Here are some of this week’s headlines from the search engine scene. We also presents several videos on the new Google Chrome operating system.

• Yahoo Search Now Indexing Twitter Tweets for Breaking News

  (Google Watch Nov 19 2009)

• Google Chrome OS Preview Comes as Microsoft Preps Azure

  Yesterday, Nov. 17, Microsoft said Azure, the cloud-based operating system, would be ready for enterprise consumption as soon as Jan. 1, 2010. (Google Watch Nov 18 2009)

• Mystery Google - what is it?

  A custom search engine designed to show you what the person in front of you just searched for. (About Nov 18 2009)

• Google Image Swirl

  Google is continuing to explore the possibilities of image search. (P Bradley Nov 18 2009)

• Sony to launch iTunes-like online store

  Web portal to provide missing link (techradar Nov 20 2009)

• Ikalia Launches Bazibaza Media Search Engine

  Bazibaza Media focus on distribution of TV channels through any platform, country or technical means (Alt Search Engines Nov 19 2009)

• Twitter paid-for accounts out this year

  But the main service will always remain free (TechRadar Nov 20 2009)

• Google to Test New, More Colorful (and Permanent) Sidebar

  Google is rolling out a design prototype to some users which will have a permanent new pane to the left hand side. (Blogoscoped Nov 20 2009)

• Google Builds Out A National Real Estate Search Engine

  While the National Association of REALTORS® is planning to launch its own national property database sometime next year, Google seems to have just stolen the NAR’s thunder (SE Land Nov 20 2009)

• Why People Love Google

  As a brand, both through their own efforts and through sheer luck, Google has been able to position itself as the #1 online brand in the US according to Forrester Research. (Marketing Pilgrim Nov 19 2009)

• The Latest News From Bing

  Bing has launched another feature which highlights the latest posts from news sites. (TechCrunch nov 18 2009)

• Google Removes Offensive Obama Image; Was It Justified?

  Google has removed a controversial photo of First Lady Michelle Obama from Google Image Search. (SE Land Nov 19 2009)

• Bing taking its time to roll out in Europe, France is next

  France is the first country in which Bing will be rolled out in the near future. (SE Cowboys nov 19 2009)

• AOL: We Need to Fire 2,500 “Volunteers”

  AOL, which has already told investors it will spend up to $200 million firing a good chunk of its staff, has now told employees. (All things digital Nov 19 2009)

• What’s cooking with iGoogle…

  Google Blog: We’ve partnered with a variety of top chefs and food industry experts to bring you some elegant new, food-focused iGoogle themes and gadgets. (Nov 19 2009)

• Yahoo and Microsoft Poised to Finally Sign Definitive Search and Ad Agreement

  Getting the definitive agreement in place is critical to making the high-profile MicroHoo deal a reality and, of course, getting the anti-Google (GOOG) party started. (BoomTown Nov 18 2009)

• Top 5 Ways to Find Number of Backlinks to your Site

  There is absolutely no doubt that backlinks or the inbound links can boost up the ranking of your website more than what its content can do. (PageTraffic Nov 18 2009)

• iGoogle Users Protest Over Left Hand Tabs

  If you mossy your way over to the iGoogle Help Forum today, you may notice a bunch of threads complaining about how Google removed the top tabs from iGoogle and is forcing users to use the left hand navigation tabs. (SE Roundtable Nov 18 2009)

• 10 Years Ago: The First Search Marketing Conference, A Retrospective

  Danny Sullivan: Ten years ago today, I had the privilege of organizing the first ever search marketing conference. On this anniversary, a look back at how things were then and have they’ve changed in a decade. (SE Land Nov 18 2009)

• A Look into Reverse Image Search Tools

  Reverse image search refers to the search type where you don’t need keywords at all; instead you just need to provide a base image for the search engine to find more images like that one. (SE Journal Nov 18 2009)

• Patent Shows Google Book Scanning a Musical Process

  Google was granted a patent today on one aspect of a book scanning process that raises the question what kind of music helps someone scan books best. (SEO by the Sea Nov 17 2009)

• Google Image Swirl: A New Way To Browse For Similar Images

  The newest addition to Google Labs is a mashup of Google Images, Google Similar Images and the visual query refinement tool, the Google Wonder Wheel. (SE Land Nov 17 2009)

