Android: Surround and Seep
April 6, 2009
I have been following the discussion of Google and its “operating system” since 2002.
My newsreader this fine Monday, April 6, 2009, is chock full of discussions about Google on notebooks, Google on mobile devices, and Google in personal computers. I liked the flurry of comments about the New York Times’s revelation that T-Mobile was going to use Google for its home devices. You can read that bit of news here. Let’s see that means that the GOOG is supporting its own crowd of cronies, Apple’s iPhone, and now T-Mobile. Looks like the Google is getting some traction in the mobile space. Quite a revelation.
Then there is the flurry of write ups about Hewlett Packard’s thinking about Android for its netbooks. The CNet write up is a pretty good one on this topic, You can read Marguerite Reardon’s “HP Considers Google Android for Netbooks” here. Hmm. I wonder if anyone realizes that when installing Chrome, the GOOG has its operating hooks ready for whatever the user wants to do?
In my research for my Google studies, I have quite a bit of contradictory information in my files. On one side of the fence are the Googlers who insist that the company does not have an operating system. The company’s spokespeople are correct. Google has Linux, wrappers, and code shims. The software in use at Google is dynamic and it is not suited for installation by my father on his home computer. On the other hand, Google has figured out how to make Python, JavaScript, and other languages jump through digital hoops. With these software components of which I cannot keep track, Google:
- Delivers its virtual machine technology via containers
- Enables offline access to Gmail and soon other Google Apps
- Creates a digital cocoon in which it can perform such magic as deliver ads regardless of where the user goes or what device he/she uses.
Is this an operating system? It depends. If you are Microsoft, Google’s approach sure seems to be headed that direction. If you are a Googler, this collection of features is little more than extensions of the Google “as is” computing environment–what I call the real Googleplex of one million servers, fancy Dan engineering, and proprietary system sand methods galore.
The point that most of the pundits, mavens, gurus, and Google watchers overlook is the broader strategy the GOOG is using. I dug into this approach in detail in my Google Version 2.0, a deep dive into some of Google’s more current innovations. You can read about that study here. Check out the subtitle too.
In a nutshell, Google’s strategy is to use the Googleplex of its “as is” infrastructure as the wrapper. The Android software to the ill fated Web Accelerator just tap into the mothership. What happens is that Google surrounds the users and competitors and allows its services and features to seep into crack in the existing market sectors. Surround and seep. Quite different from other competitors’ strategies in my opinion.
You can read more about how this works in my forthcoming Google: A Digital Gutenberg study due out later this month. More information about that study is here.
Twitter from Gmail
April 5, 2009
Short honk. Nice story from Steve Rubel here called “Bring Twitter Right Into Gmail with the Amazing TwitterGadget” here. Not much point in my summarizing the well done write up. If you want Twitter at your fingertips, this is the gadget for you.
Stephen Arnold, April 5, 2009
The BBC and Google: Keeping on Top of the News
April 4, 2009
Short honk: When Sergey Brin’s name appears on a Google invention, my research suggested to me that the technology is important. You can track down Mr. Brin’s inventions any number of places, including the Arnoldit.com, my Google monographs, or (heaven help us) the USPTO. If you are the BBC, you discover this information that dates today and make it news. To see Mr. Brin’s interest in search, read Voice interface for a search engine – Patent 7027987. The BBC news story is here. The BBC will want to look at Mr. Page’s inventions. These are indicative of Google’s interests as well.
Stephen Arnold, April 5, 2009
Teen Codes
March 31, 2009
Short honk: I know among my two or three readers I have at least one person with a teenager. For this person, I want to point out “50 Sexting/IM Acronyms Every Parent/Teenager/Person Should Know” here. For example, WYCM? Might be useful when trying to sort out the Twitter thing young folks do. Not an April 1, 2009 joke.
Stephen Arnold, April 1, 2009
Guardian’s Prescient April Fool Story
March 31, 2009
Short honk. The Guardian’s April 1, 2009, “Twitter Switch for Guardian, after 188 Years of Ink” here may be more accurate than a bit of British humor. The Chicago Sun Times went south. At about the same time, the scribes at the dead tree publication in the UK wrote:
As a Twitter-only publication, the Guardian will be able to harness the unprecedented newsgathering power of the service, demonstrated recently when a passenger on a plane that crashed outside Denver was able to send real-time updates on the story as it developed, as did those witnessing an emergency landing on New York’s Hudson River. It has also radically democratised news publishing, enabling anyone with an Internet connection to tell the world when they are feeling sad, or thinking about having a cup of tea.
Twitter like services may become the news source for those who want currency and brevity. The most effective market research for the Guardian’s scribes may be talking to their children. Those folks will determine how accurate the Guardian’s article will be.
Stephen Arnold, April 1, 2009
Coveo Lands a Whale-Sized Search Deal
March 31, 2009
Bell Mobility and Coveo, a leading provider of information access and search solutions for the enterprise, announced an exclusive next-generation search and access tool called Enterprise Search from Bell.
Powered by Coveo’s patented search and index technology, Enterprise Search from Bell offers business clients comprehensive search capability on their BlackBerry smartphones, including full mobile access to information contained within their Microsoft Exchange server accounts and even across their entire corporate information technology systems.
Wade Oosterman, President of Bell Mobility and Chief Brand Officer for Bell, said:
Enterprise Search from Bell is the only mobile business tool available that provides clients with such instant mobile access to critical enterprise content via their BlackBerry devices. Our partnership with Coveo is another example of Bell’s dedication to delivering data solutions that meet the evolving needs of mobile business. Enterprise Search from Bell provides business users with the ability to securely search and retrieve any information within their Microsoft Exchange server accounts, including emails, attachments content, calendars, tasks and contacts via their BlackBerry devices. With this capability, users can access the precise information they need within seconds, when they need it, without having to know where the document was previously stored.
