Google Knol is getting a mixed reaction today with some people hating the idea and some people playing it down saying it might never launch.

Most of the criticisms come from the fact Google would be both the search engine and the content provider whereas in the past users provide the content and Google indexes it. However with the development of Google Pages, Product Search and Blogger this balance has been tipping for a while. It is a natural progression for Google to want to host content as well as search it.

Let’s look at the advantages over this kind of model. At present only Wikipedia has the kind of mass market appeal that a Googlepedia could have. Competition would no doubt get people thinking and would be good for users.

Google also would be able to create far better search results using Google hosted pages because they wouldn’t need to rely on domain data like they do with Wikipedia. At present any article on Wikipedia ranks well in Google because the domain is trusted. It doesn’t matter whether the article is good or bad. If Google hosted the article they could measure user data such as visits and ratings cross referenced with how trusted the users Google account was and figure out very quickly how good the article was.

It could be like having Wikipedia only ranking highly for pages that had high quality articles, surely a good thing all round.

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The Guardian newspaper have today written an article titled Is Google a Grinch or a good guy?, which asks many UK SEO’s (myself included) for their views on the recent Google paid link debate.

In my opinion the Google AdWords landing page quality score and PageRank paid link updates were definitely necessary and will only help to improve the relevancy and quality of both organic and sponsored Google listings. But perhaps the timing of the updates are questionable, the Google AdWords change in particular caused many advertisers a major loss in profits just before the Christmas period with many campaigns unable to stay cost-effective due to large increases in minimum bids.

The major issue I feel is that while Google have the right to prevent MFA (Made For AdSense) websites and paid listing directories from clearly profiting through their algorithm and PageRank indicator, they also catch some of the people who are not intentionally doing so. The roll-out of these changes takes time to perfect and in many cases the more selective paid “review” directories will be penalised initially, as could AdWords advertisers using Google AdSense as a secondary source of income, and with Christmas around the corner it’s probably not the best time of the year to be facing these sort of problems.

I’d be interested in hearing comments from anyone else regarding these issues, should Google consider it’s timing of updates more carefully? Can the short-term issues affecting websites within Google’s guidelines be prevented in the first place? If they delay necessary improvements will this harm the algorithm? Is there actually a good time to apply these updates anyway?

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Christina Aguilera received $2 million from Hello magazine for exclusive photos with her newborn son, Max.

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden are not far behind, having received $1 million from People magazine for pics of their daughter Harlow.

Who knew having babies was this profitable?

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Johnny Knoxville nearly lost his testicles when a ‘Jackass’ stunt went wrong.

He was rushed to a hospital after he attempted to do a back flip on a motorcycle.

Knoxville wrote on his blog:

“I’ve just got back from Oklahoma where I was shooting ‘Mat Hoffman’s tribute to Evel Knievel.’ I had a ball, too, even though I almost lost my own balls in the process.”

“I don’t want to give too much away because it doesn’t air until February 23, but let’s just say before I did a back-flip on a motorcycle I should have learned how to ride one first.”

“I have to go now. I have to empty the piss bag on my leg that I have to wear for the next two weeks until my torn urethra heals.”

Accompanying Knoxville’s blog was a picture of two pairs of his trousers which were covered in blood around the groin area.  You can check it out here.

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Britney Spears still can’t keep her legs together (Egotastic)

Rumer Willis kicked out of club (Dlisted)

Kate Beckinsale is hot in Esquire (Celebslam)

David and Victoria Beckham’s son breakdances on stage (Just Jared)

Paris Hilton performs with the Pussycat Dolls (The Superficial)

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Filed under: Teas, Science, Health & Medical

We’ve heard a lot in the last few years about the health benefits of green tea. It can help with everything from weight loss to cancer prevention. But could the polyphenols in green tea be the next miracle substance?

Researchers in India have been looking into new uses for green tea extracts (GTE), and have come out with a cool new use for them. The researchers found that the extracts can act as a preservative on meat in a room temperature setting. They say that the meat will last four days longer than if left untreated by GTE.

This discovery has major ramifications for undeveloped countries where refrigeration is still scarce. This means that they will have that much more time to sell their goods before things start to spoil, and consumers have that much more time to use the meat. I think that natural preservatives could (and should) be the way of the future. The whole world drinks green tea: what could be more natural than that?

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Filed under: Lunch, Breakfast, Snacks, Recipes, Trends, America, Vegetarian/Vegan

A diet that consists solely of raw food can be intimidating and a little jarring if you’re not used to it. But despite its associations with body “cleanses” and hippy-dippy living, it’s really a welcomed change from the overly-cooked, overly-fussed with food many of us are used to.

This month, Domino Magazine features a days’ worth of raw food recipes (minus dinner) that are heavy on taste and light on pretension.

The menu?

Breakfast: Blueprint Pudding atop Manna bread and adorned with fresh berries
Lunch: Nori Lettuce Wraps spiced up with pickled ginger, garlic and minced jalapeno
Snacks: Crudites with Sesame Dip and a luscious Chocolate Mousse

These dishes are simple and satisfying, whether you try them for a day or make them a permanent part of your diet.

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