Top 10 YouTube Videos Of All Time
The impending Age Of Abundance was prophesied in the scriptures thousands of years ago.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Monday, September 06, 2010
Offerpal Media: New CEO
Image via CrunchBaseVentureBeat: Offerpal Media Names A New CEO During A Tough Transition: Mihir Shah as its new chief executive and president. .... Garrick will become executive chairman. Garrick himself replaced Offerpal’s founding chief executive, Anu Shukla, in October, 2009. During his tenure, Garrick was trying to reposition Offerpal in the wake of a scandal over the legitimacy of the offer business. ..... the whole offer industry was hurt last fall by a storm over offers that appeared to be scams, duping consumers with misleading or objectionable offers. ..... moved to clean up its offers, setting new standards to lock out the scammers..... began streamlining the company and broadened its appeal to advertisers by moving beyond offers. Offerpal also bought mobile ad network firm Tapjoy in March. ...... “The social and mobile gaming spaces are in a transitional and converging period right now, and we have some exciting ideas for using our extensive footprint and expertise to help game developers, social platforms and online advertisers navigate the changing environment."The Highlight Of My Internet Week
Anu Shukla Has Found The New Frontier In Advertising
Some shady vendors used the Offerpal Media platform to do some shady things, but Google still suffers from click fraud. That does not change the fact that what Offerpal Media is attempting is at the cutting edge of advertising.
It is a new frontier. Mistakes will be made.
Android Ascendancy
GigaOm: U.S. Mobile Web Usage A Win-Win for Google: Android has a 25 percent share of mobile usage, up from around 10 percent last November .... Apple’s iOS platform, which powers the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, currently stands at 56 percent, down from a peak of nearly 70 percent at the end of 2009 ..... Google comes out a winner both today and in the foreseeable future due to mobile search. The main source of Google revenue is indeed search, but the real growth is in searching for data away from the desktop...... Essentially, Google has benefitted from mobile search since the iPhone launched in 2007 with Google as the default search engine. But now the search giant is outselling other mobile platforms
It is only a matter of time before Android's share surpasses that of the Apple platform. Steve Jobs set out to make expensive cars. That is his thing. There are cheap cars, and there are expensive cars. Steve Jobs is the guy who makes expensive cars.
Apple's business model has worked for Apple. The company surpassed Microsoft's market value, did it not? That is not my definition of failure. But a company that never set to reach the masses will not reach the masses. No surprises there.
Wait until the Chrome OS netbooks hit the market.
Microsoft feels like a loser in the mobile space now. After the Chrome OS netbooks appear, it is going to get hit big time on the desktop as well.
This dog - Google - is going to hunt.
The Facebook Search Engine
Image via WikipediaNo surprise there. The whole idea behind the like button has been to take over the web. Mark Zuckerberg made it very clear in his speech at the F8 conference that that is what the like button was for. Just like Facebook should be your primary place online, the like button should tell you where to go instead of the links that the Google engine depends on. That was the hint. GigaOm: Facebook Ramping Up The Social In Its Search Engine: The new feature is the latest step in rolling out the network’s social-search engine — which could become a competitive threat for Google and other traditional search companies, as more users turn to recommendations from their networks instead of those determined by algorithms.What has been giving me headaches for months and months now is as to why Facebook will not make it possible for me to search my own wall, and that of my friends. If I could I might be able to use my Facebook wall as the repository of links I might want to visit later on. That would be a huge incentive for me to share more links on Facebook. That in turn would make Facebook searches even better.
GigaOm: Is Facebook's Social Search Engine A Google Killer?: one of the company’s goals was to use the resulting behavioral data to power a social search engine — one based on likes instead of links .... more than a million websites — including some highly trafficked sites such as The Huffington Post — have integrated its features, and 150 million of the network’s more than 400 million users “engage with Facebook” in some way through external sites every month. ...... Being able to search for recommendations from close to half a billion users could be very powerful..... since Facebook’s Open Graph protocol is theoretically an open standard, there is the potential for Google to use that to pull in the network’s results in the same way it uses Twitter’s API ...... gave the network a relatively puny 2.7 percent share of the U.S. search business, but still put it ahead of AOL.The human part is when I press that like button, which I do all the time. (Hello Mark!) The machine part is what Facebook does after I have already pressed that like button. The human part was when someone placed that link. The machine part was Google making sense of the link. There are clear parallels.
