google

Reading about Google's plans for Google Apps in 2008, I'm struck by how much the new world of online applications is having to mimic the old world of offline applications to thrive. As much as we may want to leave our desktops behind, they clatter along after us, tethered to us by our need to have a physical location.

Google will enable the offline functionality through its Gears technology, which will enable some very interesting things:

Will users be able to edit docs, spreadsheets and presentation offline? [Google's] answer was yes, and that the Google Gears plugin would handle the offline work. In addition, Google Gears support is in the works for Gmail and Google Calendar.… Read more

Photobucket, Picasa bring photo-sharing to TiVo

Apparently, fast-forwarding through commercials just isn't enough. TiVo announced on Monday that users of select photo-sharing services are now able to access their image collections through its set-top boxes.

The digital video recorder manufacturer has partnered with two photo-sharing services--the Google-owned Picasa Web Albums and Fox Interactive Media-owned Photobucket--in order to enable users to surf through their photo albums as well as their friends' and family members', provided that their TiVo boxes are broadband-connected.

A release from the company emphasized the fact that photos are viewable in the highest resolution possible, which on the TiVo Series 3 and … Read more

Google's plans for 2008 and mobile application updates

At this point resistance is futile, so I just try my best to limit the amount of personal information Google knows about me. The updates to my BlackBerry are actually pretty useful, eliminating the need for several clicks into Google properties I would likely go to anyway. I would beg for mercy, but they would just slap an ad on my screams.

On to the mobile apps... One interesting new item is a Google Mobile Updater app that updates the various Google properties that now launch standalone from the BB (the majority were already available through the browser.) The items that were new to me were a unique "Search" icon, an icon for Picasa, and a Google News icon. This must be part of the bigger mobile strategy.

Some new info on the updates and additions to Google Apps coming in 2008.… Read more

What Facebook can learn from Google

The New York Times has some great advice for Facebook: be patient, just as Google has been.

There is something astoundingly tone deaf about how Facebook has handled its recent advertising initiatives. Mr. Zuckerberg is right: there are lots of people who would find it cool to tell the world what movies they just rented and even what color socks they just bought. But [Facebook has] got to know that others would find this intrusive....

So the challenge to Facebook is clear: If you want to be as ambitious as Google, you may need to be as patient as Google … Read more

Episode 614: CyberCommand is go

Google Reader now knows your tastes, makes recommendations

Google's RSS reader (newbie's guide here) got some handy updates last night. The most interesting of the bunch is a new recommendations system that will suggest feeds you might enjoy based on two things:

1. Feeds you're already subscribed to in Google Reader 2. Your Google Web history, including things you've searched for or sites you've visited from any Google search.

The recommendations show up on Reader's home page, and let you know how many subscribers each feed has to help gauge its popularity. You can also preview the feed before having to subscribe … Read more

Google will change this industry forever

Now that Google has officially announced that it will bid on the 700MHz spectrum, most of us are speculating about the possibilities. And while I have my own beliefs about where Google will go with the spectrum, I'm sure many of you have your own.

But regardless of where you stand on this issue, one thing remains certain: the future of the technology industry is currently being shaped by high-paid Google lawyers and accountants who are working out the details of this auction.

Simply put, we're on the precipice of something groundbreaking that will change this industry forever. Whether it will be good or bad is unknown, but regardless of the long-term effect, Google has its sights firmly planted on this 700MHz spectrum and if you ask me, we won't even know what hit us.… Read more

Googling clean energy: Green tech week in review

Google to enter clean-energy business. It's a search engine, it's a $700 stock, it's a clean energy investor. Google surprised many this week with plans to get into the renewable energy business. Skeptics and fans await results. Roundup.

Can baking soda curb global warming? A start-up in Texas says it can turn the carbon dioxide emitted by power plants into baking soda. CNET News.com.

Ethanol Craze Cools As Doubts Multiply. Corn-based ethanol is considered renewable energy but it continues to draw fire from environmentalists, locations that host refineries, and, increasingly, investors. The Wall Street Journal.

Cleaning … Read more

Google and a beginning to a new era of enterprise software innovation

The Wall Street Journal reports that Google will definitely be bidding for US wireless spectrum in January.

If it wins a wireless license, Google would be in a position to become a provider of mobile phone and Internet services, to partner with others interested in doing so or to lease the spectrum to them. The company has said it wants to make mobile networks more open, so that consumers can use any Internet service and application and move their handsets between carriers without onerous restrictions.

Let's hope it wins. I've been critical of Google in the past, but one thing is clear: Google is an innovative company that builds useful things. Google continues to push the envelope on what we can do with our computers and with our phones. Look around and count how many truly innovative companies there are among the big software and telco companies. Not many.

In fact, Google may be the first of the next generation of software companies.… Read more