoft is not the evil company on the block anymore, which may never happen.

Google amazes me once again. They create the ever so popular Google Maps. They release an API for Google Maps which encourages thousands of developers to create "Mash-Ups" using Google Maps. These Mash-Ups are all over the web from blogs to their own independent web sites. And just last week, SEW reported there were paid ads on Google Maps.

I can hear the Guiness guys right now, 'Brilliant!'

These paid ads on the maps, rumored to be called GeoAds, are just another place where Google can sneak another hand into your wallet and take a few more nickels for their piggy bank.

There isn't any information out there as to how to get your ad showing on the GeoAds but I suspect it will be integrated into Adwords in some fashion, sort of like what Google has done with Adsense and the content network.

The more I think about GeoAds as I write this, the more questions I come up with:
If you are already listed in Google Local (where Google Maps gets its' info), why would you pay to have another symbol included? The only logical reason could be so you can place a little bit of ad text next to your link, a link which is already included in the organic listing on Google Maps.

What metric will decide a successful GeoAds campaign? Usually, if someone is using Google Local / Google Maps then they are looking for a brick and mortar store to visit, if they click on your GeoAd and decide to come to your store, how will a conversion be measured? You can't measure the success or failure of a campaign w/o having some data to back it up.

Will Google start charging for inclusion in Google Local? Highly un-likely but I was trying to think why these ads have developed , other then to steal a few nickels from highly irrelevant clicks.

My main concern is the relevancy of the clicks. A user using Google Maps or Google Local is obviously looking for a retail shop of some kind and I can not imagine many scenarios where those people, even if they happen to click on the ad, will convert into an online measurable sale.

Overall, I first thought this was an ingenious idea. Have the users create all sorts of outlets for your GeoAds via Google Maps API, and I still think that is a great idea, but the actual success of GeoAds has to answer some questions first. Starting with mine.