Heh, Bill is giving me lots of stuff to talk about tonight at a certain party at a certain Mountain View, CA location that I’m not allowed to blog about. Sorry, not my rules.
Larry and Sergey (the two main Google guys) tell me that the competition between Google and its competitors are way overexaggerated, by the way. I agree and yes, I just did break the blog quotation rules here. :-). It’s all about who does the best job for people. I’ve been meeting with execs from all over the world (only a small percentage of them are from Google) all day long and I see total untapped opportunity. I mean, freaking, big, untapped opportunity. The kind where people who run major media companies walk up to you and say “can you help us?” Google and MSN and Yahoo all put together haven’t even tapped a small percentage of the potential opportunity. We’re all leaving money on the table.
So, the challenge for all of our companies is to go after the untapped markets. If you’re a gold miner, are you gonna get rich by mining where other people and companies have mined already? Maybe, but it’s a lot harder work. Why not look at the vein that’s totally being ignored.
No one has nailed time-based search. No one has really nailed people-based search. No one has nailed metrics (can I go to any search engine and see a list of everyone I’ve ever linked to and how many times I’ve linked — or the other way, how many people have linked to me and how many times they’ve linked to me?)
Has anyone figured out really how to put blogs and photos on maps? Has anyone figured out how to mix professional news and amateur news in a way that demonstrates the correctness/authority/reputation of the article itself and the author in aggregate?
Has anyone figured out how to make advertising fun? Has anyone figured out how to report back to the search engines which people have actually bought anything after clicking on an ad and which ones just looked?
Has anyone figured out how to really translate from Farsi to Chinese to Japanese to English and back?
Has anyone figured out how to put a search engine onto an iPod?
Shall I go on? There’s lots of work in this industry for hundreds of companies to do without stepping on each other’s toes. When all the Internet challenges get done then we can worry about fighting.
What I want to see is an RSS reader driven by AI. I am starting to get a little bit drowned with my 200 (and growing) RSS feeds, hell I can’t imagine being you Scoble with 1000+. I want a reader to learn as I read feeds, which ones I like to read, which ones I think are crap. Prioritize what information I would love to read, and trim the fat that I don’t really care about.
What I would really love to see, even though this is a few years down the line. A rollable newspaper, powered by rss, auotupdating, with every person’s newspaper being unique to them. That would make the world a better place, it really would.
What I want to see is an RSS reader driven by AI. I am starting to get a little bit drowned with my 200 (and growing) RSS feeds, hell I can’t imagine being you Scoble with 1000+. I want a reader to learn as I read feeds, which ones I like to read, which ones I think are crap. Prioritize what information I would love to read, and trim the fat that I don’t really care about.
What I would really love to see, even though this is a few years down the line. A rollable newspaper, powered by rss, auotupdating, with every person’s newspaper being unique to them. That would make the world a better place, it really would.
Stefan: great great great idea…”A rollable newspaper, powered by rss, auotupdating, with every person’s newspaper being unique to them.”
but it shouldn’t be possible a few years down the line…I believe it can be done now…
Stefan: great great great idea…”A rollable newspaper, powered by rss, auotupdating, with every person’s newspaper being unique to them.”
but it shouldn’t be possible a few years down the line…I believe it can be done now…
interesting work with tags…and/or
http://del.icio.us/
interesting work with tags…and/or
http://del.icio.us/
(Warning cynical commentary ahead)
Oh gosh, what total tripe. (Rolls eyes). And if you don’t fear them how come MSN just started book-scanning, just more “legal”? I mean how to be so copycat. MSN is a dumping ground for the rejects from other teams, it’s so so obvious.
And all this secondary mesh rot, of blogs, photos, classified ads, advertising, Feeds, translations, citizen journalism, search-engine — all in some big casserole’ish mix only means the first round hasn’t took, so you have to criss-cross into something workable. Blah. The web is not the sole method of information. Doesn’t MFST give you a Lexis or Westlaw account? Or you get all your info from Wackipedia?
You are not allowed to blog about it, yet you just broke the rules? Above the law? Kinda like those MFST NDAs eh? Lesser mortals are cast to neverneverland, yet you get a pat on back for being “human”. Must be nice.
(Warning cynical commentary ahead)
Oh gosh, what total tripe. (Rolls eyes). And if you don’t fear them how come MSN just started book-scanning, just more “legal”? I mean how to be so copycat. MSN is a dumping ground for the rejects from other teams, it’s so so obvious.
