According to ICANN, Google is now an official registrar of web addresses. Does this mean we will be able to register domains through Google for little or no money? Get our own domains for Gmail accounts? Get domains for Blogger blogs? Or maybe just free domains as a loss leader for AdSense pages? Considering domains cost registrars only $6 a year, Google could make decent money offering them for practically nothing, or even nothing at all. Rampant speculation at Slashdot, others.
UPDATE: The Register says:
The reason it paid a $2,500 application fee and $6,500 to cover six top-level domains is that it “wants to get a better understanding of the domain name system [and so] increase the quality of our search results”. The email address it gives with relation to its new registrar status is dns-admin@google.com.
Google notes that Amazon did exactly the same thing nearly two years ago. At that time, a March 2003 article in the Wall Street Journal pointed out that the online giant had become a registrar and assumed that it was about to launch a domain name selling business. It set the industry off - but we are still waiting, 47 months later.
(via P2Pnet.net)
January 31st, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
2 comments
Google’s brand has dropped from first place, supplanted by Apple, in a recent survey of 2000 ad executives by BrandChannel. The top five, both globally and in North America:
- Apple
- Google
- Ikea
- Starbucks
- Al Jazeera
I’m more surprised by Al Jazeera’s spot on the list. In the article, by Reuters, BrandChannel Editor Robin Rusch says:
With all the news from Iraq and Afghanistan and the ‘war on terror’, a lot of people are really tuned into the news, and the major news sources have a western bias.
There is no way that can be the reason. I can’t believe that Al Jazeera is drawing attention and respect because it replaces a Western bias with an Arab one. We’re not arguing that it is popular in the Middle East, but that it is popular in the United States. Considering how Al Jazeera is even as vehementally anti-war as some U.S. based websites, I can’t believe that. Rather, look at the people surveyed: ad executives. Who wouldn’t want a brand that gets press simply by doing what it does, with no specific public relations on its part. Much like Google, word of mouth has made Al Jazeera well-known, although not necessarilly trusted. By no means is Al Jazeera supplanting CNN in this country.
Anyway, as for Google’s drop, that makes perfect sense to me. Google has had a relatively slow year, with the IPO throwing them off track. An IPO costs any company its street cred, at least temporarily, and as a result Google hasn’t done a good job cultivating its brand image. While a year ago, Google stood for a young, brash company with ass-kicking technology, today it stands for millionaire PhDs with big secrets and paranoia to match, who never release a full-fledged product.
Google has done exactly what all of last year? Released Gmail, and seemingly forgotten about it. Released desktop search, and seemingly forgotten about it. Talked about scanning library books, but have nothing to show for it, while releasing an academic search engine. Added tiny features to Froogle and Local. Updated Google Alerts. Google released Orkut, and let it languish to the point where no one in this country uses it. And Google bought a bunch of other companies, one of which, Picasa, is releasing the only fully-fledged perfect-operating program in the entire company.
Maybe I’m missing something, but what did Google do to protect its brand? Apple released all sorts of cool stuff, and continued to improve on great products. Google added “nofollow”. Maybe Google needs to think about image and publicity a little better than it has been.
Meanwhile, Apple Watch is bragging.
Word spread today that Apple has been named the most influential brand of 2004, edging out Google. Biggest reason? I’ll give you a hint - it starts with an “i” and doesn’t end with “Movie”, “Chat”, “Photo”, “Book”, “Mac”, “Cal”, “Life”, or “Tunes”.
(via Search Engine Lowdown)
January 31st, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
8 comments
I’ve added a bunch of Google employee blogs to my Bloglines blogroll, thanks to PR Weaver. Up next, Yahoo employees! Microsoft makes this nice and easy, with its MSDN blogs, but then again, Google does have a centralized blogging system, BIG (Blogger In Google), its just a big secret (like everything else). If I’m missing anyone, let me know.
January 31st, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
one comment
Pictures don’t lie. From August of last year:
(from Flickr, via Blogoscoped)
January 30th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Humor, General |
one comment
Dirson has discovered that someone has bought ads on Google that direct readers to Mark Jen’s blog. Mark, you’ll remember, was involved in a very public blogging flap that got a lot of press this past week.
Considering that Mark has no reason to purchase ads for his own blog, and neither does anyone else, this lends some support behind the conspiracy theory that the whole situation this week was little more than a publicity stunt.
As Dirson has found out, searches on Google for either “life google” or “google blog” will sometimes show an ad, pictured above. The text of the ad features most of the blog’s title, “Life @ Google”, the text “personal blog of an ex-microsoft employee who now works at google”, and a link to his blog at 99zeros.blogspot.com/.
