googling

Merriam-Webster's and the Oxford English Dictionary's addition of "Google" to their multitude of pages as a verb has given Google fits, and the company has been desperately trying to fight the genericizing of their trademark name.

Upon hearing that the big name in search has been objecting strenuously to having its name used as a verb, Yahoo decided to have some fun with the controversy.

Recently, the Washington Post received a letter, on paper, hand-addressed, and in the mail, from Google attorneys asking the newspaper to avoid using Google as a verb. Perhaps paper makes a demand seem more serious than email. The Post responded, only slightly mocking in tone, snickering at the legal use of the word "hottie."

After General Motors made a call to television viewers to "Google" the Pontiac brand name, it didn't take long for Mazda to launch a keyword counterattack. Sponsored search results carried the echo of Mazda marketing snickers as Pontiac searchers were invited to a side-by-side comparison under the link title "Pontiac vs. Mazda."

Google redefined the advertising business. They've had a prolific impact on both the Internet and the advertising world. They remodeled the look of ads and in just a few short years Google is on track to become the fourth largest ad seller behind Viacom, News Corp. and Disney. Is Google heading for TV too?

Microsoft has more than a few thorns in its side lately, but that's what happens to megalithic companies expanding and overflowing their manicured lawns into the brush. The software/search/game/everything-else company is more than a giant, it's a fat giant, living off the spoils of a decade before, suddenly noticing the trouble it has climbing stairs.

Elinor Mills over at CNET blogged today about Google's method of review period of some new websites and called it that horrendous profanity of the search world, sandboxing.