Google to launch Maps-based game for Google+

Google’s “your world” theme is carried into the gaming realm with the announcement of an original title powered by WebGL. The title will be coming to Google+ Games exclusively in February 2012.

The game was announced quietly in a demo video yesterday. It is Google Maps-based and was developed by the Maps team for Google’s gaming platform. The demo video features a cube with a map overlay. Players will have to navigate a blue ball through the location, similar to marble tilt games like Marble Madness or the Wii’s Marble Mania. It seems like the player’s marble will need to touch the marked locations on the cube map in order to accumulate points and advance to the next area. Once the marble rolls over the markers, users get a small piece of information about the location.

There’s not much else to go on from the 27 second teaser. It’s a simple offering with a catchy tune, and it seems like a good start to original content. The WebGL technology which powers the game allows for 3D graphics without any need for installing additional software. The YouTube video links to an interactive Google Maps primer.

The Google+ Games platform arrived in August and features many of the games people were used to from Facebook, such as Zynga’s Farmville as well as the popular Angry Birds title.

In-site gaming is a good source of business for Facebook, which Google dipped into as well with the launch of Games. Of course, Facebook as well as Plus functioned as middlemen for companies like Zynga and Roku; but this could be an interesting shift in Plus’ favor if Google’s planning on developing more original games.

Google launches +1 button, hits the Android Market

Google +1 has gotten a little more interesting, as the Digg-like recommendation button gets prime placement beyond search results. Yesterday Google announced the roll-out for Google +1 to websites, listing a series of destinations, including YouTube, Blogger and the Android Market. A mix between the Facebook “Like” button and Twitter’s “retweet” button, Google +1 is a great promotional tool for Android app developers. It’s another way in which Google is not only hoping to improve recommendations and discovery within the Android Market, but also encourage social sharing, as its own search endeavors still lack community appeal.

While Google continues to update the Android Market for usability and exploration, the Android OS continues to dominate the mobile scene. Nokia blamed Android’s success for its own demise, noting Android’s explosive growth in Europe.

Apple too, is seeking ways to circumvent Android’s dominance, possibly with a low-cost iPhone. The working class phone, most likely the 3GS, would compete with Android’s array of tiered devices, which have made Android the most accessible mobile OS in the world. Apple’s been content to keep iOS in the confines of its own devices, but tiering some of those devices even further would also widen Apple’s profits.

Google unveils mobile pay service, PayPal and eBay sue

Google faced a lawsuit after it unveiled a free mobile application that turns a smartphone into an electronic wallet and is designed to replace plastic credit cards.

PayPal and eBay filed a lawsuit in a California state court charging that the Internet giant tapped into trade secrets for its newly released Google Wallet. Google did not immediately respond to the allegations.

PayPal spent three years trying to work out a deal in which it would handle payments for Android smartphones, only to see Google scuttle the talks and hire its lead negotiator Osama Bedier, according to court documents.

Bedier worked at the eBay-owned online financial services unit as a vice president of platform, mobile, and new ventures until being hired in January by Google.

He played a central role at Google's official unveiling in New York with financial partners Citibank, MasterCard and First Data and telecom ally Sprint, saying Google Wallet is being field tested and will be available this summer.

Google Wallet will initially work with Google's Nexus S 4G smartphone from Sprint, the third-largest US wireless provider, and will eventually be expanded to other phones equipped with near field communication (NFC) technology.

An NFC chip in a phone allows a user who has entered his or her credit card details to "tap-and-pay" for purchases at a checkout register equipped with the PayPass system from CitiMasterCard.

Customers can also use a Google Prepaid card to pay for purchases and take advantage of Google Offers, the Mountain View, California-based company's online discount coupon program.

The company said Google Wallet will be accepted at more than 124,000 US merchants at launch and more than 311,000 around the world.

Stephanie Tilenius, Google's vice president for commerce and payments, described Google Wallet as the "next generation of mobile commerce."

"We're building an open commerce ecosystem that for the first time will make it possible for you to pay with an NFC wallet and redeem consumer promotions all in one tap, while shopping offline," Tilenius said.

"We are looking at expanding internationally, Europe first and then Asia."

The PayPal lawsuit contends that Tilenius helped Google poach Bedier and named both executives and the Internet company as defendants in a civil case alleging misappropriation of trade secrets.

Mobile payments are being tested or used in a number of countries already, notably France and Japan, but Google Wallet will be among the first to bring NFC technology to stores in the United States.

NFC technology uses short-range, high frequency wireless to enable the encrypted exchange of information between devices at a short distance.

