Deflation or Price War? You Decide
November 12, 2009
Stan Schroder’s “Google Cuts Prices of Cloud Storage, Increases Cap to 16 Terabyte” summarizes a Google pricing action. Mr. Schroeder writes:
We’re talking about extra storage; for example if free storage that comes with Picasa Web Albums or Gmail isn’t enough for you, you can purchase extra storage space for a price. Today, Google is dramatically slashing that price.
Interesting but not as interesting as thinking about the implications of a price cut. The economy remains uncertain. Competition in the buzzy cloud world is increasing. Google chops prices as Amazon did recently and boosts capacity. Are there implications? Sure there are, but the write ups steer clear of the core of this action. My hunch is that it is neither deflation or a price war. I keep thinking about the behavior of the hungry big cats when the herd of gazelles galloped along. Snack time?
Stephen Arnold, November 11, 2009
No one paid me for this observation about nature red in tooth and claw. The goose is a gentle creature, but he will alert the Department of Transportation that this was an uncompensated endeavor. Yikes, I smell hot tar on the information highway.
Darknet Left Unexplained
November 11, 2009
For content mavens, nothing is acts like digital catnip than the idea of access to information most people do not have. I found the Techradar article “Off the Grid: The Darknet Exposed. Explore the Uses and Abuses of the Net’s Darkest Corners” interesting. The story explains how a darknet works with particular emphasis on hacking. The article explains honeypots; that is, computers set up to attack bad folks and their scripts. The third page of the article dips into the information world I find less frequently described. Techradar said:
BitTorrent has become the most widely used darknet protocol on the internet, and it accounts for around 40 per cent of all traffic.
The write up is a bit misleading. Hopefully someone will tackle the subject in a way that interests me. I watched the article redirect three times, so you may want to make sure you are working from a protected system.
Stephen Arnold, November 10, 2009
A freebie I fear.
Google Developer Video Now Available
November 9, 2009
The third video of the six-video series called “How to Make Money with Google” premiered today at http://www.arnoldit.com/video. This video, released by Arnold Information Technology, http://www.arnoldit.com, focuses on developing program interfaces using Google resources and leveraging those applications for business use.
The purpose of this short video series–watching all six videos takes about 30 minutes–is to give clear, factual information on four specific ways an enterprising individual, a services company, or a diversified company can use the Google platform to produce revenue while meeting the needs of their customers and prospects. The videos are available for personal and educational use with no fee.
This newest video highlights how using and developing Google APIs–application programming interfaces–can be a big money-maker for your online business. It also describes Google’s certification program which is beginning to take shape. Arnold characterizes how a third party developer can put technical skills to use to build a large business around Google.
Keep in mind that Google is a moving target. The company is evolving and changing policies and procedures very rapidly,” Stephen E. Arnold, president of Arnold Information Technology, said. Arnold has published three Google monographs and these videos are based on the information compiled for The Google Legacy, Google Version 2.0, and Google: The Digital Gutenberg. The monographs are available from Infonortics Ltd., in Tetbury, Glos., at http://www.infonortics.com.
Other videos include an overview of money-making opportunities, including why the Google opportunity is similar to the opportunity Microsoft created with its MS DOS software in the early 1980s; using Google’s AdSense advertising module; search engine optimization consulting and services; the Google partner and reseller program; and a video titled “Google Creates Opportunity,” which emphasizes the opportunity to grow with Google as the company strives for $100 billion in revenue.
“I wanted to provide some basic, factual information about what I see as the Google revenue opportunity. Information about Google is everywhere, but the upside of Google as an opportunity is not widely known,” Arnold said. “The increase in ‘get rich quick’ with Google e-mails I was receiving convinced me that a more measured discussion of the opportunities was needed. I will make these videos available without charge in the hopes that the Google revenue opportunities get broader dissemination.”
The series will be posted at http://www.arnoldit.com/video. Videos will be released on a seven- to 10-day cycle from today to Nov. 20. ArnoldIT.com has no relationship with Google. The information presented in the video represents the views and findings of ArnoldIT.com’s analyses of Google. The videos were directed by Chris Forrester, Perceality Productions, at http://twitter.com/perceality. The samba music is courtesy Sounddogs.com. For information about other uses of the videos, contact ArnoldIT.com at seaky2000 [at] yahoo dot com
The company’s Web site is http://arnoldit.com, and the Beyond Search blog is at http://arnoldit.com/wordpress/.
