Nortel is said to be in bankruptcy and this is an auction of its assets.  The bid by Google may grow larger because of this too.  If Google is successful in its bid to acquire Nortel, the purchase would be the third-largest purchase by Google.  Small only to its payments for YouTube and DoubleClick.

For more on this, visit The New York Times

The purchase of Next New is tied to a new business initiative of Google’s, YouTube Next.

Next New Networks was launched in 2006 by a group of former TV execs.  Since that time, Next New has moved into the video platform and ad network arena.  We will have to watch and see how Google uses its latest purchase.

For more on this, visit the official Google Blog.

Whilst Adams is clearly a very bright guy, I believe this move is potentially an indicator of a MUCH bigger story, regarding the balance of power with these 2 Internet giants.

Power shift?

Until recently, the idea of anyone leaving Google for a competitor would have been unthinkable.  For years, Google has been regarded as THE place to work, for anyone seeking a career in the industry.  I believe it is telling that such a talented Googler has joined Facebook.  It’s also interesting that following Adams’ critique, Mark Zuckerberg and his team looked for what they could learn, rather than take it as some kind of attack.

For those who missed it, amongst other observations, Adams’ critique focused on the need for Groups, stating that people interact very differently with different people.  It’s alleged this was what prompted Facebook to go into “lock-down” in the summer, to create Facebook Groups.  Clearly, Zuckerberg saw the value in what Adams was saying and offered him a job, which Adams accepted.

With Facebook’s increasing reach and influence, I’m wondering if Google will find it increasingly hard to attract and retain the industry’s top talent?

Android users can relax again, in the knowledge that the Android OS is just as safe today as ever; despite yesterday’s incorrect reports of a malicious app that was on millions of Android users devices!

Yesterday, the blogosphere was full of stories about an Android wallpaper app, which was reportedly collecting sensitive user data and sending it off to a server in China.  LookOut (the firm who reported this supposed security problem) has since issued a statement saying that in fact, the app was NOT showing any malicious behaviour.

The problem here is that those stories are all still out there, indexed and searchable – Just waiting for potential, new Android users to find them and be wrongly alarmed.

Unbelievably, Venturebeat, The Wall Street Journal, CNET, Yahoo News, Fast Company and scores of other BIG outlets carried this story, even though it was based on the findings of a single security company.  In fact, such was the traction generated by this story, that The Inquirer is still reporting it as news today!

Of course, anything related to Android is big news, so there was a rush to get that story out there.  As a result, the news went viral and the toothpaste was well and truly out of the tube, by the time it became obvious there was nothing malicious to report.

If I were Jackeey Wu (the app developer) or Google, I’d be REALLY pissed right now.

Google claims that the reason for removing the beta tag, is that businesses have been nervous about installing and relying on beta software.  Apparently, the Google Apps development team has been working flat out to reach a non-specific ‘high bar’ benchmark – which has given them the confidence to leave the beta stage.

Check out the full announcement on the official Google Blog.

Google lists links to pornographic content, but you need to click the link and leave Google in order to view the video.

bing.com, Twitter & damage limitation

As news of this started to circulate, bing.com’s team sent a message out via Twitter, to show users how to turn on their ‘safe search’ function.  bing.com launched unofficially here in the UK this morning and I have been surprised at the improvement it has shown, over the low quality results I used to see with live.com’s search.

Whilst this is probably not the kind of news Microsoft were hoping for, it has certainly got people talking!

bing.com

According to Paul Stoddart of Microsoft UK, bing.com is going to make searching for relevant information easier than ever.  The claim is that bing.com will group relevant information together from various websites. So, if you search for a particular holiday destination, your bing.com results ‘should’ give you everything from flight times to hotel prices and a list of local restaurants.

It may just be a coincidence, but in bing.com’s promo video, it looks less like a regular search engine and more like a shopping search engine.  All the examples they show, are related to shopping or generally spending money.  Microsoft has also said that it is ‘partnering’ with certain providers, which they (Microsoft) will recommend to you.

Readers in the United States will be the first to get to use bing.com, before the service rolled-out elsewhere. Let’s see!

Google’s downtime raises a question

Of course, with so many people now relying on providers, like Google, for ‘cloud computing’ services – The question is; “Is cloud computing reliable enough yet?”

This is not the first time Google’s services have either been unavailable or too slow to use. Indeed, many other well respected providers of cloud computing have experienced similar issues, including Amazon and Microsoft.