While I dismissed the idea of this being a stunt as pure hooey (is that how its spelled), I’m completely perplexed by this ad. Mark has no reason for it, so either Google is publicizing him, or someone is trying to make Google look bad by purchasing this ad. Of course, there is little chance of the second theory, since, as Dirson shows, the very text of the ad is rejected by AdWords, since you cannot use the word “Google” in an ad!
So, assuming this is Google’s work, we have two possibilities, both with the same reason. Google’s corporate culture has taken a beating lately, with its secretive nature getting it bad press. Guys like Russell Beattie are turning them down outright, other aren’t even trying, and none of this looks good for Google. Either Google has Jen blogging to make them look better, and the events this week were a way of publicizing the “little worker fighting the good fight and forcing Google to be nicer”, or, seeing the positive reaction to Mark’s blog, Google has decided to push him, because he makes them look good.
Basically, either the nuts are right, or they aren’t, and Google is taking advantage of Mark’s ability to make them look good. Google needs their Scoble, and maybe they figured that since so many people have noticed Mark, and many are willing to listen since he’s willing to diss his bosses, Mark is the perfect person to blog about Google. I’d like to hope that Google just saw a good thing and decided to publicize it, and isn’t trying to game the blogosphere, because that never works. If Google is giving free ads because they want people to see Mark as an example of Google not being so tight-lipped, then I have to applaud them. If.
January 29th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
7 comments
Credit Suisse has slightly raised its strong estimates for Google’s fourth quarter numbers, expecting earnings of 72 cents per share on revenue of $604 million. They expect Google’s stock to receive major boosts around three dates: First, Tuesday’s earnings report. Then, on February 9, Google will hold an analyst day, the first significant time the company will meeting with investors since the IPO. Finally, the final lockup expiration on February 14 will also up the share price, since the market will react favorably to the negligible impact of the expiry, as well as the final stability of the stock. We’ll have to see how correct that prediction is, but I suspect they’re right on two out of three points.
January 28th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
no comments
A9.com had a bit of strange product placement on last night’s episode of The O.C.. As Beta News reports, last night on the show, someone said “I A9.com’d him”, as opposed to, say, “I Google’d him”. Not sure when this happened, since I couldn’t pay complete attention to the show while I had to watch the Apprentice for my recap. The article says:
It’s not clear whether Amazon paid for the television placement or writers of the “The O.C.” were simply tired of Google taking all the credit. Amazon has been struggling to push its fledgling A9.com brand, which ranks 30th among search engines.
Incidentally, while A9 was given a (presumably) free plug on Fox, Yahoo Local was plugged on The Apprentice, where guests at the contestants motels used it to leave reviews, which you can read here. I’m not sure that the motel owners would want to remind people of the episode, since the rooms got terrible reviews, and the only good things anyone had to say were about the staff (the contestants). One reviewer even said “the Yahoo people” were especially friendly.
UPDATE: C|Net has this:
“We didn’t even know it was going to air,” A9 Chief Udi Manber said. But “it shows people like…A9…and that they are telling their friends and family.”
I have a theory. Since fox did the same thing with Arrested Development recently (see the comments), and Fox has been known to drop the phrase “I Google’d” into its shows, and we know that Google has been trying to stop people from using that phrase (to avoid becoming another Xerox), maybe Google contacted Fox and asked them to stop saying “Google’d”? Fox, in turn, is trying out every other random search engine, just so it doesn’t have to rewrite its scripts, or alternatively, out of spite. Thought?
January 28th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Amazon, General |
7 comments
Google blogger Mark Jen talks about the differences between Google and his old company Microsoft. Top quote: “google is arrogant, microsoft is stubborn”. As her explains, Google can move much faster than Microsoft, releasing new product, changing its methods to better ones, dumping old code, while Microsoft is stuck doing things the same way. While many people at Microsoft say they want to change things to innovate better, those same people, when presented with out-of-the-box ideas will throw them out, sticking with old n’ reliable (n’ stuck in the mud).
One interesting note: Of all the associate project managers, of which he is one (on the AdSense team), nearly everyone is from Stanford or MIT, except for himself and two others. Well, considering how Mark has shaken up some of that “arrogance”, and for the better, maybe Google should consider hiring a little more “outside-the-box”, or at least its box of supergeeks.
