The world discovered a little bit more about this mysterious “Google Me” project this week, when Googlers, including CEO Eric Schmidt opened up (just a little bit) at the company’s Zeitgeist event.

The main thing that has been revealed is that Google Me will not be a new social network from Google to try and compete with Facebook, but rather a “social layer” added to existing Google products. If you think about it, this strategy makes more sense, as Google already has many of the features of a great social network in its various properties. As I’ve said over and over again, integration among these is the key, and “Google Me” just might turn out to be that integration that connects Google’s offerings, effectively making Google itself the social network.

Michael Arrington at TechCrunch was able to pick up one specific detail from unnamed “sources who’ve worked with Google on the product”. They say that Google Me will produce an activity stream generated by all Google products, and that Google Buzz has been rewritten to be the host of it all.

I’m guessing the existing Google Profiles, which already host the Google Buzz content will be central.

Nick O’Neill at AllFacebook thinks photos and videos are going to be key elements in the competition between Google and Facebook.  He writes, “Between tagging and the feed exposure, photos account for the largest percentage of Facebook users’ time on site. While video is also increasing, photos were responsible for most of Facebook’s initial growth. In fact Facebook Photos now has more market share than all the competitors combined (including Google-owned Picasa). Google also clearly has another massive weapon in their arsenal: YouTube. The video site is by far the most popular of all video sites in the world.”

“YouTube is so popular that it ranks just behind Facebook in Alexa’s ranking of the most popular online sites,” he adds. “YouTube is also a relatively social experience to begin with, however there is most definitely plenty of room to grow.”

YouTube is easily the greatest asset Google has in terms of social media. You may recall that YouTube began requiring all users to have a Google account. That’s no coincidence, I’m sure.

So let’s compare Google (as one big social network) to Facebook, feature by feature.

Facebook has the news feed. Google is reportedly working on the activity stream. Facebook has chat. Google does too (text, voice, and video). Facebook has photos. Google does too, with Picasa Web Albums and various other complementary photo-related offerings. Facebook has videos. Google has YouTube (and Google Video). Facebook has notes. Google has Blogger. Facebook has Pages. Google has Profiles.  Google has email. Facebook may at some point (MySpace just added it last year). Facebook has games. Google is working on getting more. Facebook has news publications setting up Pages. Google has Google News. Facebook has the Open Graph. Google has search (all kinds of search…and maps).

Facebook has Facebook Ads. Google has AdWords, AdSense, and Doubleclick. Facebook has applications. Google has Google Apps, the Apps Marketplace, Android, the Android Marketplace, Chrome, Chrome OS, the Chrome Web Store, Google TV which will support Android apps and web apps. Google is also trying to get a music service off the ground.  And let’s not forget Google Calendar and Google Reader – two very user-personalized products.

Google said Friday that Internet marketers shouldn’t change their SEO strategies to account for partially-typed keywords using Google’s new Google Instant feature.

Google Instant returns search entries for each and every letter typed, so that “f” produces a page of links beginning with “Facebook,” while “fl” leads off the page with “Flickr”. Some had begun speculating that SEO marketers would need to concentrate on partially-typed keywords, betting that users typing in “res” would be searching for “restaurant” rather than “resume” or “Restoration Hardware”.

But Alden DeSoto, a member of the Google Analytics team, said that SEO marketers shouldn’t change their strategies, at least where that particular facet of Instant was concerned.

“Should I change my search advertising strategy to serve ads on to partial keywords (e.g. if I sell flowers, should I advertise on “flow”)?” DeSoto wrote. “This is not a productive strategy. Please note that ads are triggered based on the ‘predicted query’ and not the stem that the users types in. So, in this example, the partial query ‘flow’ triggers results for the predicted query of ‘flowers’. The only way someone can see your ad for ‘flow’ is if they specifically searched for that word and hit enter or clicked search. And since you sell flowers, it’s not likely that your ad for flowers will be served alongside such a generic and irrelevant word.”

DeSoto also said that the new Google Instant wouldn’t change search rankings, and that search queries using Instant would be tracked as they have always been.

In part, that’s because queries are measured using the predicted query (“resume”) versus the actual query (“re”), DeSoto added. “If a user was typing “web metrics” but got the search result she wanted at “web met” with the predicted term being “web metrics”, then you will see “web metrics” in your Google Analytics reports.

AdWords impressions are also counted in the same manner, with an impression generated by clicking on an ad or link on the page, or hitting “enter” after a query. The only change is that an impression will also be generated after a user pauses for three seconds after a keystroke is entered, as Google executives said at the launch.

It’s the start of the football season in the U.S, and that means millions of viewers watching the games in their own home. Which translates to millions of eyeballs watching television ads during the game. In short, NFL mid-game adverts are big-buck affairs.

