Continuing its venture evolution, Google is announcing today a new venture capital arm — Google Ventures — aimed at adding profits to Google’s portfolio.  It already has two ventures (source: NYTimes) that relate to potential future core businesses: “Silver Spring Networks, a company that makes technology to help manage electric grids, and Pixazza, which links online images with related products that can be purchased. Google declined to say how much it invested in those companies.”  It is reported that Google Ventures will invest $100 million over the next 12 months.

With Google having brought a new sophistication and efficiency to managing the world’s information, it seems fitting that they could diversify toward managing an emerging re-engineered and sophisticated electrical grid. 15 years from now, will Google be known for information search, advertising networks, SaaS applications, grid computing, and energy (green technology, energy network management,…)? It would seem so. (Just don’t hire the Enron folks.)  With this view, it sure makes GOOG look cheap. Nice strategic growth move, Google.

A word from the source:

What is the focus of the fund?
Google Ventures is broadly interested in startups in industries including consumer Internet, software, hardware, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care and others. First and foremost, we’re looking for entrepreneurs who are tackling problems in creative and innovative ways. As a venture fund, however, we’re also looking for investments with the potential for significant financial return.

Update:

A note about Google Ventures on the Google Blog:

At its core, Google Ventures is charged with finding and helping to develop exceptional start-ups. We’ll be focusing on early stage investments across a diverse range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, clean-tech, bio-tech, health care and, no doubt, other areas we haven’t thought of yet.

It felt like I was missing something in my list above — Health Care/Life Sciences. Google already has a health initiative, and I can’t help wonder if they will invest in or buy companies like QSII or MDRX (disclaimer: I own shares of each, and GOOG).

Google has come out with its new Google AdWords Interface (still in beta).  I played around with it a bit and am liking it better than the current/main interface — it allows you to bounce between more data in less time and lays out the data well.

Here is the note they sent out…

Try a New Google AdWords Interface Now in Your Account

Hello,

We’re beta-testing a new web interface for AdWords, designed to make campaign management faster and easier. You can try it now in your AdWords account using the “New Interface (Beta)” link in the top corner of the page.

Don’t worry about the new interface disrupting your normal account management work. You can switch back and forth between the new and previous interfaces at any time during the test. And the new interface won’t change how your ads run; we’re only testing changes to the way you see and manage the data in your account.

You can visit our microsite to get a quick overview of the changes and watch videos demonstrating the improvements to campaign management: http://www.google.com/adwords/newinterface/resources.html

We hope you find that the new interface increases your advertising efficiency and makes it easier for you to improve your results. If you have any feedback on the new interface, please let us know using the Feedback link in the top corner of your account. Thanks for advertising with AdWords!

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Colorado (Denver Metro area) is having a big snow storm today, somewhere between 6″ and 2′ (probably a foot).  And while most people would know this from looking out the window or watching the weather radar map, it is showing up in an interesting place: Google Trends.

20 of the top 100 Google Trend keywords are related to the Colorado snow storm.  Interestingly, only 6 entities are associated with these key words: DIA (airport), CDOT (government transportation dept.), 9News (local TV) and three schools.  Wonder what their web traffic was like today?  It is interesting that only one media property showed up, and multiple times; they clearly own the weather brand in the market.

The trends below (and screenshot) were captured at 12:30 pm MST, when about 4-8″ of snow had fallen on the Denver Metro area.  At 9am, there was only 1-2″.

It looks like Colorado’s only other real competition was President Obama (had speech today) and weather in Texas and Mississippi.

Here is a screenshot (link to view full size):

Here are the 20 keywords, in bold:

