Reality Check | Ephraim Schwartz | August 2007

MORE ENTRIES

August 2007

August 31, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Is surveillance software part of a greater conspiracy?

As much as I usually doubt conspiracy theories, some announcements lead me to pause and wonder.

What I'm wondering now is perhaps the entire invention of the Internet, the World Wide Web, email, IM and everything else we now use in our daily lives wasn't all a plot hatched by Big Brother government and Big Brother Inc., to more easily monitor what we are doing, saying and just about thinking as well.

What puts me in mind of this is the upcoming announcement a sincere, but I would call misguided PR professional, sent gloating over the next version of their client's product Spector 360 from SpectorSoft.

Spector 360, says the press release, "records Web sites visited, emails sent and received, chats and instant messages, keystrokes typed, files transferred, documents printed and applications run."

Did they leave anything out? Well, the release continues.

"In addition, through a first of its kind surveillance-like camera recording tool, Spector 360 shows an exact visual detail what an employee does every step of the way."

As we get suckered into putting more and more of our lives up online in one fashion or another, it seems to me the "transparency" Web vendors are always promising users is really about making our lives transparent not our business processes.

Is this an accident or did someone hatch this idea to make surveillance easier? Easier for whom? I have no real idea. Remember this a conspiracy theory so I can just say, "for them."

When I was coming up and even into my 20s I wrote letters, made phone calls and met with folks in person. Those were my three communications choices.

That made it much harder for anyone to track me or know where I stood on any particular issue. Now, we've got software programs like the above mentioned plus cameras in the streets and GPS systems in the sky.

I don't want to sound too paranoid but if it is not a conspiracy to monitor every waking, breathing minute of our lives you have to admit if there ever was going to be one it certainly would give the conspirators a big head start.

Okay, if you are the Lawrence Livermore National Labs I can understand the need to monitor every keystroke. But if I know anything about business, Spectra 360 will more than likely end up being used by companies like Krispy Kreme Corp.

Well, if you're interested in Spector 360 go to booth 3400 at the InfoSecurity/ISC East Conference at the Jacob Javits Center in New York. The opening day is kind of ironic, September 11.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 31, 2007 01:52 PM

August 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Microsoft tech recruiter says hiring for Vancouver Development Center has worn her out

In what I find to be a very unusual, maybe insensitive is a better word for it, blog post for Technical Careers @ Microsoft, Jenna Adorno writes that after receiving waves of questions on the Vancouver Development Center just opened by Microsoft, she has…

"every SDET [Software Design Engineer in Test]and SDE [Software Development Engineer] who was impacted by the H-1B visa cap, placed in a job in Vancouver."

What about the impact on U.S. workers? Obviously, the impact on them was a bit different. It is not that they couldn't get an H-1B but that they probably lost their job to someone who did get one.

If you recall, Microsoft announced that they would open up this Development Center in Canada, a stone's throw from Redmond, because Canadian immigration laws, especially for those seeking a temporary visa, are far more lenient than U.S. law.

Microsoft stated that the purpose was so that they could hire qualified people from anywhere on the globe and bring them to Canada. A near-shoring idea that I said would probably spread like wildfire with many other companies.

So, I would like to know what about those unemployed SDEs and SDETs from the U.S. who were also "impacted" by the H-1B visa? Don't U.S. workers also count when you want to hire qualified people from anywhere on the globe?

I'm sure many software engineers would be more than willing to either commute or move to Vancouver, a beautiful city by the way, if Microsoft hired them.

If Microsoft believes in fairness, and not just in lower wages for skilled IT people, then why aren't they looking here as well. Why was Jenna Adorno worn out hiring these SDEs and SDETs and not worn out responding to dozens of applicants from here in the States?

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 28, 2007 01:52 PM

August 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

The last mobile frontier: Wireless electricity

Is WiTricity, wireless electricity, the next big thing?

An article in Science News last month describes the work of physicist Marin Sokjacic who demonstrated just that.

The way he did it was to create two antennas that were inefficient in the transmission of radio waves, according to the article.

The two antennas were separated by a few meters and one antenna was tuned to create a pulsating magnetic field with a "specific frequency and geometry" which the other antenna turned into an electric current.

In a demonstration before an audience that included an incredible 18 Nobel prize winners, at Berkeley, the MIT-based scientist lit a light bulb without wires.

The hope is that over time, the antennas will be small enough to fit inside a laptop computer, a cell phone or an iPod so that users could recharge their devices while sitting in a special area in an airport, not unlike the hot spots we have today for Wi-Fi.

Pretty cool, huh?

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 28, 2007 10:46 AM

August 28, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Technology and the Bill of Rights

Do 18th century concepts of personal freedom still work in the 21st century?

Bill of Rights, technology For some reason, I don't expect the chairman of AT&T to stand up and say, "Give me liberty or give me death." It is just not going to happen. Therefore I'm not surprised that AT&T and other telecom companies complied when the government asked these companies to assist in wiretapping their customers.

But our legislators are a different story. We should expect more from them. As far as the Democrats and Republicans are concerned, I say a plague on both their houses.

