Larry Page gave an emotional and inspiring commencement speech at the University of Michigan. During his speech, he shared how he had envisioned Google in a dream:
You know what it’s like to wake up in the middle of the night with a vivid dream? And you know how, if you don’t have a pencil and pad by the bed to write it down, it will be completely gone the next morning?
Each year Millward Brown compiles its Brandz Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands (pdf). For the past three years Google has sat atop of the list and this year has the distinction of being the first $100 billion brand.
Outside the Top 10, but showing impressive growth in brand equity, are Blackberry (#16, up 100%), Amazon (#26, up 85%) and AT&T (#28, up 67%).
The highest new entry is Pampers (#31). Pertinent don’t you think, considering our economy is down the crapper? 
Apparently, Google’s engineers have adult attention deficit disorder. I’m being serious! Because of ADD, we now have Google Search integrated directly into the Gmail interface:
I used to have a problem. People would ask me questions, over chat or email, and I’d have to leave Gmail to search Google for an answer. Then I’d have to select the answer, copy it, go back to Gmail and paste the answer into the chat window or my reply. Sometimes I’d get distracted and forget to go back to Gmail, and I’d have to go through it all again when I remembered what I’d been doing.
Poor guy.
Anyway, head to the Gmail Labs tab in your account and you’ll see the option to switch on Google Search within Gmail. You’ll then get this in your sidebar:
It was only a matter of time but it appears as if the time has arrived. While the buzz from some folks inside of AOL 
is very positive about the addition of Tim Armstrong it is going to get louder as more major hires are announced. The first is the hiring of a new top ad sales executive for the company. Not a surprise considering Armstrong’s pedigree and the importance of showing that AOL is still in the business of generating revenue through its properties.
Jeff Levick, who has worked at Google since 2001, most recently as vice president of industry development and marketing, is the latest in a series of Google executives who have announced plans to leave the company.
If ReadWriteWeb hadn’t looked at one of the newest players in the search engine game it may not have been 
found based on its name, Duck Duck Go. Before there is any further discussion about the merits of the engine one has to wonder why this name? Using a play on the name of an ages old kids game to represent results that are picked (I am guessing here) is a stretch at best and a brand manager’s nightmare at worst.
So what’s in a name? In this case it remains to be seen. The engine itself seems pretty cool. One feature that I found particularly useful was the ability to click on an icon and search a term on 27 other sites including Twitter, About.com, NY Times, cnet and more. On that front alone the search engine may be worth an occasional visit. Gee, I wonder what the chances of Google doing something similar?
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