About.com Web Trends

Google Not Interested in Content

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:00:28 +0000

"Google to buy New York Times." It is a rumor that has circulated ever since the newspaper industry began teetering on the brink of extinction. The rumor heated up earlier this year when Scott Galloway, a Harbinger appointee on the New York Times board, put out a feeler to Larry Page, co-founder of Google. And the rumor has circulated as recent as this week, when it surfaced on CNBC's Squawk on the Street.

But according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt, it's just not happening, at least, not any time in the future. In an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox Business, Schmidt admits that Google took a serious look at the New York Times along with other content companies and decided that Google wasn't a content company. It simply wasn't something they were good at doing.

"It is highly unlikely we would get into the content business. It is fundamentally better for us to be the supplier of platforms and monetization and revenue and advertising and subscription services to all of these players. We desperately need the newspapers, the magazines, the media companies to be successful because we need their content."

Of course, Google may have been thinking about some of the backlash that occurred when they announced Google Knol. Even though Google Knol is a platform rather than a content service, similar to YouTube and other Google holdings, many bloggers felt that it was a step in the direction of becoming a content company, which would put Google in a position to boost its own rankings with its most popular asset: the Google search engine.

But for now, it seems that Google is content with just battling it out with Apple with its Android OS and putting the nail in Microsoft's coffin with its Chrome OS. They'll let other people report on the outcome of those battles.

Photo © Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Google Not Interested in Content originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 16:00:28.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

First Twitter Lists, Now Twitter Retweets

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:09:31 +0000

One of the neat things that has really driven Twitter is how it has grown organically, with many features being taken directly from the community. For example, hashtags were originally used as a community-based convention in order to tag a tweet for easier searching, but when they took on a life of their own, Twitter made them official by turning them into links.

Twitter Lists, which were rolled out last month, has been one of the most requested features for a while now. With many other Twitter clients like TweetDeck supporting Twitter groups, it was only a matter of time before Twitter rolled out some type of official grouping. And, in typical Twitter fashion, they enabled individual lists to be followed.

Now comes Twitter retweets, with Project Retweet being rolled out as we speak. The rollout consists of adding profiles in bunches, so not everyone can retweet, but as they add more users, it should cover everyone in the coming weeks. The Retweet link will be located right beside the Reply link, which appears when you hover your mouse over an individual tweet.

Retweets will have their own icon, will show how many people retweeted the message and will even allow your to undo your retweet if you made a mistake and retweeted the wrong message.

Confused by the Twitter Lingo? Check out the Twitter Glossary.

First Twitter Lists, Now Twitter Retweets originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 14:09:31.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Google Friend Connect Becomes More Personalized

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:21:35 +0000

In the war to bring social features to the entire web, Facebook Connect has the upper hand, especially with many new iPhone applications using it as a gateway to the social web. But Google won't go down without a fight.

Google is bringing personalized features to Google Friend Connect to match the ads shown on the site to the visitor's interests.

The new features also include the ability for people to send private messages to each other, so if a visitor finds another user with similar interests, they can send a message via their Friend Connect profile.

Firefox Getting Speed Boost

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:25:44 +0000

Does it seem like your Firefox browser is sometimes stuck in the mud compared to Google Chrome? Don't worry, a speed boost is just around the corner. The Firefox 3.6 Beta 1 is now available, and one of the new features that Mozilla is touting is increased web browser performance.

We can thank Google Chrome for that. Before its release, both Internet Explorer and Firefox were letting their bloat slow them down. Now, both browsers have released a version that focused on increased performance.

Firefox 3.6 will also include the ability for open, native video to be displayed in full screen mode and support for new CSS, DOM and HTML 5 technologies. It will also alert you about out-of-date plug-ins and include support for Personas.

