This week Google released its “Zeitgeist 2009: The Collective Consciousness” report, its attempt to read the world’s mind based on search patterns. Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products and User Experience, wrote:

“Since 2001, we’ve been releasing our annual Zeitgeist—our view into the spirit of the times—which includes the fastest-rising Google searches (those that had the greatest surge in the past year) and most popular (those that are consistently searched in large volume, like [weather])…

“So what has captivated the minds of searchers around the world this year? As millions of fans said goodbye to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson led the list of our top 10 fastest rising queries across the globe. And a new star was born, too—quirky pop singer Lady Gaga became a search sensation the world over…

“This year’s Zeitgeist also confirms that the social web is alive and well. In a sweeping confirmation of the web’s ability to connect us, both Facebook and the Spanish social-networking site Tuenti appeared on the fastest rising searches at #2 and #3 respectively. Twitter also made our global list for the first time at #5 [actually it was #4 when I went to the list]—undoubtedly propelled by celebrity tweeters from Ashton Kutcher to Miley Cyrus.”

Marissa Mayer also pointed out that the swine flu epidemic was a popular search around the world, and in the United States it was searched even more than the inauguration of President Obama.

So here’s the global top 10:

Fastest Rising (Global)

1. michael jackson

2. facebook

3. tuenti

4. twitter

5. sanalika

6. new moon

7. lady gaga

8. windows 7

9. dantri.com.vn

10. torpedo gratis

Sanalika? TechCrunch Europe says: “Sanalika is a virtual world where you can play multiplayer games and join realtime events. It was launched on November 2008 and has already reached over 3 million users.”

Dantri.com.vn is a Vietnamese Web site, and, best I can tell, torpedogratis.net looks like a Twitter for Portuguese. (Anyone care to enlighten me?)

But what I really wish we would see, what I pray for, is a fast-rising spike in searches for Kingdom of God, salvation, Christian church, Bible prophecy, free Bible study and other truly important things like that! That’s what the world needs.

What do you think?

Fascinating and insightful talk “Innovating Search” by Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products and User Experience, Google. Here is the talk info,

Lecturer for A. Richard Newton Distinguished Innovator Lecture Series. Marissa Mayer leads the company’s product management efforts on search products web search, images, news, books, products, maps, Google Earth, Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Health, Google Labs and more. She joined Google in 1999 as Google’s first female engineer and led the user interface and web server teams at that time. Her efforts have included designing and developing Google’s search interface, internationalizing the site to more than 100 languages, defining Google News, Gmail, and Orkut, and launching more than 100 features and products on Google.com. Several patents have been filed on her work in artificial intelligence and interface design. In her spare time, Marissa also organizes Google Movies outings a few times a year to see the latest blockbusters for 6,000+ people (employees plus family and friends).

Marissa Mayer heads the search product and user experience department of GOOGLE. she’s smart, decisive, and redefining how females are portrayed in the tech industry.

http://www.glamour.com/women-of-the-year/2009/marissa-mayer

Congratulations Marissa!!!

C’est parti pour la revue de presse Internet de la semaine dernière.

Des articles que j’ai trouvé intéressant et que je vous conseille de lire. Des liens en anglais et en français.

1. Netvibes se rapproche des entreprises en devenant partenaire Sage

La start-up revoit son modèle et passe du Web 2.0 à l’Entreprise 2.0

2. Second Life mise aussi sur les applications professionnelles

Les entreprises pourront acquérir et échanger des applications ou des biens virtuels spécifiques au cadre du travail avec Second Life Enterprise.

3. Après la vente de Skype, l’avenir d’eBay passe par Paypal

Les perspective sont bien meilleures pour le site de paiement que pour eBay.com

4. Vers des marques générées par les utilisateurs

Article de Fred Cavazza sur les sites qui font leur marketing à travers leurs clients

5. Le deal MySpace/Google ne rapporte pas autant que prévu

La perte sera de 100 millions $ par rapport à l’objectif

6. Apple ouvre sa première boutique à Paris

Alors que les ventes de l’iPhone peinent en Chine, Apple mise sur ses magasins.

