Pamela Parker

I know I said I would avoid writing solely about Google, but our CEO, Alan Meckler, has an interesting post about how buying Lycos could be the next move in Google’s “portalization.”

Ask Jeeves did something similar with its acquisition of Interactive Search Holdings, and yesterday laid out a plan that includes exploring personalization and re-designing the MyWay site.

I don’t want to put him under too much pressure as a first-time blogger or anything, but he certainly deserves to enjoy a little attention, so pay a visit to: OnlyOnce.

I’ve been following Return Path for a million years, it feels like. I think Matt’s been the CEO the whole time. It’s a very interesting company, especially the deliverability part of the business.

Thanks to Fred for the tip about Matt’s blog.

I’ll write about something other than Google soon.

Ryan was complaining about how Google’s registration systems are all over the place — one login for Blogger, one for Orkut, one for Gmail, etc.

Well, it looks like some sort of organization is begining to take shape. Here’s the My Account page. (This is secure so I’m not sure if it can be accessed by those without accounts already.) But here’s the Google Accounts page where you can sign up for one if you don’t: https://www.google.com/accounts/. This doesn’t mean people can get Gmail accounts (yet) but it’s unites Google Groups, Gmail, Google Web APIs and Google Answers. The sign-up page also promises AdWords will be folded in.

Clearly, this is a sign of Google’s “portalization.” Having people’s names and e-mail addresses (and passwords) in an accounts area is step one. Then there’s getting people’s credit card information. Google already has this, for a whole bunch of people, anyway, through its AdWords program. An upcoming development, surely, will be the creation of the Google Store. (I almost had a heart attack seeing “Google Store” on the accounts page, before I realized it was just the place where Google sells its logo-wear.) What I’m talking about is the equivalant of the Yahoo! Store — an e-commerce storefront for small businesses, which would serve as the destination for all those AdWords ads. I’m using and testing Yahoo! Store for Tinker Knitwear, and let me assure you… Yahoo! Store sucks. It’s very vulnerable, I’d say, to anyone offering a next-generation store building application.

Google already hosts — through its Local beta test — individual pages for every business listed. Letting businesses customize those pages (or at least link from them to their own sites) is a natural next step.

(Speaking of which, astute readers will note I signed up for the AdSense program, hence the ads to your right. Just testing it out to see how it works and what sorts of ads appear. No image ads for me, I must say.)

Interestingly, the “accounts” page reveals that company’s also launched a volunteer program called “Google in Your Language” where it’s trying to get people who speak unusual languages to help translate its FAQs. Only Google could get away with asking for volunteers, rather than paying someone. Such is the power of the brand.

Google is offering advertisers the chance to run images through AdWords, which will be displayed through its AdSense network of publishers. Sort of makes Google an ad network like any other, though it says its targeting will be what distinguishes the network. Will be interesting to see what the uptake is on this.

Oh, so it turns out those mugs of coffee I’m quaffing every morning aren’t the “best use” of caffeine. That’s the result of a new study which concludes we should be spreading our caffeine consumption throughout the day. I love how a sleep researcher says, “I hate to say it, but most of the population is using caffeine the wrong way.” Drug use tips always come in handy.