Disqus Beating Google Search For Traffic

These are the top traffic sources for the past month. Note how Google is number one.

But then these are top sources for the past week. Note how Google is not in the top three, and Disqus is number two, and Google News has showed up. That MyHealthScore.com is a discrepancy. I don't know what that is and I don't know why and how it is sending me traffic. And it likely will not be there next week.

But Disqus is news. This is social traffic beating search traffic. Even with Google News I think what is happening is I share all my blog posts on Google Plus. They show up on the Google News page of people in my Google Plus and Gmail circles. You know that corner in the bottom right of the Google News page? There. And some people are clicking.

This is of great interest to me. For the first time for this blog social media is beating search in terms of traffic. To a lot of people that happened a long time ago. And for Disqus to take the lead? As opposed to Facebook and Twitter. But then I am not so sure all the Twitter traffic is being recorded right.

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Outlook.com: Microsoft's New Attempt At Email

This move kind of surprised me. But it sure is a great move. It is a great attempt to bring the sexy back to the Microsoft brand name.

This quote below is from my first email in my Outlook.com inbox.

An experience with no compromises

Outlook.com is the first step in creating one complete experience for the next generation of communications. Email should be connected to your friends – whether they like to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, or a combination. Email should let you get more done, faster – with immediate access to your inbox and tools that can automatically categorize, move, or delete messages you don't want. Email should be deeply integrated with other services – for Outlook.com, you'll find that Office Web Apps, SkyDrive, and, soon, Skype come built right in. And we hope you have already noticed our fast, beautiful user experience.

Introducing Outlook.com - Modern Email for the Next Billion Mailboxes

Webmail was first introduced with HoTMaiL in 1996. Back then, it was novel to have a personal email address you could keep for life - one that was totally independent from your business or internet service provider. Eight years later, Google introduced Gmail, which included 1 GB of storage and inbox search. And while Gmail and other webmail services like Hotmail have added some features since then, not much has fundamentally changed in webmail over the last 8 years ..... email represents 20% of the time we spend on smartphones, and is used extensively on tablets as well as PCs ..... the first email service that is connected to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google, and soon, Skype, to bring relevant context and communications to your email. .... 50% of the email in a typical inbox is newsletters and another 20% is social network updates.

It does look clean. But then I only have one email in the inbox, one from Microsoft itself. I am more likely to come for Skype and SkyDrive, also the Office apps. For now I think I will stick to my Gmail.

This puts Marissa Mayer under additional pressure. Yahoo also needs to reimagine its email.

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The Email Conundrum

Cover of Groundhog Day/Ghostbusters/StripesFred Wilson: The Black Hole Of Email

I don't want to make email work better for me. I don't want to hire an assistant to do email for me. I don't want to try some new magical app that will make email better for me. ...... I give email an hour in the morning, an hour in the evening, and I dive into it throughout the day. The result is probably three hours a day in total. That's all I'm going to give email. And it is not enough to manage the inbound flow.

I don't have this problem. Usually when I am online I treat emails like they were text messages. I read and reply immediately. Saves me time. Short replies are not considered rude since I was polite enough to reply immediately. If I read an email but do not, can not reply immediately I use the Mark It As Unread feature to come to it later. I mean, Gmail is so central to my work, when I am emailing, I am working. My tech consulting team is global and email is absolutely the best way to keep moving. I look forward to the emails.

But then I don't read half the emails I get. You see who or what (usually what) sent it, you read the subject line and you realize they are not even worth deleting. Deleting would cost time. Instead I might mass delete in a few months. Mass deleting emails is fun. It is amazing how emails lose value over time. (Inbox Zero)

But I am nowhere close to Fred Wilson's scale. My question to Fred is, how big is your Inbox? Granted you don't read more than three out of 10 emails you get, but is your Inbox 99% full? Have you paid for a petabyte of Gmail space? Did Zynga go IPO?

That is not to say the Inbox is not a serious innovation territory. But the ultimate barrier there is human. You could end up with the best filters and still end up with too much email. I mean, if you have only three hours a day for email, there are only so many emails you can read. So you better have a great ultimate filter for people whose emails you don't want to miss.

I already have those filters. I use several platforms. If you are a stranger who just wants to say hello, send a tweet. That is the best way. If you know me well, send a Facebook email.

