Google Suggest is a feature that analyzes what you're typing into the search box and offers relevant suggested search terms in real time. You can choose one of the suggested queries by moving up or down the list with the arrow keys or mouse.

This is an important consideration for advertisers who thrive on less popular keywords. When Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) first introduced AdWords in the early 2000s, it was very cost effective to secure the most popular keywords and drive quality traffic to your site. As advertisers became more sophisticated, however, competition for those most popular keywords increased dramatically.

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While the relief may only be temporary, this incident nicely illustrates the nature of the criminal spam business. It only take s few of these bot hosting networks to generate significant fractions of the total volume of spam on the net.

Spam plummets after Calif. hosting service shuttered. Despite 41% drop, respite likely just temporary.

Spam volumes plunged by more than 40% after a major bot hosting network was shut down, researchers at IronPort Systems Inc. said today. On Tuesday, McColo Corp. was kicked offline when its primary Internet providers severed its connection to the Web, reported The Washington Post, which led an investigation of the San Jose-based hosting service. According to the newspaper, McColo's clients included cybercriminal groups that ran some of the biggest spam-spewing and malware-spreading botnets.

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Does this mean that Google can search phone conversations that we make with their new gMail VOIP functionality?

Pushing ahead in the decades-long effort to get computers to understand human speech, Google researchers have added sophisticated voice recognition technology to the company's search software for the Apple iPhone.

Users of the free application, which Apple is expected to make available as soon as Friday through its iTunes store, can place the phone to their ear and ask virtually any question, like "Where's the nearest Starbucks?" or "How tall is Mount Everest?" The sound is converted to a digital file and sent to Google's servers, which try to determine the words spoken and pass them along to the Google search engine.

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Google is rolling out video and voice capabilities for the chat function that is embedded in the Gmail interface. It's a bare-bones voice and video-conferencing service, but it's simple to install and use and is a very good addition to Gmail.

It's no Skype, though. Gmail Video and Voice, as it's called, can't connect to the plain phone network, as Skype's paid service can. And there are plenty of other optional features missing, like a voice call recorder.

I found a demo of voice and video quality on the service excellent, although to be fair I was connected from CNET's corporate network to someone at the Google campus. I do expect Gmail Video quality to be a bit more consistent than Skype, since unlike the point-to-point architecture of Skype, Gmail Video traffic all runs through Google servers. I expect that Google has the bandwidth and server capacity needed.

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A stunning prediction from my friend Tom Evslin. Tom knows more about telecom issues and technology than anyone I know.

By the end of President Obama's first term, there won't be any more copper landlines left in the country. One of the challenges facing the Federal Communications Commission and the new administration is how to deal with the fallout from the end of this venerable technology. It's gonna get ugly for some people - people who can't afford to do without communication - unless we're proactive about this problem.

Here's what's happening as you probably know. Young people don't bother with landlines (unless they live beyond cell coverage); they just use their mobile phones or Skype for voice communication. The slightly older set are buying cable's bundle of entertainment, Internet access, and VoIP. They cancel their landlines. People who have broadband access don't need the extra line they used to rent for their dial-up Internet access.

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Thanksgiving this year will bring us a momentary break from the relentlessly bad economic news and a pause before we see what happens on Black Friday. By all accounts retail is going to take a beating this year, and friday, normally the busiest shopping day of the year, will present a grim preview of our holiday retail season. An interesting bright spot in all the gloom is the growing consensus that mobil technology in the form of smart phones will escape the grim economic picture and enjoy strong holiday sales. People may be cutting back on their land line subscriptions but there's no let up in the upward trend in cell subscriptions. Mobile data is fast becoming the place to be for advertisers.

Subscriptions including broadband Internet access, mobile phone plans, pay-TV and content subscriptions such as Netflix are the most insulated from the economic downturn. 63% of respondents expect their spending to be about the same next year as it was this past year, and 9% plan to spend even more. Only 28% plan to spend less on network subscriptions.

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