1.     angela lansbury
2.     rue la la
3.     denver international airport
4.     thea vidale
5.     dan seals
6.     whitehouse.gov
7.     kyocera ecopro c170n
8.     sonya hamm
9.     kyocera ecopro c170n 17ppm color laser printer
10.     online town hall
11.     jennifer hepner
12.     one second after
13.     cdot
14.     ryan moats
15.     ruelala.com
16.     white house easter egg roll 2009
17.     poudre school district
18.     obama town hall meeting
19.     magee ms
20.     magee mississippi
21.     kim kardashian cellulite pictures
22.     colorado department of transportation
23.     mile high music festival 2009
24.     tammy leitner
25.     cdot colorado
26.     obama online
27.     colorado road conditions
28.     9 news
29.     ksat 12 weather
30.     denver weather
31.     lisa persdotter
32.     robert o ryan
33.     kim kardashian complex magazine
34.     valerie bertinelli in a bikini
35.     www.whitehouse.gov
36.     woai weather
37.     9news
38.     ibm layoffs
39.     sarah l. tolzien
40.     whitehouse.gov government
41.     shawn johnson stalker
42.     miss montana jennifer hepner
43.     mk89 strikemaster
44.     willie aames
45.     www.whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll
46.     dancing with the stars stalker
47.     three stooges movie
48.     cheryl hines
49.     cdot camera
50.     cherry creek school district
51.     whitehouse.gov/eastereggroll
52.     colorado weather
53.     amalia tabata
54.     billy gillispie
55.     dia airport
56.     9news.com
57.     the brighter side column
58.     joy behar age
59.     mississippi tornado
60.     tommy bahama
61.     kelly clarkson on oprah
62.     denver news
63.     st vrain valley school district
64.     leon czolgosz
65.     mysa.com
66.     baby bangs
67.     julius shulman
68.     jose tabata
69.     bby
70.     zbt industries incorporated
71.     9news weather
72.     kens 5
73.     ctic
74.     san antonio weather
75.     flesh eating fish
76.     kim kardashian untouched photo
77.     magee miss
78.     storks footprint
79.     wlbt
80.     denver traffic cameras
81.     charles simonyi
82.     colorado school closures
83.     white house town hall
84.     09wheggroll.frontgatetickets.com
85.     american idol motown
86.     wild dunes resort charleston sc
87.     california safari
88.     cotrip.org
89.     arnold palmer invitational
90.     pat oliphant
91.     jocelyn wildenstein
92.     oliphant gaza cartoon
93.     forecastle festival
94.     bay hill invitational 2009
95.     university of missouri
96.     faraday cage
97.     magee tornado
98.     elliot in the morning
99.     prince on jay leno
100.     map of mississippi

 Here is the note Google sent out to AdSense users. I’ll let you know more about it once it is up and running.

Hi,

We’re writing to let you know about the upcoming launch of interest-based advertising, which will require you to review and make any necessary changes to your site’s privacy policies. You’ll also see some new options on your Account Settings page.

Interest-based advertising will allow advertisers to show ads based on a user’s previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests (e.g. “sports enthusiast”).  To develop interest categories, we will recognize the types of web pages users visit throughout the Google content network.  As an example, if they visit a number of sports pages, we will add them to the “sports enthusiast” interest category.  To learn more about your associated account settings, please visit the AdSense Help Center at http://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=20310.

As a result of this announcement, your privacy policy will now need to reflect the use of interest-based advertising. Please review the information at https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=100557 to ensure that your site’s privacy policies are up-to-date, and make any necessary changes by April 8, 2009.  Because publisher sites and laws vary across countries, we’re unfortunately unable to suggest specific privacy policy language.

For more information about interest-based advertising, you can also visit the Inside AdSense Blog at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2009/03/driving-monetization-with-ads-that.html.

We appreciate your participation and look forward to this upcoming enhancement.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

Email preferences: You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your AdSense product or account.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

Forbes and Silicon Alley Insider have insight into YouTube’s revenue.

A quick overview:

• Google may be making $200 million from YouTube this year and $350 million next year.
• A front page ad on YouTube goes for about $175,000 per day plus a commitment to spend at least $50,000 more on YouTube or Google.
• A branded YouTube channel goes for about $200,000.
• YouTube is the undiputed leader in online video.
• Google’s position gives them great insight into user habits and is allowing them to fine tune the ad experience and model (that will likely become the industry standard).

Early this week Google announced third-party display ad tags will now be possible for image ads running through AdSense/AdWords.  This should boost CPM rates for publishers as the “qualified” third-parties are likely to be more sophisticated advertisers with larger budgets; the extra volume will help put pressure on ad rates too.

Here’s the email they sent out…

 Subject: Third-party ads now available on the Google content network

Greetings from Google!

We’re happy to announce that the Google content network now accepts display ads served from qualified third-party vendors.
During this initial release, only ads in English are eligible, although we look forward to offering more options in the future.

By accepting third-party ads, we can attract a greater variety of advertising on the Google content network, which we believe will
result over time in increased revenue for publishers and more relevant advertising for end users.

If you’re currently opted in to image ads, you’re already able to  receive third-party ads. If not, you can enable image ads to start
receiving third-party ads immediately. (Learn how to enable image  ads at
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=9741.)

If you choose to allow third-party ads on your site, please update  your privacy policy to inform your visitors that third-party
vendors may serve ads on your site. Please also provide links to  these vendor websites and inform your users that they may opt out
of cookies (if the vendor offers this capability). For more  information about updating your policies, visit
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/answer.py?answer=94150.

You’ll continue to have full control over which ads appear on your site with tools like competitive ad filtering and the Ad Review
Center. Also, only advertisers with whom we have proven relationships and who’ve clearly demonstrated commitments to our
quality standards may participate in this program. Our policies governing ad content and formatting remain unchanged.

To learn more about third-party ads, please visit our blog post at
http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/05/introducing-third-party-ads-on-google.html
and our FAQ at
https://www.google.com/adsense/support/bin/topic.py?topic=14535.
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact us at adsense-support@google.com.

Sincerely,

The Google AdSense Team

While image search is better than it was 10 years ago (okay, that’s not saying much), it could certainly be better and applied in more ways.  Google has released new information on its image search advances… with a new VisualRank algorithm that parallels PageRank.  Read more here.

