Google has launched a new Google Labs experiment called Public Data Explorer. The product takes large datasets and gives them a visual  interface with animated charts and maps.

"As the charts and maps animate over time, the changes in the world become easier to understand," Google explains in the description. "You don’t have to be a data expert to navigate between different views, make your own comparisons, and share your findings."

"Students, journalists, policy makers and everyone else can play with the tool to create visualizations of public data, link to them, or embed them in their own webpages," says Google. "Embedded charts and links can update automatically so you’re always sharing the latest available data."

The following slideshow walks you through how to use Public Data Explorer:

There are six interesting examples available on the product page for you to mess around with, and get a feel for how the Public Data Explorer works.

Like all other Google Labs experiments, the product is subject to bugs, as well as user feedback. The company says it is making it available now to get in contact with public data providers. As you’re probably aware, Google has this thing about organizing the world’s information.

Last summer Google announced a new project called "Caffeine", which was described as a re-write of Google’s web search architecture. Around that time, Matt Cutts discussed Caffeine with WebProNews, comparing it to the "Big Daddy Update" of 2005, which consisted of changes to the way Google crawls and indexes websites. It appears that more people are now seeing the effects from Caffeine out in the wild.

Have you seen possible Caffeine effects in use? Tell us about it.

Back before the holidays, Google made it a point to assure everybody that Caffeine would not be rolled out (except for at one data center) until after the holidays were over – January at the earliest. The reason for this was that Google didn’t want to shake everything up during a key time for businesses (they didn’t want a repeat of the Florida update).

The company let everyone know about its intentions at PubCon in November. In fact, a few days ago, Google’s Matt Cutts posted a video running through his presentation from that event on his blog. He also provided the slideshow. It covers much more than just Caffeine, but if you missed it, you may want to consider watching it anyway (Caffeine discussion starts at about 22:10 in the video and at slide 29 in the presentation).

"It’s a re-write of our indexing infrastructure. It’s taking the old way that we used to index things that we’d crawled around the web, and we’re replacing that with new architecture that’s fresh and that had been written to be more scalable, more flexible, [with] the ability to attach different types of data, and in the process of indexing, the ability to do more documents for a more comprehensive version of the web, and the ability to do it faster," Cutts says of Caffeine.

But enough background. Barry Schwartz at Search Engine Roundtable points to a WebmasterWorld forum thread where administrator Tedster claimed to have seen Caffeine in action at a number of IP addresses. He wrote:

I’m seeing the Caffeine data-set being served via this set of IP addresses: 64.233.169.147, 64.233.169.105, 64.233.169.103, 64.233.169.104, 64.233.169.99,64.233.169.106

It seems to take 5 IP addresses to build the complete SERP, where in the past it often took only 3.

Schwartz also pointed to another member’s post (Whitenight), who said:

Well, just tripled checked with offices/employees in Texas, Colorado, and Indiana. All 5 "control" keywords/sites showed live Caffeine.

That member’s latest post says that the Caffeine Dataset is also on http://66.102.7.99 and http://66.102.7.104.

We don’t know for sure if this is all really Caffeine in action though. Google hasn’t commented on it, and has not made any announcements regarding Caffeine since what Matt said above. Some people don’t believe this is Caffeine at all. As Schwartz notes, we’ll have to wait for Google to say something.

Still, January is almost over, and Google said it would wait until after the holidays, specifically mentioning the month of January. It’s about time for this to be rolling out to some extent. Speed has been emphasized a significant amount in Caffeine discussion, and Cutts told us that page speed would likely become a ranking factor. Regardless of whether or not you are witnessing Caffeine in action yet, rest assured that it will be here sooner or later, and any edge you can give yourself in the meantime is for the good of your own site’s performance. Speed will not only supposedly help you in search going forward, but it just makes for a better user experience.

Share your thoughts about Google’s Caffeine update.

Related Articles:

> Matt Cutts Talks Google Caffeine Update

> New Details on Google Caffeine Update

> A Markup That Could Have Big Implications for SEO

Probably the most important step in getting your site found in a search engine is the one in which the search engine crawls it. There are things that can be done and things that can be avoided to make this process as painless as possible for the search engine, which will in turn, make it as painless as possible for the webmaster.

Since Google dominates the search market share by such a large market share, it is always a good idea to listen to what they have to say about such matters. So when they post a presentation with tips on optimizing crawling and indexing, you’ll probably want to pay attention.

Google has done just that, highlighting things to stay away from, and things you can do to enhance your site’s crawlability. Here is that presentation with specific examples of URLs.

"The Internet is a big place; new content is being created all the time," says Google Webmaster Trends Analyst Susan Moskwa. "Google has a finite number of resources, so when faced with the nearly-infinite quantity of content that’s available online, Googlebot is only able to find and crawl a percentage of that content. Then, of the content we’ve crawled, we’re only able to index a portion."

"URLs are like the bridges between your website and a search engine’s crawler: crawlers need to be able to find and cross those bridges (i.e., find and crawl your URLs) in order to get to your site’s content," continues Moskwa. "If your URLs are complicated or redundant, crawlers are going to spend time tracing and retracing their steps; if your URLs are organized and lead directly to distinct content, crawlers can spend their time accessing your content rather than crawling through empty pages, or crawling the same content over and over via different URLs."

