Overflight: Google’s Web Logs Aggregated
November 17, 2008
Overflight is now available on the ArnoldIT.com Web site. Click here to access the splash page. Google publishes more than 70 Web logs. When Dave Girouard made a comment at the Web 2.0 conference about Google Apps as a platform, this was old news. Via the Overflight service, the ArnoldIT.com analysts “knew” about this functionality and were able to relate the various posts about a hackathon and Google’s enterprise ambitions days before the Web 2.0 conference. Prior to the dissolution of several of the financial institutions to which ArnoldIT.com provided open source intelligence, we heard repeatedly, “You guys seem to be ahead of the curve when it comes to Google.” You can see how useful Overflight has been. Just click here and read about my two Google studies written in 2005 and 2007. The information revealed in these analyses are just now finding their way into the Google information mainstream.
That’s true and part of the reason is what we had been doing for a number of clients, including Threat Open Source Intelligence Gateway, which is not a public service. We also used these tools for projects when vendors wanted to know what type of activities one or more companies were likely to pursue.
Overflight is an RSS aggregation service. The service that is now publicly available aggregates the headlines from Google’s 74 Web logs. We group the most recent headlines using the same categories that Google favors. Our for fee service offers more bells and whistles, but now you can navigate to www.arnoldit.com/overflight and see at a glance what Google is publishing on its own Web logs. For example, click on one of these headings and you will be able to browse by individual Web log the latest headlines:
- Google wide, which is Google’s umbrella term for general Web logs. Most of the information that you read about the company in many well known news services appears on these Web logs first
- Google products, which is a collection of Web logs about specific products. Most of the postings are signed by product managers, but these posts go through Google’s internal clearance process to help ensure that the product comments are in sync with the corporate game plan
- Google ads, which is a round up of the advertising and and advertiser related Web logs. At ArnoldIT.com, we don’t pay much attention to advertising, but millions of people live or die because of the success of their Google ads. We noted that Google’s ad Web logs contain quite interesting references to certain little known innovations such as “matching”. You will be able to read more about these technologies in my forthcoming Google and Publishing study for Infonortics, Ltd.
- Google developer, which is a particularly interesting collection of Web logs that provide information about “where and how the rubber meets the road” when creating applications for the Google application spaces. Adhere Solutions, owned by my son, finds these posts quite interesting. The technical information is often unknown by Google’s public facing marketing and sales professionals.
- Google region, which is a collection of Web logs that provide information germane to Google’s segmentation of its global markets. Many of these Web logs are in English but some are not. You will need to use Google Translate to make sense of the postings. Our commercial version of Overflight automates the translation for you.
Why am I making this service available? There are three reasons:
- A number of people have discovered that my studies of Google (more information is here) are two or three years in front of Google. I thought that it would be easier to put up a version of Overflight to show people how open source intelligence can reveal significant information before the high profile media outlets or the big buck, dead tree tech writers reveal a scoop that is to me “old news”.
- I funded a new award at the JBoye 08 conference to acknowledge individuals who are putting actionable intelligence in the hands of European information and technology professionals. At the JBoye 08 conference, I explained that I wanted to “give back” cash, recognition, and tools. I am nearing the end of my career, and I don’t really feel the need to keep the Google Web log collection under cover any longer.
- Google has spawned an amazing number of news services, stories, and Web log postings. Frankly, I was tired of seeing information that was stale. Many of the stories appear on the Google Web logs and then these are recycled as breaking news. I decided to put the source in front of people so individuals can decide if they want to get Google information that is a bit fresher.
Keep in mind that Google would like to convert this addled goose into paté. If a Web log or Web logs disappears, we will try to work around a glitch. At this time, I plan to leave the service up for at least six months. If there is interest in the service, I may make available some additional content processing tools. I have no “search” function activated. If you think that would be helpful to you, post a comment.
If you wish to criticize the service or make suggestions, please, use the comments section of this Web log. If you are cut from the same cloth as Barry and Cyrus, two people who offer assertions, not hard facts, be aware that specifics are what makes this goose happy. If you don’t find the service useful, don’t use it.
If you want to talk with my team about our open source intelligence services, feel free to write me at seaky2000 @ yahoo dot com. Put “overflight” in the subject line. In a lousy economy, good intelligence can make the difference between a successful organization and an unsuccessful organization. Napoleon’s alleged statement is appropriate today, “The right information is nine tenths of any battle.”
Stephen Arnold, November 17, 2008
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