Three of the largest US wireless carriers - AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless - announced in November that they were teaming up to build a national network called "Isis" to allow for payments by mobile phones.

They said they expect to introduce the service during the next 18 months.

Then-Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said shortly before the Nexus S smartphone hit the market in December that he expects tap-and-pay technology to eventually replace credit cards.
Forrester Research analyst Charles Golvin said it remains to be seen, however, whether Google can change the payment behavior of consumers, and it will take time and more widespread adoption to find out.

"Relying on an installed base of phones that is today indistinguishable from zero, a single payment system, a single card issuer, and a modest network of merchants capable of accepting these phone-based payments means that the near-term impact will be negligible," Golvin said.
Andrew Eisner, director of community and content at Retrevo, agreed that "the big question is how consumers will warm up to NFC."

"So far it looks like consumers are a bit skeptical," Eisner said. "They worry about security and privacy issues."

Google said it has built a number of security systems into Google Wallet including the need for a PIN number and credit card encryption. If lost, the payment system can be disabled with a phone call.

In addition to allowing for mobile payments, Google Wallet lets consumers pay using gift cards and redeem promotions such as discounts or coupons.

"Google Wallet will start with offers, loyalty and gift cards, but some day items like receipts, boarding passes and tickets will all be seamlessly synced to your Google Wallet," Google said in a blog post.

Google to pay $500 mn to settle US ad probe

Internet giant Google has set aside $500 million in anticipation of the results of a US government investigation into the practices of some of its advertisers.

"In May 2011, in connection with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers, we accrued $500 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2011," the company said.

"Although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter, we believe it will not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows."

The statement, which was filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), did not provide further details on the practices in question or what legal consequences the company might face.

The provision reduced Google's net income for the first quarter to $1.798 billion from $2.298 billion announced on April 14. Advertising accounted for 97 percent of the company's $8.575 billion revenue during the same period.

Google to offer mobile payment technology

According to a report by Wall Street Journal, Google is joining Citigroup and Mastercard to set up a mobile payment system that will turn Android phones into a kind of electronic wallet. The new technology, which is in its early stages, will allow consumers to wave their Android phones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter to make payments. The planned payment system would allow Google to offer retailers more data about their customers and help them target advertisements and discount offers to mobile device users near their stores. However, Google is not expected to get a cut of the transaction fees. Initially, holders of Citigroup-issued debit and credit cards would be allowed to pay for purchases by activating a mobile payment application developed for one current model and many coming models of Android phones.

Google launches new online magazine: Think Quarterly

Google's has launched its own full-length online magazine, a quarterly publication whose aim is to create a "breathing space in a busy world."

The first edition of Think Quarterly, based out of the UK, is a 68-page dive into the world of data and its impact on business. The first thing most people will notice is that it's a visually stunning piece of work. It's a rich Flash app with Google's quirky sensibilities and the in-depth writing you might find in BusinessWeek or Salon. Google's quarterly magazine is edited and designed by creative agency The Church of London.

The articles are thought pieces about major business and technology topics from a variety of freelancers and contributors. Google was able to snag Simon Rogers (editor of The Guardian's Datablog), Ulrike Reinhard (editor of WE Magazine), and other journalists for the project. Many of Think Quarterly's articles feature interviews with Google executives and technology leaders. Some of the people featured include Vodafone UK CEO Guy Laurence, Google Chief Economist Hal Varian and famed psychologist Peter Kruse.

"At Google, we often think that speed is the forgotten 'killer application' – the ingredient that can differentiate winners from the rest," Matt Brittin, Google's managing director of UK & Ireland operations, said in Think Quarterly's introduction. "We know that the faster we deliver results, the more useful people find our service."

"But in a world of accelerating change, we all need time to reflect. Think Quarterly is a breathing space in a busy world. It's a place to take time out and consider what's happening and why it matters."

It's unclear whether the new online magazine is another sign that Google is entering the media business or whether it's just a project to feed the company's intellectual curiosity. Google doesn't describe its newest project as a magazine or a publication. Instead, Google calls it a book on its website and a "unique communications tool".

China blocking Gmail services

Google has said that the Chinese government is interfering with its email services in China, making it difficult for users to gain access to its Gmail program, amid an intensified Internet crackdown following widespread unrest in the Middle East.

Google Inc. said its engineers have determined there are no technical problems with the email service or its main website.

"There is no technical issue on our side; we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail," the company said.

