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Google announced an experimental Labs feature that will peruse a user’s Social networks for search results, following up on last week’s announcement that Google and Twitter had established a partnership. “Today we’re rolling out a new experiment on Google Labs called Google Social Search that helps you find more relevant public content from your broader social circle,” said the company in a blog posting Tuesday. Google users can create a profile and add in links to social networks they want covered, such as Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, as well as Gmail contacts. The search results will then include a scan of those sites for relevant information. The search results will not include private data, “You can find it without Social Search if you really want to. What we’ve done is surface that content together in one single place to make your results more relevant,” Google said. Last week, Microsoft and Google said they would incorporate Twitter posts in Bing and Google.com search results. Microsoft’s Bing search engine started social networking searches last week.

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Thursday Motorola unveiled its 1st Google Android-powered smartphone, a touch screen device designed to compete with Apple’s iPhone that will target consumers who use social media sites.The 3G and Wi-Fi enabled handset, called the Motorola Cliq in the US and the Motorola Dext elsewhere, is the first of a raft of new devices aimed at reviving the struggling US mobile maker’s fortunes. The smartphone market is the most dynamic of the global mobile phone market segments, but Motorola will face tough competition from rivals including Nokia, Apple, Research in Motion, Palm and HTC, which have launched new devices in recent months.

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Sprint Nextel Corp. Thursday announced that it will sell its 1st smartphone featuring Google’s Android operating system in October in the United States, which will give a boost to the Internet search giant’s mobile platform. The touch-screen smartphone, named Hero and made by HTC Corp., will be available to customers on Oct. 11 at the price of US$179.99 after rebates with a two-year service agreement, said Sprint, the 3rd largest wireless carrier in the United States. T-Mobile USA was the 1st wireless carrier that introduced the so-called “Google phone” powered by Android operating system into the US market. In October 2008, T-Mobile USA began to sell G1, the first phone running Android software. The company launched a new myTouch 3G Android phone in the United States in August this year.

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Google has forged a distribution alliance with Sony’s PC division and is in talks with other computer makers as it looks to promote its well-regarded but little-used Chrome browser. The renewed efforts to expand the reach of Chrome come a year after Google opened a new front in the browser wars with the surprise launch of the software. They highlight the difficulties the company has faced in using Chrome as a strategic weapon to counter Microsoft.The deal with Sony, which involves shipping Chrome on new Vaio PCs, is the first the Internet company has struck with a computer maker. Similar distribution alliances have become a key part of the Internet search wars as Microsoft and Google vie to be the default search service on new PCs. Read more

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Dell disclosed yesterday that it was preparing to enter the Smart Phone business, adding to the escalating competition as mobile handset and computer makers converge on one of the only parts of the personal technology market still showing strong growth and profits. Confirmation of Dell’s long-rumored intentions in the mobile market came as China Mobile showed off a model of a Dell Smart Phone running Google’s Android operating system. Dell described the handset as a “proof-of-concept prototype” and said that the company was working with the Chinese mobile operator on launch plans. Dell did not disclose further details or timing.

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The successful completion of the current talks would mark an end to Microsoft’s 18-month pursuit of Yahoo, which began with an unsolicited full takeover bid that rocked the Internet world. Since last summer, the software giant has been pushing for a looser alliance that would combine the search technology and search advertising systems of the two companies and give them a better chance to catch up with Google. The talks picked up steam late last week after the two sides reached the outlines of a deal in which Yahoo would not receive any up-front payment, as Microsoft had initially offered in the middle of last year, but the two sides would divide future search advertising revenues. For Yahoo, the partnership would bring an influx of cash at a time of declining revenue in its search business. Carol Bartz, brought in as chief executive from outside the company after the debacle of last year’s public break-up of the Microsoft talks, has continued to pare staff since taking over in January.

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