I don't even use the Priority Inbox. I guess I don't have an email problem. Not yet.

Reimagining The Inbox The Simple Way
Adam Smith And The Inbox Space
The Inbox: Like Search Before Google
The Inbox Could See New Life This Year
2010: Location, Random Connections, The Inbox, Frictionless Payments
The Search Results, The Links, The Inbox, The Stream
My Gmail Prayers Heard: Multiple Inboxes

Who you gonna call?

Could Google+ End Up Bigger Than Gmail?

Image via CrunchBaseLooks like Facebook has some real competition on its hands. The numbers are looking really good for Google+ right now and they keep getting better. Finally after Wave and Buzz and Orkut and a few other attempts Google seems to have nailed social.

But I think Google+ is different from Facebook. In terms of the social graph it resides somewhere between Twitter and Facebook, although Facebook's new subscribe feature brings it more into the Google+ realm.
Image via CrunchBase
If Google+ ends up with something like 400 million users by the end of 2012, that will be remarkable. The news will not be that it has become half the size of Facebook. The news will be that it has become bigger than Gmail.
Image via CrunchBase
Google+ might many people's solution to the inbox problem. Don't clutter people's inboxes, instead send out a Google+ post. That is the message. Whats' the difference between an email that never got read a Google+ post that never got seen? Not much.

HTML5 And F8

Image via CrunchBaseI hope HTML5 is the biggest thing coming out of the impending Facebook conference. Facebook Messages was not the Gmail killer it was touted to be. And maybe Facebook's HTML5 push might be yet another whimper, but I hope not.

HTML5 done right could turn Facebook into a platform, it could get an operating system like reach. It already has a huge audience.

But then it is not just Facebook, the entire industry is moving full speed towards HTML5, not just Facebook. Adobe too. And pretty much everyone else. Apple. Google.

When the internet became mainstream every company wanted a website. Today every tech company wants HTML5.

436 Friend Requests On FourSquare: Accepted

Image via WikipediaI just went ahead and accepted 436 pending friend requests on FourSquare. For the longest time I was like, do I really want you to know where I am? And now I feel like for me social media is primarily about getting to know people I don't already know. And FourSquare is as good as any. There are people in the far corners of the planet who would like to live my New York City life vicariously, and I am cool with that, I think.

These are people from all over the country and all over the world saying hello to me. And many of them have links to their Twitter and Facebook pages from their FourSquare page. So when I do want to get to know them a little bit better, that is an option.

They reached out to me. They did that months ago, more than a year ago. But so far I was like, do I really want you to know where I am? Now I am not feeling so edgy at all. If a location check in can start a conversation, I am all for it.

This move might also mean I might start checking in on FourSquare a little more regularly than I have.

Google Plus' Quora Quality

Image by Eva Blue via FlickrOne of the first things I noted about Quora at the beginning of the year was that people I wished blogged but were not blogging were active on Quora. They were speaking. I am feeling the same way about Google Plus.

Look at this Hilary Mason post for example. Hilary is a big tech brain at Bitly, the URL shortening service. I think this woman has data for breakfast while the rest of us are still asleep. And she is a permanent fixture on the speaking circuit of the NY tech ecosystem. You go to some random event and there she is on a panel.

Did I Get An Email From Hilary Mason?

The discussion she has started has generated some intelligent comments. It is a robust discussion. This is not exactly Fred Wilson's comments section, but it is pretty good.

Facebook Beats Google Plus On Design

Image via WikipediaI Am On Google Plus Now
Facebook Videocalling: I Am On Now

Google Plus is not a threat to Facebook just like Facebook Messages, touted by the media as the Gmail killer, has been no threat to Gmail.

Facebook has its advantages. It has mapped the social graph. Google Plus is not even trying to. Plus has a Google Buzz like awkwardness to it in terms of who all end up in your circles. Apparently you don't need people's permission before you add them to some circle. So it is a little diffuse.

Facebook has a sleek design. One of my very favorite parts of Facebook for years has been that font. How did they do that!

The starting point for Google is search, not social. The starting point with the Facebook experience is social. Just like FourSquare will beat Facebook in the check in space, Facebook will keep the lead in the social space.

But I see me using both services. There is a place for Google Plus.

