Network World Dings Google a Decade Too Late
June 12, 2009
I think it is admirable that pundits, mavens, real journalists, and analysts are now focusing their attention on Google, whom I affectionately call Googzilla. My recollection is that Google emerged from BackRub about 11 years ago. The Google was on a role from the moment its initial public offering came out of the gates in 2004. That IPO took place after the Google settled a legal squabble with its neighbor Yahoo. The settlement cost more than most search companies generate in a lifetime of spreadsheet jockeying.
Now the Google is somehow different. I don’t think so. I think those who have been asleep at the switch have been hit over the head with Google’s earning power, its technology, and its ability to surround and seep into many business sectors. This did not happen overnight, gentle reader. Google has matured.
One interesting and well reasoned article appeared today (June 11, 2009) in Network World. You must read David Coursey’s “Google Antiturst Case Misses the Point” here. Network World, like some of the London newspapers, has been taking a somewhat sharp approach to its coverage of the Google in my opinion.
Mr. Coursey wrote:
Antitrust regulators will look at this merely as a business issue–is Google too big for the good of the marketplace. What they really should be asking is whether Google is gaining too much control of another marketplace–that of ideas.
His argument is that Google is the big dog in the idea business. Mr. Coursey dodges the “m” word but it drapes is polysyllabic fabric over the write up.
My thoughts:
- Too late, folks. The Google has momentum, and it disruptive force is amplifying as its various initiatives intersect. Remember how this happens from physics? If not, check it out here and its sister, the cross field amplifier. Cross field just like multiple business sectors being disrupted in my way of envisioning Google’s market methods.
- Competition must resort to the courts. Sad to say but legal eagles may spoil Google’s parade. The problem is that legal methods take time and the competition has to nail its case before the cash runs out.
- Google is morphing. If I hear the SEO crowd tell me that Google is an ad company one more time, I may have a minor stroke. The Google was an ad company. Its new initiatives open new revenue doors. Those new opportunities don’t preclude ads; they supplement ad revenue. If that revenue comes from its competitors’ best customers, then what? See item 2 above for the cash crunch that could derail the legal challenges.
Stay tuned. UFC 2010 is coming. The regulatory battles are the undercard in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, June 11, 2009
Google and a Brace of Compliance-Related Methods
June 12, 2009
If you navigate to my Google patent collection in the Perfect Search demonstration, you can poke around for various digital fingerprinting methods, filtering, and content identification systems. The GOOG has been working hard to find bulletproof, speedy, and efficient ways to identify content that may get Googzilla in hot water with copyright owners.
I paid attention when I saw two patent documents come across the lily pad I use for a desk here in the goose pond. What’s notable about each is that the inventors overlap. Names that jumped out at me included Franck Chastagnol, Vijay Karunamurthy, and Chris Maxcy, among others. The other notable feature was that both documents were about doing “stuff” to understand and perform actions on video files.
The two patent documents of interest are:
- 20090144325, “Blocking of Unlicensed Audio Content in Video Files on a Video Hosting Website”
- 20090144326, “Site Directed Management of Audio Components of Uploaded Video Files”
You can get copies of these documents from the user-friendly, highly-intuitive USPTO Web site here. Please, read the syntax examples; otherwise, no go, folks.
These documents strike me as important for several reasons:
- Both were filed on the same day, a sign of importance to this addled goose
- Both pertain to copyright related functions performed by software, not humans
- Both move the GOOG’s capabilities forward with more clever and what appear to me efficient methods.
The Google is trying to be a good Googzilla in my opinion. Keep in mind that I am not an attorney, so check with your friendly patent attorney about the validity of the systems and methods disclosed in these two documents.
Stephen Arnold, June 12, 2009
Fujitsu Gets Bitten by the Search Bug
June 12, 2009
Juan Carlos Perez’s “Fujitsu Plug In Helps Refine Search Queries” here caught me by surprise. When I think of Japan and search, I think of Just Systems, not Fujitsu. I need to realign my goosely thinking. Mr. Perez wrote:
Fujitsu Laboratories of America has created a browser plug-in that pops-up a cloud of suggested query refinements around search engine boxes. Called Xurch, the tool works with Firefox and Internet Explorer, as well as with several major search engines and some big sites, the company said Thursday [June 11, 2009].
Fujitsu has created a Web site for Xurch here. You can download the free browser plug in here.
The idea is that the tag cloud shows a “cloud” or unordered list of related terms, concepts, and bound phrases appear. Each is a hot link which chops the longer list of results down. You see only those hits that are germane to your information need. To show the cloud, one moves the xurcher (oops, the cursor) into the search box. To make the cloud go away, move the xurcher (ooops, the cursor) out of the search box hot zone.
My hunch is that the Fujitsu Laboraotries of America here have more search goodness in the creative microwaves. NEC Research near the old Bell Labs building in New Jersey did some interesting search related work. Maybe Fujitsu will reignite Japanese-funded rexurch into information retrieval? A search for “information retrieval” on the Fujitsu Labs’s Web site return a link to a tie up with Open Text but not too much other exicting stuff among the four hits.
