Digital Marketing Guide - Digital Fewsure

Google TV will NOT FAIL - Partnerships = Success

Google TV Will Win if They Take Advantage of Partnerships

In the past, Digital Fewsure was very optimistic for other Google products like the WAVE.  We know...We know... We were wrong. Just 6 months after glowing with excitement for the Wave and claiming it will change email forever, we published a story about Why the Wave Failed.  Our optimism was nothing more than tech-happy hype that Google placed in us.  So will be the next product that Google releases we will be wrong about?  Well it won't be Google TV.

Google TV is a new product set for a fall launch and is Google's first attempt at entering the competitive Television market.  What makes this market entry different?  PARTNERSHIPS

Through contracted deals with Sony and Blu-Ray, Google has partners that are ready to support their push for TV.  The contracts themselves are the first aspect of the deal that gives Google TV and edge over past product failures.  Sony will be releasing a TV that is dedicated to the Android platform that Google TV will run on and Best Buy has agreed to sell the product in their stores.

Let's do the math - Sony + Blu-Ray + Best Buy = Success.  These 3 partners are leaders within their industry and when you combine them together with a new product that offers consumers something "cool" - you are bound to see some success in terms of mass market hype.  Best Buy much like Apple, is known for making people want products that they don't need.  Google TV is just that.  So if the partnerships are deep enough that Sony and Best Buy are willing to incorporate Google TV within their own marketing, you can expect a line of customers to be anticipating this new "tech" product.

Whether or not it succeeds is is based off of marketing from Google and their partners.  The primary reason for the fall of Google Wave in my eyes, was the lack of mass marketing it received.  Outside of a online PR buzz, the Wave had very little wind at its back to push it forward.  If the partnerships go well, not only will Google move their little engine of marketing forward but they will have the giant marketing engines of Best Buy, Sony and Blu-Ray on the train tracks as well.  That's a huge gust of wind! Okay enough of the cheesy real-world comparisons.

Another winner in all of this could be the first to market Google box made by Logitech - The Revue.

Logitech is by no means a mass marketing gorilla, but they are another company that has a marketing budget that they may want to use on a GOOGLE-associated product.  Logitech has nothing to lose in this deal, as this could be a big break for them in the digital converter market.  Therefore, we expect Logitech to dump a lot of their budget into this project with some obvious help from Google along the way.

The only partnership loophole that Google has to jump through now is with the networks.  Apparently these kind of partnership conversations have not been going that well, Google TV - Struggling to Find Partners.  But we have reason to believe that one of the major players will bite before the Fall launch.

Since we have yet to work with Google TV, we ask that you forgive us if technical or usability problems burn this product to the ground.  As long as Google lives up to its user-friendly identity, expect Google TV to be the next big product line for the company and NOT FAIL.  Apple TV is set to compete with Google in the near future...it will be interesting to see how both differentiate from the other.

See you in 6 months we are writing an article about how to market your business on the popular Google TV platform.

Un-Sure of what Google TV is? - Watch this Video

What is Google TV? - Video

See the Features of Google TV

If you have been online lately you have probably heard the buzz around Google TV.  Most of that buzz revolves around problems and early predictions of failure.  Take a look at the video below and get an idea of - What is Google TV? and decide for yourself.

Microsoft Street Slide View - Cool Features

Microsoft Street Slide View = An Overview and Why Google Should be Nervous

 

Microsoft Research has posted a video overview of their upcoming Street Slide View tool.  The tool allows users to navigate still photos of user-specified locations.  Similar to Google Maps panoramic views, the pictures are nothing new to the online map market.  However, there are 2 cool features of Street Slide View that will give Google Maps a run for it's money, provided these features function properly and are trustworthy on a consistent basis. Below is a SIMPLE description (without getting too technical) of 2 new features

Feature # 1 - The tool allows the user to zoom out on a particular street and as the user zooms it can view more of the street by panning across horizontally or 180 degrees - 90 degree turns are performed in the same way at each intersection.  The 180 degrees option allows for instant viewing of either side of the street.

Feature # 2 - Alongside the images presented, Microsoft includes a bubble map icon that showcases the map view of your image's location.  This is helpful in that the user can clearly define what street they are at and easily track a route without having to base it solely off of imagery.