China has some of the world's strictest Internet controls and blocks many popular social media sites, including YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The government has intensified those efforts after pro-democracy protest erupted across the Middle East in January.

A Google spokesperson said users in China, the world's most populous Internet market, have reported having intermittent problems with the service since the end of January.

Problems include difficulty accessing the home page for Gmail and problems sending emails when logged into the service. The instant messaging function is often not working as well.

Google officials said the blocking appears to be more sophisticated than other problems experienced by users in the past because the disruption is not a complete block.

Google has had highly public run-ins with the Chinese government.

In January last year, Google announced that it would no longer cooperate with the government's requirement to censor search results for banned sites. It also complained about major attacks on its website by Chinese hackers, suggesting the government may have been instigated the attacks.

Attacks were also mounted against email accounts by activists working on human rights in China at that time.

Google moved its Chinese-language search engine to Hong Kong, which operates under separate rules from the rest of mainland China.

Google to launch Android 3.0 'Honeycomb' soon

Google plans to launch Android 3.0, or "Honeycomb," at an event at its headquarters on Feb. 2.

Google sent out invitations to journalists on Friday, along with the new logo for the operating system - an Android-like honeybee. The new operating system is expected in several tablets; it isn't known whether Google will eventually bring the OS to smartphones.

Google released its Honeycomb software developers kit (SDK) on Wednesday, a good indication that the Honeycomb software was en route. Highlights of the SDK include: a UI framework for creating great apps for larger screen devices; high-performance 2D and 3D graphics; support for multicore processor architectures; rich multimedia; new types of connectivity; and enhancements for enterprise.

Honeycomb is expected to usher in a new generation of Android devices, although how successful they will be in the face of the iPad is anybody's guess. According to a recent IDC survey, price will be the distinguishing feature of Android tablets, not the new Honeycomb OS.

Google's Mike Cleron demonstrated Honeycomb on an unnamed tablet at this year's CES, where a number of tablets either used or pledged to use Honeycomb, including the Motorola Xoom, the LG G-Slate, and Eee-branded products from Asus.

Honeycomb was originally expected to require a powerful processor, but so far there apparently is no "hard" specification for processor requirements.

Google co-founder Larry Page to take over as CEO

Google Inc co-founder Larry Page will take over as CEO from Eric Schmidt, a surprise move to make the company more nimble.

Page's assumption of day-to-day operations marks a return to Google's technological roots, 13 years after he and fellow Stanford University student Sergey Brin founded what has become the world's No. 1 Internet search engine with $29 billion a year in revenue.

"Day-to-day adult supervision no longer needed!" Schmidt tweeted after the announcement.
The news came as Google reported earnings and revenue that blew past expectations.

While Google has dominated Internet search for a decade, the company has struggled to find its footing in social networking, with a new crop of Web companies such as Facebook and Twitter stealing Web traffic and engineering talent.

"As spending was curbed and order restored over the last few years, some of that Google magic was lost," said Tricia Salinero, managing director of Newforth Partners, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm.

Schmidt, who will step aside on April 4 and make way for Page, said in an interview that the change was "not a reaction to competitors."

Rather, he said, it was an effort to speed up decision making at the company, which ended the year with about 24,000 employees.

"Google has many different businesses and the issue that we have been getting into is there's too many ways in which these businesses can be slowed down," Schmidt said.

Schmidt, who became CEO in 2001 to bring more management experience to a then-fledgling company, will assume the role of executive chairman, focusing on deals and government outreach, among other things. Brin will concentrate on strategic projects.

Shares in the Internet search and advertising leader rose about 2 percent to $639 in extended trading.

Just days ago, Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs announced a leave of absence, leaving lieutenant Tim Cook in charge of day-to-day operations. Like Google, Apple also announced results this week that blew past Wall Street's estimates.

"The Street will think it's a negative, that there is probably some issue going on. Google is trying to get more efficient and trying to get a tech guy in the seat to compete with Facebook," said UBS analyst Brian Pitz. "I don't think it changes anything strategically where the company is headed."

News of the change came as Google reported a 29 percent surge in both net profit and net revenue that beat forecasts.

Net income, excluding items, of $8.75 a share outstripped Wall Street's average forecast of $8.10. Net revenue, excluding fees paid to partner websites, was $6.37 billion.

GOVERNMENT OUTREACH
The world's top Internet company is recruiting and going on an acquisitions spree, aiming to ensure its online products remain popular as surfers turn to new services like Facebook- now the most heavily trafficked website - and wireless gadgets.

