As part of the public launch of its new social network, Google+, Google will be renaming several of its non-Google services within the next couple months, according to Mashable's Ben Parr. Two unnamed sources tell Parr that Google's brand unification effort--the "largest in company history"--will include renaming Picasa "Google Photos" and Blogger "Google Blogs." While the "rebranding could upset some existing customers," Parr writes, Google will also be able to integrate the two services, which are "both social products that improve as more people use them," into Google+. A 2009 Google quiz indicates that the name Picasa came from the combination of the words "picture" and "casa," or house (in other words, a house for your pictures, though Wikipedia suggests the name is also a reference to Spanish painter Pablo Picasso). Parr adds that some brands, like YouTube, will keep their names. 

In other Google news, CNN Money's Laurie Segall is reporting that Google will no longer include real-time tweets in search results now that the company's two-year deal with Twitter has expired. While it's not clear why the deal ended, Segall once again points to Google+, which "adds a social-networking powered real-time layer to Google's product network," as one potential catalyst for the two sides parting ways. Today's lesson? Google+ will likely have a significant impact not only on the social networking landscape but also on Google's own product portfolio.

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Uri Friedman