I knew it! (bing!)

I knew there was something in the back of my mind that didn’t seem right about Bing.com!

Google De-bursts Its Bubble

I posted a couple days ago about Google breaking the internet and everyone immediately wondering if they were too dependent on the search giant. What do you know: the ad giant isn’t too bad at its own marketing. Here’s a rundown of the week in Google. See if you notice anything.

• February 1
  • Google breaks every search result.
  • Gmail problems persist after search fixed.
  • More Google problems.
• February 2
  • New languages in Google Translate.
  • Google joins fight against ISP throttling.
  • Google Earth adds oceans, history, and Mars.
• February 3
  • Google Tasks for iPhone and Android.
  • Gmail now available offline.
• February 4
  • Google Latitude keeps track of your friends.
• February 5
  • Google Calendar now available offline too.
  • Chrome takes new tact to manage JavaScript faster, makes promise to support extensions soon.
• February 6
  • Gmail gets multiple inboxes.
  • Google to put books on the iPhone.

I forget: did something happen with Google search results a while back?

The Google Bubble Bursts

If you haven’t heard, Google recently broke every link in every search result. The result so far has been that people are questioning their reliance on Google. Apparently Gmail still has problems (for instance, it’s spent the better part of a decade in beta).

It seems to me that Google does not have a clear purpose in life. It started out as a search engine, then started buying other web companies. It now does blogs, maps, video, and cell phones, all with revenue generated from ads. Its business model seems to be “advertise and buy”, and that’s about it.

Until now, Google’s reliability has been unquestioned. The mishap this weekend has suddenly raised an overdue question. What will happen to Google’s income as advertisers start to wonder about Google’s reliability?