Here’s a nice AJAX application which shows Google’s acquisitions over time. It’s done with Simile, created by MIT. Could be some really nice applications for displaying histories on sites.

John Battelle reports that YouTube was about to invest in FAST technology to power its (aweful) search. He speculated that the deal might be off now….

Business 2.0, the poster-child magazine of the first dot com boom, has launched a blog site. Meanwhile, Karl Schneider pointed me to ZDnet which has just redesigned to put more Web 2.0 features to the fore. Both use videos to explain what’s going on and both, of course, have the word “beta” in their logos… 

PaidContent reports that Google is offering “tens of millions of dollars” in upfront payments to avert legal action over copyrighted material on YouTube.

More deal rumours…

Google has just acquired JotSpot. Look out for Google Wiki.

Steve Rubel lays out the pros and cons of allowing bloggers to blog live from conferences. I have to say I’m with him – blogged conferences are much, much more interesting, lively, interactive etc etc etc.

Rumours are flying that Digg is in talks to sell out to a search giant. The Web 2.0 feeding frenzy continues…

An  internal paper which sets out Google’s goals as a business has been seen by Google Blogoscoped and the highlights drawn out.

Google is getting worried about the inappropriate use of its brand name.