Google has released a new version of their Gmail Notifier for the Mac. It’s a Universal Binary version, so it works nicely on both Power PC and Intel Macs. According to the Google blog, it also has new icons and will automatically upgrade to new versions. Download it here.
(via MacWorld)
I’ve decided to start a new series on this blog, which I’m calling Perspectives. I realize that I end a lot of posts with “we’ll see where this goes”, but we never get to see, since I’m not going to repeat the same stuff every day until a conclusion is reached. Blogs tend to be so obsessed with the “now”, that we never pay attention to what’s happened in the past, and we forget things that might be important. So, every day, unless I’m way too busy (or not around), I’ll post about whatever I was discussing a year ago, and, as time goes by, two years ago, and so on.
On January 9, 2005, I was discussing some comments Daniel Brandt made regarding Google Print (now Book Search) and privacy. I said:
First, there is his continued insistence that Google’s use of a single cookie for all its services is a serious privacy issue. Well, it could be, if Google devised a system for linking the cookie to a computer and a person, and decided that it needed to fill up thousands of more computers with the browsing history of every searcher who using Google.
Ha! Forget cookies! How was I to know Google would release Search History, an opt-in program for tracking everything you searched for and clicked on in Google? Now, not only does Google offer it, but I use it proudly, taking advantage of personalized search results, removing spam results and tagging favorite pages (and UPS tracking numbers). Its a great service, and until Google betrays my trust, I proudly tell them to save all my data in return for better features.
I’ll reiterate what I said there: Daniel is the kind of critic we need for issues of such magnitude. We need someone to remind us all of the danger Google could pose were it to go evil, even if I don’t think they are.
This has been “Perspectives”, I’m Lionel Osbourne.
I’ve decided to start a new series on this blog, which I’m calling Perspectives. I realize that I end a lot of posts with “we’ll see where this goes”, but we never get to see, since I’m not going to repeat the same stuff every day until a conclusion is reached. Blogs tend to be so obsessed with the “now”, that we never pay attention to what’s happened in the past, and we forget things that might be important. So, every day, unless I’m way too busy (or not around), I’ll post about whatever I was discussing a year ago, and, as time goes by, two years ago, and so on.
On January 8, 2005, I was talking Scoble’s book and doing my own podcast, neither of which has materialized. At least Scoble’s book is on its way! I should get to work. Of course, I’m not really here. This post was written in the past.
Also, Enron’s Ken Lay was using AdWords to say, “I’m innocent!”. Hilarious, and useful. Remind me to start an online poker/phentermine blog to rake in the big keywords.
Finally, I decided that Google’s results for “www” were the top pages on the net. Not accurate, but fun nonetheless.
A year ago, the top ten was:
1. Yahoo
2. Microsoft
3. AltaVista
4. CNN
5. Amazon
6. Lycos
7. Adobe
8. Excite
9. Google
10. Mapquest
Today, they are:
1. Yahoo
2. AltaVista (+1)
3. CNN (+1)
4. Microsoft (-2)
5. Adobe (+2)
6. Google (+3)
7. Mapquest (+3)
8. Amazon (-3)
9. Excite (-1)
10. Lycos (-4)
Amazing that the contents of the list remain the same, while the placements have changed. The full top 100 is below the jump, but the interesting facts:
This has been “Perspectives”, I’m Lionel Osbourne.
I’ve decided to start a new series on this blog, which I’m calling Perspectives. I realize that I end a lot of posts with “we’ll see where this goes”, but we never get to see, since I’m not going to repeat the same stuff every day until a conclusion is reached. Blogs tend to be so obsessed with the “now”, that we never pay attention to what’s happened in the past, and we forget things that might be important. So, every day, unless I’m way too busy (or not around), I’ll post about whatever I was discussing a year ago, and, as time goes by, two years ago, and so on.
On January 5, 2005, Yahoo announced a joint DVR service with SBC which could deliver Yahoo services to the TV, just like the Yahoo Go TV service they launched yesterday. Wonder how well that worked out, or if Go TV is the much better attempt. Anyone use it?
Findory added personalized search RSS feeds. I subscribe to three Findory feeds, one general and two search (one for Google, one for Microsoft), and I’m not sure I could live without them. Combined, they dump hundreds of items a day into my RSS reader, introduce me to blogs I’d never discover, and most importantly, help me keep up on the news I care about. For the RSS-heavy user, it doesn’t get better than this.
Merril Lynch initiated coverage on Google at “neutral”, uneasy about its prospects because it was afraid Google wasn’t finding new ways to make money. Funny how their analysis was mostly correct over the coming year, but their conclusion was awful (Google stock has doubled in value).
There are 7,097 unsecured webcams in Google, using this method, up from 2,715 a year ago. Nice.
This has been “Perspectives”, I’m Lionel Osbourne.
I’ve decided to start a new series on this blog, which I’m calling Perspectives. I realize that I end a lot of posts with “we’ll see where this goes”, but we never get to see, since I’m not going to repeat the same stuff every day until a conclusion is reached. Blogs tend to be so obsessed with the “now”, that we never pay attention to what’s happened in the past, and we forget things that might be important. So, every day, unless I’m way too busy (or not around), I’ll post about whatever I was discussing a year ago, and, as time goes by, two years ago, and so on.
