Google+ was supposed to be a “Facebook killer”. Some now say it’s already dead – but the search giant says it is just getting started.

In a study released yesterday, social management company BrightEdge found that though 61 of the companies had already set up their Google+ Pages less than a week after the feature debuted, only 12 of those had displayed a link to those pages from their Web sites, which BrightEdge sees as a key way to round up followers.

The new Google+ brand pages look similar to Google+ Profiles, except for the little square icon that designates that it’s a Page rather than a Profile. Users can add brands such as Fox News, the Dallas Cowboys and Angry Birds to their circles, check out their information and browse their photos. [VIDEO]

A business owner accused in a Google review of being a paedophile and a thief has said he is delighted that the search giant has removed the entry.

The Mountain View-based search giant may not have Apple’s design chops, but it certainly knows how to code a good joke. We’re not talking about useful stuff like the in-search calculator, or Google’s much-documented April Fool’s jokes. These are all fun built-in tricks you can amuse yourself with right now.

Now when you open a new tab, you’ll be able to navigate quickly between web apps and your most-visited sites by clicking the labels at the bottom of the page or the arrows on both sides of the browser window.

Rest assured that this is a joint project, though: the creatively-named Firefox with Bing website is run by Microsoft, and both Mozilla and MS are clear that this is a joint venture.

“The data shows that, on the day of its public debut, Google+ traffic skyrocketed to peak levels. But, soon after, traffic fell by over 60% as it returned to its normal, underwhelming state,” Chitika says of its findings.

The U.S. Department of Justice has expanded its investigation of WikiLeaks-related accounts to encompass Google and Internet provider Sonic.net.

The world’s first “Google store” opened not in California but in the less glamorous setting of PC World in Tottenham Court Road at 9am.