There's plenty of comment out there about Google Pages (Mathew Ingram, Search Engine Watch) but what really fascinates me is the company's scattered approach to launching new services – something Peter Cashmore describes as "Spray and Pray". It's like Google has attention deficit disorder because they launch something new and, before you know it, they're onto the next big thing. Take Blogger, for example. Given the growing popularity of blogging, you would think Blogger would be a dominant, feature-rich service given Google's financial muscle and army of PhDs. But this is not the case. Instead, Blogger hasn't changed much since Google acquired it. Instead of being beefed up, it has fallen behind the competition as new players such as WordPress have appeared on the scene. I mean, Blogger still hasn't introduced trackbacks. Picasa is another example of interesting technology that hasn't been leveraged properly – and could say the same thing about Froogle and GMail. As much as investors love Google, let's be clear here: it's a one trick-pony, although the trick is extremely lucrative. For all the talk about Larry Page and Sergey Brin becoming strategic visionaries, it's hard to see a vision unlesss it's about creating new real estate for AdSense – regardless of whether these new services are any good. Maybe there's a master plan happening that the rest of us can't grasp yet but it would be nice for Google to commit itself to doing something really well when it introduces a new service – rather than coming out with something that disappoints and doesn't move a market forward.
Update: Search Engine Journal is reporting that Google may be launching a finance site, while my friend Mathew Ingram is calling on Google to come out with a calendar so it can take GMail, Google Talk and a rumoured voice mail service to battle Microsoft's Outlook.
RIM-NTP Media Circus
From all accounts, tomorrow's court hearing in Richmond, Va. in which Judge James Spencer (left) could grant an order to shut down Research in Motion's Blackberry service in the U.S. will be a media circus. With the court room expected to be packed, another room with a video feed has already been set up, and it is highly possible there will be a second room to make sure the hundreds of reporters are accomodated. It is far from certain what will actually happen tomorrow. Judge Spencer could make a ruling – a possibility given his demonstrated stubborness and lack of patience. Then again, he could take his time to make a decision, and keep everyone in suspense for a few more weeks. For more information, check out this CNet story, which provides a good overview of what's happening and what could happen, a Wharton School of Business piece on the whether the U.S. patent system is “out of whack” and patent lawyer Stephanie Stoughton's excellent post on how this case has gone down and the mechanics of the patent/court system.
Update: CNet has a story on RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie telling an investment conference that he was advised it would be “crazy” to accept NTP's latest settlement offer.
Who's Fred Gilbert and What Does He Know about Wi-Fi?
It turns out a new expert in Wi-Fi technology also spends his time running Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, Ont. Fred Gilbert, the university's president, has banned Wi-Fi on campus because he believes it potentially has “some fairly significant” health consequences based on some literature he's read. So Fred, what makes you think this research is so conclusive? You got any concrete evidence it's true? And what makes you such an expert when Wi-Fi networks are being established everywhere from hotels to hospitals? Just out of curiosity, Fred, what's your take on reports that cell phones cause brain cancer? It is somewhat ironic that at a time when “Wi-Fi Fred” bans wireless networks, Via Rail is launching Wi-Fi on it trains.
Are Online Polls a Business?
Silicon Beat has a post today on Vizu raising $1-million to develop an online polling service from a group of investors that includes WR Hambrecht + Co, Amicus Capital, Ron Conway, Esther Dyson, Don Hutchison, and Mike Maples, Jr. I've played with several other poll services – Quimble, dPolls – and found them to be interesting tools and fairly easy to use. Vizu was, by far, the most time-consuming poll to create and I was disappointed to discover the only way to distribute it was via e-mail, as opposed to being able to put it on your blog or Web site. The question is whether Vizu, Quimble, dPolls, etc. can become businesses. From what I can tell, dPolls and Quimble are generating revenue from AdSense, which means they have to attract lots of traffic from polls on blogs and Web sites back to their corporate site. It's still pretty early days but I don't see a vibrant business model here unless what we're looking at is low-cost operations that don't require much revenue to survive. My sense is online polling is just another cool Web 2.0 service with limited business prospects. Give me some time, and I'll come up with a catchy acronym or pithy phrase to describe these “cool but…” group.
Blogbeat Gets Some Love
It's not often that I beat Michael Arrington to the punch but he's just discovered Blogbeat, an effective, but simple-to-install, service to track blog traffic. I've been using Blogbeat for a couple months and experienced some of the ups and down of a new service trying to get its act together before coming out of beta. What was particularly interesting was a recent tweak that was a classic one step forward, two steps back move. Fortunately, it was quickly fixed and the service works well and has a nice look and feel. The real test for Blogbeat will be if people are willing to pay $6 a month for the service at a time when Google Analytics – and presumably MeasureMap now that it's part of the Google empire – is free. Give Blogbeat credit for having a real business model predicated on selling a service – an unfortunate rarity within the Web 2.0 entrepreneurial landscape. In you are thinking about coughing up $6 a month for Blogbeat, a nice option is you can use PayPal.
Toilet Seats Have Less Germs than Your Desk…Really!
Believe it or not, this was the title of press release issued today by Grand & Toy. Apparently, the average desk (including computer mice, telephones, etc.) have 400X more germs than a toilet seat. Even it's true, I'm not sure this is the kind mental imagery I would want to suggest to sell a product. But Grand & Toy is trying to promote a “hygenic and healthier” workplace to sell accessories made by Fellowes such as mice and keyboards that feature Microban anti-microbial protection. The problem is whenever I see Fellowes product, I'm going to think about toilets.
