I used to love playing the game Operation. I’m sure my memory is deceiving me as I seem to remember being pretty good at it but if you put the game in front of me today I suspect I would tap out fairly quickly. That being said I may have to re-engage with the new version of that classic, Operation R2D2!

Yes, fanatics of Star Wars can now take their obsession to another level with the release of this game. And the rest of us can just enjoy playing Operation with a twist.

In an apparent move to by-pass the Egyptian government’s lock down of the internet, Google announced a workaround for the people of Egypt that allows them to call a phone number and leave a message that is then translated to message on Twitter. Brilliant!

In their never ending mission to provide the most comprehensive information on all things, Google has launched The Google Election Center. At a basic level a user can submit their address and find their polling center. For programmers an api is available for building custom apps.

The Google Election Center allows users to provide information on their district such as:

• Polling place locations
• Registration instructions
• Ballot information
• State and local election office contact information

A widget is available to those wanting to embed where to vote info on their website. Like many widgets you have some customization ability such as size, border color, a message and logo.

The bottom line is, GET OUT AND VOTE! Those that do can complain all they want to, those that don’t … Zip IT!

I was browsing Twitter yesterday, reading various tweets from local search marketing companies and came across one that had tweeted several times that day about something going on in his personal life. Now I won’t get specific and certainly won’t tell the name of this tweeter as this post is not about him in particular but more about the practice of tweeting personal information. (By personal information I mean tweeting about what’s going on in one’s life personally not professionally)

So my question is, why do so many people that are relatively unknown, meaning not a celebrity, a public figure or the head of a high profile company, feel the need to tweet about personal things? Who cares? If you have never met me and only “know me” because my business has a twitter account what can you learn about me that will help you decide I’m capable of implementing a successful search marketing campaign for you from a tweet where I reveal I’ve just taken out the trash or bought a new car? I would contend nothing!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying people who use Twitter as a personal tool shouldn’t tweet their every move, that’s what Twitter is for but business owners who have a Twitter account should use it to give insight into their company or their industry. That’s what I’m saying. Now I’m not perfect and when I first started using Twitter I tweeted a couple of “personal items” but I’ve stopped and instead have tried to tweet things that relate to search marketing.

So I’m going to challenge those business owners who use Twitter to put their ego aside because the general public doesn’t care about your new house they want to know about your business.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has resigned from the Apple board of directors. On the surface this could be another business announcement like thousands of others everyday. Underneath the surface this could be a bigger indication that the real battle Google is going to have to fight is not with Microsoft or Yahoo but instead is with Apple.

Several products from both are clearly in competition including:

• Mobile - The iPhone is now being challenged by smartphones using Googles Android system.
• Browser - Google’s Chrome since it’s release has beaten Apples Safari in market share
• Operating System - While Google hasn’t released their new Chrome OS one could call it a potential rival to Mac OS X

I don’t think Google is not looking at Microsoft & Yahoo as competitors, I do think they have Apple in their crosshairs.

I just read this post on the number of advertisers Google has. What made me stand up and look was the average spend per year is 16k … now multiply that by 1 million. No wonder they crush the competition. Read the full post here.

Going green is the way of today and a search engine in Austrailia is trying to make searching a green affair. Launched in 14 countries, Ecocho promises to plant trees according to the number of searches made through it. Using Yahoo & Google search engines visitors have an opportunity to impact the environment. For every thousand searches via Yahoo up to two trees will be planted, searches via Google will deliver only half as many plantings.

The effort is funded through advertising revenue from the search giants.

So search today and help plant a tree!

Matt Cutts from Google has a great post on the parts of a url. It’s helpful when talking to your web designer and search marketer that you understand what a url is, this post breaks down a complicated url so it is easy to understand the lingo.

We have begun using Google spreadsheets & docs within our company to help manage small tasks and projects which don’t need a full blown project management system. I came across this post on 5 things that Google spreadsheets and Docs do that you may not know about but could be of help. Enjoy the post here.

The buzz has been growing since 2001 about Web2.0 and quite frankly so has the confusion.  Talk to one developer and he’ll tell you Web2.0 is about style sheets, xhtml, ajax and an assortment of other technologies, talk to a web marketer and he’ll tell you Web2.0 is about wikis, social networks, tagging and an assortment of other means to communicate.  But isn’t it really the mashup of old media and new?

It is no secret the web is beginning to allow users to set entertainment by their standards.  Whether it be viewing a video of their subject matter when they want to listening to a custom radio station to participating in world wide discussions on topics they are interested in, the choice of how, what, when and where entertainment is delivered is now under the users control. 

Old media dictates what program will be played when and unless you have a recorder it also tells you what commercials you will watch during the program, old media tells you what day you can read the latest version of a magazine, what time of day your paper will arrive and so on.  New media tells you none of that.  You decide what program you want to watch, what to read, what to discuss, all on your terms.  New media also let’s you participate in the subject matter something the old guard cannot do.

So how does this relate to your website?  Easy, you need to take whatever compatible elements of Web2.0 you can and apply them to your web presence.  If you sell products, video is a natural fit and iCrossing’s recent survey on How America Searches reveals the impact of video and audio online.  If you sell a service you should be active with a blog and/or a community feature like a forum to allow visitors a chance to learn more about you and your service and your industry.  Everyone should be participating in mobile and have at least a simple mobile version of their website. 

Web2.0 is here and it is the precursor to Web3.0 and whatever that brings so if you are going to compete online you have no choice but to move with the times but you don’t have to have every bell and whistle to do so, just the ones that make sense.