Google's mission is to "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." So, I'm not quite sure where in that statement, "create autonomous robotic cars that drive themselves" quite fits. Still, that's not stopped Google from building cars that, yes, drive themselves. Our automated cars use video cameras, radar sensors and a laser range finder to "see" other traffic,

Sometimes we find a news story that's just not sexy. There's not much to say about it, but we'd be amiss if we didn't let you know about it. This is one of those times: Google has opened up its goo.gl URL shortener for everyone to use. It takes really long URLs: http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2010/09/courts-disagree-on-expectation -of-privacy-regarding-social-media.html and shortens them goo.gl/UZhO And, that's about it. Oh,

There are so many great findings in Econsultancy and bigmouthmedia's Social Media and Online PR Report 2010 I barely know where to start! This will probably be one of the few reports you'll want to spend dollars on this year, although I will add one caveat: the data is skewed towards the UK. That aside, here's a sample of some of the insights: 1. While 95% of companies have added social media to their marketing mix,

During a presentation at the IAB advertising conference, Justin Timberlake Barry Salzman explained how Google believes "display [advertising] is bringing 'sexy' back." While you thought that Google was all about search ads, the search giant insists that "display advertising really is at the heart of what we're doing at Google these days." With 99% of its top advertisers running display ads,

Just over two years ago the folks over at Ontolo -Ben Wills and Garrett French- set out on the impossible quest to design a link building service that would bring forth the most relevant and valuable link prospects for link building campaigns. They began work on a toolset to automate as much of the Link Prospecting and Link Qualification work as possible by crawling and analyzing thousands of link prospects against over 100 different valuation metrics.

May I suggest that Google CEO Eric Schmidt cancel any plans to ski the French alps this year-the authorities may not let him in! Not after he )and Google proper( were convicted of defamation for results showing up in Google Suggest: The new function, which suggests options as you type in a word, brought up the words "rapist" and "satanist" when the plaintiff's name was typed into the search engine, legalis.net reported.

Search Engine Land is reporting on Microsoft's third attempt to launch a search loyalty program. Bing Rewards lets users earn credits that can be redeemed for products, gift cards, or charitable donations. Except, the requirements for joining are outrageous! People must first install the Bing Bar toolbar , have a Windows Live ID , be on a Windows machine and use Internet Explorer . No Chrome or Firefox, no Macs . What the heck?

Stephen Colbert sits down with Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Hilarity and discomfort ensues. My favorite line? Colbert on Google's "Don't Be Evil" motto: Your stock price is at $500. How low does that price have to go before you say, 'That's it, we're going with evil!

If you're a regular Marketing Pilgrim reader, you've likely taken advantage of the cool reports and whitepapers that AdGooroo has been sharing via their ad on the right. Over there ====> Well, now AdGooroo CEO Richard Stokes is spilling the beans in his brand new book Ultimate Guide to Pay-Per-Click Advertising .

When Twitter decided to force me to view suggest Twitter users to follow, I finally bailed on the web interface and switched to Hootsuite.com . Even the lure of a redesigned Twitter.com wasn't enough to tempt me back. Now I'm glad I switched, because there's a nasty bug in Twitter's new interface that allows malicious pop-ups: Hopefully Twitter will shut down this loophole as soon as possible - disallowing users to post the onMouseOver JavaScript code,

If you're debating which of the remaining 2010 internet marketing conferences you should attend, I have a suggestion for ya: PubCon ! PubCon is returning to Las Vegas November 8th thru 11th and it promises to be better than ever! The four day event is packed with great sessions , great speakers, and great networking. In fact, the last day is all about the drinking networking! Whether you're a beginner or pro,

There are two ways to look at Google's new two-step security installation for Google Apps. 1. Google just made it harder for someone to hack into your account. or 2. Google just gave hackers everywhere an incentive to steal your iPhone! Of course, the chances of a hacker managing to get their hands on your Google password AND your cell phone are pretty slim, so we suspect option 1 will be the main outcome of this accouncement: Two-step verification is easy to set up,

When you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Right? Well, Cuil had its PR engine revved to the max, when it launched in 2008. It claimed to be bigger, better, and safer to use than Google. Fast forward a little over two years and let's see how things are working out for Cuil, shall we? Yikes, apparently it can't even keep the lights on. I mean, if the rumors are true, and Cuil's still trying to find a buyer to rescue it,

It's been a long time since we took the time to show our thanks to the advertisers and sponsors that help keep Marketing Pilgrim going-and growing. Please show your appreciation by visiting these fine companies: AdGooroo - check out their free report " Successful Paid Search Tactics The Top CPG Brands Use To Grow Market Share And Build Loyalty " Text Link Brokers/Sponsored Reviews - our most loyal advertiser! If you need help with link building or blogger reviews ,

It seems like the latest "xxxx is dead" bandwagon is RSS-and some A-listers are jumping on it with gusto! We'll overlook the fact that many of these people also thought FriendFeed was going to be the holy grail of social networking aggregation, and instead take a look at this chart: That's Google Reader's growth over the past five years. Does that look to you like the death of RSS? Nope, me neither. In fact,

You could attend a conference that costs $2,000+ for registration and travel expenses. Or'. You could spend $97 on registration and use the other $1,903 to cover the cost of your travel to'.HAWAII! On October 5th, I'll be speaking at the The Hawaii Social Media Summit at the Ala Moana Hotel in Waikiki, Honolulu, Oahu. It's the excuse you've been looking for to tell your boss you absolutely need to visit Hawaii AND the math above will help you justify the expense!

Over at TopRank Online Marketing Blog , Lee Odden was kind enough to invite me to write a guest post on a topic near-and-dear to my heart: social media monitoring . How could I refuse! With everyone )and their mother( jumping into social media monitoring, I thought it would be best to help you get the most out of your efforts by implementing a solid foundation. I provide six critical steps, starting with: 1.

OK, random thought time. Yes, we're sticking with Google Instant. Yes, it's focused on SEO. Yes, it ties back to my post about using Google Suggest for keyword research. Yes, I'll get on with it. The long tail is about to become super-important for your search engine optimization efforts. Why? Because, despite our concerns that Google Instant is headache inducing, I think Google knows better. Google knows that using Google Instant-for the average searcher,

While Valleywag seems more interested in how Google's new ad for Google Instant might ruffle Apple CEO Steve Jobs' feathers, I find myself enjoying the actual ad. That's not always been the case with Google's TV ad attempts , but I think this mashup of Bob Dylan's 1965 hit "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and Google Instant is a cool way to reach both young and old.

"We can suggest what you should do next, what you care about. Imagine: We know where you are, we know what you like." Eric Schmidt, CEO, Google, September 2010 Pilgrim's Partners: SponsoredReviews.com - Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!