Google Blogoscoped

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Gmail Illegal in Germany?

A German court ruled it illegal for Google to use the email domain “gmail.com”, as Golem reports. Google already changed their email’s name to “Google Mail" for German users, but the gmail.com extension prevails so far – now the state court of Hamburg said Google may not offer emails with this extension to German users. Daniel Giersch owns the trademark “Gmail” in Germany and isn’t willing to give up easily. He already rejected an offer from Google to buy the name from him, Giersch said on Golem. I wonder if he should truly have any more rights than to the domain Gmail.de? [Thanks Dominik Schwind in the forum.]

Update: German Golem now reports Google said they received no cease & desist so far. [Thanks Fabian Unterreiner.]

Google Maps Stealth Bomber

German Spiegel points to a stealth bomber uncovered on Google Maps. Spiegel writes, “As you know it’s prohibited to get close to military bases, let alone photograph them. Usually satellite images which are made public online are retouched to blur scenerey which might compromise security. At least that’s what you assume in times of terror. However, the googling tourist stumbles upon a stealth bomber on a military airport in California. Apparently, someone forgot to paint over this one.”

SEO Quiz

Take the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) quiz. [Via SEW.]

Worst Web Application

On a usability scale from 1 to 10, I don’t think this would fit: it’s the worst web application ever.

What do you think of it?


[Link courtesy of Andy Baio.]

TrustRank: The Mighty Google

[Google God]

“The mighty Godgle has stirred up in Mountainview, causing immediate ripples of excitement amongst the mortal Internauts down here in the agorasphere. What’s going on? What are these murmurings from the God? Is Godgle’s mood about to change? Will he get angry and send all spammers and referencers straight to Hell? Or will he pour on us the Horn of Plenty, delivering streams of News each day that are more beautiful than any we have seen before, all garlanded in flowers? Is Google Juice about to become a delicious nectar that will bestow informational immortality upon us poor Internauts? The danger is great; if we slip up and offend this God, we may be forced to spend eternity in the wastelands of Cyberia, condemned like Tantalus to die of intellectual hunger and thirst with a planetary ocean of information just a mouse-click out of reach ...”

Continue reading Google: TrustRank, much ado about nothing? by Jean Véronis (Mai 11th, 2005).

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