Personal health records, or PHRs, are seen by many observers to be a key to solving the health care problems in the U.S.A. It’s not a new concept (Wikipedia reports that the term itself goes back to the 1970s); however, the association it now has with electronic records is somewhat new.

In short, a PHR represents a person’s complete health history and is made available to any health care official the patient approves of. It’s meant to greatly simplify the health care process by providing a safe way to give information to whomever may need it.

And, with the always-competitive Internet giants seeking to revolutionize each other at every turn, it should come as no surprise that Google and Microsoft have gotten themselves into the business of providing PHR technology.

This, according to the Washington Post’s Craig Stoltz, has the health care industry “energized, focused and at least a little bit frightened.”

In addition to Google and Microsoft, dozens of companies presented online products designed to make U.S. health care smarter, stronger and better looking. There was a plan to offer online doctor consults at $1.99 per minute, a provider search tool pitched as “the match.com of health care,” and an electronic medical record that made you want to bask in the sheer beauty of ear infection data.

Here’s a look at where Microsoft’s and Google’s personal health record programs are now and where they may be headed.

What Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health have in common:

Both companies claim the same ultimate goals: To create integrated online environments where you can create and store your personal records, get information, find doctors, make medical appointments, communicate online, manage medications, share information with providers and more. Oh, and with Microsoft and Google, there’s always that other goal: to dominate the world.

Both put users in control over what goes into the record and who has access to it. If there’s something you’d rather not share with your employer, insurance company or anyone else, leave it out.

Both are free Web-based services, meaning you can access the records without cost from any computer. The services are described as being as secure as online banking. Both companies pledge not to share your information without your explicit permission.

Both offer tailored searches that promise to filter out garbage and surface the gold.

Any private-company efforts to help overhaul the ailing U.S. health care system are admirable, particularly given the difficulty the government is having in getting any kind of reform-minded consensus. But, what’s in this for Google and Microsoft?

Microsoft plans to make money by placing ads next to HealthVault search results. As with any search, some are text ads generated by keywords. Some are interactive ads promoting HeathVault-compatible devices or services. Some offer related books and products from Amazon. Anyone can use the HealthVault search, but if you want to save your results privately (a nice feature), you’ll need to sign up for a free HealthVault account.

[For its part,] Google doesn’t rule out the possibility of selling ads alongside search results or other Google Health services but says it has no current plans to do so. … So why would Google take on such a big, difficult project — creating complex data exchange systems and storing all that personal information — if there’s no way to make money? Data show more than 70 percent of people seeking health-care information turn first to Google. A strong personal health dashboard linked to other Google services, including its cash-cow search business, can make sure those health-seekers stay with Google rather than with the competition. Like Microsoft, for instance.

So far, no launch dates have been set, but the health care industry is watching with great interest.

Read more about Google Health here. Read more about Microsoft HealthVault. And click here to check out the original article in the Washington Post.

The final act of one of the decade’s biggest business stories unfolded yesterday in Brussels, Belgium. The European Commission (the regulatory arm of the European Union) officially and unconditionally approved Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of New York-based DoubleClick, an Internet advertising corporation that specializes in “ad serving” (a method of delivering targeted ads to specific customers and demographics).

There was some speculation within the industry that the EU would not approve the merger, since it represented such a huge consolidation in the world of online commerce. Rivals cried “monopoly” and privacy groups objected to the combination of two large companies known for their effective information-gathering techniques.

However, those objections were not considered significant enough for the EU to block the merger. “The European Commission’s statement sought to play down the concerns, saying the deal was unlikely to have harmful effects on consumers, at least in the markets it considered,” wrote David Lawsky for Reuters news service. The EU also ruled that “the companies operate in different parts of the online advertising world and their deal was not a marriage of rivals,” according to the same story.

Upon its approval Tuesday, Google immediately finalized the purchase and took over management of Doubleclick.

Click here to read the Reuters article.

Though just ten years old, Google is now absolutely the biggest player in the world of Internet commerce — which makes it one of the world’s most significant companies, period. (It recently became Silicon Valley’s most valuable company, no small feat.)

But it’s real accomplishment comes from the fact that it’s now a household name, known to hundreds of millions of people who may not even understand what role it plays as a company. The Google search engine is an absolute phenomenon; it not only completely dominates its industry, but plays a huge role in everyday life.

With that in mind, today we picked up a blog from HubSpot’s Inbound Internet Marketing Blog on the best ways to search Google. This advice may be directed more at the average consumer than the online businesperson, but it works both ways. And, it’s always a good idea to know how people use Google, when that’s the main source of your advertising. So, without further delay, here are “12 Quick Tips To Search Google Like An Expert:”

If you’re like me, you probably use Google many times a day. But, chances are, unless you are a technology geek, you probably still use Google in its simplest form. If your current use of Google is limited to typing a few words in, and changing your query until you find what you’re looking for, then I’m here to tell you that there’s a better way – and it’s not hard to learn. On the other hand, if you are a technology geek, and can use Google like the best of them already, then I suggest you bookmark this article of Google search tips. You’ll then have the tips on hand when you are ready to pull your hair out in frustration when watching a neophyte repeatedly type in basic queries in a desperate attempt to find something. …

1. Explicit Phrase: Lets say you are looking for content about internet marketing. Instead of just typing internet marketing into the Google search box, you will likely be better off searching explicitly for the phrase. To do this, simply enclose the search phrase within double quotes.

2. Exclude Words: Lets say you want to search for content about internet marketing, but you want to exclude any results that contain the term advertising. To do this, simply use the “-” sign in front of the word you want to exclude.

3. Site Specific Search: Often, you want to search a specific website for content that matches a certain phrase. Even if the site doesn’t support a built-in search feature, you can use Google to search the site for your term. Simply use the “site:somesite.com” modifier.

4. Similar Words and Synonyms: Let’s say you are want to include a word in your search, but want to include results that contain similar words or synonyms. To do this, use the “~” in front of the word.

5. Specific Document Types: If you’re looking to find results that are of a specific type, you can use the modifier “filetype:”. For example, you might want to find only PowerPoint presentations related to internet marketing.

6. This OR That: By default, when you do a search, Google will include all the terms specified in the search. If you are looking for any one of one or more terms to match, then you can use the OR operator. (Note: The OR has to be capitalized).

If the first half of this list sounds good, click here to check out the list in its entirety.

Anybody in the online business game knows that Google is by far the most-used search engine out there. But by just how much? Well, to cite one recent report (by the online information company known as Hitwise), Google accounts for a whopping 63.55 percent of all U.S. searches as of September 2007.

Hitwise, an Experian subsidiary and self-described “online competitive intelligence service” based out of New York, also reported that Yahoo is running a strong second place with 22.55 percent. MSN Search is in third place with 7.83 percent, right ahead of Ask.com’s 4.32 percent. “The remaining 49 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.75 percent of U.S. searches,” according to the report.

No surprises there. However, a less well-known result of the Hitwise report is just what people are searching for when they use these search engines. According to BNET’s analysis of the report, “nearly half (44%) of the visitors to Health and Medical sites come from a search engine query.”

Following closely behind is Travel (32.5%), Shopping and Classifieds (25.5%), News and Media (20.9%), Entertainment (20.8%), and Business & Finance (17%). Despite the fact that Business & Finance is the runt of the pack, it nevertheless represents the fastest growing category in search engine traffic; year over year traffic in this category grew a whopping 30.6%, while Health & Medical (the top-searched category) grew a paltry 5.8%.

Read the original Hitwise report here.

Thanks to BNET’s Jonathan Haeber for breaking the news.