On a conference call with analysts, Google CFO Patrick Pichette said a 10 percent, across-the-board pay raise instituted late last year was a direct attempt to staunch a flow of talent to hot Web upstarts in the Valley.

Google is also facing increasing regulatory scrutiny as its influence on the Web grows and as the company expands into other markets.

The company's planned $700 million acquisition of airline ticketing software company ITA software is being reviewed by U.S. regulators, while European regulators are looking into Google's search practices.

Google tried to buy fast-growing online local-shopping service Groupon for $6 billion but was rebuffed.

Google said the management change was made as part of a plan to "streamline" decision making and create clearer lines of responsibility and accountability at the top.

"It's a good move. It (the triumvirate management structure) was always one of things that concerned us a little bit," said Ryan Jacob, portfolio manager with the Jacob Internet Fund. "It should streamline the decision-making process. They're in a fast-moving industry."

Schmidt now plans to sell about 534,000 shares of Class A common stock, the company said. Based on Google's closing share price of $626.77 on Thursday, he would earn about $334.7 million on the stock sale. He would still own about 2.7 percent of Google's outstanding capital stock, down from 2.9 percent before selling the shares.

"As Google has grown, managing the business has become more complicated. So Larry, Sergey and I have been talking for a long time about how best to simplify our management structure and speed up decision making," Schmidt said in a posting on the company's official blog.

"And over the holidays we decided now was the right moment to make some changes to the way we are structured."

Google also reported fourth-quarter financial results, beating Wall Street's net revenue expectations.

Schmidt said on his blogpost that Page, the son of a Michigan State University computer science professor, will now lead product development and technology strategy, areas that are "his greatest strengths."

Google to launch online music in India

Google Inc plans to launch an online music service in India that would enable users to search for legal music streams and downloads.

Google is looking to add music feature in its search service, which will allow users in India to search for songs.

The top search results would be from Google's partners. The U.S. web search giant will partner with three digital music providers, who hold rights to hundreds of thousands of Indian tracks ranging from Bollywood hits to Indian classical music.

Google could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

Google adds extra security to e-mail apps

Google Inc. is making it tougher for computer hackers and other imposters to break into e-mail accounts and other password-protected services.

An additional security measure introduced recently will require typing a six-digit code after an accountholder's Google password is entered. The codes will be sent to user's mobile phones.

The two-step process means it will take more than a password to get into an account, at least the first time that an attempted login is made from a particular computer. After logging in, users can ask Google to remember that their identity has been verified on that device and security codes won't be required to get into the account again.

The system is similar to that employed by some banks for online account access. The extra protection initially will be offered to companies and government agencies subscribing to a Google service that provides e-mail and other office applications. Google also is offering the added security to schools that rely on Google to run their e-mail systems.

People using Google's free Gmail service will have the option of making the security codes a part of their login process within the next few months. That could turn the security codes into a mainstream staple, given that Gmail had more than 185 million active accountholders worldwide in July, according to the most recent data from the research firm comScore Inc.

To make it easier to get the codes, Google has created a free security application for Apple's Inc.'s iPhone, Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry and phones running Google's own Android software.

Google wants more companies, government agencies and consumers to feel comfortable about "cloud computing," - which involves storing vital information on remote servers reached through the Internet.

Many people pick simple passwords, which makes it easier for hackers to break into an account. Requiring a security code that's only sent to the accountholder's mobile phone erects a new roadblock.

Google launches Movie Search Service for Mobile Devices

Google has launched a mobile version of its movie search service that is compatible with Apple's iPhone as well as all mobile devices running Android and the Palm webOS. The new offering promises to make it easier for movie fans to plan their next theater trip while on the go.

Google's movie search results are available now in English on mobile devices in the United States, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. To access the new mobile service, users go to Google.Com in the handset's web browser, search for "movies" and then tap on the "more movies" link, wrote Google mobile team member Nick Fey on the Google Mobile Blog.

"From there, you can either browse a list of movies or select the 'Theaters' button to browse a list of theaters near you," Fey wrote.

Mobile Movie Trailers
Google's new movie listings page incorporates buttons that enable web visitors to play the latest movie trailers on their phones. Mobile users also are able to drill down to access more details about a film, such as the movie's rating, Fey noted.

"Just touch the poster or movie title and you'll see our new movie-details page that has a synopsis of the movie, a more detailed list of showtimes, the cast and crew, and pictures," Fey wrote.

