Google is at it again

Google is at it again. Not only do they now allow you to search for images on the web (rather than just for web sites), they have also built in a map locator, and a telephone number lookup.

If you go to Google, and type in something that looks like an address, e.g. 1 Market Street, San Francisco, California, it will recognize this as a street name, and show you links to maps of the surrounding area at the top of the page.

Likewise, if you type in a telephone number (including the area code), it will give you the name and address of the person this phone number belongs to.

As usual, Google is quietly upgrading the web, without making a big song and dance over it. Why do this without a big marketing push? Probably because the Google brand stands for a tacit assumption of competence. They don’t get in your face: they just let you do what you want, quickly and efficiently.

I like that.


Note to writers: If you don’t use Epinions for three months, they’ll delete your user account, and all the reviews you’ve written. They don’t send you an email notifying you that your account is about to be terminated, either. So if you’ve written anything for them (or for any other web publication, for that matter), make sure you keep a backup copy of your own. You never know when it might vanish forever. (Grumble.)