Posts with tag "Google"
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Braindead TechCast EP66: 10,000 channels and still nothing

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  • Posted 1097 days ago

If there is one thing you can always count on to come out of Google’s conference announcement is division over what has been announced. Much of the news today of course has been about the coming Age of Google TV and how it is going to change everything. Ya .. okay.

We also take a little bit of a side-trip into lunacy with the news that Australia doesn’t want you bringing any porn into the country and that CBS is being a hypocrite over the title of its new show called $#*! My Dad Say – which of course everyone knows is a spin off from the Twitter account by the same name.

The rest of the show branches out to music mobile phones and other things of interest.

Posts referred to in the show.

Announcing Google TV: TV meets web. Web meets TV. – The Official Google Blog
Google TV – So What? The Distributors Have All The Control – Silicon Valley Watcher
CBS’ New ‘$#*!’ Raises $#*! From Parents Council - The Wrap
Don’t plan on taking that copy of Playboy on your trip to Australia – The Inquisitr
Where’s My TV With 20 HDMI Slots? – TechnoBuffalo
New images of Windows Phone 7 running on an LG – WinExtra

Enjoy the show

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Braindead TechCast EP65: No green dot

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  • Posted 1098 days ago

With much of the news today being about Google and their I/O conference Sean and I take a look at a few of the announcements even the ones rumored to announced tomorrow.

We take a few minutes to look into the tea leaves when it comes to a possible Yahoo and AOL deal.

We then spend a little bit of time talking about mSpot and how once it was consider to be a curse on the web to have paid plugins (apps) for browsers but now it is the coolest thing going. Amazing how attitudes can change over the years and companies involved.

Post referred to in the show.

Proof That Google TV Will Make Its Debut Tomorrow – TechCrunch
Did Yahoo! Just Pave Its Way To Finally Buying AOL? – The Next Web
An open marketplace for web apps – Google Chrome Store
Cloud-Based iTunes, Thy Name Is mSpot – TechnoBuffalo
Google Wave Available for Everyone – Google Wave Blog

Enjoy the show

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Sophia Loren

Google is no Sophia Loren – more like Ugly Betty

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  • Posted 1105 days ago

There is no getting around it – Google sucks when it comes to the Social Web, or in marketing speak – Social Media.

Unlike the other leaders in the field Google’s efforts have either been complete flops or just disparate efforts scattered around the Web. Even in those efforts that have gained a modicum of success, if it can even be called that, there is always a feeling of blandness, of always just missing the target.

In a way this is understandable. One has to remember that Google was built around the whole concept of the power of the algorithm and built by engineers and developers with an extreme eye to minimalism in everything it did. There is nothing wrong with this approach if all you are going to be is a search engine and ad platform but being social needs more than being able to calculate page load times down to the millisecond, or debating which shade of blue right down the the hex number is better.

Everything Google does is bland, faceless and yes – boring. This is the perfect approach of course for the true geeks and early adopters but the exact opposite of what the masses who are becoming involved in Social Media want, or are expecting.

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The most important difference between Google Buzz and Facebook

Facebook is the biggest monster in the room, there’s no denying that.

It is huge and regardless of how much of an uproar there might be over the way it decides it wants things done it isn’t going anywhere. We might whine and bitch about Facebook constantly changing the rules of the game in order to suit its own ends but unfortunately there is no other social network capable of challenging it.

But perhaps it doesn’t need to be challenged. Perhaps there are alternatives out there that while not as big or all encompassing as Facebook that are just as good in their own way. After all it isn’t a requirement that we need to join, or participate, Facebook – at least not yet.

I was thinking about that today when I read a post by Louis Gray where he was talking about why Google Buzz was a better alternative for him over Facebook.

The world of social networking is not a zero-sum game. For Buzz to succeed does not mean that either of the other networks have to fail. In fact, it doesn’t even mean that Buzz has to be the biggest network on the planet. But it does mean that it should have the potential to be the best. I need a powerful aggregation tool that watches my activity on Google Reader and native blogs, but also offers the option to share photos and videos in a public way. Buzz does that. I need a powerful tool that lets me find friends’ updates from around the Web and engage with them in a central location. Buzz does that.

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Could Google Wave actually be a great alternative to Facebook?

I’m not a fan of Facebook as I have a great number of questions about the service and its intentions. At the same time there really isn’t any alternatives – or is there?

There was a lot of talk about Google Wave when it first was announced but it didn’t last very long and the talk has been replaced by the hype over Buzz but even that is just a shadow of what Facebook brings to the table. A lot of people in the social media world have expressed the hope that Google would finally get its Social Media mojo together and actually bring us a competitor to the Facebook giant.

