Search & the Web

Google in COMING!

2004-11-15T01:38:00.000-08:00

OK, it's already here, but now Google is moving closer, literally, specifically to Kirkland Wa, a 5 Minute drive from the UWB, and 10 to Microsoft. I think this is a wonderful opportunity for Google to tap the talent of the local community as well, this could be a wonderful opportunity for the Business and Computing Programs at the UWB to start a dialogue with Google.

I'll be looking into it. ; )

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/199592_msftnotebook15.html

SMS + Google = Mobile Business App

2004-10-08T16:04:00.000-07:00

Look who is wanting a piece of the pie! Google is now moving into SMS text messaging. This form of communication has becoming a dominate force in youth circles today forgoing the plain and apparently outdated use of plain speech. People can now utilize Google's search feature, more like Froogle, via their phone. One example is Business travelers can now find a local restaurant for dinner just by entering a zipcode.

check out more at: http://www.google.com/SMS/

Check out also: http://www.internetweek.com/breakingNews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=49900505

On a side note:
This has some very interesting implications for me personally. The emergence of this and other business applications via phone has a direct impact on the Business plan I am drafting. More later...

Heard of Tableau?

2004-08-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

A Threat to Google? Not really. However, a strong comparison can be made between the two. The now Seattle based company Tableau Software began just down the hallway from the creators of Google at Stanford University. The purpose of the business was to graphcially display multitudes of information in a easy to read and understand manner. The way it works is by using "old fashioned" SQL, Oracle Databases and overlaying it with a graphical interface that business can now utilize quickly, easily, and accurately to understand it's information. I think this is an extremely valuable tool.

Seattle PI did a very interesting article on them. Tableau making name for itself. Enjoy.

Oops! Google shares issued illegally?

2004-08-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

I am amazed at this story (reuters or msnbc) about Google's - omission - of potentially illegally-issued shares. The fact that Google management could have made this mistake is boggling, if only due to its scale: 23 million shares is a significant number of shares, regardless of their actual or perceived value...it would be significant even if Google was a penny stock!

I wonder how this will play out and affect their IPO or initial valuation....

Credit Cards on Google

2004-08-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

Great article about privacy issues and searching Google.

Google queries provide stolen credit cards

Icerocket

2004-08-03T15:08:00.000-07:00

looks cool. Apparently, Mark Cuban is backing this one.

Intern goes to Bill Gates' house...

2004-08-01T23:28:00.000-07:00

... and posts gushing report on his blog.

Auction anyone?

2004-07-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

Who has not heard about the Google IPO? If you are one of them, I'm sure you must be a hermit and stumbled to this website on accident. July 30th the bidding begins! The dutch auction for one of the most anticipated, and widely covered IPO's has begun.

If you are a risk taker, and want to join in the fun, point your browser at Google's official auction website.

https://www.ipo.google.com/

For me, I'd love to get a piece of Google, however I think the price will be way overvalued to begin with all the "band wagon jumpers". Once I get a look at more of it's financials and the volume and price drop to more realistic numbers I may get some shares. Untill then, I'm a Starbucks fan. Starbucks is a treat and what a great buy.

What do you think?

Business and Blogs

2004-07-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

Blogs appear here to stay, and some are finding them as useful business tools. Bill Gates has even commented on their use. Does this allow companies better internal communication amongst employees?

Business blogging moving mainstream

The Best Search Engine Marketing Vendor in the World is...

2004-07-29T07:17:00.000-07:00

apparently, Oneupweb.com. The site looks decent and it seems like they have a lot of free resources. Still, best in the world?

Consumers still falling for phish

2004-07-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Fake e-mails fool users 28 percent of the time, study finds

Confused by what's arriving in your inbox? You're not alone. Nearly one out of three Internet users was unable to tell the difference between fraudulent e-mails designed to steal their identities and legitimate corporate e-mail, a new study finds.
Anti-spam firm MailFrontier Inc. showed 1,000 consumers examples of so-called "phishing" e-mail as well as legitimate e-mail from companies such as eBay and PayPal. About 28 percent of the time, the consumers incorrectly identified the phishing messages as legitimate.
What's more, the legitimate e-mails were often dismissed as potential fraud. An e-mail message from the Federal Trade Commission was dismissed as a fraud by 50 percent of the consumers.
"We knew we'd fool a few people, but we're pretty surprised by 28 percent," said Anne Bonaparte, CEO of MailFrontier. "A number of (the phishing e-mails used in the study) have been around for a while."
'We are losing on both ends'One reason the look-alike e-mails continue to fool consumers: the people behind them are getting much better at their craft.
"We've definitely seen quite an improvement in grammar, for example," Bonaparte said. "Early versions wouldn't have fooled too many people. Now, they fool a number of us. We did the test here at work and some people had embarrassing results."
One very well-distributed PayPal look-alike e-mail, which claimed credit card information needed to be updated, fooled 31 percent of users surveyed, she said.
"That one was written widely about. You would not have thought that would have fooled people," she said.
Meanwhile, a simple note from PayPal indicating that a payment had been made, which asked for no personal information, was described as a fraud by 20 percent of those studied.
"We are losing on both ends right now," said Dave Jevens, chairman of the Anti-Phishing Working Group, a consortium of companies fighting the problem. He said he wasn't particularly surprised by the results of the study.
"I've seen professionals who work in the industry fall for these. As we can see from this report, it's hard to tell bad mail from good mail. ... It's undermining the ability of people to communicate."