Jessica Bratcher, November 9, 2009
Jessica was paid to write this marketing write up. Yep, filthy lucre.
ZyLAB Integrates Google Maps
November 8, 2009
According to Documanager.de, ZyLAB has integrated Google Maps with its ZyIMAGE Information Access Platform. Users now have the ability to identify the location of documents in a hit list. ZyLAB says that coordinates detail of the contents of a document can also be displayed on a Google Maps. The function requires no additional work on the part of the user.
Uses of the functionality range from law enforcement to eDiscovery. A user runs a query and each pin represents a document or a set of documents that are displayed on the additional metadata when you hover the mouse over it.
ZyLAB’s Rijnbeek Vincent, said:
This new functionality provides additional options to our use of visualization tools and ensuring more transparency in the information jungle. If, for example included in the context of criminal investigations coordinates of a crime scene in a document, it shows a pin exactly in these Google Maps to. But even in the building and construction sector is the new integration useful, by example, location information from complex construction plans quickly and clearly represents.
The use of visualization tools solves a major problem of the usual file structures: These traditional structures typically do not allow users to view an item that is not currently displayed on the screen. Large document sets pose a particular challenge. A collapsible folder structure is unwieldy, especially if users have to follow several nested folders. The constant scrolling, as is required in table structures, is cumbersome and not conducive to efficient and accurate data investigations.
More information is available from ZyLAB at http://www.zylab.com.
Stephen Arnold, November 8, 2009
No joy, no payment. Report this charitable act to the Red Cross.
Google Postini Drives Competitors to a Martini
November 6, 2009
Google has found a way to stimulate sales at the establishments frequented by competitors. The Google makes a belated attempt to allow users to “see” what data about them Google has gathered. Almost simultaneously, Google gives its enterprise applications a bionic arm. Instead of the wimpy security and administrative controls that competitors enjoyed mocking, the Google has mashed up the promising Google Apps with the more robust Postini capabilities. If you are not familiar with Google Apps, click here. If you have a knowledge gap about Postini, click here. You will want to read the PC World article “Postini Technology to Spread Across Google Apps” as well. In a nutshell, Google Apps is no longer the 96 pound enterprise weakling. Google Apps may not be ready for a fist fight with Tito Ortiz, but the Google is adding some muscle. Three observations:
- Microsoft is going to have a fight on its hands going forward. The Google is obviously eager to sap some of Microsoft’s revenue. The Los Angeles deal is just the beginning.
- Pundits who have been pumping the wonders of SharePoint are going to have to step back and figure out how to bring some balance to their analyses of SharePoint and related products.
- Google, fresh from rolling out some of the programmable search engine features, has quite a few tech tricks back home in Mountain View. I anticipate a flurry of announcements before the Google heads to ski slopes later this year. Microsoft is chopping jobs; Google is on the move..
Next (2010) is going to be quite interesting. Google needs only to begin inflicting small revenue gashes on the giant from Redmond. Death by a thousand cuts appears to be one of Google’s methods. I wonder if Google will file a patent application for this method at Google scale? I think I will head down to the River Creek Inn to check on the martini consumption?
Stephen Arnold, November 6, 2009
I got a hug at our meet up last night. Quick. Alert the Coast Guard. Oh, wait. The hug was not related to this article. Nope. Another freebie.
Google Pressures eCommerce Search Vendors
November 6, 2009
Companies like Dieselpoint, Endeca, and Omniture Mercado face a new competitor. The Google has, according to Internet News, “launched Commerce Search, a cloud-based enterprise search application for e-tailers that promises to improve sales conversion rates and simplify the online shopping experience for their customers.” For me the most significant passage in the write up was:
Commerce Search not only integrates the data submitted to Google’s Product Center and Merchant Center but also ties into its popular Google Analytics application, giving e-tailers an opportunity to not only track customer behavior but the effectiveness of the customized search application. Once an e-tailer has decided to give Commerce Search a shot, it uploads an API with all its product catalog, descriptions and customization requirements and then Google shoots back an API with those specifications that’s installed on the Web site. Google also offers a marketing and administration consultation to highlight a particular brand of camera or T-shirt that the retailer wants to prominently place on its now customized search results. It also gives e-tailers full control to create their own merchandising rules so that it can, for example, always display Canon cameras at the top of its digital camera search results or list its latest seasonal items by descending price order.
