One of the market's biggest criticisms of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is that it offers a large number of products that don't make the company money. To make matters worse, some of these offerings will probably never bring in a dime and that is a big drag on Google's margins.

The days of Google supporting odd projects that have no financial future may be over. Perhaps the recession has brought those times to an end, or it may be that the ability to keep track of dozens of unrelated engineering projects has become a burden to the firm's management. How many of these programs Google cuts will be a sign of how serious the company is about keeping its profits as high as possible.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) had a killer product years ago after launching the awesome Google Earth software product for free to the masses. Many of us wondered (again) how the company was going to make money while giving away such great products. Recently, Google launched an enhanced, fee-based version of Google Earth that answered this question.

It comes as no surprise that one of the world's largest advertising companies (yes, Google) would leverage the globally known YouTube video-sharing site into many of its other properties as it experiments with adding advertisements into videos hosted there (in them, before them, etc.). YouTube has to be worth its billion-dollar asking price, after all, and it seems natural to let Google Earth users enjoy video clips from areas across the globe. Visit Africa on Google Earth, for example, and you may see links to YouTube videos on safari expeditions.

Google Maps already has this kind of integration. Search for an address, and you'll be presented with text links to nearby hotels, eateries, etc. The same goes for Google Gmail users. If Gmail senses that an incoming email deals with travel, it will supply travel links next to that email as you read it. Integrative and context-sensitive advertising is where the future of marketing is, and Google knows this. Video integration is only the latest step.

Despite Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) corporate mantra "Do No Evil," the company has managed to help the federal government find another way to squander our money.

This time, images from Google Earth have revealed that the Seabee's barracks at the U.S. Navy's Coronado amphibious base, constructed in the late 1960's, were built in the shape of a swastika. After the Jewish Anti-Defamation League protested, the cause was taken up by U.S. Rep. Susan Davis, Democrat from San Diego, and various squawk radio hosts. In response, the Navy has now budgeted $600,000 to camouflage the building.

So here's the way we save $600,000. After Google unveiled its Street View program, providing street-level navigatible images of major U.S. cities, people whose images had been captured in these photos complained. In response, Google has agreed to smudge faces so that individuals cannot be recognized.

Couldn't the same be done with images of the swastika building? Smudge them until the swastika disappears. Or, better yet, why not replace the image with a smiley face? Only astronauts would know the difference, and for a small cut of the $600,000 they could probably be convinced to overlook it.

The Wall Street Journal [subscription required] details some fascinating research on how activities in a CEO's private life affect his or her company's profitability or stock price. The most useful idea here is that investors can use Google Inc.'s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Google Earth to spot short selling opportunities.

One aspect of this research that did not surprise me was that if the CEO builds a huge home -- greater than 10,000 square feet -- the company's stock price declines. I have long noticed that when a company builds a huge new corporate headquarters building or names a sports stadium after itself, trouble often follows for investors in its stock. The reason for this link? The CEO is more focused on personal glorification than on expanding profits.

But what I found surprising and intrusive was that deaths in a CEO's family influence company profitability, according to a study by Danish researchers of 75,000 companies there. Here's the post-event change in return on assets of various deaths in a CEO's family:

To the best of our knowledge, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is the #1 search engine in the entire universe. Therefore, it's appropriate that it should turn its attention to the skies as a likely new market.

To this end, the company has added a cool new feature to Google Earth -- Google Sky. Now you can turn the Google Earth lens outwards and explore the heavens as seen from our planet, 100 million stars and 200 million galaxies all served up in high-resolution images, including some from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The imagery is a compilation of data from many astronomy sources, based on a initiative from University of Washington visiting faculty. In addition to images, the program offers animation showing the near-future celestial mechanics of the moon and solar planets, and click-on information about objects in view.

I have this picture in my mind of an astronaut, on the night before a moon launch, printing out a map of his/her route to the Sea of Tranquility

It was reported yesterday in The New York Times that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has come down to earth sending staffers with cameras through five metropolitan areas taking pictures from the ground to integrate with the ever popular Google Earth site.

Already there are complaints about privacy issues, perhaps displaying people at their best and frequently at their worst -- nothing new to Google. It has so many data centers, collecting and storing personal information in the form of emails, click-throughs, searches, site visits, purchasing, etc. These billions of data points -- maybe trillions by now, and growing -- are pushing the limits of personal privacy. Google is not alone but it certainly is a leader in the assault -- always with the purist of motives, it says.

If absolute power corrupts absolutely, then to paraphrase ... absolute information gets out absolutely. It is just a question of time. And even if it does not "get out," how many of the thousands of people on the inside and their affiliates have access?

In the mean time, Google's stock has gone up, up and away this past week, nearing highs not seen in six months. It closed yesterday at $497.91 and opened this morning at $501.00. That has to make shareholders delighted around the globe.