If you want to get crawled faster by Google, you should remove user-specific details from URLs. Specifics of this can be viewed in the slideshow.  Basically, URL parameters that don’t change the content of the page, should be removed and put into a cookie. This will reduce the number of URLs that point to the same content, and speed up crawling.

Google says infinite spaces are a waste of time and bandwidth for all, which is why you should consider taking action when you have calendars that link to infinite numbers of past/future dates with unique URLs, or other paginated data.

Tell Google to ignore pages it can’t crawl. This includes things like log-in pages, contact forms, shopping carts, and other pages that require users to perform actions that crawlers can’t perform themselves. You can do this with the robots.txt file.

Finally, avoid duplicate content when possible. Google likes to have one URL for each piece of content. They do recognize that this is not always possible though (because of content management systems and what have you), which is why the canonical link element exists to let you specify the preferred URL for a particular piece of content.

The other day, Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone hinted that the company was working on a document that would provide uses cases and best practices for Twitter use by businesses. Now, Twitter has already put that document up for viewing, and called it Twitter 101 for Business.

It turns out, Twitter 101 is more of a site than a single document. It has sections like:

- What is Twitter
- Getting Started
- Learn the Lingo
- Best Practices
- Case Studies
- Other Resources

"We coordinated with business students and writers to surface some interesting findings, best practices, steps for getting started, and case studies," says Stone. "The results demonstrate how customers are getting value out of Twitter and suggest techniques businesses can employ to enhance that value. While this work was envisioned for businesses, it’s also useful for anyone using Twitter so have a look if you like."

The cases studies section looks at brands like Dell, JetBlue, Etsy, Pepsi, NAKEDPizza (which I have written about in the past), and others. Businesses still looking for ways to better utilize Twitter can find some good examples here. I would not be surprised to see more case studies appear as different, innovative uses are discovered by the company.

The site has a downloadable slideshow available as a PDF document, which provides an overview. Twitter encourages people to use it in presentations when trying to convince the higher-ups at their companies to use Twitter.

iPhone 3.0 users waiting for an updated Facebook app apparently won’t have to wait too much longer. Its developer Joe Hewitt posted a Facebook note outlining the update’s new features, and saying that it is 98% done.

Here’s a screenshot of the note, listing the features:

As you can see from the above image, a lot of people like this. We’ll see if the enthusiasm translates to actual use of the product.

In other Facebook news, the company is getting ready to roll out some new privacy settings. WebProNews sat in on a conference call discussing them earlier today, and from the sound of it, users are going to have a lot more control over what posts they share with what friends.

Not only will these new settings simplify privacy controls, but they will allow users to keep their status updates more relevant for their friends. You can read more about that and checkout Facebook’s slideshow here.

WebProNews just sat in on a conference call and webcast with Facebook, where the social network’s upcoming changes to privacy settings were discussed. These were designed to give users more control over what they share with whom. Are you looking forward to privacy changes with Facebook? Share your thoughts.

The features were discussed a bit last week, but were elaborated much more in this discussion. The company made clear up front that the changes were not related to talk of a Facebook payment system, and have nothing to do with advertising or info that Facebook will make available to advertisers. Users still have control over what info is shared with advertisers.

Here is the slideshow that was presented:

Facebook says its mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. The new privacy controls enhance this and will allow people to share with as narrow or as broad of an audience as they want.

Facebook discussed the new features as broken down into three principles:

1.Control
2 Simplicity
3 Connecting

The changes were initiated by pain points that users made known to the company. The company acknowldged that privacy settings can add up and pile up over time, and not always be as clean a process as one would like. They wanted to simplify this.

Control

Facebook says when people can easily control the audience, they share more and more meaningfully. There is definitely something to that statement. It’s a relevancy issue just as much as it is a privacy one. Certain status updates may be more appropropriate for a certain group of people.

Facebook has removed regional networks. The company says that these generated a lot of confusion and reduced user control. People were joining networks that they were not sure who all was in. It is a fragmented user experience. They say something like 50% of people don’t even join them. They also said the concept doesn’t really fit into the new model.

Simplicity

The new settings make privacy more simple. You can choose between the same set of privacy options throughout different features. There is a single set of privacy controls wherever you are on the site. If you make a change in one place, it stays consitent throughout the entire site. There will be a universal lock icon (as shown in the top image), so that you always know where you can adjust settings. They are consolidating six different privacy pages. For each setting, there is a question mark so you can tell exactly what each thing is for.

As far as sharing options, you can: 

- share with everyone

- share with friends and authenticated networks

- share with friends of friends

- share with your friends (like always)

- customize who all you are sharing with when you have specific pieces of content for sharing with a specific audience

Connecting

During the connecting part of the dicussion, they talked about the transition period, which is definitely important, considering how upset some users got after the big redesign of Facebook.

They are testing six different transition tools that users will see when the settings roll out. Basically, the company is just testing different ways to give users the ability to opt in to settings. They want to make sure that people really understand the changes that are happening.

