Sure, everyone jokes about how Google will take over the world, but if you would like to actually see the details of how they plan to go about it, then you might want to take a look at Google’s Master Plan.

Many UnderGoogle spies died to bring you that variable resolution Flash-based capture of Google’s top secret whiteboard, but it was worth it. We now know where Google will strike next. Or possibly it’s the plot outline for some future Tom Clancy thriller.

Either way, it’s worth taking a long meandering look through it.

Google has announced that it will stop taking questions at Google Answers later this week.  The previously posted Q & A’s will still be available to browse.  Google plans to stop taking answers to questions by the end of the year.

Google Answers was one of the first projects that the company created, and was based on an idea from Larry Page.

It has long since been a practice on the web for the-less-than-scrupulous to “typo squat”, that is to register a domain name that is similar to a high-profile site, and wait for surfers to type the address incorrectly and get to that site.  Now, the self-proclaimed Web Professor, Scott Horne, has created a search engine that will break down an entered domain and search for possible typo domain names, and then further break down if those domains are free or if they are currently registered.  It is a great way to check and see if anyone is trying to steal traffic from your business and maybe find a few domains similar to yours you may want to register yourself.  Check out what Horne has created for yourself at his Typo Squatter Search Engine.

Using the Google Co-op platform, VDoogle allows you to search through many popular video sites all at once.

The full list of video sites it searches through includes the usual sites such as YouTube and Google Video, as well as a few others I’ve never heard of such as Bolt.com and vSocial.com.

Since the site uses Google Co-op, the search results are formatted just like a normal Google Search, which is a definite bonus in my eyes. Though that red color scheme is a bit jarring on the eyes.

There are tons of hacks and mashups out there that build upon Google Maps through their API.

The one I’ve been fooling around with today lets you select any point on earth and “dig” a hole directly across the middle of the Earth. After clicking you end up on the other side. Unfortunately, it appears that digging from anywhere on the continental United States would land you somewhere in the Indian Ocean. At least Hawaiians ends up in Africa somewhere…

Go get your geographical shovel and give it a try.

As the holiday shopping season approaches, it is easy to go overbudget, and even easier to pay more than you should be for an item. DVDs are always a popular gift, and with DVD Price Search you’ll be able to find the lowest price on a specific title that you want.

Once you search for a title, a list will show the available sites carrying the title, the price for the DVD, any shipping costs, the total you’ll wind up spending, and an easy link to the store’s webpage.

Also available on the site are hundreds of coupons and sales happening at any given time in the online retail market. Happy Shopping!

Now that Windows Vista is nearing it’s public release date, software makers will be rushing to make sure all their products fit into the new visual style of the operating system.

Since Vista has its own built-in sidebar, Google has updated their own Google Desktop sidebar to fit in better with that visual style. Parts of Google’s sidebar are now transparent, making things such as the gadgets fit into the desktop in a much nicer way. Also, if you find yourself with two sidebars in Vista, you might want to switch one off.

Along with the Vista upgrades, this version includes full integration with Office 2007 and Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and a couple of other things.

Using maps from the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection, Google has added a new dimension to the already excellent Google Earth.

By turning on the Rumsey Historical Maps overlay from the Featured Content menu, you can select several different historical maps from the past and see them positioned in their proper places on the 3D planet. The screenshot below shows you how to find the maps within Google Earth.

The pictured map is a weird eagle-shaped depiction of the US from 1833.

Some of these old maps are really beautiful. I hope they continue to add more stuff like this.

          From NEWSWEEK:

Under terms of the agreement, Baidu [China’s leading search engine] will promote Paypal Beibao, PayPal’s service in China, as the preferred payment method on Baidu. In return, eBay EachNet will use Baidu as the exclusive search provider on eBay EachNet.

The two companies also plan to develop a co-branded toolbar. They expect to test text-based search advertising on eBay EachNet in the first quarter, and plan to implement it by the second quarter.

This partnership works as a win-win situation for the two companies, as Baidu has been feeling some heat from rival search engine Taobao which has a connection to Yahoo, and there were rumors of eBay China being sold. This new relationship should help to strengthen both companies’ grasp in the Chinese market.

In an attempt to one-up their competitor’s Google Earth, Microsoft has added 3D functionality to their Local Live Search. Unlike Google Earth, which is a separate application, Microsoft’s 3D Virtual Earth 3D uses an in-browser ActiveX control. The buildings in Virtual Earth 3D look a bit nicer, being textured and all, but it’s measurably slower than Google Earth. The interface is also not as nice as Google’s, but I guess it’s still a work in progress.

I’ve tested out a few areas, but had pretty lame results. Here is a comparison of my town, Tampa, FL:

Downtown Tampa, FL in Local Live 3D

Downtown Tampa, FL in Google Earth

If you visit the cities listed on the sidebar at Virtual Earth 3D, though, you get much better results. Those include:

• Atlanta
• Baltimore
• Boston
• Dallas
• Denver
• Detroit
• Fort Worth
• Houston
• Las Vegas
• Los Angeles
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• San Francisco
• San Jose
• Seattle