See how Google welcomed 2010

Go to Google.com and click on the "I'm feeling lucky" button without entering a search term and you will see how Google welcomed 2010. Amid speculations that Google were up to something big as they had a countdown timer on their website in 2009, the Google's way of welcoming the new year drew mixed responses. People who noticed it first, like Techcrunch, finally arrived at the conclusion that this was about something big Google were to launch at 12.00 AM, January 1, 2010. They tweaked their Mac to see what would happen on January 1, 2010. Google was wise enough not to let system configurations fool them and when Techcrunch tried nothing happened. The secret was finally revealed when the clock struck 12.00 am  January 1, 2010. Watch the following video to see what happened. [Thanks thefrenzybug for the video]

Sure, the whole idea, after it was revealed looked childish. Who would expect a cool company like Google to come up with something as childish as some flash text jumping around their web page? However, the suspense was good when it lasted.

Twitter Trends 2009 Vs Facebook Trends 2009

When Twitter came up with Trends of 2009, Facebook came up with Memology of 2009. I thought it will be an interesting thing to take a comparative look at both.

Before Facebook and Twitter, we had Google and Google Trend was the only way to understand what the world was thinking about. Google Trends were based on what people searched for. Of course that had its limitation, especially because you searched for what was on your mind only when you wanted to find out more about what was on your mind. Facebook and Twitter trends allow you to take a closer look at what the world is thinking because we usually talk about and share and RT what is on our mind. Search comes after we talk about it. This way I find Facebook and Twitter Trends more appealing than Google Trends, if you are going to base some of your advertising decisions based on what trends on the internet.

Again, a closer look at Twitter Trends and Facebook Memology reveals one key thing for advertisers. We are looking at two different types of markets when we are looking at Facebook and Twitter. Facebook Memology makes it sound like we are looking at a hoard of teenagers who will have to cajole their parents to buy the things they want to buy. How else can you explain FML trending only during exams and Mondays and still making it to the second rank on Memology? I think the Facebook Memology perfectly explains TechCrunch’s  stand on how Game Developers on Facebook dupe kids into using their parents’ cell phone to buy what they call Game Currency. Only games survive on Facebook because only kids use Facebook. Twitter, on the other hand, I think is about a mixed market. Every thing from Iran Election to Michael Jackson to American Idol to Harry Potter trended there. And this means you are talking about an audience that has the power to purchase and an audience that has the power to make their parents purchase at one single place, tweeting and retweeting! What more would an advertiser need?

Another interesting thing I noticed is that Twitter Trended on Facebook while Facebook Didn’t on Twitter. I am not sure if this was a purposeful omission by Twitter. If it was not a purposeful omission or filtering, guys at Facebook must be really concerned.

Google going live

Here is a screenshot of when Google went real-time when I searched. Well, that was just the Twitter updates, running live on the Google Search Page. And according to Google, there is more to real-time search than just Twitter. With real-time search Google is promising to give us the most relevant fresh information about what we search online, from news to tweets

You also have an option to control what result appear on your search page. You can go to the Option Tab on your Google Search Page and set your search from “Anytime” to “Latest” Following screenshot shows you how the search page appears when you set your options to latest.

You can also set your options to “Updates” mode. When you set your Search Options to “Updates” mode Google will give you only the most current real-time updates like Twitter. Right now I see only Twitter running on the search page. I am not sure if that is because Twitter is popular or right now Google can get updates only from Twitter. I would love if Google could give me the live feed of the most recent happening online from any site or web service, in connection with what I am searching.

FatSecret: For people who love food and diet!

Do you know what India searched most in 2008? Well, Google Zeitgeist 2008 tells us that people from India who searched how to do something, mostly searched for 'How to reduce weight?" That is not very  surprising when we consider that the 'Image of a Beautiful Woman' is portrayed as an 'Image of a Skinny Woman' by Indian Mainstream Mass Media. Why do I think our women must have searched for this? Simply because I have never come across a woman in India who is not bothered about her weight, even among the skinniest! Well, we can go on discussing about who did that search most, but that is not the purpose of my post! I just wanted to bring to your notice a curious Social Community Site I came across the other day, as I was surfing.

Fat Secret - the name tells you everything! It is a social community network dedicated to people who think about 'all things food and diet" Good idea, isn't it? People who hunt for information on Food and Diet get peer validated information here, that is what the site owners claim. And I think it is true. The site does not control any information that is there on the site and they claim that they have no affiliation to any company that offer medicines that help you reduce the 'mass' of your body. The information on the site are given by the members of the site and the site has tools to gather and compare information, enabling the best peer validated tips to reach users.

The site owners say:

FatSecret takes the feedback and collective experience of members to discover what really works.We are totally independent and try not to give recommendations but rather provide the tools and framework for everyone to achieve their goals as the community generates answers to all food, diet and exercise questions - united we fall(the weight that is).

Look at the graph provided. The graph gives you an idea about how a particular diet is successful based on the diet data collected from the users. It simply rates a diet beased on how much weight people who followed the diet could lose.

I think that is a cute idea you should try out if you are someone who is constantly worried about your weight, instead of spending your money on tablets and potions that ultimately make you end up in hormon imbalances and make you victims of cancer and sorts.

