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Google FriendConnect friended Facebook. It looked as if Facebook (stocked with former Google executives) might become BFFs (best friends forever).

Then Facebook blocked Google FriendConnect.

The message is clear:

Dear Google,
Facebook is just not that into you.

Facebook says Google has forced them to break off their FriendConnect relationship. Apparently, Google has invaded the privacy of Facebook users without their permission.

Facebook hasn’t turned a cold shoulder or abandoned the search giant. The social network has “reached out” to Google to find a way to make it work.

We view this trial separation leading to divorce, not an open marriage.

Here’s what Facebook had to say in their developers’ blog, under “Thoughts on Privacy.” Read, “I want to be alone.”

Now that Google has launched Friend Connect, we’ve had a chance to evaluate the technology.

We’ve found that it redistributes user information from Facebook to other developers without users’ knowledge, which doesn’t respect the privacy standards our users have come to expect and is a violation of our Terms of Service.

Just as we’ve been forced to do for other applications that redistribute data in a way users might not expect or understand, we’ve had to suspend Friend Connect’s access to Facebook user information until it comes into compliance.

We’ve reached out to Google several times about this issue, and hope to work with them to enable users to share their data exactly when and where they choose.

What this means to you: the search engines are becoming more like car dealerships where certain models can be sold under the same roof. Facebook and Google will form their alliances and consumers will lose out.

The full text of the Facebook “Dear Google” blog post is after the jump.

Click to read the rest of this post…

Microsoft launched WorldWideTelescope, it’s downloadable answer to Google Sky, Google Earth and Google Moon, yesterday. Other than being a bit of a memory hog (understandable for the power it provides) and requiring the latest version of DivX and .Net framework to install, WWTelescope is a pretty amazing program. You can aimlessly browse around the solar system and beyond, zooming in with incredible detail on Earth, the moon, other planets or galaxies, or you can download a professional tour of any of the above. Each item you look at comes with various “Imagery” options. You can check out satellite images of Earth, a street view, a hybrid of both or use the incredible cool “Earth at Night” mode. The options for viewing space are too numerous to numerate. For a quick fix, you can browse through various collections of space images, like those taken from the Hubble or Chandra telescopes, and see where in space those images are from.

If anything, WWTelescope is too advanced, offering a slew of advanced and sometimes incomprehensible options aimed at professionals and true hobbyists. You can even hook up your telescope to it. But it’s still great, interesting fun for the average user. I just wasted an hour or so “researching” it for this article, and left with the same semi-accomplished feeling I get when I waste time on Wikipedia.

Microsoft products have often fallen behind Google on the coolness factor of their products. This time they definitely have the search giant beat.

Search engine marketing technology firm SEMDirector today rebranded as Covario to reflect the depth and breadth of its performance management technologies. Covario’s platform enables global brands to manage not only search advertising but other interactive media, including display advertising. For the search industry, it’s a wakeup call that “SEM” as a specialized service faces increasing [...]

Somewhere out there, at least one of Ron Paul’s followers is unhappy.  Why, you ask?  Because the presidential candidate has enjoyed an amazing amount of support from certain corners of the Web, and a certain search giant has only now launched something called Google Checkout for Political Contributions.
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google launches checkout [...]

Giving people a say in something is often a good way to get them involved, and Google wants folks to use its Checkout service.  The search giant has, as a result, offered users the chance to select as many as three fresh upgrades.
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google checkout gives users the voteRate this: 2.5

Just in time for New Year’s Eve (or the weekend before it, actually), Nielsen Online has good news for Google: between October and November, the search giant’s market share went up by about 2.2 percent.
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nielsen releases november search dataRate this: 2.5

Google’s got a pretty good sense of timing; even as holiday vacations are kicking in all over the country, the search giant has improved its ability to check flights’ statuses.
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google improves its flight tracking abilitiesRate this: 2.5

Roughly three months ago, we learned that Google’s chief financial officer, George Reyes, intended to retire.  It looks like Reyes will be working through the holidays, however, as the search giant still hasn’t found a replacement for him.
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google still on cfo huntRate this: 2.5

Google has announced a partnership with NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command), and while that sounds alarming, there’s no need to build a bomb shelter.  Instead, bake some cookies and grab a glass of milk, because the two entities intend to track Santa.

NORAD’s an old hand at this game; an amusing (and Santa-believer [...]

Compared to most of the past month, today was a pretty uneventful day for Google’s stock (it gained $7.57).  As such, now seems as good a time as any to take a deep breath, sit back, and consider where it might go in the future.

Many people aren’t willing to bet against the search giant; [...]