GOOGLE EATS OWN DOG FOOD?

For those of you who dont know the term eating one's own dog food in the corporate world means that the very corporation uses the product that it makes. In an atrticle describing the corporate intranet of Google Inc. posted on the Blogoscope Blog by two journalists described the coprporate intranet that exists at Google offices and headquarters. Google employees seem to be saturated with Google Culture when they go to work. Located below are thier observations on, Moma, google's corporate intranet.

Original Blogoscope article on Google Inc.

Google Goes Government!

According to the Jacksonville Business Journal Florida State officials have joined forces with Google Inc. to create brand new features for those looking for various government services online. In a statement released today Gov. Charlie Crist stated,

"I am grateful for this chance to join with Google to further develop Florida's leadership in delivering open government services to the people of Florida."

The new partnership between Florida's government and Google is said to have been created to help better index online databases, making them simpler to locate on search engines. prior to this partnership locating government based services had been very difficult for Florida residents because most state info could not be found due to the way they were stored on databases.

Florida is just the latest in a string of states to team up with Google including California,Arizona,Michigan, Utah, and Virginia.

In my opinion state governments such as Florida are doing a smart thing . Anything that allows for greater access to government information for its citizens can only serve to increase the accessibility of a government to its citizens and can also be used to keep citizens better informed about what is going on with their government.

GOOGLE WIKI'S MAPS

I thought this might make an interesting post since we have been discussing wikipedia in class. What do you think?

According to an article on computer world.com by Heather Havenstein, Google map users in both the U.S and Australia can now edit the locations of their businesses or homes in order to allow others to correctly locate them. The article said the following.

"The program requires a user to search for his home address to find an arrow that will have information about the location. After clicking edit, a user then can move the arrow to the correct location and save it. When anyone else searches for the address, they will see the edited marker at the correct address, Google said."

According to the article Google users will also be protected from ,those individuals seeking to put markers in the wrong spot because their will be a feature that allows users to back track the original marker on the map.

I think that this is a great thing and the only sure way to make sure that the maps provided by Google is accurate. People get lost all the time using maps that they are sure were accurate. I am sure that Google ,maps are no different. Google has come up with a smart idea to make this service that they provide better, and the feature that protects the users from incorrect map location moves will ensure that users feel comfortable using the site. It is very interesting to see how the wiki idea can be applied to more things than just written information.

Google always getting better...

Google being the most visited, most profitable, arguably the most powerful company on the internet is always trying to improve to keep up its standards and popularity.

"Google remains a search engine. And its search pages, blue hyperlinks set against a bland, white background, have made it the most visited, most profitable and arguably the most powerful company on the Internet. Google is the homework helper, navigator and yellow pages for half a billion users, able to find the most improbable needles in the world’s largest haystack of information in just the blink of an eye."

This quote is taken from the NY Times article "Google Keeps Tweaking It's Search Engine".

This article touches on the fact the Google is the number one search engine yet often you are able to search something and not find it. The article also explains how they built a system able to not only give you what you ask for but to understand what you need , being that people sometimes spell words wrong, or mean one thing but say anothe. Overall Google is never complete. Google's engineers are steadly searching for new ways to improve the site as well as make it better.

LINK TO WEB 2.0 GOOGLE ARTICLE

Last week I published a post about Tim O'Reilly, the father of web 2.0 bashing Google. Here is a link to this article.Just click the link and please give feedback!

O'Reilly comments

You Need Google, Google Needs You!!

Google presents its news in various publications. In Belgian however, they wish to exclude Google from their papers because of the extent in which Google carries their news. The article from The Tech Beat entitled "Google Loses, or Did the Belgian Papers?" believes that Google provides a monumental amount of information with their news and in turn capturing more audience members than the Belgian Papers. This obviously rests on the issue of competition. With billions of customers, Google has the luxury of acquiring a sea of audience members, and due to their number of services, the Belgian Papers are in "fear" one can say, of losing their customers. However, from a critical standpoint, wouldn't it be more efficient to have Google news included in the papers? At least Google will help attract audience in addition to extending news coverages and as a result, more revenue is incurred. I think the Belgian publishing company should evaluate their future and keep Google on their team, for it's beneficial to both companies.

PHONE RUMORS SKYROCKET GOOGLE STOCK!!

According to Market Watch from the Dow Jones, Google stocks took a significant leap today. it generated an almost $700.00 price! This comes amidst rumors that Google will be getting into the wireless phone business and plans to develop software for wireless communications.

"The stock topped out at $698.48 around mid-day, up 2.8% from the previous close. The shares were trading around $696 in early afternoon."

