The web’s largest reference work, Wikipedia, is in danger of losing its predominance to a new Google kid on the block, named “knol”.

Google engineer, Udi Manber, said, knol will invite “people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it”.

The name knol derives from “knowledge” and the service will be free to read online. However, knol’s authors will be able to attach advertising to their work and take a share of revenues. “The goal is for knol to cover all topics, from scientific concepts to entertainment,” Udi Manber said.

The Times (London) reports, “The project is the latest to distance Google from its roots in internet search and pitch it against well-established rivals in a new sector. The company recently squared up to the mobile phone industry by unveiling its own operating system for hand-held devices. It is also set to bid for a portion of America’s airwaves that it could use to build a wireless broadband network.”

Knol is currently an invitation-only beta service but it’s likely to be open to the public within months.

“In October, Wikipedia, which relies on donations for funds, was visited by 107 million people, or a third of the “active global internet population”, according to Nielsen Online, the analyst. That made it the eighth most-visited online destination.”

As expected, Google has confirmed it will bid for the 700MHz wireless spectrum at auction in the United states.

The Sears Building on Google Earth

The bidding will place the company in competition with big telcos like AT&T and Verizon.

Investors have not taken the news with total delight, however, many worried about the projected cost of $10bn to build out a wireless network.

Google’s recent concentration on mobile telephony fits in with this latest move beyond its core business of search and online advertising.

We’ve known for a while the Google doesn’t like sites with paid links. Along with many other attempts to game the Google algorithm and obtain unfair advantage in search results, it’s thought that text links are a bad thing, period.

I’ve written a post on this subject over on Syntagma, which has been hit twice by the PR penalty.

Read the piece here.

Google’s share price hit a new high on Friday, reflecting the company’s push into new ways for advertisers to reach its massive online audience.

Yahoo News reports, “Google’s shares peaked at $560.79 before falling back to finish at $560.10, up $7.27, or 1.3 percent. The rally eclipsed Google’s previous record high of $558.58 attained in mid-July, just days before the Mountain View-based company disillusioned investors with a second-quarter profit below analyst estimates”.

Google has a market value of almost $175 billion, more than Hewlett-Packard and IBM. The stock has increased six-fold from its IPO price of $85 in August 2004.

The Federal Reserve Bank’s decision to lower short-term interest rates by 0.5 percentage points means Google stands to benefit because it runs the largest advertising network on the Internet.

Despite challenges, Google has been able to widen its lead in search — the activity that triggers the text-based ad links that have become a huge moneymaker for the Mountain View company.

Google now handles 54 percent of all U.S. search requests. Yahoo lags well behind at 20 percent followed by Microsoft at 13 percent.

Google earned $1.9 billion on $7.5 billion in revenue during the first half of this year. That will increase during the second half because of the Christmas/Holidays shopping season.

According to Yahoo News, “Several industry analysts already are forecasting Google shares will soon surpass $600. The stock eclipsed $500 for the first time 10 months ago”.