Two notable search startups had news in the past day: Kosmix launched horizontal topics, quietly at first, then TC caught on. And SearchMe is mining new visual search approaches. Marketing Pilgrim has more….
This feature was a long time coming. From Mashable: Google has announced a new feature of Google Maps called MapMaker, which allows anyone with a Google account (therefore, everyone) to edit Google Maps Google Maps . We’re not talking editing your or your friends’ version; we’re talking about the…
Google has announced a new feature of Google Maps called MapMaker, which allows anyone with a Google account (therefore, everyone) to edit Google Maps Google Maps . We’re not talking editing your or your friends’ version; we’re talking about the real thing. You can now edit and moderate roads, lakes, parks, POIs, cities and other local features as you please.
For now the feature, called MapMaker, is limited to some pretty odd choices: Antigua & Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago. Why? According to Google: “The existing mapping data for these countries could benefit tremendously from local knowledge and expertise that you and other map makers posses, and we’re excited to see how you put that to use.” Google’s primary example: Mapping Myanmar for relief efforts, an application that Google already executed.
That’s very, very cool, of course, but if you think Google is doing this entirely out of the goodness of its heart, then you must also think Google AdWords is a philanthropy effort. As with nearly everything Google does, there’s always a reason that sounds like a gift to the world, and a reason it makes sense that’s a gift to Google. Allow me to bold the word in the Google announcement that might be the latter:
Read MoreProbably not surprising to readers of this site (ars): Google managed to spank the rest of the mobile search world during the first quarter of 2008, according to data from Nielsen Mobile. The search giant managed to capture 61 percent of the mobile search market in the first four…
Google managed to spank the rest of the mobile search world during the first quarter of 2008, according to data from Nielsen Mobile. The search giant managed to capture 61 percent of the mobile search market in the first four months of the year, with Yahoo! taking a very distant second at 18 percent. MSN sat at third place with a measly 5 percent.
The main reason: the iphone.
Danny argues that Google is unfairly dominating the Firefox toolbar. I think he's right. Microsoft is not even among the choices, and Google is the default. Google, of course, represents the majority of Mozilla's revenues (Mozilla is the company behind Firefox). Danny's most interesting point is how hard Google…
Danny’s most interesting point is how hard Google fought to keep Microsoft from making Live search the default in Internet Explorer. But Google’s actions with Firefox are making it increasingly likely Microsoft will act to change that stance. That’s what I meant when I said Microsoft is “lying in the weeds” a few months ago.
It happens – the phenomenon of similar ideas all hatching at the same time. The latest seems to be synchronous web experiences. I've heard about three or four of them in the past few weeks, the latest being Microsoft's Search Together. From a page explaining the research project: Search,…
Search, of course, has become ubiquitous for enabling users to find Web content, but existing search engines have been designed for use by an individual. Search interfaces don’t support collaborative search. Collaborating on search generally means one person at a keyboard while another makes suggestions, or two people using instant messaging or a phone while each is viewing a Web browser. It can work, but it’s not optimal.
While using SearchTogether, though, users can collaborate locally or at different locations, working in tandem or at different times.
Read MoreOm reports: YouTube’s head of monetization, Shashi Seth, has now left the company to become the chief revenue officer of Menlo Park, Calif.-based startup Cooliris. Om continues: Despite being the largest video-sharing web site, YouTube is still finding it hard to make money. My sources say that YouTube made…
Wikia launches features on its poorly reviewed but theoretically interesting search engine that allow folks to hack the results and share them with everyone. More at Cnet. For now, this is pretty much a test, as it's only on about 30 million results….
Microsoft announced this today: Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has won a key distribution deal with HP, the world’s largest PC manufacturer, to install a Live Search-enabled toolbar on all HP consumer PCs planned to ship in the United States and Canada, beginning in January 2009. As part…
Microsoft Corp. today announced that it has won a key distribution deal with HP, the world’s largest PC manufacturer, to install a Live Search-enabled toolbar on all HP consumer PCs planned to ship in the United States and Canada, beginning in January 2009. As part of this deal, the default search engine setting in the browser on all HP consumer PCs will also be set to Microsoft Live Search.
I think this is a very big deal for Live search. It’s the only way to win share. Google has owned Dell and Firefox, this is a way to fight back. I am sure it cost a pretty penny….
Mike makes a good point here in response to Tim's point of view, and Tim counters here. It's a very interesting debate, one between two folks I've partnered with for some time (Mike's TechCrunch is part of FM, and Tim and I have partnered on any number of things,…
However, one thing I will assert: Search is more than a subsystem of Web 2, as Tim puts it. I think search has become the interface to Web 2, and so I agree with Mike that Microsoft should not abandon it. It’s how we navigate the world of knowledge, and it’s way too early to say we’re done with the evolution of that navigation. But as Tim also points out: “a platform beats an application every time”. Damn right! That’s why I think Microsoft (or Yahoo) should innovate in search, as I pointed out here and here. If Google were to open its platform up, man, then it might well be game over. An open platform that has near monopoly share? Now that’s something to ponder.
As promised, I've posted some thoughts on Microsoft's Cashback program over at Thomson's Future of Search site. From the post: ….In essence, Microsoft has taken the affiliate model – where merchants pay channel partners for leads which turn into sales – and turned all of us into potential partners….
As promised, I’ve posted some thoughts on Microsoft’s Cashback program over at Thomson’s Future of Search site. From the post:
….In essence, Microsoft has taken the affiliate model – where merchants pay channel partners for leads which turn into sales – and turned all of us into potential partners. If it sounds like a crass play to buy your search allegiance, well, it is. But Goto.com was crass too, and it turned into a multi-billion dollar market, the ultimate expression of which is Google. So before you judge it, it’s worth thinking about a bit more deeply.
There’s no doubt that with Cashback, Microsoft is attempting to disrupt the search marketplace. But there are only a few axes around which you can do that. One, you can disrupt the presentation of search. This is very hard to do, but it’s happened before, and will happen again. Secondly, you disrupt the business model of search. And third, you can disrupt how search is created (ie, the secret sauce of relevance). There are startups along every one of these axes of disruption. But with last week’s news, Microsoft is focusing on the second one (business model). Unless, that is, you read between the lines. That’s when we see the beginnings of disruption along lines one and three as well. ….
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