Google Custom Search

Today’s screwing around with the search results and lack of customization in search in WordPress took me to all kinds of interesting plugins to change what you use to search WordPress. For the most part none of them really matched what I was looking for by default. It did however bring me to a little side project that Google has worked in previously called Google Custom Search. I spent a bit of time looking it over while taking calls at the day job and I have to admit I am intrigued. While I am not fully sure it is exactly what I need as a search solution for WordPress there is a good chance it is a step in the right direction.

Of course with how my mind works it got me thinking. A custom search engine could have countless possibilities if done right and Google is just giving it away (or charging at a low price for a few extra features) for what is quite an amazingly well put together out of the box search solution. I’m going to have to play around with it more when I get back from vacation but I have to say I’d be surprised if this didn’t find it’s way into one of more of my projects that pop up this year.

Buy Zombie Is Now PR4

Google started the year off nicely by giving Buy Zombie a long overdue Page Rank update to 4. While none of my other sites have gotten a Page Rank update with the last round, none were penalized so I can’t complain in the slightest! I haven’t been working the marketing angle on any of my sites in quite some time so any positive change is just a very welcome and surprising bonus!

With all of the organization I’ve been doing the last couple of days this is just an added little bonus to help motivate me into launching my upcoming projects as well as working on new changes to the ones I currently have in place. Thank you added motivation!

So what are the benefits of this? Well I’ll go through the full feature list. But my favorite part is that I get a second phone number for free. It’s easy to keep myself updated with a second phone number I can use for business purposes with it’s voicemail and ability to call from it. Of course that’s not nearly all that’s useful from this service. The second best part? There’s already a Blackberry application for it. Yes I’m able to rock Google Voice with a Blackberry application which was from Google itself.

One number for all your calls and SMS
* Call screening – Announce and screen callers
* Listen in – Listen before taking a call
* Block calls – Keep unwanted callers at bay
* SMS – Send, receive, and store SMS
* Place calls – Call free within the continental US and to Canada
* Taking calls – Answer on any of your phones
* Phone routing – Phones ring based on who calls
* Forwarding phones – Add phones and decide which ring

Voicemail as easy as email, with transcripts
* Voicemail transcripts – Read what your voicemail says
* Listen to voicemail – Check online or from your phone
* Notifications – Receive voicemails via email or SMS
* Personalize greeting – Vary greetings by caller
* Share voicemail – Forward or download voicemails

More cool things you can do with Google Voice
* Conference calling – Join people into a single call
* Call record – Record calls and store them online
* Call switch – Switch phones during a call
* Mobile apps – Try our apps for Blackberry and Android phones
* Mobile site – View your inbox from your mobile
* GOOG-411 – Check directory assistance
* Manage groups – Set preferences by group

When I setup the account I had no idea I had all of these options available. I blindly clicked free invite with a “ohhh new toy” mentality in mind. Now though? I am quite happy with what I’ve signed up for!

Still want more details and sick of me typing? Watch the video!

Google has an AdSense announcement! Google AdSense has been around since 2003 and the coders came to a stunning conclusion that can revolutionize the way we see our Google AdSense ads forever. One font? Boring! Yes now there are a whole 3 options to choose from! While I love the ability to customize everything under the sun, and this is a useful feature to put in, 6 years? Really it took 6 years to have this be added as a public feature?

Nitpicking aside I do have to say I love the change. On the few sites I do still have AdSense on the ability to better style the advertisements with the site put a smile on my face. As I stated Google is giving us three font types to choose from: Arial, Times, and Verdana. Now if only they can add some Georgia and Comic Sans Serif to the mix just to spice things up a bit!

[via: ProBlogger]