Meteorologists have been reporting that we are in for one heck of a storm season, hurricanes that is -- will they name one Google? Hmmm? I don't think we're there yet.

Those of you who are new to BloggingStocks can check out my other stories and read Chasing Value or Serious Money to find more potential opportunities and verify my track record as well.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the vice president for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. Check out his other posts for BloggingStocks here.

User-generated content (the YouTube phenomenon) has sent the entire internet industry scrambling for a piece of its ad-revenue potential. Now, any bozo with a video camera can produce his/her own masterpiece and find an audience of millions (just like Hollywood bozos do).

What if, however, your creativity runs to internet gadgets, mashups, and web pages? Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) doesn't believe your lack of html expertise should freeze you out of the market.

Following the lead of Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), Microsoft has launched a new tool, Popfly Creator, to take the coding work out of creating user-built web content. It has also launched a community, Popfly Space, to host the creations.

With Popfly Creator, you'll be able to piece together feeds to create your own custom web pages, or mash them up to create something new and wonderful (or dreadful). For example, suppose your life dream is to create a real-time display correlating the temperature in Mumbai, the S&P 500 average, and the color of the shirt you have on, in a 3-D graph? Popfly could make that dream come true, for better or worse.

Microsoft is not, as usual, first with concept. Yahoo launched Yahoo Pipes last year. Google has allowed mashups utilizing Google Earth and Google Maps.

MSFT is currently spooning out user privileges, perhaps hoping to clone the video site Joost's success in cultivated allure through the illusion of scarcity.

The new program is built using Microsoft's new Silverlight platform, but the average user won't need to know that. Microsoft is betting that, if they allow the world to unleash its creativity, some great content is bound to result -- the million monkeys approach. Then, by hosting such content on Popfly Space, the company will gain the eyeballs they need to grow their advertising revenue.

This came as no shock to me at all -- that Google Earth may have been used by terrorists for planning *activities.* After all, Google Earth is shocking in the very detail it provides to the layout and satellite imagery of the entire world. Sounds like a tool that could be used for quite a bit of good -- and bad as well.

From the early days of cellphones and email, criminals have used the same tools much of the global public has in order to plan attacks and communicate on a global -- and real-time -- basis. The innovative tools launched by some of the world's tech companies are, well, at the disposal of just about anyone with a computer and an Internet connection, yes?

Raids on the hideouts of Iraqi insurgents found that sets of photographs from Google's mapping tool -- which showed the location of a Basra palace base where 1,000 British troops are based -- were discovered. The result of this is that if British soldiers are injured by rounds directed by aerial footage -- with the help of Google Earth, quite possibly -- the soldiers said they would consider suing Google.

Will Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and others like it that provide cutting-edge software and mapping applications end up fighting it out with military forces from around the globe?

Microsoft Corporation(NASDAQ:MSFT) sure is heating up the "catch-up" world with some significant new product releases like Xbox Live with TV and movie downloads and a newly revitalized Microsoft Virtual Earth, which gives users a 3D representation of what they are looking at on a global scale, much like rival Google Earth. But, from what I have seen, Microsoft's new Virtual Earth mapping service is quite a different -- and better -- experience than Google Earth due to the ability of the program to let the user fly all around in what really feels like a 3D gaming experience rather than a satellite mapping program.

Yet, a problem still exists -- to download the actual application, you are required to use Internet Explorer -- an immediate turn-off. I long abandoned Internet Explorer for the custom features of Mozilla's Firefox browser and it still continues to baffle me why Microsoft requires its browser to access some features it wants to get mass adoption on.

Sure, Internet Explorer is the largest browser in terms of market share out there, but we are trying to live in an open world where the web is accessible on any browser for anything. Someone please tell Microsoft this...several times.

While I downloaded and started using Microsoft's new 3D Maps service, I was still required to use Internet Explorer for all accesses. This application will be little more than a novelty unless ole' Softie opens it up beyond its venerable but dysfunctional web browser.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 11-7-06]

Reuters reported the launch of the new Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT), Virtual Earth 3D map search as a ground level competitor to Google, Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google Earth. I can't help but think it may come to be more than that. While I have not viewed the application for myself yet, it just gives me the "feel" of something better.

The article presents two things that I think are worthy of special attention. First, Microsoft Maps Virtual Earth 3D can be viewed through your web browser while Google Earth requires a stand alone application download. Second, Virtual Earth 3D gives realistic "architectural" renderings of buildings; Google Earth, it seems, does not.

What does this mean to the consumer? Perhaps nothing, perhaps a lot. Just from my own point of view, I would find a 3D map more enjoyable to use if I could associate it with my surroundings or the surroundings of where I was going. Many of us are "mental landmark" travelers. We use visual cues to remember where we're going and how to get there. If I can look at a map and see that I will turn left at the post office, I'll watch for that building before I'll look for a street sign.