• Last.fm: We don’t view Spotify as a rival

  Last.fm’s CFO Ryan Regan has told TechRadar that the popular music service views Spotify as a collaborator rather than a rival. (techradar Nov 17 2009)

• Why Google HQ Loves Thin Affiliates

  Like a techie and Gizmodo, Google can’t get enough of affiliate marketers who build sites with no value add. (Graywolf Nov 17 2009)

• Measuring Engagement of the Social Web: ‘07-’09

  The challenge: while the consumers are trying to wade their way through the abundance of content, very few publishers understand how to properly engage with the social web. (PostRank Nov 16 2009)

• Google Earth 2.0 launches on iPhone

  Version 2.0 of Google Earth for iPhone adds the ability to view your customised maps created on your laptop or desktop right from your iPhone (techradar Nov 17 2009)

• A new look for Google Translate

  Say goodbye to the old “Translate” button. Google Translate now translates your text right as you type. (Google Blog Nov Nov 16 2009)

• How Bing and the Wall Street Journal Could Screw Google

  The big question is whether the Bing index will have exclusive access to the WSJ content. (Graywolf Nov 16 2009)

• Google Wave iPhone App Hits The App Store … Temporarily

  The unofficial Google Wave iPhone app seemingly slipped past Apple’s usually and notoriously rigorous quality assurance and trademark compliance team (TechCrunch Nov 21 2009)

• Google Doesn’t Know if Your Site is in the Cloud

  Matt Cutts: Google doesn’t even know if your site is in the cloud, so it can’t use that information to affect listings. (WebProNews Nov 20 2009)

• Google Adds Captions to YouTube Search

  But the new auto captioning service will exploit the speech-recognition algorithms used in Google Voice to produce captions automatically. (PC World Nov 20 2009)

• Get Inside Bing’s Head: See the Features You’ve Only Heard About

  Bing Community Blog: So we have launched Behind Bing as a way to help people see what’s new and notable in this wave of innovation from Bing. (Nov 19 2009)

• Google Baby Steps to Video Conferencing Outfits

  I know the “experts” will point out that the Google cannot do much to win the hearts and minds of big spenders like the Department of Defense. My view is that the “experts” may want to recalibrate their thinking. (Beyond Search Nov 21 2009)

• How Chrome OS Changes Everything

  They are moving to the cloud. Google is single handedly responsible for a shift in the way users access their information. (Tech n’ Marketing Nov 22 2009)

• Search Engines: Real-time Search

  Phil Bradley looks at the concept of real-time search and points to some of the functionality that users can and should expect to find when exploring these engines. (Ariadne oct 2009)

• Twig Podcast on Google Chrome OS (with Matt Cutts)

  Leo Laporte, Gina Trapani, Jeff Jarvis and their guests talk about the latest Google and cloud computing news. (twit.tv Nov 21 2009)

Videos of the week: Google Chrome OS

There has been a lot of discussions about Google’s new OS this week. There are quite a few that don’t get it: “Why do we need another operating system? Microsoft has finally managed to make a decent OS in Windows 7, and there is always MacOS, right? Macs work!”

They do, but these arguments miss the point. Google’s point is that traditional operating systems, which are based on the idea that you run your software on your own computer and store your files locally, soon will be a thing of the past. They are probably right.

The Google Chrome OS is based on the premise that you do all your computing “in the cloud”, on servers owned by others. It is not so much an operating system as a free standing web browser. Google wants you to use their online email service, write your documents using Google Docs, catalog your images in Google’s Picasa and so on.

And the truth is that in a few years Google’s online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation package will probably be powerful enough to replace Microsoft Office. And these services are free. At that point you do not need Microsoft Office, nor do you need Windows.

Instead you can use a notebook running on Chrome OS and do all your work in the Web browser. And while my PC takes several minutes to get up and running, a Chrome PC will be up and running in seconds.

There has to be a catch right?

Sure. For the time being online offerings are not advanced enough to compete with powerful applications like Office and Photoshop. Moreover, you will soon find that the Chrome computer will lack drivers for some printers, scanners and cameras.

The most important question you will have to ask yourself, however, is whether you would like to give all your data to a company like Google.

Chrome will be ready for users next year. Developers have access to the code now.

Here’s what Google has to say about Chrome:

Here is a video that shows you how Chrome works in practice:

And here is a developers’ demo:

Google is also proud about the security of the Google OS:

See also Chromium.org and the Google Blog: Releasing the Chromium OS open source project