What’s also interesting is how Google is leaving the beta label on the social search, despite the fact they feel like it’s something people want to use – today, now.

Are we to believe that social media is truly where search is headed? Despite Google’s instance that there is still much to do in this arena, I believe that social search is best for trend spotting, perhaps some news discovery. But it lags behind in comparison to typical search.

In today’s world, now more than ever, it seems that we are seeing folks looking for new and creative ways to prevent big brother from spying what they’re doing. At least that seems to be where Startpage is going with this.

So now for the million dollar question – should you use Startpage for it’s proxy options? I am leaning with no, simply because I think that using proxies provide a false sense of security. Best defense against losing your privacy is simply to do everything you can to protect your private information.

On the surface, this article indicates that Localeze could very well prove to be a fantastic option for Microsoft’s search venture. Now the trick is to get enough people using Bing, for it to matter.

I remain skeptical as to whether or not Bing’s efforts will show fruit in this localized instance. Not due to Localeze, rather the fact that Bing’s market share remains so small. Seriously, who in their right mind is going to stop using the world best search engine for something that has really remained largely unproven?

Then we have FindToto.com, a website that does the impossible – contacts your neighbors in near real-time in sort of an Amber alert like method. Phone calls, automatically dialed by computer are used to alert your neighbors to the missing pet.

Does it work? According to all the celebs using the service, it works fantastically. Spot on with the service described, people everywhere are reporting on returned pets. Clearly, there is something worth noting here.

Unlike other job sites however, this one runs on the Twitter backbone. I see this as a great marriage of social media and job hunting, as most job sites are a bit of a joke these days. In theory, one could begin building relationships before ever being called in for the interview.

As to whether or not this is something that has a lot of staying power, I am of the mind that it does. The fact of the matter is that people will always be looking for work. And it’s clear that this is the way to go about helping out those who are seeking employment.

Perhaps the best new feature is being able to search for videos, without leaving the one you are currently watching. Again, this is a very big deal indeed. Not only easier to use, but it also means more time with the end user watching videos as well.

Does all of this mean anything in the face of stuff like Ustream or Hulu. Not really, as both of the latter services provide functionality that YouTube does not. But if you are looking for Internet based talent, then clear YouTube tends to be among the fan favorites out there.

The real reason why we should be caring is that there is some kind of strange tie-in between Baidu and Google recently. As competitors, it seems like China is working to give Baidu a strange sort of advantage, as Google is not interested in playing ball with the Chinese government any longer.

Based on the reports seen all over the Web, I get the idea that Baidu is cleaning house and filling their coffers with Yes Men in place of previous employees. This would certainly flow with the way things have been going lately for search anyway.

Clearly proving ineffective as the issues does not seem to be getting any better by any stretch of the imagination. So we ought to be asking ourselves why China even bothers anymore?

I guess with 518.1 million subscribers coming from China Mobile, the need to keep everyone under the Chinese thumb is a big deal to their government. The sad fact of the matter is that the Chinese government is losing this battle – worse, they still don’t realize they are losing.

The results are mixed at best. Worse, the growth of personalized search keeps leading us to different conclusions. After all, if your site is of critical importance, having the SEO stick is a very big deal.

Clearly the best answer thus far seems to be to simply continue posting the best stuff possible. Obviously this is not always a winner, but most people need to stop obsessing over SEO and just write instead.

All of that aside, Google is bombing hard in their recent mobile efforts. While they Android efforts have been pretty good, the teaming up with T-Mobile has been blowing up in their faces since its inception.

The real challenge will be for Google to pull themselves out of this fire and hopefully, do so with the efforts in the mobile arena remaining intact. As things stand now, we have Google sitting there against other Android based phones, providing no customer service and finally, huge fees to leave with T-Mobile. Apple and AT&T must be grinning big right now.

What this demonstrates to me is that Google is afraid to commit real ad dollars into a product that is going to be about as well received as the Pre. In short, no one cares.

This is not to say that the phone is not cool, rather that Google clearly should have stuck with Android development and stayed out of the mobile market. Sorry Google, but to 3/4’s of the world you are a search engine only.

Now for the most interesting debate. Did China sanction this under the guise of a hack for people from Gmail just to get the stock boosted? This would normally seems insane, however when you consider the fact that Google was indeed, hacked by likely Chinese government types already…suddenly the idea seems quite plausible.

What blows my mind is just how eager China is to do anything they wish to maintain order. To hell with sanctity of something that does not belong to them. Worse, are the American corporations all too eager to jump in bed with the government of filth.

I think the big question is what Hotmail is offering these days that other web based services are not? Really has me stumped as Yahoo and Gmail both provided a more compelling option these days. Still, for those old legacy users…it’s better than nothing.

Word on the street is that this is expected to pose a significant risk to Sirus, but I tend to question this as Sirus has a pre-existing customer based and content of talk content I don’t see Pandora touching.

Now let me bring this home with the following – $1,200 for the Pandora system. Yeah, clearly Sirus needs to be concerned. Because spending a grand for music is not insane whatsoever. Come on. This is just stupid.

Gaming Google is not a business model, yet based on everything I have read in recent months, this is seems to be where they are headed with stuff. Then after AOL got done laying off most of their editors, they are going to farm it all out to freelancers.

AOL needs a serious refresh. Clearly their glory days are behind them, this former ISP needs to just be put to bed in my honest opinion. They have become a sad sack state of affairs that it out for a fast buck.

And like MySpace and likely someday, Facebook, Twitter will find itself being left behind for the next “big thing.” MySpace likely thought that it could not lose. Now you cannot bribe people to sign up if you tried.

No, I would agree that Twitter is clearly turning a profit, but fame is fleeting and Twitter’s could easily fizzle out if it is not careful. I’d like to see Twitter taking a more Facebook approach to outreaching with developers, perhaps build up something of value besides its API and good intentions.

Some of the dumbest include AT&T blocking 4Chan, Pirate Bay verdict (who cares!), and a really silly Onion article on the keyboardless Mac. Other stuff however, falls into the more somber category. MJ’s passing, soccer star’s imprisonment, and so on. So at least it was not all crap, just a fair portion of it.

Perhaps that is the attraction of Digg. One man’s crap is another treasure. Despite some of the Digg’d stories being complete junk, others can be worth a read. As for the most dugg stories, well, the value of that is based on the eyes of the beholder I suppose.

Some of the easiest to use, appear to be those options provided for in browser use. There are some other killer clients to be tried of course, but I found that the in-browser solutions tend to be the most duplicatable.

Comments seen at the original article also listed some pretty worthwhile options, but I found that the cream of the crop to be listed with the link above. Seriously, who is going to out perform Put.io? Anyone, anyone at all?

So now the question as to whether or not we will see something like the author’s vision coming to life any time soon? I tend to doubt it, despite the brilliance of the concept.

What do you think? Could such a “search tool advertising” apparatus work as the author describes? Perhaps instead, we will see this as a branding add-on? It’s a tough nut to really explain as the possibilities are limitless.

The big question is taking the “new” MapQuest out for a test drive when I have some free time. Hopefully it will live up to my expectations and smaller communities have been accurately included in the given updates.

MapQuest was at one time, a favorite of mine. Long before Bing and even before Google was used in my household for mapping. Hopefully, this signals the rebirth of MapQuest.