Yes, we all know Google makes a fantastic search engine, one so popular it's become a commonly used verb. And we understand that Google is the most successful Internet company in the world, not just because of search, but also because of popular services such as Google Earth, Google Analytics, YouTube, Gmail and many others.

However, not everything churned out by the vast Google complex achieves, shall we say, an indisputable standard of excellence. One example I pointed out recently is Google's Web Accelerator. This downloadable software promises users a faster browsing experience. Yet I've had it installed on two different computers for nearly a month, and the performance data indicates I've "saved" a measly 45 minutes total in browser download time.

Then there's Google AdSense, the program that offers thousands and thousands of bloggers everywhere the opportunity to front Google their miniscule share of ad revenue until it amounts to $100 in, say, seven years.

The one that's been annoying me lately is Google News. I use it as my home page on my personal computer, but I may be shopping around for a replacement. My complaint? Stale headlines. I logged on this morning, and what am I greeted with?

Wesley Snipes to serve 3 years in prison for tax convictions

Bad news for Mr. Snipes, old news for the rest of us. The sentencing came down last Thursday, or four whole days ago. Yet that headline shows up this morning on the top screen of Google News like it's a breaking story. 

It seems like the problem is getting worse, especially with election coverage. Judging by Google News last week, Sen. Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Pennsylvania primary four days in a row.  (Which means, of course, that she'll want the results to count four times.)

Someone at Google needs to tweak the auto-generation tool that freshens Google News before things degenerate further. I don't want to wake up one day to find out that the Hindenburg has crashed.