And all this secondary mesh rot, of blogs, photos, classified ads, advertising, Feeds, translations, citizen journalism, search-engine — all in some big casserole’ish mix only means the first round hasn’t took, so you have to criss-cross into something workable. Blah. The web is not the sole method of information. Doesn’t MFST give you a Lexis or Westlaw account? Or you get all your info from Wackipedia?
You are not allowed to blog about it, yet you just broke the rules? Above the law? Kinda like those MFST NDAs eh? Lesser mortals are cast to neverneverland, yet you get a pat on back for being “human”. Must be nice.
Slightly off topic, but something some friends and I have tossed around for a time and it popped into my head when you mention search on an iPod. If you think about the sheer number of iPods wandering around, say in New York City just think about the terabytes of space.
If Apple were to say drop Bluetooth into their machines think of the social networking that could go on just from there. Or if someone wanted to make a Bluetooth adapter onto an iPod so that older versions could take advantage of this. One simple application would be “Hey, you have got to hear this song” and instead of passing the headphones you just stream the song. In a classroom setting, especially at large universities where there are 1000+ capacity classrooms it would be easy to listen to the lecture in the back of the class and possibly even keep a recording of it to go through later.
Slightly off topic, but something some friends and I have tossed around for a time and it popped into my head when you mention search on an iPod. If you think about the sheer number of iPods wandering around, say in New York City just think about the terabytes of space.
If Apple were to say drop Bluetooth into their machines think of the social networking that could go on just from there. Or if someone wanted to make a Bluetooth adapter onto an iPod so that older versions could take advantage of this. One simple application would be “Hey, you have got to hear this song” and instead of passing the headphones you just stream the song. In a classroom setting, especially at large universities where there are 1000+ capacity classrooms it would be easy to listen to the lecture in the back of the class and possibly even keep a recording of it to go through later.
social bookmarking is missing one key feature. letting me connect with other users. now imagine something like digg.com but with delicious.
you have your own personal bookmarks and a service shows you other users just like you, let people talk to each other, see what bookmarks other users have. great concepts.
this will make search very difficult. in 2008 for example apple launches a new ipod, for every news article about the new ipod there will be 10+ blogs talking about it. this is the challenge i see in our future. with everyone being able to author their own content we are going to be inindated with noise.
search has to radically change in some way shape or form to make the internet more managble.
social bookmarking is missing one key feature. letting me connect with other users. now imagine something like digg.com but with delicious.
you have your own personal bookmarks and a service shows you other users just like you, let people talk to each other, see what bookmarks other users have. great concepts.
this will make search very difficult. in 2008 for example apple launches a new ipod, for every news article about the new ipod there will be 10+ blogs talking about it. this is the challenge i see in our future. with everyone being able to author their own content we are going to be inindated with noise.
search has to radically change in some way shape or form to make the internet more managble.
Nice name dropping…
Anyway, I love the image of the media companies scared s***less by this “new world.” They’ve depended on the customer being blind and dumb, filing in, depositing their money on approved content, then scuttling off. The thought of “user created content” means the inmates are running the asylum. And they have no idea how to react (well, except the game companies, but that’s a different story - because while its not user created content, it’s user-created experience within a set of rules).
By the way, Scoble, all your ideas aren’t bad, but they tend to put the tech above the human. When tech companies start to design “really cool” stuff that only a small part of the population wants, that’s how they go out of business (how much money was spent on the magic dancing paper clip in Office that everyone hated?).
Tech companies need to focus on the mass market a bit more - make their products easier, simpler, more intuitive - a joy to experience - instead of getting a “This program has shut down for unexplained reasons” message.
Ok, there’s my rant. Enjoy the buffet.
Nice name dropping…
Anyway, I love the image of the media companies scared s***less by this “new world.” They’ve depended on the customer being blind and dumb, filing in, depositing their money on approved content, then scuttling off. The thought of “user created content” means the inmates are running the asylum. And they have no idea how to react (well, except the game companies, but that’s a different story - because while its not user created content, it’s user-created experience within a set of rules).
By the way, Scoble, all your ideas aren’t bad, but they tend to put the tech above the human. When tech companies start to design “really cool” stuff that only a small part of the population wants, that’s how they go out of business (how much money was spent on the magic dancing paper clip in Office that everyone hated?).
