The search company grew a little less secretive at its Google I/O show, describing some particulars of its mammoth infrastructure of software and hardware.

The search company grew a little less secretive at its Google I/O show, describing some particulars of its mammoth infrastructure of software and hardware.

The virtual-machine software, which enables users to run Vista on a Mac, is picking up steam. Perhaps this is when the company realizes its open-source vision.

The virtual-machine software, which enables users to run Vista on a Mac, is picking up steam. Perhaps this is when the company realizes its open-source vision.

"When I started shooting bankrupt offices, I found it to be more archeology than photography. Everywhere I went I found signs of life, interrupted.

Gone are the days where you did something so pedestrian as pick up a phone to order a pizza. Now you can employ Pizza Hut’s new application to do the talking for you!

Adobe Air is a wonderful platform, no doubt about it. Still, who thought it would hit the mainstream quickly enough to get the attention of a multi-national restaurant chain like Pizza Hut? Jay Hathaway of DownloadSquad brings to our attention this release, which you can pull off the Web to start ordering that deep dish immediately. You can place all your usual orders as well as save some of your favorite configurations for quick repeat ordering. Perfect for the college crowd. And the startup crowd. Even the blogger crowd!

Unfortunately, it currently only supports the chain’s locations in the United States, so those of you in Japan who want a Crab & Shrimp Mayo King are out of luck for now, but perhaps the company will go international in the near future. Sitting in front of the screen this Memorial Day weekend? Like Adobe Air? Hungry? You know what to do.

Of course, in the realm of fun and useful Adobe Air apps out there, this one stands firmly in the land of the miscellaneous. And maybe it’s a nonstarter. You get the same functionality out of just ordering your pizza via the company website, so why an individual would want to clutter up their desktop with a tomato red Pizza Hut applet, we’re unsure. Nonetheless, it’s up, it’s active, so download if you must. Ping This!

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What it does

SiteScan is a free Google Analytics Diagnostics tool that provides users a complete analysis of their Google Analytics setup. This tool creates reports for users with information on whether their Google Analytics are configured correctly on their websites. With this service, users can scan up to five websites, with up to 15,000 pages per site. Should they choose, users may purchase the SiteScan Premium, which offers unlimited sites to scan, up to 30,000 pages per site, and additional benefits, such as advanced configuration tools, same-day priority support, and access to the priority queue.

In their own words

“SiteScan is designed to help you configure Google Analytics, whether using the older urchin.js code or if you recently upgraded to the new ga.js tracking code. This diagnostic tool scans for several common configuration pitfalls and organizes the results in an easy to read CSV file. SiteScan identifies pages on your website that have GA tracking code properly and improperly installed. For pages with improperly installed tracking code, the associated error is noted and described in the report. This makes it easy for you to isolate the pages with tracking problems, fix them, and effectively manage your Google Analytics installation.”

Why it might be a killer

SiteScan is a simple and useful tool. The turnaround time for the service is very fast, and numerous sites can be scanned simultaneously. The tiered packages system also provides options for users.

Some questions

Do any additional limitations may exist? What resources can be posted on the site to help explain the process? Could a search field help to organize the potential issues and resolutions that users may encounter?

Updates


 » original news

Today starting at 9:30am Californian time, Google is holding a press event in their Mountain View headquarters lasting until noon (another factory tour was held in 2005). Google announced they will give insights into search, with Google’s R.J. Pittman, Carter Maslan, Johanna Wright, and Marissa Mayer speaking. I’m live-blogging from the webcast.

Google Health launched

The Google Health site once you’re signed in.

Google Health was put live early on, but only mentioned officially by Marissa later on during the talks. Last year, Marissa Mayer already suggested Google Health will be launched in early 2008. “If you look at health care, there’s already a huge user need, people are already using Google more than any other tool on the Web to find health information ... And the health care industry generates a huge amount of information every year. It’s a natural core competency fo us, to understand how to organize all that data,” she told InformationWeek back then.

You can import medical records from other services.

Exploring the list of health services you can link to your profile. Google writes, “When you link a website to your profile, you may authorize that website to read your Google Health profile or to automatically send and update information in your profile (such as medical records or prescription histories). You decide which permissions to grant when you sign up with each website.”

Finding a doctor via search.