Of course, in time of war it is not like there isn't precedent for companies complying with government directives. My father used to tell me stories of how lipstick manufacturers were ordered, not asked, to make bullets during World War II. Harley-Davidson produced only military motorcycles at that time, and the auto manufacturers made tanks.

But back then no one complained, because we all felt America was threatened and everyone had to do their part.

Is the same true today?

Will wiretapping save us from the enemy?

All I know is that Sept. 11, 2001, didn't happen for lack of a wiretap. Rather it was a lack of something far more low-tech, a willingness on the part of the various government agencies to share information. Even the CIA and FBI have now admitted that.

Nevertheless, that is not the real problem.

The problem is that the government thinks analog. It thinks it can solve today's security issues by using the same old-fashioned concepts that were used 50 years ago.

But we, the people, know we are in a digital age, and we understand that technology makes the idea of government snooping a very complex issue.

Communications are now so varied that a single law to permit the government to tap your POTS line can be used to tap into your VoIP calls, your collaborative Wiki conversations, IMs, e-mails, and all the social networking programs you will ever sign up for.

Will MySpace and FaceBook be asked to put in filters that look for key words the government thinks are suspect? We already know that Uncle Sam asked Google to reveal what their customers were searching for in order to track down pedophiles.

What will the government do with the millions of bytes of information it can now gather?

By monitoring the history of your searches and running it against a predictive analytics engine, the government will be able to determine that there is a better than 90 percent likelihood you will commit some kind of crime or sabotage. Maybe, as in the movie Minority Report, it will arrest people pre-emptively. The scary thing is the government could be right sometimes, but does that mean we should go ahead with the program?

In a sense, it is already happening. Not in terms of actual arrests, but certainly still pre-emptive action against assumed future behaviors: In addition to the telecom companies and the search engine companies, the Feds are also asking for the cooperation of the airline industry so that if the government suspects you might do something, you're put on a "no fly" list.

When the Feds finally go high-tech, an alert might be sent out that pops up on every computer screen in the nation with a picture and last known address of a perpetrator of some past or future crime.

Perhaps the real issue here is that we have yet to truly reconcile 21st century technology and its capabilities with our 18th century credo, the Bill of Rights. We need to gain a better understanding of how to make the new conform to the old. At least that would be preferred to the other way around.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 28, 2007 03:00 AM

August 24, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Apple iPhone unlocked -- so what!

The blogosphere and the online news sites are full of reports that the iPhone has been untethered from the AT&T SIM chip. Not by any decision from either Apple or AT&T but through the efforts a various individuals and independent groups that have been trying to do this from day one of its introduction.

Of course, this frees an iPhone user from AT&T service and allows them to buy cell phone service from any carrier.

As interesting as the news might be there really is no great significance to the story.

For individual users who want to bother and take the chance that they don't destory their iPhone when they remove the AT&T SIM chip, the unlocking may be noteworthy.

But in the scheme of things it is no big deal for a number of reasons.

As Gerry Purdy, chief analyst for Frost & Sullivan told me, the long term objective of Apple has got to be that any SIM card would work in an iPhone.

"It is in their best interest that everyone who is on GSM to use the iPhone," Purdy said.

Of course, AT&T was hoping to use its exlusive contract deal with Apple to lure subscribers from competing services over to them, but in truth, as Purdy points out, that would have played out in a couple of years anyway and the carrier would be back looking for new products and services to lure potential subscribers.

For me the news is just another proof point that when it comes to high technology and public access, freedom of choice continues to be like a steamroller crushing anything in its path that tries to stop it.

As Purday says, at the end of the day, it wont be draconian walled gardens or other non-competitive schemes that will make a company a success. Today the only competitive differentiator that will work and last is superior technology.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 24, 2007 02:37 PM

August 23, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Plan your next printer purchase carefully

Last year I bought a Samsung 1700 series laser printer for the amazing low price of $40, after the rebate.

Boy, was I happy. I do most of my printing in the office so for about a year this home/office printer served me in good stead.

Then I needed toner.

The toner cartridge for this printer was $94 at Staples, $97 with tax, twice the cost of the printer.

At the same store there is an HP 1018 laser printer, a better name than Samsung in printers I would suspect, for $65 after the rebate.

Toner cartridges for this printer are $70 for one and if you buy two at a time the price drops to $62.50 per cartridge.

By the way both the Samsung and HP toner cartridge lasts for 3,000 pages.

So, my bargain $40 Samsung is costing me $137 for the first year.

If I buy the HP at $65, plus two cartridges at $62.50 apiece, and each cartridge lasts one year, then it costs me ten dollars less, $127.50, for the first year of ownership and I have a brand new printer.

The following year will cost me only $62.50, the price of the second toner cartridge. The Samsung will cost me another $94 for the second year.

In fact I get a starter toner cartridge with the HP that the salesman said will last for about 1,000 pages, that alone is about $30 additional savings, figured at three cents a printed page.

So if I want to be a smart shopper I guess I should just throw out the year old Samsung and buy the new HP printer. I wonder how many times that tactic will work?