Stephen Arnold, June 12, 2009
ITPints: Real Time Search Engine
June 12, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who told me about ITPints.com, “the new real time Web search engine”. You can try out the beta version here. The developer of the system is Javier Arias, and you can find information about the system here. I liked Javier Arias’ style. He said:
itpints you can know what is people publishing on internet about anything of your interest, at the same time you’re searching for it. The relevancy of any result is given by when it was posted on internet. The possibilities are infinite, you can use it to follow what is happening on a concert of your favorite band, or search for news that are not even in the newspapers yet!
He also points to other services offering somewhat similar functions. Again: upfront and clear. The new system will soon feature an API. The ITPints.com site is compatible with the Firefox Ubiquity extension.
I ran several test queries on the system and found some useful links. For example, the query for “Beyond Search” returned Twitter references to my somewhat negative write up about a search engine optimization course that provided paying attendees with a “certification”. Definitely fresh results in my opinion.
My query for “text mining” returned several interesting links related to the use of text mining to “identify quality issues.” I was surprised that there was current activity around what is a niche technology. Text mining without analytics and behavior tracking is not the the main event. I found the flurry of posts about a PubMed text mining project quite useful and to me new information. I followed the ITPints.com hit to 7th Space and bookmarked the site.
The addled goose awards a happy quack.
Stephen Arnold, June 12, 2009
Bing’s Got Some Useful Search Features
June 11, 2009
The goslings have been fumbling around because web feet don’t equate with Web searching. Nevertheless, we have gathered together six tips that we found particularly useful when running “bings” on the Microsoft search site. Tell your friends to “bing it.” Remember: in the examples below omit the initial and trailing quotation marks.
Tip 1: to see what’s hot in feeds. Enter this string in front of your query: “feed:”. The resulting query looks like this: “feed:Cleveland +”business information”.
Tip 2: this is a direct match for the “other guy’s” syntax. To locate only Adobe PDF documents you use this string in front of your query: “filetype:” The resulting query looks like this: “filetype:ppt +sharepoint”.
Tip 3: this is another direct match for the “other guy’s” syntax. To locate only documents within a particular Web site you use this string in front of your query: “site:” The resulting query looks like this: “site:search +arnoldit.com
Tip 4: this tip is essential if you are looking for hits from a little known or unpopular site like the National Railway Retirement Board. To determine if a Web site is in the Bing index, enter this string in front of your query: “url:”. The resulting query looks like this: “url:marad.gov”
Tip 5: this tip is popular with the goslings who enjoy online music. To locate hits on sites that have links to specific filetypes, precede the query with the string “contains:” The resulting query looks like this: “contains:mp3”
Tip 6: Boolean operators are available. Use “+” for AND and “-“ for NOT.
Remember to put bound phrases such as “White House” in quotes to minimize false drops.
We think the system has some useful features. You can get other tips for running bings on the new Microsoft system at these locations:
- Help for the system is in tiny gray type at the foot of the Bing splash page. You can go directly to the online information pages by clicking here.
- MalekTips has some useful tips here.
- Digital Inspiration has some interesting tips here. I quite liked tip 1 so the full Bing is available to users where access may be limited in some way.
Remember don’t say the “other guy’s” name when you mean Web search. Say, “Bing it.” I am working on making this word an active part of my vocabulary.
Stephen Arnold, June 11, 2009
Certified SEO Expert Program
June 11, 2009
The economy may be in la poubelle, but for $3,500 you can try your hand at becoming a certified search enigne marketing professional. Forget Malcolm Gladwell’s premise that an expert needs 10,000 hours to sharpen his or her intellectual blade. You can get acdpted for the program with a credit card, an Internet connection, and some time. Click here to take advantage of this Market Motive offer. Seems quicker than struggling with a medical, legal, or MBA degree. Wow.
Stephen Arnold, June 11, 2009
At Yahoo Is Bartz Topedoing Search or Search Torpedoing Bartz
June 9, 2009
I read a long analysis by Dan Sullivan here called “Bartz Continues Torpedoing Yahoo Search”. I found the information useful because it provides a run down of recent announcements and developments in the ossifying world of Web search. I urge you to read the essay. I found this comment quite suggestive:
Geez, it’s like Bartz handed a gift to Microsoft. Here Microsoft wants to build awareness that there’s an alternative to Google, and Bartz effectively tells people that Yahoo’s out of the game. It was somewhat similar to how Ask screwed up last year … and now still struggles to be counted among the major search engines. Who thought Yahoo would shoot itself the same way?
Several thoughts crossed my mind.