7. La gratuité selon Chris Anderson [Vidéo]

Chris Anderson explique son concept de “Free” à la conférence Garage Technology Ventures.

8. La vente d’objets virtuels est sur le point d’exploser au Etats-Unis

Après l’Asie, le phénomène atteint enfin les US

et en bonus

9. Marissa Mayer sur un gros ballon rouge !

La vice-présidente de Google est élue femme de l’année 2009 par Glamour Magazine

Bonne semaine à tous !

So this chick Marissa Mayer is kinda hot,  and pretty friggin nerdy.   How does that happen?

http://www.glamour.com/women-of-the-year/2009/marissa-mayer

Maybe it has something to do with this laugh she’s got.

Google is taking over the world.  Here at The Company we consider them to be the competition, and we are keeping an close eye on them.  So be ready for many posts about the big G.  You’ll also see many posts about the big N.

http://twitter.com/MarissaMayer

Her most recent tweet is a great example of Branding from Designer Daily and has an A/B comparison between Pepsi and Coca Cola.

Check it out!

From Techcrunch today:

At the Web 2.0 Summit today in San Francisco, Google’s Marissa Mayer unexpectedly came on stage to unveil a new product.

There’s a new Google product called “Social Search” that is launching soon in Google Labs.

See article here -

http://tinyurl.com/ygn3dq6

Congratulations!

Marissa hits another home run out of the Ballpark again!    (insert smiley face caption here)

12 Hottest Geek Girls

http://www.manolith.com/

Marina Orlova

This 28 year-old Russian vixen doesn’t spend her time bouncing around in front of a camera just for kicks — she’s out to educate in the process. Originally an etymologist, Marina found that applying her considerable knowledge in an unorthodox fashion was a quick way to beat the economy, and in 2007 Hot for Words was born. Averaging at over two million views per video, Marina pretty much owns YouTube. She’s been singled out by Wired, G4, and Cosmopolitan as one the world’s sexiest geek girls, and we’re tipping our hats as well.

Jade Raymond

She may be one quarter Aussie, a quarter Chinese, and half Canadian, but this geek girl is 100% awesome. She produced Assassin’s Creed in 2007, and she’s the sequel’s executive producer this year. She’s spent time working for Sony Online and Electronic Arts, two of the biggest names in the industry. One thing’s for certain; Ubisoft is one lucky gaming company to have her guiding their code.

Marissa Mayer

She may be called The Cupcake Princess, but Marissa Mayer is no joke. She’s Vice President of Search Product and User Experience at Google. What’s that mean? It means within the walls of Google, what she says goes. She studied artificial intelligence at Stanford, and before she became the first woman to work at Google, she worked for UBS in a Zurich lab.

Veronica Belmont

Gorgeous and aptly named Veronica Belmont began her career as an A/V nerd out of Boston’s Emerson College. She’s since hopped coasts and now spends her time in San Francisco, attending tech events and hosting tech shows for people like Sony and Revision3. That’s when she’s not busy podcasting, or logging hours on her PS3.

Jolie O’Dell

Jolie has a pretty solid history as a writer and journalist, and though she’s technically freelance, spends most of her time these days over at Read Write Web. Unlike most geeky goddesses, this redhead is actually pretty down to earth, even downright girl next door in the way she interacts with people. Add this girl to your reading list — You won’t be sorry.

Olivia Munn

No man can make it through a day in the life of a modern geek without the sight of Olivia Munn somewhere in his periphery. Whether she’s in a Wonder Woman outfit, or a Princess Leia bikini, she’s everywhere. And for good reason — She’s gorgeous. She’s become the face of not only G4, but all geekery as well, due to her long-running success as co-host of Attack of the Show.