The new service also provides users with new ways to explore films by genre. "Sometimes, you might feel like seeing a sci-fi flick or a romance, but you're not sure what's out in theaters,"

Associate Product Manager Dan Stokeley wrote on The Official Google Blog. "With genre filters you can start browsing right away and quickly find the right movie for you."

Alternatively, users browsing by theater will see a map of the venues nearest to them. "Then just tap on the link to any particular theater to see what shows are playing there and what times they're playing," Fey wrote.

This is where Google Maps Navigation can come in handy, at least for users with compatible handsets running Android 1.6 or higher. They will be able to chart a course to the nearest theater in the list by speaking the address, the name of a nearby landmark, "or just about anything into the search box and Google will find it for you," Google Software Engineer Keith Ito wrote on the Google Mobile Blog. "Then press 'Navigate' and you're on your way."

Blending Video With Search
Google movie search is just one among the many things the search giant is trying out that merges search with videos and other multimedia content.

"Text is often useful, but sometimes videos and pictures are a more effective way to receive information," Google Vice President Susan Wojcicki wrote on The Official Google Blog. "So over the past few years, we've blended videos, images, maps and more into the search results on Google.Com."

As always, Google is looking to make the search results it delivers more relevant, not only to users but also to the online advertising community. From the film industry's perspective, movie trailers may represent the ultimate advertising tool, but not the only one.

So it will be interesting to see how Google evolves its movie search service to include other types of movie promotions and tie-ins from which the company can derive advertising revenues.

"As we continue to think up innovative ways to give you the information you want, you're likely to see even more ad formats until we pinpoint the most useful, relevant and engaging ones," Wojcicki wrote.

Google to launch Chrome Operating System

Google is working on a new operating system, called Chrome OS, for inexpensive computers in a daring attempt to wrest away Microsoft’s long running control over computing experience.

The new operating system will be based on its Chrome browser and would be an open source operating system initially targeted at netbooks. Google intends to rely on help from the community of open-source programmers to develop the Chrome operating system, which is expected to begin running computers in the second half of 2010.

Google is designing the operating system primarily for "netbooks," a lower-cost, less powerful breed of laptop computers that is becoming increasingly popular among budget-conscious consumers primarily interested in surfing the Web.

The operating system represents Google's boldest challenge yet to its biggest nemesis - Microsoft.

A high-stakes duel between the two technology powerhouses has been steadily escalating in recent years as Google's dominance of the Internet's lucrative search market has given it the means to threaten Microsoft in ways that few other companies can.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has been trying to thwart Google by investing billions of dollars to improve its own Internet search and advertising systems.

In the past month or so, though, Microsoft has been winning positive reviews and picking up more users with the latest upgrade to its search engine, now called "Bing." Microsoft is hailing the makeover with a $100 million marketing campaign.

Now Google is aiming for Microsoft's financial jugular with Chrome its operating system.

Despite its own power and prominence, Google won't have an easy time changing the status quo that has governed the personal computing industry for so long.

The Chrome operating system will run in a new windowing system on top of a Linux kernel - computer coding that has been the foundation for the open-source software movement.

Google has already introduced an operating system called Android, but that is only used for mobile phones at the moment.

The Android system worked well enough to entice some computer makers to begin developing netbooks that will eventually run on it.

Google, though, apparently believes a Chrome-based system will be better suited for running applications in netbooks.

"Computers need to get better. People want their computers to always run as fast as when they first bought them and they want to access the Internet instantly,” Google said.

"Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems," said the company.

"Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds," the company said.

Google hoping Web surfers to ride Wave

Google is hatching a new species of e-mail and instant messaging, but the Internet search leader first wants the hybrid service to evolve even more with the help of independent computer programmers.

The free tool, called "Google Wave," runs in a Web browser and combines elements of e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and photo sharing in an effort to make online communication more dynamic. Google hopes Wave simplifies the way people collaborate on projects or exchange opinions about specific topics.

Google offered the first glimpse of its latest offering Thursday during the Mountain View, Calif.-based company's annual conference for software developers who build programs on top of its services. The rest of the Web-surfing public won't be able to hop on Google Wave until later in the year.

By the time Wave rolls out for everyone, Google hopes independent programmers will have found new ways to use the service.

Among other things, Google is counting on outsiders to figure out how to weave Wave into the popular Internet communications service Twitter, social networks like Facebook and existing Web-based e-mail services, said Lars Rasmussen, a Google engineering manager.

Rasmussen and his brother, Jens, helped build Google's online mapping service, which sprouted a variety of unforeseen uses after its 2005 debut because of the ingenuity of external programmers.

