It has taken awhile following the $1.6-billion purchase of YouTube but Google has a launched a new video search tool. When your search is completed, you can rate the video, share it, and watch related videos. Google Video covers videos from a wide variety of sites, including Metacafe, iFilm, Grouper, Yahoo Video, MySpace, Break.com, Daily Motion, Vimeo, Veoh, AOL Video, Jumpcut, Revver, Guba and BBC - although the predominant result is, surprise, surprise, YouTube. Veoh, by the way, raised $26-million in venture capital recently.

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Blinkx, which operates a video clip search engine, had a stellar debut during its first day of trading. The company's shares jumped to 62 pence from 45 pence on London's AIM exchange after raising £25 million.

With a stock now trading at more than $500, a market capitalization of more than $150-billion, a cash-cow advertising business, billions of cash in the bank, the world's leading search engine, and ambitions to get into other markets, there is really no limit to how large or powerful Google can become. But is Google's dominance and its aggressive plans good for the Internet? Is it healthy for one player to have so much power and influence? The San Jose Mercury has an article that asks the question whether Google 2.0 is a friend or foe. Among the critics quoted is Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, who says "Google has this imperial digital ambition that frightens me." For a take on Google's OS plans, check out Read/WriteWeb.

It has been a challenge but I've tried not to jump on the bandwagon when Google unveils yet another tool (e.g. Google Spreadsheets, Google Base, etc.) but I have to admit the news about its newest creation from Google's R&D lab, Google Custom Search Engine, is pretty cool. Basically, Google has rolled out a service that lets you define the Web sites you want included in a search. So, for example, if you're really into food, you can use tags to create a personalized vertical tool that only searches food-related sites. And there's more: Google has also created a way to place this search widget on a Web site or blog so it can be offered to visitors with the same interests. While many of Google's new tools have been uninspiring or simply duds, DIY search is newsworthy because it's all about vertical search, which has been getting more attention as people look for tools to make search even more effective and productive. Now, Google DIY is interesting but I wonder if it's a sign of things to come from Google about its vertical search plans. For example, what if Google launched Google Travel Search for people interested in booking trips and learning more about the world around them. This would be a great way for Google to establish a huge foothold in the travel business if advertisers embraced it as an effective way to reach consumers. The same approach could be used for real estate, automobiles, consumer electronics, sports, etc. Maybe Google Custom Search Engine is a Trojan Horse that gets people turned on about vertical search. Once people like it, Google will simply roll out its own vertical search engines as a way to expand the market. For more, check out GigaOm and Matt Cutts, who provides a nice overview on Google DIY's features.

Ever wonder how you get the hype machine going in the tech world? Well, getting coverered by Venture Beat (here and here) appears to be one way to do it. Evidence: Powerset, a yet-be-launched search engine that promises to use natural language and artificial intelligence to build a better mouse trap than Google. Two days ago, I saw a Venture Beat story and wrote a post about the prospects for new search engines to emerge. Today, the hype about Powerset has caught fire on the blogosphere. How did this happen? Does Powerset have savvy PR experts? Does Venture Beat (or maybe it's me?!) have that much of a following? Are people simply hungry for an alternative to Google? Anyway you want to explain it, it's a good day for Powerset and its investors, who include Esther Dyson and Reid Hoffman.