Key Legal Decision Affecting Google Hinges on a Definition
April 27, 2011
Wired reports that the “Google Wi-Fi Judge Asks if Packet Sniffing is Spying.” Yet more evidence that our legislative system simply cannot keep up with technology. Wired states:
At the center of the legal flap is whether Google breached the Wiretap Act. Judge Ware, however, suggested the answer to the far-reaching privacy dilemma lies in an unanswered question. He has asked each side to define ‘radio communication’ as it applies to the Wiretap Act, and wants to know whether home Wi-Fi networks are ‘radio communications’ under the Wiretap Act.
Google’s answer, of course, is yes. If Wi-Fi networks are like radio stations and radio communications bands, they are considered “readily accessible” and not covered by the antiquated Act.
The plaintiffs, however, beg to differ. They say that just because information is airborne for a few seconds as it’s relayed from one computer to another does not turn that info into a radio broadcast.
Apparently, Google didn’t even realize its Street View mapping cars were privy to the data in question, and it has suspended those operations since German authorities started looking into the issue.
We don’t know the answer to this tough question, but if the decision goes against Google, it will create more potholes for Google’s all-seeing eye and its inadvertent sucking down of Wi-Fi data. With disclosures about Google’s Android phoning home user location data, the resolution of this issue will have significant consequences. Apologizing may not be enough this time.
Cynthia Murrell April 27, 2011
Google and Mobile: Will the Pass from Web to Mobile Search Be Smooth?
April 25, 2011
Over the bunny weekend, I spoke with two people about the direction the Web is moving. In those information conversations, I learned some interesting factoids. First, the Web today is different from the Web of five, even two years ago. The person used the word “ephemeral” to describe much of the information that is available. I thought that “ephemeral” applied to Twitter “tweets” and some of the short content posted in the comments section of blogs and other social media. As I learned, this definition is too narrow. The ephemeral nature of the Web applies to such content types as:
- Dynamic Web pages such as those produced by airline ticket or hotel reservation systems. The content which is mostly availability and price changes often with each screen refresh.
- Junk pages that someone produces until the pages stop attracting traffic, often leaving no trace anywhere. To see an example, navigate to Webspace.com
- Test Web sites or blogs put up and then abandoned. To see an example, navigate to Captain Roy. The Web page stays behind, but the blog and its content is temporary.
I did not agree with the person’s approach to ephemera, but I did agree with the perception that the texture of information available via the Web was quite different today than it was a few years back.
Can Google’s Web search pass the baton to Google mobile search without losing cadence, speed, or control?
The second conversation focused on the notion of the volume of data. I had heard some astounding and unsubstantiated claims about the rate of growth of digital information. One person told me that Web and organizational content was doubling every two months. This person was the president of a trendy software company, so I zipped my lip. But on the call over the weekend, a person who shall remain anonymous asserted, “Web content doubles every 72 hours.” Again, I did not push the issue, but that is a heck of a statement.
Two observations:
There is a lot of digital information and some of it is clearly not intended to be substantive. Persistence, if it does occur, is accidental or irrelevant to the person creating the information. Other content is machine generated like the Webspace.com “page”, and it is little more than a placeholder or a way to generate ad revenue or click throughs.
Finding information in today’s environment is not particularly easy. The general purpose Web search engines like Bing.com and Google.com are able to provide pointers to more traditional Web content. To locate information that appears in a tweet, I have to exert considerable effort to locate an item. For companies with distinct name, my Overflight services works okay but some outfits have names that make it almost impossible to find them. Examples include Brainware, Stratify, and Thunderstone without lots of false drops to games, rock and roll, or other content which has appropriated a word, phrase, or semantic space.
Mobile search is the primary means of finding information for many people. On my trip to Hong Kong at the end of March 2011, I watched people in public spaces like the Starbuck’s at the giant mall near the central rapid transit station. There were a few laptops and iPads, but the majority of the people were using mobile devices. A similar uptake is evident in most big cities. Here in Harrod’s Creek, there are precious few people, so the one person using a clunky laptop at the Dairy Queen is out of the mainstream.
In my printed edition of the New York Times, I read in the business section today (April 25, 2011) “Google, a Giant in Mobile Search, Seeks New Ways to Make It Pay.” The “it”, of course, is mobile search in particular and more generally mobile online information access. You may be able to read the story online, but the links often go dead. More ephemera, I suppose. Try this one, but no guarantees: http://goo.gl/Ebpnz.
