Google Acquires Traffic Info Start-Up

According to an article on SiliconBeat, Google's recent 2004 annual report shows a new subsidiary ZIPDash. This company provides real time traffic information, and it looks like Google Maps is following Yahoo Maps into the traffic reporting arena.

Faster Searching with Firefox

Never one to pass up a chance to tweak the finer details, Google announces faster search result loading with Firefox and Mozilla browsers. Apparently the search engine results page instructs these browsers to preload the first page of results so the deemed most relevant page that rises to the top of the SERPs will already be in your cache. Works good, and definitely makes a difference.

Google Adds Support for Stock Quotes

From the "features you thought Google already had" file, the Google Blog is reporting that Google now adds support for stock quotes. Previously it would link you to sites that had the information you're looking for, now Google provides in line graphs and recent trends when you simply search for a stock ticker symbol. You'll also find the familiar links to Yahoo Finance as well.