An extension that applies the method of the Focus on the User bookmarklet without the need to click it every time you want to use it. Focus on the User modifies Google Search results so that the most relevant social network profiles (as ranked by Google itself) appears on the new sidebar and autocomplete instead of empty Google+ profiles.

After listening to his answers, Senator Al Franken (D-Minnesota) stated, “I am skeptical of big companies that control both information and distribution to that information. Your incentives shift and people have reason to worry that you won’t play fair.” Noting a slight hesitation from Schmidt before answering a previous question about whether all of Google’s results reflect an unbiased algorithm, Franken railed against him, “We are trying to have hearing here about whether you favor your own stuff, and you admittedly don’t know the answer.”

First comparison tool that also lists Southwest flights (sans prices).

The difference is that Apple actually invented the technology it accused HTC — and by proxy, Google — of “stealing” (to use Steve Jobs’ verb). One of the patents Apple cited in its 2010 suit — Patent No. No. 7479949 — is a 358-page document signed by Jobs himself that covers everything from the way a finger touches the screen of a smartphone to the heuristics that turn those touches into commands.

HTC and Google, by contrast, are accusing Apple (whose smartphone designs they have plainly copied) of violating patents they bought fourth or fifth hand.

“Patents were meant to encourage innovation,” Google’s chief legal counsel David Drummond wrote last month in his famous open letter

“When patents attack Android.” Google’s enemies, he complained, were using “bogus” patents to try to “strangle” Android.

“Fortunately,” he added, “the law frowns on the accumulation of dubious patents for anti-competitive means.”

Indeed.

“They have lots of people, lots of servers, they have Android, they have Google Docs, they just bought Motorola. Most people would say ‘we’re the users, and the product is advertising’,” he said. “But in fact the advertisers are the users and you are the product.”

Then he went further. “They say their goal is to gather all the knowledge in the world in one place, but really their goal is to gather all of the people in the world and sell them.”

Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday downgraded Google’s stock (NASDAQ: GOOG) to a “sell” from a “buy” in the wake of the search giant’s $12.5 billion acquisition Monday of Motorola Mobility. S&P lowered Google’s price target to $500 from $700.

That’s because in buying Motorola Mobility, Google acquired a low-margin device manufacturer with a huge payroll. In contrast, Google’s core business — online advertising revenue derived from its market-leading search engine — generates tremendous margins.

We salute Google’s devoir to providing santurary Android and its confederates.

Well, it’s not like Motorola was going anywhere with their crappy Droids and Xooms. Android fans will keep enjoying their Samsung and HTC phones. Google will try to get revenge against Microsoft and Apple’s patent trove acquisition with Motorola’s 17,000 mobile tech patents. Android vendors are praising the deal—probably because they don’t want to pay any more licensing fees over patents.

MMI is up 66%, while NOK is up 25% and RIMM is up 16% with the great news.