InformationWeek Daily Archives
05/19/2013 07:49:24 Daily, January 24Google, The Sea Monster, And The Big Whirlpool
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In This Issue:
1. Editor's Note: Google, The Sea Monster, And The Big Whirlpool
2. Today's Top Story
- Google's Achilles' Heel
- Review: Google Pack
3. Breaking News
- Opera Releases 'Mini' Mobile Phone Browser
- Firefox 1.5 Passes 20 Million Mark
- Exec Pay At HP, Google Differs Drastically
- Botnet Creator Pleads Guilty, Faces 25 Years
- Super Bucks Needed For Super Bowl Tix
- Does An Outside Contractor Help Speed Some Tech Projects?
- 3G Finally Gaining Momentum: Report
- Worldwide Hot-Spot List Tops 100,000 Mark
- EMC: Strong Year-End Financials, New Products Thursday
- U.S.-European GPS Rivalry Heats Up
- Kama Sutra Spoofs Digital Certificates
- Study: State, Local Government Outsourcing On The Rise
- Egenera And Emerson Team On Cool Blades
4. Grab Bag
- Business, And Repression, As Usual
- Microsoft Not Meeting Goals Of Settlement, U.S. Says
- The Year Of Living DRMishly
5. In Depth: Microsoft
- Microsoft Leverages IPv6 With Vista
- EC Grants Microsoft Extension; DOJ Says Company Tardy
- Microsoft's Web-Design Tools Could Lure Corporate
Defections From Mac
- Bill Gates' Spam Prediction Misses Target
6. Voice Of Authority
- Counterpoint: You Don't Have To Be A Busybody To Worry
About Privacy
7. White Papers
- A Toolkit Approach To Business Analysis: Maximizing Your
Return On Business Information
8. Get More Out Of InformationWeek
9. Manage Your Newsletter Subscription
Quote of the day:
"The way to succeed is to double your error rate." -- Thomas J. Watson
The headline on today's top story, "Google's Achilles' Heel,"
references classical mythology. Here's another classical mythology
reference that's not mentioned in the story: Scylla and Charybdis.
In Greek mythology, Scylla was a monster who lived on one side of
the Strait of Messia. A whirlpool named Charybdis was on the
other side of the strait. Ships passing through the channel had
to carefully steer a course between the two hazards. If they went
too wrong in one direction, the sea monster got 'em, and if they
went wrong in the other direction, they went down under the whirlpool.
(Still other navigational errors would result in their being
stranded on Gilligan's Island. But ancient Greek legends don't
discuss that.)
Reading over "Google's Achilles' Heel," I'm struck that Google is
attempting to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis.
The company gets virtually all its enormous revenue from
keyword-related advertising. Type a search term into Google, and
you'll see ads that are triggered by that keyword. Similarly, if
certain keywords are present in a Gmail message, or on an
external site that belongs to Google's ad network, you'll see ads
related to those keywords as well.
That's a huge, and growing, business. But how long will that
last? As our story points out, only until somebody else comes up
with better algorithms.
Google appears to be aware of this. That's why it's scrambling to
develop new products and services at a frenetic pace.
But in doing so, it can't lose sight of the original business.
It needs to innovate and create new businesses, while also
avoiding losing sight of the old business. In other words: It
needs to navigate between Scylla and Charybdis.
Read our story for more insight into the threats facing Google: In addition to
excessive reliance on search advertising, there are also
lawsuits, eroding public trust, lack of focus, and the
competitive threat from Microsoft.
And, in other Google coverage: Google News is out of beta, and we have a
review of Google Pack, the recently released bundle of
desktop software for personal productivity, security, and fun.
If today's Google coverage leaves you hungry for more, we're
running another major Google story Monday. I just read a draft,
and it's a beaut; I'm eager to see the finished product and for
you to read it.
What do you think? Can Google successfully steer through the
threats facing it? Leave a comment on the InformationWeek
Weblog and let us know.
Mitch Wagner
Google's Achilles' Heel
Review: Google Pack
Opera Releases 'Mini' Mobile Phone Browser
Firefox 1.5 Passes 20 Million Mark
Exec Pay At HP, Google Differs Drastically
Botnet Creator Pleads Guilty, Faces 25 Years
Super Bucks Needed For Super Bowl Tix
Does An Outside Contractor Help Speed Some Tech Projects?
