Despite the shortcomings of Google Buzz,Google has taken the advice provided by the users thus far and put it into action. According to the Gmail Blog, a number of significant improvements have been made to Google Buzz thanks to users just like you.

What does this mean to you?

There are a lot of people out there that are really digging what Google has managed to do with Buzz. And there have also been some fairly decent additions made to the previous Google Buzz layout as well. So while I still have privacy issues with Google Buzz myself, I am glad to see the Google social tool evolving in a positive way.

While $100 million might not seem like much to Apple, it’s certainly enough to make Apple think twice about trying to build their own search engine. As the Business Insider points out, Google provides Apple with access to their search engine in exchange for a cool $100 million dollars in an attractive search contract.

What does this mean to you?

Despite Apple and Google coming to blows in the mobile arena, this arrangement of Apple using Google search for their needs has worked out fairly well. I honestly don’t see Apple opting to pursuing Google in the search market. And for the money spent, I think this is vastly easier for Apple to maintain their search agreement with Google.

As Australia’s government looks to further emulate the Chinese, Google puts its foot down and says no to an Aussie firewall. The Age reports that Australian communications minister Stephen Conroy has asked Google to build up a firewall, much like what is place for the people of China. Google pointed out why this would not be a suitable idea and then went on to say said no to the filtering request.

What does this mean to you?

I really feel sorry for the Aussies. To have a government that feels that thinking, reasoning adults are no longer able to keep their kids safe from adult content is a sure sign that bad things are coming. Fact of the matter is that catering to the current Aussie government’s mindless whims is really not Google’s problem. Glad to see Google developing a backbone. And with any luck, the Aussie government will soon rejoin us in the free world, once again…

Perhaps what may turn into the next evolution of web search, people can utilize a service called Aardvark to ask a specific question, in turn receiving answers back from real people. According to TechCrunch, this question & answer service was recently acquired by Google for $50 million.

What does this mean to you?

What makes Aardvark so much more compelling over existing older services is that it’s utilizing a real-time network of friends to ask questions to and then await answers from. It’s very clever and if used properly by Google, will make a very nice addition to the Google Buzz investment.

Will Google be the dominant party in the world of real-time search? Apparently not if Wowd has anything to say about it. eWeek reports that Wowd added both a live tag-cloud, in addition to a real-time streaming feature for maximum “real-time” search results. Wowd is available cross platform in both a desktop application and in the form of the website search portal.

What does this mean to you?

What freaked me out more than anything is how good Wowd is with its search results! Forget about the streaming aspect of things for a minute and simply consider using it like we might generally use Google. While not great to use if you are looking for hotels, it is fantastic to use for staying in tune with the latest events as they unfold. Clearly, Wowd is better at real-time news than Google, no question about it.

After Apple revealed its telco partner AT&T for the iPad, analysts now believe it’s a sign that Apple may be interested in staying exclusive with AT&T at least until the end of 2010, if not until 2011 summer, for the iPhone. Apple is expected to reveal the iPhone 4G later in the year, around the same time it does every year.

Barclays Capital Analyst Vijay Jayant believes with Apple announcing AT&T as the partner of choice for the iPad 3G, it’s a sign that the iPhone maker feels comfortable with AT&T and its promised upgrade. We reported earlier that AT&T is in the midst of upgrading its network and has promised to spend $18-$19 billion in 2010 for better stability. Furthermore, Apple has been publicly positive about AT&T, and the extra spend from AT&T may be a good sign. It’s critical for AT&T to try to protect exclusivity when 47% percent of its smartphones business is due to the iPhone.

This obviously leaves Verizon hanging in the middle, despite earlier reports suggesting that an Apple-Verizon deal is imminent.

ChannelWeb has compiled a list of the top three reasons why the Apple iPhone keeps gaining smartphone marketshare. We’ve summarized their reasons below for easy digestion.

1. Apple iPhone App Store: it’s not about the device (hardware) but rather content, and the App Store excels in providing amazing content (apps) at reasonable prices that it keeps attracting users in abundance.
2. iPhone Just Keeps Getting Better: Apple is continuing to make improvements to the device that every iteration is better than its predecessor, and as such, it keeps the excitement going.
3. Steve Jobs: the iPhone has Steve Jobs working on the product, making it better with every new model that pops up annually.

Fairly obvious points, but they are relevant, nonetheless. What do you think? What else is pushing the iPhone into consistently inching upwards?

Google is on a roll with constant updates to the Nexus One to try to make it better. After Google revealed a technical support line that customers could call to get instant support for the Google phone, it has now waived the outrageous early termination fees as well. Up until now, if you terminated your agreement with T-Mobile within the first four months, you would pay $350 to Google and $200 to T-Mobile for a total of $550. That’s funny because $550 in early termination fees is more expensive than the phone itself, which retails for $529 without the contract.

Customers complained, FCC looked into the issue, and Google has now effectively lowered that fee from $350 to $150, making it much more reasonable.

"Here’s your baby"
"Hold on, I’m updating my status"

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Happy Valentine’s Day Failers!

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