Automakers know that, and have saved some of their best work for football fans.

Tonight, Nissan’s advertising campaign changes gear with its latest commercial for the 2011 Nissan Leaf.  But instead of world-renowned cyclist Lance Armstrong waxing lyrical on his feelings for Nissan’s all-electric car, this ad leaves the talking to a polar bear.

Yes, Nissan has finally pulled the eco-warrior card.

In the one minute advert, a solitary polar bear leaves its rapidly melting home and starts a journey from northern wilderness to suburbia, seeking shelter and sustenance along the way.

You’d be forgiven for thinking the advert was from Greenpeace, warning the viewer that human actions and global warming are killing rare and beautiful species, as our screens are filled with melting ice-caps, forlorn cries and large trucks.

But the sad and forlorn journey of the polar bear in the advert doesn’t end in death and destruction. It ends with a car.

The final scene shows a 2011 Nissan Leaf driver leave his home and walk towards his car to start the morning commute.  With a non-violent roar, the Bear appears from behind the Leaf, giving the startled driver a bear hug.

The tagline “Innovation for the planet, Innovation for all” rings out at the very end of the advert as the hugging bear and man fade to black.

No mention of price, no mention of specification and no mention of the competition certainly puts this advert firmly in the less-is-more camp. Combined with a heavy Facebook presence and captive audience during tonight’s first game we think the advert will certainly get attention.

But during the ad-breaks for the Vikings and Saints game tonight, will viewers really expect, or accept an advert which pulls the guilt card, especially when car adverts are traditionally a little less bleeding-heart and much more testosterone filled?

We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, if you want to see the advert for yourself, play the video below.

Nothing spoils a peaceful drive or bike ride through nature more than passing by a series of ugly manmade transmission towers.  Although we can’t completely get rid of these towers because they provide us with electricity, one way that we can make them more pleasing to the eye is to give them lifelike qualities.  That’s exactly what Massachusetts architecture firm Choi + Shine has done. The firm has designed a series of electrical towers that are shaped like giant humans, and they’re appropriately called “The Land of Giants.”

Inspired by the lifelike statues of Easter Island, these transmission towers are a far cry from the boring, overbearing towers that we see today. According to Choi + Shine the towers are more than just an artistic statement. The firm says on its website: “Making only minor alterations to well established steel-framed tower design, we have created a series of towers that are powerful, solemn and variable. These iconic pylon-figures will become monuments in the landscape. Seeing the pylon-figures will become an unforgettable experience, elevating the towers to something more than merely a functional design of necessity.”

The Land of Giants was submitted as an entry into the Icelandic High-Voltage Electrical Pylon International Design Competition, where it took home an honorable mention. It also won an “Unbuilt Architecture” award from the 2010 Boston Society of Architects.

Last year the world’s greenest skyscraper,  One Bryant Park  opened its doors in midtown Manhattan to rave reviews celebrating its innovative design. Today we’re thrilled to announce that the green tower has just achieved LEED Platinum certification, making it the world’s first office tower to reach the USGBC’s highest rating! Designed by Cook+Fox Architects and built by Tishman Construction Corporation, the building has set a historic precedent for sustainable tower design by being the largest of any skyscraper to reach LEED Platinum. As the second tallest building in Manhattan, One Bryant Park is unforgettable and never too distant from any New Yorker’s peripheral view. Now that the skyscraper has been filled with occupants, we couldn’t think of a better time to take some photos of the tower than in the incredible light of the summer sun. Click ahead to see our exclusive photos of this amazing new green construction!

As you may or may not of known. Digg the popular social news site has sold out to corporations. And now have little influence of what’s on the site. Since the change about one week ago, I have checked the front page everyday and sure enough all the submissions are by corporate sponsors. As the only popular alternative to Digg called Reddit, which has it’s own problems like being known as one of the ugliest sites on the web (which is ironic for a website that you have to read closely) and that it is designed for children and in many ways ran like children.

So does this mean social news is now dead with no alternative? Of course not.

Since the decline of Digg there has been several little wannabees popping up. None have really taken off, but with the fast downward spiral Digg has sent itself into and the dislikes of Reddit from day one. I think it’s only a matter of time before one of these lucky spawns take off.

We have joined them with our social news site PageRanked.com unfortunately have no time to market right now and timing is crucial for the next social news service to come up. If you have time and a desire to compete, we have some tips below of how to start for free.

How to make a social news site for free.

If you want to jump on the bandwagon then best way is with pligg.com , it’s free and works great. Granted the support is terrible and they really don’t care as a company. but free is free, and you can always get your own tech guy to help out when needed.

Once you set up pligg on your new site, you can simple start adding content and start marketing.

It’s toss up who will win, but i can safely say the lost members of Digg are more then enough to keep any site going strong. Just check there website and you will see account closed over and over.