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Facebook's collision course with the big portals

Mark Zuckerberg describes Facebook as a service designed to help people communicate better, primarily through the social graph, which is the network of connections and relationships between people.

The social graph, he said, is the reason Facebook works. The popular social applications, such as Flirtable, FunWall and SuperPoke, built on the Facebook platform, are only a small part of Facebook's bigger ambition to help people communicate better.

In fact, Facebook is on a collision course with the more mature Web colonies--AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

One of the key metrics of a major portal is stickiness--the number of applications … Read more

Google leaves Microsoft's search in the dust

Microsoft continues to dominate the old world of desktop computing, but the future clearly belongs to Google. As reported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Google's share of the search market now tops 59 percent, with Microsoft at 9.6 percent (and Yahoo! at 21.6 percent).

A combination of Yahoo! and Microsoft would give the two a more respectable market presence, but with both Yahoo! and Microsoft trending down, it's not a panacea.

Unfortunately for Microsoft and Yahoo!, Google isn't winning by closing out competitors. It's actually winning by opening up. Microsoft, to compete, must follow suit, … Read more

Google secures its infrastructure, lets users roam free

I found this article on how Google manages its internal IT fascinating. Google basically sets its users free to download software from the Internet, among other things, and take care of themselves. Imagine that.

Of course, Google can do this because Google is, well, Google. Google is heavy on engineers who understand security. This is becoming less and less true over time, however, which brings to mind the real reason Google can have a policy like this:

It trusts the system, not the nodes within the system.… Read more

Google loses Gmail trademark appeal in Europe

A European body has again told Google that it cannot have trademark protection to use the Gmail mark throughout the European Union.

The European Union's trademark regulation agency denied Google's appeal in late February. The ruling concluded that the mark is too similar to the G-mail trademark owned by German businessman Daniel Giersch. Giersch runs an electronic postal delivery business that goes by the name G-mail, which is short for "Giersch mail."

"There is a likelihood of confusion," the agency wrote.

Google representatives in the U.S. did not respond to an e-mail seeking … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 684: Dude, it's not Dell

EPISODE 684

Amazon’s right on Vista SP1 http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9897191-56.html

FCC Ends 700 MHz Auction http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9897722-7.html

Dell refutes solid state drive failure claims (Thanks Russ960!) http://www.cnet.com/8301-13924_1-9897828-64.html

Apple could split device sales with music labels http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9897871-7.html

Adobe CEO says Flash apps coming to iPhone http://crave.cnet.com/8301-1_105-9897861-1.html

The reality of the RDF: how Apple motivates us to creativity http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080319-brands-as-personality-why-apple-motivates-us-to-creativity.html

Toshiba losing money in HD DVD business http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ ap_on_hi_te/japan_toshiba… Read more

Gadgets comes to Google Docs

Google on Wednesday unveiled Gadgets for Spreadsheets in Google Docs, allowing people to create graphical representations of data in spreadsheets and publish them on Web sites.

For consumers, this means they have a dozen or so new ways to look at data in their spreadsheets. Google has put up a gallery of specialty gadgets to choose from. They include gadgets to display data on a pie chart, map, time chart, funnel chart, Gantt chart, pivot table, and on a heat map if it's geographical data. You can even create interactive charts like those used by Google Finance and for … Read more

Report: Google search share down globally, up in U.S.

Updated at 4:15 p.m. PDT with no word from ComScore on global figures.

Google's share of the worldwide Web search market fell slightly in February--to 62.8 percent from 63.1 percent the month before--along with a dip at Yahoo, according to ComScore figures reported by Reuters on Wednesday.

Yahoo's global market share was down to 11.9 percent from 12.2 percent; China's Baidu dropped to 4.5 percent from 4.6 percent, and Microsoft's share was flat at 3.1 percent, according to figures Reuters got from an unnamed Wall Street analyst. … Read more

Are Internet ads better than TV ads?

BURLINGAME, Calif.--Here's a figure you want to remember: 80 percent retention rate.

Approximately 80 percent of people who watched videos on the Web site of broadcaster ABC (through the company's player) could remember the sponsor/advertiser of the program, said Brad Davis, senior vice president of online media sales and marketing for the Walt Disney Internet Group, during a presentation at the Digital Living Room conference taking place here. The study was commissioned by Walt Disney Internet Group and ABC. (Walt Disney is the parent company of ABC.)

As a result of the recall issue, the cost … Read more

Google launches tool portal for nonprofits

Google for Nonprofits, a site designed to educate charities about the search giant's suite of Web-based tools, debuted Tuesday.

Essentially, it's a lineup of links to Google's various applications and tutorials for using them, but with a charitable spin. A link to YouTube is accompanied with "broadcast your cause to the world's largest online video community." Google Groups come with a suggestion of "communicate easily to staff or volunteers and encourage discussions among supporters."

But the Google for Nonprofits page also highlights special initiatives for nonprofits, like free advertising through the Google … Read more