All Facebook: BREAKING: Facebook Now Displaying All Liked News Articles In Search Results: based on two things: the number of likes and the number of friends who liked that object ..... shows how important Facebook’s Open Graph is to the future of the company. ..... the content displayed “is only available for articles shared by your direct friends (not globally to all users on Facebook).” Additionally, “This is not surfaced to you based solely on number of ‘Likes’ for the article.”
Links And Likes
Image by Mars Chen via FlickrMark Zuckerberg, the Facebook dude, wants likes to replace links. And I think that is a tall order. I don't think that is possible. But that like button is so very key to the social web. There the like button will rule. If you are only trying to figure out what you and your social graph might be interested in, then who cares about the world wide web at large? Many people in Manhattan are familiar with only two blocks, the block they live on, and the block where they work. There the like button will rule.
But what Zuck is betting on is if half a billion going on one billion people will start pressing on that like button, and then it is no longer just the social web as seen by one person. It is at that point the web itself. How is pressing a like button all that different from linking to a page. Pressing a like button perhaps is more democratic. Facebook gives most people that homepage that they always wanted but they never had because, well, it was too complicated to create one. And the like button is what the link code used to be. The link code was simple enough, basic HTML was simple enough, but says who? You can always make it simpler.
One reason Twitter is not as big as Facebook is because Twitter is too complicated.
What in the world is a hash tag? What is RT? Think about it.
But the link is not going away. There are people like me who can't be contained in two or four blocks. The link code is here to stay. One just hopes search engines (Hello Google!) get better and better at making sense of those links, they get better at staying ahead of those who try to game the search engines.
GigaOm: Links: Not Just The Currency Of The Web, But The Soul: links are a tool for synthesis, “a way of drawing connections between things,” to bring coherence to the vast universe of information online. “The Web’s links don’t make it a vast wasteland or a murky shallows,” Rosenberg says, “they organize and enrich it.” ..... The whole idea behind Tim Berners-Lee’s invention was to enable sites to point to each other and create a “web” of context. .... To choose not to link is to abandon the medium’s most powerful tool — the thing that makes the Web a web.” Hear, hear.
Privacy Anxieties And The Web Of Intent
GigaOm: The Web Of Intent Is Coming (Sooner Than You Think): more robust content filtering tools and the Web of Intent will arrive sooner than you think, based on the implicit messages in users’ actions..... The Web of Intent will be largely driven by consumers’ actions and interests..... They will be able to quickly transform their content operations beyond articles and blog posts into data and interest-centric publishing structures that allow consumers to follow topics and ongoing stories of interest. ..... a Web of Intent rich in data and profiling based on their audiences’ interests. ...... will offer newer and more robust targeting opportunities and will ultimately provide publishers new opportunities for monetization beyond pure advertising ..... make their sites more “intent-friendly”
This intent talk is at the other end of the privacy spectrum. You do want the site to know who you are, what your interests are, what you want, so the site can better serve you.
We want privacy, but we also want the web of intent, and I don't see a clash there. Just like it is possible to be for economic growth and for the environment at the same time.
Privacy is a value, but it is also a technological challenge. The web of intent is a major technological challenge. Now all websites pretty much have blogs, and Facebook and Twitter presences. The web of intent will similarly permeate.
We will get to keep our cake and eat it too, for the most part. There are always some standard deviations.
Privacy, Digital Literacy, Technology, Social Values
A Huawei Smartphone: Ideos
New York Times: Bits: Chinese Company Aims Big With Android Smartphone: a “$150 smartphone that is similar to an iPhone user experience.” The company said it wanted to show that it could create a technologically advanced smartphone at a more affordable price.