Taking Pictures for Maps: Google and Microsoft Go Different Directions
April 21, 2011
We noticed that Microsoft is firing up a service that will take pictures of businesses. If this reminded you of Street View, the Google service, you are not alone. If you want more information on Microsoft’s emulation of this popular and controversial Google service, check out “Microsoft Taking Street Photos in the UK”, which provides the basics plus a link to Microsoft’s explanation of the service.
Source: The BBC.
“Google Has Stopped Street View Photography in Germany” reported that even though a German court ruled that Google may continue its street- level photography, the company has stopped with little explanation. The article asserted:
It’s easy to assume that the service’s difficult birth has factored into the decision. German officials raised objections almost as soon as Google announced plans to launch Street View there. After lengthy negotiations, Google eventually agreed to let German residents opt-out of having their buildings appear online, and nearly 250,000 German households and businesses took Google up on that offer. I’m not a programmer, but I can’t help wonder if the presence of so many blurred buildings — and the potential challenge of updating Street View while maintaining their privacy — is a factor in Google’s decision.
Google may also suspect, as we do, that Germany will begin behaving more like China and less like a puppy rolling over. Microsoft, though an old dog, may be learning some new tricks.
Cynthia Murrell April 21, 2011
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Xoom Sales and the iPad
April 20, 2011
“Digitimes: Meager Xoom Sales Shake Tablet Makers’ Faith in Honeycomb Share” presented some information with which I was not familiar. In the aftermath of Google’s reorganization and its quarterly results, I had ignored the Android based Xoom tablet. I looked at one and concluded that my first generation iPad was good for more book reading and Web content perusal. The iPad continues to work and has been hassle free for about a year. I wish I could say that about my BlackBerry and its weird software and ball thingy.
The nub of the story is:
…the Motorola Xoom — the first tablet running Android 3.0 Honeycomb — has been a bust, largely thanks to the simultaneous launch of the iPad 2. It is estimated that Motorola has sold less than 100,000 Xooms since the tablet was launched in February, compared to a million first-month sales of the first-gen iPad (and much higher if unreported unit sales of the iPad 2). Now, manufacturers preparing their own Honeycomb tablets are bracing for their own failures, with at least two upcoming tablets postponing their launch dates as their faith in Honeycomb as a viable platform upon which to mount a true iPad killer wanes.
I have no way of knowing if this report from Digitimes, a service I browse periodically is accurate. The fact that the story appeared is not enough to validate the information. Nevertheless, I find it interesting that Apple’s device which looks pretty simple appears to be a tough for the me-too crowd.
Will Google nuke the iPad? Great question. I would run a query on Google for the answer, but the relevancy is just not what it used to be. Me-too work can detract from the main event I assert.
Stephen E Arnold, April 20, 2011
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More Crazy Stats: iPhone, Android, Whatever
April 11, 2011
Do teens buy mobile devices? Nah, most of the teens in Harrod’s Creek fire up the wood stove and use smoke signals. However, elsewhere teens and tweens are into mobile devices. Some schools in which reading, math, and cursive are part of the instructional program ban these gizmos. You know that works really well.
I read “One-Third Of Teens Plan To Buy An iPhone Soon.” The write up is almost as wacky in its data as the IDC forecast that Windows Mobile 7 will kick everyone’s tail in the mobile phone market pretty soon now. Er, there are some issues with supply chain, updates, and apps but IDC is never, ever, absolutely for always right in making predictions that sell reports.
Any way, the story about teens reveals that an Apple towel waver ran a survey and—guess what—the interview sample revealed that one third of those surveyed want an Apple iPhone. You can read some of the stats from the survey and draw your own conclusion. Here’s the statement I found interesting:
There is some small glimmer of hope for Spotify, Rhapsody, and other subscription services — 37% of teens said they’d consider paying $15 a month for a music subscription.
Okay, teens don’t have jobs. So who is paying? Check out this March 2010 report, which may be bogus as well, to get some color on what may be behind the survey conducted by a financial services professional.