The entire viewing process is annotated with addresses and descriptions. 

Microsoft Street Slide View for Business

The tool not only features descriptive text within its presented images, but it also features store logos and potential hyperlinks to the stores website.  As of right now, it is unknown whether Microsoft will charge money to feature logos on the map tool, but most guesses point to no.  Either way, businesses can benefit by ensuring their logo is featured on the Microsoft Slide View application presenting yet another way for them to promote their business via web user tools.  Overtime we will see how Microsoft uses these features to their advantage and whether or not Google comes back with an answer - duplicating or improving the features.  Yet another Google vs. Microsoft battle may be in the near future.

The Human Body As a TouchScreen

Bioacoustic Technology That Appropriates theBody as an Input Surface

New technology that enables the body to be used as a touch screen interface.  This sort of technology could lead to humans no longer having to carry around computers... instead we would just have them on our bodies. Check out the crazy video below:

Amazon Buys Touch Screen Company to Compete with Apples iPad (rumor)

Amazon Kindle vs. Apple iPad – Amazon buys touch-screen business to compete

Today it was reported in the New York Times that a source revealed Amazon’s secret purchase of touch screen business Touchco.  Touchco was considered to be a small startup company that specialized in touch screen technology dealing with full color displays.  Even though this rumor has yet to be confirmed from either of the participating parties, it makes a lot of sense to be true.  Why?  The iPad is the Kindle’s number one threat in terms of digital readers.

Since the unveiling of the iPad, there has been a ton of backlash in the digital community regarding the features it is lacking.  No flash compatibility, no camera, no phone component, can’t work with two applications at once, and believe it or not, the list goes on.  What hasn’t been talked about nearly as much is the capability the iPad has when it comes to reading a publication.

 Though many have referred to it as a digital newspaper to poke fun at its lack of features, a lot of people have not considered the ability it will have with the ibooks application.  This app allows ipad owners to download books and other publications much like they would download a song from iTunes.  What makes the iPad intriguing is the ability to navigate through means of touch along with the color display.  The Kindle has neither.  What machine would you rather read off of?

It is very possible that the iPad marketers vision revolves around the digital readers community.  Nobody knows for sure? Either way the iPad poses to be a threat and now Amazon is reacting.  The source went on to explain that Touchco will just become a part of the Amazon team and be a separate division devoted to the Kindle product. 

Touchco’s technology is not as advanced and elegant as Apple’s touch screen technologies, but is much cheaper to produce.  This should allow Amazon to keep their Kindle price significantly lower than that of the iPad.  With all the rumors of Apple going head to head with Google in the mobile market, it will be interesting to see if they head hunt Amazon in the readers market too.

Google and Internet Security Issues with China

Google Publicly Announces the Issues with China Hackers

Late last night, Google announced that they would be putting an end to some of the security blocks that exist within their Chinese search engine.  Bascially, Google was asked by the government to restrict some pages from their index in order to prevent the Chinese people from accessing certain content.  If you didn't already know, the Chinese government has a lot of control over the content it's people sees.  Public TV and the internet are monitored heavily by the government.  With the emergence of technology, many young Chinese entrepreneurs have began to work their way out of poverty and into economic wealth.  Most of these successful entrepreneurs have joined other activists and are speaking out about thier country's policies and procedures.  Of course, the Chinese government does not take well to protesters.  Therefore, to place itself in a safe haven, Google agreed to banned certain web pages from their index.

THAT BAN IS NOW BEING LIFTED!

Why?  Recently Google discovered that some Chinese hackers had been targeting the system to retrieve the GMAIL accounts of popular Chinese activitsts and other activists.  This of course, is completly illegal and Google is firing back.  "We believe in free speech," says Google who has moved forward with the bold decision of lifting some of the censorship.  However, this bold move may actually force Google to leave China.  With Chinas's emerging economy, this could be a big blow to the major engine.  Below is an excerpt from their announcement taken from: Google Blog.

 

 "Like many other well-known organizations, we face cyber attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. In mid-December, we detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on our corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident--albeit a significant one--was something quite different.