January 27th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
6 comments
Google has put its AdWords API beta out there for its advertisers to use. Advertisers can use it to better manage and target their ad campaigns. Some possibilities listed are:
- Generating automatic keyword, ad text, URL, and custom reports
- Integrating AdWords data with databases, such as inventory systems
- Developing additional tools and applications to help you manage accounts
The API utilizies SOAP and WSDL, which can support all sorts of languages, including Java, .NET, Perl, PHP, and XML. There is current sample code for using Java in estimating traffic for a keywork, getting a keyword report, creating a new campaign with an Ad Group, creatives and keywords, and Printing out the IDs of all your campaigns. Code for .Net includes displaying the name and maximum cost-per-click of an AdGroup and displaying data for all Campaigns in the account. Perl samples help you add a campaign, add or get an Ad Group, add creatives, estimate traffic for a keyword, get a keyword report, schedule a custom report, and set a keyword max CPC. PHP samples have estimating traffic for a keyword, getting a keyword report, creating a new campaign with an Ad Group, creatives, and keywords, and getting all Ad Groups. The XML sample estimates traffic for a keyword.
Advertisers get a quota of the number of operations they can perform per month. It is explained in the FAQ:
Your API quota is determined by the number of clients you manage and your total account spend. We recalculate your quota amount daily. However, we usually don’t change your quota until the first day of the new calendar month unless there’s a significant increase or decrease in the number of accounts you manage and their spending levels.
The Terms and Conditions say that Google may be creating custom APIs for some big companies, called an Internal-Use Only AdWords API Client. It also says Google may decide at some future point to start charging for use of the API. Search Engine Watch explains that Overture does charge for its API. There’s also an AdWords API blog and a Google Group.
(via Aaron Swartz)
Also: Google Blog
January 27th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
AdWords, Advertising, General |
4 comments
Google Blogoscoped has created the Google Couch Potato, who watches Google (TV) Video Search all freakin’ day. His TV shows all the different shows on Google (TV) Video Search, and he’s such a big channel surfer that the channel changes every five seconds.
January 27th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
no comments
Both BusinessBits and Apple Watch have been nominated in the 2005 Business Blogging Awards. BusinessBits is nominated for “Best New Blog”, and Apple Watch for “Best Tech Company Blog”. Damn, I should have nominated my two blogs in that last category! Well, if you like the Blog News Channel, show us some love by voting here. The results are here. Good luck guys!
January 27th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
3 comments
C|Net has an article summarizing the whole Mark Jen blogging flap from the last day or so. The interesting stuff is at the end. I touched on this in the comments to my original post. Basically, Yahoo indexed Jen’s blog in the time it was up. Bloglines did. Technorati did. But not Google, they missed it entirely. Google doesn’t leverage its ownership of Blogger to ensure blogs get indexed quickly, citing fairness. However, many believe Google should index blogs faster, realizing how quickly content is created. Many want to see a Google blog search engine. Here’s what C|Net had to say:
Google spokesman Steve Langdon confirmed that Jen is a Google employee who started work at the company on Jan. 17, and that Jen is the author of the blog. He added that Google has blogging guidelines, but he declined to talk about them. Contrary to some speculation, Google did not pull the site from its index, Langdon said.
That means Google’s search engine never indexed Ninetyninezeros in the first place. Passing over one week-old blog site may seem inconsequential given the scale of the Web, but the oversight could yet prove more distressing than any debate about the ethics of blogging. Google is facing stiffening competition from rivals Yahoo and Microsoft in the Web and desktop search markets, and some analysts believe the performance gap is already closing.
In short, Yahoo’s search engine turned up the Ninetyninezeros blog even after it was yanked offline, while Google’s did not. Does that mean Google’s grip on search technology is slipping?
Langdon declined to comment.
Ouch.
January 27th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
one comment
Amazon search engine A9 has launched a yellow pages service, combining map technology from Mapquest and images of actual blocks all accross America to create a unique searching experience. The new engine has 20 million images of streets all over the country. Apparently, Amazon sent drivers all over the place to take photos (Quicktime video, Windows Media high/low) with a system of vans with cameras on the roof and GPS-aware computers inside, code-named “Project Mercury“. Its really a brilliant idea, and one way to have content no one else has.
To give an example of how this works, I did a search for Staples in area code 10001, midtown Manhattan. Naturally, there are so many Staples that the one I wanted, at One Herald Center, was listed second, but close enough. Going through the page for that Staples, I was able to browse along a succession of images and find my Staples, and even do my part to help by selecting this image as the best image. I knew it was the right place, because as I continued to “stroll” down the street, I saw familiar businesses, such as the Sunglass Hut accross the street (it stands out), Macy’s down the block, Conway on the next block, followed by burger joint Kosher Delight, J2 Pizza, Claire’s (Raquel loves that place), and if you go down far enough, Times Square.
