Christmas Cheer for Advertisers in 2010
December 28, 2009
Google has some Christmas cheer for advertisers… maybe early in 2010. One of my favorite Googlers, Ramanathan Guha, father of the programmable search engine, has teamed with a gaggle of Googlers to invent “Query Identification and Association.” The invention is a clever one, and it may address some of the shortcomings in US0046314. Advertisers want to get their ads in front of folks who have an interest in their products and services. The Guha gang has figured out to improve ad matching using some algorithmic magic, semantic seasoning, and Google’s brute computational cruncher. You can read about the method for improving ad matching to a user’s query before the user creates a query in US2009/0319517. Filed in June 2009, this puppy jumped from the USPTO’s processing machine on December 24, 2009. I thought DC was shut down for Christmas, but not the USPTO! Fish & Richardson, one of the Google’s go-to patent outfits, explains the invention this way:
Apparatus, systems and methods for predictive query identification for advertisements are disclosed. Candidate query are identified from queries stored in a query log. Relevancy scores for a plurality of web documents are generated, each relevancy score associated with a corresponding web document and being a measure of the relevance of the candidate query to the web document. A web document having an associated relevancy score that exceeds a relevancy threshold is selected. The selected web document is associated with the candidate query.
So clear. For me, the net net is simple: better ad matching means happier advertisers. Happier advertisers spend more money on Google ads.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 28, 2009
Oyez, oyez, I feel compelled to tell the USPTO that no one paid me to praise their Christmas eve work.
What Did Google Learn from Dodgeball?
December 27, 2009
Short honk: Google tried to interest Yahoo in a game tie up four or five years ago I heard. Then Google bought Dodgeball and watched the deal get lost in MOMA’s big tummy. So what did Google learn from its dalliances? Time to invest in SCVNGR? Will this play work out? It is an arm’s length deal. It uses geolocation? It seems to mesh with the broader Android apps play. More information appears in “SCVNGR Raises $4 Million from Google Ventures.” Games is one area where Google has not had much success. The Google keeps trying. If you want to see some of Google’s game thinking, read US7460863.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 27, 2009
Oyez, oyez, no one paid me to write about Google’s game missteps. I must report this to the Bureau of Reclamation. Just keep reclaiming old land. Something may grow or develop… like Google games.
Content or Collateral?
December 27, 2009
I navigated to a Network World slideshow called “Microsoft Rebels.” The meaning of the word is closer to Confederate soldiers, not the poem by Padraic Pearse.
I was correct in my thought that this would be a Web page with content that forced me to read a paragraph, click, see and ad, dismiss an ad, read the content, repeat. These types of articles are designed to annoy me and produce page views for the site operator. Annoying but that’s part of life in the good old US of A today.
The slideshow was a combination of text and images. Each slide presented a bit of information, a picture, and a subtle jab at Microsoft. A number of the slides presented a cheerful Google logo but there were some Linux plugs as well. The theme was “Google Apps and Linux save you money.”
The question for me was, “Is this slideshow content or marketing collateral?” There were some useful factoids in the write up; for example:
In October, the Los Angeles City Council approved a $7.25 million five-year deal Tuesday in which the city will adopt Gmail and other Google Apps. Ironically, just over $1.5 million for the project came from the payout of a 2006 class action lawsuit between the city and Microsoft. Microsoft paid $70 million three years ago to settle the suit, brought on behalf of six California counties and cities who alleged that Microsoft used its monopoly position to overcharge for software.
On the whole, I think the slideshow is a commercial presented as an objective article. Surprise, surprise.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 27, 2009
Oyez, oyez, I wish to disclose that I was not paid to write this article. I further disclose that I did not pay any attention to the advertisements on the page. Furthermore, I am not convinced the data are spot on. Who is the oversight authority? I know, I know. The Federal Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, an outfit that digs for the truth.
Toktumi Forced to Learn How to Surf
December 27, 2009
Short honk: Gigaom provides a “surf or die” example in “When Google Attacks: Toktumi’s Tale”. The write up summarizes what a mobile phone gizmo maker did to stay in business when Googzilla strolled into its market. Interesting example of scrambling on a digital surf board. Key sentence for me?
Sisson managed some of this by using Google’s own services to help expand his business. Reasoning that potential Google Voice customers would search for the term on Google, he bought a Toktumi ad against Google Voice searches. He said the whole experience actually helped Toktumi because it educated consumers and businesses about the benefits of a hosted PBX. It doesn’t hurt that Toktumi lets users bring in their existing telephone numbers, rather than assigning them one.
Better than drowning.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 27, 2009
No one paid me to write this. I think I have to tell the poobahs at TRICARE Management, who do care._
Search Lemma Three
December 27, 2009
The third statement to get your competitive juices flowing.
