Bonus gadget giveaway: Win some crazy AM/FM radio from Google

It took us a little longer than we hoped to judge the last couple of days of last week's Five Days of Holiday Giveaways (hey, occasionally we do leave the house), but to make up for it we've got a bonus contest for you this week. This time it's a gadget you can't buy in any store: this AM/FM radio with weird pulsating lights from Google, of all places. We're not sure why it glows, but we have enough glowing things around here already, so we figured we'd give you guys a shot at it. This time around—since it is a Google-gadget—here's what we're going to do: tell us what you would do if you were in charge of Google, and the best answer, as determined by the editors of Engadget and a couple of special guest judges (namely Weblogs, Inc. co-founders Brian Alvey and Jason Calacanis).

Click to see a few more pics.

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[Jeremiah Owen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would integrate an RSS search tool so you can find some great feeds, oh and integrate a torrent serach tool as well :)

[Matt Rist @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of google, I would continue to have google be a "fun" company. Workers would actually have good benefits, and we would try new methods of making the work place better. We would have trial programs like "at work napping", BYB2W (bring your baby to work), Bubble Blowing Stress Relief, and other wacky things that just might make the workplace better. I would make google's image remain light and fun, yet intelligent.

[Jeremiah Owen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Doh! Must learn how to spell "search" not serach!

[Michael Katz @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

i would personally add in the ability to choose a meta search or not....it gets annoying when you search for say "weapons of mass destruction" and due to how pages link to a page...it gets higher ranking....it wont take long till a search for say cake....will lead to a porno site......thats not really needed.....and thats also why i dont use it too much

[Mike Podruchny @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google, I would already have one of those pulsating radios.

[Alexandre Gapihan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would make endgadget.com the number one search result for all tech weblogs ;)

[Zack @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google, I would take over the world, one person at a time. With radioactive sheep. And peanut butter. All embossed with the I'm Feeling Lucky slogan.

[Jack Byrne @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I owned Google I would do 2 things.

One: add a search option to view webpage thumbnails (like icerocket)

Two: Start offering investment services (stocks) with their integrated news.google.com "alerts" function. Being a daytrader with an integrated, instant, source for news that includes almost every journal and paper in the world, all searching for information on the stocks you're investing in would be __invaluable__.

[Kunal @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Acquire Microsoft, and bring order to the Galaxy.

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of google, I would buy about 400 billboards accross the United states. These would be electronic billboards in the form of a giant color LCD screen. On the billboard would be Engadget's website and it would update about every 5 minutes. This way people accross the United States would know who is the best at providing technology advancements in the World. They would also occassionaly have live feeds so you can have a news network as well. It's time to take on the world.

[David Cottingham @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google, I would rule the world!

[Camron Johnson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

i would link all the colleges and university libraries with links to textbook page numbers for hard cover references.

[kelly @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

while this may or may not be a money making proposition, it is what I would like to see in way of content.

take the library content idea one step further and start Google History. Digitally capture displays, historical documents, art work, etc from some of the major museums around the world. start with the Smithsonian, Museum of Natural History, the Louvre, the Uffizi... I would be fascinated. Plus, so many museums have vast collections of which only a portion are on display, definitely in the public interest.

[Phil Ackley @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of the world, I mean google, I'd put together some kind of public records search. Court records, real estate, etc, birth and deaths, etc, etc, etc. It would be searchable by jurisdiction, as well date, name, whatever.

[Brad Spry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Google Gadget News of course! It would be patterned after Google News, but just focus on all things gadget.

Of course I'd program the gadget news bot to favor Engadget news, and bubble those stories to the top.

[Phenostar @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I'd add a facial recognition system. Upload the image of an actor or actress or singer, etc whom you'd like to know more about and google breaks it down biometrically and searches a database of pictures to find those similar to what the person uploaded. Just something I've been wanting to see for a while.

[dirk van stralen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of google, I'd direct the powerful search engines to look for the Missing Link. Or Jimmy Hoffa.

[Jim @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

if I were in charge of Google, I would send every reader of Engadget a crazy radio.

[Todd Sinclair @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would develop a Dewey Decimal type system that would help better refine searches.

Websites would be given a classification code much like that used by libraries (heck, why re-invent the wheel? Let's use the same system).

Now when someone wants to do a search they would enter the keywords and also the area(s) they want to limit the search to. i.e. show me all the entries about King George in both (and/or Boolean operator) 130 (Occult) and 616 (diseases).

This methodology could also be used to filter out things, such as p0rn. i.e. show me all entries about sausage excluding the 1100 (adult) category.

[TheZodiac @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If google were mine, I would:

buy "booble" and make it all porn... because, well, why not?

