Seems the privacy advocates see Google as ‘evil’. Or at least the animated cartoon aired by Watchdog on the Times Square jumbotron suggested that yesterday. The clip below shows Google CEO Eric Schmidt gathering information from children as they attempt to buy ice cream from his Google truck.
The Watchdog site – insidegoogle.com – asked: “Do you want Google or any other online company looking over your shoulder and tracking your every move online just so it can increase its profits?”
Last friday, Google launched the Googlebeat channel on Youtube, which aims to bring the value of services like Google Trends & Hot Trends, Google Insights for Search and Year-end Zeitgeist to a wider audience. This strategy is of passing interest as it seems that Google is squarely positioning itself as generating the equivalent value as trending topics in Twitter. Something which the latter has had great success with in garnering media attention. For example, FastCompany, called Twitter a “Human Seismograph Measuring the World“.
One of the best ways to track Google’s strategies is through visualizing & analyzing their acquisitions. Which is what the following image helps you do. Click on it for the full enlarged version 
via Scores
Do you want Google to tell you what you should be doing? Mr. Schmidt thinks so:
“More and more searches are done on your behalf without you needing to type. I actually think most people don’t want Google to answer their questions,” he elaborates. “They want Google to tell them what they should be doing next. … serendipity—can be calculated now. We can actually produce it electronically.”
Of course the problem with algorithms is they rely on prior experience to guide you. The won’t tell you to do something unique & original that can change the world, rather they will lead you down a well worn path.
We are almost at the finish line, but there are still a few more sessions to go so hang in there with me.
Next up we have Trackur’s Andy Beal (Trackur) going solo.
I follow Andy on Twitter. Andy is the Indiana Jones of reputation management. He also has great teeth and quite possibly, the best accent ever (he’s originally from England, and now lives in North Carolina).
Tip of the day from Andy is to focus on using reputation management techniques now rather than wait for a crisis to hit.
We are almost at the finish line, but there are still a few more sessions to go so hang in there with me.
Next up we have Trackur’s Andy Beal (Trackur) going solo.
I follow Andy on Twitter. Andy is the Indiana Jones of reputation management. He also has great teeth and quite possibly, the best accent ever (he’s originally from England, and now lives in North Carolina).
Tip of the day from Andy is to focus on using reputation management techniques now rather than wait for a crisis to hit.
Google is beefing up its mobile features with two launches.
First, it has introduced Voice Actions for Android, making it possible to voice command your phone on the company’s operating system. Here’s a video of how it works:
Second, Google has also launched a new Chrome-to-phone extension. A button to allow users to to “instantly send the current web page, map, YouTube video, or selected phone number or text to your Android device running Froyo (or Android 2.2),” it explained in a blog post. Here’s the video:
Google said it is transitioning out of its ‘old’ keyword tools – Keyword Tool and Search-based Keyword Tool – at the end of August to offer only the Updated Keyword Tool version that combines the features of both.
That’s a lot of “tools” in one single sentence – all the more reasons for it all to be combined into one single offering. In a blog post, Google cited the main new features of the updated tool: flexible search options, easy keyword refinement and results filtering by word or keyword match type, as well as advanced options for mobile and local searches.
Other improvements include the removal of duplicate keywords and the inclusion of negative keywords. Once the product is rolled out, the tool will shed the “updated” part of its name.
Google is to add another piece to their move into the social and online gaming space, as TechCrunch announced they will be buying Jambool and their Social Gold platform.
The platform gets high praise – they have a quote from John Zdanowski, ex-CFO, Linden Labs stating “If I were to build the Second Life economy again, I would do it on the Social Gold platform.”
With Google’s recent acquisition of Slideand investment in Zynga, they have shown their further commitment to pursuing areas outside of search.
The site explains that Social Gold platform below.
In the light of the ongoing debate about web neutrality, Google and Verizon have put together seven points in a proposal to legislators. They have shared the proposal in a blog post.