Google’s technical investments in its programmable search engine, context server, and shopping cart service chug along within this new service. Google’s system promises to be fast. Most online shopping services are sluggish. Google knows how to deliver high speed performance. Combining Google’s semantic wizardry with low latency results puts some of the leading eCommerce vendors in a technology arm lock.
Some eCommerce vendors have relied on Intel to provide faster CPUs to add vigor to older eCommerce architectures. There are some speed gains, but Google delivers speed plus important semantic enhancements that offer other performance benefits. One example is content processing. Once changes are pushed to Google or spidered by Google from content exposed to Google, the indexes update quickly. Instead of asking a licensee of a traditional eCommerce system to throw hardware at a performance bottleneck or pay for special system tuning, the Google just delivers speed for structured content processed from the Google platform.
In my opinion, competitors will point out that Google is inexperienced in eCommerce. Google may appear to be a beginner in this important search sector. Looking more deeply into the engineering resources responsible for Commerce Search one finds that Google has depth. I hate to keep mentioning folks like Ramanathan Guha, but he is one touchstone whose deep commercial experience has influenced this Google product.
How will competitors like Dieselpoint, Endeca, and Omniture Mercado respond? The first step will be to downplay the importance of this Google initiative. Next I expect to learn that Microsoft Fast ESP has a better, faster, and cheaper eCommerce solution that plays well with SharePoint and Microsoft’s own commerce server technology. Finally, search leaders such as Autonomy will find a marketing angle to leave Google in the shadow of clever positioning. But within a year, my hunch is that Google’s Commerce Search will have helped reshape the landscape for eCommerce search. Google may not be perfect, but its products are often good enough, fast, and much loved by those who cannot imaging life without Google.
Stephen Arnold, November 6, 2009
I want to disclose to the Department of the Navy that none of these vendors offered me so much as a how de doo to write this article.
Exalead Nabs ACM Award at the Multimedia Grand Challenge
November 5, 2009
Last year, I had an opportunity to test drive the Exalead video search system Voxalead. I admit that several Exalead engineers bought me lunch and asked about computer use in Harrod’s Creek. I was sufficiently impressed with the Exalead’s engineers to make a short video about the service. At that time, few in the US were aware of Exalead’s system for converting video or any rich media into searchable content. Once converted a user can query the content and see a results list with the exact point in the video relevant to the query available with a mouse click. No more serial hunting.
The lunch was good but the technology was better. Upon my return to the US, I received a number of questions about the technology. I learned earlier this week that ACM awarded Exalead an award for this invention. Exalead told me:
Voxalead News lets you search for keywords inside videos, rather than simply searching limited external information like titles or descriptions. A tremendous timesaver, Voxalead further lets you jump right to the point in the video in which your search term is used! The Voxalead demonstration currently offers search in four languages (English, French, Mandarin Chinese and Arabic) across a select set of news sources.
Since the award, Exalead has received inquiries about the technology from organizations in media, publishing, eDiscovery, competitive intelligence, and social networking.For more information, visit the Multimedia Grand Challenge 2009 Web page. You can also test drive Voxalead News and other Exalead innovations at the Exalabs site.
A happy quack to the Exalead team. Next time I am in Paris, I want another free lunch.
Stephen Arnold, November 5, 2009
The US Army is officially notified that I wrote this article because I liked that Exalead lunch and because I still think Voxalead is one of the most useful rich media search systems I have tested. Yes, a one star French meal makes this goose quite fat and happy, thank you.
Microsoft and Its Data Center Revealed
November 5, 2009
I found the Cnet write up “Inside One of the World’s Largest Data Centers” interesting. The text provided some useful factoids; for example, the giant data center “will eventually occupy 700,000 square feet” and this comment in the story:
Microsoft originally intended to open the Chicago facility last year, but the company has slowed its data center pace some amid the weaker economy and an array of cutbacks companywide.
The plus for me was the inclusion of photos. The detail which interests me was not visible, but the photos provide a good idea of what Microsoft’s approach is at this time. I was able to get an idea about cabling, server size, and device density.
