Just three weeks after rumors emerged of a potentially massive information-gathering effort by Google, it launched Google Base late on Tuesday, in beta, allowing users to upload all manner of text and images and categorize or label (tag) that information to make it easier for others to find it - via Google Base searches and, if appropriate or relevant, via Google Search, Froogle and Google Local - reports CNET.

"If you have information you want to share with others, but aren't sure how to go about gaining an audience, Google Base is for you," according to the frequently asked questions section.

Google has no immediate plans to serve ads on Google Base, according to the company. "We think about it being a utility so people can more efficiently post information to us. If there is more information in the search results the search experience is better," Salar Kamangar, a vice-president of product management at Google, told CNET.

"It is not a separate property we are trying to monetize. We are not at all focused on commerce or local commerce or classifieds."

John Battelle, author of The Search, writes in his blog: "Behold, the physical world rendered as information. One of the main arguments in my book is that if it's not in the index, it's not considered valuable in a search-driven world. This, of course, is a new way to Get Into The Index. We've only just begun…"