Jessica Chobot

Born Jessica Lynn Horn, it’s understandable that Ms. Chobot prefers a pseudonym. With looks like hers, the constant threat of bad punnery must have been stressful, to say the least. She’s a huge anime nerd on top of being a staff-writer for IGN, and if that’s not enough, she dabbles in Maxim and FHM in her spare time. She’s been on G4’s Attack of the Show several times, and is most noted for licking what is arguably the luckiest PSP ever built.

Morgan Webb

Morgan’s shown her resilience matches her geekiness by outlasting nearly every other employee who worked alongside her at TechTV before it merged with G4 in 2004. Since then, she’s steadily cemented her fame by not only hosting X-Play, but also making appearances in nearly every other tech show and convention possible. She’s even spent time writing for FHM, responding to despondent, horny gamer nerds once a month in her own column.

Amber MacArthur

Another Canadian, Amber came down from the deep north to work for Microsoft, and even spent time in San Francisco working for Razorfish. She hangs out with Leo Laporte on a regular basis, and she’s hosted or made appearances on a laundry list of tech shows and podcasts over the years.

Felicia Day

Felicia may have started off in the realm of pure acting, but she drifted into something much deeper when she helped create The Guild. Geeks everywhere suddenly became aware of the notoriously pale, gorgeous internet-star when episodes of the severely under-funded show began popping up in their inboxes. She’s now a full-blown web-celebrity now, and unlike many, works hard to earn her place in geeky lists everywhere.

Natali Del Conte

This native Californian now hangs out in New York, and she’s serious business. She’s one of CNET’s senior editors, and she’s worked with Wired, TechCrunch, PC Magazine and a host of newspapers and other publications. She’s an experienced podcaster, and she’s made appearances on numerous other tech shows and broadcasts, including G4’s Attack of the Show.

Leah Culver

Leah Culver was a co-founder of Pownce (now defunct), and now codes for Six Apart. She’s largely responsible for OAuth, which you probably used on at least one website today. She’s obscenely cute, and codes better than you do. She’s got a thing for old VW’s and Diet Coke, which pretty much makes her awesome.

Marissa Mayer updates us on Google and Twitter, read on!

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/rt-google-tweets-and-updates-and-search.html

Hot News today from the new Napster and Google…

 
The new Napster is now open for beta testing.  You can go here and try the new Napster beta.  Be sure and send them feedback here.
 
Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of Search, just made an announcement at the Web 2.0 Expo.  Google Labs will have a new feature called Social Search.  What is known so far is that when one does a Google Search, the search results will include social networking information from your friends- status updates, photos, etc.  The search results will come from the social media networks listed on your Google Profile.  There will be an improved search for images from social media, putting more of an emphasis on this in the future. 

In order for Social Search to work, users much have a Google Account, a Google Profile, and friends listed as Google Contacts.

Mayer also confirmed an announcement made earlier in the afternoon that Google had reached a deal with Twitter to include tweets in its search index as a way to improve access to real-time information.

 
What a boost for social media and businesses who use them!  Remember that HW Design Inc. provides full-service public relations and viral marketing/social media to our clients.

This is the best speaking engagement I have seen from Marissa. Developer to Developer, drilling down on innovations/ideas and how to keep imagination fresh in an organization. Love the part about Occam’s Razor….Awesome.

Great excerpt from a chat with Charlie Rose talking about Google’s ideas/culture/innovations.

I encourage you to seek out the entire 55 min video on Google Video for the entire interview, completely worth watching in it’s entirety.

Here is the first post -

I am a big Marissa Mayer fan, so I decided to start a blog all about Marissa. The Technology Press often gives Marissa a bad time about various things (whatever Valleywag), so I want this site to be a public cheerleader for Marissa. She really is that smart, charismatic, and skilled after all. This is not an official fan club (hopefully someday). For now, this is an unofficial fan page dedicated to all things Marissa Mayer.

The first post is an inspirational commencement address Marissa gave the Illinois Institute of Technology on May 16th, 2009. I hope you enjoy it, there are many words of MM wisdom shared during the address.  She is an amazing role model for young women, and also managed to inspire me too (as a 38 year old dork).

