MARKETING SEARCH guru Mike Grehan said at a Netimperative dinner that it was inevitable that Google would turn into a portal.
He suggested that Google had run its course, and the third generation of search would cause changes in the market.
Despite Google's clean interface, all you need to do is to click on the "more" button and it begins to look like a portal anyway, Grehan said.
More at: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27271.
PageRank 10 Sites
PageRank is an algorithm for ranking web pages, based on the number of incoming links and their importance. The algorithm was created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and is the main innovation that made Google the best search engine.PageRank values are integers from 0 to 10, but very few sites have PageRank 10. Here is an incomplete list.
Software companies:
www.google.com
www.microsoft.com
www.yahoo.com (since April 2007)
www.adobe.com
www.macromedia.com (now redirects to adobe.com)
www.real.com
Government / governmental agencies:
www.whitehouse.gov
www.nasa.gov
www.energy.gov
www.nsf.gov
Sites with many backlinks:
www.w3.org
Educational institutes:
www.keio.ac.jp
www.lcs.mit.edu
www.ercim.org
Sites that dropped from PageRank 10 to PageRank 9 in 2007
www.apple.com
www.mozilla.org
www.firstgov.gov
www.statcounter.com
www.blogger.com
www.nytimes.com (New York Times dropped to PageRank 8)
Found another one? You can check the PageRank of a site and report it in the comments.
Last updated: May 12, 2007
Random Google
Visit a random webpage from a Google search: Google Random.
Google random image: www.ghettodriveby.com/.
And a random Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random.
Google random image: www.ghettodriveby.com/.
And a random Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random.
Office web applications
Until Google comes with an Office web application here is a list of Ajax-based Office replacements:
Writely - "The Web Word Processor" (note that for creating documents, it uses an HTML editor and then converts to Word format)
FCKeditor is also an MS Word-like web app.
gOFFICE - "a browser-based online word processor and desktop publishing program"
Num Sum - web-based spreadsheets - except only the author of a spreadsheet can edit it.
Kiko - Online calendar solution powered by Ajax.
called S5 - web-based Powerpoint
Webnote - web-based version of Microsoft's OneNote
thinkfree - online Office suite
Openomy - online file-system
Writely - "The Web Word Processor" (note that for creating documents, it uses an HTML editor and then converts to Word format)
FCKeditor is also an MS Word-like web app.
gOFFICE - "a browser-based online word processor and desktop publishing program"
Num Sum - web-based spreadsheets - except only the author of a spreadsheet can edit it.
Kiko - Online calendar solution powered by Ajax.
called S5 - web-based Powerpoint
Webnote - web-based version of Microsoft's OneNote
thinkfree - online Office suite
Openomy - online file-system
WebOS
The Web browser becomes the primary application interface through which the user views content, performs services, and manages data on their local machine and on the Web, often without even knowing the difference.
Web applications of the sort we're all familiar with: Gmail, Flickr, and Bloglines, as well as other applications that are making the Web an ever richer environment for getting stuff done. (And ideally all Ajaxed up to provide an experience closer to that of traditional desktop apps.)
A local Web server to handle the data delivery and content display from the local machine to the browser. This local server will likely be highly optimized for its task, but would be capable of running locally installed Web applications (e.g. a local copy of Gmail and all its associated data).
That's it. Aside from the browser and the Web server, applications will be written for the WebOS and won't be specific to Windows, OS X, or Linux. This is also completely feasible, I think, for organizations like Google, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft, or the Mozilla Foundation to make happen.
Compared to "standalone" Web apps and desktop apps, applications developed for this hypothetical platform have some powerful advantages. Because they run in a Web browser, these applications are cross platform (assuming that whoever develops such a system develops the local Web server part of it for Windows, OS X, Linux, your mobile phone, etc.), just like Web apps such as Gmail, Basecamp, and Salesforce.com. You don't need to be on a specific machine with a specific OS...you just need a browser + local Web server to access your favorite data and apps.
More: http://www.kottke.org/05/08/googleos-webos.