The thing is that we may actually looking at Wave the totally wrong way or possibly not looking at it the right way. Chris Brogan has talked often about Google Wave and has found it useful for things like collaboration but I wonder if even he isn’t using it to its full potential – as a Facebook alternative.

I know I had for the most part given up on Google Wave at being something of any real use to me but then today a reader left a comment on a previous post, Getting depressed with this whole social media thing, that got me to thinking about Wave again.

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The misappropriation of Evil

We seem to have lost all concept of what evil is. In the tech blogosphere we throw the word around as if it is some sort of weapon. Google is evil, Facebook is evil, advertising is evil, marketers are evil.

Open isn’t evil. As long as it is the freetard version of Open – anything else is evil. Free isn’t evil but anything else is evil. Free access to the news isn’t evil but paywalls are evil.

The psychology of words is fascinating especially when it comes to propaganda. Evil, good, have very definite connotations which are being manipulated on a daily basis. If what is going on doesn’t match up with what we think is the right; or good way to do things then out comes  the word – evil.

You want to talk about what evil is?

Hitler was evil. Bundy was evil. Pedophiles are evil. Evil is something that rocks you to your very soul. Evil is something you can taste in the back of your mouth as you find yourself unable to move. Those are the faces of evil.

We like to paint corporations that are willing to forfeit our future in exchange for obscene amounts of money as being evil but they are not. They are a business and at its roots business is all about making money regardless of the cost. Businesses can be bad – but again that is a subjective term – and businesses can be good but no matter how much you try and twist ideologies business is not evil.

Facebook is doing what any company would do in its position - solidifying its reach by whatever means it can. Google would do the same regardless of their tired old motto. Microsoft got hammered for years for doing what businesses do.

Sure we would all hope that businesses would do good things but the reality is that any business will do whatever it has to do to survive. That doesn’t even come close to meeting the the sniff test for evil.

I know in the past I have made the same error and tossed in the word evil without a thought; besides it is always good for pageviews right. Well no more – at least here because this is the only place that I have control on what gets posted. No more branding companies as being evil because one of these days someone could come along who truly deserves that title. The problem is that the word – the emotion – the fear – will have been so watered down that it won’t have the same needed impact.

So call Facebook bad, call Google bad but save evil for something that truly is.

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granny

This is what can happen when a company controls your web presence

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  • Posted 1125 days ago

First off I want to apologize to Chris Brogan for his trip to Canada being ruined because of Google. Hopefully Chris the bistros more than made up for your troubles.

For those of you may not know the esteemed Mr. Brogan was visiting my fair country (even if it was Montreal) and Google decided that there had been a perceived violation of Google’s Terms of Service or product-specific Terms of Service.” As a result Chris was stranded in a foreign country without his lifeline to his community or his communication platform.

You see when Google disabled his access they left him literally stranded without

  • being able to use his Android phone fully
  • Access to his primary calendar
  • Access to Google Wave which is where he collaborates on projects
  • Google Reader
  • Google docs and all his documents

In other words just because a single company perceived something was wrong they made a person not exist, because that is what happens when you suddenly find yourself alone – not existing in your once familiar digital world.

Now we have Facebook looking to insinuate itself to a degree only seen before with Google. It was one thing when Robert Scoble found his Facebook account suspended – it was early days of Facebook – and really it was only the fact that Robert was who he was that he got his account back.

However as Facebook increasingly becomes our online identity handler, our way to communicate, our way to be social <gag> what happens when they decide that some perceived wrong and suspends your account.

The idea that a single company has that much control over your digital existence should be enough to scare anyone. Throw in the fact that Facebook is well known for its arbitrary suspending or deleting of accounts  and if their march for dominance on the Web doesn’t worry you … well .. here’s some more kool-aid for you.

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Braindead TechCast EP47: We are losing our Web

Google is in the news today as everyone preps up for Facebook’s first moves on taking over the world tomorrow from its f8 Developer conference. Unfortunately with Google however it isn’t good news even if the news makes no sense whatsoever.

From being taken to task by 10 privacy commissioners from countries around the world to the idiot idea that the company should be broken up ala the ridiculous example of AT&T – the original AT&T that is – everyone seems to be trying to get in their slaps against the company.

Oh and Sean and I announce to the world .. well the three listeners anyway that what was once the private game of one listener is now open to all. Yes folks we are talking about the Braindead TechCast Drinking Game where every time you hear one of us utter the phrase “out of their evar-loving minds” you get to take a drink. The only caveat is that we can not be held responsible the morning after effects.

Posts referred to in the show

Letter to Google Inc. Chief Executive Officer – Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Consumer group to call for Google break up – SFGate
90% of Content on Google Buzz is Bots, Report Finds – ReadWriteWeb
10 Suggestions for Redesigning the Google Profile – Louis Gray

Enjoy the show

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