Previously, users could insert these annotations using the editor which they could locate in the edit video menu. From this week on, users need not go to the menu. They can simply insert an annotation by promptly using the crosshair that emerges whenever one is checking a particular video that he or she has uploaded. After a user clicks on the video a menu will appear and the user will be asked which annotation he or she would like to add.

Users can also use the sliding bar; emerging on the timeline, to decide how long can each annotation appear. A pair of arrows comes into view at the base of the video, allowing users to skip between every annotation. Because of this, users do not need to manually look throughout the video to locate them. The addition is noteworthy for what looks like one of the earliest application of Omisio technology on Youtube.

Omnisio was a company that permitted users to improve their videos through the creation of mashups, adding remarks, and intermingle with other users. was purchased by Youtube in July 2008.

The search engine giant has come together with the New America Foundation and Planet Labs to further develop Measurement Labs. This is an open source application that can be used by researchers to find out more about their broadband connections. One can expect this move to raise the issue concerning the neutrality of the Internet.

Google is also supplying academic researchers with 36 servers in 12 different locations across US and Europe to build up tools that will let users gauge the speed of their connections and find out if their ISPs are jamming any web based applications. Vint Cerf, Father of the Internet, wrote in a blog that people will agree that Internet surfers ought to have more information with respect to the broadband they sign up for.

He also said that transparency has been the most basic necessity for the Internet to succeed. Google has already supplied plenty of tools for users to assess their Internet connections, which are available on the Measurement Labs website. It is going to be interesting to see how Internet users react to this development.

Certain sources were informed by MySpace users that their Playlist gadgets seemed to be disappearing from their profile pages on the MySpace website. When the sources asked MySpace about this, MySpace stated that they had banned it due to being given lawsuit notices by ‘major music companies.’

The following is a part of a statement made by MySpace with regards to the lawsuit notice:

“MySpace has received notices of infringement about Project Playlist at different times from several of the major music companies currently suing Project Playlist. Per our policy of taking very seriously the requests of rights holders to block access to third party sites that are believed to be infringing, we have evaluated the requests of the major music companies and determined that it is in our best interest not to allow Project Playlist widgets on MySpace, and effective immediately, we will no longer be allowing these widgets within the MySpace platform. Any third party widgets (including any music widgets) are welcome on MySpace so long as they do not include infringing content—we encourage our users to utilize the many legitimate applications found on MySpace and across the Web.”

Taking any blog post into consideration it is easy to see that blogs attract numerous comments as well as trackbacks. Trackbacks are links from different blogs, which comment on the post. However, the comments can soon take on a different tangent as other discussions take off on the side on Twitter, FriendFeed or different other blogs.

The uberVU product brings together all the comments and data, including that of trackbacks, and submits it through a threaded interface, both, via its own website as well as through an API. Plugins are also being produced by the company for numerous blogging platforms. This will enable users to take back the discussions to the original areas in an easy manner.

The uberVU product is one of a kind. At the moment it is in private beta, however, interested people can register on their homepage in order to receive an invitation.

Microsoft has done what Yahoo has been talking about for more than a year. It is basically leveraging already existing social connections in order to do a lot more with them. Users would now be automatically connected with any friends that they have already on Windows Messenger which is arguably the most popular instant messaging service worldwide.

All what the users have to do is create their profiles. A user can bring the content he or she would create on blogs. Each time something new is done, the information will flow to the user’s friends through Live.com. When users add photos, write reviews, and update their profiles directly on Live.com, that content will also be added to the activity stream.

Live.com users can now have access to various online services like mail, calendar, photos, online storage, etc., as well as downloaded services  including a mail client, instant messaging, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, the Toolbar and other services.

Scour combines search results from Google, Yahoo and Live Search all at the same time and presents information found from all these three sites to the person searching for results.

It also allows every Scour.com member to put in a vote for all the search results that come up. The concept behind the votes is that users can vote as to whether the search result that came up should be placed higher up or lower down, as per the relevance to the user’s keyword entered. Users also have the option of posting comments regarding how their experience using Scour.com has been.

Scour also provides a sort of ‘get paid while searching’ offer. This offer basically gives the user points for every search carried out. This scheme is a lot like Microsoft SearchPerks. Every search, vote or comment made by a user results in one point for the user. This means that if a user makes one search, one comment and one vote, he will get 3 points. On reaching a total of 6,500 points, the user then has the option of claiming a $25 Visa Card.

Principal investigator of this interesting study, Dr. Gary Small, noted: “Our most striking finding is that searching on the internet appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry, which is not activated during reading, but only in those with prior Internet experience.” He is the director of Memory and Aging Research Center of UCLA.

The volunteers with prior experience of web registered a much increased brain activation compared to those with no or little Internet experience. People have to make decisions, according to the researchers, as what to click on to get more information on the Net. This engages many important cognitive circuits in our brain.

“A simple task like searching appears to increase brain circuitry in older adults, which demonstrates that our brains are quite sensitive and we can continue to learn even as we grow older,” Small added. He noted the minimal brain activation in the less experienced Net users might be owing to participants not grasping the strategies that were needed to engage in an Internet search successfully common while learning a new activity. “With more time spent on the Internet, they may well demonstrate the same brain activation patterns as observed in the more experienced group,” he stated.

David Katz helped build successful business for Yahoo Sports before leaving the firm in late 2006. As he states, the website has been set up for fans that care more about keeping track of their favorite teams and don’t mind trashing the teams they tend to hate. They are different than general passive sports enthusiasts.

According to details made available, users can establish profiles on the website. They are specifically instructed to customise the home page to host prominent links to the teams, which matter most to them – with each individual team page serving as the website’s core. To populate these individual team pages with news items, SportsFanLive will link to over 4,000 sources, added Katz. These will cover everything from to SI.com to ESPN.com to popular blogs.

Fan commentary will be given prominent treatment. More prolific users will also have the opportunity to turn regular contributors provided their comments are rated well by the community.

In one of posts at Google’s official blog, the engineers said that they always knew the internet was very big but were quite surprised to see the size of unique URL’s indexed by Google. The systems that process links on the websites to find content had hit a milestone of 1000000000000 URL’s on the website at once.

Google does not index each and every page or file on the website, so the actual web may be much larger. The database of Google represents the biggest ever index for all the search engines.

According to the Google team, they are really very proud to have the most comprehensive index for any search engine and Google’s goal has always been to stay at the top. As far as search engines are concerned, no one can beat Google.

Google is still continuing to grow. In 2000, Google recorded only one billion URL’s but by 2008 it has achieved something unexceptional.