Google

Google Map Maker – wisdom of a crowd

Official Google Blog shares yet another milestone in the life of Google Map Maker. Google Map Maker is the tool that allows anyone in the world add and correct information on Google Maps. Google might know more about famous places, but there are millions and millions of neighborhoods in the world with local businesses and other tiny little features that only the locals know. Google Map Maker makes sharing and accessing this knowledge possible and easy.

Yes, it is yet another one of those “wisdom of a crowd” things. But no matter how skeptical you are about the approach, it is hard to argue with the success Google had in utilizing the masses. Have a look at this before and after comparison of Tbilisi, Georgia map and you’ll be amazed as to how much “after” has improved.

As with anything that humans do, there might be mistakes and inaccuracies there. But given the will and the right tools, these are getting fixed and corrected. Have you tried it? If no, please do. You’ll be amazed as to how easy and intuitive it is. And as they say in the video, try adding your local coffee shop. Share the knowledge.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znCPgldRWTc]

Microsoft catching up with Google

Way too often do I hear from the Microsoft fans that the company is catching up with Google. Each and every time I disagreed, but in the heat of the discussion it’s not always easy to find supporting facts. Yeah, I know, I should come ready for such arguments, but I really take them when and where they find me.

Anyways, Google Android and Microsoft Mobile is only one side of a discussion. Advertising is the other. And search is yet another one. Well, I’ve heard the numbers before, but never bothered blogging them. This time I will. Slashdot links to a CNN Money article, which tells a really sad story.

Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) has lost $5.5 billion on Bing since the search service launched in June 2009, but the company’s search losses actually pre-date that. In fact, the software giant has never made money in its online services division. Since Microsoft began breaking out that unit’s finances in 2007, the company has lost a total of $9 billion.

There is even a little visual aid in case you prefer your trends simplified. It doesn’t look good, and it will never will. And the secret is very simple. Microsoft is not an online company. It never was and it is too large to change. If it will ever change, it will be as different from what it is now as IBM is different from the company it used to be in the last century.

Who is Sergey Brin?

Here is a snippet from a TV program “To Tell The Truth” where people try to guess which one of the three candidates is Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Many people will have tough time to do so even today. The video is from 2000.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsLBuCp23QA]

Google+ – yet another social network

The rumors of a new social network from Google were confirmed yesterday with the announcement of Google+. There are quite a few interesting ideas there.

Firstly, I’d been waiting for a proper social network from Google for ages. Google Wave was more of a collaboration tool, which failed. Google Buzz, even though useful, is not enough. I am using Google for plenty of other things – search, email, news reading, instant messaging, collaboration and sharing of documents, etc – it only makes more sense to wrap it all around with a social network.

Secondly, I’m glad to see that Google is trying to solve the major problem that I have with each and every other social network in use today – sharing with specific groups of people. I was born in one country, but currently live in another. I speak two languages, which are not shared by most of my connections. I have a number of different interests. I’ve worked with many people in a few companies across several industries. I desperately need a way to share with only specific groups of people. I know that some social networks tried to provide the functionality – Facebook and Flickr, for example – but it’s not trivial. I need more automation and control for that process. Google+ has something called Circles, which looks and sounds like what I need.

Thirdly, video conferencing. It’s been long overdue. And the only real option there is now is Skype, which I’d rather stop using altogether.

Fourthly, group chats. Especially on the mobile. There are a few alternatives that were developed in the last couple of years, but it’s hard to migrate all your contacts to yet another protocol. Enough of my contacts are using Google, so this sounds promising.

Too bad, Google+ is still not available to everyone – it’s invitation only. Hopefully, Google won’t repeat the mistake of the Google Wave, when they delayed the masses for so long that most people left before their friends joined.

If any of the above sounds interesting to you, have a look this TechCrunch article and this GigaOm post.

Every 60 seconds on the Web

We’ve all seen a gadzillion of statistics on how many videos are uploaded to YouTube every day or how many Google searches are performed every month. While those are all interesting on their own, combined into a single overview they provide a really good perspective on how active and diverse the Web is.

Via ma.tt.