3G Finally Gaining Momentum: Report
Worldwide Hot-Spot List Tops 100,000 Mark
EMC: Strong Year-End Financials, New Products Thursday
U.S.-European GPS Rivalry Heats Up
Kama Sutra Spoofs Digital Certificates
Study: State, Local Government Outsourcing On The Rise
Egenera And Emerson Team On Cool Blades
John Soat With 'Like, News'
Elena Malykhina With 'Genie In A Cell Phone'
Podcasts
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Subscribe To Your Favorite Authors
Your Chance To Weigh In
-----------------------------------------
Business, And Repression, As Usual (The Washington Post)
Microsoft Not Meeting Goals Of Settlement, U.S. Says (Bloomberg)
The Year Of Living DRMishly (Wired News)
Microsoft Leverages IPv6 With Vista
EC Grants Microsoft Extension; DOJ Says Company Tardy
Microsoft's Web-Design Tools Could Lure Corporate Defections From Mac
Bill Gates' Spam Prediction Misses Target
Counterpoint: You Don't Have To Be A Busybody To Worry About Privacy
A Toolkit Approach To Business Analysis: Maximizing Your Return
On Business Information
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InformationWeek Daily Newsletter
1. Editor's Note: Google, The Sea Monster, And The Big Whirlpool
mwagner@cmp.com
www.informationweek.com
Wall Street loves it. Consumers are begging for more of it. Other
companies want to be it. But Google has its
vulnerabilities--excessive reliance on search advertising,
lawsuits, eroding public trust, lack of focus, and the competitive
threat from Microsoft. How long can Google's run last?
Google Pack is designed to be a single, easy-to-use package
containing a dozen desktop applications for personal
productivity, communications, security, and just for fun. How
well does it work?
Opera Mini supports virtually all Java-enabled cell phones and
compresses Web pages by up to 80%, reformatting them for easy and
fast browsing on mobile screens.
The open-source browser, with between 9% and 10% of the market,
has also been localized for 35 languages since its debut less
than two months ago, the company said.
Although the Google execs--Sergey Brin, Larry Page, and Eric
Schmidt--turned down the huge salaries that are standard at
Hewlett-Packard and most everywhere else in the computer
industry, their stock holdings are their rewards.
A 20-year-old California man is the first American botnet creator
to be convicted on federal charges.
A comprehensive search across the Web by FatLens.com found
tickets ranging all the way from $1,825 for a single seat to
$315,000 for a luxury box.
Two transportation-security projects have yielded vastly
different results thus far. One big difference is an outside
contractor's level of involvement.
Preliminary figures indicate that at the end of last year, there
were 44 million W-CDMA subscribers worldwide, an increase of 164%
over the number registered at the end of 2004.
The number of wireless hot-spots almost doubled worldwide and is
expected to continue growing rapidly, according to a directory service.
The storage company's reports of double-digit growth will be
followed by new file-virtualization technology related to its
recent acquisition of Rainfinity, CEO Joe Tucci says.
A U.S. official today will unveil a next-generation GPS system
that the government promises will provide more commercial
features. The current GPS network has focused on military
requirements, but now the Europeans are readying Galileo.
Another twist has been discovered with the newest worm making the
rounds: Kama Sutra can fool Windows into accepting a malicious
ActiveX control by spoofing a digital signature.
One big factor is the upcoming retirement of many government
employees, meaning that states will need more outside help to get
things done.
CoolFrame system is designed to reduce the heat generated by
high-density blade-server installations.
RIM's BlackBerry case rejected by the Supreme Court, consumers
excited about dual-core technology, sex.com sells for millions,
and more.
Youth-targeted Ampd Mobile, upgrades entertainment content
management to create a more personalized mobile experience.
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4. Grab Bag: News You Need From Around The Web
Columnist Richard Cohen chastises companies like Yahoo and Cisco
that do business in China and assist that country's repressive
government in stifling and locking up dissidents.
Microsoft is failing to move quickly enough to comply with its
antitrust settlement with the government, the Bush administration
said in its strongest show of impatience with the company since
they reached their agreement in 2001.
All signs point to 2006 as the year consumers become intimately
familiar with digital-rights management, as Microsoft, Apple, and
Google all push their own copy-protection schemes. Can revolution
be far behind?
Internet Protocol version 6 promises to deliver connectivity
features in Windows Vista not possible with today's Internet
Protocol version 4.
The European Commission gave Microsoft an extension Monday to
respond to charges relating to a 2004 antitrust ruling.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice took the company to
task for falling behind in providing documentation required under
a 2002 antitrust settlement.
As the company provides early looks at its new tools, Web
designers and developers say Microsoft could lure Mac shops with
XAML support, collaboration features, and simplified user
interface and app development.
Two years ago, Gates said the spam problem would be "solved" by
now. We're not even close, experts say, and for many reasons that
don't have anything to do with Microsoft.
Earlier this week, Bob Evans turned his razor-sharp pen on
self-styled "privacy advocates" who object to the government
subpoenaing search records in defense of the Child Online
Protection Act. But Mitch Wagner says you don't have to be a kook
to be worried about government setting a big bucket to scoop up
thousands of gallons of information about Internet searches.
Using integrated analysis toolkits, companies can rapidly build
and deploy sophisticated applications for business analysis,
budgeting, planning, simulation, and reporting. This white paper
explores the toolkit approach to providing business analysis and
alternatives for building custom analysis solutions for strategic
decision-making.
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