Google Latitude Stunt

Now I know Google Latitude has been around for a little while now but I was sat here and happened to watch this video which is a pretty cool way of showing what can be done with the technology.



Mind you I have to say, who is going to want to use it to find out where your friends are? Why not just give them a call and ask them to meet you as we always have done or send them an email or text? The only thing I can think of is it means you can sneak up on them where ever they are and scary them or you can secretley keep an eye on where someone is, its a bit like having a locater beacon on you! Technology is a great thing but is this to far?

Google Street View.....New Beta Test Option?

I was shown at work today a great YouTube video of how you could take Google Street View a step to far. Interesting to see people are already thinking about the connotations of privacy and how far it could actually go. Will Google ever get to the point (trying not to spoil the vid!) portrayed in this YouTube spoof? Only time will tell....Enjoy!

Microsoft bids $44.6 billion for Yahoo!!!

Well last Friday started like any other Friday, until I read my RSS feeds at about 11.45am and you hear rumours of Microsoft bidding to buy Yahoo. At first you can of think 'Yeah Right!' but the reality is that the bid has been tabled at $44.6 Billion. (How much!!)

The question then has to be asked as to will the deal actually happen? It looks like Yahoo will entertain it but I can imagine it will take some time to go through. But I bet the Yahoo share holders are hoping it does when it values the shares at just over 62% more than what they currently are. It is getting a lot of mixed opinions on the business side with the Fox business teams saying it is a really bad deal for Microsoft share holders and they are paying to much.



Business aside I have to bring this back to one area, if they combined how will this affect their search market share?? In the US Google will still be 56% and the combined Yahoo and Microsoft will only be 31.5%. This is in the US which is the market where they are at the closest as well. Imagine the UK it will be Google 79% and Yahoo-Microsoft combined still only around 14%. As a joint force can they grow the share or will they focus to areas of Technology or Mobile Search?

The only other area to consider is the name....will it be YaSoft? or Microhoo? Time will tell and I am sure there will be a lot more news and discussion about the deal next week.

SpaceTime 3D Search

I have always been one for trying a new beta but this is one that is worth a go. SpaceTime has launched with everything from 3D Search, 3D Ebay, 3D Image Search and 3D Tabbed Browsing. The strap line for the new concept is:

"I think I've found a product that makes the Google interface look like it was designed by Apple."

















Which I can see where they are coming from as it is very like Apples new Phone and IPod navigation. Will it be another piece of clever technology that doesn't catch on? Only time will tell but I would say download it and have a go, it is well worth it, the screen grab above does not do it justice and if anything it consolidates all the results together.

You can view all it has to offer at http://www.spacetime.com

What will Google do in 2008??

After the fast paced developments in 2007 for the online search arena a lot of people are wondering what Google will be looking to achieve in 2008 to keep the momentum up. I was reading a post on the 'Google Operating System' which is an unofficial blog and has been going now for a few years giving some great opinions on the search giant.

They posted a great blog on their thoughts of what will Google do it 2008. And I thought I would throw up a quick post as their are alot of interesting views and scenarios within the 15 or so areas they think Google will develop in 2008. And as we are 1 day away from 2008 the timing seemed right.

As they say "Some of these items are obvious, others are mostly wishful thinking." but all in all I think they make for some interesting reading:-

1. Google will try to unify its application and transform them into a big social network. The Maka-Maka project (or Google's activity stream) will enhance the already existing profiles. If Google doesn't understand that your Gmail contacts aren't necessarily your friends, we'll see a huge privacy backslash.

2. Google should finally go beyond indexing text and start to use image analysis and speech recognition in Google Image Search and Google Video. The NevenVision acquisition should produce visible results in the image search engine and we could see better results for famous people or the option to find similar images.

3. Google won't give up on universal search, but we'll see a different interface that separates standard search results from OneBoxes and other additions. Google's snippets will become smarter and they could include information about authors, locations, concepts.

4. Gmail will add another batch of new features, one of the most important being task management, and will finally go out of beta. Gmail will launch a Google Labs-like site with experimental features that could be added by those who are curious to see the next features before they are officially launched.

5. The first Android phones will be a disappointment, but developers will create a lot of interesting applications that could compensate for the poor designs.

6. Most Google applications will work offline using Google Gears, even if the functionality will be limited. Google Gears will also work on mobile phones and could become a part of Firefox.