When Facebook rolls them out, users will sign on to the site, see a transition tool, then they will be asked about settings. Once they provide their preferences, they will get a confirmation. Of course, settings will always be able to be adjusted on a post-by-post basis via the publisher box.

With regards to the "everyone" option, this is divided into two distinctions – minors and adults.

The new privacy settings and controls are still in the testing stages and will be rolling out soon. You’re probably wondering if info will be indexable by search engines. Facebook says "It’s certainly something we’ve talked about, but it’s not like that at this time."

What do you think of the new privacy options? Do you intend to be more open or more private with your updates? What will be your default setting? Please share.

iPhone 3.0 users waiting for an updated Facebook app apparently won’t have to wait too much longer. Its developer Joe Hewitt posted a Facebook note outlining the update’s new features, and saying that it is 98% done.

Here’s a screenshot of the note, listing the features:

As you can see from the above image, a lot of people like this. We’ll see if the enthusiasm translates to actual use of the product.

In other Facebook news, the company is getting ready to roll out some new privacy settings. WebProNews sat in on a conference call discussing them earlier today, and from the sound of it, users are going to have a lot more control over what posts they share with what friends.

Not only will these new settings simplify privacy controls, but they will allow users to keep their status updates more relevant for their friends. You can read more about that and checkout Facebook’s slideshow here.

WebProNews just sat in on a conference call and webcast with Facebook, where the social network’s upcoming changes to privacy settings were discussed. These were designed to give users more control over what they share with whom. Are you looking forward to privacy changes with Facebook? Share your thoughts.

The features were discussed a bit last week, but were elaborated much more in this discussion. The company made clear up front that the changes were not related to talk of a Facebook payment system, and have nothing to do with advertising or info that Facebook will make available to advertisers. Users still have control over what info is shared with advertisers.

Here is the slideshow that was presented:

Facebook says its mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. The new privacy controls enhance this and will allow people to share with as narrow or as broad of an audience as they want.

Facebook discussed the new features as broken down into three principles:

1.Control
2 Simplicity
3 Connecting

The changes were initiated by pain points that users made known to the company. The company acknowldged that privacy settings can add up and pile up over time, and not always be as clean a process as one would like. They wanted to simplify this.

Control

Facebook says when people can easily control the audience, they share more and more meaningfully. There is definitely something to that statement. It’s a relevancy issue just as much as it is a privacy one. Certain status updates may be more appropropriate for a certain group of people.

Facebook has removed regional networks. The company says that these generated a lot of confusion and reduced user control. People were joining networks that they were not sure who all was in. It is a fragmented user experience. They say something like 50% of people don’t even join them. They also said the concept doesn’t really fit into the new model.

Simplicity

The new settings make privacy more simple. You can choose between the same set of privacy options throughout different features. There is a single set of privacy controls wherever you are on the site. If you make a change in one place, it stays consitent throughout the entire site. There will be a universal lock icon (as shown in the top image), so that you always know where you can adjust settings. They are consolidating six different privacy pages. For each setting, there is a question mark so you can tell exactly what each thing is for.

As far as sharing options, you can: 

- share with everyone

- share with friends and authenticated networks

- share with friends of friends

- share with your friends (like always)

- customize who all you are sharing with when you have specific pieces of content for sharing with a specific audience

Connecting

During the connecting part of the dicussion, they talked about the transition period, which is definitely important, considering how upset some users got after the big redesign of Facebook.

They are testing six different transition tools that users will see when the settings roll out. Basically, the company is just testing different ways to give users the ability to opt in to settings. They want to make sure that people really understand the changes that are happening.

When Facebook rolls them out, users will sign on to the site, see a transition tool, then they will be asked about settings. Once they provide their preferences, they will get a confirmation. Of course, settings will always be able to be adjusted on a post-by-post basis via the publisher box.

With regards to the "everyone" option, this is divided into two distinctions – minors and adults.

The new privacy settings and controls are still in the testing stages and will be rolling out soon. You’re probably wondering if info will be indexable by search engines. Facebook says "It’s certainly something we’ve talked about, but it’s not like that at this time."

What do you think of the new privacy options? Do you intend to be more open or more private with your updates? What will be your default setting? Please share.

A while back, Google introduced a viewer in Gmail for PDFs, and that has now been improved upon to support TIFF and PowerPoint documents. This means you can view PDFs, PPTs, and TIFFs in Gmail right from your browser without having to save them or have any additional software.

Marc Miller on the Gmail notes that Gmail has had a "view as slideshow" option for PowerPoint files for a while, but the conversion technology is now integrated into this viewer.

There are more features with this viewer than with the old "view as slideshow" version, including zooming in and out, selecting text to copy/paste, and "printing" the presentation to a PDF document. You also don’t have to have a Flash plugin to run it like in the past.

"I don’t know about you, but the TIFF files I receive are almost always multiple-page faxes — and the default TIFF viewer on my computer only shows me the first page," says Miller. "It’s quite frustrating."

This viewer is powered by Google Docs and shows every page and provides the "print" option to prepare a ready-to-print PDF file. You can also upload documents right to Google Docs for further editing.