Google, Search Engine | featured news

Morgan Stanley analysts downgraded Google Inc shares to "equal-weight" from "overweight" on Friday, citing an expected decline in margins in this year and the next.

This was an enormous week for Google, and everyone who watches them. Just thinking about Google+, Google’s (re)entry into social media, is not thinking big enough. What we saw this week was the first big move of Google in the Larry Page era, bringing forth the first changes and efficiencies he seems to have been seeking when named chief executive last January. And the upshot is an effort to make even the Internet a subset of a Google product. Which may not be a bad thing.

When law enforcement comes looking for evidence hidden in your Google search history, Gmail or the uncountable other Google services that touch many Internet users’ lives, don’t expect Google to turn the investigators away. In 19 out of 20 cases in the second half of last year, the company handed over at least some of the data the government demanded.

The case could turn into the biggest showdown between the government and a major technology company since the Microsoft antitrust trial more than a decade ago.

Monahan contends the stock has over-reacted to the impact of recent changes in Google’s search algorithm that were designed to reduce the prominence of lower quality content sites in search results. The analyst contends the move likely will have a single-digit impact to the company’s earnings, but has resulted in a 40% drop in the stock price since mid-April, leaving the stock 20% below its IPO price. He contends the recent price of the shares “reflects future negative changes that are unlikely to materialize.”

Computer hackers in China broke into the Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including senior U.S. government officials, military personnel and political activists.

Google Inc tried to partner with Facebook but was rebuffed, denying the search giant to the social network's trove of personal information, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday.

Google just made it a lot easier to quickly look up flight information. Now you can type “flights from [a city] to [another city] in the Google search window, and it’ll quickly display a summary of flight information right there on the results page.

Google Inc. launched its bid to dominate a world where the smartphone has replaced the wallet as the container for credit cards, coupons and receipts.