Google vs. Facebook

Source Techobombs.com

Follow @ Twitter Like on Facebook

The Future According to Google

“Google is disruptive in the marketplace, and they’ll continue to try to solve complex problems,” says Wade Beavers, CEO of Minnesota-based DoApp, a Web and mobile application development company.

Net Gains
One Google solution will change the way we access the Internet. Responding to the fact that the United States ranks 15th in the world for average Internet connection speed, Google lit a fire under us all when it announced it would outfit Kansas City, Kansas, with ultra-high-speed, fiber-optic connections, enabling citywide Wi-Fi. Now they’re looking at a possible nationwide rollout.

With Internet speeds expected to multiply 100 times faster than current hookups, Google may just bring Kansas City and the rest of the country into the 21st century.


“People are limited to the choice of a local cable provider or DSL,” says Beavers. “If Google gets into the pipe business, it’ll mean the costs of Internet service will go down, or it might even be free.” Not surprisingly, Beavers thinks the public will be interested in that possibility.

“In the future, if you can get high-speed Internet from Google for $15 a month, or free, and in return, all you have to do is look at some ads, wouldn’t you do it?” he asks.

Finer Tuning
They’ve already given us Google TV, allowing users to access the entire Web on their tubes. Next, the Android SDK app will enable users to wield a smartphone as a remote control. But will it end there?

Not by a long shot. Google already employs cloud-based technology to store data for its Gmail and Google Doc customers, but the company is set to unveil technology to provide users with a la carte downloads, music sharing, and a cloud-based “digital locker” where they can store their tunes for $25 a year.

Unlike other music-streaming sites like Rhapsody, MOG, and Napster, Google’s service would allow users to share their library with their friends, who could also listen to each song once without having to buy it. With most other existing music services, users can only listen to short snippets of a song before buying (usually 30 seconds or less).

Remote Possibilities
Google’s cloud-based music service is another example of its recognition that the future of personal computing will be conducted not in front of a desktop, but on a smartphone.

“They will mature the mobile experience,” says Igor Faletski of Vancouver-based Mobify.com, a company that optimizes websites for mobile devices. “You’ll see greater utilization of location-based applications, like Google Maps and Google Earth, to take advantage of the fact that most people will make their purchasing decisions while they’re mobile.”

Google Maps’ Street View allows users to visit places they’ve never seen, but in the future we’ll be able to shop in places we’ve never been. Recently, Google started accepting applications from businesses to have their store interiors and sales floors photographed, eventually enabling consumers to go “in the door” and experience the store with a panoramic view -- to inspire and assist further virtual purchases.

“It’s a 3-D image of anywhere in the world,” says Faletski. “And that’s in keeping with their vision of the world two, five or 10 years from now -- it’s about cutting-edge innovation and user experience, because that’s what they’re passionate about.”

Source 

You like this article Follow on Twitter @NaveedBabar or Like on Facebook 

Google Turns Search On Its Ear!

Google Turns Search On Its Ear!

CNN News Reports: "The largest change to Googles search results in History starts today".

Today, Google made the merger I'd told you to watch for...

They merged their default search results with G+ creating the much-discussed "social search".

You can read more on Google's Blog and on the CNN news story.

Who wins? Social influencers with name recognition leverating G+ and the +1 button. Who loses? The old school SEO'er. Exactly as predicted.

It is worth noting that those who don't like these personalized results can now easily turn them off which is new and useful to us as well. However, by default they are on and are what the average searcher will see if they are logged in.

This is what Facebook COULD have done two years ago and trumped Google with but delayed and has lost a critical foothold.

What does this mean for you? It means that while SEO principles remain important... that social influence and market recognition in the social space is now a KEY SEO element.

If you took my advice to leverage the +1 button, Google+, pages, authorship and badges (wow, what a mouthful!) you are now going to begin reaping the rewards.

It means that more than ever you must establish yourself in your niche, in your market and set out to become a recognized personality!

Training courses such as this are one way to expand your knowledge of how to win this game. The students that took part in the 30 Day Challenge with me last month also learned a LOT about this type of social influence.

Regardless of how you do it this is the only kind of influence that is "future proof". Tech will come and go, searches will come and go, social sites will come and go... but when you have influence and a strong community or "tribe" around you it will allow you to continue to thrive!