[jason glaspey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would do two things right off the bat. Let everybody know that things aren't going to change. That Google will still be Google in five years. Then, and I would only do this because I want it, I would have them use their same model of offering Corporate Business Solutions, like the Google Search Appliance, and offer hosted email for large companies. At the moment, I'm the lone IT guy at a 15 person company, and we pay for the the most average email service with our hosting. Gmail is far better in options, webmail functionality, pop3, and most importantly, their spam filter dominates anything that we can find.
So, offer corporate Gmail to businesses, and get rich... (wait, they already are...)
That's what I'd do.

[young @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

if i were in charge of google, i would create a universal language translator that automatically translates every foreign webpage into my language, automatically without me worrying about translation. the point is to do research that is not limited to one type of language, but every language in the world. every foreign language web-page would be translated to my language automatically. why should my search be limited to my language only?

[Mark Taddeo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would establish a 0.001 cent click-per-hit automated database tied in with every word that is entered into the search engine and corresponding commercial sites who advertise with Google would need to nominate a figure within their advertising budget that pays between a certain Minimum and Maximum amount to various Charities.

[Alex @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would partner with ncbi.nlm.nih.gov so that people could search DNA sequences and protein sequences as quickly as they search for Britney Spears.

With this, you could get a LOT of science academia hooked to google (hopefully, in the same way as w/ the new book scanning projects).

[KnipSter @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I'd continue with the investment in scanning library material, but then begin to collect/index Legal Documents and Public Records and compete head to head with the powerhouses of Westlaw and Lexis Nexis.

[George Sanderson @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would continuously reinvent the Internet information delivery services, by coupling classical marketing strategies with innovative ideas and the next "hot application".

My cornerstone priorities:
1) Customers 2) Employees 3) Community
4) Investors

[Dennis Grinberg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I'd buy engadget of course. For lots of cash. Followed closely by a purchase of Flickr.

Seriously, I would transform the company into becoming a provider of distributed infrastructure solutions, along the lines of what Amazon is doing.

[harish @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

how bout add a new search feature to find all the terrorist cells all over the world complete with names, addresses, ie all the usual contact info. then, of course, after each entry provide a "notify local police" link! :-)

[gerbick @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google...

I'd make all of the searches go to pictures of Lindsay Lohan.

(I'm still a bit unhappy about not winning the phone)

[Greg @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would make Google:
- search results sortable by column (URL, page name, ranking, etc.)
- allow users to subjectively rate pages (not just based on click-through popularity)
- make Froogle more NexTag-like with shipping costs based on zip
- archive everything, similar to archive.org
- update the image search database already!
- host Picasa albums free on their web servers
- make Keyhole free for personal use

[Jake @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would divert a lot of money and effort into mental implants and enhancements. This could start completely "out-of-body" with a system that just recorded all of the video and audio of your life, and then used patter matching, OCR, voice rec., etc. to let you google your life (so, kind of like Google desktop... so, "mindtop", "braintop", or "lifetop").

Eventually, this could be integrated into a brain implant (this isn't really that far-fetched) that could just sit on the memory centers of your brain, and let you search not only the new stuff that's coming in, but old memories that you just have a hard time conjuring up.

So, for example, you could search for "grandma" and get some old pictures, audio clips, and various other keepsakes. This would also be great on final exams, when you just can't remember that friggin rediculous long Laplace transform rule.

Well that's what /I/ would do.

[Brad Denton @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google, I'd begin Operation Wipeout, which would involve the archiving of the Google archives. Archiving the entire mass of Google within Google, and thus Googling Google itself, should generate enough paradoxical force to destabilize the very fabric of reality, and thus bring about an end to the entire universe as we know it.

Damnit, I hate this time of year.

[patrick kinne @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

if i was in charge of google, i would improve the adult content filter, especially in image search. my little brother doesnt need to see robot pr0n everytime he searches for gundam wing

[Dave MacCarn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge at Google, I would start a project to combat technological obsolesce. While we are storing all the web pages and photos of our life, there is no insurance that we will be able to view these items in the near future. Finding it will be easy using Google but will we be able to play that flash animation, view that baby picture or read that word document?

[John @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google...

I'd keep running it the same was the founders have.

[Perry @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google...

I'd do some evil. (But only a little.)

[dalton @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google, I would immediately get started on the Google Cortex. The Google Cortex is a small chip implanted in your brain that allows you to access Google from anywhere via wireless technology.

All you need to do is think to yourself "cortex.google.com", and the search interface appears in a heads-up display. Think of a query, and the results appear instantly. Think of a result, and the page opens in Google's Firefox based browser (ported to the HumanOS), so as to avoid any nasty ActiveX based trojans or viruses in your head.

