Google Local, Definitions, & Registrar

A few Google bits in the bin this morning starting with Philipp Lenssen writes "Google Local has now moved to the Google homepage. The service, while still in beta, has been around for quite a while as one of many Google tools in the Google labs." Mr. Anonymous noted that "In the past, when you clicked the [definition] link after a Google search, you'd be taken to the Dictionary.com page for the word. Now, Google has jumped aboard GuruNet's Answers.com, which not only provides definitions, but encyclopedia articles, etymology, medical defnitions, legal definitions, and word translations all on one page." And lastly, several folks noted that Google has moved into the Domain Registrar Biz which we mentioned monday.

Comments

I have a non troll question

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is everyone so hard up for Google?

IBM has a lot of cool technologies, so does Apple. Yet there is more press on Google than on the Iraq war.

Is Google really God?

Re:I'll buy a Google Domain

[gclef]

The other reason they may want to be a registrar is to avoid what happened to panix a few weeks ago.

For those that missed it, panix.com got hijacked because a domain re-seller (melbourne IT) didn't check that their customer (the supposed recipient of the domain transfer) had the proper authorizations in place to request a registrar move for panix. Panix had (apparently) forgotten to request a registrar lock on their domain, and their registrar didn't protest the move, so the request went through, moving panix to a new registrar. Once it was moved (changing ownership in the process), changing the authoritative DNS servers for it was easy...hence, hijack.

If google were their own registrar, they could enforce their own registrar lock for google.com, as well as setting up automatic refusals for any attempt to transfer google.com.

Re:Google Local versus MS Search

[AxB_teeth]

Let's be clear about which feature Microsoft got better... Yes, they discovered my location accurately. However, any local searches I do on msn return absolutely useless results. I live in Nebraska, and the first result I get for "pizza" is a radio station from northern Alabama? Where's the sense in that?

I'll admit that my location is relatively rural, and that Microsoft may not want to bother with indexing businesses in a community of ~40,000, but apparently Google had no problem doing it, with their beta.