Google Update Underway

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There appears to be an update underway, one that will be rolling out over a “multi-week” timeframe according to Google’s head of search spam, Matt Cutts.

The update was announced by Matt on Twitter in response to a question about why some of the search results look spammy. Matt replied saying, “Yup we saw that. Multi-week rollout going on now, from next week all the way to the week after July 4th.”

It is unclear exactly what this is an update for. Is it in response to an update on the PayDay algorithm or maybe the softer Panda update? We asked Matt Cutts and Google to clarify but Google won’t clarify.

Google has said that Panda is a multiday update, so maybe this update is related to that. If that is true, we’d probably be at the 27th update to Panda. The last Panda update we counted was Panda 25 but Google stopped announcing them; however, we think there has been at least one Panda refresh since the last confirmed update.

Or, this update Matt is referring to may be designed to improve the situation with the PayDay loans algorithm having some oddities. Such as the example Matt responded to with a search for [car insurance] in Google UK and the Matt Cutts payday loan hack from a week ago. There are many examples of places where the payday loan algorithm did not remove spam, so this update might be related to that.

Have you noticed ranking and traffic changes from Google over the past few days? Let us know in the comments.

By Barry Schwartz

Google says Internet balloons will benefit small business

NDTV

Google's plans to beam the Internet from giant balloons sent to the stratosphere could boost small businesses in rural parts of Asia by connecting them online, the company said Wednesday.

Karim Temsamani, Google's head of Asia Pacific, said in a speech at the Communicasia conference in Singapore, that the Internet balloons might also facilitate communication during disasters.

Google last week revealed top secret plans to launch thousands of balloons to provide Internet connections to remote parts of the world, allowing the more than four billion people with no access to get online.

Its scientists on Saturday released up to 30 helium-filled test balloons flying 20 kilometres (12.4 miles) above Christchurch in New Zealand, carrying antennae linked to ground base stations.

"What's devastating is that only a tiny fraction of SMEs (small-medium enterprises) all across Asia are online right now," Temsamani told the conference.

He said India, one of the region's emerging economies, has 47 million small businesses, but only one percent are online.

"Getting more businesses online is crucial to every single country in the region," he said.

The experimental balloon project, called Project Loon, is one way to provide affordable Internet access to "rural, remote and under-served" regions, Temsamani said.

"For farmers in remote rural areas, this would bring market information that allows them to get better prices from merchants," he added.

The balloons, which once in the stratosphere will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the naked eye, will also help in disasters when communication infrastructure is down, Temsamani said.

"For places with few doctors, this could help relay drug information. In disasters, this could help coordinate supplies," he said.

The balloon network is controlled by ground stations connecting to the local Internet infrastructure and beaming signals to the balloons, which are self-powered by solar panels.

Users below have an Internet antennae they attach the side of their house which can send and receive data signals from the balloons passing overhead.

Some 50 people were chosen to take part in the trial in New Zealand and were able to link to the Internet.

Temsamani cautioned that the project remained in an experimental stage, and would require a lot of work from participating nations.

"These balloons need networks' co-operation to function, we're all going to have to work together on this," he said.

He said Google expects half a billion people in emerging markets worldwide, most of them in Asia, to have Internet access "between now and 2015".

"These people will drive this transformation even faster. They will not have all the desktop-based habits we've developed over the past 10 years," he added.

(Also see: Project Loon: 7 things to know about Google's Internet-beaming balloons)

Israel says Google's "Palestine" page harms peace hopes

Internet News 

A senior Israeli official accused Google on Monday of setting back Middle East peace hopes by putting the name "Palestine" under the banner of its search page for the Palestinian territories. (www.google.ps)

Palestinians hailed Google's move as a virtual victory on the long path to the state they seek in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, which Israel seized in the 1967 war.

With bilateral negotiations stalled for 2-1/2 years over Jewish settlement building, the Palestinians have campaigned for foreign recognition of statehood, and were upgraded to "non-member state" at the United Nations in November.

Following the U.N. lead, Google's Palestinian homepage and other products previously labelled "Palestinian Territories" were changed on May 1 to read "Palestine".

"I think that the Google decision from the last few days is very, very problematic," said Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Zeev Elkin, a confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"When a company like Google comes along and supports this line, it actually pushes peace further away, pushes away negotiations, and creates among...................Read More...