Google Page Rank

Those of you with the Google Toolbar may be familiar with Google's "Page Rank" score, a 1 to 10 ranking based on the relevance, number of links and general "authority" of a particular website. Sites like Yahoo, MSN, Amazon.com and Google get a 10. (Google reportedly actually gets an 11.)

This blog has a PR of zero. Which is actually not bad for a very new site, since it is at least ranked. (Unranked is less than a zero.) The interesting point? This blog's Google cache has a Page Rank of 3.

Summer of Code

Google has announced an initiative to get students involved developing Open Source software.

The Summer of Code is Google's program designed to introduce students to the world of Open Source Software Development.

This Summer, don't let your programming skills lie fallow...Use them for the greater good of Open Source Software and computer science! Google will provide a $4500 award to each student who successfully completes an open source project by the end of the Summer. (payment details can be found in FAQ)

Hat tip to Google's (Official) Blog.

Orkut: Google and Social Networking

Orkut, Google's social networking site, is not news, but I just joined and had a few comments.

First, it has an interesting feel and a good clean user interface as we'd expect of a Google product.

Second, they have demographics for their users available and I was surprised to find out that over 2/3 of the users are from Brazil.

Finally, it is invitation only. It's intended to be a system where friends are linked through friends. There are people selling or giving away invitations to anyway, but I quickly found an actual friend who was a member and joined that way. Of course, if you're a friend of mine (or become a friend through this blog), I'll invite you.