More than Google?

CIO has a post titled, Six Techniques to Get More from the Web than Google Will Tell You about using different site instead of just relying on Google for information:

1. Use Search Engines and Wikipedia to Find Quality Research Sources
2. Search Blogs for Specialized Experts Who Sift the Web for You
3. Study Business School Websites
4. Find Statistical Data on Government Sources
5. Research Trade Groups and Online Publications for Current Topics, Best Practices
6. Visit the Library for More Research Sources and Online Data

Interesting list. Of course I am partial to number 6.

Is Google a Library?

One of my professors in Library school, Siva Vaidhyanathan, is writing a book about Google and the potential for evil. Here is a blog for the book already open for commentary.

http://www.googlizationofeverything.com/is_google_a_library/

Article: In Google We Trust...

In Google we trust: Users' decisions on rank, position, and relevance.

Pan, B., Hembrooke, H., Joachims, T., Lorigo, L., Gay, G., and Granka, L. (2007).
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(3), article 3. http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue3/pan.html

"An eye tracking experiment revealed that college student users have substantial trust in Google's ability to rank results by their true relevance to the query."

Google Notebook

who needs a paper notebook when Google offers the same thing? This tool apparently came out of beta recently...now I just have to decide if it is useful

Read more at:

http://www.google.com/googlenotebook/faq.html

Google Library?

"Google library: Open Culture" http://www.cnn.com/2006/BUSINESS/12/19/google.books.ap/index.html
"SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- Already facing a legal challenge for alleged copyright infringement, Google's crusade to build a digital library has triggered a philosophical debate with an alternative project promising better online access to the world's books, art and historical documents.

The latest tensions revolve around Google's insistence on chaining the digital content to its Internet-leading search engine and the nine major libraries that have aligned themselves with the Mountain View-based company.

A splinter group called the Open Content Alliance favors a less restrictive approach to prevent mankind's accumulated knowledge from being controlled by a commercial entity, even if it is a company like Google that has embraced "Don't Be Evil" as its creed."

Google search for Patents

http://www.google.com/patents

Patents are freely available from the US Patent and trademark office but are notoriously hard to search. There is a huge industry of patent searching because before you fill out a new patent application you have the make sure there isn't already one like it. I don't think this will replace extenstive patent searching...just one more tool.

Comments from a Patent lawyer's blog: http://www.patentlyo.com/patent/2006/12/search_patents_.html#comments