The more I read this site that's critical of Google [1], the less I understand what the heck Google [2] is trying to do (and yes, I realize the site in question is heavily biased against Google, but unlike some other sites [3], this one doesn't come across like a conspriacy laden crack pot [4]).
I always thought that Google made their money selling intranet (read: large private networks) search appliances and that the IPO (Initial Public Offering) [5] was a legal requirement due to their number of outstanding shares. But from their recent filing [6] (link via this page [7]) they're no longer making the money they once were—perhaps they saturated the intranet search market?
I just don't understand what's going on inside Google.
Anyways, I decided to check how the Google AdSense [8] is doing, and lo! I've made some money! I'm now up to stratospheric $8.19! I can afford lunch! Woot! I'm guessing some of the changes I've made behind the scenes have actually worked (basically, adding <!-- google_ad_section_start --> and <!-- google_ad_section_end --> around the actual content) so the Google Ads get to stay for the moment.
I also checked Amazon [9] and while I'm doing way better with them, it's actually less money than I made in the same amount of time last year—I think the “mad money” I made with Amazon had more to do with timing [10] than anything else.
[1] http://www.fuckedgoogle.com/
[3] http://www.google-watch.org/
[6] http://finance.yahoo.com/q/is?s=GOOG
[7] http://www.fuckedgoogle.com/fuckedgoogle/2006/04/the_numbers_don.html
[8] https://www.google.com/adsense/
[9] http://associates.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/