I was invited to try out Google’s beta for TV advertising yesterday. The term AdWords does not really fit here/anymore, but we’ll look past that for the moment. It looks like you cannot target to local TV at this point. It does seems like this would work okay for cable TV advertising. Let me know what your experience is if you try it…

Here is the invite email:

Dear AdWords Advertiser,

You’re one of a select group of advertisers invited to try Google TV Ads beta. The perfect complement to your online campaigns, Google TV Ads makes it easy to reach new customers, drive more traffic and increase your sales volume – turning TV viewers into your customers.

To learn more, join us for an online webinar led by AdWords specialists. Sign up at google.com/adwords/tvads/webinar.html

Are you ready to give Google TV Ads a try? Log in to your AdWords account and click on ‘Create your first television campaign’ in the ‘Other Campaign Types’ section at the bottom of this page.

Now, with Google TV Ads, you can tap into the power of television with the accountability and flexibility of your online advertising campaigns. We look forward to helping you grow your business.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team

Email Preferences: We sent you this email because you inquired about Google TV Ads through our online form and asked to be notified if you became eligible to participate in the Google TV Ads Beta Test.

Copyright 2007. Google is a trademark of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy.
Mountain View, CA 94043

…And here is the confirmation/thank you email after I signed up:

Thank you for submitting your contact information.

We will contact you by email with details to participate in Google TV Ads. Please note: if you indicated interest in local targeting only, we will contact you when local inventory becomes available in the future.

We look forward to enabling you to advertise on TV more efficiently and effectively through better measurement, more accountability and greater optimization.

Sincerely,
The Google TV Ads Team

Update:

Here is a YouTube video about an advertiser’s experience with Google TV Ads:

Here is some more info from MarketingVox: Google Brings TV Advertising to Adwords

Here is some BACKGROUND info from TechCrunch: Google Testing TV Ads in California

…more information is out here (Feb?), here and here (prototype?).   Looks interesting.  I’m ready.  Bring on the tease campaign.

This is big. Google made a key announcement today it what will become a widely used standard across the mobile space (it also previews/parallels what could happen in the more competitive/solidified desktop space). Google is laying the ground work to become a key player in the mobile space. This is much more than a single product — one that will fade as soon as the next big thing comes out. Think Microsoft DOS/Windows (plus hardware and network partners)…for mobile. What is unique is that instead of building out an ecosystem like this organically (vis-a-vis the Microsoft evolution), Google is architecting the ecosystem from the start. This will force an ‘Are you in or out?’ environment and increase the pace. Think AOL v. the Internet; or more recently Facebook v. MySpace…and then Google v. Facebook. Open is in. And by architecting it up front like this, business models are more certain (the same cannot be said for Facebook…to the same degree) and rapid innovation and product development should follow.

I still can’t help but ask… so when can I get my GPhone? I’m in. Anything that will remove me from being stuck behind my PC, but allow me to be as, or more, productive.

Google press release. Excerpt:

Industry Leaders Announce Open Platform for Mobile Devices
Group Pledges to Unleash Innovation for Mobile Users Worldwide

A broad alliance of leading technology and wireless companies today joined forces to announce the development of Android, the first truly open and comprehensive platform for mobile devices. Google Inc., T-Mobile, HTC, Qualcomm, Motorola and others have collaborated on the development of Android through the Open Handset Alliance, a multinational alliance of technology and mobile industry leaders. …

From NYTimes.com:

Google Makes Its Entry Into the Wireless World

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 5 — Google took its long-awaited plunge into the wireless world today, announcing that it is leading a broad industry alliance to transform mobile phones into powerful mobile computers that could accelerate the convergence of computing and communications.

Mobile phones based on Google’s software are not expected to be available until the second half of next year. They will be manufactured by a variety of handset companies, including HTC, LG, Motorola and Samsung and be available in the United States through T-Mobile and Sprint.

The phones will also be available through the world’s largest mobile operator, China Telecom, with 332 million subscribers in China, and the leading carriers in Japan, NTT DoCoMo and KDDI, as well as T-Mobile in Germany, Telecom Italia in Italy and Telefónica in Spain. …

And Google answers my question.. where is my GPhone? …with this blog post..

Where’s my Gphone?

Despite all of the very interesting speculation over the last few months, we’re not announcing a Gphone. However, we think what we are announcing — the Open Handset Alliance and Android — is more significant and ambitious than a single phone. In fact, through the joint efforts of the members of the Open Handset Alliance, we hope Android will be the foundation for many new phones and will create an entirely new mobile experience for users, with new applications and new capabilities we can’t imagine today. …

Updates/Related posts:

GigaOm – Google Launches Mobile Phone Platform, Android: What it Means, What Experts Think
TechCrunch – Breaking: Google Announces Android and Open Handset Alliance
PC World – What Google’s Entry into Phone Biz Means to You