5 Current Issues

1. Philippine Airlines' connection with Macau, China


My mother found a bargain promotion in the newspaper of a trip to Macau, China promoted by Philippine Airlines. I already knew the airline was involved in promoting Macau as a tourist destination, but what I did not know was why, so I formulated my own theory after our trip.

I was already told that Macau was trying to be the Monte Carlo of Asia not Vegas of the Orient.

Well, the Casino industry in Las Vegas, Nevada U.S.A. marketed to the middle and upper middle class Americans, the majority demographics with jobs and loose income to spend vacationing and gambling in the Game of Chance Industry.

All of Asia probably does not have a middle class. There are only two classes, rich or poor. The poor cannot afford to vacation, what more travel to gamble.

The businessmen of Macau, China marketed to the wealthy of all of Asia. It worked because our tour guide said that “Macau is now the largest gambling city in the world, since two years ago.”
Comment: Maybe if PAL will have connection to Macau maybe their will many tourist will come to our country and also people of the Philippines can also came to macau easily.

2. August 23, 2010 Manila Hostage Taking

The Manila hostage crisis occurred when a dismissed Philippine National Police officer took over a tour bus in Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines on August 23, 2010. Disgruntled former senior inspector Rolando Mendoza, from the Manila Police District (MPD) hijacked a tour bus carrying 25 people (20 tourists and also a tour guide, all from Hong Kong, and four Filipinos) in an attempt to get his job back.[3] He said that he was summarily dismissed without the opportunity to properly defend himself, and that all he wanted was a fair hearing.

After about ten hours into the siege, the Filipino bus driver was able to get out of the bus by falling through the driver's bus window and was shown on television saying "patay na lahat (everyone is dead)" before being whisked away by police. The ensuing rescue assault mounted by the MPD and resulting shoot-out was watched by millions on live television news and took around 90 minutes. At the end, eight of the hostages and Mendoza were dead and nine other people were injured. The Hong Kong Government soon after issued a top-level "black" travel alert for the Philippines. The assault on the tour bus to rescue the hostages was widely regarded by pundits at home and abroad as "bungled" and "incompetent"; the Philippine government also admitted that errors had been made and promised a thorough investigation, which they would report to the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong SAR governments.

Comment:
Maybe the police is not ready for the hostage taking and also the police have not have many experience about hostage crisis the hostage crisis gives a lesson on how to manage if there's any hostage crisis again there should be a coordination about handling the hostage because of what we see to the crisis there is no cooperation of all the police.
3.Bagyong ‘Juan’ (Megi) bumilis, pagtama sa Cagayan mapapaaga

MANILA – Bagaman hindi lumakas, bumilis naman ang bagyong “Juan," at inaasahang mas maagang tatama sa kalupaan ng Cagayan, batay sa pinakahuling pagtaya ng Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) nitong Sabado.

Sa ulat ng PAGASA, namataan si Juan (international codename "Megi") 820 kilometro sa silangan ng hilagang Luzon at kumikilos sa bilis na 24 kph.

Nanatili naman ang lakas ng hangin nito sa 140 kph malapit sa gitna at pagbugso ng hanggang 170 kph, ayon kay Nathaniel Servando, deputy administrator ng PAGASA.

"Bumilis po ito kumpara kaninang umaga... at dahil bahagyang bumilis ito inaasahan na sa Lunes ng umaga ito ay tatama ng kalupaan sa may dalampasigan ng Cagayan," paliwanag ni Servado sa panayam ng GMA news 24 Oras nitong Sabado.

Comment: There is good weather forecast about the said typhoon so that it results the there is little casualties even though the government enforce force evacuation but there some people who did not listen so that they are the casualties of the typhoon.

4. Major Economic Problems of the Philippines

Import-Export Imbalance: Among the many economic problems faced by the Philippines, one is the imbalance of imports and exports. The negative trade is heavy and only counterbalanced by the service account surplus. Over the last two decades, Philippine exports have shifted from commodity-based products to manufactured goods. However, in the midst of the current global economic recession, the exports of electronics, garments and textiles are yet to reach a level of import neutralization.

