Google is working to make their homepage looks good. And recently, they changed their homepage by setting a customizable background image–just like Microsoft’s Bing.

But recently, reports said that because of this huge change of Google’s homepage, the world of art has changed too. Thanks to Google, more and more people are now searching or viewing stunning arts and photographs from different artists like Jeff Koons and Dale Chihuly. Dale Chihuly has been featured on Google Editor’s Pick for his best known artwork, the giant half inflated metallic modeling balloons. Jeff Koons is also at the Editor’s Pick with his stunning photos.

If you haven’t heard of Jeff Koons yet, you don’t know what you’re missing. Hailing from Dover, the New York City resident took the art scene by storm with his giant reproductions of normal objects, such as a balloon animal or a heart.

The brightly colored images have brought him national acclaim, and he was recently honored during the Pennsylvania Governor’s Awards for the Arts in New York.

Check out www.google.com and get a glimpse of some of his creations. Don’t miss Paris’ 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race Saturday and Sunday, in which Koons created a multicolored design for a BMW M3 GT2.

Google’s logos, first introduced in 1999, have brought a smile to people’s faces with their colors, artistry, and unique designs. Logos have promoted everything from major holidays to the anniversary of inventions to famous birthdays.

As of now, Jeff Koons and Dale Chihuly can be declared as the most viewed artists of all time, thanks to Google

Google will close an online store that it set up to sell its Nexus One phoneand rely on traditional retailers instead.

The search giant has admitted that sales of the Android-based handset were slower than expected, and that it will teaming up with local network partners to sell the phone through their high street shops and online stores instead.

“As with every innovation, some parts worked better than others,” acknowledged Andy Rubin, vice president of engineering at Google, on the company’s blog. “While the global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. It’s remained a niche channel for early adopters, but it’s clear that many customers like a hands-on experience before buying a phone, and they also want a wide range of service plans to choose from.”

The Nexus One will now be sold through partner channels, such as Vodafone stores in the UK. The Nexus One web portal will instead become a site showcasing the Google Android platform, and the full range of devices running the open-source operating system.

“Innovation requires constant iteration,” wrote Rubin. “We believe that these changes will help get more phones to more people more quickly, which is good for the entire Android ecosystem: users, partners and Google itself.”

Google hasn’t disclosed how many Nexus One units it has sold so far.

Nexus One is just one of many different smart phones that rely on Google’s free Android operating system.

The alternatives also are proving to be an obstacle for the Nexus One.

Two major carriers, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, recently decided not to support the Nexus One because they prefer other Android-powered phones.

Before the Nexus One launched, analysts wondered if Google would shock the wireless world by subsidizing smartphones on its own. Instead of owing two years to a specific carrier, your debt would be to Google and its advertising. But when Google announced a $529 unsubsidized price for the Nexus One, or $179 with a two-year T-Mobile contract, it was business as usual.

Google has scrapped its plan to sell a Nexus One phone that works on Verizon Wireless’ network, the most widely used in the U.S.

Google is now pointing customers interested in buying a Verizon version of the Nexus One to the newly launched HTC Droid Incredible phone. The Incredible, which has garnered rave reviews, is on par with the Nexus One in terms of processing power and its vivid OLED display, but packs a more powerful camera.

Google has also said that it is no longer working on “further engineering improvements” to the 3G reception on its Nexus. Some people are taking that as a sign that the search company might not be in the handset business for the long haul.

In Silicon Valley, Nexus Ones are remarkably easy to get hold of, thanks to a generous developer program, liberal press review program and other handouts. Google is literally giving them away, which is never a sign of a hot product.

Indeed,Nexus One sales are barely a blip on the market-share charts. Google sold only 135,000 units in its first 74 days, compared to 1 million iPhones and 1.05 million Droids in those phones’ first 74 days.

But that doesn’t mean the Nexus One is a failure: Far from it. In fact, it’s a sort of inspired experiment, a laboratory for Google to get a taste of the mobile-handset business, up close and personal. For instance, who could have realized the extent to which the lack of a telephone support line would make Google-loving customers unhappy?

The Nexus One gives Google direct-sales experience and customer contact that they don’t get as the developer of the Android OS, which is used on many phones from other manufacturers.

It was not immediately clear what prompted Google to reverse course. Google Chief Financial Officer Patrick Pichette said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires almost two weeks ago that plans to make Nexus One available on Verizon’s network by the spring of 2010 were still on track. A Google representative said there are no current plans to bring the Nexus One to Verizon and declined to comment on why talks fell apart.

