Google posts

When it comes to social networking and search, the two big internet activities are dominated by the 800 lb gorilla in each of their respective rooms. Facebook has all but won social networking and will turn thousands of people into instant millionaires once it goes public. Google allows Bing and the others to stick around in search just so they aren’t technically considered a monopoly, but they are in most aspects. While Facebook considers getting into search, Google has already made their move into social. Did it work (they say 14th time is a charm)? Will it ever work? Are they gaining traction?…

The cloud doesn’t scare me. The future will be more secure the sooner bigger companies adopt standards on cloud computing and data storage that makes sense. By that time, we’ll have the infrastructure in place to make the internet accessible from virtually anywhere. The challenge I’ve had over the past few months with Google Docs is the reliability issue. There are very few things in business that are more frustrating than to lose work because of technology. We put in human effort, knowledge, and creativity into doing things. When we lose access to them (or the entire documents themselves) it…

There has been a conspicuous lack of news about Google Apps, their cloud-based business software division, over the past few months that was highlighted by recent departures and reorganization moves as well as a nearly-complete omission during last week’s investor call. CEO Larry Page’s focus on social, search, and advertising in both are making the goals of taking on Microsoft head-to-head in their own territory less emphasized. In short, the last three months, Google has blinked. All of this comes despite positive feedback and strong moves over the last year. Four million businesses use…

With many in social media declaring Google+ as a valiant effort that simply came too late to the game to make a real impact, Google CEO Larry Page released March data that showed a sharp turn in the total visits after flatlining from December to February. I want Google+ to succeed. I don’t want it to be the ghost town that keeps forcing me back to Facebook to see what my non-tech-savvy and non-Google-employee friends are doing. I prefer the interface, the organization of the data, and the company itself more than Facebook. The challenge has been in getting friends and family on it. For Google’s part,…

Sometime in the near future you may see people walking around with eyeglasses on that only have a small lens visible at the top of one eye. They will be talking to seemingly nobody and possibly bumping into things while they update their Google+ profiles. They will be annoying to many of us the same way that the self-talking bluetooth-wearing phone people annoy. Then, almost magically, it could all go mainstream to the point that it’s commonplace and we won’t think anything of it again. Google’s Project Glass will attempt to bring augmented reality from a vision to a reality. The vision of a wearable…

The majority of people would say that the internet has enhanced our lives. It has given us access to more information than many dreamed of a couple of decades ago and we can get it more easily than most thought possible one decade ago. These opinions, however, may be influenced by the fact that the majority of us admit that we are addicted to the internet. Can we trust our own opinions on something that may actually be harming us? Thanks to Google, we no longer need to “know” as much at any given time. Collective knowledge is readily available and (usually) more reliable than our own memories. With that…

As Google continues to dominate search, they bring about new ways to make searching easier. The problem is that most people simply type loosely what they want and hope to get the right answers. There are better ways. This graphic takes a look at some Google hacks that can make it easier to find the solution to the various problems that Google normally solves for you. Click to enlarge. From: Used Cars Topeka Via: Automotive SEO…

Another sighting of Google’s yearly April Fool’s Day jokes is live. If you search for “weather” you will have the standard forecast available, but you’ll have the new option of using the “Google Weather Control” interface to make changes if you’d like. You’ll see in the image above I set it to snow in Beverly Hills on Sunday. Once you make your changes, Google prompts you with this warning: “Please notice, after submitting it takes approximately 45 minutes until your weather changes take effect. Note: exercise caution when setting extremes.”…

Google has become one of the biggest pranksters every year for April Fool’s Day. Over the years they’ve put out several clever and enjoyable pranks. This year’s first one is also an Easter Egg with plenty of Google Maps searching for people to do. They went 8-bit, NES-style. It’ll make you want to pull out the original Legend of Zelda and run around the maps from screen to screen. Here is the video as well as some of the best ones that we were able to find. Each is linked to the map itself so click away! …

It’s all about timing. Bing’s inability to take market share from Google in the search industry and Facebook’s focus on improving their internal and external search abilities has made it seem to be a perfect match since the NY Times suggested the possibility last year. The timing simply hasn’t been right and the discussion hasn’t progressed beyond closed-door discussions. When is  the right time for this industry-changing event? Most would say that an infusion of cash and the risk of distraction makes it a deal that would best occur after they go public, but there are those who say that concerns…