Firefox Getting Speed Boost originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 11:25:44.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Google Knol Goes Quiet Next to Hubpages and Squidoo

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:56:15 +0000

When news of Google Knol first started buzzing around the web, people called it a potential Wikipedia killer. But with an emphasis on putting a name and face on the article, Google Knol was aimed more at user-generated content providers like Hubpages and Squidoo than Wikipedia.

And while it certainly hasn't become a Wikipedia killer, it's also safe to say it is not much threat to Hubpages and Squidoo. Currently, Compete.com puts Hubpages in the lead with 5.5 million unique U.S. visitors per month, Squidoo in second with 4.9 million and Google Knol a very distant third with barely over 350,000 unique visitors.

Google Knol does boast 61% growth over the last year, but going form 220k to 350k isn't anything to brag about. At that rate, it would take over six years to catch up with Hubpages if they didn't experience any growth at all.

The Google Knol Lesson

If we are to learn anything from Google Knol, it is that Google likes to experiment, but they don't always hit home runs. Google Knol joins such high profile experiments as Orkut, a social network popular in Brazil that never caught on in the U.S., and Google Answers, which couldn't quite capture the popularity of Yahoo Answers. So while new technologies such as Google Voice, Google Wave and Google Maps Navigation catch a lot of web buzz, there is certainly no guarantee that they'll end up being a big hit with users.

Hubpages vs Squidoo

Google Knol Goes Quiet Next to Hubpages and Squidoo originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 13:56:15.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Get Ready For Google Maps Navigation

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:22:57 +0000

While Google Wave is all the buzz, Google Maps Navigation might be the coolest app Google puts out this year. An ad-supported and completely free turn-by-turn navigation app for smartphones, Google Maps Navigation isn't just priced better than the competition (TomTom's turn-by-turn app on the iPhone is a whopping $99.99), it's just plain cooler.

Not only will you get GPS-supported turn-by-turn navigation, but you can also search along your route for gas stations, restaurants or shops. You can also pull up a satellite overlay, check traffic conditions along your route and even check out your destination through Street View.

Google Maps Navigation is expected to hit Android-based smartphones in the near future. There's no word yet on an iPhone app, but Google says it is working closely with Apple to bring the app to the iPhone. (Of course, they were also working closely with Apple on Google Voice.)

7 Great Uses For Google Street View.

Get Ready For Google Maps Navigation originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 14:22:57.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Is Windows 7 the Last Dominant Windows Release?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:36:15 +0000

With the release of Windows 7 last week, Microsoft hopes to erase the bad memories left by Vista. And Windows 7 is a very welcome upgrade that should fix many of the performance problems that drug Vista through the mud. But it's hard not to think that this may be the last truly dominant release of Windows.

As people turn towards cloud computing, which uses the web to power applications, and operating systems like Chrome OS start popping up, people will actually be able to choose an operating system rather than being forced into using Windows because it is the only one that runs all their applications.

It won't happen overnight. We are still several years from the point in which the web can reasonably take over as our primary platform. But new standards being adopted with HTML 5 and more sophisticated browsers point to a very cloud-oriented future in computing.

Perhaps the best solution for Microsoft is to begin giving away their operating system. After all, it will be tough to compete with free operating systems like Linux and Chrome OS when no one is tied to a particular operating system. And one gripe people have about Windows is the price. The Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade costs $119.99, which is pretty high when you compare it to Snow Leopard's $29.00 price tag for the upgrade. You can actually get a family 5-pack upgrade to Apple's new OS for $49.00, which is $70 cheaper than a single Windows 7 upgrade.

Considering that Windows is by far the most popular operating system on the platform, you'd think we'd get some type of volume discount.

How to do a clean install of Windows 7.

Is Windows 7 the Last Dominant Windows Release? originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 12:36:15.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Twitter TMI and the Ochocinco News Network

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:33:06 +0000

Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson became the latest celebrity to offer too much information on Twitter. In this case, that information was his feelings about Todd Haley, the head coach of the Chiefs. In addition to pointing out how his coach never played professional football, Johnson also used a homophobic slur in an exchange with one Twitter user.