PS: Be sure you read the post on Google's Blog

Google+ Tips

Google giving another try to control the boom of facebook in specific and the other social media network in general, lets analyse Google Plus a Google new social network web app for people around the globe.

Google+ is on its way to charm people and many of the Facebook users are already making their minds to take a shift, so it is just matter of time, but again these are somehow pre-mature thoughts, so we will have to wait and see the impact.

Frankly speaking, we had to spend sizable amount of time to get familiar with Google+, we thought of saving you from the effort. So let’s start with Google+ and here you will get some basic useful tips if you are just joining Google+ or are still wondering what to do here?
Getting Started

There has been much hype about how and from where to get Google+ invitations. People started writing tutorials on how to invite someone on Google+, but Google has resolved the issue now and you do not need to end up pasting your email address here and there to ask for an invite.

Registrations on Google+ are now open and you can sign up without any invite. Simply visit http://google.com/+/ and register yourself.
Welcome to Google+

If you have ever used any of Google’s services (Gmail, Google Profile, Blogger, etc.), then there are chances that Google+will detect more than 50 percent of your bio – to fill your profile. Don’t worry, your privacy settings will not be disturbed. For instance, you can link your Picasa account with Google+ while maintaining the same privacy settings as they were with your Picasa account.

So it’s time now to upload your profile picture and write something about you.
Build Your Circles

Next thing that you should do is, build up your circles and invite others. But to know what really circles are, read below:
Circles are different set of groups, or lists with different permissions. You can add your contacts in these circles to make sure that you don’t share your information with those who shouldn’t see them.
You will get updates from contacts that you have added in your circle. Just like twitter, you start getting updates from those whom you follow
Contacts in your circle will not get your updates, though they will be invited – but they can deny any incoming requests.

By default Google offers following circles to you, of course you can create more with ease
Friends
Family
Acquaintances
Following

You can simply mouse over them to read what kind of circle it is and sharing settings.


Adding Contacts to Circles:
Click circle button (right on top middle – or where the red arrow is in above image)
Go to "Find and Invite" tab
Here you will be suggested with contacts that you may want to add in your circles, drag and drop them in below circles… simple as that
Note: Suggestions will be those contacts that you recently interacted with on Gmail
Want to add someone who is not in suggestions: There’s a button “Add a new Person”, click on it – type email address and you are done.

So you are almost done with basic settings and this is the time to go out and say Here I am!
Posts and Stream

You must be familiar with wall posts on Facebook, here Google calls it stream. And for me, the most loveable feature of Google+ is to get stream from specific circle.

• Select stream from any of your circle and updates from only those will be shown from the circle
• You can Share a post from your stream, comment on it +1 it (kind of liking a post)
• You can post an update, using the box given on top of stream – exactly like facebook has;
• Post any thing you feel like, you can add videos, pictures, links and so on
• You can edit posts later on, delete them, mute them and so on
• You can select circles or contacts that you want your post to be shared with.
• You can disable resharing and/or commenting

Hangouts

Hangouts is the coolest feature of Google Plus, it will let you start a video conversation with as many friends of yours as you like.

Simply click the “Hangout” button available on right sidebar or visit this link: plus.google.com/hangouts

You’ll be taken to a "green room" where you can select circles or individuals to add in your room (video chat).
Sparks = Interests and Likes

Visit the Sparks menu from left sidebar and you will find featured interests. Don’t worry, you are not bound to like them. Search your interests and while adding them, Google+ will give you content suggestions that you can share on your wall, stream in fact.

Once again Google+ allows you here to set which circles you want to share with and it works the same way as described for the post.
Turning Off Email Alerts

By default, Google+ will email you for every post, comment, +1 or anything that happens and is related to you.

This may irritate you – so simply visit Google+ settings from the Options menu which you can find at the extreme right of black bar – codenamed the “Sandbar”, you must have noticed it appearing from few days.