My advice to anyone in need of a laser printer is don't be fooled by a laser printer at a low, low price. Instead price the cost of the toner cartridge not the printer.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 23, 2007 02:36 PM

August 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Apple MacBook sales soar at the expense of Dell

To be honest, I was certain that Apple's adoption of the Intel processor was going to be the beginning of the end for the
company that has always dared to be different.

However, while the story on our site attributes the huge increase in Mac notebook sales to the so-called "halo" effect coming from iPhone press coverage as well as the groundbreaking design, I believe that had only a limited impact.

I think the increased sales of the MacBook can be accounted for by the decision to switch to Intel processors.

Simply put, Apple has had a long and not particularly glorious history with its processors.

By that I don't mean on the technology side as much as I mean on the business side. Apple has bounced back and forth between Motorola and IBM as chip suppliers.

At different times, we were told that first one PowerPC and then the other was the better chip.

The technology differences between the two may have escaped most users, but the impression left was definitely one of instability.

Now Apple seems to have matured and settled on a processor -- and on a chip designer that is known exclusively for its processors. My gosh, Motorola and IBM make so many other products that they never convinced anyone that chip technology was uppermost in their product strategy.

For many users who were perhaps sitting on the fence, wanting an Apple but unsure about taking the plunge, it seems to me Intel inside is the clincher.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 21, 2007 01:40 PM

August 21, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Customer service gets human again

Eschewing automation, Netflix puts folks on the phone in hopes of achieving competitive advantage

netflix, customer service.jpg Customer service sucks. For everybody. Not only for those who require it, but also for those who have to provide it.

So the news that Netflix is investing in its customer service strategy, as reported by The New York Times, is heartening for those of us who rely on customer service from time to time -- but perhaps disheartening for providers that specialize in automated customer service technology.

Netflix's solution runs counter to every high-tech business strategy I have ever heard: The DVD rental company is putting customer service reps back on phones rather than trying to reduce the workforce and costs associated with customer service by automating the experience through technology, which typically includes a Web interface or e-mail interaction.

But with Blockbuster suddenly giving Netflix a run for its money, Netflix officials believe customer service can provide it a competitive advantage. Perhaps if done well.

Notably, Netflix went even one step further. Not only did it turn its back on technology by returning to a human interface, it chose not to use an offshore service provider. Rather, it located its phone banks outside Portland, Ore.

The Times quotes Michael Osier, vice president of IT operations and customer service at Netflix, as saying that "it's amazing how consistent people are in their politeness and empathy" in the greater Portland area.

For those who firmly believe that technology can be used to solve any problem and that it is superior to most human solutions, the Netflix move has to be disappointing.

What we are witnessing here is a perfect example of what is sometimes called the "uncanny valley." There are many definitions of this term, but let me explain how one expert in artificial intelligence defines it.

E-mail is not a robust technology solution. Rather, it is just another away of saying to the customer, "Talk to the hand." In other words, send a letter.

I think companies are confusing the use of a computer interface with the true meaning of high tech. Let's face it, e-mail as a technology is simply not smart enough to provide high-quality customer service.

This despite the fact that once the e-mail is received, companies usually deploy some kind of NLU (natural language understanding) technology that attempts to interpret the e-mail by looking for particular words and phrases before determining how to resolve the issue.

Unfortunately, NLU technology isn't fully up to the task yet, and this is where we begin to enter that uncanny valley, according to Eliezer Yudkowsky, research fellow and co-founder of the Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence.

Yudkowsky says, with a laugh in his voice, that we certainly know more than we did 200 years ago about customer service, "but not quite enough."

By that Yudkowsky means that although technology may be capable of solving any problem, time remains a factor. Today we can build skyscrapers much taller than ourselves or steam shovels far stronger than we are, but remember, says Yudkowsky, the human species was running around for tens of thousands of years before we created such marvels.

"There is always time, and there is also the uncanny valley," Yudkowsky says, explaining the "uncanny valley" as a gap between two systems.

One system is so dumb that we don't expect it to be helpful. The other system is so lifelike and helpful that it fools us into thinking it is human.

In between is the uncanny valley, technology that works just well enough for us to be disappointed with it.

As a consumer who has spent many frustrating hours punching in selections on my telephone keypad or waiting for an e-mail response to arrive in my inbox, I'm of the mind that most automated customer service technologies are stuck in this uncanny valley.

Someday technology will evolve to offer reliable customer service, but until then it might not be a bad idea for companies to turn their backs on hype from customer service technology vendors and just follow Netflix's lead.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 21, 2007 03:00 AM

August 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Skype gives VoIP a black eye

The Skype outage news should have a lot of business people thinking twice about deploying a VoIP (Voice-over-IP) system for their company.

This is mainly because it is neither the first time something has gone wrong, nor an isolated incident.

This year alone we have watched the Vonage lawsuit endanger service, the SunRocket debacle, where the company went out of business almost overnight and left its 200,000 subscribers high and dry.

Now this with Skype.

The reasons for the Skype outage last Thursday are still unclear, although Skype seems to think it had something to do with Skype software being unable to handle a Microsoft Windows update that caused millions of users to reboot their computer at the same time.

