The Rise of the ‘netbook’ – and is it hurting Apple?

It is not a surprise but the ‘netbook’ style and size of machine appear to be making a bull run even in a bear market. And some Mac users have made the move and others are considering it. Most ‘netbooks’ run Windows (XP for now mostly) or a version of Linux. I’ve got a super-netbook like Toshiba Protege and I gotta say I love it. If the G-Phone isn’t ready for prime time well this make room for more netbooks. I am not seeing covergence in mobile devices instead I see people havein many mobile devices to serve a specific need or mode, its sort of like bags (luggage) and shoes. Hmmm, anyway need to ponder this trend some more.

The Google Strategy

Wow a very interesting slide share presentation from Google thanks to TC that tells you everything you ever wanted to know – well worth a read. I particularly like slide 15 on why they bought DoubleClick.

A New Acronym and a Maybe a Game Changer – GACL

All I can say is wow this post on Linux Journal by Doc Searls makes you think about the new cloud platform a new way – Gears + Android + Chrome + Linux = Google is rocking. This quote that  was nicely highlighted by JB’s Searchblog it pretty sharp:

Well, then the game changes. Remember back when Marc Andreessen raised Microsoft’s hackles by saying Netscape would “reduce Windows to a set of poorly debugged device drivers”? Netscape failed to do that, but Google won’t. It’s not just that Google is Netscape II, it’s that Google has a platform here. At the bottom that platform is the OS of your choice. At the top is a browser built from the start to run apps and not just pages.

Oh yeah and I agree that the Chrome logo does look a lot like the game Simon.

Google Chrome – wow 1% marketshare in 1 day

Well, another summer and what did Google do? They built a brower called Chrome and according to some sources they took 1% market share in day 1! Some predict that Chrome can over take Firefox in 2 years, well maybe my math is wrong but it could be more like 2 months (this tracking service show 2.9% already – see below).

Google minus Google plus Google

The G minus G search engine setup by Startupbin in Finland is great and yes in some way funny… I also found it nicely ironic that on both the Startupbin blog and the Google CSE they’re making money from Google AdWords!

Local Search in Singapore

I was catching up on the latest over on Alt Search Engines today about search in Singapore and it reminded me about a innovative new local search engine from Singapore called Rednano.

Rednano is a JV between Singapore Press Holdings (a newspaper group) and Schibsted (another mainly European newspaper and online media group. Much like other local search initiatives like Ireland.com, Sesam.no, 24.com (in South Africa) and Sensis (in Australia) – Rednano is trying to fuse great local content with the best local knowledge to delivery a great ‘local search’ site in that region… And thus create a winning strategy against the likes of Google and Yahoo!

The Answer is 42, I mean Yes – Google is a media co

There is an interesting and thought provoking piece in the NYT on Google today titled: Is Google A Media Company? Well here at A Fuller View we know the answer is yes Google is a media company — but with a technology head and probably heart — which is significant when looking at how the search giant operates.

As JB rightly points out this is not a new idea, but it will form a key part of a little thesis I am pulling together which has a workig title of “Why AdSense Sucks (for publishers)” that I will post of one these days (probably after summer). So, for me it is significant to see this question resurface.

Now this may be hard to follow, but 1st let me say I love Google as an end user (consumer) and I think the big G is good for most advertisters (and the ecosystem). However, if you are a major publisher (like the NYT) then I believe Google is not good for your business its like letting the fox into the hen house. Time for a tasty brew to help me ferment my thesis a bit more…

Microsoft Builds a New Mouse Trap – its called BrowseRank

Microsoft Research has come up with a new and novel way to rank search results based on user beahviour. The alogorithm is called BrowerRank and is a rival methond to Google’s famous PageRank. Over on News.com there is a very good review of the work and you see the orignal release for MS Research over HERE and the research paper is HERE (pdf).

Google Helps Celebrate Earth Day 2008

Not a news story per say but still very cool… I have to say I like today’s Google logo supporting Earth Day 2008.

Google’s 2nd Site Search Box – some initial views

Had to comment with some initial views and thoughts on the recent roll-out of the “second” search box on some Google results. My initial view is that this could be good for user experience but bad for publishers and potentially even advertisers. Here’s the official Google blog post on this new feature. Search Insider has some good points and so does AdViking that are worth reviewing as well.

I know some publishers and will try to work with them and the AdViking team to see if we can get some real data on what (if any) impact this “search within a search” box is having. If I were an enterprise search vendor (such as FAST or Endeca) or a large publisher who had recently spent time/money etc on site search (especially in ecommerce or travel) this might really piss me off. Apparently site can opt out of this functionality.

I would like to get comments and feedback on metrics we should be trying to track and also any anecdotal info related to this functionality.

Below are some screen grabs of the 2dn search box on The Times Online.