I am not in my parents basement with empty pizza boxes and pictures of Marissa everywhere, and I am not psycho for Marissa. I just think she is great, and I wanted to share inspiration and interest with other MM fans out in the world! I also have a geek crush on Kari Byron from Mythbusters (maybe that can be reserved for a different site).

Please enjoy the video!

(I posted this originally on Huffington Post.)

Friday morning, October 2, the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities in a Democracy debuted ts final report, Informing Communities:  Sustaining Democracy in the Digital Age.

The report marks the first time in the digital age that an independent, bipartisan, blue-ribbon  panel has sought to explain what exactly are the information needs of America’s communities and to determine if those needs are being well served.

The Commission, led by Co-Chairs Marissa Mayer and Theodore B. Olson, argues that effective information systems are as important to healthy communities as other fundamental infrastructures, such as roads and electric grids.

It warns that, for a variety of economic, social, and technological reasons, many Americans will fall into or remain in a kind of second-class citizenship if they lack access to or skills to use the new information and communication technologies that are now central to community information flow.

The Commission hopes its report will attract attention, in part, because of its identification of three key objectives that healthy community information systems must serve, and its articulation of 15 specific recommendations for improving the fulfillment of community information needs.  Perhaps paramount among them is the push for universal broadband access as a national imperative.

As executive director to the Commission, I also believe that the report is an exciting step forward because of three critical aspects of the Commission’s approach.

First, the Commission sought to look at information needs truly through the eyes of the individual citizen, not through the lens of any media or other institution.  Thus, although Informing Communities will be relevant to a variety of hot current debates on public policy and the future of media, it is not a report about “saving” the local newspaper.  It embeds its discussion of journalism in an analysis of what citizens and communities need – information – and makes recommendations with those needs taken as paramount.

Second, the report weaves together three discussions that currently occur often in largely siloed venues that take little account of one another.  These are discussions about maximizing the availability of reliable news and information, achieving universal access to significant information technologies and the skills necessary to use them effectively, and promoting public engagement among everyday citizens, both with information and with each other.  The Commission recognizes these as three strands of what ought to be a united, integrated approach to producing better informed communities.

Finally, the report focuses on geographically defined local communities.  Although the word “community” is properly used to describe any network of information and support with which people identify, such as “the community of science fiction fans” or “the African-American community,” our democracy is organized along geographic lines.  Where we live still determines much of our quality of life and the resources over which we share authority with our fellow citizens.  Inadequacies in information systems related to the communities in which we live, work and vote thus necessarily limit the quality of our democratic life, to the detriment also of our social and economic welfare.

The October 2 launch event at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., featured prominent national leaders, including Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, Chief Technology Officer of the United States Aneesh Chopra, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Telecommunications and Information Lawrence E. Strickling, and Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting Board of Directors Dr. Ernest J. Wilson III.   Videos of the event may be viewed  at the Commission’s web site.

The web site provides links also to copies of the report in either English or Spanish.  The Commission ultimately seeks to foster a nationwide dialogue on the issues it raises.  Anyone may join the discussion at the Commission web site, and twitter users can tweet at hash tag #knightcomm.  Informing Communities also is available free on Amazon’s Kindle through December 2009.

Men still outnumber women in science and engineering fields. Would a science-loving “Hannah Montana” type change that?

Ride says girls' interest in science slides by middle school. Photo: Sally Ride Science

At Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit last week I facilitated a conversation called “Making Science Cool.” Specifically, we gathered to talk about making science cool for girls and young women as they contemplate areas of study and potential careers.

The discussion was led by Marissa Mayer, vice president search products and user experience for Google (GOOG), and Maria Siemionow, director, plastic surgery research at Cleveland Clinic. (Dr. Siemionow is perhaps best known for leading the surgical team that performed the first face transplant.)

For an hour more than a dozen women, including some pretty impressive scientists and engineers, shared their thoughts on how to make the sciences more appealing to girls.