Web applications of the sort we're all familiar with: Gmail, Flickr, and Bloglines, as well as other applications that are making the Web an ever richer environment for getting stuff done. (And ideally all Ajaxed up to provide an experience closer to that of traditional desktop apps.)
A local Web server to handle the data delivery and content display from the local machine to the browser. This local server will likely be highly optimized for its task, but would be capable of running locally installed Web applications (e.g. a local copy of Gmail and all its associated data).
That's it. Aside from the browser and the Web server, applications will be written for the WebOS and won't be specific to Windows, OS X, or Linux. This is also completely feasible, I think, for organizations like Google, Yahoo, Apple, Microsoft, or the Mozilla Foundation to make happen.
Compared to "standalone" Web apps and desktop apps, applications developed for this hypothetical platform have some powerful advantages. Because they run in a Web browser, these applications are cross platform (assuming that whoever develops such a system develops the local Web server part of it for Windows, OS X, Linux, your mobile phone, etc.), just like Web apps such as Gmail, Basecamp, and Salesforce.com. You don't need to be on a specific machine with a specific OS...you just need a browser + local Web server to access your favorite data and apps.
More: http://www.kottke.org/05/08/googleos-webos.
Base speculations unconfirmed
"You may have seen stories today reporting on a new product that we're testing, and speculating about our plans. Here's what's really going on. We are testing a new way for content owners to submit their content to Google, which we hope will complement existing methods such as our web crawl and Google Sitemaps." (Tom Oliveri, Product Marketing Manager at Google)
Well, the screenshot doesn't seem to match this information.
Well, the screenshot doesn't seem to match this information.
Google OS - No viruses, no worms, no corrupted disks.
Though there is no indication that anything like this is in the works, one can easily imagine a streamlined Google OS on its own hard disk partition, separated from the entertainment, gaming, and media production environments. In addition to Google's signature services—a high-powered internet, media, and local disk search engine—it would likely consist of an office suite, a lean web browser, and various other applications and utilities. Consider the technology already at Google's disposal. Start with the world's best search engine with access to the largest body of searchable information and media. Add Gmail: a clean, javascript-based application, stored on a server, accessed via the internet, from which a user can not only compose, read, organize, and search their email, but also quickly access Google's search and other services. Now, look at Google News: a world of online news sources, which can be customized to an individual users preferences. Throw in Google's desktop search, the Picasa photo software, and Firefox (Mozilla and Google have significant overlap in their employed workforces) with live bookmarks, and cool research extensions such as dictionary and thesaurus lookup, linky, launchy, and the like. Extend all of this technology to typical desktop applications like office software, then combine them all into one interface and bundle the OS. Simple, powerful, and totally Google.
Let's take it one step further. Imagine that all of this software—like the Google search engine, Gmail, etc.—is stored on Google's notoriously well-backed-up servers and operates at relatively high speed with any internet connection, thanks to its simplicity and javascript code base. Supported by unobtrusive (sometimes even helpful) ads, and hosted on a distant server, this is free, convenient, and accessible from ANY computer, anywhere, anytime. Additionally, you have the world's best IT department working on your behalf to protect your software, its accessibility, and its security. No viruses, no worms, no corrupted disks.
Let's say they go even further: Google gives you, say, 1000GB on their servers, hosts all your data (with multiple levels of permissions), and provides everything mentioned above, and extends their video search (currently in beta) to provide access to a wealth of streaming audio (like iTunes radio) and video. All of it is free, all of it is easily accessible through a powerful, extensible web browser, and all of it simple and easy to use (it's still Google, remember). What are the implications of such a system? First, no more purchasing software (at least not the consumer grade applications hosted on the server); second, companies actually competing for your business (Google would surely be followed by the other major players); third, your work is finally mobile.
More: A Google OS by 2010?
