My iPad and iPhone autocorrect "Van Persie" to "Van Perdue". Clearly Arsenal's striker isn't well known enough at Apple HQ. If as a result you end up searching for Van Perdie, Google asks if you mean Van Persie. Auto spelling has eaten itself.

Searchers in the UK are starting to prefer the US spelling of some words. Although we can still spell centre and theatre, with the following words the US spelling is now searched for more often than the UK version:

* donut vs doughnut
* yogurt vs yoghurt
* fetus vs foetus

More evidence that Google has changed how it handles spelling errors. It is now fixing spelling in autocomplete (the list of suggestions it offers as you start to type in the web-based search form).

Unlike yesterday's example, where Google was just deciding for itself which version of alternative, correct spellings you meant, I approve of this - partly because it's helpful, and partly because the user retains control (so they can search for wrong spellings if they want to).

We've all been running round worrying about Google forcing us to search for search engine optimization when we want to search for search engine optimisation.

I think we can relax, as it turns out hardly anyone searches for either ...

Not content with its various other spelling problems, Google is now trying to make us spell colour the US way.

There have been various posts about how Google is returning results with the American spelling (search engine optimization) when people search for search engine optimisation.

But it's got much bigger problems with spelling than just -ise vs ize.

The Sun is running a pretty despicable campaign against Gordon Brown - and the majority of its readers don't agree with the paper's stance if its website comments are anything to go by.