Morgan Stanley Wants You to Churn Your Investments
June 13, 2010
Short honk: The excitement is back. Forget the fire fights among Apple, Google, Microsoft, and others. Forget the lousy economic outlook. Forget the oil spill. Remember the good old pre crash days. To document this moment in time, navigate to “Mary Meeker’s Amazing Internet Presentation.” You can view the great news here. Churn those holdings of your now. Yes, right now. Those data are hot, objective, and darn near as solid as anything Wall Street has to offer its partners. Amazing for sure.
Stephen E Arnold, June 13, 2010
Freebie which is a word that Morgan Stanley does not use with high frequency.
Google Wi Fi Security Audit
June 13, 2010
I am interested in naval gazing. I can’t see my naval due to the plump body I possess and its particular curvature. However, one can get a glimpse of the Google’s naval by reading its security audit. The prompt for this exercise was the dust up a “lone engineer” caused by sniffing certain Wi Fi packets. To snag the document, you need only click here. I cannot guarantee how long the document will be available, so hurry.
Stephen E Arnold, June 13, 2010
Freebie
Mobile Search and Apple
June 8, 2010
Short honk: Fascination chart. Navigate to “iPad Web Usage Passes iPod.” The chart is tough to read by 65 year old geese. The message conveyed is that Android’s owners lag iPod and iPad Web surfing usage. Google may be selling 65,000 Android devices via its partners each day, but Apple’s two million iPads are sucking Web content. The startling factoid is that the iPad accounted for more Web content than Apple’s iPod. If the data are correct, Google needs to whip its pony.
Stephen E Arnold, June 8, 2010
Freebie
Google Will Publish Results of Its Google Data Audit
June 6, 2010
Short honk: I read “Google to Publish Results of Wi Fi Data Audit”. Not to be a really silly goose, but some questions flitted through my second class intellect. First, did the US government conduct oversight of the BP deep water oil drilling safety systems or did BP perform this oversight itself? Second, did Arthur Andersen’s internal audit committee perform a review of the work done for the Enron account? Third, did Tyco’s internal audit team review the activities of the firm’s senior manager? Maybe the idea of an audit has changed since I went to college in 1962. Just asking.
Stephen E Arnold, June 6, 2010
Freebie
Barcodes Go Content Crazy
June 3, 2010
With pundits predicting that search is now apps and that metadata will index apps which are really content, I turn to more mundane topics. A case in point is “StickyBits: Attach Unlimited Content to Barcodes On Any Product (iPhone + Android).” I found the write up fascinating. I don’t think too much about barcodes unless I am at the self check out trying to get the barcode reader to recognize blue codes on a blue background.
For me the core of the article was:
StickyBits allows people to attach digital content to barcodes. When those barcodes are scanned (via our iPhone or Android apps), you’ll see all the content that has been attached. What makes us unique is that all this is done in a social and fully open read/write way. Imagine putting a barcode on your business card that when scanned showed your resume. Or put a StickyBits sticker into a birthday card and record a personal video. Then when your friend scans it, they’ll see the video. Take that one step further and have all your friends attach videos to the same card. You’ll also get notified when it gets scanned. It doesn’t just stop there. Something unique and strange is happening with the barcodes all around you. People are scanning soda cans, cereal boxes, beer bottles, etc. and adding digital content to them. Since each unique product shares a barcode, little communities are popping up around each of these products.
The notion of information becoming objects has a barcode bedfellow. And about search? Another challenge it seems. More information about StickyBits is available at http://www.stickybits.com.
Stephen E Arnold, June 3, 2010
Freebie
HTML Speech Input Element
May 22, 2010
Short honk: The idea of talking to a computer and having it answer was a finding in a 1980 Booz, Allen & Hamilton research project I worked on. Over the years, the idea of talking to a computer or other device grabbed the public’s imagination. If you are working on this problem, you will want to take a look at Googler’s “HTML Speech Input Element” by Bjorn Bringert. More I/O excitement?
Stephen E Arnold, May 22, 2010
Freebie.
Quote to Note: Android and the Future
May 21, 2010
I tucked this in my speech file. Source: “Why Google Made Android.” Here’s the quote from a Googler:
“If we did not act, we faced a draconian future. Where one man, one company, one carrier was the future.” — Google
This will raise the level of discourse and improve upon the civility among commercial enterprises, right? Discourse? What’s that. Snicker. Snort.
Stephen E Arnold, May 22, 2010
Freebie
Google, StreetView, and Allegations in the US
May 20, 2010
A happy quack to the reader who sent me a link to TechEye.net’s “Google Sued over Snaffled Street View Data.” I am not an attorney, not a journalist, not qualified to do much more than point to this write up. According to the article,
Google has received a writ from Vicki Van Valin and Neil Mertz as part of a class action that their privacy was violated by Street View vehicles picking up data from open wireless internet connections used at home. They also want a court to prevent Google from destroying the data that’s been collected.
The article includes quite a few references to legal things. I did recognize the phrase “class action.”
Assume that the article is accurate and that the legal references in it are germane to the allegations. Here are the questions I want to capture before the slip from my goose brain:
- Are the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission likely to take an interest in this matter?
- What happens if the legal eagles move the matter into court and some of the alleged “information” is deleted or otherwise unavailable?
- How will the “we’re sorry” and “we goofed” method work in the face of international and US actions related to the alleged Google StreetView data collection scope?
I don’t know, but I remember one person said in a lunch conversation, “Never ask for permission. Do it. It is easier to ask for forgiveness.”
Will this work as a method of deflecting the allegations?
Stephen E Arnold, May 20, 2010
Freebie.
Google, GIPS, and a Possible Squeeze Play
May 19, 2010
Now the Global IP Solutions deal is important.