Original rumors have been circling around the net and in newspapers for months now and as recently as two weeks ago Google was thought to be designing its own phones, but these rumors as cited by an earlier article in the Wall street Journal have been squashed. but the fact that Google will be developing phone software itself id still big news and the record breaking stock prices are proof of this.

"We believe, that to some extent, the run-up in the Google stock may have been attributed to expectations that Google may provide some color on rumored 'Google Phone,'" Trip Chowdry, an analyst for Global Equities Research, wrote in a report Friday. "Both Google Analyst Day and CTIA conference have come and gone, and nothing has been announced on Google Phone. We believe this may have caused expectations to get somewhat ahead of itself."

I think the rise in stocks is a great sign for Google. This huge jump occurred only amidst rumors of wireless phone involvement . Imagine when the real deal hits the market . The results could be very profitable for the already lucrative company. This is just another example of how the digital revolution is constantly evolving. However, many people believe that the phone software speculation had little to do with the rise in Google's stocks and that the Media Giant should be careful not to alienate other device makers or carriers.

NEVER SAY NEVER TO FUTURE GOOGLE PHONE

Nice post K.J. McIntyre , but i disagree with the part of the article that implies that Google will not be getting into the phone making business itself. I think that this is just for now. I am sure that phone companies like at&t will be paying a fee to give their subscribers access to the Google search engine. Eventually it may become so profitable that Google will say"hey, why not just get into the phone business for ourselves". If I've learned nothing from reading up on these large media corporations its that you should always expect the unexpected and never believe the term "never". Never is something that companies want you to believe because they don't want people guessing what their next step will be or the other guys might get there first. This is how they stay ahead of the competition.

Another Google Encounter

Google contributes to technological advancement to a great degree. This time, they wish to take their services to another level as they are debating to advance their services to wireless. According to the article from http://www.technewsworld.com/story/58645.html, Google ponders that adding this wireless service among other substantial features, will benefit their company to a great degree.

Through some phone services, people can attain information such as Google Maps and others. Google wishes however, to have advancement if they embed almost all their services through wireless. If this occurs, more revenue is incurred for advertisers because information is reached to billions of people through different niches. I believe that this is one of the great stepping stones for Google, because not only they are able to attract an even larger audience, but they can also acquire a monumental amount of profit if they do a partnership with major phone companies such as AT&T, T-Mobil, and Sprint.

Imagine, everything you normally search on Google on your computer is readily available to you via phone. Imagine, being on a bus or just waiting around in boredom, you can access any You Tube video (because Google is the owner) that will fulfill your entertainment needs. Even better, Imagine the enormous amount of information one can access through a phone device on anything that ranges from directions to history, to entertainment to news. Oh how the power of the digital revolution has set a precedence for convenience and technological advancement.

European Commission Examining Double Click Proposal

For those of you who don't know Google Inc. has made a 3.1 billion bid for online ad tracker Double Click to review proposals meant to eliminate antitrust and monopoly concerns. Google lawyer Julia Holtz said in a statement that "We believe that the deal is good for publishers, advertisers, and users — and we trust that the Commission will reach the same conclusion and clear the transaction," she said. "Today's advertising market is highly competitive and innovative, and it is evolving very quickly." This information comes to me courtesy of the Associated press. The commission will take till Nov 13th to either OK the deal or set up an in depth probe that could take up to several months to complete. several of Google's key rivals including Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. believe that the deal will damage competition i n the lucrative advertising market. for those of you who are unfamiliar with the New York-based Double Click, it helps its customers place and track online advertising, including search ads.It puts ads on the web that target specific users and generate lots of revenue for companies like GOOGLE INC.
I think that such a deal would in fact damage competition between the Internet Powers, however if the commission rules in favor of Google it would be a great victory for the company. For more specifics of the proposed bid , click the following link. WHY WE'RE BUYING DOUBLE CLICK

INFRINGEMENT A NO,NO , According to GOOGLE!

According tom Information Week, Google has instituted an new copyright enforcement system to stop You Tube users from uploading videos that the content owner does not want taken. about seven months ago Viacom filed a 1 billion dollar lawsuit against Google accusing them of "brazen disregard" for intellectual property laws. On Tuesday, Google Inc started a content identification system called You Tube Video Identification, to give copyright owners some control over the inclusion of their videos on the site. This measure may very well clean Google of all liability for stealing of materials on its site.
"Video Identification goes above and beyond our legal responsibilities," said David King, You Tube Product Manager, in a blog post. "It will help copyright holders identify their works on You Tube, and choose what they want done with their videos: whether to block, promote, or even -- if a copyright holder chooses to license their content to appear on the site -- monetize their videos."