Facebook losing control against Google

Google Inc will begin allowing users to personally endorse search results and Web pages, its latest attempt to stave off rival Facebook Inc while trying to jump onboard a social networking boom.
The so-called “+1″ button will start to appear alongside Google search results for select users, letting people recommend specific search results to friends and contacts by clicking on that button.
Eventually, the feature may begin to influence the ranking of search results, though that is only under consideration. Results are now ranked via a closely guarded algorithm.
The world’s leader in Internet search is battling to maintain its share of Web surfers’ time and attention, which is increasingly getting taken up by Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. But it has struggled to find its footing in the nascent market.
Its last attempt to create a social network – Buzz — has not fared well. A flood of complaints about how Buzz handled user privacy cast a pall over the product. Google announced it had reached a settlement with regulators under which it agreed to independent privacy audits every two years.

With the new +1 buttons, Google aims to counter one of Facebook’s most popular features. The new feature comes nearly a year after Facebook began offering special “Like” buttons to websites, creating a personalized recommendation system that some analysts believe could challenge the traditional ranking algorithms that search engines use to find online information.
Maintaining its role as the main gateway to information on the Internet, is key for Google, it generated roughly $29 billion in revenue last year — primarily from search ads.
While Google remains the Internet search and advertising leader, Facebook is taking a larger and larger portion of advertising dollars. Google said that +1 recommendation will also appear in the paid ads that Google displays alongside its search results.
In its internal tests, Google found that including the recommendations boosted the rates at which people click on the ads. Eventually, Google plans to let third-party websites feature +1 buttons directly on the pages of the third party.
Google’s Matt Cutts, a principal engineer for search, said the +1 buttons were part of the evolution of Google’s own social search efforts, rather than a direct response to Facebook’s Like buttons.
Currently Google is not using +1 recommendation as a factor in how it ranks search results — a user only sees that a friend recommended a search result if the result would have turned up in a search based on Google’s existing ranking criteria. The company is evaluating whether to use +1 recommendation as a ranking factor in the future. 

Samsung Google Nexus S

Hardware configuration

It has the core hardware and software combination and this phone is blazingly fast considering the animations, touch response and general frame rate on everything seems to be cranked closer to the environs of the IPhone 4.

This phone consists of ARM Cortex A8 1GHz (Humming-Bird) processor core by which you will experience zipping around on the handset with fluid and natural feeling. 512 MB RAM adds the swiftness to Samsung Google Nexus S.

Display and User Interface

Nexus S has a Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of 16M colors measuring screen 4 inches with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The touch input supports multiple touch and its screen oleo-phobic which means that your fingerprints embedded on the screen during typing would be wiped off within a second.

The UI has also been nipped and tucked all over the place, with icons and navigational elements taking on more of a buffed glass feel. With proximity sensor for auto turn-off and Three-axis gyro sensor makes this gadget good choice for its display properties. When the phone goes to sleep, there’s an effect of an old cathode ray TV being switched off, and even something as innocuous as the phone dialer has been refined.

Camera

Samsung Google Nexus S is equipped with an autofocus 5 MP camera that allows you to take pictures in 2560 x 1920 pixels; it is also embedded with LED flash for poor lighting conditions.

It supports geo-tagging and automated social network content posting. It is capable of recording WVGA videos with a frame rate of 720p@30fps. There is also a secondary VGA camera for video calling. Switching from the front camera to the rear camera takes minimal hunting and pecking.

Memory

This phone has an internal storage capacity of 16 GB, but unfortunately there is no support for additional expansion of memory though it doesn’t have a slot for an external memory card (Micro SD). However, it has a dedicated 512 MB for those who like to multitask or play a lot games from Android Market.

Entertainment

Samsung Google Nexus S has integrated social networking, which will never let you left alone and will always make you hang-out with your friends. It also supports MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC for audio and MP4/DivX/WMV/H.264/H.263 formats for video entertainment. 3.5 mm audio jack is also built-in.

Connectivity and Battery life

It supports Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n; DLNA, 3G networks with HSDPA 2100 / HSDPA 900, Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP and many more other connectivity preferences. It works on a Li-Ion 1500 mAh which can support GSM: 14h / 3G: 7h of talktime and GSM: 713h / 3G: 428h of stand-by time.

For more details, visit http://www.google.com/nexus.

Google Wave A Real Time Collaboration

A month ago I visited to my friend and while we were discussing some great online entrepreneurial ideas, I told him how a couple of friends and I have been trying to arrange social media marketing and strategy workshops but we never get time to be at one place, brainstorm our ideas and plan the entire project.


