I really love how Google dresses up their logo for various days. They don’t just do the “big ones” like Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July. But even more obscure stuff.
Image Copyright Google Inc.
Just really well done, creative stuff. Links to Louis Braille’s Birthdate.
Using Google Earth you can now track santa. You’ll need to open this kml file in Google Earth and it will start tracking Santa.
You can press F11 to put it in Full Screen mode (and again to get out of full screen) to turn your computer into a Santa tracker.
Geeks should note it’s a very interesting use of Google Earth’s refreshInterval tag. By essentially wrapping the data the “tracking” is done.
I’m now the 6th Robert on Yahoo. I haven’t even found myself on Google.
It’s going to take a lot to topple Robert Scoble.
Edit: No longer on the list as of 12/26/2005. Hmm.
If some of this silliness keeps going on, were going to end up having airplanes without windows, because it could threaten security if you look outside.
Perhaps it’s time for some countries to consider building roofs over classified equipment, or perhaps putting a tarp over it. What ever happened to underground bunkers and camouflage?
If I were Microsoft, I’d be very afraid. This could do some serious damage. And unlike MS Office, you don’t need to sell your first born to obtain a copy. OpenOffice is a great product. Hopefully Google will give them the edge they need to take their rightful marketshare. Or at a bare minimum, force Microsoft to make it possible for people to afford Office without taking out a loan from the bank. I know people with computers that cost less than MS Office Professional. That’s rather sad.
Thank you Google. Please continue to put Microsoft in it’s place.
Ian Hickson has gone to Google. It’s great to see Google picking up great minds like him. WHATWG is clearly something Google should have an interest in. Considering how Google seems to be pushing the Web into this “Web 2.0” (yes it is a bullshtick term from the geeky technical perspective, but it’s relevant from the business side of things). WHATWG is clearly moves in that direction.
Personally I think RSS feeds [sample] are the best feature of the new Google Blog Search. Now how long until they are in web search?
Please oh please don’t ruin it like you did PayPals. Well, the news is out, eBay is going to buy Skype. For some reason, I have this belief that eBay will either stop letting it continue development (like PayPals seems somewhat frozen in time), or just start crippling it so people use the pay service (which I won’t). Would have been great if Google bought them, which I’ve been hoping for a while.
According to Google:
Google believes that users should have a choice in what applications they use for communication. Built to support industry standards, Google Talk enables Google users to connect to the Google Talk service and exchange IMs using any client that does the same, including Trillian, Adium, iChat, GAIM, and Psi.
The company is also committed to working with other service providers to create a federation model that enables users on any member network to talk to users on any other member network in a secure and abuse-free manner. Google is currently working with EarthLink to federate with their Vling communications service and with Sipphone on federating their Gizmo Project.
A very interesting statement. First we know it’s based on Jabber, a popular open source IM product. It’s open, many products support it. What’s more interesting is the Business side of things:
Could Google be the one to unite the currently fragmented Instant Messaging market? It seems entirely possible. Google is the only company who sees that as a good idea, and currently the only company who has suggested it, and has enough market power to possibly push for that to happen. If Google could get 2 out of the big 3 (AOL, MSN, Yahoo) to sign on and unify: the other would be forced to participate or face a declining market. Personally I think not only AOL would be the biggest win, but the most likely to participate (mainly because of ICQ).
I’m still surprised Google didn’t buy Skype, I still wouldn’t be surprised to hear it happen any day. Not for their IM, but for their amazing voice chat capability. The quality and compatibility has yet to be beat (I haven’t had a chance to try Google Talk, but from what I hear it’s on the level of SIP). Skype is cross platform and has a rather well designed client. A perfect item for Google’s arsenal. If I were Google, I’d buy it. Skype is to IM what Keyhole is to Mapping (Google bought Keyhole a little less than a year ago and renamed it Google Earth, as well as integrated it with their mapping service).
On it’s own, I don’t see much value to Google Talk. Jabber is cool, but why another client? I have GAIM anyway, so no extra client for me, but I still wonder what the selling point for Google Talk is right now. Unless this is just a taste of what’s to come. Personally, I think this is just the start of what we will be seeing from this. I expect integration with existing services, and new services to be based on it. This is just an extension to the Google Platform.
The thing I hope for is Google buying Skype and freeing up their paid services, and making it ad supported. Skype voice mail, perhaps even SkypeOut (at a much lower rate). There is so much potential for Google in the VoIP arena it’s amazing. It even makes a Tellme a potential target for acquisition. Integrate that with VoIP, instant messaging, and Google’s capacity (bandwidth, and servers), and you have a massive communications platform that rivals any communications company.
David Tenser has the issue of multiple VoIP/SIP clients (same as we had with IM). Google peering with other VoIP providers, and unifying by perhaps acquiring Skype and opening things up a bit would greatly resolve this. If all of Skype’s users could co-exist with other VoIP solutions VoIP would stand a chance. Right now, the market has potential but no real chance of taking off mainly because of this issue. Not many will settle for a phone that can only call certain people. Nobody would buy a cell phone if you can only call people with the same plan. Why? Because that’s stupid.
Making money? Oh there are plenty of ways. VoIP opens the doors to many things. Take a look at 1-800-555-TELL (TellMe’s free demo). Imagine Google Adwords integrated into that. Could be done very tastefully. Next look at Google’s SMS effort. Think how well voice services and Cell phones go together (check your gmail on the phone, get directions via phone, etc.). Google could essentially take the phone companies by surprise virtually over night.
I suggest the following:
OK, I’m done talking about Google… for now.
Apprantly Apple and Google are talking. I’ve got an idea what it may be like, so here’s a little peak.
Speculating about the two mythical companies is always fun right :-D.