Almost every second day we see something related to Google in the news: first its Photoshop experts fooling the world into believing that Google’s “Internet OS” is already in Beta testing by sending fake screenshots around the world. Then it’s Google – crazy bloggers testing every URL and sub-domain combination of google.com, hunting for any new features getting excited when one such sub-domain resolves to a different error page that is considered normal!
Yes, it’s a Google world, and the company’s popularity is on the top. However, it’s not just all the rumours. Google really is doing a lot to out some great new features and tools.
Recently, Google’s ‘robot.txt’ file was updated to reflect some new directories: /gwt and /purchases. Basically a robot.txt file tells search engine bots where they can and cannot navigate in a directory structures. Since you do not need to add directories that do not exist, the fact that Google added these directories to their own robot.txt file tells us that these directories indeed exist, and search bots are not allowed in!
This, say Google-fans, is damming evidence that “Google Wallet” is almost here. The question arises. What is Google Wallet? Think PayPal, think of online shopping.
Google has not had anything to do with this lucrative section of the Internet thus far, and it’s only obvious that sooner or later, they will. Changes to the ‘robot.txt’ file suggest that this change is already in the pipeline.
Google also recently launched their Google reader, which is a simple RSS reader. The difference is that instead of residing in your system tray, this reader is online. All you need is a Google account to get access, add your favourite RSS feeds, and then access your news form any Internet connection in the world.
There is also another unpublicized feature that fans stumbled across:
http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en/.what .
Basically, Google is testing a feature that will suggest search terms as you type, and even gives you the approximate search results available for that particular search term. Take a look at the site to better understand how it works.
So that’s an online feed reader, a spell checker, and a rumored “wallet” solution all happening in a short span of time. Looks like Google Labs is working full steam of revolutionize every aspect of our lives on the Net. We’re not complaining now, are we?