How many times have you thought, "If only I had Google in my brain, I'd know the answer to that question!" Maps, historical facts and figures, the daily news...you name it. All your friends will be so envious of your wicked bar trivia skills, and never be the wiser.

[Jorge Casanova @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would make a couple of sister sites that are in the same realm of strength that Google is in, searching, Google Real Estate, Google Cars. The problem is that there are to many sites for these things and none of them are the standard for any one, Google can Portal all sites for Real Estate lets say and become the standard for all home selling, same for cars, apartments etc. Adobe makes standards for the imaging world, Google can do the same for searching?

[Ted @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would form an alliance with the Department of Homeland Security and the new office of Intelligence and mine all the data Google already has about everyone (the non-personal indentifier but still unique signature) and sell it to them. After all, Google's privacy policy is wisely already a wide open barn door to using this data in anyway that I want!

Thus, not only would I make a ton of money (billions upon billions) but at the same time I would end terrorism, world hunger, the AIDS situation and create world peace for all mankind for all time. And, in the spirit of charity, I would take 1% of my profits and cut your taxes by a penny.

[QDoG1369 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Add a Google BOT that learns and creates a RSS feed based on things that I have searched for in the past. But must not be as lame as Amazon or Netflix reccomendations. A bold bookmark on the sidebar will do with a header entitled "Yo B! Check out the other stuff I found, yo."

[Chris @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I'd archive Google News with the Wayback Machine, so you can see what was happening, say, June 14, 2002, at 12:30.

[NLUC @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Google should implement a search function to find the EXACT string entered. Using quotes doesn't work if the string itself contains quotes or a wildcard indicator like *. Try searching for *ist '*ist' or "*ist" and see how many pages of search results you have to pour over to find the Pentax *ist digital camera.
Now imagine simply checking a box indicating "return only EXACT matches" and having the search return only those results.

[PHRED @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of google, I would do a few things.

To start off, I would present Paris Hilton and P.Diddy both with Swarovski encrusted Google radios just because they need another cool bling bling gadget. I would integrate a video search tool like yahoo's. I would develop a ticker at the top of the page that users can customize. It would display the user's favorite rss feed (of course, the defauld would be engadget). I would employ filtering personel to completely obliterate fraudulent advertisements and things people just dont want to see. I would maintain google just the way it is, simple, clean, effectful, and likable. Finally, if anyone searches for the words God or Savior, engadget would be the "I feel lucky!" link.

[DJ Hardcore McFancypants @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I was in charge of google I would create a personalized "My Google" in three steps. First Partner with Amazon, Netflix etc to allow google to search their sites for products (Synergy baby!). Then I would create an optional google login that keeps track of all your searches and products you buy or like. Last step I would incorporate all your search data, amazon purchases, movie review, etc into the worlds largest dating-matchmaking service ever all all for free!

[shrew @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I would slowly take over the other search engines, then the email accounts, soon i would make a computer company, then take over other computer companies, and when people say that i can't have a monopoly over the industry i would send my 'goons' after them, cause hey, i'm frickin' ruler of the world.

[Bob @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I actually received one of these funky mood light/radios. Here's what I'd do to this gadget if I were Google...I'd add WiFi connectivity to it. Then, as users listened to music or talk radio, the device would connect to Google with information based on the song or show I was listening to and feed back cool pictures, which would then be displayed on the device. As U2 plays, concert shots of Bono appear. As the news rolls, images from Google News appear. Might be licensing/copyright issues, but it would fun to watch.

[Jeff Jewell @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

1. I would add Video and audio searches, similar to the Image search that already exists. The web is loaded with sound and video content that is very hard to find sometimes.

2. Several people already mentioned the public records search. It should include Census, birth and death records to help reach that HUGE family history research segment.

3. Partner with large pay sites to allow indexing of their sites to direct traffic to them. This will add a new revenue stream for Google and provide new customers to pay sites.

4. Take a really long vacation with my pulsating radio to the beach because, hey, I'm the head of Google. I can afford it.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

If I were in charge of Google, I'd work with the television and movie industry to make all television shows and movies searchable. This would include scripts and actual video. Say, for instance, you remembered Kramer saying "You mean to say that you drugged a woman so you could take advantage of her toys?" but you don't remember which episode. You could search for it and also have it play the clip.

You'd also be able to search for movies that have scenes of the Empire State Building in the background, for example, because there would be metadata desribing backdrops of each scene, etc.

[Tucker @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

I'll tell you what I'd do, man, two chicks at the same time, man.

[That's it? If you were in charge of google, you'd do two chicks at the same time?]

Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I was in charge of google I could hook that up, cause chicks dig a dude with a big search engine.

[Well, not all chicks.]

Well the kind of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.

[Ryan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:08AM]

Id sell it and chill.