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August 2006
Google/Apple: Would Barney approve?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You need a scorecard these days to keep track of who’s aligned with whom in the online industry wars.
Google signed a deal to become MySpace’s search engine. Then, Microsoft reached a deal to handle Facebook’s search.
Google Checkout rolled out this summer, with some folks calling it a “Pay Pal killer.” Pay Pal is the eBay-owned company used online for financial transactions.
Nevertheless, Google and eBay announced this week a deal in which Google will provide text ads for the auction giant outside the U.S. Guess who handles text ads in the U.S. for eBay? That would be Google competitor Yahoo. Google and eBay also agreed to enhance “click to call” functions on each other’s Web sites, enabling customers to use the Internet to talk to an advertiser.
But wait, there’s more. Google also announced it’s now offering Google Apps for Your Domain, which enables small businesses, universities and others to use, within their own Internet domain, a free package of services including Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk text and voice messaging, and Google Page Creator, which creates Web pages. In exchange for the free service, Google runs ads. The company also plans to launch a paid version for larger clients.
Google had already been offering its own word processing and spreadsheet software. While a lot of analysts this week looked at the Google Apps suite as a head-on challenge to Microsoft, Google was quick to play down that line of thinking.
Then came the news that Google CEO Eric Schmidt joined Apple’s board of directors. Business Week had this transition of blog headlines this week: “Google vs. Microsoft, For Real,” “Now It’s Google + eBay” and “Wait, Now It’s Google + Apple. Or is It?”
Tech Crunch’s Michael Arrington, a top industry blogger commenting on the Schmidt news, wrote: “This is starting to look like Google/Apple/AOL v. Microsoft/Yahoo/eBay.” Another commenter quickly added: “I would agree with you Mike, but after the deal that eBay just did with Google - I’m not so sure which side of the [fence] eBay is sitting on.”
So what do all these moves mean? Popular blogger Om Malik wasn’t impressed by Google’s foray into small-business software. However, he thought Schmidt’s joining the Apple board could mean huge potential changes in the digital-music industry. And Malik especially attached significance to this move as Microsoft starts to ready its new Zune music player. Malik wrote: “Is it too hard to imagine - watch the video on Google Video, and download it on iTunes store? Both parties win? iTunes being included as part of Google software pack, or part of Google Toolbar? Google driving music-related searchers to iTunes store?”
Don Dodge, director of business development for Microsoft’s Emerging Business Team, disagreed with Malik. Wrote Dodge: “Strategic alliances, board seats, and press releases make for good stories, but business is driven by real customer demand for products and services. Years ago when I worked in business development we called these things “Barney Agreements.” You know …”I love you, You love me, …”
Technology reporter John Markoff wrote in today’s New York Times that Google and Apple have a lot in common, but they are also competing in developing smart phones. Markoff’s final word on the significance of Schmidt on the Apple board came from Paul Freiberger, a Silicon Valley historian: “It’s part of the classic yin-yang competition in Silicon Valley, where innovators cross-fertilize each other’s thinking and then go out and clash in the marketplace.”
Not exactly a model for lovable Barney, is it?
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Web 3.0: More than just a name
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
What the heck is Web 3.0 and how does it differ from where we are now? And should it really be called 3.0?
For starters, there are many people who question whether the buzz phrase “Web 2.0” is really warranted. They feel that areas of development such as social networks like MySpace, Google Maps, open-source and browser-based software programs, wikis, and search tools like Yahoo Answers are just natural extensions of what the Web was designed to be.
Let’s go to the expert, the man who invented the Internet, Tim Berners-Lee. Just last week in a podcast Berners-Lee told IBM: “Web 1.0 was all about connecting people. It was an interactive space, and I think Web 2.0 is of course a piece of jargon, nobody even knows what it means. If Web 2.0 for you is blogs and wikis, then that is people to people. But that was what the Web was supposed to be all along.”
While Berners-Lee admires the effort in so-called “Web 2.0” innovations, he and others already are looking further ahead. “The Web is only going to get more revolutionary,” he said May 23 at the opening of the International World Wide Web Conference. “Twenty years from now, we’ll look back and say this was the embryonic period.”
So what is going on? Not as catchy a phrase as Web 3.0, but Berners-Lee is focused on “the semantic Web.”
Look elsewhere for a technical explanation, but in layman’s terms it means: Sites, links, media and databases will become “smarter,” integrating more seamlessly with other databases. First, though, the World Wide Web Consortium, which Berners-Lee heads, has to ensure standards are set.
How would this work? Berners-Lee gave an example at the conference. An attendee could click on a link and get an invite on their electronic calendar. Location information could be sent to a GPS device, and the names and biographies of other invitees could be sent to an instant messenger list.
The 1990s was the Web of documents. The future is the Web of data. “People keep asking what Web 3.0 is,” Berners-Lee told The International Herald Tribune. “I think maybe when you’ve got an overlay of scalable vector graphics - everything rippling and folding and looking misty - on Web 2.0 and access to a semantic Web integrated across a huge space of data, you’ll have access to an unbelievable data resource.”
