Even as Google continues to outmaneuver its main search rivals, Yahoo and Microsoft, plenty of newcomers - with names like hakia, ChaCha and Snap - are trying to beat the company at its own game. And Wikia Inc., a company started by a founder of Wikipedia, plans to develop a search engine that, like the popular Web-based encyclopedia, would be built by a community of programmers and users.

An overwhelming majority are not trying to take Google head on, but rather are focusing on specialized slices of the search world, like searching for videos, blog postings or medical information. Since Google's stated mission is to organize all of the world's information, they may still find themselves in the search giant's cross hairs. That is not necessarily bad, as being acquired by Google could be a financial bonanza for some of these entrepreneurs and investors.

Anyway, personally (putting on my smart hat here - hopefully it's on right), I think that the next real challenge to Google is one of two things:

•   Social sites. Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, you get lots and lots of lovely backlinks, and you are on the inside track; i.e., you are now part of the Cool Kids Club.

•   Itself. There's such a thing as too many irons in the fire. There really, really is a tipping point. And if Google keeps going the way it has it either will A)do a lot of good stuff but all kinda halfass B)become the next Yahoo, with Tons Of Stuff Nobody Uses.

The next Google? VCs are throwing money down a rat hole.