Sounds sort of far-fetched to me.

Perhaps the scariest part of the Skype problem is that whatever the cause, some Skype officials say the two-day outage was due, at least in part, by an external issue.

Nevertheless, Skype has been trying to build user volume on the business side, says Doug Williams, an analyst with Jupiter Research.

"It will give many business owners pause," Williams told InfoWorld.

He suggests that users not rely on VoIP as a sole means of communications but as a communications option.

Sounds like good advice to me.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 20, 2007 02:31 PM

August 20, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Google search dominance boggles

Nielsen//NetRatings issued its search engine share rankings for the month of July this afternoon and I thought it would be worthwhile sharing them with readers.

It is a bit mind-boggling that in July, Google had more than 4 billion searchers.

The total number of searches was over 6 billion, or about one search for every man, woman and child alive on the earth today.

Top 10 Search Providers for July 2007, ranked by Number of Searches
(U.S.)

+-------------------------+-----------+------------+-----
| Provider Searches | Share of Searches
| (000)
| Google Search | 4,143,752 | 53.3% |
| Yahoo! Search | 1,559,745 | 20.1% |
| MSN/Windows | 1,057,064 | 13.6% |
| AOL Search | 407,988 | 5.2% |
| Ask.com Search | 143,513 | 1.8% |
| My Web Search | 69,145 | 0.9% |
| BellSouth Search | 40,374 | 0.5% |
| Comcast Search | 37,311 | 0.5% |
| Dogpile.com | 25,675 0.3% |
| My Way Search | 24,534 | 0.3% |
+-------------------------+-----------+------------+--------------+
Source: Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search, August 2007

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 20, 2007 12:37 PM

August 15, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Direct TV, Current deal will open door for broadband via utilities

The news that Direct TV signed a deal with the Current Group to deliver broadband over power lines opens up a fascinating new chapter in last-mile solutions and will certainly ramp up the competitive landscape.

The deal between Current Group and Direct TV is only the tip of the iceberg. Yes, now the satellite company can not only offer VoIP and other broadband services, but look to all of the utility companies getting into the act as well.

This would be a natural next step. The utilities already own the customer relationship, which includes billing, metering, and monitoring. What could be more of a natural fit than to add a second line to your monthly bill for data?

The additional cost to the utilities may even been so negligible that the pricing will be extremely competitive. The utilities may decide it is better to have a low initial fee and make their money on adding additional services.

In one fell swoop, the utilities have the potential to grab millions of customers away not only from cable providers but also from the carriers as VoIP services become more ubiquitous and accepted by the public.

Of course, the use of power lines for data is not new. I wrote about a large department store chain that used the technology almost 10 years ago.

This retailer used rolling cash registers during the Christmas rush to reduce the long lines at check out. Each cash register cart was simply plugged into the power line, which put the register on the company network.

The real boost, pardon the pun, to the technology came back in 2004 when the FCC approved the use of broadband over power lines services and technology.

I'm excited by the idea that the Current-Direct TV deal will help to renew interest in broadband over power-line technology, which in turn can create new services and lower prices for all of us.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 15, 2007 12:25 PM

August 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Analyst: Expect more offshoring if U.S. tightens on immigration

Offshore and near-shore development centers will proliferate, especially in major Latin American companies, Mexico, and Canada, if the U.S. government turns its focus on closing loopholes on H-1B legislation and tightens the screws on immigration to the point where it "almost feels punitive," said Tony Viola, vice president of marketing for North America for Patni, a global outsourcing firm.

Viola had this and plenty more to say in an InfoWorld interview on the future of offshoring.

Despite possible new restrictions and or changes in immigration legislation and regulations, Viola believes that the legislators are "closing the barn door way after the horse is made into glue." By which I assume he means it is too late to legislate stricter immigration policy.

"Globalization and outsourcing are a part of the fabric of U.S. business and have been for a long time," said Viola, who compared it to similar legislation against the automobile at the turn of the 20th century.

"Companies will find a way."

One way that they may find, said Viola, is by investing more in more automation technology that lessens the need to have a service delivery based on a large employment model.

To that end, we are already beginning to see the rapid growth of the SaaS (software as a service) delivery model.

"This is a way to deliver and maintain service offerings without having to have people in a particular location."

SaaS also plays into the H-1B phenomenon. It will allow companies to start putting more time into the tool sets that give them the ability to deliver in an automated way.

"Visa restrictions will push organizations in that direction."

Of course, Viola's conclusion that this isn't a bad thing because it will result in faster delivery, lower cost, and higher profitability for vendors and quicker service cut over from one technology to another isn't shared by everyone.

Someday, companies may automate themselves out of business. If they continue to reduce staff, who is going to be left with a decent salary so that they can buy those goods and services?

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 14, 2007 02:07 PM

August 14, 2007 | Comments: (0)

The demise of Google

Niche search services could herald hard times ahead for the Web's own 800-pound Gorillla

google Web 2.0 Nothing lasts forever. And while Google is riding high on the crest of a wave, there is an almost imperceptible undercurrent that could spell trouble for the search giant's future.

