For one, it didn’t work that often; you were greeted with a message explaining that the server was going through a mid-life crisis. And the results were less than enthralling (try a search for ‘cuil’ on Cuilcom – the search engine doesn’t know that it exists).

Still, early days. The evidence of the last 24 hours is that the ‘server sweating’ warnings have faded away, which gets over the largest hurdle.

That said, I’m not sure I can see any magic in the way Cuil does its stuff: the results are shown over two or three columns, which presents its own problems. And there are few options within the Preferences pane to customise your experience. One to watch, maybe, but Google can sleep safely for now.

For Google’s own good they should not try to take over their own search results. If Google results start showing 20-30% Knol pages and YouTube videos then that is going to drive users away from Google in search of more diversity.

I’ll guarantee that thousands of companies around the globe are microwaving a strategy of their own to deal with Knol. If indeed Google is favouring its own site in search results (so breaking one of their promises never to become a content provider), then any self-respecting website publisher will be forced to play the Knol game.

It’s worth saying here that Calacanis has an interest in Knol falling at the first hurdle (his Mahalo ‘human-powered search’ aims to turn Google’s weapons on itself). But regardless, he has a point: will I stop using Google when the first page of every return is a Google-owned link (and hey, let’s remember – until Friday, Google was showing strong interest in buying Digg)?

And ask yourself this – what cheaper way is there of building a vast social network using free material? You couldn’t make this stuff up.

Blink in disbelief – Google’s home page has gone black as a sign of support for Earth Hour.

Until a few days ago, the apparent invisibility of comments from story subjects made the Google move somewhat toothless – Old Media had, it seemed, caused a fuss over nothing. But Google is nothing if not dogged, and lo and behold News has begun to feature links showing all recent replies for the good folk featured in ‘its’ stories. This one’ll run and run.

But now there’s Google Checkout Trends, the search equivalent of every retailer opening their ledgers to the world’s prying eyes. Well, almost.

As you can see from this rather drab chart, the XBox appears to be battering the PS3 into the ground. But as with Google Trends, everything is rather dependent on which pairs of terms you tap in – try ‘XBox 360, Playstation 3′ and the dramatic difference between the red and blue graph lines narrows.

Checkout Trends has two other controls: price range and period of time. The latter is particularly cool: I began by comparing the 360 with the Nintendo Wii, the basic keyword search showing the pair running fairly close. But zoom into the last five days, and the Wii is outgunning the 360 two to one.

Wikia Search went live today.

So what? So it’s the brainchild of one Jimmy Whales, the clever chap who brought you Wikipedia. So there’s just a remote chance that it may fly.

The search results are, so far, pretty damn poor, and many of the preferences do not work. But as the world gets stuck in and begins to rate those returns, so they’ll improve (tricky right now, as the star ratings that accompany each entry in a return are disabled), and doubtless the various features will get switched on in the coming weeks.

I created a profile in minutes: register, and it prompts you to create a profile page with such vital social stats as your favourite music and movies. Nice, but I’d prefer to flaunt this blog and my Flickr profile, thanks.

But once registered, you can edit. Run a search, and you’ll see a Mini Guide entry that should be relevant to your string. If there isn’t an entry already there, you’re asked to start one. It’s that easy.

Thing is, I reckon every business in the world will pile in once the word gets around: although you’re warned not to spam, the temptation to big up the thing that pays your wages is too great to resist.

Which is precisely the thing that Wikipedia suffers from. But then, the value of Wikipedia vastly outweighs any downsides – and even in this early alpha phase, it’s clear that Wikia has the same potential.

For instance, the tool comes three weeks after National Legal and Policy Center Chairman Ken Boehm blasted Google for allowing some 300 instances of pirated content on Google Video.The NLPC researched Google Video from Sept. 10 to Sept. 18 and found 300 cases of apparently copyrighted films, which logged more than 22 million views in the past year.

Google Watch – YouTube – Google Launches Anti-piracy Tool for YouTube

• Bring every social profile together in one place: YouTube, Flickr, Digg, Facebook, the lot.
• Include an IM client in the Friends interface.
• Include a way of seeing what other people are reading.
• Ensure that you can export everything if you tire of the service

And running through that list again, you realise just how close Google is to delivering the killer blow.

The meeting was so secret that all attendees had to sign confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements strictly forbidding them from discussing what was shown to them at the meeting. Notwithstanding that NDA, I’ve now spoken with three of the attendees off record to get an understanding of what Google is planning. Google’s goal – to fight Facebook by being even more open than the Facebook Platform. If Facebook is 98% open, Google wants to be 100%.

Google To “Out Open” Facebook On November 5