Portal Off the Starboar Brow!
Google has done the expected. Many think they are going the way of portal, and well today they have introduced Gmail. Google Mail is a free 1 Gig email account which is supported by contextual advertising.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - April 1, 2004 UTC - Amidst rampant media speculation, Google Inc. today announced it is testing a preview release of Gmail – a free search-based webmail service with a storage capacity of up to eight billion bits of information, the equivalent of 500,000 pages of email. Per user.

The inspiration for Gmail came from a Google user complaining about the poor quality of existing email services, recalled Larry Page, Google co-founder and president, Products. "She kvetched about spending all her time filing messages or trying to find them," Page said. "And when she's not doing that, she has to delete email like crazy to stay under the obligatory four megabyte limit. So she asked, 'Can't you people fix this?'"

The idea that there could be a better way to handle email caught the attention of a Google engineer who thought it might be a good "20 percent time" project. (Google requires engineers to spend a day a week on projects that interest them, unrelated to their day jobs). Millions of M&Ms later, Gmail was born.

"If a Google user has a problem with email, well, so do we," said Google co-founder and president of technology, Sergey Brin. "And while developing Gmail was a bit more complicated than we anticipated, we're pleased to be able to offer it to the user who asked for it."

Some of the benefits of the new Google mail

• Search: Built on Google search technology, Gmail enables people to quickly search every email they've ever sent or received. Using keywords or advanced search features, Gmail users can find what they need, when they need it.

• Storage: Google believes people should be able to hold onto their mail forever. That's why Gmail comes with 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) of free storage – more than 100 times what most other free webmail services offer.
• Speed: Gmail makes using email faster and more efficient by eliminating the need to file messages into folders, and by automatically organizing individual emails into meaningful "conversations" that show messages in the context of all the replies sent in response to them. And it turns annoying spam e-mail messages into the equivalent of canned meat.

Official Google Mail Press Release I stole all this post from!

Sign up for Google Mail!
It's still in beta testing, but you can give them your current email to sign up for more information on Google Mail here http://gmail.google.com

After months of testing (and me thinking I was part of another test) Google has unveiled its new look search. The new Google is a less cluttered, more crisp looking search result page. In addition the Google home page has lost its tabs and now just has small words above the search box. The Google Directory no longer is listed on the home page and the Google Directory category listings are no longer appearing in the search results. Google appears to be distancing itself from the Open Directory Project.

Froogle has been added to the home page as well as the SERP pages. To list your products in Froogle for free be sure to fill out your Froogle Feed. Froogle also has a "recent items found" list underneath it's search box.

Google Groups are also showing the new AdWords format.

View the new look Google SERP.

People have been discussing the new look Google at WMW.

One major change which will go highly unnoticed by most people is that there is no longer an interest bar to show relative click through rates between different ads participating in the Google AdWords program.

The single biggest difference with the new Google search is that the ads tend to blend seamlessly into the content. Google is perhaps doing this to fight the potential text ad burnout that we may face in the near future if all text ads look extremely similar.

When Google recently updated the AdSense TOS they included the following statement:

multiple ad units may be displayed on each Web site page, but no ad unit shall contain any advertisement in common with any other ad unit.

Currently there is no guarantee that repeat ads will not appear on a given page though. Part of the ambiguous nature of the language is that Google does not want to revise the terms of service more than once per quarter. Look for Google to add the new multiple ad feature soon.

The muti AdSense ad topic is being discussed over at WebmasterWorld. Also, Google working on voice activated search.
(thanks Garrett)

Google recently added a related search feature to its search engine. For example, if you searched Google for "depressing poems" they will provide related search links to the following words.

Related searches: "depressing poems", sad depressing poems, really depressing poems, or something different

Most of the other major search engines have provided this feature for a great lenght of time.

Google has been given some negative press for their lack of clarity in all parts of the Google AdSense program. Off the start they only allowed one account per person. They then shifted to allowing multiple accounts for the same person. They now allow channel level statistic control.

They have upgraded AdSense in many ways. They now offer

• Channel level tracking. - "Detailed reporting is here! We've introduced the concept of channels as a way for you to gain insight into the performance of Google ads on your pages. By grouping pages into channels, you can compare performance of a banner versus a skyscraper, track clicks on your automobile pages versus your motorcycle pages, or get results for each individual website you manage. You'll see page impressions, clicks, and earnings data for individual channels or for any combination of channels.

  Channels are defined by a unique tag in your ad layout code. You can add channel code to any of your pages, simply by copying and pasting the appropriate ad code into your web pages. This will allow you to track performance, and will give you valuable information that will allow you to optimize the performance of AdSense on your site." Learn moreabout channels at the AdSense FAQ page.

• Downloadable CVS reports.
• The option to display a solid color instead of public service announcements when ads can not be served.
• Google has also began to support AdSense ads in framed web pages.
• Comming Soon: New public service announcement AdSense ad layouts. Google most likely decided to make this change to prevent PSA ads from lowering the clickthrough rates of their targeted AdSense ads.