Google has been pretty busy this week, despite the recently announced layoffs of around 200 Googlers. For those who are not affected by Google’s labor downsizing, life goes on at Google and its products and services. This week, we’ve discovered 7 new features of six Google major products and services. All seven of these new features aim to enhance user experience and activity while using those six products and service. So, here 7 new features of 6 Google products and services. [Read more…] about 7 New Features of 6 Google Products and Services
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White House to Use Google Products for Online Town Hall Meeting
Well, Google has something to be proud of again as the White House is about to hold its first online town hall meeting using YouTube, Google App Engine and Google Moderator. Although this not the first time the Obama administration will be making use of online social tools for its activities, this online town hall meeting would certainly give YouTube a huge amount of site traffic. In addition, this would also give a not so famous Google product, the Google Moderator a much need attention. [Read more…] about White House to Use Google Products for Online Town Hall Meeting
New York Times Feels the Effect of the Economic Crisis
Among the top online news dailies I really like New York Times for one simple reason – it’s free. While others offer the online editions of their newspapers on a subscription basis which is tied up to print subscriptions, the New York Times managed to provide free source of relevant news. But this might start to change, as Bloomberg reports that NYT is seriously revisiting the charging fees of some its content. [Read more…] about New York Times Feels the Effect of the Economic Crisis
Twitter vs. Facebook, Round One Fight!
Don’t look now folks, but it seems there is a new war brewing up in the social sphere (or has it already begun or might have been in existence before?). If you’ve been regularly checking Techmeme (like me), you’ll notice that both Twitter and Facebook have been receiving quite a number of coverage from various tech sites. It’s either a new Twitter app being developed that’s turning the microblogging service into a social networking site, or Facebook introducing a new feature in response to Twitter’s own features. One thing is clear – a war has begun between these two popular social web tools.
Here are some examples of the articles that reference to a Twitter vs. Facebook framework:
- With Twitter Envy, Facebook Adds (Near) Real-time Web Capabilities
- Facebook responds to Twitter, and the rest
- New Facebook follows Twitter and FriendFeed
- New Facebook = Twitter + Friendfeed. For Non Geeks.
and this is my favorite:
To think that those articles are supposed to talk about the new Facebook feature which turns the Facebook profile pages into something more like the usual Facebook member pages, and the rolling out of the new Facebook home page. But I couldn’t blame tech writers for comparing Twitter and Facebook. After all the two are the most popular social sites today. The monthly site metrics produced by various online research companies would prove this.
And in terms of site traffic and membership base, both sites are continuously growing on a daily basis. The funny thing is, while Twitter is trying to become more like a full-featured social networking site, Facebook on the other hand is trying to focus on its micro services.
Amidst all these new features and changes in their features, one can’t help but wonder whether the user’s wants and preferences were actually considered. Personally, I would rather have Facebook maintain its social networking stature rather down going towards being a microblogging service. As for Twitter, it was best when it was just a simple microblogging site and when there were fewer third-party apps that you can use to enhance its capabilities.
But then, it all boils down to one thing – beating the threats imposed by your competitors even if you belong into different niches.
Anti-Trust Law to Get a Boost if New Chief is Confirmed by the US Senate
Bloomberg is running a very good piece on the long standing industry prediction that Google will be the next Microsoft. The article delves deeply into the pending confirmation of the Obama-nominated Anti-Trust chief Christine A. Barney. Ms. Barney was personally handpicked by Pres. Obama a couple of months ago.
But before Pres. Obama asked Ms. Barney to lead the controversial Anti-Trust agency, Varney was known to have a strong conviction that Google is out to replace Microsoft. Especially since the Internet trend is leaning towards “cloud computing.” And we all know that Google has already establish a good foundation for its “cloud computing service”, thanks to Google Docs, and its seamless integration of various online products such as Gmail, Google Maps, Google Friend Connect, among other services.
For Ms. Barney however, this is all well and good if only Google has not “acquired a monopoly” in the Internet online advertising. Ms. Barney wants to tackle this issue once her confirmation becomes final. She also promised to strictly implement the anti-trust law.
So, it would seem that Google should expect harder times up ahead which shall start once Ms. Barney gets the anti-trust chief position.
Is there are reason for Google to be afraid? Looking into Google’s previous behavior when confronted with monopoly and anti-trust issues, I don’t think that anyone in Google’s camp are a bit worried about Ms. Barney’s appointment, I still think that Google can survive her probing once she become the official Ant-Trust chief.
iPhone, The Gaming Platform
Apple’s iPhone has been a hit with the masses hooked to mobile internet. And hand-held gaming is one big market that the iPhone is touted to impact majorly. Games have been one among the most downloaded applications on from the AppStore and Apple stands to benefit from the easy centralized business model that it first introduced with its iTunes Music Store.
Sony and Nintendo are the current world leaders in the hand-held gaming segment. While the sale of iPhones could rival that of Nintendo’s DS consoles or Sony’s PSP, it would be a long while before Apple’s revenues from the games alone are substantial.
The iPhone’s interface has great many innovations but some of them are chagrin to the serious gamer e.g. lack of buttons. But recent events may pave a new coming for the age of hand held communication devices that also double up as awesome game consoles. T-Mobile’s G1 did show the kind of direction that technologies are bound to take. Innovations in one phone, when popular will be immediately taken up and replicated by other vendors as well. The Web based application store model means that users have access to their favorite applications / games at dead cheap rates.
The latest announcement of opening up of White Space to allow devices which could potentially provide broadband like internet over airwaves is another interesting development. Apple has its proven credentials in the Hardware + Software space. Apple could be leveraging this new development to further expand the reach of its applications-from-the-internet business model.