Google has updated and enhanced the UI for its Advanced Search page. In addition to the recent “date range” options that expand from the menu, Google has now added topic-specific searches.

In effect, that’s Google’s answer to the explosive growth of vertical search engines. Tip of the hat to Chris Granier for highlighting this change in Twitter.

Topic-specific search engines from Google now include:

* Google Book Search
* Google Code Search
* Google Scholar
* Google News archive search
* Apple Macintosh
* BSD Unix
* Linux
* Microsoft
* U.S. Government
* Universities

With Google’s “search-within-a-search” box option, Google has the option of expanding vertical search exponentially. Any site that offers “site search” in a specific vertical could become a repository of vertical knowledge.

Which company is the first to exploit Google’s new Advanced Search option?

Microsoft.

As Macintosh computers make some inroads into the enterprise, they are still behind in certain areas of corporate communications. On Tuesday, Microsoft took a step toward closing a bit of that gap by releasing its Messenger for Mac 7 with audio and video support, if users are connected via Office Communications Server 2007.

With Communications Server 2007 and the newest Messenger for Mac on a corporate system, users can have face-to-face instant messaging, audio/video meetings — and even multi-party conferencing — with others both inside and outside their office. This includes people using Windows PCs and users of the Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo Messenger services. It does not support communication with AOL Instant Messenger or people using .Mac accounts.

Supports Bonjour, Easy Searching

Messenger 7, which now supports the Bonjour service-discovery functionality that is built into the Mac operating system, is available as a free download. It requires Mac OS X 10.4.9, Windows Live ID for personal accounts, or Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 for enterprise users.

The new offering also makes it easier for enterprise workers to search a corporate address book from within Messenger, or to find internal contacts. A user can see which contacts are connected to a local network and, for example, if you have two contacts named Sam, you can assign nicknames. Contacts can be located in large buddy lists via a search-as-you-type box. The company also said that communications have increased security within the corporate network.

New “presence” enhancements in Messenger also allow users to add a personal message to contact information, so that you can let others know when you’re available for chatting. Mac users with a Windows Live account can also share files and other communications through Messenger 7.

No Audio/Video When Stand-Alone

On officeformac.com, the blog for Microsoft’s Office for Mac team, a team…

Apple’s surprising purchase of P.A. Semi, a niche chip designer, for $278 million has analysts and journalists trying to make sense of the deal and what it means for future products.

P.A. Semi is a 150-person company specializing in high-performance, low-power processors for the PowerPC platform — the very platform Apple dumped a few years ago in favor of Intel chips for the Macintosh. P.A. Semi was founded in 2003 by Dan Dobberpuhl, a long-time Digital Equipment designer. He was a lead designer for DEC’s Alpha and StrongARM processors in the 1990s.

Apple has been talking to P.A. Semi for about three years, just before abandoning the PowerPC line, Forbes reported. At that time, Dobberpuhl was talking about designing super-powerful chips that drew little power, but Apple ultimately chose to move the Mac to the Intel platform, Forbes said.

P.A. Semi boasts an impressive team of designers. Besides Dobberpuhl’s work on DEC chips, its designers have worked on Intel’s Itanium, AMD’s Opteron and Sun’s UltraSparc. Last year, P.A. Semi released a 64-bit dual-core microprocessor that consumes a mere five to 13 watts running at two gigahertz. The company said it was 300 percent more efficient than any other chip.

‘Total Control’

So what could Apple do with this kind of know-how? Tina Teng, a wireless analyst at iSuppli, doubts Apple is just looking at controlling designs for future version of iPhone chips, which are currently supplied by Samsung. “Just to have an internal design for a product that’s going to be ready in the short term … it’s too much investment,” Teng said. She thinks Apple is looking down the road to a next-generation product, where Apple can benefit from “having total control of what areas P.A. will focus on.”

That’s not to say P.A. Semi won’t be involved in designing chips for the iPhone….

It’s been another boffo quarter for Apple. On Wednesday, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company announced revenue of $7.51 billion for its second quarter, compared to $5.26 billion a year ago.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs said the company was “delighted to report 43 percent revenue growth and the strongest March-quarter revenue and earnings in Apple’s history.” Looking ahead to the third quarter, Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said the company expects revenue of about $7.2 billion.

51 Percent Growth for Macs

The quarter’s net profit was $1.05 billion, versus $770 million in the same quarter last year. The gross margin, however, was down from last year’s 35.1 percent, to 32.9 percent.
Some financial analysts have noted that the gross-profit margin came in below expectations, while net income was higher.

Macintosh computers showed a 51 percent unit growth and 54 percent revenue growth compared with the year-ago quarter, and iPods had a one percent unit growth and an eight percent revenue growth. Actual sales were nearly 2.3 million Macs and about 10.6 million iPods.

Globally, the company sold 7.8 million desktop and notebook computers. Its growth rate worldwide for computers was 38 percent, more than twice that of the industry average. In the U.S., the NPD Group reported last month that Apple’s share of the market was 14 percent, up from nine percent at the same time last year

The tiny increase sales growth for the iPod stems from the fact that it has been so successful, with the market saturated. Apple has lowered prices on some units, but it has also been replacing the growth in iPod hardware sales with its still-growing online music sales.

iTunes, iPhones

Apple sold about $880 million worth of music and accessories in the quarter from its iTunes Store, 35 percent higher than a year ago. And the iTunes Store was recently named by…

The 20-year death grip that Microsoft has held on the core of computing is finally weakening — pried loose with just two fingers. With one finger you press “Control” and with the other you press “right arrow.” Instantly you switch from a Macintosh operating system [OS] to a Microsoft Windows OS. Then, with another two-finger press, you switch back again. So as you edit family pictures, you might use Mac’s iPhoto. And when you want to access your corporate e-mail, you can switch back instantly to Microsoft Exchange.

This easy toggling on an Apple computer, enabled by a feature called Spaces, was but an interesting side note to last fall’s upgrade of the Mac OS. But coupled with other recent developments, the stars are aligning in a very intriguing pattern. Apple’s recent release of a tool kit for programmers to write applications for the iPhone will be followed by the June launch of iPhone 2.0, a software upgrade geared toward business users.

Taken together, these seemingly unrelated moves are taking the outline of a full-fledged strategy. Windows users, in the very near future, will be free to switch to Apple computers and mobile devices, drawn by a widening array of Mac software, without suffering the pain of giving up critical Windows-based applications right away. The easy virtualization of two radically different operating systems on a single desktop paves a classic migration path. Business users will be tempted. Apple is positioning itself to challenge Microsoft for overall computing dominance — even in the corporate realm.

Kernel of Computing Might

Such an idea rarely finds expression in public. Apple today is a “consumer-products company.” Each new Apple product unveiled — from iPod to iPhone — comes with the excitement and glamor of Steve Jobs’ “reality distortion field.” Yet if you look at the larger picture, broader…