Recently, Google launched Place Pages , where you can find a bunch of info on a local business on single page. You can find these pages when you search on Google Maps. So, it's not that far of a stretch that Place Pages are now being added to Google Earth . If you're not familiar, Google Earth is a 3D version of Google Maps. You download it onto your computer to use it. In Google Earth, Place Pages appear directly in the window, so as not to disrupt your virtual traipsing.

The new tool is a Chrome extension. You may remember Chrome extensions were launched into Beta yesterday - but they're not yet available for Mac users. Speed Tracer is designed to help web developers recognize slow areas in their applications. The tool can be found in Google's Web Toolkit. It displays performance along a "Sluggishness Graph." This is one of those things where the lower the score the better. If your y-axis is closer to 0 - you've got a fast app/site.

Yahoo! has launched a new charitable effort called "You In?" The idea is to encourage random acts of kindness that are then shared with social networks. Once shared, hopefully others will get inspired to do acts of kindness on their own. "We believe that one small act of kindness can ignite a ripple of generosity and we hope to inspire the Yahoo! community to create a wave of goodwill around the world," said Meg Garlinghouse, senior director of Yahoo! for Good.

About 2,100 people are attending SES Chicago 2009 , up from last year. The top story on Day 2 was the morning keynote by Peter Morville, author of Search Patterns . Morville is widely recognized as a father of information architecture. He's authored the best-selling books, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web and Ambient Findability, and has consulted with such organizations as AT&T, Harvard, IBM, Microsoft, the National Cancer Institute, Vodafone, and Yahoo!.

I've been using a preview version of Chrome for about a month and it's been sooooo buggy. Until about a week ago. Suddenly things were running smoother, much like they did when I was on Windows. Then, the tech blogs started swirling with rumors that Chrome for Mac would be released into Beta this week. I figured the rumor was solid, and it was. Chrome for Mac and Linux has, indeed, been released into beta . I installed it but didn't notice too much difference - because,

MSN is teaming up with the publisher of ELLE and Women's Day to create a new online lifestyle site for women. It will launch in the first half of 2010 and will focus on style, beauty, relationships and home décor. The news comes in the wake of the successful launch of Wonderwall.com, an entertainment portal focused on celebrity news. The site averages 9.5 million unique views a month.

In the movie Notting Hill, Julia Roberts plays a celebrity who falls in love with a non-celebrity, played by Hugh Grant. When the press finds out, she's devastated because it doesn't maintain her elite reputation. She tells Grant that reporters will always reference the story and the photos of him answering the door in his underwear. She tells him, "Newspapers live forever.

Hot on the heels of launching a music video search last month , Yahoo! is expanding their foray into entertainment video search by adding TV Series and Popular Movie Actor refiners . TV Series refiners allow you to filter by main characters, popular episodes, and seasons.

The ability to search for ads is being rolled out to the Ad Review Center, part of the new AdSense interface . Right now, only a small set of publishers have access, but Google says they're working on extending it to more as additional publishers are invited to test the new interface.

Yesterday at SES Chicago, Google announced the following updates to Analytics : Annotations If you share Google Analytics information with multiple people, then this will be particularly useful. Just make a note about a spike or dip - and others can respond when they check the analytics on their end. Custom Variables in Advanced Segments Multiple custom variables were made available in October , but only as a report in the Visitors section. Beginning this week,

The top story at SES Chicago 2009 on Day 1 was a no-brainer. It was the opening keynote by Jeff Jarvis, author of What Would Google Do? For a summary, read " SES Chicago 2009 Opening Keynote with Jeff Jarvis " by Susan Esparza of The Bruce Clay Blog. As she reported, Jarvis said there's been a fundamental shift in the economy. Newspapers still operate in the old "content economy," but now we're in the new "link economy". You only need one copy of anything now.

Google announced a bunch of new features today. Let's dive in: Real-time integration See the latest tweets, blogs, news etc. You can click on "Latest results" in the search results or the "Latest" link in the Search Options panel in order to get more results for a given keyword/phrase. Hot Topics on Google Trends This feature is similar to "trending topics" on Twitter. This is not the same as "Hot Trends" launched in September .

Last week, Bing unveiled Streetside imaging but you may have noticed it's not quite extensive. Hold your horses. These things take time. Bing is partnering with Navteq to get some more imaging done. Navteq is already traversing roads all over to get the best info for maps. So, Bing is simply attaching cameras to their vehicles to capture the imaging. Pretty clever. The vehicles will be outfitted with the Microsoft Vexcel UltraCam.

Over 100,000 business have been selected as "Favorite Places in Google." Over 9,000 cities and towns in all 50 U.S. states are included. The businesses are being sent decals they can place in their storefront windows. The decals include a barcode, known as a QR code, that can be scanned by smartphones, including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. When the QR code is scanned, it will take the user directly to the business's Place Page on Google Maps . There you can get coupons,

Though Wales just shut down Wikia search last March , he still has an interest in social search. That's what's driving his decision to join Hunch's Board. On his blog, Wales wrote : Hunch.com's combination of community-sourced content and algorithmically-driven smarts is forging a promising path towards this potential future. And that's why I've decided to join Hunch as a Board Member and an active advisor for the company's ongoing development. As a result,

Here are the new ones: ATM's )Now Over 72,000!( Parks Stadium Arenas and Athletic Fields Tourist Attractions )Includes 1.5M Locations!( Court Houses City Hall Libraries MapQuest has also updated existing categories . Those in rural areas - you might find coverage for your area now. Rest Areas Bus Stations Train Stations Commuter Rail Stations Park and Ride's Ski Resorts Wineries )Over 500 To Search!

Looks like Google CEO Eric Schmidt has adopted an "If you can't acquire beat them, join them" attitude when it comes to Twitter. After calling the tool a "poor man's email" last March, Schmidt began Tweeting last night . And he's already pulled a Sarah Palin . He started using @eschmidt0, then switched to @ericschmidt - an entirely different account. Unlike Palin, though, Schmidt's followers seemed to have followed him to the new account. Of course, it's only been a day,

The tool is called "Ad Interest Manager" and it lets you opt-in and out of ads based on interests and preferences. Here's a screenshot: The Ad Interest Manager also shows you what Yahoo! activities you conduct the most. They use this to help determine which ads to serve up to you, personally. Last but not least, the Ad Interest Manager displays information about your IP address, location, age range, and gender which are gained from your computer and cookies.

When Google launched personalized search , it was for signed-in users only )and then only when Web History was enabled for the account(. Now, guests or signed-out users at Google will get personalization. If you don't want the personalized experience - you can opt out . Google uses an anonymous cookie to keep track of signed-out searches in order to provide the personalization. When customized search results are available,

Microsoft and Yahoo! have finalized the search agreement initially announced last July . Originally, they had planned to finalize things by late October . When they didn't meet that deadline, they assured everyone that progress had been made. Here's the joint statement released by both parties: Microsoft and Yahoo! believe that this deal will create a sustainable and more compelling alternative in search that can provide consumers, advertisers and publishers real choice,