Google Health provides a kind of encyclopedia on health topics, listed in alphabetic order. You can add specific pages, like the one on headache, to your profile. Illustrations can be viewed in a zoomed version in a new window. Related news and groups are shown to the right.

The Google Health terms of service, which you need to agree to when you sign up, disclaim:

<<Google Health does not offer medical advice. Any content accessed through Google Health is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, drug interactions, or adverse effects. This content should not be used during a medical emergency or for the diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition. Please consult your doctor or other qualified health care provider if you have any questions about a medical condition, or before taking any drug, changing your diet or commencing or discontinuing any course of treatment.>>

The Google Health sharing authorization agreement you need to agree to goes into privacy details, stating:

<<I hereby authorize Google to share the health information contained in my Google Health profile(s) in its entirety, to only those entities and individuals I designate, for the purpose of providing me with medical care and for the purpose of sharing my information with others that I choose.>>

Google continues to ask for your agreement for Google to pass on information about you to entities and individuals you define. As examples, Google lists sensitive information related to e.g. sexually transmitted diseases, mental illness, alcohol abuse, genetic diseases and more.

Google image search result ads coming

Image ads in Google image search results.

Google announced image ads in image search results are coming. In December 2005, Marissa Mayer told John Battelle that “with banner ads we are comfortable saying that they will not appear on the home page and that they will not appear on the result pages” but she specifically named Google image and video search results as a possible exception at the time.

They also speak about image comparison algorithms they’re experimenting with, and how they’re trying to better understand actual image content – like with their existing face recognition technology available via the advanced image search options. Google also says that while Google Labs was pretty quiet recently, it will see new stuff added to it this year.

Search quality is a lot about understanding user intent

“Here’s what I said... now show me what I want”

Google gives impressions from the search quality team. Even when they sometimes may disagree, they all serve one master, Google says; the millions of users. Diversity is important here, and Google offers special oneboxes as part of their “universal search” approach.

Google’s Pandu Nayak gives examples of how it’s easy for humans but tough for computers to understand human intent behind search queries due to ambiguities. What does the “dr” in “dr zhivago” mean, for instance? Easy – it means “Doctor.” But in another search query, it could very well mean “drive” ... or “Dominican Republic.” To be useful, search results should take these ambuigities into account and resolve them smartly.

Marissa Mayer later adds that knowing more about the user offers more possibilities for Google to improve search in the future, as it becomes more personalized. “We’re just getting started.” Marissa introduces Google Health now with the words, “It is open to the public.”

[This post is being edited throughout the event. Thanks all who help in the comments!]

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Factory Tour: Google Health Launched | Comments]

[Advertisement] Google books at eBay: background info on Google, AdWords, AdSense, Blogger and more...

...rich media, that is. Third party ad tags are now cool with Google on the AdSense network. That means mo' money. Look at the list of approved third parties:

* Advertiser ad servers: DoubleClick (DFA), Mediaplex
* Rich media agencies: DoubleClick Rich Media, Eyeblaster, EyeWonder, Interpolls, PointRoll, Unicast
* Research firms: Dynamic Logic, IAG Research, InsightExpress, Factor TG

Focus on the middle, my friends. The third line is to prove it out, the first line, well, they own DClick, and Mediaplex is pretty small. What's not there? Atlas. That's owned by Microsoft. I'm sure it was just a technical error.

I won't repeat it here, but there's DSA-1571-1 waiting for you attention, especially if you made some material out of openssl over the last couple of years or so. Yes, you read it right: COUPLE.

Upgrading to the new OpenSSL is easy. Generating new keys is another story.

To save (or add to, depending on how you handle this) your pain, there is a simple checker that can currently see if your OpenSSH or OpenVPN public keys are weak enough to warrant replacement. I await a version that can handle X.509 certificates too (though I only just generated a new one today, before the announcement, so that means I have to do it again (and get its CSR to CACert for signing, etc.)

And yeah, if you're running openssh-server, consider regenerating your host RSA and DSA keys, e.g.:

# mv /etc/ssh/ssh_host_{dsa,rsa}_key* /some/place/else
# dpkg-reconfigure -plow openssh-server

That should regenerate your keys and restart openssh-server once the new keys are installed to /etc/ssh.

The hard part (of making sure all the keys of your systems are updated and tested) is still up to you, however.