Archive for the 'Google' category

Google TV let down

Oct 07 2010 Published by under American Consumer, Changing scene, Geek stuff, Google

Wednesday October sixth was a real let down!

Logitech and Google started releasing a bunch of information about Google TV recently. Google luanched a more informative website http://www.google.com/tv/ early in the week.  That was the first sign of the letdown. DVR functional would only be available to Satellite customers. BUMMER!!!

Then on Wednesday (10/6) we get the first detail look at the Logitec Revue. The first thing I noticed was the connections on the back were limited to HDMI In and Out. So how was this going to work with OTA (over the air) broadcasting? well it is not, BUMMER!!

I was hoping  that the Logitech Revue device was going to be able to get ANY internet content.  Thats mean stuff like HULU! But several reporters reported no HULU at launch. Plus it was missing from all the screenshots. Another BUMMER!!

And the cost of the Logitech Revue is $300 dollars. Thats is a $200 dollar premium over most to the rest of the market. Like Apple TV and Roku which are both selling at the $99 dollar price point. So the cost is a real big BUMMER!!

On thing that is interesting about the Logitech Revue is it ability to control other devices like a digital cable , Satellite box, or a A/V receiver.  The Revue has an IR blaster and two connections on the back for IR out. I guess IR control is a no brainer for a company like Logitech that makes all the Harmony remotes. Plus you can use your smart phone (iPhone or Android)  to control the Revue over WiFi with a Logitech App. That is cool.

But the BUMMERS out number the cool factors, so I canceled my pre-order. I will sit on the side line a little longer to see who comes out with the set top box that hits the sweet spot. I thought it was going to be Google , but they missed by a long shot. My one hope is that this is just the initial release of Google TV…. Maybe better features are still coming

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Google Real-Time Search

Dec 07 2009 Published by under Corporate America, Google

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Google announces “Real Time Search”. What is it, results as they happen. Today the Real-Time Search results display results from Twitter and general sources. Google is still working on additional feeds form Facebook and MySpace.

Getting a feed from MySpace raises the question is Goolgle paying for these feeds.  Google did not answere the question, Danny Sullivan tried to come at the question in several direction. One wonders, in the wake of the fight over paying for news feed over that last few weeks, if money is exchanging hands.

This new feature “Real -Time Search” results display as a scrolling window on the main page or by using the option column you can change the whole page in to real time web search results.

Google has a video about the new ‘Real-Time Search” results:

or you can read the Google Blog about “real-Time Search” results.

How is Real Time Search done? Real-Time Search indexes a Billion pages a day. Yep thats a B for BILLION. And with in seconds analyzes the results for relevance and decides if the results should be used.  With in seconds the result is available on Google. Google had to develop doezons of new technologyed to get Real-Time search to work, see diagram below.

How2_Real_Time

So now the questions are:

1.   How will this change the Web?

2.   What is your strategy to leverage this new technology?

3.  What is relevant for “Real-Time” ?

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Google Chrome OS

Nov 19 2009 Published by under Changing scene, Future things, Geek stuff, Google

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In a nutshell the Google Chrome browser is the Google Chrome OS. It is aimed toward a netbook. There will be no disk drive only a RAM or solid state memory. Googles plan is to have the OS ready for Christmas next year.

So the good news is Google OS will load in 7 sec. The bad news all your data will be in the cloud. But is that  good or bad news. If your data is out in the cloud you can access a document from your notebook or your home machine or your office machine. So that is good, right.

Google Chrome OS  introduces a secure platform that stores your user settings in the cloud. If you loose your netbook , just get a new one and log-in to the cloud and you setting will all be there with your files.

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Everything you do in Chrome OS will be in the browser. So all your applications will be web based. Google claims that this is to make computers more accessibly,  less costly to install and maintain.

The example Google gave was you can buy several netbooks for $300 each. Load Google’s Chrome OS and get an adorable house wide solution. And since Google’s Chrome OS  is auto undated you do not have software updates to buy and install on all your home PC. For me that would have saved the purchase of the new windows 7  Family Pack and several hours of installation time and i still have bugs to solve to get everything working.

Looks like something I will be install at home as most of the laptops we use, around the house, are for web browsing and e-mail. So a new netbook with Google’s Chrome OS will be a lot cheaper.

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Wave Taking Over the E-mail World

Aug 25 2009 Published by under American Consumer, Changing scene, Future things, Geek stuff, Google

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Is Google Wave what e-mail should be? What category does Google Wave  fit anyway? What is Google Wave exactly? Does it do too much?

It looks to me as Google is pushing for a complete paradigm change in the internet communication sea. At first glance, Google Wave, does E-mail, Instant messaging, pulse Collaboration. But then you start to peel back the layers and there is so much more. You could use Google Wave to Tweet, blog, share photos albums, project documentation, play games and the list keeps going on and on….

So will the world’s tides be shifted by the Google Wave. The first problem is Google Wave requires a forklift replacement of the old way of doing things on the internet today. Namely it replaces IM and E-mail as we know them to day, for the better in my opinion. After all that was the geniuses of the Google Wave project the mission was “What would e-mail be like, if it were created today, not 40 years ago?”

So you might see early adopters start using Google Wave in a Corporate or business setting. Google Wave could increase productive by offering faster communication and better collaboration between staff. Will the corporate world want all that data stored in the Google cloud? Or will they install their own Federation copy of Google Wave?

So will we be using Google Wave in a year or two? Or will the Google Wave project lead to something else that is better and easier to implement? Or will Google Wave be a wash out?

One response so far

Google announces Chrome OS

Jul 10 2009 Published by under Changing scene, Geek stuff, Google

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Google announces Chrome OS 7/7/09. Just as we perdicted in our post of September 2008  Google Chrome shine or safety.  Google posted this entry on the Chrome blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS.

So the to titans are going to battle it out. The question is: Will Google be able to survive in the Operating System arena. Microsoft has struggled for years to gain a foot hold in the search space.  Microsoft has pored Millions in to search and have made very little progress. Should the titans stay with what they know and where that make money?

Google is going to spend million of dollars to develop the Linux based Operating system then theyare going to give it a way. There has got to be more to this business model?

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Google Chrome shine or safety

Sep 03 2008 Published by under Changing scene, Corporate America, Geek stuff, Google

IS Chrome for Google security and safety of Google’s ad revenue or is it Google’s research project for an Operating system? Or Maybe it is both.

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The underlying technologies of the Chrome browser are very much like a Operating System. With features like a Task Manger that displays the different processes very much like Windows OS. Google’s decision to divide and conquer processes at the browser level could be and exercise in developing a more sophisticated project to follow on in the future (like an OS).

But on the other hand is Google just protecting their own ad revenue? Is Chrome a way to guarantee their ability to server up the correct ad based on your browser history? There was nothing to stop Microsoft, FireFox or Safarii to throwing up roadblocks that prevented Google from displaying the most relevant ad. After all who is the biggest inline provider on online ads?

One additional observation, the Chrome logo looks a lot like the Milton Bradley Simon game from the late 70′s.

4 responses so far