The GIPS was founded in July 1999 in Sweden to develop and market technology designed to mitigate make VoIP more stable. In December 1999 GIPS raised cash from private investors and the shares became quoted on the Norwegian Securities Dealers Association’s OTC-List.
In the short term, I don’t think GIPS will do much to help the Google in the consumer video play that Amazon, Apple, and dozens of other companies are pursuing. But The deal to buy Global IP Solutions will give the Google a thumb screw that is already attached to Microsoft’s paw and, come to think about it, to IBM’s, WebEx Cisco’s, and Samsung’s paws as well. Yahoo could be hurting, but its pain will be ameliorated by whatever Microsoft does to cope with the specter of Googzilla in the media processing for Internet protocol business.
GIPS has deals with some interesting companies.
That GIPS VideoEngine is going to be tough to rip and replace quickly. The deal could be a BP oil spill event for the companies dependent on the Global IP Solutions. Yep, it’s that big. Android video calling and conferencing are on the way. If Google fails to pull off its other video centric acquisitions, GIPS can be repurposed for other types of video programming. Not fun or easy, but doable. And, Google is Google with those many talented engineers.
Some items I found in my Overflight file:
Company Description from 2007
Global IP Solutions offers multimedia technologies for real-time communications over packet networks and enable companies to deliver IP applications that offer the highest quality user experience, as well as revenue-enhancing opportunities across a multitude of devices and services. Global IP Solutions provides best-in-class voice and video quality and fidelity in end-to-end IP communications with robustness against packet loss. Global IP Solutions’ world-renowned media processing and IP telephony experts deliver these solutions to service providers, enterprises, applications developers, network equipment, and gateway and chip manufacturers. Companies using Global IP Solutions products include Nortel, Skype, WebEx, Yahoo!, AOL, EarthLink, BlueCross/BlueShield and other key players in the VoIP market. Global IP Solutions is a member of the Intel(R) PCA Developer Network, the Motorola Design Alliance and Symbian Platinum Partners. Global IP Solutions has headquarters in San Francisco and offices in Santa Barbara, Stockholm, Hong Kong and Boston. Source.
You can get more color about this company’s technology and its core vision from its 2007 FAQ document, which was still available at this link as of 10 am, May 18, 2010.
Beyond Search Comment: The hardware angle is important in light of the integration announcements rumored to be on tap at the Google I/O conference.
Google Sees Big Money
A white paper (commissioned report) for GIPS presented the size of the video conferencing market in 2008. With the present volcanic excitement and the financial pressure front, these numbers are likely to be even more azure tinted. Source.
-
- The global market for videoconferencing endpoints was $1.1 billion in 2007, and will grow to $3.9 billion in 2014, according to Frost & Sullivan.
- The Unified Communications markets’ global revenues are estimated to grow from $22.6 billion in 2007 to $48.7 billion in 2012, according to Data from In-Stat and Wainhouse Research.
- The North American web conferencing market revenues are estimated to increase from $632 million in 2007 to $1.5 billion in 2012, according to Frost & Sullivan.
Beyond Search Comment: If ad sales plateau, the Google wants to have a lever in the enterprise sector. Whoops. Google wants a SWAT door buster in any sector dependent on IP communications.
HD Voice = Android Advantage
When I learned about HD Voice, I thought marketing. However, the GIPS lads and lasses have crated an app development environment. More information appears in “GIPS Simplifies VoIP App Development for Android Mobiles”.
Not Even Apple Is Immune
Apple? Yep, Apple. Navigate to “GIPS Voice Technology Boosts iPhone’s Business Potential”. One question I asked myself, “Where did Google learn about the GIPS outfit?” Here’s the passage I found interesting:
GIPS uses ingenious technology, in the form of what it calls a “voice engine,” to improve the quality of IP phone calls. GIPS’ customers incorporate the voice engine in soft phones or other software to make the VoIP calls that they provide sound better. The customers’ software typically handles chores like call setup and the user interface, while the voice engine takes care of delivering high-quality audio. GIPS’ technology deals with problems like jitter and packet loss — that is, voice packets that arrive inconsistently or not at all…the announcement that GIPS has developed an iPhone version of its voice engine (the company already had desktop, Symbian and Windows Mobile versions) is an especially good indication of the device’s business-use potential.
Some IP (Remember, please, this blog is free)
At the end of 1999, GIPS filed its first patent. GIPS has more than a dozen patents and has others in pending status.
Stephen E Arnold, May 19, 2010
Freebie
Germany, WiFi, and Google
May 19, 2010
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to a write up by Peter Schaar, whom I believe is the German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Information. You can read the original “Google erfasst „versehentlich“ Inhalte der WLAN-Kommunikation” at this link. If you prefer your German courtesy of the Google, Google Translate will happily oblige.
Amidst the festivities for Google I/O, the pesky bleatings of the Old Country are not likely to be heard by most of the Google fanatics. I listened, and I wanted to highlight three of the points made by Mr. Schaar, who does have his own fans in a region that befuddled some of the Roman emperors long ago.
First, he makes clear that Google is using a method of explanation that echoes what a parent says about an errant teen. Doesn’t work too well for the parent, and if I understand Mr. Schaar, the “shoot, it was a goof” doesn’t work to well in Germany.
Second, inspection revealed that some of the gizmos used to Hoover data during a Google drive around geospatial photo session were missing. Routine procedure. Coincidental? Some folks have lots of luck. Not the German’s day apparently.
Finally, what other surprises may yet be discovered if German authorities can get the information required to conduct an investigation.
Bottom line: I/O is a happy event. The shadow of a giant smiley face may not reach to Germany and Mr. Schaar. Just my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, May 19, 2010
Freebie.
-
- Subscribe to Beyond Search
Feature archive
News archive
-
