Welcome to Googleholic -- your bi-weekly fix of everything Google! In this edition:
- Google named world's most powerful brand
- iGoogle gets developer sandbox
- Google celebrates Earth Day
- WHOIS OneBox graces Google search once again
Millward Brown Optimor, creator of the Brandz brand ranking, has released their 2008 Report [PDF]. The report details the world's 100 most powerful brands, ranking them by how much of their earnings are driven by brand and other intangible earnings. Big surprise, the #1 spot was taken by Google. This places the brand of Google higher than Apple, Microsoft, or anybody else for that matter. Which isn't tremendously surprising, considering that Google also had the #1 spot last year.
iGoogle gets developer sandbox
Google has opened up a new developer sandbox for iGoogle, which is special in that it supports the OpenSocial API. This merely indicates that Google is getting ready to move past Orkut, and give building a new social network another try (on iGoogle nonetheless). If you're interested in more documentation check out the iGoogle developer website or just enjoy this video guide to making a basic iGoogle gadget:
Google celebrates Earth Day
You may have noticed the greened out Google logo on Google search. That and all the things Google has done today to help people go green. Among them, donations to green non-profits with Google checkout, a large release of public transit information on Google Transit, and a new site for "green design professionals" on Google SketchUp, and other feel good green stuff. Thanks Google.
WHOIS OneBox graces Google search once again
Matt Cutts dropped a hint, it was real, and the WHOIS OneBox is back. What this allows you to do is simply search "whois domainname.com" and Google will return a quick creation and expiration date for a domain with a link to the whois information on Domain Tools. Although extra info such as displaying the name of the registrant is not yet available, Matt Cutts said in a comment on his own blog that he will pass the idea on as a "future feature request."