My Google Plus stream seems to be dominated by the two social media stars Robert Scoble and Anthony De Rosa, the Ashton Kutcher of Tumblr. I like both fine, and I personally know Anthony. But my Facebook stream is different, although there too another social media star - Baratunde Thurston, another person I happen to know - shows up quite often. But Facebook is much more likely to throw up people I know.

The Facebook Skype Integration Is Huge

Image via CrunchBaseMy number one gripe with Skype is it does not have all the people on it that I wish were on it. This Facebook Skype integration takes care of that problem. Now you don't need a phone number of that person who is in your Facebook network. This is huge.

This is bigger than Google Plus, a service I am not in yet. A friend sent an invite today but Google says they are so full of it. They did not let me in.

Facebook Comments To Go: Facebook Nailed It

Image via WikipediaFacebook Messages got touted by the media as the Gmail killer. Well, I have been using it, it is great, but it is no Gmail killer.

TechCrunch: Facebook Rolls Out Overhauled Comments System (Try Them Now On TechCrunch)

I have not used the Facebook Comments thing yet that you are supposed to be able to have added to your blog, but I am liking the description of it. I think Facebook nailed it.

No URL Bar: Big Change

Image via Wikipedia

Conceivably Tech: Google May Kill Chrome URL Bar: he elimination of the URL bar, which could be the most significant UI change to the web browser since its invention. ...... aim to increase the viewable space for web and application content. ...... Chrome led the pace, but it is IE9, which has the most efficient UI at this time, in terms of available pixels to web content. ...... The classic navigation version, compact navigation, sidetab navigation as well as a touchscreen version. ...... The compact navigation model would only have one line and place the navigation buttons, a search button, tabs and menus next to each other. The URL bar is gone and the URL of each tab is not visible at all times, but only displayed when a page is loading and when a tab is selected. ...... allow users to open multiple Chrome windows and apply different users to them. For example, if you use multiple Google accounts, you have to sign out/sign in between different accounts. Via multiple profile support you will be able to be signed into different accounts in parallel and use them at the same time – in different browser windows. ........ future Chrome windows will show the Google account name not just in the window when you are on a Google page, but in the browser windows itself next to the window control buttons minimize/maximize/close. ....... If a user closes all Chrome windows and the reopens a window, then the window will assume the identity of the most recently closed window. If a user closes three windows with three different identities and the reopens three windows, the windows would assume the identity of the three identities again

It is great to see Google want to keep innovating in the browser space. Having more real estate when you are browsing helps. Being able to access multiple Google accounts is a big one. It is not unusual for people to have a private Gmail account and also a work account on the Gmail platform these days.

Chrome Notebook Pilot User?

This morning I logged into my Gmail account and my first reaction was, oh no, my Gmail account got hacked. My inbox was flooded with emails from just one address. Looked like someone had taken over.

The Chrome OS Could Kill Windows

Image via WikipediaIt could. It should. The idea of an operating system being the court clown is so pre-internet. The browser is the new court clown, it's not the operating system. The browser should have been the new operating system, and perhaps would have been if Microsoft had not killed Netscape.

I have watched in pain as Google has dragged its feet on the Chrome Operating System. Google is so obviously not a hardware company. Look at how they "released" their Chrome OS laptop. They released it like it were Gmail. They have released an early beta version to a limited number of users. I think they will give out a million of the machines for free. And based on the feedback they get, they will rework the machine. How lame!

I Am On Facebook Messages Now

Facebook Messaging Event: My Favorite Question
The Twins Were Rowing Boats

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeI just got a prompt from Facebook to activate Facebook Messages for me and I promptly did. I am exhilarated.

I have been ranting and raving about the inbox for a long time now. Google might have navigated the web, but no one had tried navigating the inbox. And now I think Facebook has taken a great step in that direction. This is as fundamental a departure as Gmail was from email services before that. This is huge.

A $50 Smartphone Running On Free WiFi

Image via WikipediaThis is what I am waiting for: a $50 smartphone running on free wifi. You pay for the hardware, you of course keep it charged up, it comes with a charger, and there is no monthly fee to any carrier after that. In a big city like New York, there is free wifi everywhere. And where there is no wifi, you say hello to people. You actually value face time. Hi, my smartphone is not working, let me just have a moment with you.

