Google's unveiling of "universal search" last week meant that its search customers could now see results from web searches not only in terms of related website results, but from video and news sources as well. Previously, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) had not combined search results into a single "one-stop shop" for search customers (who had to visit more Google sites). Well, that is no longer the case. Just perform a search at www.google.com and look at how the results are presented, along with the navigation at the top of your screen.

With all the mess some news websites and companies have given Google in the past, it may get a little worse for Google now that search customers can "find" news articles and related information from news-based websites much more easily than before. Although Google News doesn't "publish" a thing, some have sued Google because it includes (not steals) content from news websites all over the web. I've never heard of an encyclopedia company being sued, nor Wikipedia. But, Google is a target precisely because of how large and popular it is. Information democratization is just not in the vocabulary of some.

Now, news stories and such have appeared in standard Google search results for quite a while now. But, with "News" being right there -- front and center -- as a search resource, will the company see more action in terms of so-called "copyright infringement"? Most likely, yes. Smart news-based websites realize that partnering with Google is great for business (when done correctly), and the "old guard" realizes that fighting off readers is probably not good for business. "Walled gardens" are being torn down and that will not stop. Google will see to that, and for the term "information superhighway" to continue meaning anything, progress needs to move forward, right?

More interested in pop culture than in personal finance? No wonder this country is going down the tubes. The Internet is a series of tubes, by the way. Well, that aside, this article over at CNET describes how most American citizens still tune into traditional media in times of crisis.

That is, they turn to established media instead of blogs and other "edgy" forms of new media where the wisdom of crowds comes into play more than mass media's huge spectacles -- spectacles that need a few hundred pounds of Windex cleaning every day as well.

It's most likely old habits, as well as access -- there are televisions and radios just about everywhere, unlike Internet-connected computers. At the grocery store, the barber shop, and even the kids' daycare -- those two modes of communication are ubiquitous in everyday life. Although many of us consider the computer just as entrenched, the fact is that it's not everywhere traditional communications tools are.

Products like everyday mobile phones with high-speed data connections are changing the paradigm a little, although the user interface for those devices is far from useful for everyday folks.

With pop culture and entertainment at the top of the list when surveying citizens about news topics that interested them, politics and finance were not anywhere near the top (sadly). Instead of paying attention to pop culture tripe like Angelina and Brad, shouldn't we all be more enveloped in the way American lives are unfolding instead of the rich and famous?

That's another discussion for another day, but you get the idea. But, as I referenced earlier, as instant Internet access becomes an everyday tool everywhere -- like television and terrestrial radio -- things may change. Let's hope so for our sake.