It is ridiculous that an iPhone costs as much as a low end Dell laptop. This Chinese entry into the smartphone market reminds me of the $35 tablet to come out of India. ($35 PC)
The Ideos seems to have global ambitions. It runs on Android, predictably.
This is not really news. By now China has a track record. It was only a matter of time before some Chinese company entered the Android market.
It is the PC, Mac thing all over again. Android is PC and Android is poised to take over the iPhone in sheer volume.
Hurd: From HP To Oracle
Image via WikipediaNew York Times: Former H.P. Chief May Move To Oracle: In an e-mail to The New York Times, Mr. Ellison called the H.P. board’s action “the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago.” .... Oracle, which Mr. Ellison founded 30 years ago, is the world’s largest database software maker; Mr. Ellison has been its only chief executive. For years, the company has been a close partner with H.P., which sells computing systems and services to corporations. But since Oracle’s acquisition of Sun Microsystems, in a deal that closed early this year, Oracle and H.P. have become competitors in the market for computer hardware..... Ellison remains heavily involved in Oracle, but the day-to-day operations are largely overseen by two presidents .... During his tenure, H.P. surpassed I.B.M. as the No. 1 technology company, as revenue increased to $115 billion a year, from $80 billion.
I have not read up much on this Hurd story, and I am reading now only because Larry Ellison seems to have become personally involved.
What happened?
Mark Hurd was the top guy at HP. He was never accused of having sexual relations with a marketing consultant to the company. Looks like the two had dinner together.
It is like finally the FBI said, Martha Stewart has not been proven guilty of what she was originally accused of, but since we went after her, we have decided she lied to us on one small detail of when were investigating, so Martha went to jail for a few months because she was not found guilty of what they thought she was guilty of. That was mediocre, sexist men going after a rare woman entrepreneur, a billionaire.
Mark Hurd did not have a relationship with this woman. He had dinner. Originally the HP Board thought maybe some form of impropriety took place. But by the time they found out that was not the case they realized they had already been going after him. So they had to get him for something.
And so they found some small detail.
I have not read much up on Hurd. Actually for the longest time I was angry they kicked Carly Fiorina out and got someone else.
Larry's language is pretty strong. I agree with the Apple idiots part. Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison are best friends. This perhaps gives Larry an opportunity to express again his anger at Steve Jobs' ouster from Apple back in the 1980s. That might be motivation enough. Otherwise Hurd is no Steve Jobs. Even Larry would agree. But the point is taken. They should never have fired Steve Jobs.
At the end of the day what has happened is Oracle has made a smart human resource move.
Search Neutrality
Image via CrunchBaseNew York Times: Bits: Texas Attorney General Investigates Google Search: “Given that not every Web site can be at the top of the results, or even appear on the first page of our results, it’s unsurprising that some less relevant, lower quality websites will be unhappy with their ranking” ..... The issue is front and center as Google moves into many new business areas, including local business listings, shopping comparison and travel...... Microsoft finances Foundem’s backer and that its antitrust attorneys represent the other two.
Google has become big enough that it should warrant an anti trust poke. I don't think there is any merit to this Texas cowboy approach to Google, but this tells me Google has become really big now. Looks like Microsoft might be playing some behind the scenes roles. That is unfortunate. Microsoft is losing big in mobile, and its Windows is going archaic, and you can do with Office you can do online for free these days. The idea that Bing is lagging because Google is anti competitive is whispers.
The next thing you know some of these people will want Google to make public its search algorithms. If you think SEO scheming is bad enough today, imagine what after that. Coke has its secret sauce, as does Pepsi, as does KFC. So does Google have its secret sauce.
Microsoft is not losing to Google in search. Microsoft never really was in the ring in the first place. Microsoft has an Economics major CEO. What can it expect?