Bruce Willis tried that on two young women fans in an elevator when they asked for his autograph, and they ran away. As in, forget the autograph, let me just have a moment with you. Let me just say hello.

So careful how you do it though.

There Is No Cloud OS

Image via Wikipedia

Paul Buchheit: The Cloud OS: The basic idea is that apps and data all live on the Internet .... Apple is lame for not allowing a native Gmail app on the iPhone -- email is the one place where Android really outshines the iPhone for me ...... One way of understanding this new architecture is to view the entire Internet as a single computer. This computer is a massively distributed system with billions of processors, billions of displays, exabytes of storage, and it's spread across the entire planet. Your phone or laptop is just one part of this global computer, and its primarily purpose is to provide a convenient interface. The actual computation and data storage is distributed in surprisingly complex and dynamic ways, but that complexity is mostly hidden from the end user. ..... the development of this global super-computer is one of the most important technological advances in history. ..... the design target of ChromeOS. They are building laptops that run the Chrome web browser and approximately nothing else. ..... ChromeOS assumes a mouse/track-pad while Android currently assumes a touch interface ... and ultimately everything may end up with a touch screen anyway.

There is the cloud. But the OS resides firmly on your laptop. It is thin. It only runs a browser, and that browser takes you to the cloud, but the OS is not in the cloud. So the term cloud OS is misleading.

Google: Best Company Its Size

Image by Robert Scoble via Flickr

Paul Buchheit: Four reasons Google is still Awesome: Google is probably still the best company of its size, and I really enjoyed my time there. ..... They take big risks ..... Google has enough big successes, such as Chrome and Android ..... Google's weapon of choice is more often open source and open standards. ..... Cultures that don't laugh at themselves are cults.

I am a Google fanboy. So I really liked this post by Paul Buchheit. Google really is the best company its size. And Paul points out Android and Chrome. I have said at this blog before that those two alone are two separate Google size companies. They are big.

Google, GroupOn: It's The G Factor

Image by earcos via FlickrI am going to post a hypothesis. The hypothesis is that GroupOn always wanted to get bought, and it wanted to get bought by Google. From. Day. One. GroupOn plotted for this day to come before its inception.

Why do I say that?

Tech Bangalore: A Blog

I would like to introduce you to this awesome blog: Tech Bangalore.

Is Google The New Microsoft?

Image via Wikipedia

New York Times: Now a Giant, Google Works to Retain Nimble Minds: “At Facebook, I could see how quickly I could get things done compared to Google.” .... Google, which only 12 years ago was a scrappy start-up in a garage, now finds itself viewed in Silicon Valley as the big, lumbering incumbent. Inside the company some of its best engineers are chafing under the growing bureaucracy ..... Omar Hamoui, the founder of AdMob who was vice president for mobile ads at Google .... Much of Silicon Valley’s innovation comes about as engineers leave companies to start their own. ...... a short step from scale to sclerosis .... The company’s attrition rate for people it wished would stay has been constant for seven years ..... “There was a time when three people at Google could build a world-class product and deliver it, and it is gone,” Mr. Schmidt said .... Google has given several engineers who said they were leaving to start new companies the chance to start them within Google. They work independently and can recruit other engineers and use Google’s resources ....... Google is considering opening a start-up incubator inside the company ..... 20 percent time .... The company tries to limit groups of engineers working on projects to 10.... in reality, engineering groups quickly swell to 20 or even 40 .... new products created during 20 percent time are less likely to get anywhere these days..... Popular Google products like Gmail grew out of 20 percent time .... engineers say they have been encouraged to build fewer new products and focus on building improvements to existing ones .... Part of Google’s problem is that the best engineers are often the ones with the most entrepreneurial thirst. ..... said he knew it was time to leave as the number of people he had to copy on e-mail messages ballooned. .... Google says 80 percent of people who get a counteroffer stay put.... According to résumés posted on LinkedIn, 142 of Facebook’s 1,700 employees came from Google. .... “We hire more people in a week than go to Facebook in its lifetime.”

I am not the first to ask this question. And I have tried to answer this before. But this is not a question that is about to go away. On the one hand you have people who think Google has already become a monopoly. I beg to differ. On the other hand you have people who are worried not every cutting edge technology is coming out of the Google shop. Those are not opposing views. Those are two weird poles of views.