Tech companies need to focus on the mass market a bit more - make their products easier, simpler, more intuitive - a joy to experience - instead of getting a “This program has shut down for unexplained reasons” message.
Ok, there’s my rant. Enjoy the buffet.
you know, if you delete all the penis-waving in the first paragraph or so, it’s a pretty fascinating post.
But I do have to agree with Adam on one thing Robert. You get all wrapped up about this stuff for tech’s sake, but what problem does it solve? You’re 6000 solutions in search of a problem, and ignoring the problems that are right there…like why is HTML editing still WORSE than WordPerfect 1.0 on a usage level?
you know, if you delete all the penis-waving in the first paragraph or so, it’s a pretty fascinating post.
But I do have to agree with Adam on one thing Robert. You get all wrapped up about this stuff for tech’s sake, but what problem does it solve? You’re 6000 solutions in search of a problem, and ignoring the problems that are right there…like why is HTML editing still WORSE than WordPerfect 1.0 on a usage level?
John and Adam: heh, I was talking to folks about how much my blog tools suck. All of them. My son just started a Blogspot blog tonight. It sucks too.
John and Adam: heh, I was talking to folks about how much my blog tools suck. All of them. My son just started a Blogspot blog tonight. It sucks too.
Your quote of BillG comes from his visit to Israel. Imagine the coverage here. Huge. But… two important factorss were missing in the visit, coolness and geekness. BiilG is a cool geek but it doesn’t show, and that’s a pity for Microsoft.
Your quote of BillG comes from his visit to Israel. Imagine the coverage here. Huge. But… two important factorss were missing in the visit, coolness and geekness. BiilG is a cool geek but it doesn’t show, and that’s a pity for Microsoft.
Scoble said “Google and MSN and Yahoo all put together haven’t even tapped a small percentage of the potential opportunity”
Crap, I have to disagree again. Google and others opportunities are limited by the amount of what gets voluntarily published on the web. Regardless how powerful Google is (and others), it can’t find what’s not on the web in the first place. And that means a freaking lot. Period.
Scoble said “Google and MSN and Yahoo all put together haven’t even tapped a small percentage of the potential opportunity”
Crap, I have to disagree again. Google and others opportunities are limited by the amount of what gets voluntarily published on the web. Regardless how powerful Google is (and others), it can’t find what’s not on the web in the first place. And that means a freaking lot. Period.
A while back there was a push to get aggregators geared up with bayesian filtering so as to add something similar to the A.I. mentioned in earlier comments…I even worked with one U.K. based developer on such a project but, sadly, he got some well paid work and the project died away.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sux0r/
The above project seems to have revived that idea and it simmers away elsewhere too…pity it can’t emerge in an already well-known system such as, say, Sharpreader or Rss Bandit so as to get the leaverage it needs to become a standard feature in most aggregators.
The subjecy seems to be discussed ad infinitum (ad nauseum perhaps might be more correct) but we see little end product…some links for you:
Jon Udell: SpamBayes futures
http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/05/09.html
Sam Ruby: Beyond Backlinks
http://www.intertwingly.net/stories/2002/05/31/beyondBacklinks.html
John Beimler: Serval, an aggregator with Whuffie
http://john.beimler.org/serval_aggregator_first_post.html
Matt Griffith: Where is RSSBayes?
http://mattgriffith.net/PermaLink.aspx/129
A while back there was a push to get aggregators geared up with bayesian filtering so as to add something similar to the A.I. mentioned in earlier comments…I even worked with one U.K. based developer on such a project but, sadly, he got some well paid work and the project died away.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sux0r/
The above project seems to have revived that idea and it simmers away elsewhere too…pity it can’t emerge in an already well-known system such as, say, Sharpreader or Rss Bandit so as to get the leaverage it needs to become a standard feature in most aggregators.
The subjecy seems to be discussed ad infinitum (ad nauseum perhaps might be more correct) but we see little end product…some links for you:
Jon Udell: SpamBayes futures
http://weblog.infoworld.com/udell/2003/05/09.html
Sam Ruby: Beyond Backlinks
http://www.intertwingly.net/stories/2002/05/31/beyondBacklinks.html
John Beimler: Serval, an aggregator with Whuffie
http://john.beimler.org/serval_aggregator_first_post.html
Matt Griffith: Where is RSSBayes?
http://mattgriffith.net/PermaLink.aspx/129
“Has anyone figured out how to really translate from Farsi to Chinese to Japanese to English and back?”