First things first: Google makes its money delivering targeted advertising to the millions of people around the world who use its search engine.

If you own a swimming-pool supply company, you'd best buy Google keywords that cover this territory so that swimming-pool shoppers will come to your site.

On this, Google has built an empire.

Yes, there are other avenues Google is pursuing -- most notably Web 2.0 applications and, more recently, telecom. But to date, grant me that these remain unproven as major revenue streams for Google.

So what is this "imperceptible undercurrent" tickling that part of my brain that thinks about business?

Niche, vertical, boutique -- call them what you will -- search engines. These search service providers are looking at various search technologies to optimize specialized searches.

Take ZoomInfo, for example, which uses semantic search to offer search results limited strictly to business information. I don't intend to get into the guts of how a semantic search engine actually works, but suffice it to say, by using NLU (Natural Language Understanding), which can make sense of unstructured data, semantic search is better equipped to narrow down search results to a far more manageable number than Google does.

There are numerous examples of vertical search engines, such as WebMD, Travelocity, Orbitz, Petfinder, Kayak, Monster, and CareerBuilder.

Let's say you want to find a company that sells Web analytics software. Try searching on Google and then ZoomInfo, and see which provides the most relevant results.

Doing so, I got 66.8 million hits on Google.

As a registered user, I got 234 hits on ZoomInfo. But here is a sample of the first three hits from each:

Google:

Omniture Web Analytics
www.omniture.com See sample real-time reports that make your website decisions better.

Web Analytics
www.WebTrends.com Want Actionable Web Analytics? Call WebTrends at 877.932.8736

Web analytics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Web analytics is the study of the behaviour of website visitors. In a commercial context, web analytics especially refers to the use of data collected from ...

ZoomInfo:

www.websidestory.com
San Diego, CA
Revenue: $64.5 Million
Employees: 214
WebSideStory is a leading provider of on-demand Web analytics services. WebSideStory's services collect data from Web browsers, process that data and deliver reports of online behavior to its customers on demand. More than 700 enterprise customers worldwide use WebSideStory's services to... more ...

Omniture Inc (NASDAQ: OMTR)
www.omniture.com
Orem, UT
Revenue: $42.8 Million
Employees: 342
Omniture, Inc. is a leading provider of online business optimization software, enabling customers to manage and enhance online, offline and multi-channel business initiatives. Omniture's software, which it hosts and delivers to its customers as an on-demand subscription service, enables... more

Coremetrics, Inc.
www.coremetrics.com
San Mateo, CA
Revenue: $16.9 Million
Employees: 215
Coremetrics is the leading provider of digital marketing optimization solutions. Its solutions generate high return on online marketing investment and continue to pay daily dividends in improved marketing performance. Over 1,100 online business sites, transacting over $15 billion this... more

Which service offers the more relevant information in a useful format? You be the judge.

But before you scoff at the idea of Google becoming irrelevant, let me tell you about an industry I used to work in and one that I know well: magazine publishing.

In the '50s and for the better part of the '60s, the major publications were general-interest magazines such as "Life" and "Look." Their reasons for failing were complex, but two key factors played significant roles.

First, their reader bases grew so large that they could no longer support the millions of subscribers with a reasonable ad rate. At some point, advertisers decided they could reach the same audience, or an even larger segment of that audience, at the same ad rate on television.

Will Google have to trim back its search capabilities as it scales out and the company's rising infrastructure costs start to compete with what it can reasonably charge for a keyword?

The second factor that led to the demise of these magazines was niche publishing. "Life" was meant to serve a cross-section of the population, but alternatives aimed at target audiences started popping up -- "Ski Magazine" for skiers, motorcycle magazines, surfboarding magazines, and so on.

Honestly, I don’t know which came first: niche publishing or the advertisers that wanted to be part of it. Of course, there were always niche magazines. Suddenly, however, advertisers understood their value. When that happened, niche publishing took off.

Back then, Bill Ziff was the first master of this, with a stable of magazines aimed at a variety of subjects, including everything from golfing to skiing to flying. Later, he took the model to high tech. Of course, for the benefit of my own career, I'd best add that IDG's Pat McGovern is the reigning grand master in the high-tech genre.

I worked for a number of smaller New York publishers who turned the idea of niche publishing into an art form. First, they would do what the industry called a "one shot." If the one-time-only magazine earned respectable newsstand sales, the publisher would make it a quarterly, then a bi-monthly. If the ads took off, voilà, it was a monthly publication.

Look at "PC Magazine." It had so much advertising that it went semi-monthly at one point just to accommodate all those who wanted in.

Should you sell Google short? Probably not. But also keep in mind, nothing lasts forever.

Or as Frank Sinatra sang it, "That's life, that's what all the people say. You're ridin' high in April, shot down in May."

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 14, 2007 03:00 AM

August 13, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Broadcasters fight move offering Internet access over TV

Microsoft, as part of a high-tech coalition that includes Intel, Google, and Dell, will give testimony today before the FCC refuting that commission's claim that the use of "vacant TV airwaves," also called "white space," for Internet access will interfere with the television signal, according to the Washington Post.