Comment:
The Philippines have an economic crisis because of bigger exportation of Philippine product to other country and there is no product will be left in our country. Also many imported items now is available at our country and it is lesser price than philippine product. If it will continue our county will be down.

5.The Maguindanao massacre, also known as the Ampatuan massacre (after the town where the mass graves were found), occurred on the morning of November 23, 2009, in the town of Ampatuan in Maguindanao province, on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. While the victims were on their way to file a certificate of candidacy for Esmael Mangudadatu, vice mayor of Buluan town, they were kidnapped and brutally killed. Mangundadatu was challenging Datu Unsay mayor Andal Ampatuan, Jr., son of the incumbent Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan, Sr., in the forthcoming Maguindanao gubernatorial election,^[1] part of the national elections in 2010. The 57 people killed included Mangudadatu's wife, his two sisters, journalists, lawyers, aides, and motorists who were witnesses or were mistakenly identified as part of the convoy.

Comment;
This is to much of killing innocent people there should be a revenge after this. It is a brutality

There are no words to express my utter disbelief that this could happen in a democracy.

Case #7

Computer System Security

1. Backup your files
- You must back up your files so that if there is time your computer will crash you have another copy of your file. Also if there also someone destroy your file.

2. Use Legal Operating System and Software
- Use legal operating system so that your computer will be secured from hacking because some of free operating system are purpose for hacking someones personal computer. Also in legal software just make sure you will use legal to avoid crashing your computer and avoid from hacking.

3. Keep your serial number of all your software
- Keep the serial numbers of all software packages in a clearly visible place for ease of reference when calling the software vendor's technical support.

4. Don't Squeal your password to your friends or strangers
- Be sure not to squeal your password of your computer or any accounts to avoid being hack.

5. Install Security Camera in your computer
- If possible install a direct cam when you turn on your computer automatically turns on the camera and also records the scene so that if there is a problem of file lost in your computer you have an evidence to prove.

6. Don't try to fix errors
- If your computer crashes don't try to fix it unless you know how to repair it. Call your provider to avoid destroying your system.

7. List your system and software providers contact number
- once your computer and software crashes you can directly call and ask some help about what happens to your pc or system

8. NO welcome banner on site

Court cases have shown that initial banners must NOT say "welcome".

Your banner should say something like: "Only authorized access allowed; violators will be prosecuted". In addition, change /etc/issue NOT to include the machine type/OS revision.

9. Log Off your computer
- Practice to log off your computer when your away from keyboard so that no people can access unless you log in it again.

10. Never enter to a site that ask your personal password or information/ Hack site
- Don't ever try to log in a not safe site and not related to you. Also don't fill up any information related to you and your personal computer because it is obviously hacking you and your computer. Don't take a risk be sure not to go hack site also hack site gives you a virus called worm

Consumer Act of the Philippines

Reaction:

The Consumer Act of the Philippines talks about the rights and the rules to be follow by the consumers in our country. This law is all about all the products and services that are manipulated in our country. Like the quantity of drugs it is prohibited in our country also the quality of drugs being imported to us. Consumer act of the Philippines protects the interest of an consumer and establish the standards and fairness of our products. Consumer act of the Philippines also deals with our health and safety protects against overprice products and services. This act gives us the guide to right not from wrong or bad things to do against ourselves. If you don't follow the rules and regulation you will have a penalty and also you may be

My reaction is this law is good for us. It help us to start and to follow the basic rules of our country. Like the drugs or medicine we take the price of it and the price of our food we eat everyday. If there is no act like this it will cause war to both people because misunderstanding.
This act help us to understand how to live healthy and freely in our country . This act is very helpful to those who did not follow it. I'm very thankful we had this act because without it i will not know everything in this world i would know about the rules of our businesses. I will also follow this act when i became professional and successful.

case #5

How New Technology is Rewiring our Brains?
The technology is rewiring our brains,” said Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute of Drug Abuse and one of the world’s leading brain scientists. She and other researchers compare the lure of digital stimulation less to that of drugs and alcohol than to food and sex, which are essential but counterproductive in excess.

