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Filed under: Internet, Google

Google's new Commerce Search helps you find holiday gifts faster!

Google sure knows how to time its innovations. Just in time for the holiday rush, Google have a new search tool -- but not for shoppers like you or I, at least not directly. No, this one's for businesses themselves; it's an enterprise product that straps onto existing online shops! (Sorry, I like anything that sounds vaguely Star Trekkie.)

Citing the ol' chestnut that most visitors spend on average just eight seconds before deciding if it's the right site for them or not, Google's Commerce Search replaces any kind of built-in search engine that an e-commerce shop might already have installed. Rather than hosted locally, it's hosted up in the big Google cloud, so as business gradually increases in the weeks up until Christmas, the Commerce Search will remain quick and snappy, not buckling under the increased load!

And as you all know, Google prides itself on the accuracy of its results -- so being able to search a shop quickly and reliably for the gift you want can only be a good thing for us this Christmas.

There's a lot more info over on the Google Blog itself, so go take a look.

Filed under: Business, Internet, AOL

AOL to let you opt out of ad cookies

AOL AOL has announced plans to let users opt out of targeted advertising. Right now AOL (which happens to be this blog's parent company) and many other web sites place cookies in your browser allowing the site to serve up targeted ads every time you visit an AOL web site.

By the end of the year, AOL plans to offer you the ability to opt out of targeted advertising. You'll still see advertising, but AOL won't be tracking your personal data. The company will also launch a public service campaign letting people know about their right to opt-out by placing banner ads on various pages.

Advocates of targeted advertising say the cookies make it easier for web publishers to serve up ads that readers will be most interested in by tracking browsing habits. That doesn't do much to ease the privacy concerns of people who read 1984 as a work of non-fiction.

The opt-out technology was developed by behavioral marketing firm Tacoda, which AOL purchased earlier this year. Somehow we didn't think AOL was buying a behavioral advertising firm in order to serve up less targeted ads. But the New York Times reports that while AOL will let users opt out, it will try to convince them that they should opt in. After all, if you're going to get ads anyway, wouldn't you rather they be for sales on your favorite movies, music, and other items?

Of course, the only way for AOL to know which computer users have opted out of targeted advertising is to place a cookie in your browser.

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The World's Hardest Game 2.0 - Time Waster

So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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