Johnson ended the exchange by tweeting, "Make me regret it. Lmao. U don%u2019t stop my checks. Lmao. So %u201Ctweet%u201D away."

I'm sure Larry will regret it when the fine hits his paycheck.

While Larry Johnson is making one type of news on Twitter, Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco hopes to make a different type of news on the social messaging platform. Through the Ochocinco News Network (OCNN), Chad is teaming up with Motorola to use his contacts around the league to break news before the major networks can get the word out.

But will outbursts like Johnson's put a stop to the OCNN? Hollywood has recently taken steps to limit Twitter goofs by partially banning the platform. New contracts coming out of Hollywood forbid information that would breach confidentiality from being shared on social media sites like Twitter.

The NFL already has a policy forbidding tweets during games, and Larry Johnson's upcoming fine won't be the first levied against a player due to a tweet. We might be closing in on the day when a few bad apples spoil the fun for fans and the other players who enjoy Twitter.

Twitter TMI and the Ochocinco News Network originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 11:33:06.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Chrome OS: A World Without Installs

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:47:25 +0000

In talking at the Web 2.0 Summit, Sundar Pichai, VP of product management at Google, mentioned how apps that work on the web will work in Chrome OS, adding, "As a user, you don't install software, you don't maintain software."

Remember the last time you bought a new computer? How long did it take to install all of your software and get it configured just right? For some of us, that is a process that can span an entire weekend.

If you use Google Chrome as a browser, you might be aware of the ability to create application shortcuts. You do this by clicking on the control button (the one that looks like a page with its upper-right corner folded) and click "create application shortcuts..." This allows you to create a shortcut to the web page on your desktop or start menu. And when you launch the shortcut, the page is launched in a special 'application' window that does away with the tabs and address bar.

That is how simple it will be to install applications with the Chrome OS. You'll simply navigate to the web page and tell the browser to save it as an application.

And if you thought Chrome OS was a new idea based on the growing popularity of the Chrome browser (it's at 30 million active users and growing), think again. They built the browser with the idea of turning it into an operating system.

What does it mean to turn the Chrome browser into an operating system?

Some might be confused about how you can take an application (the Chrome browser) and turn it into a full-fledged operating system. The answer is: you can't. Chrome OS will not use Chrome as the operating system.

The operating system will be Linux-based. As Pichai put it, "We describe Chrome OS as Chrome on top of Linux with a new windowing system."

In other words, Chrome OS is really a new version of Linux. So where does Chrome come into the picture? It is the platform. Rather than running Linux applications, you will run web applications through the Chrome browser.

Get Ready for Google Maps Navigation.

Chrome OS: A World Without Installs originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 13:47:25.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Dragon Age Journeys Links Browser Game and Premium Game

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:08:29 +0000

Dragon Age: Origins is one of the most highly-anticipated games this holiday season. Developed by the legendary Bioware studios, the game has been in development for over five years, and it will finally be released on November 3rd.

But you don't have to wait a couple of weeks to jump into the world of Dragon Age. Bioware announced today the release of a free-to-play browser-based "sister" game called Dragon Age Journeys. Not only does Dragon Age Journeys give players a different look at the game world, it also ties in to Dragon Age: Origins by providing players the ability to earn a little bit of loot for their character in the premium game.

This is a pretty neat tie-in between browser-based gaming and premium games.

It also shows EA's commitment to browser-based gaming. EA is already leading the charge in this area with Tiger Woods Online. The rise of cloud computing has also led to a rise in browser-based games, with classic games like Zork returning in browser-based form and companies like InstantAction taking these 'cloud games' to the next level.

Note: Dragon Age Journeys is due to be playable today, but at the time of this writing, the website had not been switched over to the game.

Dragon Age: Origins Screenshots

Dragon Age Journeys Links Browser Game and Premium Game originally appeared on About.com Web Trends on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 15:08:29.

Permalink | Comment | Email this