Look Beyond

Google Base

Google, after much speculation, yesterday announced the launch of Google Base.  The service can best be described as a (currently free) hosted database allowing anyone to upload and categorise content on literally any subject.  Google then makes this information searchable online.

There's been much written in the blogosphere about Google's strategy and what it means for online classified advertising sites such as Craigslist and eBay, and other community oriented sites such as Flickr, delicious and Typepad.

In his post, Fred Wilson comments that he believes Google's strategy is to control the posting, subscribing, tagging and search ecosystem.  His bet is that loosely coupled and functionally rich online services, such as those listed above, will win the day.

Michael Parekh considers Base from a different perspective in his excellent post.  He contrasts the evolution of Google with that of Yahoo which began life as a human-powered directory.  Michael and John Battelle (author of The Search) both observe that Google's first objective is to augment its search results.  Though unlike Yahoo, which originally adopted a centralised human-powered directory, Google is aiming to leverage potentially millions of us to contribute content to its universe.  And once it has critical mass it can look to monetise the content in some way.

There are concerns about the potential for Base being overwhelmed by spam which Google will have to overcome.  A number of people (see example) have also commented that unlike the majority of other online content sharing services, there is a short delay (around 10 minutes) from the posting of content before it can be viewed.  And of course, many of people have posted about the rather clunky and functionally poor interface - I agree, but it can only improve.

Regardless, this is a fascinating move by Google and one I'm sure many will be watching over the coming days, weeks and months.  It may yet be seen as a significant event in the development of the semantic web.

Google Announces Personalised Search

Google announced late last week that it has launched a beta version of personalised search.  The service, which requires a Google account, works by serving results based upon both the search query entered by a user and their previously searched terms. 

By analysing a user's search history, the search engine attempts to determine more relevant results, especially when dealing with words with ambiguous meaning such as 'bat' or 'bank'.  Not only does this deliver a better user experience, it allows Google to display more relevant ads.

Although this service has the potential to improve a users experience, it raises privacy concerns as Google will now be monitor a user's search history.  In an attempt to allay these fears, Google offers functionality allowing the user to exclude a page, site or any search result from their search history.

Content Companies That Matter

Barry Graubart, Chief Marketing Officer of Leadership Directories, is currently compiling his top 50 "Content Companies That Matter".

To date, Barry has nominated 13 companies, an intriguing mix of pure play content providers and technology firms.  Go check out Barry's nominations supporting rationale here.

The Search

I have just finished reading The Search, a fascinating book which provides an historical context to the search industry, dominated today by Google, and how in such a short period the search culture has permeated many facets of our day to day lives.

The book explores the evolution of search technology, the business models which today underpin their success and concludes by considering how search might evolve in the years ahead.

John Battelle, the book's author, is a seasoned technology veteran.  He is co-founder of Wired magazine and founder of The Industry Standard and is currently the program chair for the Web 2.0 conference and a columnist for Business 2.0.

We now all take search for granted - a means for us to quickly navigate the web to find answers to our questions and curiosities.  In 2003, Piper Jaffray, an investment bank, estimated the world conducted about 550 million searches each and every day and forecast annual growth of 20%. 

But how do search engines work?  What are searchers typically hoping to find when using a search engine?  Why does Google have so much influence in our connected world?  And will we ever see "perfect search"?

It's these questions and more that Battelle addresses in The Search.  The book is well researched and an easy, insightful and thought-provoking read.  I highly recommend it to all online searchers - the book is a must read for those in the information, research and technology sectors.

So go buy The Search and check out Battelle's Searchblog.

The Poverty of Attention

The guys over at Union Square Ventures posted an intriguing insight coming out of their recent USV Sessions event.  During the session Umair Haque quoted Herbert Simon, a cognitive psychologist who made significant contributions to the fields of artificial intelligence, economics, and philosophy.  In 1971, Simon made the following observation:

"What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." (Computers, Communications and the Public Interest, pages 40-41, Martin Greenberger, ed., The Johns Hopkins Press, 1971.)

The proliferation of information on the web means there is more content published, by more organisations and individuals, and made more easily accessible and interactive than ever before.  But as Fred Wilson points out in his post, our capacity to consume and contribute information hasn't increased as the world has gone digital.  Indeed, it has also been exacerbated by the wealth of both good and poor quality information we have to sift through to find our "information nuggets".

Consequently, we either focus our attention around a few trusted sources and communities or spread it more thinly across a larger universe.  And in order to absorb new content and services as our attention capacity is reached, we have to ditch the least valued of our existing "attention grabbers".

So what does all this mean?

Search services such as Google and content tagging services a la delicious allow us to more simply and quickly locate content online.  And RSS makes it easier to be kept abreast of changes to content on our favourite sites.  But we still end up having to process lots of uninteresting content in order to find those snippets of information of real interest.