Images: Screen Shots taken from FatSecret

Crisis Phobia and "The Top 100 Search Terms Queried by Kids"

I remember a Professor of mine who used to always call our attention to the 'crisis phobea' some writers try to spread. I don't know if you have ever noticed some writers going about their job as though the world is going to end if you don't listen to them. I remembered my Professor and his long lectures on the perpetrators of crisis phobia when I read OnlineFamily.Norton's list of  top 100 terms kids search on-line.

Top 100 Search Terms Queried by Kids? Do you know what they are? There is everything from YouTube to Google to Face Book to Michael Jackson to Pokemon to you name what you consider popular with kids on net and they are there! Take a look at it and at first it appears to be a very innocent list. But wait a second! Is it as innocent as Norton is trying to sound?

There are some search terms in the list  that can be very disturbing where parents are concerned. Sex is fourth in the list. Porn is sixth in the list. And at least four more 'taboo' words occur on the list. And the write up does not mention the age levels of the children who would have searched these words while they were surfing. It simply gives you a general list of 100 search terms and of course a note to many of them in case parents sat wondering what they were.

Norton claims that they tracked down 3.5 million searches and a search term had to be submitted at least 50 times to qualify as a 'kids' top search term.' See how they are trying to validate their findings in the best way possible. And Norton says [See the crisis words stressed using inverted comas]:

According to OnlineFamily.Norton, kids’ top 100 search terms include sites like YouTube, eBay and Craigslist, as well as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The words “sex” and “porn” also made it to the top, ranking number four and six respectively.

And one clearly understands that the post target parents as there are explanations to most of the search terms used. Why did they do it? Of course we know - they have this OneFamily Child Protection, Net Filtering Software to sell. Yah, the one like China's Green Dam. And this report shows us even they can keep track of what you are doing with your PC, like Green Dam.

Please don't get me wrong! I do not endorse children visiting pornographic sites. I do not endorse adults visiting pornographic sites even. Because most of these sites spread malware, viruses and spyware. It is not healthy for your computer if you visit them. And to make sure that your personal information like passwords and credit card number are safe, you need to make sure that spyware and malware do not infest your PC or MAC. And I know kids sometimes tend to visit such sites out of curiosity and in turn gets the computer affected. And perhaps, it is good to have a Site Filtering System on your computer.

However, that does not justify the the way Norton has tried to scare poor parents into buying their software. [Ya, it is free now! But what about later?] It does not justify their attempt to generalize search terms and make it look like 'kids are as pervert as adults' I would not have bothered if they gave a reference to the age level of children. But they have made the list look like every kid from a toddler to a teenager needs to be closely watched like police watches a suspect, every time they go on-line. I can not agree with the idea that they collect user data [which is personal] and publish it on-line and try to make that a selling point!

Print Screen Image from Norton's Site

Google buying On2: What difference does it make?

Yesterday, in a Press Release Google and On2 announced that Google is finally acquiring On2 Technologies Inc., a leading developer of video compression technology. On2 is about 'creating and delivering high quality video over IP networks." Google is also about Youtube, we know. And it is a $ 106. 5 million deal they say. 'Each outstanding share of On2 common stock will be converted into $0.60 worth of Google class A common stock in a stock-for-stock transaction,' according to the Press Release. What difference is it going to make, if Google acquires On2?

Now, experts say the game is all about video codecs. Video codes enable video compression and On2 makes them. VP6, VP 7 etc are high defenition, high quality video codecs, developed by On2, used in Adobe Flash Player, Web2.0, VoIP, mobile video and other embedded devices.. But at present, VP6 and VP7 are losing out in the game to H.264, which comes under GNU General Public License. That means H.264 comes under free licence and people have the freedom to modify and distribute it. VP6 is a licensed codec and expects companies to pay a licence fee every year. VP6 of course is about quality videos. And people hope and pray that Google makes it open source.

What happens if Google makes VP6 open source?

1. Companies like Adobe,AOL, Skype, Nokia, XM Satellite Radio, Sony, Yamaha, TI, LSI Logic, Analog Devices, VideoEgg, Brightcove, Cox, Naver.com (Korea), Daum (Korea), Tencent(China) etc, who are already using VP6 will continue using it and building on it for free, without having to pay licence fee to On2. This means they come back to use the more superior VP6 and we can forget H.264. Quality of videos across platforms will improve.
2. HTML5 is on the way and it will enable browsers to handle videos without the help of plugins like Flash Player or Silverlight. This will help developers stop bothering about a lot of software compatiability issues. It will also help users save a lot of hard drive space, as plugins need not be downloaded.  
3. Mobile phone users will be able to send their MMS Videos to other mobile phones, without the fear of losing quality.   
4. People who do Video Conferencing using Webcams can then start thinking about videos that are viewable and not distorted as they are these days. 

Google can go ahead and not open source On2 video codecs at all. What happens then? Apple has its QuickTime. Microsoft has its Silverlight. Adobe has its Flash. And Google has what it takes to give them the foundation - VP6 and VP7. This means, at one point or the other, these biggies will end up paying licence fees to Google. This sale was a smart move, wasn't it?