When I was done narrating my predicament, he told me that we don’t necessarily have to be present psychically at one place to brainstorm and collaborate. He told me to try Google Wave which is an amazing tool to collaborate in real time with team on a project and so far he had found it very useful.

So I gave Google Wave a try.

The first thing I liked when I logged in was the mail in my inbox with embedded Google Wave tutorial video (it was great help to understand what the tool is all about). Then as I started exploring Google Wave, I saw options to create a new Wave for a meeting or a brainstorm session or a new document or task tracking.

I created a new Wave by clicking on the brainstorm icon. A new sub window popped in the main window and then I added my 3 friends who I had to work with on our workshops project.

I decided that until all 3 invitees find their invitation to join Google Wave, I should write a welcome note for them and type down my ideas about the project so I started typing. The first line typed became the name/title of the wave and then after typing a rather funny welcome note to greet my friends I wrote a brief intro of our workshops project and what was to be done next.

While I was just typing my thoughts away, I saw that one of my friends had just logged in on Wave and began to write something too in the same wave. He had started sharing his thoughts and both of us began working on the plan. In the meanwhile third friend of ours logged in and all 3 of us were typing and throwing our ideas at each other at the same time from the comforts of our homes.

The best way to describe Google Wave experience is that it is a combo of email and online chatting yet in a more visually pleasant and rich media format.

You can drop images, videos, attachments in the wave, use rich text, add links to the discussion, edit documents and what not but the best part is that it gets saved as one big mail message so you don’t have to worry about losing all the million dollar brainstorming you have done with your team on any project.

My experience with Google Wave is still underway as I am happily working on my project with my friends by collaborating with all of them in real time from the comforts of our own homes.

If you haven’t tried this fun and such an effective communication and collaboration tool by Google yet then you must give it a shot at least once. I bet you won’t be able to keep yourself off of it and you will be planning all your events and projects on Google Wave from then on.

Google

Google Inc.,  is the largest online company and the most successful ever. I personally like Google and its services a lot. Google is better than Yahoo, MSN and others in many ways, and they have proved themselves over the years that they are best. Main attribute of Google is its innovative yet free services like Gmail, Ad sense, Google Search,Google Earth and many more. Millions of people use Google services daily and  are contented with the outcome.

A very important factor for Google’s success is its localization, and the ease it provides for people all over the world and for all religions. Google on every occasion changes its logo with beautiful and colorful fun doing logos to match the occasion. Whether its holiday season, Christmas, Olympics,independence day or any other occasion.

Google Pakistan is the Pakistani version which is also provided in Urdu. Google says that its peoples’ company, but one can easily doubt that. Let me show you some official Google Logo’s.

Chinese new year 2008 logo

First Hot Air Balloon 2008 logo

Florence Nightingale Google UK Logo 2008

Google Christmas Logo

Google Holiday Logo

Halloween 2007 Logo

Mark Chagall Birthday 2008 logo

Mothers Day 2008 Logo

Roald Dahl Birthday 2007 Logo

St. George day 2008 Logo

St. Patrick’s day 2007 logo

Thanksgiving 2007 logo

All these logo’s are certainly beautiful – but one thing is missing. Every year Google celebrates these occasions with a dedicated logo. But Google never celebrated Happy Ramadan to the Muslim community around the world. There are more than one billion Muslim’s around the world. But Google never showed its affection towards Muslim’s. If Christmas, St. Patrick’s day, St.George day and other days are so much important than i think Google should also celebrate Happy Ramadan or Eids etc. Many Muslim’s also work for Google.

But Google not a single year celebrated it. Ramadan is the most holiest month for the Muslims and same is the case with Eid. But Google never ever made a dedicated logo. It could have shown it on first on Ramadan. Also if Happy Ramadan logo was not possible, Google could have made a Happy Eid

Logo. But never ever made it. Google could also have made a Ramadan and Eid logo for only he Muslim countries like just for the Google Pakistan.

So can it be said that Google is bias? Well i certainly think it is, that otherwise Google could have made a logo to celebrate for the Muslims. And i am hoping that we may see a Happy Eid Logo this coming Eid…!