My recollection is that when I had teens, I paid. So we have an interesting sample and an assertion that teens pay. No, teens consume. Adults pay. Minor point considering the sample, the questions, and the source. But, heck, I live in rural Kentucky. Who pays is important. Now the big omission is how one finds music. Isn’t search important? Is the survey blind to the Ping and Apple search challenges?
Search is not on the radar. Again. Not good.
Stephen E Arnold, April 11, 2011
Microsoft Favored to Win Smartphone War, Really?
April 10, 2011
I am an optimist. I see blue sky behind gray clouds. I see flowers beneath the snow.
Here in Kentucky, we figured it was wishful thinking to include the University of Kentucky Wildcats in the final four on the March Madness brackets. We were all very surprised when this ideal became a reality. However, we believe this is just poor statistical reasoning: “IDC Beancounters Predict Microsoft to Win Smartphone War.” Wow. Microsoft cannot update its smartphone software. I don’t know one person who owns a Microsoft smartphone.
By 2015, the IDC states that Android will be the top smartphone competitor, followed closely by Microsoft. Apple will be booted down to third place. Android will continue to dominate, however, with half the market and the other divided between Blackberry and Apple based off current market predictions. According to the write up:
The report said that smartphone vendors will ship a total of more than 450 million smartphones this year, up from 303.4 million in 2010. IDC predicts that the smartphone market will grow four times faster than the overall handset market.
Other predictions include the Symbian market will transfer to Microsoft after its recent merger with Nokia and Hewlett Packard’s WebOS will never gain much of a foothold. Don’t rely heavily on IDC’s predictions. Back in 2006, the beancounters never accounted for the rise of the iPhone or Android. The University of Kentucky’s win was a sweet surprise, but based off current market trends unless Microsoft creates the next big phone, Android runs out of batteries, or Apple just fails, this won’t happen. And I am an optimist, not a consulting firm trying to pump up revenues, get headlines, and compete with other mid tier consulting firms for clients.
Even more intereseting is that Gartner, a rival to IDC, issued a report that said the same thing. You can check out the Gartner predictions at http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=1622614.
Coincidence or a Microsoft PR push? We will never offer an opinion on the cheesecloth separating independent consulting firrms and clients with a real need to flash cash.
Whitney Grace, April 10, 2011
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Google and Its new Management Method: Reorganization
April 8, 2011
The Los Angeles Times’s article “Exclusive: Google CEO Larry Page Completes Major Reorganization of Internet Search Giant” documents a milestone in big company management tactics. The headline sums up the deliverable from a busy first week or so on the job for Larry Page, the founder with operational control of Google. Here’s the passage that may be recycled in a number of Business 101 essays in the months and years ahead:
The executives will be able to act more autonomously and won’t have to turn to Google’s powerful operating committee on every decision. “The idea is to empower people, let them take risks and give them more authority over decisions,” said one person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to maintain his relationship with Google. Page has been thinking about how to reorganize the company to cut bureaucracy and politicking while speeding up innovation. He may have found his answer in the success of the company’s Android mobile software unit and its video-sharing site YouTube, each of which have thrived as largely autonomous entities.
Questions which crossed my mind include:
- How does one define “success” for YouTube and Android. These two “products” have been fountains of legal and technical activity. Examples range from the shoot out with Viacom which is still flopping around the US legal maze and the possible “we’re open source but we are really into not be so much open that fragmentation occurs” approach to Android.
- What happens to customers of certain Google products and services who cannot find anyone to answer certain questions. Example: “Why has my traffic disappeared?” or “Where did the Adsense revenues go in the last three months?” My favorite is: “Whom do I call about a technical problem with my $300,000 Google Search Appliance?”
- Autonomous decision making is a great thing; however, giant publicly traded companies have many different pressures on them. Example: “What will be done to either re-enter the China market, arguably the fastest growing economy in the world when one compares it to Detroit or Gary, Indiana?” Another example: “When will revenues of a significant nature flow from a social information service?” (I keep thinking of Orkut, its early entrance in a market, and its somewhat interesting impact in Brazil, upon attorneys, and on certain government entities. “Impact” is not direct revenue flowing to Google as I understand the Orkut service.)
Microsoft was once described to me as “10,000 sail boats moving roughly in the same direction.” Is Google emulating Microsoft’s management methods? I see some similarities. A big difference is speed. Moving org boxes in less than five days is quite impressive. Now we can watch performance indicators to see how the method works. MBA candidates, on your mark, get set….