“Verizon had never made a comment or statement about the product coming to our network,” says Verizon Wireless spokesman Marquett Smith. “In the beginning, Google made the statement about the product coming to the Verizon Wireless network and we never made comment around it.”

People across America who went to Google to search for something today found instead a screen that says “Topeka” where it normally would say Google.

Could the company with the most successful search engine on the planet actually change its name, which has become synonymous for searching for something? The answer: No.

It’s an April Fool’s Joke and a publicity stunt.

The city of Topeka, Kan., offered to change its name to Google. So for April Fool’s Day, Google has become Topeka.

But it is not without some background. Ever since Google announced it plans to build — at no charge — an ultra-high speed broadband network for 50,000 to 500,000 customers in one or more American cities, city leaders across the country have been vying to be the first city with that fast network.

Starbucks is getting in on the April first fun, too. The coffee giant announced on its company blog that there will soon be two new drink sizes. “Plenta” is a hefty 128 ounces, while “Micra” is a tiny two ounces. Starbucks suggests once a customer is finished with a Plenta drink, the cup can be used for a rain hat or a lampshade. It says a Micra cup can be used as a milk dish for kittens or a paper clip holder.

That’s why Bill Bunten, the mayor of Topeka, Kan., issued a proclamation renaming his city Google for the month of March.

And, now, Google has responded in turn by saying that as of this morning it is now Topeka and that people who would normally say that before a date they “Googled” the man or woman they were going out with, should instead say “I did a Topeka search” on the person.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has criticized China’s censorship policies. But in an interview on Friday, she said Google’s decision about whether to cease search operations is a judgment for the company to make.

“This is really between Google and China,” Clinton said. “We are not going to be telling Google what to do.”

US companies feel increasingly unwelcome in China because of what they see as discrimination and inconsistent legal treatment, according to a survey.

The American Chamber of Commerce in China (ACCC) found 38% of its members felt unwelcome, from 26% last quarter.

Inconsistent regulation and judicial treatment topped the list of concerns for American businesses, ACCC found.

It follows alleged cyber attacks on Google, and Chinese claims that the firm is too close to the US government.

Companies surveyed by the ACCC cited claims that Beijing wanted to squeeze foreign technology companies out of the multi-billion dollar market for selling computers and office equipment to government departments.

New rules stipulate sellers of high-tech goods must contain Chinese intellectual property as part of an “indigenous innovation” campaign, in order for them to be included in a government procurement catalogue.

“The survey shows that US companies believe they face product discrimination in state-owned enterprise purchases, as well as in government procurement,” the survey said.

Of the American technology companies surveyed, 57% said they expected the preferential purchasing policy to have a negative impact on their operations in China while 37% said they were already losing sales.

Member-companies believed some policies in China were “increasingly restrictive and protectionist” which could limit foreign participation in the world’s third largest economy, the survey said.

The survey was released as the trial opened in Shanghai of four employees of Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto on allegations of bribery and espionage.

The defendants were arrested last July during contentious iron ore contract negotiations that later collapsed.

The big question in China isn’t why Google is leaving but who will take its market share. Microsoft wants it, Baidu’s a favorite, but local powers like Sohu and Tencent are more likely to be the big winners.

The days are winding down for some of the best and brightest who went to work for Google (GOOG, FORTUNE 500) in China over the last couple of years. They can’t say so publicly, of course—and some of the more than 700 employees who work at headquarters in Beijing will no doubt retain their jobs. But to say that others are fatalistic is to put it mildly. “What can we do?’’ says one computer scientist who has worked at Google China for more than two years. “If the search business in China is shut down, it’s shut down. If I have to find another job when it happens, I’ll do it. I don’t want to—I like it here—but I will.”

It’s no longer a matter of if, but when Google is forced to exit the search business in China—and when could be in a matter of weeks. The Mountain View giant’s extraordinary insistence that it would no longer censor the search results on Google.cn—the second leading search engine in the country with the most Internet users in the world—will soon lead to the demise of its Chinese language search business. The Chinese government was never going to negotiate with Google on the issue of censorship—particularly not after the U.S. government hitched its wagon to Google’s cause, in the form of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s January 21st speech on Internet freedom. In fact, it’s only within the last few days that anyone from the Chinese government has even conceded publicly that it was talking to Google at all. And while Google’s move may have sent a thrill up the leg of human rights activists the world over, a lot of investors were—and remain—furious. Since posting the announcement on its website January 12 that it would no longer censor, Google’s stock price has declined 5% to about $567 currently , while Baidu (BIDU), the leading search engine in China, has seen its stock price rise by 50%.

