Here are some great and newsworthy posts I came across today including Google officially acquires DoubleClick after EU approval, decreasing click rates on AdSense ads are intentional, is a new online rating service for cops an expression of free speech or and invasion of privacy and finally, Google finally fails at something.

Google Officially Acquires DoubleClick (Official Google Blog)
Google CEO, Eric Schmidt writes, "I'm pleased to share the news that we completed our acquisition of DoubleClick today. Although it's been nearly a year since we announced our intention to acquire DoubleClick last April, we are no less excited today about the benefits that the combination of our two companies will bring to the online advertising market."

Decreasing Click Rates on AdSense are Intentional (Search Engine Journal)
Julie Kent writes, "After a recent ComScore report indicated that the paid click rates for Google AdSense had dropped 12% year-over-year, and 7% from last December, Google felt the need to comment. According to Google, the decline is intentional and due to some quality initiatives that the company has taken. Not surprisingly efforts to reduce click fraud and other accidental clicks have affected the company’s stock price."

RateMyCop: Invasion of Privacy or Expression of Free Speech? (Mashable)
Rate My Cop is apparently coming under fire from the Arizona police departments who consider the site an invasion of officers’ privacy. The site doesn’t include any personally identifiable information like pictures, addresses or personal data other than the names of the officers and the department they work for. Despite this, the Tempe police department is livid. "If everybody went home everyday and you had the whole world ranking your job, we do make mistakes, but other days we do great things," said one Tempe police officer.

Google Finally Fails at Something (TechCrunch)
PC’s running a Google focused version of Linux have been dropped from sale in Wal-Mart stores. According to a Wal-Mart spokesman, "This really wasn’t what our customers were looking for." The gPC will still be available via Wal-mart.com, with Everex spinning the decision as "significantly more effective" than selling the gPC in stores. Some will argue that the failure of gPC’s to take off bides poorly for both Linux distros and cloud focused offerings. However, TechCrunch's Duncan Riley suggests that it "really just shows that low-spec cheap junk with a Google focused operating system is no more appealing to consumers than low-spec cheap junk with Windows, even when the price of the Linux option is significantly less."


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