I think that Google is doing a smart thing and protecting its interests with You Tube. This is probably something that could have been done some time ago. It probably would have stopped the Viacom lawsuit dead in its tracks before it was filed. According to a story in the Nation this past march,"Fearful of the growing dominance of Google, some of the country's most powerful media companies are seeking to rein in the digital giant."
What do you guys think?

GOOGLE EARTH NOW WITH NEW YOU TUBE POSSIBILITIES!

According to Yahoo News, Google Inc. is now allowing users of Google Earth software to view You Tube videos that are mapped to specific locations. It will satellite images, maps, terrain and buildings of the world. Since this past may Google earth users have already been able to view contributed photos uploaded to Panoramio, a photo-mapping service that they offer.

According to the article, "Virtual Earth from Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Maps from Yahoo Inc already offer the ability for users to annotate maps with links to Web sites, photos and videos."


Google Inc., however, could speed up the move to link together maps with online videos by letting You Tube creators tag their videos as they upload them. I think that this is a good thing because it allows people from all parts of thew world to communicate even further through the use of video feeds and maps. the possibilities are endless. a person could share a video of a country and those who view the video could get a detailed view of that part of the world. maybe even opening up the possibilities of traveling to these places.

GOOGLE vs. SECOND LIFE

It has been rumored by the Times Online that Google will sponsor its own version of an Internet community. This community will rival that of the already popular second life. Although Google itself has not confirmed this rumor most experts can think of no one else who would take on such a venture. According to the times Arizona State university, which has strong ties with Google, announced that its students are to be given the opportunity to test a new product "that will be publicly launched later this year" and that would involve 3d gaming and modeling. The University also said that the project was being developed by a major Internet company, which has of course led many people to speculate about google's involvement. The speculation about google's involvement was fuelled by a blog post this year from Michael Eisenberg, a partner at Benchmark Capital, the technology-focused venture capital group, who said he had heard Google is working on turning Google Earth into a virtual universe of its own. For those of you who don't know, Google Earth is a virtual model of the globe using satellite imagery. Mr Eisenberg added: “After hearing this, I was struck by the language on the Google Earth website: 'One more step to creating a lifelike 3-D model of the whole planet'.” Google's involvement would not surprise me in the least, I think we should expect an official announcement at some time in the next few months. What do you guys think?

Google Dollars

According to http://mediabiz.blogs.cnnmoney.com/2007/09/20/google-at-600-a-share-yes-heres-why/?source=yahoo_quote google stocks have enjoyed an impressive rise this past month. Stocks are noe at$555 dollars per share. Google in now on track to surpass its all time high and reach $600.00 a share. Research done by Nielsen//NetRatings and comsScore (SCOR) , two leading web tracking firms shows that google searches have far surpassed that of its rival yahoo. Jefferies and Co. analyst Youssef Squali recently stated that googles search dominance will greatly impact its third quarter numbers which will be released in october. Google seems to be on the fast track to even greater success.
“Google remains our top pick and should continue to benefit from strong momentum in its core search business in 3Q, given gains in its search market share in both July and August, and continued strength in search queries in both months,” Squali said in his statement.

As you may or may not knowGoogle's numbers were not as good this past second quarter as they have been in the past. In fact many experts predicted a continuance in google's second quarter decline. They were all wrong and google is showing no signs of slowing down ensuring that we will have a lot to talk about in the coming months.

Brain Fuel Indeed!!...A General Overview

The advent of search engines changed the internet experience and the communication among people, or businesses. It created easy access knowledge and paved the way for many big corporations for online advertising. Google is considered to be one of these search engines that specializes in these fields and indeed created a revolution. For example, it enabled business establishments, promoting website hosting and advertising. A scenario involves someone typing in a huge corporation's name such as "Macy*s" in the search bar, that inturns promote the marketing and public relations of Macy*s. It carries out valuable information about people, places, ideas, food, events, location, politics, media and history.

Google has a number of competitors such as Ask Jeeves, MSN, AOL. However it is rated one the highest search engines on the web according to the website http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_38/b3951149.htm. In addition, google offers a number of services that captures convenience and easy access during desperate times. For example, It also goes beyond the internet configuration and opted for a better advancement. This includes mobil technology; where people can recieve information such as directions, weather, and horoscope by text via the google corporation.

This phenomenal revolution impacted our lives on many levels. It encourages media persuasion, a monumental amount of knowledge and highlights, the growth of major or minor corporations, retail and various website management.