Technology use can benefit the brain in some ways, researchers say. Imaging studies show the brains of Internet users become more efficient at finding information. And players of some video games develop better visual acuity.

More broadly, cellphones and computers have transformed life. They let people escape their cubicles and work anywhere. They shrink distances and handle countless mundane tasks, freeing up time for more exciting pursuits.

For better or worse, the consumption of media, as varied as e-mail and TV, has exploded. In 2008, people consumed three times as much information each day as they did in 1960. And they are constantly shifting their attention. Computer users at work change windows or check e-mail or other programs nearly 37 times an hour, new research shows.

The nonstop interactivity is one of the most significant shifts ever in the human environment, said Adam Gazzaley, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco.

“We are exposing our brains to an environment and asking them to do things we weren’t necessarily evolved to do,” he said. “We know already there are consequences.”

Mr. Campbell, 43, came of age with the personal computer, and he is a heavier user of technology than most. But researchers say the habits and struggles of Mr. Campbell and his family typify what many experience — and what many more will, if trends continue.

For him, the tensions feel increasingly acute, and the effects harder to shake.

The Campbells recently moved to California from Oklahoma to start a software venture. Mr. Campbell’s life revolves around computers. (View a slide show on how the Campbells interact with technology.)

He goes to sleep with a laptop or iPhone on his chest, and when he wakes, he goes online. He and Mrs. Campbell, 39, head to the tidy kitchen in their four-bedroom hillside rental in Orinda, an affluent suburb of San Francisco, where she makes breakfast and watches a TV news feed in the corner of the computer screen while he uses the rest of the monitor to check his e-mail.

Major spats have arisen because Mr. Campbell escapes into video games during tough emotional stretches. On family vacations, he has trouble putting down his devices. When he rides the subway to San Francisco, he knows he will be offline 221 seconds as the train goes through a tunnel

Case #4

1. What is IT Outsourcing?
IT outsourcing is a phrase used to describe the practice of seeking resources -- or subcontracting -- outside of an organizational structure for all or part of an IT (Information Technology) function. An organization would use IT outsourcing for functions ranging from infrastructure to software development, maintenance and support. For example, an enterprise might outsource its IT management because it is cheaper to contract a third-party to do so than it would be to build its own in-house IT management team. Or a company might outsource all of its data storage needs because it does not want to buy and maintain its own data storage devices. Most large organizations only outsource a portion of any given IT function.

2. Advantage and Disadvantage

Advantage

The benefits of Outsourcing are:

Less capital expenditure - For example, by outsourcing information technology requirements, a company does not have to buy expensive hardware and software.

Less management headache - For example, by outsourcing business process such as accounting, a company no longer has to hire and manage accounting personnel.

Focus on core competencies - Outsourcing non-core related processes will allow a business to focus more on it's core competencies and strengths, giving it a competitive advantage.

Disadvantage

Before deciding on outsourcing your company's business process, keep in mind the disadvantages of outsourcing:

Less managerial control - It may be harder to manage the outsourcing service provider as compared to managing your own employees.

Outsourcing company goes out of business - If your outsourcing service provide goes bankrupt or out of business, your company will have to quickly transition to a new service provider or take the process back in-house.

May be more expensive - Sometimes it is cheaper to keep a process in-house as compared to outsourcing.

Security and confidentiality issues - If your company is outsourcing business processes such as payroll, confidential information such as salary will be known to the outsourcing service provider.

3. Implication

When business starts to go bad, people panic. As a result, they tend to abandon their long-term strategic course, scrambling for short-term relief,” said Greg Frazier, executive vice president, supply chain business development worldwide, Avnet Electronics Marketing, Phoenix. For example, Frazier has recently fielded a flurry of calls from small and mid-size OEMs asking about outsourcing – customers that had previously decided that outsourcing was not the right fit for their company. And though under the right circumstances outsourcing can certainly provide an OEM with significant opportunities for savings, it is no panacea. “When they hear major OEMs like Sony announce plans to close 10 percent of its plants worldwide and shift more manufacturing to outsourcing, they question their (manufacturing) decisions,” Frazier noted.

