It seems the plug has been pulled onGoogle Dictionary. If you visit the website now, there is a simple ‘Google Dictionary is no longer available message’. From the four years leading up to late 2009, Google’s search engine definitions feature linked to Answers.com. Google DictionaryreplacedAnswer.com in December 2009, and it’s thought that it was initiallybuiltusing Collins COBUILD dictionary, and eventuallychangedto the Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. We’re not too sure whether anyone will miss the service or not, as the Google search engine can be used as a dictionary in itself....

Earlier this yearreportsof a new social service from Google called Circles emerged. Circles would supposedly allow users to share photos, videos and messages to user-defined social groups (or ‘circles’) rather than having to post everything to everyone. Google is yet to actually confirm Circles, but it may have been hiding in plain sight – right in the code for Google’s user profiles pages. Austrian bloggerFlorian Rohrweckwas searching thoughGoogle Profilescode last week when he stumbled upon not just mentions of Circles but indications that the much-criticisedBuzzwill survive whatever plans Google has for social sharing....

Ann Althouse is US law professor who, since 2004, has written ablogcommentating on everything from law and politics to popular culture. She’s never been shy about giving her opinion. In the aftermath of Ann Althouse giving her ‘objective’ analysis of theWisconsin protests, she complained that her entire Google-hosted blog had been brought down. She even set up asecondBlogger account for “if Blogger ever shuts me out of my usual place”....

We recentlybrought you newsthat Google had applied to trademark the name ‘Photovine’, seemingly as some kind of new social media service it had brewing behind the scenes. At the time there was also speculation that it had the domain namePhotovine.comtoo. Now that’s been confirmed. Fusible, ever watchful of such matters, has spotted that a DNS lookup for the domain nowlists Googleas the owner. That said, visit the domain, and you’ll be told in a nice big font: “Nothing to see here, move along”....

Search giant Google has confirmed that Chinese authorities have restricted access to its Gmail service, officially commenting on reportswhich speculatedChina’s “Great Wall Of China” was specifically blocking Google’s email platform in the country. Last week, Gmail usershad been complainingon Chinese microblogs and on Twitter (despite being blocked in the country) that the service was slow or inaccessible. Google spokeswoman Christine Chen said at the the time service was not experiencing technical difficulties and was more likely an issue on the government’s end....