Perhaps I'll have the opportunity to compare the two applications side by side and give you a comparative analysis. I'd like to see how the two companies are exploiting their applications as advertising tools also. This local Internet search and advertising game is heating up quickly. I'm sure we're in for some grand surprises!

Many of us know that Google Earth gives millions around the world an unprecedented view of almost every area on earth. From satellite close-ups of the Andes mountains to the Eiffel Tower and even Cape Breton Island north of Nova Scotia, web surfers around the world can peek down on the Earth just like a professional weather station used to be able to do. It's free and it's downloadable from Google right now. But, is this product a threat to governments worldwide?

Government agencies from around the world have had to contact Google to have sensitive areas "blurred out" to make sure terrorists and other possible foes could not easily study areas for possible exploitation, among other things. I'm quite sure that U.S. Air Force training grounds are really not meant to be public domain from any computer on earth with Google Earth installed.

Although Google's mission is to "organize all the world's information", that needn't apply to sensitive national defense areas, I would think, and even countries outside the U.S. are chiming in. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in India has recently taken issue with the resolution Google Earth has of the New Delhi and Bangalore areas, with satellite resolution getting down to almost one meter -- too close for comfort for the country of India, in other words.

Google closed up a bit today to end the trading day after the July 4th holiday at $421.46, a rise of $1.74 or 0.41% over the shortened trading session from Monday. I've said for a while that Google needed to market all its new products and get them used and entrenched in customers' lives as much as possible -- and this Tour De France promotion with Google Earth is a great start. Google should not led the media frenzy surrounding the company be its marketing muscle -- it needs to promote where its products can add value to customers.

While Google is being targeted by www.kinderstart.com over its "Page Rank" feature not including the website any longer, this is either a desperate attempt by the company for free media publicity (which it has gotten today) or it's a screwball way of telling Google how to run its business. However, click fraud continues -- in the opinion of many -- to be a worse foe that Google has yet to publicly confront except for dispensing generalities about how it has click fraud under control. So far, Google's stance is not that reassuring, and as I've said before, GOOG investors need to voice their opinions to Google on this subject.

In a great way to start cementing users for its Google Earth program, Google has made Tour De France updates available with pertinent information to users of the Google Earth application, which is free to download and use. Google Earth users can virtually "fly" all round the entire path the Tour De France bikers will follow, complete with specific Tour statistical information like average ride time, who's leading and when and where the stages are starting and ending.

Google needs marketing like this to draw in customers to its services, especially the services that lead the market in usefulness -- and Google Earth qualifies in my opinion. Google has many good services that it's launched recently, but many of them have failed, thus far, to build a significant audience. Google Earth is not one of them -- it is immensely popular due to its perceived uniqueness in the marketplace.

Google should somehow figure out how to be innovative with its other products, over time, so that they can attract users to its services. The problem Google has is not product launches -- it's in the marketing of these products to the intended audience and proving specific value these products can bring. It's not enough to just release a product (in beta, of course) and let the media and blogosphere promote it -- Google needs to ramp up its marketing machine in such cases. Google and GOOG investors would be well-served with a very well-oiled marketing machine.

What does Google's most recent upgrades to its Google Maps and Google Earth services mean? These services are among the most successful Google products outside of its bread-n-butter internet search business, according to the source story. Posit: What measure of success is in use here? Successful products used by customers are fantastic -- making money with those products is another side of the coin (literally).

Yes, Google Maps is extremely useful and impressive. In fact, I've used it more than Yahoo! Maps recently -- although Mapquest.com continues to be my default mapping and address search service. Google Earth is nothing short of stunning, and it's been on the market -- with a recent upgrade a few weeks ago -- for over a year now. Count Google in as knowing how to launch and upgrade excellently-performing services.

But I have to hold my applause for one thing: How are these being successful at bringing in revenue? Sure, they are great stories insofar as customer usage and acceptance. This is a very good thing. But from an investor's perspective, how are these contributing to Google's bottom line? Are ads working in Google Maps as well as in search? How does Google Earth benefit Google? Is Google planning to insert some kind of advertising into Google Earth to "monetize" the product? Or, is Google simply building a customer intelligence database from Google Earth to be used in more highly-targeted marketing in the future? These are questions GOOG investors should be asking -- ones I would be asking if I held shares.

Google has a knack of taking something prosaic – such as email – and redefining the category. That's the case with its mapping products.

This week, Google announced an upgrade to its ultra-cool mapping product, Google Earth.  In fact, the announcement came at the company's inaugural Geo Developer Day.

In just a year, Google Earth has had over 100 million downloads.  Well, expect the downloads to increase again – since Google Earth has key enhancements.  There is four times as much coverage of land (about a third of the world's population can see their homes from a satellite view).  What's more, there has been a 4x increase in the resolution of the graphics.