Whatever that means to the average user, let’s just say it will be cool. And it’s getting closer by the day. Blogger Mike Elgan on Personal Tech Pipeline writes that a glimpse of the future is already here. He points to a site called Tourbus.
“Tourbus scans your iTunes playlists, then constructs a custom RSS feed alerting you to when your favorite bands are coming to town — in plenty of time to buy tickets. It also does a bunch of other intelligent things, such as populates your calendar with shows and events you might be interested in, and recommends activities based on your interests,” Elgan wrote. He wonders what would happen if someone could figure out how to take it to the next level — “an artificial inteliigence concierge,” that finds exactly what you want from the Internet on everything, even learning and adjusting to what you like or dislike.
And Phil Wainewright on ZDnet detailed last year how “Web 3.0 is going to deliver a new generation of business applications.”
Call it what you want, Web 2.0 or 3.0 or whatever, but exciting days are ahead.
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New in social networking
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Some updates in the social networking space, starting up again after a too-long hiatus. We start with mobile social networking on a music player.
— Word came out last week that Microsoft plans to have Toshiba manufacture its new Zune music player, its challenge to the mighty Apple iPod. Also, reports said a Zune owner will be able to be a DJ, streaming music to as many as four nearby friends or, even, strangers. Same with photos. Cnet News headlines: “Microsoft’s Zune aims to be social butterfly.” We’ll see on this one.
— Next “social browsing” and the aggregating of same. Fanpop describes itself as a network of “social portals” they call spots that are created by fans for fans. It borrows heavily from many of the current “Web 2.0” faves. “We’re a little bit of Digg, MySpace, Yahoo! Groups, del.icio.us and Yelp all mixed into one,” they boast. While it lacks the videos and music of the major social networking giants like MySpace and YouTube, there are some cool features worth exploring, taking others’ good ideas and making them a little bit better.
— While RSS feeds keep me abreast of news and personal interests, I sometimes feel I’m missing something somewhere. The blogosphere has been abuzz in recent days with two sites that take a lot of the heavy lifting out of creating RSS feeds. Original Signal aggregates the 15 most popular blogs on the online industry. Popurls calls itself “the dashboard for the latest web-buzz.” You can sample everything from content from news and social networking sites to viral video. Popurls even plans to give space to former Rocketboom phenom Amanda Cogburn, who you may recall from this post.
Nothing beats creating your own mix of RSS feeds, but these sites can certainly save Web-savvy users some time.
Next on Ne(x)t: What the heck is Web 3.0?
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Sites that changed the world
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Web, John Naughton, Web specialist for the London Observer, and fellow staffers offered their list of the 15 Web sites that changed the world. While a couple of their choices take a decidedly British turn, most seem legitimate. They simply list the 15 most-influential sites; they don’t appear to rank them in importance.
1. eBay (auction and shopping)
2. Wikipedia (online encyclopedia)
3. Napster (file sharing)
4. Youtube (video sharing)
5. Blogger (blogging)
6. FriendsReunited (a popular U.K. school-reunion site)
7. DrudgeReport (news site)
8. MySpace (social networking site)
9. Amazon (online retailer)
10. Slashdot (tech news and forum)
11. Salon (online magazine)
12. Craigslist (community and classifieds)
13. Google (search and media corporation)
14. Yahoo! (portal and media corporation)
15. Easyjet (a low-cost British airline)
I have my own favorites, but let’s leave it to you.
What sites do you think should be on the list? What sites are they missing? What are your choices for the 15 most-influential sites of all time?
Web 2.0 all over the world
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Who says all the best ideas in the online world come out of Silicon Valley or Redmond, Wash.?
As an excellent article in Business 2.0 points out, innovation online can be found all over the world. Ever hear of MyHeritage, an Israeli site which mixes geneaology with face-recognition software? Or Cyworld, the largest social network in Asia, which could compete against MySpace? Or did you know that Iceland is a heavily wired nation, with a number of growing startups?
The Business 2.0 folks assembled a group of 23 companies, dividing them into six categories — social networks, social media (user-generated content like Flickr), browser-based applications, content aggregators, mashups (sites that add, for example, Google Maps to functionality), and Internet TV (like YouTube).
South Africa’s Muti takes the Digg model of users ranking news stories one step further by adding Google Maps to the stories. In cases like Muti, companies are simply taking core technologies and making them better. But, in all cases, the user wins.
Meanwhile, back in Mountain View, Calif., the folks at Google last week made a couple of video moves that drew notice. They added a Video category to their simple homepage search navigation, joining Web, Images, News, Maps and a “more” dropdown box. Froogle joined Books, Groups and an “even more” link in the dropdown box.
Google obviously wanted more traffic as it continues to test an ad program for its video services. It worked. Traffic to Google Video reportedly more than doubled the first day the link was placed.