A numerical recipe for search in the hands of a bad chef yields poor results.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 27, 2009
A freebie. Again I will report to the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Google Described as a Giant Transaction Machine
December 26, 2009
I find it more fun than watching snakes sun themselves to learn from media mavens what Google is. The former grand vizier of Business Week said in “Google & Media: Biting the Hand that Feeds You”:
Google has become this massive transaction machine, and as everyone knows, transactions are the antithesis of relationships. If a brand wants a relationship with its audience, Google is getting in the way. It’s how Google was able to siphon nearly $22 billion last year in advertising from traditional media. And it’s the most obvious proof that media brands have diminished in value. People are more routinely turning to Google to get information, rather than a brand known for its expertise in a given area.
Are Google’s advertisers abandoning traditional media because Google is siphoning them from magazines and newspapers? Nope. I think that Google is delivering what advertisers think they want or need. Google is not running an ad sales operation in the mode of the 1980-style magazine or newspaper. Google is sort of there and people have to do their own heavy lifting.
The metaphor of a “transaction machine” may contribute to a fundamental misunderstanding of what Google is. A transaction is one part of Google’s functionality. The big part is that the company is functioning as a trans-national computing platform that scales reasonably quickly and economically. Software allows a platform to perform a large number of functions. Seizing on one fails to characterize the whole of the Google operation. But a failure to perceive reality accurately is one of the contributing factors in the decline of traditional media. Just my opinion.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 26, 2009
No one paid me to point out that this source article misses some of the Google’s more obvious features. I think I have to report my freebie penchant to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. What do you think?
Social Search Misses a Top 10 Spot by a Country Mile
December 26, 2009
To see how far search has fallen, read Mashable’s “10 News Media Content Trends to Watch in 2010.” Lots of social stuff but no reference to search. What’s that mean? In my opinion, the focus on content represents a shift in how the up and comers view information. The implication is that if you are part of the in crowd, you can get your pals to tell you where information you need is or what to accept as high value information. In this world, content is king. Search may be nothing? We’ll see.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 26, 2009
Wow, I am baffled. I don’t know which high powered oversight entity cares about social content. Maybe I will spam any contacts I have at Health and Human Services Department (HHS).
Mr. Google Woos State Governments
December 26, 2009
If you have been watching the Google waltz with the Obama administration, you have missed the action in the cloak room. Mr. Google has been quite successful out of the public eye. Mr. Google has been making new friends and I for one have not noticed. I found “Our Google Government” interesting indeed. The main point of the article is that 60 percent of US state governments have fallen in love with Google. Of course there are degrees of love. Some states love Mr; Google quite a bit. Others are simply in lust with Google. What’s remarkable is this comment:
In other words, according to Google, United States state governments have literally handed over our public data to be held and managed by a private company which has well-publicized partnerships with other governments such as China. The data is physically stored in Google’s buildings, on Google’s servers, managed by Google’s employees. This means Google now controls our government’s access to its own data.
I don’t know if this statement is spot on. The article includes a list of states that have gone Google.
Alaska
Connecticut
Washington, DC
Illinois
Iowa
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Michigan
Montana
North Dakota
Nebraska
New Hampshire
Ohio
Oklahoma
Minnesota
Pennsylvania
South Dakota
Utah
Wisconsin
Strong stuff. And there’s more in the source document.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 26, 2009
What a conundrum? This is a freebie, and it is about the US government. I have to disclose that I am working for zip to a Federal watchdog. To which cracker jack agency? Oh, I remember—the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission. IBM, Oracle, and Unisys contacts may be flying from states after Googzilla arrives.
AOL 2010 Unveiled
December 26, 2009
Short honk: I must admit I was surprised to learn how AOL will position itself in 2010. An organization that converted Relegence.com into Love.com has deeper thoughts than I. Navigate to Business Insider and read “AOL Is Just as Much a Journalistic Organization as The New York Times.” If you are a new media enthusiast, you can listen to a podcast in which the secret plans for AOL are disclosed. Here’s the stunner:
AOL is just as much a journalistic organization as The New York Times, as Bloomberg, as NBC News, as all kinds of organizations new and old.
Okay. The ambiguity in this statement is as delicious as it rhetorical halo.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 26, 2009
Oyez, oyez, I was not paid to point out this secret. Nevertheless I will do my duty because the Central Intelligence Agency needs to know this fact about a company so, so close to the “special” landing area at Dulles Airport. You never know, do you?
Need an IBM Mainframe Specialist
December 25, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who pointed out a tweet that in turn pointed to the IBM Web site’s list of people on the “Master the Mainframe Content 2009” page. If you are looking for someone in a university who might be available to assist you with your mainframe challenges, check out the list. There are no hot links to the people, but the individual and his / her institution is provided. With that information, I was able to locate the three folks I selected at random. I pass this along because there is a perception that no youngsters know anything about the IBM mainframe. IBM is doing what it can to keep electricity flowing to the iron lungs. If you have STAIRS III, you may want to download and save this list for reference in 2010.
Stephen E. Arnold, December 25, 2009
I was not paid to write about IBM and its potential mainframe enthusiasts. I suppose I should report this fact to the Science Office (Energy Department). I think that group might have some mainframe affection.
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