Let's take it one step further. Imagine that all of this software—like the Google search engine, Gmail, etc.—is stored on Google's notoriously well-backed-up servers and operates at relatively high speed with any internet connection, thanks to its simplicity and javascript code base. Supported by unobtrusive (sometimes even helpful) ads, and hosted on a distant server, this is free, convenient, and accessible from ANY computer, anywhere, anytime. Additionally, you have the world's best IT department working on your behalf to protect your software, its accessibility, and its security. No viruses, no worms, no corrupted disks.
Let's say they go even further: Google gives you, say, 1000GB on their servers, hosts all your data (with multiple levels of permissions), and provides everything mentioned above, and extends their video search (currently in beta) to provide access to a wealth of streaming audio (like iTunes radio) and video. All of it is free, all of it is easily accessible through a powerful, extensible web browser, and all of it simple and easy to use (it's still Google, remember). What are the implications of such a system? First, no more purchasing software (at least not the consumer grade applications hosted on the server); second, companies actually competing for your business (Google would surely be followed by the other major players); third, your work is finally mobile.
More: A Google OS by 2010?
LETTER FROM GOOGLE FOUNDERS
"AN OWNER’S MANUAL" FOR GOOGLE’S SHAREHOLDERS
Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one. Throughout Google’s evolution as a privately held company, we have managed Google differently. We have also emphasized an atmosphere of creativity and challenge, which has helped us provide unbiased, accurate and free access to information for those who rely on us around the world.
Sergey and I founded Google because we believed we could provide a great service to the world—instantly delivering relevant information on any topic. Serving our end users is at the heart of what we do and remains our number one priority.
Our goal is to develop services that improve the lives of as many people as possible—to do things that matter. We make our services as widely available as we can by supporting over 97 languages and by providing most services for free. Advertising is our principal source of revenue, and the ads we provide are relevant and useful rather than intrusive and annoying. We strive to provide users with great commercial information.
We will not shy away from high-risk, high-reward projects because of short term earnings pressure. Some of our past bets have gone extraordinarily well, and others have not. Because we recognize the pursuit of such projects as the key to our long term success, we will continue to seek them out. For example, we would fund projects that have a 10% chance of earning a billion dollars over the long term. Do not be surprised if we place smaller bets in areas that seem very speculative or even strange. As the ratio of reward to risk increases, we will accept projects further outside our normal areas, especially when the initial investment is small.
We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google. This empowers them to be more creative and innovative. Many of our significant advances have happened in this manner. For example, AdSense for content and Google News were both prototyped in “20% time.” Most risky projects fizzle, often teaching us something. Others succeed and become attractive businesses.
We run Google as a triumvirate. Sergey and I have worked closely together for the last eight years, five at Google. Eric, our CEO, joined Google three years ago. The three of us run the company collaboratively with Sergey and me as Presidents. The structure is unconventional, but we have worked successfully in this way.
To facilitate timely decisions, Eric, Sergey and I meet daily to update each other on the business and to focus our collaborative thinking on the most important and immediate issues. Decisions are often made by one of us, with the others being briefed later. This works because we have tremendous trust and respect for each other and we generally think alike. Because of our intense long term working relationship, we can often predict differences of opinion among the three of us. We know that when we disagree, the correct decision is far from obvious. For important decisions, we discuss the issue with the larger team. Eric, Sergey and I run the company without any significant internal conflict, but with healthy debate. As different topics come up, we often delegate decision-making responsibility to one of us.
Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served—as shareholders and in all other ways—by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains. This is an important aspect of our culture and is broadly shared within the company.
Google users trust our systems to help them with important decisions: medical, financial and many others. Our search results are the best we know how to produce. They are unbiased and objective, and we do not accept payment for them or for inclusion or more frequent updating. We also display advertising, which we work hard to make relevant, and we label it clearly. This is similar to a newspaper, where the advertisements are clear and the articles are not influenced by the advertisers’ payments. We believe it is important for everyone to have access to the best information and research, not only to the information people pay for you to see.
We want Google to become an important and significant institution. That takes time, stability and independence. We bridge the media and technology industries, both of which have experienced considerable consolidation and attempted hostile takeovers.