Supply chain integrators like Avnet work closely with OEM customers to evaluate the pros and cons of outsourcing, said Frazier, who cautions companies to be particularly vigilant in their evaluation of suitability and financial stability of potential contract manufacturing partners. A recent report from electronics research firm iSuppli Corp. found that the global electronics contract manufacturing sector has begun to feel the impact of the slowdown.

Growth in 2008 for the contract manufacturing sector is estimated to be almost half of the 16.1 percent recorded in 2007. “As the end markets erode die to recession, the trickledown effect will cause less significant revenue growth for electronics supply chain participants, including electronic manufacturing service providers (EMS) and original design manufacturers (ODM),” said Adam Pick, principal analyst, EMS/ODM, for iSuppli, El Segundo, Calif.

OEMs must also carefully consider the regions in which they plan to outsource. “Everyone’s automatic assumption is that Asia is the go-to region. But when you factor in energy costs, which have only recently begun to come down again, and rising labor rates, local alternatives like Mexico can be very attractive,” said Frazier.

When selecting an EMS partner, it's also important to remember that one size does not fit all, said Craig LaBarge, chief executive officer and president of LaBarge, Inc., a St. Louis-based EMS provider. “Depending upon the nature of their business, OEMs will have different expectations for their outsourcing partners. Our core competencies are very different than those of a provider that's set up to produce large volumes of a consumer-oriented product, for example.”

LaBarge's niche is producing low volume, high-rate-of-change, high-complexity electronic assemblies, which may be used in applications ranging from military and aerospace to industrial and medical.

While the current economic environment presents an excellent opportunity for OEMs to further utilize outsourcing as a way to reduce their manufacturing and design costs, there are challenges and difficulties that come with this kind of change. “In our experience, the most successful situations are those where the customer understands that outsourcing is as much a cultural change as a strategic one for their organization,” LaBarge noted.

The bottom line is that even in the best of economic times, the decision to outsource should be made based on a careful cost/benefit analysis. “This is not a quick, short-term solution,” said Frazier. “Every OEM must consider their options based on their individual circumstances and goals, and not make a knee-jerk reaction based on what others are doing.”

Exam

1.What is Facebook?
Facebook is a social networking site that allows for developers to contribute applications that interact with Facebook features..A social networking website launched in February 2004,owned by Facebook Inc.Ca.It has certain features like:the Wall,Pokes,Photos(where users can upload an unlimited number of pics),Status,News Feed,Instant Messaging(Chat),Gifts,Martketplace.Facebook only allows users to decorate their profiles using plaint text,while Myspace allows HTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) modifications. Also Facebook offers games and applications like pokers, farmville, fishville etc.

2. Advantage and disadvantage of Facebook?
The advantage of facebook is you can learn many things like farming and also you can chat anyone if he/she is your friend even if your far away. You can upload any pics you want videos, mp3s.Also facebook helps you to find more friends and publish your groups. The Disadvantage of facebook is if you abuse it you are an addict in their games you forget your task and your friends your studies. You will be lazy to work because of their games you learn to be night life people because most of the users of facebook onlines in night time because their are from other countries .Night life people is bad to ur health your sleep will not be accurate as the correct 8hrs sleeping a day.

3.What are the characteristics of faceboook why many people engage in this site?
-The characteristics of facebook is it is a dynamic website you can do what you want. You can upload pictures, contact your families and friends abroad. You can also play games you can also post what your'e doing in wall post. They can see your profile status so now many people find friends and partners and they engage to facebook to find it and use it as their pleasure.

4.Can you use facebook in e-commerce? how and why?
-For me facebook can be used in e-commerce by posting your products in your wall so that they can see it. You can also chat with them and deal them what you want and what they want. Also maybe their is an application in facebook that is related to business.The application called Payvment Between music, virtual gifting, gaming and retail goods, Facebook is turning into a virtual online mall of sorts. We’ve written about Payvment, a startup that allows anyone to create and operate a retail storefront on Facebook. Today, Payvment is launching an innovative new feature for storefront owners on Facebook: the ability for retailers to provide instant discounts and coupons to users that become Fans or “Like” their Facebook page.