Of course the broadcast media industry will refute these claims because it views high technology as a threat to its hegemony -- as well it might, as more and more people turn away from the vacuous airwaves and turn on their PCs for communications, information, and entertainment.

Those in favor of the technology say the use of white space in the broadcast signal is less expensive than fiber optics and phone lines.

More important, if we are sincere about closing the digital divide between the haves and have-nots, what better way than to be able to access the Internet over a TV, of which there are still millions more than computers in the home?

A spokesperson for the National Association of Broacasters, Dennis Wharton, called Microsoft's proposal "self-serving," according to the Post.

What else is new? Of course both sides are self-serving. The question is whose self-serving agenda best serves us peons.

If you've ever accessed the Internet over a television set in a hotel room, you know it is hardly worth the trouble.

The display is big and grainy, and navigating with the wireless keyboard they usually supply is agony.

But with high-speed connections and Wi-Fi now available in every major hotel, why would anyone want to bother or need to?

Speaking for myself, sometimes flopping down on your hotel bed after a miserable day of waiting on line at airports, packed flights, and long taxi lines until you take your $50 ride to the hotel might be nice. I would like to just flip on the TV and view my e-mail rather than having to unpack and set up my notebook.

There are other uses as well. If you could access a quality connection over the TV, you could access your home network and retrieve videos, movies, and music (which means, I guess, the hotel industry will fight this, too).

Despite the FCC's reservations and the NAB opposition, this is going to happen one way or another. It is only a matter of time.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 13, 2007 10:48 AM

August 10, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Online storage will become a necessity

The news this week that Microsoft Live is now offering 500MB of online storage via its Skydrive service and that Google will allow Gmail users to extend their 1GB of storage with a fee-based storage offering makes me wonder what's going on.

I have to disagree with Michael Arrington at TechCrunch, who says Google's move is "purely about money." It is certainly not about increasing revenues for these companies -- at least not in the immediate future.

But by looking at it from the perspective of "what does this really mean?" we might discover a strategic move in these storage announcements. We might, if you read between the lines, see that these companies are also making a declaration of where they believe high tech is headed.

Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo, just to name three, all have online storage facilities. For free or for a fee, why do they bother?

The answer for me is that these companies see digital's future, and it encompasses dozens of different kinds of mobile and nonmobile digital devices, perhaps better called "digital opportunities," proliferating.

As inexpensive as storage gets, and the prices seem to drop continually for both rotating disk and solid state storage, companies realize that it would be impractical to store whatever it is you want to store uniquely every time a device or an interface invites you to save data.

Rather, universal storage somewhere in the cloud that allows a user to just click on the save button and have it all go to one place makes a lot more sense.

So Microsoft can give you 500MB of free storage, Yahoo can give you unlimited free storage for the time being, and Google can start getting you used to paying for it, but all of them, I believe, see a digital future filled with dozens of opportunities for digital storage.

As this slowly evolves, what seems like a fifth wheel today -- the need for online storage -- will become an essential integrated part of our lives tomorrow.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 10, 2007 12:09 PM

August 08, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Google News allows those cited in news stories to post comments

Google announced on Wednesday that it will add an "experimental feature" to its Google News home page.

In a move that certainly differentiates online news from anything print media can equal, Google is inviting "actual participants" in news stories posted on its site to add comments to the story in which they are mentioned.

The announcement includes a promise that "comments will be published in full, without any edits."

From a business perspective, at the least, Google is doing what every Internet service that shares its customers with other services tries to do: own the customer.

In telephony, for example, the fight over who owns the customer is often between the carrier and the content provider.

In Google's case, Google News is an aggregation site for news articles from major newspapers, not only in the United States but around the world.

Up until now, a user clicking on a news article link was sent to that publication's site, so in theory, that site took possession of the customer.

Now, however, Google can generate its own news by leveraging the publications' hard work of reporting and adding comments from the newsmakers.

It is a way for Google to get readers back to its site from the link and, in essence, own the customer.

I'm not sure what the ramifications of this service are. You can bet that news organizations are going to rethink allowing the use of their stories on the Google News site.

It is also a way to hold readers -- according to Nielsen ratings, a very important new metric -- for longer periods of time on the Google site.

From a news point of view, heaven knows what it will mean once politicians get their spin doctors to follow up on every negative news story with a lengthy comment.

If nothing else, it will employ more people, I suppose.

Speaking of comments, how about some analysis from those reading this blog? I'd like to know what you think the fallout from this will be.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 8, 2007 01:49 PM

August 07, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Advertising makes the Web go 'round

Researchers are still searching for the key to monetizing a Web site visitor's behavior

Out with the old metric and in with the new is the mantra among Internet media and market research firms.

One of the first metrics used to indicate a Web site's value as an advertising medium was the total number of visits users made to the site in a particular time period. Then the metric du jour became the number of unique visitors who browsed the site. That transitioned to the depth of user interaction as measured by the number of page views per visit.

All of this was being driven by the fact that the Internet was created as an information vehicle, according to Kevin Ryan, vice president and global content director at Search Engine Strategies.