Does the information disclosed suggest that Microsoft has sped past Google’s data centers? Based on what was visible in the article’s pictures, I believe that Microsoft’s engineers have examined Google’s public information about its approach and added a Microsoft twist. The size and density struck me as distinguishing characteristics. Where the rubber meets the road, however, is in the use of automated methods to provision devices and the sophistication of smart software to deal with hot spots, hardware failure, and the other annoyances that crop up with lots of gizmos operate under load.
The write up is one to read and save in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, November 5, 2009
To the US Postal Service: I wrote this without any inducement, including one day mail delivery.
Maybe the Internet Was a Really Bad Idea?
November 4, 2009
I suppose that the last gasp of traditional media is to long for the days before the “Internet”. Read “The Monster Devouring Us.” Do you get the sense that the Daily Mail would be happier when paper was cheap, most folks were illiterate, distribution took place via horse drawn carts, and newspaper distributors were seven year old boys? I liked the line up of evils that the “Internet” has wrought. Even better was the spin that the wizards who created the “Internet” wish they had gone to pub and thrown darts or put that message in an envelope and dropped it in the letter box.
The problem is not the “Internet”. The challenges are more deeply rooted. Technology makes the idea of unintended consequences fun to analyze. I think it will be tough to go back in time, maybe to the halcyon days of the broadsheet. What I thought as I read the article was that if London, England’s newspapers continue on their present track, I will read about the evils of the “Internet” on a blog. Mr. Murdoch and a former official from the lands of the Tsars. Really.
The article has a great photo of the first computer used to send an email. I was hoping for the Web cam that showed the coffee pot at Cambridge University, however.
Stephen Arnold, November 4, 2009
Bet you a dime that no one paid me to write this opinion down. I am reporting this fact to the Administration on Aging.
Google and Cloud Puffs
November 2, 2009
Editor’s Note: I am translating a conference session talk. It could be construed as a pitch for Google. That’s not what Beyond Search does, so this summary is all my own. Just a heads up. Jessica Bratcher
Google’s Michael Lock, director of Americas Sales & Operations, Google Enterprise, gave a spirited talk called “Top 5 Lessons Learned Selling and Marketing Cloud-based Computing” at the SIIA OnDemand 2009 conference, http://www.siia.net/OnDemand/2009/default.asp, in San Jose, CA, on Friday. An admitted former software salesman, Lock had a lot to say, including Cloud=Good, Software/Middleware=Bad. It was a stark statement, and he made a really great argument for apps out in the cloud.
Let me summarize Lock’s five lessons as related to moi. I’m a cloud-based computing Google apps user. Why?
- It’s a free storage system. There’s only so much memory on my laptop. I hate my external hard drive because it was expensive, it’s clunky, and Vista won’t let me copy stuff off of it. I’ve been through at least five thumb drives in the past year. It’s comforting to know that if my laptop were stolen or if my hard drive fizzled again, all my stuff wouldn’t be on it and lost.
- It’s fast to access from anywhere, and in some cases whether I have an Internet connection or not. I can be at home, at Panera, in an airport, or at my mother’s.
- It’s password-secured. As long as I have that password, I can access my stuff from anywhere and from computers not my own. Not that I have a pressing need for data security, but I don’t have to deal with security updates. Every. Other. Day.
- It’s part of a cheap (or for me, an individual, free!) suite of interrelated products. You know how expensive a Microsoft Office Suite is. Ouch.
- I don’t have to deal with learning/using Office or similar software to make my work happen. Lock mentioned the agony of upgrading from MS 2003 to 2007. I felt that pain keenly.
Lock made two strong points in favor of using/buying cloud-based computed related to that fifth bullet: “Legacy vendors will fight to prevent this with their very lives… Microsoft Office generates 16 to 18 billion dollars… they will throw mud, say it’s not secure, say it’s not functional.”
FYI: There are more than 20 million users on Google Apps, from government to higher education to small enterprise businesses that don’t even have offices, servers, or shopping cart software. His other point was that the pace of innovation in the cloud is accelerating. Google had 97 major feature releases in 2009, 68 in 2008. How many major updates has Microsoft had since 2000? Lock said Google has an enterprise vision to make the cloud-based apps broader, deeper, more functional, simpler to use, highly extensible, massively scalable–the figurative sky is not the limit.
Jessica Bratcher, November 2, 2009
Dear Fish & Wildlife Service, I, Stephen Arnold, paid Ms. Bratcher for this write up.
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