It turns out girls, young ones at least, rather like science. Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space, weighed in with some interesting statistics. Ride noted that in fourth grade 68% of boys and 66% of girls report that they “like” science. (Many of the stats used by Ride, and citations, can also be found in this handbook, produced by Ride’s company, Sally Ride Science.)

Yet by eighth grade, twice as many boys as girls show an interest in science careers.

The reason, Ride and the other participants agreed, has nothing to do with aptitude — and everything to do with society’s attitudes. Girls get the subtle message that science is for boys, and that certain careers are more appropriate for girls.

Where are the role models in popular culture?

More than one woman suggested the lack of role models in media and entertainment didn’t help. Where, one asked, were the women scientists on television and in movies? If Disney’s Hannah Montana had a secret life as a physicist — or if Zac Efron’s character in the “High School Musical” movies had a crush on a girl in a lab coat — quipped another speaker, girls’ interest in the sciences would go through the roof.

What’s the big deal if science doesn’t appeal to girls? It means fewer adult women in science fields, of course. (I’m not a scientist, but I understand cause and effect.) According to Ride’s handbook, women make up 49% of the college-degreed workforce, but only 25% of the science and engineering workforce. Google’s Mayer said that as she prepared for the science discussion, she started taking notice of the number of work meetings she attended at which she was the only woman in the room. The answer? A lot.

The roundtable participants moved into solutions mode, offering examples of educational programs and mentorships aimed at helping girls and underprivileged kids get exposure to sciences and scientists. Ride’s company offers science camps just for tween girls. Exxon Mobil (XOM) hosts an annual Girls in Engineering Festival in Houston at which girls meet women scientists and participate in team- and skill-building exercises.

Some of the freshest ideas were more grassroots. Laurie Yoler, managing director of GrowthPoint Technology Partners, says she hired a scientist from a local science museum to teach a class and do experiments with her kids and their friends.  Every weekend her garage becomes a lab, with 8 to 12 kids participating, she says. (“The kids in my garage ended up designing, testing and then building a huge trebuchet and launching watermelons in a nearby park,” Yoler tells me in a recent correspondence. How’s that for cool?)

After the roundtable discussion, Yoler confided to me that her son much prefers to hang out with the girls who come to the labs than, say, those who aren’t as serious about science. Sounds like a potential plot for the next installment of “High School Musical.”

I haven’t written a post about the actual experience of being at TechCrunch 50, and I wanted to put it down on paper before I forgot about it. I have been reading other bloggers takes on it, like Maya Baratz’ take on the Silicon Ceiling, a statement about how there still aren’t enough women representing the tech world at events like these (or at all) as well as the Red Beacon guys’ article about what he wasn’t taught at Harvard (but learned at TC50). All of these recounts and recollections are good, they recount the event in that way I remember it too.

But for me it was also this:

1) Fascinating

2) Social

3) At times, annoying

Excitement was pouring from my ears.

I was fascinated by the ideas, and more importantly, the balls it took to have those ideas created, of the people all around me. I met a dude who created mechanical mannequins (which strikes me as a good name for a band) whose mechanically paneled bodies shift in and out, grow fat and thin, according to the dimensions it is programmed into. He showed me the use of these robots for instances where one is shopping online– you like that blue sweater? Would you like to see a mannequin who has your exact dimentsions wearing it? Would you like to see him wearing a one size larger or smaller version of it? You can see exactly how it would look over your growing pregnant (or beer) belly. It was super cool. The company, called Fits.me, is still in stealth, and the guy came not to get judged at the event but simply to spread the word. And it stuck for me!

I was fascinated with how much MORE people thought they could improve things we already use in our everyday functions. Lots of “better” email apps, way too many new social aggregators. Everybody went batshit nuts over Threadsy, who from their website claims to be hard at work creating “the brand new messaging experience,” where the service is “first truly integrated communications client. See your email, social networks, and twitter in one place.” Sounds meh, looks pretty, relatively compelling certainly, works well (at least in the demo.)