5. How important is facebook in the society today?
for me facebook now is very important to the businessman Because Facebook pages are typically the best option for organizations to promote themselves on Facebook,

Benefits of Using Facebook

1. Customer Interaction – Facebook pages provide a forum for dialogue between customers and the brand, giving companies the opportunity to build better relationships with target audiences and current customers.
2. Reputation Management – Facebook allows a company to gain a deeper understanding of how the brand is perceived online – through direct feedback and also by monitoring what users are saying about the brand.
3. New Customer Acquisition – Each time a Facebook user becomes a fan of a Facebook page, a notice is posted as news item for all of that user’s friends to see. This creates an opportunity for a Facebook page to go viral and reach new viewers.
4. Feedback Mechanism – In a service-based sector like hospitality, customer feedback is vital. Facebook allows users to communicate their experiences directly and give the company the opportunity to respond.
5. Branding – Facebook can be used as a medium for creating brand awareness in addition to a company’s corporate website. It provides brand exposure to a potentially new audience and gives organizations the opportunity to position themselves in new and unique ways.
6. Drive Web Traffic – As a Facebook page grows its fan base, traffic to the company website will increase. Facebook pages also appear in Universal Search Results.

So you can interact with your client if your a retailer and you can interact to the seller if your a customer.

case #2

Case #2

IO(Chef Information Officer)

The chief information officer (CIO), or information technology (IT) director, is a job title commonly given to the most senior executive in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals. The CIO typically reports to the chief executive officer, chief operations officer or chief financial officer. In military organizations, they report to the commanding officer.

Global Warming

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation. Most of the observed temperature increase since the middle of the 20th century was caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, which results from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation. Global dimming, a result of increasing concentrations of atmospheric aerosols that block sunlight from reaching the surface, has partially countered the effects of greenhouse gas induced warming.

Effect Of Computers

The state of knowledge of global warming will be presented and two aspects examined: observational evidence and a review of the state of computer modeling of climate change due to anthropogenic increases in greenhouse gases. Observational evidence, indeed, shows global warming, but it is difficult to prove that the changes are unequivocally due to the greenhouse-gas effect. Although observational measurements of global warming are subject to "correction," researchers are showing consistent patterns in their interpretation of the data. Since the 1960s, climate scientists have been making their computer models of the climate system more realistic. Models started as atmospheric models and, through the addition of oceans, surface hydrology, and sea-ice components, they then became climate-system models. Because of computer limitations and the limited understanding of the degree of interaction of the various components, present models require substantial simplification. Nevertheless, in their present state of development climate models can reproduce most of the observed large-scale features of the real system, such as wind, temperature, precipitation, ocean current, and sea-ice distribution. The use of supercomputers to advance the spatial resolution and realism of Earth-system models will also be discussed.

Effect of Computers in a Certain Company and in Our Planet

As our technology grows and more people using computers and it can cause so much heat to our planet. In any company computers are more important. Data center in a company is used to facilitate computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and security devices. IT department in a company is a major source of negative environmental impacts. The best way to reduce heat in our planet is to less consume of power because the IT is the biggest consumer of power.

According to Senior Editor Stephanie writes that Data Centers consume between 1.5% and 3% of all the power generated annualy in the United States. A certain Company called VistaPrint, where the IT departments does manage its data center facilities, discovered that its electric bill was projected to skyrocket if the comapny, which sells custom printed products online grew as predicted. Data Centers of VistaPrints hosted by "Cable and Wireless". The use of "hydropower" provides a renewable lower-emmisions of source electricity. The company replace its blade servers with virtul machines that use more server capacity and consume less power.

Using efficient coolong systems, or simply sealing holesin your data center's floor, can reduce energy consumption and ultimately , greenhous gas emmission.