First, the analysis touches only indirectly on the issue that I think is adding basil to Ms. Bartz’s recipe for a Yahoo turnaround—cost. If one can look beyond the posturing, Ms. Bartz has access to the cold hard facts of the cost of search at Yahoo and how those costs match against Yahoo’s actual revenues. My hunch is that the business of search is one that is one rooted in how much money it takes to operate search, feed the warring engineering factions, and manage the set up. Leaving cost out of an analysis means that Yahoo is able to conduct business in a predictable way in terms of operations. I think costs toss predictability out with the burned vegetables.
Second, the mixing of signals is neither unusual nor unexpected. Yahoo is a mini AOL but it has a different series of revenue streams. Dealing with these strong currents is confusing job, just ask any corporate captain who has had to deal with incomplete or flawed financial information and projections. One day the weather is clear; the next Matilda is knocking on the door.
Finally, the search market is ossified. Now I know that there’s considerable hope for the start ups in search like Wolfram Alpha. I know that Microsoft is spending $80 to $100 million to supplant “just Google it” with “just Bing it”, but Google’s market share continues to creep upwards. I think the data that suggest Google has a 60 to 70 percent market share are wide of the mark. Think in terms of 80 percent in the US and 90 percent in some other areas such as northern Europe. A big push in search is going to yield exactly what return? My hunch is that when cost is factored into the equation, Ms. Bartz is doing a pretty good job of keeping investors reasonably stable while she tries to make sense of the Web’s Balkan conflict.
Just my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, June 9, 2009
Data.gov Squeezes Two Search Govs
June 9, 2009
What a battle of governmental initiatives. In one corner is the federating champ, USA.gov with its second Science.gov. In the other corner is the Data.gov contender. A citizen or other interested party can sit back and watch the political slug fest. Unlike a traditional kick boxing match, this one is going to rage for years with each round roughly the length of the Federal fiscal year.
Here’s a run down of the combatants:
- USA.gov (weighing in at about $22 million per year) with software implants from Microsoft and Vivisimo. The service (originally FirstGov.gov) has gained some Tyson like body mass without generating the type of online traffic one expects of a long reigning champ. USA.gov provides a “portal” to Federal information, and it is a bit like a blend of traditional search, a portal, and link farm. I use it but find the limit on documents accessible annoying. I rely on Google’s Uncle Sam service, but I am an addled goose looking for depth, not a partial results list or undisplayable images.
- Science.gov, supported by Deep Web Technologies, works in apparent harmony with USA.gov. Science.gov focuses on tech content, which I assumed would also be in the USA.gov index. With funds from different sources, Science.gov is a variant of USA.gov.
- Data.gov, supported by the White House, is a collection of data, not text. Next week (sometime after June 8), Data.gov gets an infusion of tens of thousands government data sets. You can read more about the expansion of the service in this PC World story, “U.S. Government Records Go Online in Volume” here.
I am not going to try and sort out individual agency Web sites, the Library of Congress, the Government Printing Office, and other assorted information repositories. I could not figure them out in Year 2000 when I dabbled in the FirstGov.gov planning activities. I sure as heck can’t make sense of them from Harrod’s Creek today.
The question in my mind is, “What citizen user knows where to look for US government information?” My solution, as noted, is Google, and I am curious about Wolfram Alpha’s appetite for these data. I wonder if the USDA Economic Research Service will be available? Lots of mystery and excitement surround this epic battle. I think every agency will win because the “silo method” is alive and well in the Federal government.
New Social Search Service from Goebel Group
June 9, 2009
Search engine optimization advisor Goebel Group made available its free social search service On June 8, 2009, according to dBusiness News here. The dBusiness story said:
This Custom Search Engine allows users to see what others are saying about them, their products, their brand, and more. Available at www.mysocialmediasearchengine.com.
We ran several test queries and found the results useful. The connection to SEO was not obvious to this addled goose. Too old. Blind to the beauties of SEO too.
Stephen Arnold, June 9, 2009
Similar Sites Is Darn Useful
June 8, 2009
A happy quack to the reader who alerted me to SimilarSites.com. I enter a url that interests me and the system generates a list of similar sites. Try it here. The service is free and works quite well. There is a service called SimilarSites.net, but I am describing the Dot Com version. The company was founded in 2007 by “Web veterans” and I will poke into the outfit because I find the service helpful and not annoying. Who wants three clicks to execute a task? Not me. The company offers a browser add on which is described in somewhat wacky Web words:
an intelligent browser Add-On that dynamically provides easy access to relevant websites and content. Wherever you go on the web, our technology will work behind the scenes to discover valuable common content and present it to you in a useful way. Built on sophisticated algorithms that scout the internet and taking into account user opinions. It matters not if the user is looking at a major portal or a website of some unknown artist, SimilarWeb provides accurate results for rare sites as well as highly ranked ones, the technology excels in the long tail of the web.
Verbiage aside, worth a look. I put this puppy on my quick links list, moving Similicio.us and Tagomatic.com to my bookmarks. The tagline is particularly good for SimilarSites.com: “Discover without searching.” Dead on in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, June 8, 2009
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