Google on Friday also made it easier to find movie trailers. If you type in a movie title and city, the first search results are the movie trailer, reviews and locations where the movie is playing.
These moves aren’t innovative; they’re based on the bottom line. However, when Google comes out with something cool again — and you know they will — who knows what startup will take the innovation and turn it into something better, or even completely new?
And that startup could be anywhere.
Small screen: Not there yet
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Los Angeles Times has featured an interesting series of stories this week on how young people are now consuming entertainment and what does it mean for the industry. The series included an L.A.Times/Bloomberg poll, which found that perhaps some companies are pushing too fast for the attention of tech-savvy teens and young adults.
While young adults and teens are open to the idea of a “third screen” experience — such as watching video or a TV show on a cellphone or iPod — the poll found that there is not as much demand for it as you would think.
The poll found only 14 percent of teenagers said they wanted to watch television on a cellphone, and 17 percent said they would view programs on an iPod.
Why? Follow-up interviews found two major reasons — the cost and the uneven quality, according to the Times. One college student even asked a reporter: “Why would I want to look at a video clip on my cellphone? I’d rather make phone calls on it.”
The poll findings back up other research which has shown mobile phone subscribers have very limited interest in watching video on their devices.
Industry executives believe the day will come soon when this will change, particularly as the technology gets better and the pricetag is cheaper.
Another interesting finding in the series: Traditional media still play a role in how teens learn about the news. There is an “information osmosis” in which teens absorb news from the news programs their parents are watching.
And with all apologies to comedian Jon Stewart, whose show I TiVo religiously, the poll found very few young people actually get their “news” from shows like “The Daily Show.” Only 3 percent of teens and 6 percent of young adults surveyed said they learn about current events through such shows.
Sadly, the series also found that there’s a tremendous amount of youth apathy about the news in general, but that’s a whole separate issue.
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Blog growth: Is there a limit?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the time you clicked the link to call this up, two more blogs were created. That’s right, two blogs start somewhere every second. That’s about 175,000 new blogs a day.
Dave Sifry, CEO and founder of Technorati, the search engine for blogs, issued another of his State of the Blogosphere reports that documents, to no one’s surprise, that the growth of blogs is incredible.
Technorati, Sifri says, tracks more than 50 million blogs, filtering a massive amount of known spammers, or “splogs.”
The blogosphere is 100 times larger than it was three years ago. It doubles in size every 200 days.
Sifry points out that 11 of the top 90 media online sources are blogs.
Can this explosive growth keep up?
Sifry writes: “Frankly, I can’t possibly imagine it continuing to grow at this pace — after all, there are only so many human beings in the world! It has to slow down.”
What do you think?
A sizzling online summer
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s summertime and the living is supposed to be easy. However, for those following the online industry, this past week was filled with so many developments, it was hard to keep up.
Time Warner obviously received a lot of attention as its AOL wing dropped its subscriber-service model and cnn.com launched user-submitted video at CNN Exchange.
However, there was other significant news from several well-known players:
— Apple will team up with Ford, General Motors and Nissan to integrate iPods with car stereos. Drivers will be able to charge the digital music player and store it in a glove compartment as they listen to the music. The car’s stereo controls will be used to select music from the iPod. More than 70 percent of U.S. 2007-model cars will offer the integration.
— The Washington Post and other Web publishers are adopting technology from Inform Technologies LLC that could lead visitors to articles on competing news sites. If you’re reading a story on, say, Iraq, there will be links available to related content elsewhere, regardless of whether it’s a competitor or not. Why send users to your competition? The idea: it’s better to offer your own choices for related content than readers going to the search engines to find what they want.
— Google squashed rumors that they would be selling music, which had circulated for more than a year.
— Google began alerting users whenever they click on a search result that may take them to a dangerous Web site. Dangerous sites are those reported to The Stop Badware Coalition, a nonprofit organization led by Harvard University and the University of Oxford and backed by Google, Lenovo Group and Sun Microsystems. A study by McAfee reported that U.S. users go to malicious Web sites about 285 million times per month by clicking on search results from the five top search engines.
— In another collaboriation, Google, Yahoo and MSN vowed to work together to fight advertising click fraud, coming up with the guidelines and tracking the problem.
— MSNBC completed a beta test on an ad-supported mobile news service with headlines and videos from NBC’s news programs for cellphones. The service is expected to launch in November.
— Meanwhile, less successful was an upgrade from MSN Spaces to the new Windows Live Spaces blogging and social-networking service. The company acknowledged early problems — initial slowness to load and issues with Firefox, e-mail and the stats page.
— And, finally, Monster.com founder Jeff Taylor launched Eons, a social network for the over-50 crowd. Some creepy, but cool things: The site features an online obituary database that sends out death alerts when people die. And there’s a death calculator that works out your lifespan based on answers to questions.
This week promises to be no less busy. For starters, Apple chief Steve Jobs speaks at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.
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