Larry Page
Sergey Brin
Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one. Throughout Google’s evolution as a privately held company, we have managed Google differently. We have also emphasized an atmosphere of creativity and challenge, which has helped us provide unbiased, accurate and free access to information for those who rely on us around the world.
Sergey and I founded Google because we believed we could provide a great service to the world—instantly delivering relevant information on any topic. Serving our end users is at the heart of what we do and remains our number one priority.
Our goal is to develop services that improve the lives of as many people as possible—to do things that matter. We make our services as widely available as we can by supporting over 97 languages and by providing most services for free. Advertising is our principal source of revenue, and the ads we provide are relevant and useful rather than intrusive and annoying. We strive to provide users with great commercial information.
We will not shy away from high-risk, high-reward projects because of short term earnings pressure. Some of our past bets have gone extraordinarily well, and others have not. Because we recognize the pursuit of such projects as the key to our long term success, we will continue to seek them out. For example, we would fund projects that have a 10% chance of earning a billion dollars over the long term. Do not be surprised if we place smaller bets in areas that seem very speculative or even strange. As the ratio of reward to risk increases, we will accept projects further outside our normal areas, especially when the initial investment is small.
We encourage our employees, in addition to their regular projects, to spend 20% of their time working on what they think will most benefit Google. This empowers them to be more creative and innovative. Many of our significant advances have happened in this manner. For example, AdSense for content and Google News were both prototyped in “20% time.” Most risky projects fizzle, often teaching us something. Others succeed and become attractive businesses.
We run Google as a triumvirate. Sergey and I have worked closely together for the last eight years, five at Google. Eric, our CEO, joined Google three years ago. The three of us run the company collaboratively with Sergey and me as Presidents. The structure is unconventional, but we have worked successfully in this way.
To facilitate timely decisions, Eric, Sergey and I meet daily to update each other on the business and to focus our collaborative thinking on the most important and immediate issues. Decisions are often made by one of us, with the others being briefed later. This works because we have tremendous trust and respect for each other and we generally think alike. Because of our intense long term working relationship, we can often predict differences of opinion among the three of us. We know that when we disagree, the correct decision is far from obvious. For important decisions, we discuss the issue with the larger team. Eric, Sergey and I run the company without any significant internal conflict, but with healthy debate. As different topics come up, we often delegate decision-making responsibility to one of us.
Don’t be evil. We believe strongly that in the long term, we will be better served—as shareholders and in all other ways—by a company that does good things for the world even if we forgo some short term gains. This is an important aspect of our culture and is broadly shared within the company.
Google users trust our systems to help them with important decisions: medical, financial and many others. Our search results are the best we know how to produce. They are unbiased and objective, and we do not accept payment for them or for inclusion or more frequent updating. We also display advertising, which we work hard to make relevant, and we label it clearly. This is similar to a newspaper, where the advertisements are clear and the articles are not influenced by the advertisers’ payments. We believe it is important for everyone to have access to the best information and research, not only to the information people pay for you to see.
We want Google to become an important and significant institution. That takes time, stability and independence. We bridge the media and technology industries, both of which have experienced considerable consolidation and attempted hostile takeovers.
Larry Page
Sergey Brin
Google semantics
Google already searched the entire Web. Google already had a distributed framework with thousands of independent machines. Google already looked for the links between pages, the way they fit together, in order to build its index. Google's search engine solved equations with millions of variables. Semantic Web content, in RDF, was just another search problem, another set of equations.
August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web (great fiction writen by Paul Ford).
August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web (great fiction writen by Paul Ford).
Philosophy of tags / Social software
del.icio.us
* stores bookmarks online
* tag bookmarks
* shares bokmarks
flickr
* stores photos online
* tag photos
* shares photos
technorati
* tags blogs
This products let people share and tag personal goals online. They are a way to organise data online, a form of folksonomy (practice of collaborative categorization using freely chosen keywords).
Google already added a tagging feature to My Search History product. Another product that will have tags is Google Base.