First, this attack was not just on Google. As part of our investigation we have discovered that at least twenty other large companies from a wide range of businesses--including the Internet, finance, technology, media and chemical sectors--have been similarly targeted. We are currently in the process of notifying those companies, and we are also working with the relevant U.S. authorities.

Second, we have evidence to suggest that a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Based on our investigation to date we believe their attack did not achieve that objective. Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves.

Third, as part of this investigation but independent of the attack on Google, we have discovered that the accounts of dozens of U.S.-, China- and Europe-based Gmail users who are advocates of human rights in China appear to have been routinely accessed by third parties. These accounts have not been accessed through any security breach at Google, but most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on the users' computers.

 

We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that "we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China."

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered--combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web--have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised."

photo courtesy of http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/img/google-beta.jpg

StillUN-SURE? Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH9NUABJzV4

 

Google Announces Real Time Search

 

Google's Real Time Search is Ready to Take Advantage of Social Updates

Today, Google held a press conference to make a big announcement that deals with a new Gen Y influenced feature.  If you have been following digital marketing and/or search news lately you may have heard of Google experimenting with a new search algorithm – “Google Caffeine.”  This has caused quite a stir in the world of digital marketing as search remains one of the most important tools for marketers.  Although the conference today was not directly related to Google Caffeine, there was a huge change in the world of search implemented today by Google’s search.  <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/">Google's Blog Announcement</a>

Real Time Search!

When Bing began to pump millions of dollars into advertising and marketing for their search engine they saw and continue to see an increase in their search traffic.  However, not too long ago there was one flaw recognized by many users that stirred up a lot of negative posts and comments about the Bing engine.  When Michael Jackson died, users looked to the web to find the latest articles on what was happening.  People were panicking and confused as to what was going on.  Many users looked to Bing to find the latest news and realized that Bing actually lacked any new and relevant information on the issue.  Although the exact timing is not known, it is said that Bing took up to 2 hours to feature a latest story on the Michael Jackson death within their search index.

When users went to find the latest articles, they received articles from the day before or previous to the day before about Michael Jackson. As you may imagine, users remained confused, so they turned to Google.  Google had some recent articles featured from the early morning that provided the web surfer with details and answers to some of their questions.

People blogged, posted, and commented on how Bing had failed them.  Google was more up to date and more relevant and Bing was exploited for its apparent weakness. As you may imagine, Google picked up on this weakness and has now launched an even better competitive feature – REAL TIME SEARCH.

What does Real Time Search Mean?

Real time search means consistent real time updates on your search results.  For example: when you go to Google and type in the word Google.  Of course the first result that shows organically is the website and www.google.com.   Underneath Google.com will be many relevant news topics and websites that relate to Google and their products, including Google sub-category pages.

With the new real time search (which you may access on the side toolbar, by clicking show options and selecting latest or recent.)  You are able to see real time news updates or social commentary that deals with Google.

For instance: at 12:32 pm today – Google announced their real time search feature at the press conference.  On stage, one of the Google engineers typed – ”New Google real time search feature---link” as a Twitter update.  Using the real time feature, virtually seconds later, up came the engineers updated Tweet under Google’s recent search results!  Basically, whenever a news story is happening, you can receive second by second updates of what people are saying, the rumors going around, broadcasts, articles, etc.  It is all in real time! 

Search engines are already among the main news sources in the world, but now Google is taking that to a whole new level with real time search.  They even announced a partnership they have formed with Facebook and MySpace in terms of profile data.  MySpace will be allowing Google to index ALL of the profile data of its users on their search engine and real time search feature.  Facebook will allow updates and certain public information from profiles to be seen on the Google real time results.

No doubt about it, Google is looking like they are not slowing down anytime soon.  When asked about how advertising and marketing will play a role in the real time results, one of the engineers stated how Google’s primary focus right now, is the get the tool up and running and running efficiently.  As time goes on, they will focus more on the advertising possibilities.

Read below for some other features :

• Product Inventory updates – They have formed a contract with Best Buy and Sears to feature real time product inventory search results for the two retail stores

• For now the tool is being used in English.  Google plans to expand its language usage as soon as possible.

• Mobile – The real time search feature also works for mobile internet browsers

For a generation like Gen Y this is a gold mine.  We love up to date information and now that it is real time, you can bet Google will benefit from Y.