Yes. The guys who write stereo instruction manuals. The only way you can write that dry is if it’s been translated a few times first.
Garrett
“Has anyone figured out how to really translate from Farsi to Chinese to Japanese to English and back?”
Yes. The guys who write stereo instruction manuals. The only way you can write that dry is if it’s been translated a few times first.
Garrett
Regarding comment 11: “Google and others opportunities are limited by the amount of what gets voluntarily published on the web.”
True, but there is still an incredible amount of opportunity to add structure to what is published on the web to allow better navigation (i.e. time-based search, people-based search), to do a better job at determining authority for ranking purposes, etc.
Google is also finding new opportunities by taking information not on the web and putting it there (i.e. book search, maps), as are others.
Notice that Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information”. There’s a lot of headroom there for Google, MSN and Yahoo!.
Regarding comment 11: “Google and others opportunities are limited by the amount of what gets voluntarily published on the web.”
True, but there is still an incredible amount of opportunity to add structure to what is published on the web to allow better navigation (i.e. time-based search, people-based search), to do a better job at determining authority for ranking purposes, etc.
Google is also finding new opportunities by taking information not on the web and putting it there (i.e. book search, maps), as are others.
Notice that Google’s mission is to “organize the world’s information”. There’s a lot of headroom there for Google, MSN and Yahoo!.
To Ian who said “True, but there is still an incredible amount of opportunity to add structure to what is published on the web to allow better navigation (i.e. time-based search, people-based search), to do a better job at determining authority for ranking purposes, etc.”
I disagree, the information out there is not qualified. It’s either outdated, made up, untrustable (just look at this blog). Therefore it’s impossible to compute “conclusions” based on those existing “web content”. Not that you can never do that, just that thinking of a magical algorithm soup that will managed to get away with false positives is a problem at least as hard than automatic language translation, reliable face recognition and so on.
To Ian who said “True, but there is still an incredible amount of opportunity to add structure to what is published on the web to allow better navigation (i.e. time-based search, people-based search), to do a better job at determining authority for ranking purposes, etc.”
I disagree, the information out there is not qualified. It’s either outdated, made up, untrustable (just look at this blog). Therefore it’s impossible to compute “conclusions” based on those existing “web content”. Not that you can never do that, just that thinking of a magical algorithm soup that will managed to get away with false positives is a problem at least as hard than automatic language translation, reliable face recognition and so on.
Search, photos, blogs, mapping …. Need to add the opportunities that abound with Voice 2.0.
Search, photos, blogs, mapping …. Need to add the opportunities that abound with Voice 2.0.
I disagree - MSN and Google have exhausted the entire search space 😛
I disagree - MSN and Google have exhausted the entire search space 😛
This mean TW went MFST? Or just Gates playing it up?
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={D66BCF1F-D1EF-41E6-BDB3-2681FC16D95A}&siteid=mktw
“Time Warner’s board of directors will hold crucial discussions about AOL’s future at a meeting on Thursday, focusing on whether to partner with Microsoft or Google, although a final decision is not expected immediately.”
Telfon eh? A Benedict Arnold for both sides and still loved for it.
This mean TW went MFST? Or just Gates playing it up?
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={D66BCF1F-D1EF-41E6-BDB3-2681FC16D95A}&siteid=mktw
“Time Warner’s board of directors will hold crucial discussions about AOL’s future at a meeting on Thursday, focusing on whether to partner with Microsoft or Google, although a final decision is not expected immediately.”
Telfon eh? A Benedict Arnold for both sides and still loved for it.
PS - Garrett, that was the funniest thing I have read in months.
Bravo.
PS - Garrett, that was the funniest thing I have read in months.
Bravo.
QUOTE from original text: “Has anyone figured out how to make advertising fun?”
eh? Have you completely missed out on the boom in “Pixel Advertising” that has made advertising more fun than it has ever been?
It’s all to do with brain stimulation,
honestly,
> http://www.amillionquid.blogspot.com
QUOTE from original text: “Has anyone figured out how to make advertising fun?”
eh? Have you completely missed out on the boom in “Pixel Advertising” that has made advertising more fun than it has ever been?
It’s all to do with brain stimulation,
honestly,
> http://www.amillionquid.blogspot.com