Earlier today all searches on Google produced the “this site may be harmful link” next to every search result. It only lasted an hours and the problem was quickly reversed.
Google issued an apology on its blog and attributed it to a human error.
We periodically update that list and released one such update to the site this morning. Unfortunately (and here’s the human error), the URL of ‘/’ was mistakenly checked in as a value to the file and ‘/’ expands to all URLs. Fortunately, our on-call site reliability team found the problem quickly and reverted the file. Since we push these updates in a staggered and rolling fashion, the errors began appearing between 6:27 a.m. and 6:40 a.m. and began disappearing between 7:10 and 7:25 a.m., so the duration of the problem for any particular user was approximately 40 minutes.
Click the screenshot below to read more at Techcrunch.
Google Chrome came out of beta today. Users can now download it at the official Chrome site. Users who are currently running the beta version will be notified of the new update on Friday. I can’t wait to see if all the bug fixed have been ironed out, chrome has been my browser of choice since I started getting those nasty firefox/google ssl errors.
I just noticed that Google started showing sponsored listings on the top and right side on Youtube searches. It works for web searches and I think it will work for Youtube. Its one of the many ways Google is trying to monetize Youtube and all its traffic.
Google is now allowing ads promoting alcohol and beer sales. I’m guessing one of the reasons for the change is the economy, financial and auto companies particulary are some of the biggest spenders in online advertising and they are particularly hit hard by the current downturn. The ads must promote brands or information, ads directly promoting the sales of alcohol are not permitted. Read directly from the Adwords Blog.
To comply with the updated hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, advertisers must promote the information about hard alcohol and liqueurs that their websites contain, such as recipes and brand messages. Ads that directly promote the sale of hard alcohol and liqueurs are still not permissible through our program. In contrast, advertisements for beer may directly promote its sale.
For example, under the hard alcohol and liqueurs policy, you might market to individuals searching for helpful and relevant alcohol-related information by promoting holiday cocktail ideas or the caloric content of popular spiked beverages. Under the beer policy, you might state a specific sales promotion for a great winter ale.
Hard alcohol and beer manufacturers can now take advantage of online holiday traffic and initiate campaigns that appeal to their target audiences.
Gmail is rolling out a new feature that allows you to view information about the last time your account was accessed and whether it is currently open on another computer.
At the bottom of your inbox, you’ll see information about the time of the last activity on your account and whether it’s still open in another location:
You can view more information about your recent activity by clicking on the details link
You can see open sessions, when they were accessed and how the were accessed, by browser, POP, phone.
It is not yet activated on all accounts. I will be really excited when it is activated on Google Apps.