Google Public Policy Blog: Texas Inquires On Our Approach To Competition: our success is earned the right way -- by building great products, not locking in our users or advertisers...... recent filings have revealed that the company’s own servers overheated, explaining their reduced traffic.
Privacy, Digital Literacy, Technology, Social Values
Image by Ribbit Voice via FlickrConfused Of Calcutta: JP Rangaswami: Musing About A New Kind Of Literacy: There’s a new game in town, where the surveillance is all digital. Where everything we do is monitored and recorded and analysed and used, ostensibly to help us. Ostensibly. A world of digital fingerprints...... We’ve gotten used to the idea of people “following” us in a digital world, subscribing to stuff we publish. Here we know that others are watching us. ..... Many of the things we do are recorded, and we know about it. Many of the things we do are recorded, and we give permission for that recording to take place. Some of the things we do are recorded with our permission and we don’t understand enough about it..... A new kind of literacy is needed.
This post by JP, the guy who introduced me to Twitter, (@jobsworth) touches upon a topic that took Facebook by storm not long back. So what is privacy? What does it mean today? Does it mean any different than it used to?
Privacy is not a technological breakthrough, it is a social value. The ongoing debate on privacy is an interesting intersection point between technology, its possibilities, and a fundamental social value.
We do want our search results to be smart. We want out smartphone to know us like it is nice to have our barber know us. It feels like a privilege. Bloggers wanting page hits are not exactly trying to hide, and that is most bloggers, almost all bloggers. Sharing of ideas is about getting out into the open. And perhaps that is why blogging in my personal favorite social media tool. You can't give me too many page hits. There is no ceiling I have in mind. I am not complaining.
But there are personal details I would not want to share, and I don't put those online. But my propensity to mostly stick to ideas means I don't have to get overly cautious. Come, let's talk.
Facebook's privacy options are not even that complicated. But the fact that the average person rose up in arms on the issue shows that which JP calls "literacy" is for real. People need to be educated about what is going on and what their options are.
People have the option to share. People have the option to not share. And they need to know. But just like universal literacy in the old sense was never really achieved, I don't see how digital literacy will be any different. In which case we have to be watchful of instances of abuse and possibly even criminal activity. I guess the online world is not all that different from its offline counterpart then.
An Apologetic Mike Arrington
Image via WikipediaTechCrunch: Mike Arrington: Blogging And Mass Psychomanipulation: how perfect blogging is, with its constant feedback loop, as a training ground for mass psychology and manipulation ..... any blogger worth her salt could start, say, an extremely successful militant religious cult ...... Any blogger will tell you how frustrating the early days are. Getting someone, anyone, to link to you. Your first comment! etc. ..... If there is something nasty that can be said, someone will say it. Over and over ..... Bloggers have a direct line to the collective mind. .... I imagine priests and rabbis and career politicians have much the same experience. Speaking publicly so frequently they learn exactly how to manipulate the audience, or the camera, to get the reaction they want. It doesn’t work on every individual, but the masses as a group are easy to manipulate. and your audience tends to self reinforce over time, meaning the people who buy what you’re selling tend to come back for more, and others wander away.
Mike Arrington wrote this defensive blog post because he is not all too happy with the reaction his earlier post on women in tech seems to have gotten. I was one of those who did not take kindly to what Arrington had written. (Mike Arrington Is A Sexist Pig: Say PeeeeG!)
Kudos to Mike for at least bringing up the topic. Most men treat gender as a taboo topic. You just don't talk about gender. Most men have at ready knee jerk reactions. He obviously has had the courage to stick his neck out.
But that still does not take away from the fact that he sounded like he was defending the status quo in tech. The status quo marginalizes women. It is indefensible. And Mike Arrington does not have a clue.
To say there is a problem would be a good starting point. And Arrington is not there. This is not about blaming men. This is about identifying a malaise and then thinking up solutions as to how we can make things better. The world of tech has to be turned into true meritocracies.
Someone like Mike Arrington who has a big megaphone has the option to play a constructive role.
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