"It is being manipulated into an advertising vehicle," Ryan observes.

Fact is, the most successful sites, as measured by current standards, are still those that most closely resemble an information resource.

But now, Nielsen/NetRatings believes "total minutes," a.k.a. time spent on a site, is a superior metric to measure consumer interest and thus translate, somehow, into a particular site's potential to sell more products or services.

However, Ryan worries that if every couple of years you tell advertisers that they should use a new metric, you risk losing credibility.

Nevertheless, Nielsen did not come to this metric by chance; rather, the company says it is reacting to the changes in Internet technology. There is certainly some validity to this. The latest Internet technology does appear to make page views less relevant.

AJAX, for example, delivers new content without reloading the entire page. Streaming media changes what content you can view within a single page.

Nielsen says that total number of minutes becomes the "common denominator" for user behavior because it is "independent of site design."

And in a classic case of denigrating the old product once you have something new to sell, Nielsen in its press release says that certain Web environments "have never been well-served by the page view, such as online gaming and Internet applications."

Nielsen offers as an example the fact that whereas MySpace garners 10 times more page views than YouTube does, YouTube visitors spend three times as many minutes on YouTube than MySpace visitors spend on MySpace.

Does this mean publishers need to revamp their Web offerings in order to keep eyeballs on their sites for longer and longer time periods? If that's the case, how and when will ads be served? This is a challenge, admits Scott Ross, director of product marketing at Nielson.

Typically ads are served when a page loads. For example, 10 page views equals 10 ad views. But does 10 minutes on a single page mean one ad view, or do you interrupt the visitor every minute to get an equivalent amount of ads integrated with the surfing experience?

Now that there is less refreshing, how are the ads going to be served?

While the total number of minutes is indeed a reflection of changing technology, as a metric it may not reflect any change in why and how consumers are motivated to buy.

Ryan says that, for the most part, advertisers still view the Internet as a direct-response medium. They want to know how many people made a purchase. Therefore, how much time a consumer spent watching a video may have little to do with whether or not they buy.

While Ross admits this is true, he says that in general the more time spent on the site, the more time there is to give your pitch.

"That is the supply; whether it affects demand for the inventory is another matter," admits Ross.

Publishers have two clear goals, says Ross. The first is to create a user experience that keeps people coming back, and the second is to create a good ad platform on which advertisers want to show off their wares. Ross believes that the total-minutes metric reflects those two goals.

If you are given 10 opportunities in a 10-page slide show or one opportunity when a single video is served, where is it better to advertise?

In trying to answer that question, it seems to me everyone is missing the point. Advertisers and publishers need to tap into more basic research as to what makes people respond -- that is what's inside the black box.

Yes, some day, total minutes may prove an effective way to gauge the advertising value of a site, but that doesn't tell us what about total minutes makes it a worthwhile measure.

Why are these questions important? Well, to state the obvious, everything you love about using the World Wide Web is underwritten by advertising. End of story.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 7, 2007 03:00 AM

August 06, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Yahoo under fire for revealing info to Chinese government

Sometimes chickens do come home to roost.

Back in October 2005, I wrote about Yahoo turning over e-mail account information to the Chinese government, resulting in a 10-year prison sentence for a reporter who posted material on a foreign Web site about a government crackdown on media and activists.

For more on Chinese justice, read this post from the New York Times (registration required).

Yahoo's excuse at the time was that "its local country sites must operate within the laws, regulations, and customs of the country in which they are based."

Yahoo also claimed "it did not know what he [Shi Tao] was being investigated for," according to the House Foreign Affairs Committee statement.

Well, it turns out that is not true, and now the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Tom Lantos, says Congress will look into whether Yahoo "misrepresented the company's role in a human rights case in China that sent a journalist to jail for a decade." Lantos also co-chairs the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

In the full statement from the committee, this paragraph forms the heart of it and bears repeating.

"It is bad enough that a wealthy American company would willingly supply Chinese police the means to hunt a man down for shedding light on repression in China," said Lantos.

He added, "Covering up such a despicable practice when Congress seeks an explanation is a serious offense."

When Congress originally questioned Yahoo general counsel Michael Callahan about the case, Callahan testified that "we had no information about the nature of the investigation."

However, the San Francisco-based human rights organization Dui Hua Foundation has documents that show the Chinese government did inform Yahoo about the nature of the investigation.

Here's a partial translation of the notice sent by the Beijing State Security Bureau to Yahoo officials.

"According to investigation, your office is in possession of the following items relating to a case of suspecting illegal provision of state secrets to foreign entities that is currently under investigation by our bureau."

The items for collection, the notification went on to say, were "e-mail account registration information," and it gave Yahoo the e-mail name of the poster so that the company could ID the sender.

Well, someone once said, "The wheels of justice grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine."

Maybe sometimes it is true, and we will see Yahoo and other large companies reprimanded for cooperating with totalitarian governments in this manner. Perhaps the bad publicity will even make them think twice next time they are confronted with a similar situation.