People love the cloud

Cloud computing; where the user uses online apps and online storage – as opposed to storing them on their computer, has many benefits. Storing data externally, for example, means that should a computer be stolen or critically damaged, the data is still accessible. You can also work on the same document, using multiple machines, without worrying about synchronising them.  Services like the superb Google Docs and Google Calendar are extremely popular; giving users the ability to work from anywhere, on any computer.

All you need is a browser, an Internet connection and a reliable service at the other end.  It’s the final part of that list, where the current problem rests.

Cloud computing & netbooks

The recent surge in netbook computers is also partly due to the popularity of cloud computing.  Manufacturers can now ship a machine, running any OS, knowing all it needs is a browser for the user to be able to run a host of popular cloud computing apps.  No need for huge hard drives or stacks of productivity software.

Netbooks manufacturers can ship a machine with just 8 gigabytes of hard drive space – because there’s services like Microsoft’s Skydrive, which offers users 25 gigabytes of storage, for free, in ‘the cloud’.  Providers like Amazon offer a low cost alternative.  Then there’s services like flickr, where you can store images for free too – the list is almost endless.

Corporate clouds & personal clouds

If you are using cloud services for personal use, it’s unlikely that the occasional hour’s downtime is going to cause a major problem.  However, if a business / enterprise user needs to get a proposal to a client by end of business today – BUT they have no email access, it could be a very costly experience.

As the popularity of cloud computing increases and providers are better able to cope with the kind of traffic jam Urs Hoelzle mentioned, I think cloud computing will be ideal for all of us.  For now though, the element of risk might still be too great for some.

Twitter search?

Twitter users generate a huge amount of data. They are also a helpful bunch; answering questions and suggesting links to people.  This week, Twitter stopped using TinyUrl as its URL shortening service and now uses Bit.ly. Bit.ly not only shortens URL’s, it ALSO indexes the content of the links it shortens AND gathers additional data.  This makes it a perfect partner for Twitter, now that Twitter is planning to take on Google and Co.

Twitter, Google & SEO

There’s no doubt that there is some REAL potential here, for Twitter to eat into Google’s search dominance.  Twitter will be able to claim that its search engine is human powered.  Advertisers like the idea of human powered search, which is why it was attempted by Jason Calacanis and his team at Mahalo.  Sadly, Twitter search (currently anyway) is way, way to easy to game – more on that in a moment!

Twitter search a “game changer?”

Although we refer to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), the reality is that most SEO is based on Google Optimisation. Websites and blogs are designed and optimised to be found by Google.  For example,  this blog gets over 96% of its search traffic from Google alone.

My concern is that Twitter Optimisation (TO), will see a massive increase in spammy Tweets, as people flood Twitter with links and keywords / phrases.  This could, paradoxically, see a drop in Twitter users – as the nature of the service and the user experience deteriorates.

Surely it couldn’t happen?

It is already happening, with spammers including words from Twitter’s ‘trending topics’ list in their Tweets, with links to whatever they want to sell you.  For example – as I write this post, if you search for #startrek, you also get links to various porn sites.

Twitter claim that they will use a user reputation, ranking system, to make search terms more relevant. The obvious issue here is; “who is to say that one user is likely to be a trustworthy source of links?”  What happens when these ‘trusted’ link providers start getting paid by SEO providers to link to their clients sites?

Whatever happens, it’s going to be hard work for Twitter. I hope it works, just so we can finally have a competitive search engine / online advertising market.

I also think that Twitter’s team might want to look at how StumbleUpon are currently working with human powered links and the challenges they present.

Pirate Bay & Google

Many people, (including me) see what the Pirate Bay are doing as little different from Google.  The Pirate Bay does not store any illegal material on their website, but simply links to sources of material.  In the exact same way, the Google search engine will happily point you at warez sites, illegal porn sites, sites that show you how to scam people and sites that give passwords / codes for software illegally.

Pirate Bay & Google – Unfair!

I am not a judge, but I am convinced that either the Pirate Bay should have walked free today or Google (and Yahoo!, Kumo, Ask, Live etc) should find themselves similarly charged.  In fact, based on the tiny number of users the Pirate Bay has compared to Google, based on this judgement, Google’s founders would be serving life a few times over!

The reality is that The Pirate Bay have been dealt with in this way, to scare others from offering a similar service.  In my opinion, the big Hollywood studios have had more to do with the severity of this sentence than the judge.

Comment

Sadly, as no one with any power seems to have the balls to take on Google, Google will once again find themselves with nothing to worry about.  They are bigger than Hollywood and have the financial power to ensure they are never taken to task.