One problem Amazon will face is updating these images. I don’t know when these were shot (September is my best guess), but I already see stores that are no more. In New York, stores come and go at the drop of a hat. Many stores are also blocked by scaffolding from the constant construction. And of course, seeing New York from street level leaves out a lot. Currently, images are available for: 
- Atlanta
- Boston
- Dallas
- Chicago
- New York City (Manhattan)
- Denver
- Los Angeles
- Seattle
- Portland, Oregon
- San Francisco and the Bay Area
I wish they had pictures out here in Queens. We have 1.5 million people…
Luckily, if the images get out of date, you can submit yout own via the “Customer Images” feature. Naturally, if I do help out, I’ll position myself in front of the store. It’s only fair…
John Battelle notes in the Business 2.0 blog that there is a “Click to Call” feature, that automatically connects you to that business. As he notes, this is the precursor to a “Click to Call” advertising model, although that is not in place yet. John’s entire article for Business 2.0 is here, and it is very informative. Search Engine Watch explains that the feature works by you entering your phone number, and it calls you up and connects the call (very cool!).
According to Rapid City Journal, A9 attracted 816,000 unique visitors in December, making it the 30th most popular among search and navigation web sites. In contrast, Google gets 71.7 million unique visitors per month. This is exactly the big feature that can push A9 into the top 10. As Amazon integrates this into its regular site, linking products up with stores where you can buy them, a lot of people are going to like it, because A9 is just a darn good search engine.
Other Coverage (not linked in my post):
Google Blogoscoped
John Battelle
PRWeaver
Search Engine Watch
Boston.com
USA Today
January 27th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Amazon, General |
3 comments
Findory has added RSS feeds for its related blogs feature, meaning that you get a steady stream of posts related to blogs you already like. You also get a widget you can install on any webpage to display those stories. Here is the InsideGoogle widget:
Related blogs for InsideGoogle
(RSS)
(via Greg Linden’s blog)
January 26th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
no comments
Google has put out some details on its quarterly/year-end financial results release and conference call. The report will be issued on this Tuesday, February 1 at 4:30 pm Eastern (just as the markets close). Like last time, there will be a webcast at http://investor.google.com/webcast. You will be able to get the filing at http://investor.google.com.
(via Search Engine Watch)
postscript - I’m going to be in a meeting at the time, and will be heading straight to a wedding from the meeting. I hope I’ll be able to blog during the meeting. I certainly won’t be able to listen to the conference call. I’ll try to arrange something.
January 26th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Stock Market, General |
no comments
Thanks to readers Kevin and Saravanan for pointing this out. Mark Jen’s blog has been restored, with all of its former posts back. He has a new post where he acknowledges all the hubbub:
oops!
hi everyone, sorry my site has been down for the past day or so. i goofed and put some stuff up on my blog that’s not supposed to be there. nothing serious and they didn’t ask me to take anything down (even the stuff where i’m critical about the company). i’m learning that google is understandably careful about disclosing sensitive information, even vague financial-related things. the quickest way for me to fix the situation at the time was to take it all down. now i’m back up. just so you know, google was pretty cool about all this. thanks for and sorry for the frenzy of speculation.
What did Google make him cut? Most of this:
they started off the day with a financials presentation, which was actually quite interesting. of course, i understand that they obviously will put a positive spin on everything, but the weight of the raw numbers is undeniable. both google’s profits and revenue are growing at an unprecedented rate even while they are increasing their expenditures on capital and human resources. not to mention that google has been primarily focused on the u.s. market and is now turning their full attention to the global marketplace.
so after the interesting financials, the products team gave presentations reviewing product performance in 2004 and giving sneak peeks of the products we’ll unveil in 2005. if you guys thought gmail and google groups were cool, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
Nothing incriminating, but I can understand it. I hope this has been a learning experience for Google, and that they let Mark blog to his heart’s content (just without revealing any big secrets, of course). It’ll do wonders for the company’s image, which has been hurting lately, if we have one honest and outspoken voice.
You know, if I was a little more cynical, I’d call this a publicity stunt. Mark has been blogging for eight days and he’s already got 41 Bloglines subscribers (myself included). A little controversy can do wonders for your readership :-). Blog on, Mark!
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January 26th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
General |
no comments
Scoble reports via Chad Lind that some evil spyware companies are buying up anti-spyware keywords on Google in order to give customer, you guessed it, more spyware. Almost every bogus or evil fake anti-adware program on this list is a Google advertiser, suggesting that Google makes no effort to determine the “evilness” of its ad partners, and that their strategy of hurting those who need help is working. Well, banning everyone on that list from advertising would be a start…
January 26th, 2005
Posted by
Nathan Weinberg |
Security, AdWords, Advertising, General |
one comment
