If you thought pajama days and free gourmet food was over the top, Google’s European office, recently celebrated “Alternative Transportation Day,” by urging their employees to commute to work without the use of a car. For the special occasion, Google, offered every single of their 2,000 European employees a new bike.

The world’s most powerful company just held their first pajama day, when workers were encouraged to wear their PJs to work.

Extra, Extra, Read All About it: Google Inc to start alpha testing Google Print Ads this week.

Google announced they will launch a program that will allow Adwords advertisers to place bids on space in more than 50 major newspapers across the U.S.

Do you own a local business? Here is a gerat opportunity to learn about online advertising with Google’s AdWords Seminars for Success. This series of intensive seminars is aimed at educating advertisers of all experience levels on the creation and management of successful AdWords online advertising campaigns.

Donna Bogatin at reports that Google will soon roll out a product that dynamically generates and changes a terrestrial radio commercial based on demographics, news and conditions in the local market.

People don’t search locally without a reason. For instance, if someone is searching for a dentist in their city, it’s usually because they’re looking for a new doctor and want to make an appointment.

Small business marketing expert, Matt McGee, has put together an excellent Guide to Local Search Marketing, which shows small businesses how to start moving their advertising dollars from traditional yellow page ads to local search.

Forbes has announced that Google is releasing a payments and certification service named GBuy on June 28. GBuy will reportedly process orders on Google’s domain, similar to PayPal processing. According to the article, Merchants enrolled in the program will receive free payment processing during the beta period.

Yahoo is testing a new home page design. You can test drive the page yourself by going to http://events.yahoo.com/326123171.html and following the instructions.

Google has a new and official Mexican blog. You can find articles written by Google employees on products, technology and culture… in Spanish, of course.

You can now buy and sell real estate on Google.

Some real estate brokers are worried. For agents to compete, they must learn to know and love Google Base.

In Goolge mission to archive the world’s information, here are the Super Bowl XL Commercials at Google Video.

After slumping sales, Miller Brewing Company has named Crispin Porter + Bogusky as its primary advertising agency for Miller Lite.

The Miami ad agency is know for producing some off-the-wall advertising campaigns. See this Subservient Chicken website CPB made for Burger King.

Other Crispin Porter + Bogusky clients include Volkswagen, Virgin Atlantic, and the Coca Cola Company.

Related:
• Miami Ad Agencies

Aventura resident, Gary S. Kraser has pled guilty to fraudulently soliciting charitable donations supposedly intended for Hurricane Katrina relief.

According to the indictment, Kraser falsely claimed via the blog AirKatrina.com, that he was piloting flights to Louisiana to provide medical supplies to the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina and to evacuate children and others in critical medical condition.  Kraser further claimed that he had organized a group of Florida pilots to assist him in his supposed relief efforts.

In one fraudulent blog post, Kraser pretended to have returned from Louisiana, and wrote

“I am shaking as I write this, as I just arrived home, and just now allowed my body and mind to accept what I saw tonight . . .  I am crying as I read this . .  I saw people on their roofs, that had used axes more than likely to cut through the roof, waving at us, as they thought we were Air Rescue . . . I saw dogs wrapped in electrical lines still alive and sparks flying from their bodies being electrocuted, as well as some people dead already.  If I had a helicopter, I would be there now rather than back in FL . . . I’m so sorry I couldn’t do more . . . I’m crying and hugging my dog next to me now . . . I will hear these screams for the rest of my life. . .”

In another fraudulent post Kraser wrote:

“I’m flying full loads out, and offering the empty plane on the outbound for Air Ambulance.  If we didn’t have the plane, I don’t think the little baby would have survived . . . She is undergoing transplant surgery at this moment I am writing . . . 7 mos old, and smiling the whole way, as if she knew . . .”

The blog allowed for donations to be made directly into Kraser’s PayPal account.  In just two days, Kraser received almost $40,000 in donations from 48 different victims from around the world.

Sentencing is been scheduled for April 13, 2006. We’ll keep you posted..

Via: DOJ

Matt Cutts announced Google’s new Toolbar 4 Beta. Google has enhanced its toolbar for IE, introducing several new features that will appeal to regular users of the program.

The new toolbar works like a virtual desktop. The new features include enhanced “spell check” and “suggestions” that appear as you type a query, the ability to add custom buttons to search your favorite sites, the ability to create and save online bookmarks and to share web pages with others.

Google Toolbar version 4 is an Internet Explorer only US only release.

Leaders in marketing, branding, eCommerce, corporate communications, and advertising will gather in Miami, Florida for the Online Marketing Latin America Conference to examine innovative strategies for online sales and brand growth.

Organized by Miami-based MFM Trade Meetings, the conference is open to professionals responsible for Hispanic or multicultural marketing, interactive marketing, consumer research, branding, advertising, communications, media planning, business development and merchandising.

The conference will take place February 13-15, 2006 at the Omni Colonnade Hotel in Miami, Florida.

Conference Fees (per person):
Conference Only: $1,795
Conference plus Workshop: $2,190
Conference Materials Only: $395

Details and registration information is available online or by calling (305) 667-4705.