Lack of precision and lack of a hierarchy for tags are issues that can be addressed using AdSense / Circa technology.
* stores bookmarks online
* tag bookmarks
* shares bokmarks
flickr
* stores photos online
* tag photos
* shares photos
technorati
* tags blogs
This products let people share and tag personal goals online. They are a way to organise data online, a form of folksonomy (practice of collaborative categorization using freely chosen keywords).
Google already added a tagging feature to My Search History product. Another product that will have tags is Google Base.
Lack of precision and lack of a hierarchy for tags are issues that can be addressed using AdSense / Circa technology.
Google knows all about you
Everything you search for using Google
Every web page you visit that has Google Adsense ads on it
Which country you're in
Every Blogger page you visit, including this one
Who you send emails to
Who sends emails to you
Every web page you visit that has Google Adsense ads on it
Which country you're in
Every Blogger page you visit, including this one
Who you send emails to
Who sends emails to you
Google Base - your personal database
"Post your items on Google.
Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.
Examples of items you can find in Google Base:
• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures
You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local."
Soon at http://base.google.com
Google Base is Google’s database into which you can add all types of content. We’ll host your content and make it searchable online for free.
Examples of items you can find in Google Base:
• Description of your party planning service
• Articles on current events from your website
• Listing of your used car for sale
• Database of protein structures
You can describe any item you post with attributes, which will help people find it when they search Google Base. In fact, based on the relevance of your items, they may also be included in the main Google search index and other Google products like Froogle and Google Local."
Soon at http://base.google.com
Google corporate values
What are Google's values?
1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
* The interface is clear and simple.
* Pages load instantly.
* Placement in search results is never sold to anyone.
* Advertising on the site must offer relevant content and not be a distraction.
2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.
* Google does search.
* Gmail, Google Desktop, and Google Maps => bring the power of search to previously unexplored areas.
3. Fast is better than slow.
* Google believes in instant gratification.
4. Democracy on the web works.
* PageRank™ evaluates all of the sites linking to a web page and assigns them a value.
5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.
* PDAs, wireless phones or automobiles.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
* relevant ads
* non-manipulative ads
7. There's always more information out there.
* images, PDF files, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
* HTML for mobile phones.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
* restrict results to pages written in more than 35 languages.
* translation feature.
* Google's interface can be customized into more than 100 languages.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
* work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun.
* emphasis on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments.
* ideas are traded, tested and put into practice.
* give the proper tools to a group of people who like to make a difference, and they will.
10. Great just isn't good enough.
* innovation and iteration.
* anticipate the needs and meet them with products and services that set new standards.
Google 10 things: http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html.
1. Focus on the user and all else will follow.
* The interface is clear and simple.
* Pages load instantly.
* Placement in search results is never sold to anyone.
* Advertising on the site must offer relevant content and not be a distraction.
2. It's best to do one thing really, really well.
* Google does search.
* Gmail, Google Desktop, and Google Maps => bring the power of search to previously unexplored areas.
3. Fast is better than slow.
* Google believes in instant gratification.
4. Democracy on the web works.
* PageRank™ evaluates all of the sites linking to a web page and assigns them a value.
5. You don't need to be at your desk to need an answer.
* PDAs, wireless phones or automobiles.
6. You can make money without doing evil.
* relevant ads
* non-manipulative ads
7. There's always more information out there.
* images, PDF files, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
* HTML for mobile phones.
8. The need for information crosses all borders.
* restrict results to pages written in more than 35 languages.
* translation feature.
* Google's interface can be customized into more than 100 languages.
9. You can be serious without a suit.
* work should be challenging and the challenge should be fun.
* emphasis on team achievements and pride in individual accomplishments.
* ideas are traded, tested and put into practice.
* give the proper tools to a group of people who like to make a difference, and they will.
10. Great just isn't good enough.
* innovation and iteration.
* anticipate the needs and meet them with products and services that set new standards.
Google 10 things: http://www.google.com/corporate/tenthings.html.
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