7. Google Maps will be redesigned and could include more space for user-generated content. We'll start to see user's locations, important events from our area, recommendations from friends. Google Maps will become more personal.

8. OpenSocial won't work as well as expected and Google will focus on its own social network(s). iGoogle gadgets are about to become social and aggregate data from your contacts.

9. Google will launch a people search engine that gathers data from the web, especially from social networks.

10. Google Books will be more present in search results and Google will start to sell access to the full content of some of the books.

11. One word: sync. At the end of the year, Outlook and most mobile phones will be able to synchronize with Google Calendar and Gmail's contacts. Google Docs will have plug-ins that let you edit documents in Microsoft Office or OpenOffice and save the changes online. Google Toolbar will integrate Browser Sync and start to synchronize your bookmarks, cookies, passwords and your browser's history.

12. Multi-faceted search, searching from different points of view (objective information vs positive/negative opinions, official information vs comments from blogs, forums).

13. Google will differentiate commercial search results by integrating data from Google Base. Google will continue to try to promote Checkout, this time by showing small badges next to the search results from sites that accept Google Checkout.

14. Google Talk will move completely online: the embeddable gadget will let you create custom chat rooms, talk with other people and maybe even see them if they have webcams.

15. Picasa Web Albums will add some of the photo editing features from Picasa and will increase the free storage.

16. GDrive will finally launch, but it won't offer infinite storage or advanced features. It will let you access the files stored in different Google applications and upload new files from a single interface. Storage: 20 GB.

'touchEarth' - Google Earth Via Multitouch

We have all probably seen the facility on the likes of the iPhone to manipulate Google maps via touch and the ability to 'Pinch' in and out. The Youtube video below I just came across that has been uploaded today shows how much more you can manipulate this. The demo of 'touchEarth' application shows how you can control Google Earth via multitouch gestures on a much larger scale.

It really is getting to the stages of the film Minority Reports a few years ago and for me starts to show how the Internet can start to move towards an integrated media centre option in the house bringing Internet and the likes of TV closer together. Microsoft have also been looking at these options as well with their 'Surface' table technology for a while now.

Steve Ballmer Goes Search Dunking!

Here is a video of part of a longer interview with Microsofts Steve Ballmer at Web 2, he is asked about how Microsoft Search is coming along against the competitors like Google. The answer he gives is fantastic and delivered in only a way Steve Ballmer can!

Google Analyst Day 2007

Thought I would throw this one up on the blog. It is the Search and Apps Overview at Google Analyst 2007 day. It is a bit of a long video at 67 minutes but well worth a watch. The vid gives some great insight into the history and theories behind Google. Where they are today as well as looking to the future developments.

It is the 3rd year of the Analyst Day and it has an all star line up on the speakers front.

Google Partners Conference Interview

Was reading an article on Andy Beals Blog the other day which covers a video which was part of Google’s annual closed-doors partner conference. It is an interview with Sergey and Larry, hosted by journalist James Fallows who asks them some pretty direct and interesting questions.

The video which was posted on Youtube is just over 30 minutes long but is well worth a watch as it give some great insight.

Who wants to be a millionaire with Google?

I was at an event today and got shown this video on Youtube. I know it is a year old but I have never seen it and thought is was worth a blog. It is part of Australia's version of Millionaire where they go to Phone a Friend as they have no idea of the answer and are quite open to the fact his friend will have Google ready to look for the answer! (often wondered if people did that)

Host is adamant they should use MSN....see what happens for yourself but a very funny clip.



It was an easy find! Think they just used the wrong friend.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0066244/awards

Google is on the up!

I was reading and article today which to me is a stark reminder on how powerful the mighty Google really is. For years I have talked about Google market share and the dominant position they hold in the UK and generally globally but recent numbers published from JMP Securities analyst William Morrison's analysis of Comscore data, Google is still growing and at a frightening pace!

From July06 to July 07:

• worldwide users +20%
• US users +18% (now 22% of 552 million global total)
• time spent on sites +113%
• page views +56%
• Google Maps: blows past Yahoo to 682 million pageviews/mo +98% (vs. Yahoo's 397 million, +32%)

And even more amazing is that little thing called Youtube. It now accounts for 28% of total minutes spent on Google worldwide and an astounding 35% of global users time.

