FlashLadyBug.com

It may not seem like a big deal, but changing the routing of your driving directions can be a very good thing.  Googles computers don’t know everything about every road.  They may not know that 20 miles of I82 are being ripped up an re-paved, and that you want to avoid I82 at all costs.  So when Google Maps has you zipping along I82, what do you do?  Simply click and drag your route away from I82, and Google will update your turn-by-turn directions to direct you around the troublesome I82.

Here’s the link to the Google page about the new feature
http://maps.google.com/help/maps/directions/index.html#utm_campaign=en&utm
_source=en-mapshpp-na-us-google&utm_medium=mapshpp

An interesting combination indeed….
the AIM (AOL Instant Messaging…) which quite a few people use, has been quite nice with their api’s. THe AIM host team has created a beta that displays aim conversations initiated in the last minute, in real time, in google earth. Crazy….
Its quite interesting, you can see webs stretching mainly from east to west coast of the US, with some from the east coast to the florida area. Other than that, they made a display of top aim fight users. Not much interesting stuff there, cept almost all of em are on the East coast

Check it out, the IM Conversations one, i found very interesting. If you watch it a while, you can see rough shifting patterns. Now….if we ran it for a month…and captured the video…and fast forwarded it, that…would be cool. Check it out, and thank you, AIM host team
Aim Google Earth Visualizations

Do you have a gps sensor? Joe has one, and mine is being sent to me now. Sooner or later, we’ll install GooPs and start tracking where we are. (Creepy….) but no, really, GooPs lets you track GPS sensors on google earth real time. It even allows collaboration by tracking other people in the same network. It will leave a colored mark of where the sensors have been, and it even tells you its travel speed. Its a cool bit of program. Check it out: GooPs

Gmail Paper. “You Click, We Stack, You get.” Gmail…will print your email, with all its attachments for free! Even postage is free since the costs are offset by unobtrusive text ads which are in 36 pt red bold text!

Interesting……
Check it out: Gmail Paper (BETA!)

psst: this is a joke…

Its actually possible, to zoom in super mode on google maps. Simply go to satellite view, zoom to the max. Click on the “link to this page” on the top right. Copy and paste this url into your address bar, and change the Z parameter to something higher. Amazingly, you can see very detailed things, such as camels, swimming pools, etc. Scary…wonder how many privacy laws this is breaking
Thanks to Google Blogoscoped

Yes….its actually happening. Google has a traffic tab now for maps. So far, quite a few major cities have had this implemented now. The main roads are highlited with different colors. Green: >50mph, yellow 25-50, red <25, gray: no idea.

It could be useful…though, I usually would make use of it while actually on the road. I dont know, it should help planning trips though…

No longer the mindless googlebot…in 2008, there shall be…code name skynet: GOOGLEBOT.
and i quote “on the 19th of the 2nd 2008, skynet…was born”
my second reaction was, can i sign up for the beta?
and of course, my last reaction was, wait a minute, they don’t NEED ai…they have PIGEONS!

Anyways, Laggy Page said during a science conferance that they have been building ai and due to ahem…google’s extreme computing power, efficiency was not the priority…as long as it works, it works.
He declared that its not far off and hey…google says, do no evil. It’ll be the happy version of skynet. Maybe.
It’ll be a great science/knowledge bound in terms of scholastic achievement, and i’ll celebrate it when it happens. But…still kind of not sure. Anyways long live google!

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Yes….forgive me for the pun. But, you can make google maps get VERY confused. Atleast, for a particular route…
Just look at the directions: Google Maps

Here’s a sample:

	5.	Turn right to merge onto US-1 N 0.6 mi 1 min
	6.	Make a U-turn 0.2 mi
	7.	Make a U-turn 335 ft
	8.	Make a U-turn 0.2 mi
	9.	Make a U-turn 1.1 mi 1 min
	10.	Make a U-turn 0.2 mi
	11.	Make a U-turn 0.1 mi
	12.	Make a U-turn 285 ft
	13.	Make a U-turn 0.1 mi
	14.	Make a U-turn 125 ft
	15.	Make a U-turn 0.2 mi
	16.	Make a U-turn 282 ft
	17.	Make a U-turn 0.1 mi
	18.	Make a U-turn 253 ft
	19.	Make a U-turn 115 ft
	20.	Make a U-turn 0.6 mi
	21.	Make a U-turn 1.4 mi 2 mins
	22.	Make a U-turn 220 ft
	23.	Make a U-turn 0.1 mi
	24.	Make a U-turn 436 ft
	25.	Make a U-turn 0.5 mi
	26.	Make a U-turn 0.2 mi
	27.	Make a U-turn 0.2 mi
	28.	Make a U-turn 0.1 mi
	29.	Make a U-turn 0.4 mi
	30.	Make a U-turn 177 ft
	31.	Make a U-turn 0.1 mi
	32.	Make a U-turn 400 ft
	33.	Make a U-turn toward US-1 N/Trenton 226 ft
	34.	Make a U-turn 0.2 mi
	35.	Make a U-turn 482 ft
	36.	Make a U-turn 171 ft

Get it? …

Interesting…..thank Steve Bryant for the thought. Thank him for the image too! Its a very very funny though not very surprising homepage.

Although, as Forevergeek pointed out…its not exactly impossible either…with Personalized Homepages…you could theoretically make something like this, to the horror of all googlers. Thanks Steve: Google Watch

So what are the REAL top 10 search engine queries?
We may never know.  Some companies don’t want us to know.  Others do things such as eliminate competitors results from the top ten list.

Here’s one link about the top 10 lists

http://blogs.business2.com/beta/2006/12/searching_for_g.html

And here’s a second link specifically about Google’s top 10 list, which ranks the top 10 fastest growing search queries.

http://blogs.business2.com/beta/2006/12/how_google_find.html