Google smartens up on mobile locations

Windows Mobile users in the US and the UK who search with Google will find their results more localized.The evolution of mobile search depends on bringing the individual a highly localized result for each query made. If I'm searching for pizza in Chicago, I'd better find Gino's East if I'm near one of their locations.

Such results should be more common through Google, according to the Google Mobile blog. They introduced Mobile Search with My Location for Google users:

Previously, when you went to google.com from your phone’s browser and performed a local search, the results were tailored to the last location you entered. Now, using the Gears Geolocation API, Search with My Location approximates your actual location using the same Cell ID technology used by Google maps for mobile.

Give Google credit for continuing to be aware of the privacy implications behind location data. Google said it won't associate your My Location data with personally identifiable information. They will even keep that separate for people who are logged in to a Google service through their mobiles.

Greg Sterling said at Search Engine Land the technology "saves keystrokes in mobile and also lays the groundwork for more precise mobile ad targeting at some point in the near future."

That's the real driving force behind improved mobile search services. Millions of people carry mobile devices, and the number of those with web capabilities increases all the time.

Google's familiar name makes it likely people will add the Google Gears framework to their Windows Mobile devices to enable services like this enhanced mobile search. With this groundwork in place, Google can pursue its mobile ad initiatives with greater enthusiasm. Read more!

Dollar's up, and that's bad for US Internet companies

Strong international revenue buoyed by a weakened dollar may drift downward as the US economy finds its currency slowly making a resurgence.
One would think American companies might have some patriotic cheer for a strengthening dollar. But the global nature of Internet business for firms like Google and Amazon.com means strength at home means weakness abroad.

ZDNet said the assessment by JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan predicted lower earnings per share. Google and travel site Priceline may have cause for worry:

Regarding Google Khan noted that more than half of Google’s revenue comes from abroad. Google also has “significant exposure” to the British pound, which has fallen along with the euro relative to the dollar.

Priceline may also take its lumps over a stronger dollar because 60 percent of its travel bookings come from abroad.

However, old-line companies, notably shaving razor maker Gillette, made a habit of hedging their currency bets against such swings in global fortunes. If the likes of Google have not made such strategies part of the ongoing business, I'd be very surprised. Read more!

Google Chrome privacy policy polished

Google's entry into the web browser field drew complaints about the privacy policy attached to the software.
Typing anything into the Google Chrome browser's "Omnibox" gave Google rights to those words forever and ever. At least that's how CNET characterized a section of the End User License Agreement that Google recently updated for the software.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation expressed concern about the gee-whiz Omnibox and its digestive habits:

"We're worried that Chrome will be another giant conveyer belt moving private information about our use of the Web into Google's data vaults," (EFF staff technologist Peter) Eckersley said. "Google already knows far too much about what everybody is thinking at any given moment.

I know it's an old quote, but former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy's infamous line that people have no privacy and should get over it has relevance here. With Google dominating the search engine market, people already give Google, willingly, reams and reams of information through millions of queries day after day.

The easiest way to avoid concerns about privacy and the Chrome browser is to use something else. Firefox, Opera, Safari, and even Internet Explorer exist as mainstream options, all of which people were using before Google's attention-getting Chrome launch.

Wouldn't it be amazing if people found themselves trusting Microsoft and Internet Explorer more than Google these days? Read more!