Louis Tetu, Coveo’s Executive Chairman, said:
Search technology is by far one of the most promising information technology investments for enabling workforce productivity across the enterprise. Mobile search solutions provide employees with all the relevant information they need from any location. In contributing our expertise to Bell Mobility, we are helping to drive innovation in their mobile business solutions, which is part of our initiative to be a player in the ‘smartphones for business revolution’ market trend.
The service features Coveo’s user-friendly interface. The new enterprise search service from Bell offers numerous possibilities to business users who work with large amounts of rapidly changing information. Executives, sales professionals, account managers, professional services providers, customer care, call center representatives, IT administrators, project managers and human resources, legal and engineering professionals are provided instant access to the information they require to perform their roles more effectively. As a result, this drives improved productivity and enables higher levels of self-service across the workforce.
Bell Mobility’s partnership with Coveo is unique in the market as it combines the mass distribution reach of a market-leading national mobile carrier with an innovative enterprise search solution to offer customers in all areas of Canada the ability to drive better business performance across their workforce in a rapid and economical deployment model.
For further information on Enterprise Search from Bell click here. For more information about Coveo, click here. To read the interview with Laurent Simoneau, the search expert driving Coveo’s technology, click here.
A happy quack to the Coveo team from the goslings in Harrod’s Creek.
Stephen Arnold, March 31, 2009
Learning from the Cloud Manifesto
March 29, 2009
I ignored the cloud manifesto, pointing out that secrecy is useful. Obviously the document was not intended to be kept under wraps, so a mini-microblogging storm raged. CNet’s The Wisdom of Crowds ran James Urqhart’s article “Cloud Computing: What We Learned from Manifestogate”. You can read this write up here. The article includes links, an itemized list of the four ways to perceive the cloud manifesto, and a conclusion that strikes a positive note: “open is good.”
In my experience, the clouds owned and operated by commercial enterprises will behave the same way opposing forces have behaved since stone age tribes split into factions and promptly embarked on chatter and warfare. The crazy idea that the cloud operating environments will behave in a way different from other technology battles is off base and not in line with what is now going on among the Apple, Microsoft, and Google camps in mobile services. I am omitting the other players because I don’t want to trot out too many examples, which are legion.
Amazon’s cloud may communicate under circumstances determined by the world’s smartest man who is now working as an order fulfillment clerk about 45 minutes from where I am writing this post. Google will play ball as long as those folks follow the Google rules. Microsoft is going to do what Microsoft has done since its inception and make an effort to enforce its agenda.
Each of these companies will yap about open standards. Each of these companies will put their pet open source wizards on display. Each of these companies will attempt to capture as much of the market as users, competitors and regulators allow.
At some point in the future, the agendas will shift from the cloud to the next big thing. At that point, a big dog will be in the yard and the other dogs will cooperate or get their necks broken. I appreciate Mr. Urqhart’s view. I think we’re in line for a good old fashioned standards battle. Forget cannon fodder. Think column fodder. CNet will be in seventh heaven.
Stephen Arnold, March 29, 2009
BlackBerry and Google Voice Search
March 28, 2009
Extreme Tech’s “Google Adds Voice Activated Search for BlackBerry” here identified a Google boost to RIM. The service adds a voice activation feature. Google supports GPS, so the user’s location gets added to the mix. You can download the code snippet here. Last year a RIM executive suggested that my criticism of the lame search function in BlackBerry devices was unwarranted. I think the RIM Xobni deal and this Google action makes clear that RIM had poor search functionality. I am not confident that the problems with locating email and attachments will be resolved by either or both of the Google, Xobni steps. The iPhone has changed the smart phone balance of power. RIM and Google have been hit in the liver.
Stephen Arnold, March 28, 2009
Emotional Search
March 20, 2009
There’s social search. People search. now there’s emotional search. This new species is explained by Patricia Skinner in her article “Search is Getting All Emotional Thanks to Twitter” here. I have been getting email explaining that my Twitter stories are chasing off some readers. Not much I can do about that. Free Web log and all that apply. Her point was:
Because Twitter is essentially a huge network of millions of tiny networks (you and your friends), talking about what matters to you and what you think about. So a kind of ‘innate, emotional-level understanding’ is built in.
Ms. Skinner includes some examples, a bit of information about behavioral marketing, and some examples. I agree with most of her points. Is Twitter important to search? In my opinion, yep. I don’t care much for the emotional angle, but tapping real time content flows is a big deal.
Stephen Arnold, March 20, 2009
Google: Walking the iPhone Knife Edge
March 19, 2009
iPhone accounts for a large chunk of mobile search. You can tap some stats here, but like most of these Web traffic estimates, grab a salt shaker. Season to taste. Google provides Mac power plugs in its meeting rooms. Message: Windows users not wanted. Google offers nifty features for the iPhone. Googlers love to drop into Unix whilst iTunes hums in the background. With so much Apple goodness, imagine my surprise when I heard from two different sources today that the GOOG may be readying a low cost or no cost Gphone plan. Is this true? Tough to tell but my sources are not given to flights of fancy. A subsidized phone makes sense. AT&T offers a deal to iPhone customers. For details, click here for “AT&T Bringin’ Sexy Back, Offering iPhone 3G at No-Commitment Price, No Activation.” My hunch is that the GOOG wants to get a larger share of the mobile Web traffic without an intermediary like Apple. More info on this interesting rumor as I can locate it.
Stephen Arnold, March 20, 2009
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