Stephen E Arnold, April 8, 2011
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Love or Hate: Amazon and Android Apps
April 8, 2011
Amazon wants a piece of the smartphone app market pie. We read “Today Amazon Locked Up the Android Ecosystem” from ZDNet. The write up takes a look at how the Internet retailer is attempting to annex the Android app market. The author strongly believes Amazon will eventually dominate the entire Android marketplace, driving other competitors out of business. The process began with the Kindle app, then it segued into the Amazon MP3 app. Both generated millions of sales and encouraged Amazon to start its own App Store. Here’s a snippet that caught our attention:
The recent launch of the Amazon Appstore to sell Android apps firmly entrenched the company’s business in the platform ecosystem. One could argue that it is the beginning of a process whereby Amazon takes over the ecosystem, by subtly pushing the Android Market to the side.
Cloud Drive and Cloud Player Amazon were also added Amazon not too long ago and this supposedly increases Amazon’s dominance. What will cement the entire takeover will be a reasonably priced Amazon tablet with compatible hardware/software. The author gushed his love for Amazon, prophesying the company will throw Android out of its own market. Premature prognosis on his part.
The problem is that Android is not really open source. Google is struggling to prevent Android fragmentation. One of the chief offenders may be Google TV pal Sony. Now a mere online retailer is moving into the Google App space. Google may be into open source, but it is now in a position similar to the kid on the playground who owns a basketball but is not picked to play in the pick up game. Time to take the ball and go home or just play smarter?
Whitney Grace, April 8, 2011
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Down from the Mountain and Being Tracked en Route
April 8, 2011
No need to chop off one’s arm if monitoring goes big time. Now everyone has heard of “big brother” and no, I’m not talking about the television show. Though it used to be just a theory spouted by crazed and deranged individuals who wore tin foil hats and swore they’d been probed by aliens, in 2011 with “the age of the Internet” firmly underway, the “big brother” concept has become a very real, very scary (in my opinion) piece of reality.
According to a report by The New York Times and reported on by Digital Trends, many cell phone companies can and do track your movements without ever divulging to the consumer that they are keeping an “eye” on them. This information came to light after Malte Spitz, a German politician, sued his cell phone carrier, Deutsche Telekom, for information that they had acquired about him. What came out was somewhat shocking but nothing less than any “tin head” could have told us about.
Between August of ’09 and February of 2010, Deutsche Telekom, recorded the latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates of Spitz more than 35,000 times. The snippet that caught my attention was:
We are all walking around with little tags, and our tag has a phone number associated with it, who we called and what we do with the phone,” Sarah E. Williams, a graphic information expert at Columbia University. “We don’t even know we are giving up that data.”
In the United States it is unclear exactly what level of surveillance is conducted on consumers and what information is saved because companies are not required to divulge the information they collect…though I would argue that the documents are public record and could possibly be demanded under FOIA laws since it is not optional to opt out of consumer tracking initiatives.
Cynthia Murrell, April 8, 2011
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What Is Your Social Business IQ?
April 6, 2011
Ours is dull normal.
It seems that since the advent of social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, that companies have found a new way to push products and make a profit. The new more popular way to do this is to market “social business intelligence” as a way to help consumers take advantage of the social marketing realm. The article “Social Business Intelligence – What Is It, and Do You Need It?” asserts:
“In many ways, social BI is still a forward- or future-looking approach. Most BI in the world is not social, but rather pulls the data from a data warehouse, as opposed to enabling person-to-person knowledge sharing. There is already some implementation of social BI because collaboration functionality is already incorporated into some of the leading BI tools.”
Basically they teach you how to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to track consumer trends for example the release of the new iPhone 4, every person who Tweeted about or from a iPhone 4 was counted and put into a graph that marks trend patterns from speech in order to see what people are talking about and to what audience they need to focus the marketing campaigns toward.
The really funny thing is that you don’t need a company to sell you integrated software in order to track trends in your goods. If you are a business or have a fan page on Facebook or Twitter, the heavy work is already done for you, all you have to do is read the fine print and click on the “tracking” tab, they have charts and everything.
Cynthia Murrell, April 7, 2011
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