Anna Patterson quit her job at Google in 2006, a place she only had the opportunity to work for approximately two years after her previous product, Recall, had been purchased by the search engine behemoth.

Now, Patterson and a number of PhDs spend their time working on Cuil (pronounced “cool”) that has a unique way of delivering search results that remind me of ad-like objects. The results bring you a logo, description and link in a grid-like delivery that looks nice but could present user experience issues down the road.

Image is everything?

Cuil places an image from the destination site in the search results to make it easier for the user to make a choice. Sometimes the image will be unrecognizable (such as a screen grab or an article headline graphic), but for the most part a person searching for a business or blog will immediately be presented with a frame of reference from the intended result. For example, executing a search for “Coke” directly from the Cuil home page will present the user with an image of a can of Coke. Nice idea.

Of course, if you decide to search for something too old or unknown to have an image, such as Mary Magdeleine, you’ll need to *gasp* read the text to make sure you’re headed to the right place.

Tabs are the new black

Tabs are the right way to handle groupings on sites or applications that offer too much information to digest in one bite. Cuil uses a tab metaphor for group like objects based on the search criteria (with the obvious “best matches” placed into the parent browser window). As you search for, let’s say, BMW, a set of tabs are presented to give you close alternatives (in this case: BMW M3, BMW X5, and BMW Parts). Ethan, please note: I care about the Oxford comma.

Columns, please

So! Here’s where I start to wonder about the presentation model and user experience. Cuil has made the decision to place the results in a text-heavy and real-estate hogging design which is easy to use but contradicts the traditional revenue model for online advertising.

In the bottom-right corner of the UI is the option to choose between 2 and 3 column layouts. How the team will decide where and when to present high-paying advertisements is up for grabs, but it looks like they have a couple of options, especially if they intend to have sponsored categories or sponsored results.

But, with $33 million in venture capital raised, they may not worry about that until version 2.x.

And, speaking of categories…

Due to the depth of information available from just the most simple search criteria, Cuil has created a drill-down that not only gives you the option to drill-down to more results, but allows you to explore a category once you’ve traveled down a level or two. In some cases, your criteria will present a multi-tiered results which allows you to click on the Explore by Category option. Once this area is presented, you can roll over a category title and allow it to present a mini description, giving you a quick snapshot of the destination to make sure that’s what you want. Not a bad way to present the information, either, using the typical “javascript + kitchen sink” to get you the right preview.

Overall, I’m pretty sure Cuil has a lot of work to do on building a successful business for itself, but it sure does look like Anna’s hit on the money again with the help of a few very talented industry-proven veterans.

Google has finally unleashed it’s own, not-as-sordid-as-Second-Life version of virtual reality called “Lively” and it currently only hearts PCs running Vista or XP.

We’ve been talking to a couple of beta users and have even taken a stroll around a couple of rooms and so far it’s still somewhat controlled. I keep wondering if currency and the adult content on Second Life will eventually make it throughout the new Lively experience.

Time will tell.

Google has officially posted the SDK for Android (Google Mobile Phone Platform) and is seeking out developers who wouldn’t mind making a couple bucks from a nice application built on the new platform.

No, you probably won’t make the kajillion dollars like other entrepreneurs, but you WILL get your company in the limelight and you may even score one of those snazzy, but yet to be seen devices.

Check out the details from the Compiler section of Wired and Good Luck!

Google is indeed putting the final touches on a mobile software environment based on the original Android software base. It’s expected that the software will be released within the next six months on handsets from just about every major carrier.

So, why then, am I unsure of the fallout from this? Because I worry that an open source environment dispatched to millions of hackers could have an eventual impact on my ability to complete the most basic of functions including, you know, phone calls.

I have a sincere geek interest in working on new interface designs and user experiences pertaining to mobile environments, but I also have an interest in creating usable and safe ones as well. In the next year or so, we’ll see how well the phone carriers and, to some extent, Google keep out the hooligans (Is Gooligans trademarked yet?).

Either way, the idea and promise of an open source mobile platform is exciting and new and I want in.

Entering late to the online software party will be Adobe Systems with their purchase of Massachusetts-based Virtual Ubiquity, Inc (http://www.virtub.com/), a software company building online business communication and productivity tools including the hyped “Buzzword” word processor.

According to Virtual Ubiquity, the main product offers an online and realistic version of a popular Word processor who’s main feature is WYSIWYP (What You See Is What Your Print). I’ll certainly be looking forward to what Adobe does with this product and just how fast they can turn it around and add like-minded products now that the staff and money will be there to back it up.

Google is very far along in this market, but the alleged quality of the Buzzword product might mean that being late doesn’t mean being out.