While one company can claim it cannot afford not to cooperate since its competitors do, maybe this Congressional investigation will create a single policy to which all American companies must adhere, thus making it easier for a single company to behave decently and ethically.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 6, 2007 02:40 PM

August 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)

A Google phone with ads is beyond the pale

There was an old ad campaign that went something like, "It's not nice to fool with mother nature." And I believe the perpetrator of this crime was quickly zapped by lightening.

Google's rumored Google phone, which will offer consumers free cell phone service, subsidized by placing text or voice advertising on the phone, puts this saying in mind.

To most Americans, their cell phone is a personal device that they do not want messed with.

It is hard enough, especially for those of us who remember the old monopolistic days of Ma Bell, when phones just worked, to get used to lousy cell phone service, let alone listening to ads every time we dial.

And 3G service still isn't all it's cracked up to be. Imagine not only having to wait for your content to appear on the screen but waiting first for the ad to appear and go away before you view the content you want?

Worse still, what about a 911 call? Will you have to listen to an ad before you speak to the emergency dispatcher?

No way.

A cell phone is no longer a "nice to have" device. It is the most important lifeline and communications tool we have.

Google makes a big mistake if it doesn't give it the respect and deference it deserves.

I think this time Google may be biting off more than it can chew. Yes, what it's after is more platforms on which to sell advertising. After all, it's Google's main -- at this point, only -- revenue stream.

But consumers, believe it or not, have their limits, and I think they will draw the line at commercials on their mobile.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 2, 2007 02:27 PM

August 02, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Government orchestrates 16-state raid on behalf of Microsoft and others

We all live with limited resources -- individuals, businesses, and yes, even governments.

If the limitation isn't monetary, as it never seems to be for the government, it is at least limited by the number of available employees.

With that in mind, why does the Federal Government,under the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency spend its time and the limited time of the Customs agents in a 16-state raid on homes and businesses in search of so-called "mod chips?"

Mod chips or "swap discs" allow gamers to play pirated titles or counterfeit copies on Sony's PlayStation 2, Microsoft's Xbox, and Nintendo's Wii video-game consoles.

I don't think I have ever seen a bigger sting operation for illegal drugs. Or, for that matter, the number of personnel required to pull this off used for the inspection of goods coming into our country by air, land, and sea.

I admit I don't know this for a fact, but if the equivalent has been done, it would be news to me.

I wonder how much time and effort was spent on undercover operations and coordinating this operation? Wouldn't the same number of agents and the same amount of time be better spent on trying to stop drug trafficking? Or potential terrorist attacks through our ports?

It appears that the mod chips violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1997. Estimates by the Entertainment Software Association put losses due to counterfeit or pirated copies at $3 billion.

Whose losses? Not mine. Frankly, I could care less. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are doing quite well, thank you, without the government spending what is probably millions of dollars in executing this raid on mod-chip manufacturers and sellers.

Why does the federal government seem more concerned with protecting Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo than they do you and me?

As a taxpayer who works in high-tech, I just think high-tech and consumer electronics companies get enough breaks from Uncle Sam and enough dollars from me that the Customs Enforcement agency should spend my money on something more important.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 2, 2007 01:57 PM

August 01, 2007 | Comments: (0)

Spectrum: A lesson in private vs. public good

As high tech begins to permeate every part of our lives, all indications point to the fact that it will come up against many of the basic principles and beliefs upon which we base our society.

The most recent example happened only this week, when the FCC announced its rules for auctioning off the 700MHz spectrum.

The upcoming auction, as well as the debate over whether the government should require that any 700MHz spectrum purchaser provide open Web and Internet access through this spectrum to subscribers of competing networks, highlights the eternal debate over the public good versus the right of private enterprise to be unfettered by regulations.

Those on the corporate side will say the recent FCC decision "to require so-called open access" and to prohibit "those companies from blocking or slowing wireless and Web content from competitors" is anticompetitive.

The ruling, claim the opponents, takes away a company's biggest weapon against its competitors: product differentiation.

Consumer groups, on the other hand, say the airwaves and the spectrum that runs through it belong to the public, and the public -- not private enterprise -- should be the beneficiary of its development.

We've seen the same argument from both camps many times before. It is typically put forth by the pharmaceutical industry. Here the argument focuses on the the public's right to less expensive generic drugs.

The major drug manufacturers claim if they cannot charge a high price or if the government requires that they relinquish their patent to allow competitors to create a generic version of the drug, they will be unable to continue the costly research required to create new cures for diseases.

Of course, the outstanding argument comes from the mid-20th century, when Dr. Jonas Salk refused to patent and make a profit from the polio vaccine.

But this isn't about a crippling disease -- it is about wireless devices and communications.

In the case of wireless technology and this latest challenge, I don't believe there is an easy answer. But I think it is a good idea to frame the discussion around what is really at stake so that we can gain a deeper understanding of the issues that face us.

Posted by Ephraim Schwartz on August 1, 2007 10:59 AM

Technology White Papers

InfoWorld Technology Marketplace

» Technology White Papers Library

Technology White Papers by Topic

Technology White Papers E-mail Alert