But where’s the beef?

I don’t know what I was expecting, bionic appendage startups, regenerating plastic startups, intelligent appliance startups– but what I got was a whole lot of Twitter focused, email improving, social chatter. It’s all good, but my mind wasn’t blown. I loved AnyClip which allows users to watch any clip from any movie instantly (because they’ve been tagged, clip by clip, minute by minute through every movie and are searchable!) I can see that being the next big thing– instead of sending your buddy the latest LOLcat link to crack them up, you send them a particularly funny inside joke via a movie clip. I can see it being used for e-greeting sites, and other communication services. I thought it was fun, and we certainly spend a lot of time having fun (where having= wasting and fun=time) on the internet.

I was fascinated by the volunteers I met– people from the Singularity University, smart, funny, startup running college students, avid bloggers and hyper geeks. I met some new acquaintances, maybe even made a couple new friends. I loved that! Everybody at the conference was outgoing, super social, and interesting to even walk by. They would catch your eye and start their pitch, some better than others, but all enthusiastic as though they had the next Google on their hands. I wish I had that kind of enthusiasm about something. People were quick to launch swag into your hands, their business cards (some WAY better than others, I’m lookin at you, mugshot guy, that was an AWESOME business card).

There were some annoyances though, mostly in the form of the actively Twittering audience. When I manned the Crunchbase booth, I kept an eye on an auto-updating Twitter search of the TechCrunch hashtags…the people who were talking shit about presenters, making fun of their accents, talking down the product in their high and mighty 140 character posts– what douchebags you were. Take looks around you, this is a place of people trying to change worlds (sure, they’re mostly social media worlds, perhaps not the noblest of causes to pursue) but motivated, bright, and focused nonetheless. Talking them down with insults reflects poorly only on you, not them. What jerks.

Overall, I had a ton of fun! It was great to see the judges in person, the super internet celebrities we gobble up gossip about online: Marissa Mayer, Kevin Rose,Mike Arrington, Jason Calacanis, Robert Scoble, Tim O’Reilly, Marc Andreesen. Getting treated to an open bar afterwards was an added bonus! But most of all, getting to meet the people around me who knew exactly what I was talking about when we chatted about the TechCrunch Twitter scandal, or the day that GMail hiccupped and the Twitterverse had a panic attack, those people made my experience fun and memorable.

Kevin Rose getting his facial expression analyzed by an emotion detecting software.

I do hope our paths cross again.

Google (s goog) today launched a new feature that organizes articles on the web in a way that resembles print magazines, called Google Fast Flip. Marissa Mayer, the search engine giant’s VP of search products and user experience, who unveiled the feature at TechCrunch 50 this afternoon, explained that Google founder Larry Page had questioned why the web wasn’t similar to a print magazine, where the content is already available for you to read as soon as you turn the page. Using the Google Fast Flip page, people can click on a topic — say, entertainment — and scroll through small screenshots of articles on that topic from various sites, such as (in the case of entertainment) Us Weekly, People and Seventeen. Click on an article to view a larger image of it and a second time to read it on its original site. Or you can simply scroll through a string of articles from 30 well-known news brands, including the Washington Post, Slate and BBC News, publishers with which Google will share advertising revenue.

Prior to the Fast Flip unveiling, however, startups focused on advertising and monetization took the stage to show off their wares to a panel of judges, which included Mayer and Zappos’ (s amzn) CEO Tony Hsieh. Two of the startups that presented, SeatGeek and Rackup, have a gambling-like feel. For sports fans and concert goers, SeatGeek forecasts for users the prices of event tickets on secondary markets, such as StubHub and eBay (s ebay) — and takes a 7-10 percent cut of each sale. Rackup, meanwhile, holds online auctions that take place over very short time periods (e.g. 60 seconds) during which people can bid for gift cards to their favorite stores. And it adds a sweetener: It will increase the money value of the gift card a person is bidding on based on how early they placed their bid and the size of it relative to other competitors in the auction.