Having learned their lesson from the mapping experience, the Rasmussens wanted to give developers ample time to tinker with their newest creation before unleashing it on the rest of the world.

The Rasmussens broke away from Google's mapping service in 2006 to concentrate on building a service that would enable e-mail and instant messaging to embrace the Web's increasingly social nature. They contend e-mail hasn't changed that much since its invention during the 1960s.

Wave is designed to make it easier to converse over e-mail by providing tools to highlight particular parts of the written conversation. In instant messages, participants can see what everyone else is writing as they type, unless they choose a privacy control. Photos and other online applications known as "widgets" also can be transplanted into the service.

The service could easily accommodate advertising like Google's 5-year-old e-mail service already does, but Lars Rasmussen said it's still too early to predict how the company might profit from Wave.

Google wants developers to ride Wave

Google encouraged software developers to ride into the future of email with a project called "Wave," which opens inboxes to text, video, pictures, maps and even social network feeds.

"Wave" expands the capabilities of email to let people communicate and work together in real-time with text, photos, videos, maps, and more, according to Google software engineering manager Lars Rasmussen.

According to Rasmussen, "In Google Wave you create a wave and add people to it. Everyone on your wave can use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and even feeds from other sources on the web. You see on your screen nearly instantly what your fellow collaborators are typing in your wave."

A "wave" prototype built by a five-person team "holed up in a conference room in the Sydney office" for months was previewed at a Google developers conference in San Francisco on Thursday.

"After more than two years of expanding our ideas, our team, and our technology, we're very eager to return and see what the world might think," Rasmussen wrote.

A Wave software kit was provided to developers at the conference.

Wave allows for collaboration and communication by letting people send out pictures, messages, or videos that can be built on or modified as they stream from recipient to recipient.

Waves can be rewound to see how exchanges evolved, according to Google.

"Developers are going to see the potential of Google Wave as a platform; we hope they'll leap on it," said Wave engineer Adam Schuck.

"They'll be able to integrate it with existing systems they use today, or produce new tools that allow people to improve and manage their communications."

The computer code for Wave will be open source i.e developers are free to modify it as they wish.

"We're inviting developers to add all kinds of cool stuff before our public launch," Rasmussen wrote.

No launch date for Wave has been specified. Rasmussen and his brother, Jens, founded an online mapping firm bought by Google in 2004. The brothers' technology went into Google's free Internet map service.

Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle said that while the Wave goal is feasible, building a central station for various online photo, video, text and social networking feeds presents complex challenges.

Such a project also calls for cooperation from an array of technology firms, some of them Google rivals, according to Enderle.

"You start throwing these complex things together and things start breaking," Enderle said. "And, Google has not shown an ability to drive the kind of collaboration it would take to make it happen."

Google Wave has solved "a bunch of stuff that has traditionally been very hard" such as real-time collaboration and hosted data, according to team engineer Casey Whitelaw.

"Developers won't have to think about all of that, they'll be able to just build their app and go," Whitelaw said in the interview.

"The primary ideas are that everything is live, and everything is editable."

The Wave team in Sydney held weekly "team huddles" that evolved to include theme songs, prizes, and one member's quest to "help us develop our chocolate palate beyond M&M" candies, according to Whitelaw.

"Rather than try to anticipate every possible use it will be put to, we've made it open and extensible so developers can come up with what they think is cool and useful," Whitelaw said of Wave.

Google Ads in Google News

Google has introduced ads to the results of search queries on Google News aimed at turning the news aggregation site into a money-making venture. This means that when one a query is entered into the Google News search box, one will see text ads alongside your News search results. These ads would only currently appear on Google News search-results pages in the United States.

Josh Cohen, a business project manager at Google, announced the change on Wednesday. "In recent months we've been experimenting with a variety of different formats. We've always said that we'd unveil these changes when we could offer a good experience for our users, publishers and advertisers alike," Cohen said.

Google News aggregates headlines from more than 4,500 English-language news sources around the world and provides links to articles on their websites. These articles are selected by computers that evaluate how often and on what sites a story appears online.

"I presume that Google gets paid per click for action on those ad offerings. But I doubt that they have any particular plans to share that with the people whose news they're aggregating," said Rick Edmonds, a media business analyst at the Poynter Institute.

Kelly McBride, another Poynter faculty member, said "it's always been obvious that Google didn't develop Google News as a public service - they intended to make money off it. I'm ok with Google News making money," she said.

The introduction of ads to Google News search could prove to be controversial. One has to wait to see its results.