Data Center Server that Consume Less Energy

Startup server maker SeaMicro today unveiled a new low-power server that promises to slash power costs for companies running large Internet services and cloud computing platforms. SeaMicro’s multi-core x86 server runs on Intel’s low-power Atom chips, whose energy efficiency has made them the processor of choice for many mobile phones and laptops.


The Green Advantage

Generally, the shift to green IT is of multiple benefits. Those benefits can positively affect your return of investment making the switch all worth it. And just what are those benefits?


•First and foremost, green IT is a help to the environment. The use of them reduces the already big pile of e-waste. For instance, a simple move of replacing fluorescent bulbs with energy-efficient lights will lessen the number of burnt bulbs dumped into landfills. How? Well, high-efficiency light bulbs tend to last longer which means they require lesser replacements.

•Green IT helps you save money. Most eco-friendly technology devices are energy- efficient which means that they consume lesser energy. And in a business, that translates to less electricity to pay for.

•The first two benefits leads to this third benefit. This refers to personal fulfillment. Knowing that you have helped save the planet while earning something out of it is a very wise move that creates a sense of nobility and fulfillment.

Questions

Google is a highly successful Internet business. Recently they have broaden their scope
with a multitude of new tools. Research Google business model and answer the ff.
questions below. You may add additional information not included in this question.

1. Who are they're competitors?

-There competitors are facebook.com, yahoo.com, friendster.com, youtube.com,amazon.com,rapidshare.com and etc. These websites also introduce many things such as the google.com. These websites are now dynamic and highly professional everyone can access from it the requirements is only pc and internet.
According to http://www.physorg.com/news187517187.html
A year ago, Google named just two competitors -- Microsoft and Yahoo -- in its annual report to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This year, Google lists 10 competitors by name in its recently filed 10-K report for 2009, including social sites Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp; and specialty search engines that dive deep into a specific category, such as travel site Kayak and health inquiry site WebMD. With the explosive growth of social networks acting as the door to people's online world, Google does face increased competition. But with the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant facing a surge of antitrust and anticompetition lawsuits and allegations in the U.S. and Europe, observers and critics say the change shows Google's pressing need to make the case to regulators that it has viable competitors, and has not become too dominant an Internet force.

2. How have they used information technology to their advantage?

-Every now and then a technology, or set of technologies, comes along that offers a rich set of components that can be combined and recombined to create new products. The arrival of these components then sets off a technology boom as innovators work through the possibilities. For that google is using wisely the IT experts to make advantages to their competitors. And these steps will lead them to top. Also according to http://archives.obs-us.com/obs/english/books/nn/bd1101bn.htm The Internet for us was like air. It was there all the time - you wouldn't notice it existed unless it was missing. But the Internet as a major social phenomenon didn't enter our radar until the advent of the World Wide Web, which was developed in Europe at CERN, beginning in 1989, by a team of physicists that included an alumnus of the Media Lab. That was what provoked the big change in the Internet.

3. How competitive are they in the market?

-For me Google is the most common search engine in the web. Maybe Google is the most highest competitor in every search engines and commercial sites. Google is the most dynamic site we used to search and copy some information around the world. According to http://www.googlebusiness.com/
in advertising 99% of Google's revenue is derived from its advertising programs. For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported US$10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only US$112 million in licensing and other revenues.
In Software oogle is the most used search engine on the web with a 53.6% market share, ahead of Yahoo! (19.9%) and Live Search (12.9%). Google indexes billions of Web pages, so that users can search for the information they desire, through the use of keywords and operators, although at any given time it will only return a maximum of 1,000 results for any specific search query.