JK Wedding Entrance Dance: How a wedding video helped to sell a forgotten song!

"I now pronounce you monetized." The Official Google Blog ran a post on 30 July 2009 on the Wedding Video posted by TheKheinz  on 19 July 2009. Why did they do so? Apparantly, the video had more than a million views on YouTube. The right holder of the Video claimed it and started selling the track through ITunes and Amazon. They started running Click-to-Buy Advertisements on the Video which helped the viewers to opt to buy the track. And the track got listed on the top five downloads of both the sites overnight.

There are people who are bothered about the fact that the owner of the song is not paying anything to Jill and Kevin for making the song "Forever" by Chris Brown popular. I do agree with them. Jill and Kevin are the reasons why the song became popular and earned dollars for the 'monetizer'. A percentage of the profit should have gone to Jill and Kevin.

However, I don't see Jill and Kevin is bothered about that. They are smarter people. They launched a website  and are using that website to raise funds for a Charity. They write on their site:

We hope to direct this positivity to a good cause. Due to the circumstances surrounding the song in our wedding video, we have chosen the Sheila Wellstone Institute. 

I don't know how much they got selling Chris Brown's song. I don't know how much the JK Site could raise for Shelia Wellstone Institute. But I would like to say, this is phenomenal.

Blog-a-Ton: A Blogathon is on!

Here I am, writing a post for the second time in a day, because, again, I couldn't resist. I thought I must share this with you right now:

Search Engine Optimization and Backlinks are very common terms among Bloggers these days and almost every blogger worries about them. More backlinks mean higher Search Engine Optimization [SEO] or in other words chances are high that you are placed on the first page of a Google Search Result. And Vipul Grover is right - Blog-a-Ton is one way Bloggers can enhance their SEO, gaining enough backlinks by participating in it.

What is Blog-a-Ton? It is a very simple idea, adapted from Blogathon. Let's hear what Vipul himself says about Blog-a-Ton:

The idea was simple as I posted on the forum:
We'll choose a day and a topic to blog on. On that day we all will write a post on our blog on the given topic.
After the write-up, we will include the links to the write-ups of fellow blogathon participants.
This will not only help us in making new friends in blogging world but also give us a lot of backlinks.

More than Baclinks and SEO, what I liked about Blog-a-Ton is the people participation. Vipul Grover posted the idea of a Blogathon on IndiBlogger a  month ago. It slowly caught up with people and they launched a blog to take the idea forward in July 2009. The first leg of Blog-a-Ton was on August 1, 2009. The topic was announced on July 12, 2009. About 12 Bloggers participated and wrote on the topic "The Cream and Scum of Blogging"

I know 12 people are nothing compared to the number of Bloggers on the Blogosphere. But Blog-a-Ton has a long way to go and I think they will achieve their target of making it an event where 100 people participate regularly.

As I am writing this post, the 12 posts are placed for review and voting. I have read almost all the posts and all of them are really good, I would say. You gain an insight into how different people can interpret a given idea in different ways. I think the socio-cultural implications of the difference is worth a research.

The votes are kept confidential and the way it is, will be out only on August 4, 2009. I don't really care who wins. I am really happy about the fact that people are participating. And I hope more Bloggers are going to join the Blog-a-Ton Bandwagon soon.

One Billion + You: The Firefox Magic!

Mozilla launched www.onebillionplusyou.com on 1 August 2009 to mark the day its Browser Download Crossed 1000000000 +

I don't use Firefox anymore, as I am adicted to Google Chrome. But I don't use Firefox not because I hate using it, like I hate using Internet Explorer. I used to be in love with Firefox, before Google Chrome ever happened. And I used to love the fact that it allowed me to fashion my browser any way I wanted to. I used to be addicted to the idea of  'add-ons' and used to spend a lot of time hunting for them. And perhaps, adding 'add-ons' to the browser slowed it down, especially at loading. It used to take more than ten minutes for the browser to load and that was when Chrome happened. And the browser looking for updates as it was loading was another pain. Google offering a simple, clean and faster browser with independent tabs lured me into it and I stopped using Firefox all together.

This doesn't mean that the browser was good for nothing. It was great while it lasted. Every add-on I used added to the charm of using it as my default browser. I could somehow make sense of the idea of Browser as an OS because I have used Firefox and their 'add-ons'. In my Firefox Browser I used to have 'add-ons'like Lipikar, Google Notebook, Weird Marker, Speed Dial, ChatZilla, Gspace, Fox Tab, Quick Note and many more. Each allowed me to do different things using the browser, which I would have otherwise done using a software application specially made for that purpose. Firefox allowed me to download the application as code, add it to the browser and use it. This helps the computer save a lot of memory for other things good. Now, when Google talks about Browser as an OS, I perfectly understand how it is going to be because Mozilla has shown us how the rudimentary form of a Browser-as-an-OS would be using their add-ons. 

I think Mozilla Developer Community has a lot to contribute in this regard. I don't know if Firefox is thinking about an OS like Google does. I am sure if they think about one, Google is going to find it very difficult to beat them in market share.