As John Battelle comments his book The Search, search technology is at best 5% solved.  So such technology has a future part to play in assisting with the surfacing, filtering and notifying of relevant content based upon our past clickstream, rather like Amazon makes recommendations based on our past purchases and similar purchases by other customers.

Should this become a reality, we will be able to utilise our attention more efficiently, allowing us to focus only on consuming content we want to consume.  But ultimately, as our attention capacity is limited, there's only so much relevant content we can digest resulting in an ever increasing attention deficit.

1 Million Video Downloads on iTunes

Earlier last month I commented on Apple's announcement that it was launching a legal video download service on iTunes.  The service initially comprised a catalogue of 2,000 music vides, 5 TV shows (including Lost and Desperate Housewives) and 6 short Pixar movies.

Apple announced yesterday that in the first 20 days since launch, it has sold more than a million videos - quite an accomplishment.

Since then, there has been a lot of debate in the media and some scepticism surrounding the demand for such a service and also whether the movie studios would play ball.

Apple didn't provide a breakdown of sales by category so it's not possible to determine the precise demand for the non-music related content.  And as we're still the novelty phase, it's a little premature to reach a conclusion as to the long term demand.  That said, I suspect the guys at Apple are quietly encouraged.

Virgin's "On the Move" Mobile TV

Earlier this summer, Virgin Mobile announced plans to pilot live mobile digital television in the London area.

I got to take a look for myself last night as one of my friends has been asked to participate in a three month trial.  He's been given a Windows-based QTek 8020 smartphone with the capability to receive live TV from Sky News and Sky Sports News as well as 50+ radio channels. 

The system works by broadcasting over the DAB digital radio network and the quality appeared fairly good given the resolution of the phone's screen and its small display, although I did notice the image freeze occasionally.

This service is not designed for hours of continuous use given the limitations of a mobile's screen size, but it enables people to watch snippets of programmes, perhaps when running late home to watch the start of a live football match, or to see the latest weather report.  According to Virgin's press release, they also plan to eventually let customers record programmes for future viewing.

There's no doubting this service warrants entry into the Gadget of the Month (GotM) competition - see the beginning of my prior post for an overview of GotM - not least as my friend has been one of only around 1,000 people trialling the service before it launches.

Blogs - A Useful Introduction

Over the last few weeks I have talking to various people about my growing interest in blogs and have seen many puzzled faces.  So for those experiencing their first blog when visiting mine, click here for a definition of a blog on Wikipedia.

And for those working in a marketing capacity, I would encourage you to read my recent post on how blogs are changing the relationship between organisations and its customers and the challenges and opportunities this presents.

In a recent presentation, Charline Li, an analyst with Forrester, also provides an excellent introduction to blogging and social computing and how companies can tap into these technologies to develop deeper relationships with consumers.  Click here to view the 30 minute video.

Google - The 100 Billion Dollar Company

Last week Google announced record revenues of nearly $1.6 billion for the third quarter ending 30 September 2005, nearly double the same period in 2004.

Since the announcement, the company's market capitalisation topped $100 billion for the first time just 14 months after becoming a public company.  At the time of the Initial Public Offering (IPO), when their shares were priced at $85, Google was valued at $23.1 billion.

This meteoric rise puts Google in an exclusive club of only around 20 companies which have market values of over $100 billion.  This club includes famous names such as Microsoft ($271 billion), Intel ($143 billion), IBM ($135 billion), Coca-Cola ($102 billion).  But as Red Herring reports, none got there as quickly as Google which is just 7 years old.

Google's success underlines the huge impact the Internet is having on society as it becomes more entrenched as part of our day to day lives.  In less than 10 years the web has transformed how we research, consumer information and communicate.  And Google, although not one of the original search engines, has been at the heart of this revolution.

But does this make Google worth as much as Coca-Cola, a company founded back in 1886?  I am currently reading John Battelle's book, The Search, which may help to crystallize my view.

Adoption of Mobile Data Services

This week's Sunday Times reports that 3, the mobile operator owned by Hutchison Whampoa has relaunched itself ahead of a potential flotation.  Bob Fuller, 3's CEO declared that 3 was the embodiment of convergence: "we are not a telco, we are not a media company, we are not a technology company... our business is radically different because we are all three."

Does this claim sound familiar?  A throwback to the dotcom era perhaps?

3's data revenues from services such as ringtones, video calling etc. today amount to less than a quarter of its total revenue and widespread interest is unproven.

However, the ringtone phenomenon has the mobile operators and entertainment companies are salivating at the prospect of delivering mobile content such as television and music downloads via 3G networks.    And 3 is betting that mobile phones and not iPods or portable games consoles will be the device of choice for people to consume this content whilst on the move.

I'm yet to be convinced.  The take up of such services, even by early adopters, has been hindered by expensive data tariffs which need to fall considerably, to an affordable "all you can eat" or capped usage fixed price to attract greater experimentation and adoption by the mass market.  And I suspect most premium data services will be less of an attraction than simple mobile web access.