Along with the rest of the tech industry last week, Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) saw its stock price plummet. In the last two weeks, GOOG shares have seen a tailspin of $100 per share knocked off. While that would seem cause for concern for some companies, remember that Google fundamentally is still very strong: very little debt and billions in cash for just about anything it wants.

One thing it appears to want is more advertising revenue. In fact, the company made a move last week that we should all expect to see with the majority of Google's products in the next year or two: ads next to its web services. Starting with Google Maps, the company started supplying text advertising to the bottom of its Google Maps service. Add to that the "click-to-buy" buttons showing up on some YouTube videos and Google seems to be using the trial-and-error method to see how it can expend it advertising revenue reach beyond search.

TechCruch reported that comScore's rating for Google Maps in August was 131 million unique visitors with 1.3 billion page views. It makes sense for Google to tap advertising into this product just based on those number alone. but, it can't just think plugging relevant text ads (as in search) will magically work. Google could stand to get innovative and find a way to really make interactive advertising work on Google Maps. If it can repeat the success of innovation within different ad models in its wide array of products, Google will be unstoppable. To many, it's already there. but, there is still room to grow.

According to a story in The Guardian [registration required], Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is testing ways of incorporating ads (and bringing in ad revenues) into YouTube videos. The head of Google's European operations, Patrick Walker, said that the company was testing the concept of offering people and companies that post videos half of the ad revenues, if they agree to allow a 30-second spot to run before the video.

He said the company is looking for solutions that don't ruin the viewer's experience. IMHO, thirty seconds isn't much to tolerate for a half-hour show, but might be a major hurdle for a two-minute clip.

Howard Lindzon of Wallstrip earlier this week told Variety much the same thing, but suggested the program could be rolled out as early as next week. Apparently, Google has been testing the concept on their Google Video site.

Walker went on to say that Google expects the YouTube ad stream to start bringing in "real money" in 2008. He also expects that more professional content producers will be eager to post their product once a shared revenue stream is in place. Spanish, German, and English television networks have recently agreed to create branded YouTube promotional channels.

As long as I've been surfing eBay, I've been in on the dirty little not-so-secret that many of you share: typos are the way to go if you want to save money. There's even a search engine devoted to it.

I'm not the only former spelling bee champ exploiting the less fortoonat. Google makes money on typos too, by selling ads that appear on sites like nyrimes.com, ebbay.com, and OPB.com. Google insists that it's in the clear legally - after all, no one is confused, thinking that "OPB.com" really is Oregon Public Broadcasting's non-profit news site when it he arrives at the ad-filled site.

Sure. We know. None of us are total, complete dolts, no matter how poor our spelling or slippery our keyboard. But what we do know is that this seems a bit underhanded. And profiting from that? Harvard researcher Ben Edelman says that seems to fly in the face of their motto: "Do no evil," in this Washington Post article [registration required].

More evidence that Google's the next evil empire. Stay tuned...

We all know how successful the "AdSense" marketing platform has been for Google in the last five years or so. They've managed, where others have failed, to find an advertising platform that the customer will respond to and that can be tracked and improved as well - the "auction style" bidding format. Logic tells us that this approach could serve well in other markets.

Well, Time Warner appears to be contemplating just that. By allowing advertisers to bid for and place ads on very targeted areas (think Williams Sonoma on Food TV or Sharper Image on the Discovery Channel) and even on PPV (pay-per-view) and VOD (video-on-demand) avenues as well. If it has worked fabulously in one communications medium like the internet, why not apply that to another, albeit old, medium like television?