On January 4, 2005, a poll had 65% of respondents suggesting to sell Google. So, if Google has more than doubled in a year, how many kinds of correct would my pronouncement of those people as “idiots” be?
Google also announced it would be starting a charitable foundation, which was later revealed as Google.org. Like most charities, the results have been slow to materialize, but Google has grand ambitions, so as long as they get their results, who could complain?
Google’s blog tried to respond to January 2004’s controversy du jour, that it was too hard and inconvenient to try to get a job at Google, by saying, “if you’re thinking that it’s too late to make an impact at Google… there are more chances to make your mark than ever before”. It is probably easier to get a job now than a year ago, due to the fact that Google has hired so many people and is looking for even more, although anything less than perfect will still disqualify you. I would love to hear if any of my readers were trying to get hired.
Finally, Six Apart was buying LiveJournal. I haven’t heard anything about integration between the services. Can you do things that cross TypePad to LJ, like adding TypePad blogs to your LJ friends or migrating your blog from one service to the other, or have they done nothing with it?
This has been “Perspectives”, I’m Lionel Osbourne.
I’ve decided to start a new series on this blog, which I’m calling Perspectives. I realize that I end a lot of posts with “we’ll see where this goes”, but we never get to see, since I’m not going to repeat the same stuff every day until a conclusion is reached. Blogs tend to be so obsessed with the “now”, that we never pay attention to what’s happened in the past, and we forget things that might be important. So, every day, unless I’m way too busy (or not around), I’ll post about whatever I was discussing a year ago, and, as time goes by, two years ago, and so on.
On January 3, 2005, the big story was about Visitorville’s stats, which said many of Google’s competitors were using Google’s search engines while Google stuck to the in-house stuff, in addition to lots of other interesting data. I almost got Slashdotted for that one. A year later, Visitorville isn’t serving that kind of data for free, so I can’t compare, but they are apparently offering a free trial.
A big topic early last year was getting hired at Google (which dried up around the same time the Mark Jen story happened; coincidence?). Everybody wanted a job at Google (still do), but the interview process was long and difficult. Google wants only the best. I think its still very much worth it to get a job at Google, and many would kill for such a position (I know I would). Of course, if you aren’t the Google type, I’m not sure you should bother, and I wasn’t then either.
Finally, Google stock closed above $200 for the first time. hard to believe it is more than double that, at $433.75 today. Some people got really rich. Others got obscenely rich. Me? I got a blog.
I might add, my traffic rises faster than the stock price. Good rate of return, I guess.
This has been “Perspectives”, I’m Lionel Osbourne.
I’ve decided to start a new series on this blog, which I’m calling Perspectives. I realize that I end a lot of posts with “we’ll see where this goes”, but we never get to see, since I’m not going to repeat the same stuff every day until a conclusion is reached. Blogs tend to be so obsessed with the “now”, that we never pay attention to what’s happened in the past, and we forget things that might be important. So, every day, unless I’m way too busy (or not around), I’ll post about whatever I was discussing a year ago, and, as time goes by, two years ago, and so on.
On January 2, 2005, we were talking about Google’s big 60 Minutes piece. Also big news that day: a flame war between Google and Microsoft employees on their personal blogs. It seems like everyone (including myself) was perceiving Google in a slightly less serious light.
We all knew Google was capable of big things, but it was still that silly young company, with lots of emphasis on wackiness at the Googleplex. We don’t talk about ping pong tables, college dorms, circus classes and the free jello as much as we used to. Its still there, but its overshadowed by billion dollar AOL deals, patent lawsuits and security holes.
Getting back to the flame war, there was a debate over whether Google was taking from the open source community without giving back. While Google does rely an enormous amount on the creations of open source, it has made a major effort to give back in the last year, with Adam Bosworth, the Google half of the argument, leading the charge with Google’s Summer of Code.
Additionally, Google has been funding the two major alternative browsers, Firefox and Opera, by paying to be the default search engine. They’ve even hired several major Firefox developers, and are actively assisting in the development of the browser, to the point where I’ve accused them of being the de facto owners of the browser. Considering that Firefox is the second largest and most significant open source project out there (after Linux), Google has definitely answered its critics.
Oh, and that Google OS? Did anyone really believe those awful screenshots?
This has been “Perspectives”, I’m Lionel Osbourne.
I’ve decided to start a new series on this blog, which I’m calling Perspectives. I realize that I end a lot of posts with “we’ll see where this goes”, but we never get to see, since I’m not going to repeat the same stuff every day until a conclusion is reached. Blogs tend to be so obsessed with the “now”, that we never pay attention to what’s happened in the past, and we forget things that might be important. So, every day, unless I’m way too busy (or not around), I’ll post about whatever I was discussing a year ago, and, as time goes by, two years ago, and so on.
On January 1, 2005, I only had one post, part of my contract with Marqui. It seems strange that it was only a year ago that people were trying desperately to figure out how to make money from blogging. While there are some fancy sponsorship agreements, the majority of money these days does seem to come still from advertising.
A year ago, all we had was AdSense, as well as the traditional companies, many of whom didn’t shoot low enough for the blogger market, or weren’t interested in out traffic. Two major competitors have emerged in the last year, Yahoo’s Publisher Network and Chitika. I use all three concurrently, and my experience is:
This has been “Perspectives”, I’m Lionel Osbourne.
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