Read the whole story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5519990/

Bloggers at the DNC

2004-07-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever bloggers have been given press credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention in Boston! In back to back NYT articles, one on July 26th and another on July 27th, the legitimacy of bloggers as "journalists" even though mainstream journalists are concerned about stretching the definition to include bloggers (not unlike other alternative media, i.e., Indymedia) is remarkable. Three dozen bloggers were chosen from over 200 applicants and considered on criteria such as "readership, professionalism and originality."

The article on the 27th shows a picture with the blog journalists sitting in the nose-bleed section seats, laptops perched precariously, reporting the sights, sounds and energy of the convention. Some bloggers say that they "will provide coverage on issues too narrow for mainstream news media, while offering an irreverent eye on the media-political complex ...." Mainstream media has sat up and taken notice of this new, emerging form of media, with the Washington bureau chief for CNN stating, "I'm intrigued at the way that bloggers and blogs have forced their way into the political process on their own."

Some of the blog addresses of those in attendance are: Talk-Left.com, PressThink.com, Oxblog. com, Hyperorg.com, and DailyKos.com - a blog operated by 16-year old Stephen Yellin from Berkeley Heights, NJ, who also will be attending the Democratic National Convention as a blog journalist.

Just more interesting stuff ...

Google brought to its knees

2004-07-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone else is still perusing the class blog (class officially ended last Wednesday, 7/21), but I found Google's crash due to the MyDoom-O virus to be fascinating. Before today, I had never had a problem with Google's engine or servers, so I was completely taken by surprise when a morning search generated nothing but a server error. When the servers were not back up after several minutes, I figured they must have been hit by a virus; and ta-da! They were.

Apparently, this variant of the MyDoom virus targeted search engines as part of its distribution scheme. This Internet Storm Center article details the virus and means of infection (looks like Lycos was hit pretty hard, too).

Another interesting point: when my favorite search engine was unavailable, I felt quite disappointed and - almost - aimless. Seems I have become very accustomed to having immediate search results at my convenience.

Google Services

2004-07-22T04:00:00.000-07:00

I found a site that summarize services that Google has offered. We learned most of it in class already. It includes: Google Answer, Froggle, Google Groups, Google Image Search, Google News, etc. For complete listing of Google services, click here

The Power of Google

2004-07-22T01:00:00.000-07:00

Google's purchase of Picasa, a company that offers digital photography software, has caused a web traffic to the site to increase by a stunning 6000%. Shortly after the announcement of the purchase was made, Google began featuring a link that directed visitors to Picasa's download page. This shows the power of Google!

A Drop in Search Engine Ad Supply

2004-07-21T23:06:00.000-07:00

Search engines like Yahoo and Google have spawned bidding wars among a growing number of marketers who want to place their ads next to search results. That is a great thing for Yahoo and Google, of course, but in the long term, some analysts think it could haunt them. The demand for search advertising is growing far more quickly than the supply of available advertising spots. For me on this topic..

WebCrawler.com

2004-07-21T21:41:00.000-07:00

Webcrawler.com states that it displays the best results from top search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Look Smart, and others. When I conducted a search for “child and care,” next to the result page on the left side is a column “Refine Your Results” which shows related words for your search. In my case these words were: learning, daycare, and so on. I find it a useful feature.

Demand For Search Engine Ads Outgrowing The Supply

2004-07-21T17:21:00.000-07:00

A report conducted by Nielsen//NetRatings determined that while the demand for search engine advertising is continuing to grow quickly, the supply of appropriate search inventory is not. Click here to find out more...

Yahoo gains on Google...or does it?

2004-07-21T17:19:00.000-07:00

Click here to find out if Yahoo is gaining on Google.

Search Startup moves beyond Keywords.

2004-07-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

The future of search lies instead with bigger concepts. Click here to find out more.

What's new at search engines?

2004-07-21T17:15:00.000-07:00

Cool link about new features on search engines like Google, Yahoo etc.

Google Helps Children

2004-07-21T13:43:00.000-07:00

Tara said...
To help patients, parents, visitors and staff, Children's Medical Center Dallas has added the Google Search function to www.childrens.com as well as the hospitals intranet to make quick, easy searches about medicine and diseases more simple. To see the article go to: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040720/latu118_1.html
1:43 PM

Spyware

2004-07-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

Tara said...
For anyone interested in removing spyware from your computer here is a link to the free download of Ad-Aware published by Lavasoft. It is simple to use and simple to download and comes highly recommended by experts.http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html?part=69274&subj=dlpage&tag=button
1:31 PM

Compare Google to Yahoo

2004-07-21T12:06:00.000-07:00

If you want to compare search results between Google and Yahoo check out this link, enter a search term and see how results vary.

2004-07-21T11:48:00.000-07:00

From Olga-

One of the sites that my family uses very often is cheaptickets.com. I highly recommend for students to use it and check it; they really have a great deals and tickets.

Another website, extremely helpful, that has had a great impact on my life, Mapquest.com. Websites address is http://www.mapquest.com. It provides maps, directions, even yellow pages.