4. What new services do they offer?
-According to http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/Google_Services.asp

• Book Search: Search the full text of books
• Catalogs: Browse online catalogs
• Calculator: Google has a built in calculator function. To compute enter the calculation into the Google search box and hit the Enter key
• Currency Conversion: Google has a built-in currency converter. To convert, enter the conversion you'd like done into the Google search box and hit "Enter". For example you could use "100 USD in CAD" or "Canadian money in American dollar".
• Definitions: To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word "define," then a space, and then the word(s) you want defined.
• File Types: Google Search automatically searches 12 non-HTML file types and provides an option to view as HTML. The file types appear in Google search results
• Froogle: Google's product search (Shopping) service
• Groups: Search results from Google Groups may appear at the bottom of your relevant search results page.
• I'm Feeling Lucky: Skip the Google search results page and go to the first Web page returned for your query.
• Images: Google Image Search shows images matching your search query.
• Local Search: Search the Web for businesses in a specific area by including a city or zip code in your search and Google.
• Movies: To find reviews and show times for movies playing near you, type "movies", "showtimes" or the name of a current film into the Google search box.
• Music Search: Enter the name of an artist popular in the U.S. and reviews, song titles, and more is shown at the top of the search results.
• News Headlines: These links connect you to reports culled from numerous news services that Google continuously monitors.
• PhoneBook: U.S. street address and phone number lookup publicly listed phone numbers and addresses
• Refine Search: For searches within certain topics, you'll notice links at the top of the search results page that help you narrow the search.
• Results Prefetching: On some searches, Google automatically instructs your browser to start downloading the top search result before you click on it so the destination page loads faster.
• Search By Number: Parcel tracking IDs, patents and other specialized numbers can be entered into Google's search box for quick access to information about them.
• Similar Pages Display: The "Similar Pages" sends Google to scout the Web for pages that are related to the result.
• Site Search Restrict: Type the word site" followed by a colon enables you to restrict your search to a specific site. For example "memory site:webopedia.com" would search only Webopedia.com
• Spell Checker: Google's spell checking software automatically looks at your query and checks to see if you are using the most common version of a word's spelling, and may offer spelling suggestions.
• Stock Quotes: Enter a stock of mutual fund symbol in the search box to obtain fund quotes
• Street Maps: Use a U.S. street address with Zip or City and state to search. When recognized links are returned from Google Maps
• Travel Information: Use an airport's three letter code followed by the word "airport" to obtain delay and weather condition information.
• Weather Check: Type "weather," followed by the location to obtain weather information
• Web Page Translation: For results in other languages, click "Translate this page" and translate that page into your language.
• Who Links To You?: The query link:siteURL shows you pages that point to that URL. For example link:www.webopedia.com will show all Web sites linking to Webopedia.

5. What makes them so unique?

-They are unique because they are the biggest and fastest search engine in the web.
Google is the most highly recommended site for searching. Also they are not as search engine but also in
books,movies also this blogger is made by google. They also offer travel inforamtion, news everyday
currency converter and weather check up.

6. How competitive are they in the international market?
-Maybe google is the most top competitors in the international market. They have services online
and it is accessible in anytime,anywhere and anyone. Google is the most effective and gives correct
information engine. They have any products and any services at short time they searches topics
less than 1second but it depends in a service provider. According to
 http://www.glgroup.com/News/Google-International--Greater-Market-Share-Now-Distancing-from-the-Pack-to-Come-18168.html

Having studied Google abroad somewhat significantly, I believe this article provides a very naïve view on Google’s success abroad. Absolutely, Google, as any American company, needs to be extremely aware of the impression they make when entering foreign grounds, as the risk as being seen as arrogant – the ugly American – is omnipresent. And, yes, Google should continue to grow their in-country teams significantly in order to best overcome cultural and sales hurdles and take advantage of unique opportunities and the gigantic world market that is growing at a quicker pace than the U.S. market. Recent stats point to European e-commerce in a position to surge past U.S. e-commerce.

Yet, don’t attempt to fool anyone here: Google has enormous international market share. Though I’m on a plane and not able to access these stats immediately, I believe that Google has approximately a 10-point higher share of search in Europe than they do in the States. I attended an online and multi-channel retail conference in London earlier this year, and Google was constantly mentioned, and never in a bad light. I am attempting to arrange a dinner in Paris Google is dominant in most countries, with their distant following to Baidu in China and the Russian example in the article notable exceptions. later this year or early next with top French e-commerce companies, and Google is the likely sponsor, due to their relationship with the French agency that I am in contact with and their relationship with the likely invitees.