Tunnel through the earth will Google

No I haven't lost it (well a few people I know may beg to differ!). Do you remember when you were a kid and you would be digging a big hole and someone usually a 'grown up' would say "if you carry on digging you will reach Australia"!

Well I always used to think what are you on about, the centre of the earth is full of liquid and you would never make it! But if you were able to negotiate the 4000 degree heat (thanks Wikipedia) you would not come out to far away according to Google.

As you can imagine I started my journey from Newcastle upon Tyne and you can see it here



Unfortunately it would have been a doomed trip as upon digging out the other side I would have come out on the bottom of the Southern Ocean around 1100km south of New Zealand so would have drowned or been lost at sea.

Real shame as I was starting to enjoy this expedition!

Have a go and see where you can dig to around the globe at Google My Maps

Bourne Identity meets Google

At first you may ask what am I on about with the tile of this blog, but Universal Pictures and Google announced a new online game, The Ultimate Search for Bourne with Google. It is designed to promote the new ‘Bourne Ultimatum’ film and is designed for the player to use a suite of Google products such as Search, Maps, Images and of course YouTube.

The game will be promoted on Google via search results and customized iGoogle home pages. The film is released in the US on 3^rd August, but don’t worry we don’t have to wait that long for the game! It is only 4 days away (16^th July) and you can sign up at www.google.com/bourne from then

It will launch in seven countries and incorporates a sweepstakes element. Players will have to track rogue agent Jason Bourne across three continents and solve clues that bring them closer to uncovering Bourne's identity.

But here the best bit…the prizes! Top prize is a Volkswagen Touareg 2, Mastercard are awarding 15 daily $1000 gift cards, a $25,000 prize, 4 trips to New York, Paris, London, Madrid or Tangier and in my eyes best of all 10 Apple iPhones.

See you in there on the 16th I know I am going to be there.

Nothing like a good interview

While I was down at the Online Marketing Show last week doing a speaking session we decided to set up a series of interviews with some of the main search providers in the industry which I was able to sign up on the day and get them in front of the dreaded video camera.

We have just published interviews with Richard Firminger - Yahoo, Mel Carson - Microsoft, Ajay Syal - Yell and Steve Miller - IAB to the Latitude Website and Youtube.

Google will follow shortly as it is still getting signed off by their legal team, but it will be added as soon as I have it.

I decided to ask in general only two questions to them all:

1. What is the next big thing in search marketing in the next 12 months?
2. How do you see search developing in the future over say the next 3 to 4 years?

What was interesting to here is that generally everyone had a different opinion! Obviously they had to talk about products from their own organisations (who wouldn't!) but when you listen to their concepts in makes for great insight and a lot of different opinions.

I have put the interview with Richard Firminger - Yahoo Regional Sales Director Northern Europe below. But I recommend going and having a look at them all. You can see them at:

http://uk.youtube.com/user/latitudegroupvideos



Watch out for the Everyclick blue mouse putting in a guest appearance as well on the Yell.com interview. that mouse was everywhere for the whole 2 days at the show, you couldn't get away from him!

Photosynth meets Google Street View

I was speaking earlier this week at the Online Marketing Show in London doing a slot on how we see more rich media integrating to search.

but for me one of the interesting little tech developments that we have coming later this year is something called EveryScape.

I have always been a big fan of Microsoft Photosynth and always will be and when a bout a month back Google launched Street Views in Beta on the maps in the US.

But what Everyscape does it to combined the two and give you the directional ability of Maps but then takes the like of the views from Google Street Views to the next level by giving you the ability to navigate in a virtual world of cities and step off the street in to shops and cafes and view the interior as well. The possibilities are endless and the marketing opportunities great.

Watch out for the launch later this year.

The Power of the YouTube

I have to say when you think about it after seeing some of Britain has Got Talent last week you could never have imagined a phone salesman called Paul Potts from Carphone Warehouse would let alone be able to sing Opera but actually win the whole thing.

But that's enough about that as it has nothing to do with search. What I am keen to watch is how many views it gets on YouTube. I have found 2 instances of it uploaded on there and already 3.2 Million people have looked at it and with YouTube growing a gathering pace a a rapid rate how high will it go and who will seize the chance to use the space as a marketing opportunity?

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57NA