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Jeska Linden, the community manager at Linden Lab, the company that publishes Second Life said in a discussion (link to recording removed as per InformationWeeks wishes) today at an InformationWeek meeting, that the development team were playing around with Google Search Appliance. Google's enteprise hardware/software search solution would allow residents to search the Metaverse far more effectively. In theory, it would knock home grown efforts like the upcoming revamp of Sheep Search, Meta Mart and SL Browser right out of the game.

The upside would be a vastly improved Search experience. So let's hope it works out...

Jeska said that the results from searches using the new system would be rendered in flat HTML, which would also be usability improvement and perhaps one step closer to the fabled "html on a prim" ideal of bringing markup inworld.

Recently at the Casual Connect conference Google representatives announced the upcoming "Adsense For Games". Google's purchase of AdScape Media back in March combined with the incredible virtual world applications constructed with Google Maps and Google Earth have left everyone wondering if we were going to see games produced by them, or at least a games portal. Instead what they've planned is a system where content producers are able to make video and text ads available for purchase within their games.

This will all start with web-based games but PC and console games will soon follow. This is especially timely as many virtual worlds, such as Toontown, are moving to an ad-supported free to play platform. If Google is able to make these tools truly easy to integrate (as they have with everything else they've produced), this may make it much easier for a small group to create a 3D startup.

We'll have more on this as information becomes available.

Google already know a lot about you. They know your Search history, and even browsing history if you're using one of their bundled toolbars. Now Google want to build a psychological profile of you based on your gaming habits. You can shudder just a little if you like, I did when I read this Guardian story over the  weekend.

The company thinks it can glean information about an individual's preferences and personality type by tracking their online behaviour, which could then be sold to advertisers. Details such as whether a person is more likely to be aggressive, hostile or dishonest could be obtained and stored for future use, it says.

The idea of course is to tailor advertisements for individuals in order to more accurately target different types of people. Google already do this with Adwords, the little ads you see on the right side of Search results, to an extent. They appear in context to your Search query, and I'd be very surprised if your Search history wasn't taken into account as well. Now, detailed in a recently filed patent, it appears Google want to take the concept of behavioral targeting to a new level entirely.

The plans are detailed in a patent filed by Google in Europe and the US last month. It says people playing online role playing games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft would be particularly good to target, because they interact with other players and make decisions that probably reflect their behaviour in real life.

For right now, it's probably nothing to get all hot and bothered about. According to the Guardian article, when contacted, a Google rep said "Google registers different patents irrespective of whether we actually intend to use them." - For entirely different reasons that statement in itself is troublesome, but that's a story for another time...

Yesterday, Google announced a very handy new feature for people that use Google's customized home pages. You can now add tabs to your homepage that automatically fill out with what Google considers relevant to the keywords you enter as the name of the tab. You can see my Second Life page pictured here, it hosts a whole bunch of useful news and information widgets and makes for a really great way to skim through what's happening at any given time in the Metaverse. Here's how you can create your own:

1. Go to Google personalized home and if you dont have one, sign up for an account, or login.
2. Just below the Search box, you'll see "add a tab". Click it open.
3. In the box marked "Tab name", enter the worlds [Second Life] without the brackets, and make sure that the "I'm feeling lucky" checkbox is ticked.
4. Hit "OK" and you're done. You now have the ultimate second life newspaper, almost.

Almost?

Well, I've been working to create a Google Gadget for Metaversed all morning. I've missed breakfast, only had 3 cups of tea and only barely managed to get time for a shawer, but I still cant make the damn thing work the way I want to.

Im working on it. Till then, you can enjoy the excellent widgets that should show up on your new page from the official linden blog, Second Life Insider, Second Life Herald, Reuters SL and a bunch of other useful gadgets.

Enjoy...