The reason for that is obvious. January 12 was, in effect, the starting point for the next phase of competition in China’s search market: the battle for Google’s share, which is about one third in terms of search revenue. The most obvious potential foreign beneficiary is Bing, Microsoft’s (MSFT, Fortune 500) new search entry. And while it may not exactly have been handed the keys to a very rich kingdom, the executives there understand their good fortune—and have not been shy about subtly sticking the knife into Google. On March 17, Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s strategy chief, told the China Daily, a daily, English language house organ of the Communist Party, that “we feel good enough now (about Microsoft’s position in China),” and added: “But it’s a 20 year (journey) and not just three years.” While Bing has yet to make a dent in China—its market share is less than 1%— Mundie stated the obvious when he said that the company stood to gain share in Google’s wake. And, he couldn’t help but add: “Microsoft is here to stay.”

That’s no doubt true. But it’s also true of several other domestic Internet companies who are moving swiftly to capitalize on Google’s (choose one) self-inflicted wound/inspirational stand. Numerous sources says both Sohu.com (SOHU), a Yahoo-like website founded by MIT graduate Charles Zhang, and a hugely successful instant messaging company called Tencent Holdings, are already aggressively trying to hire Google China staff. (Google China declined to comment.) Neither has much of a presence yet in search: both have less than 1% of the market. But both were already investing significantly in search even before Google’s ultimatum in January, and are now obviously even more determined to take on Baidu.

Analysts believe that of the two, Tencent has the better position to capitalize, given its dominant position in China’s booming instant messaging business. According to estimates by Analysys International, nearly 70% of China’s 400 million Internet users use instant messaging, and of those, 80% use Tencent’s QQ program. That’s the major reason why Tencent’s current market capitalization is bigger than Baidu’s, and an insider at the company acknowledges that search “is very much” a target of opportunity.

All of the potential usurpers do what the Chinese government requires: they censor their search results (as, still, does Google): random searches on all three platforms on March 17 for “Tiananmen Square, 1989,” and “Falun Gong”—two hot buttons as far as Beijing is concerned—prompted the usual government approved pablum about both subjects. If Microsoft and the others intend to be “here to stay,” as Mundie put it, there is no chance—none— that that will change for any of them going forward.

Facebook has dethroned Google! Sort of! Well, ok, not really. For the week ending March 13, the social networking site got more traffic than its competitor in the United States, according to a blog post by industry tracker Hitwise. But be careful how you slice your numbers. While many pundits may use this data to validate predictions that Facebook will eventually beat Google (GOOG) at its own game, the social networking startup has yet to pull ahead in any real sense.

Social-networking star Facebook surpassed Google to become the most visited website in the United States for the first time last week, industry analysts showed.

The “important milestone,” as described by Hitwise director of research Heather Dougherty, came as Facebook enjoyed a massive 185 percent increase in visits in the same period, compared to the same week in 2009.

By comparison, visits to search engine home Google.com increased only nine percent in the same time–although the tracker does not include Google property sites such as the popular Gmail email service, YouTube and Google Maps.

Taken together, Facebook.com and Google.com amounted to 14 percent of the entire US Internet visits last week, Dougherty said.

Google has been positioning challenges in recent months to Facebook and the micro-blogging site Twitter by adding the social-networking feature Buzz to its Gmail service.

In what could signal an escalating battle between Facebook and Google, the leading social-networking service celebrated its sixth birthday earlier this year with changes including a new message inbox that echoes Gmail’s format.

Facebook boasts some 400 million users while Gmail had 176 million unique visitors in December, according to tracking firm comScore.

As of last Friday, even searchers who aren’t logged into Google in any way have their data tracked in the name of providing a ‘better service’.

Anonymous cookie

The company explained: “What we’re doing today is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well. This addition enables us to customise search results for you based upon 180 days of search activity linked to an anonymous cookie in your browser.”

However, if you’ve previously been a fan of the log-out method to avoid being tracked, there’s still the option to disable the cookie by clicking a link at the top right of a search results page.