Posts Tagged ‘google’

Google Latitude App is useless and creepy

Posted: December 21, 2010 in Uncategorized
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Photo

 

When I saw the announcement that Google had released a Latitude iPhone app, I figured ‘Hey, about time Google got into the location game’. After all, Google Latitude was one of the first location services to hit the market. However, Google never took the location services space seriously which allowed services such as FourSquare, Gowalla and of late Facebook Places to establish themselves as key players in this area. Key to their success have been the elements of active participation (check-ins), incremental rewards (badges and discounts at venues), social suggestions (venues/activites frequented by friends) and serendipity (discovering some friends are at a nearby location).
Imagine my disappointment when I downloaded the Latitude app to my phone and figured that it doesn’t do ANYTHING useful. There are no check-ins, no venues, no tips and none of the other services offered by competitors. All the app does is track your location on the map and alert you when a friend is nearby. (You get an email saying XYZ is 7 miles within your location – Thanks, but no thanks)
What makes the problem worse is that the app tracks your location ALL THE TIME, is ON by default (screenshot below) and opt-out by nature! This issue is not only a serious privacy nightmare, but can also be a major resource hog and drain your smartphone battery quite fast. 
Bottomline: Don’t waste your time on Google Latitude. It is just another one in a long list of failed social forays from Google.

Google TV Remote vs. Apple TV Remote

Posted: December 16, 2010 in Uncategorized
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P98

Which one looks more user friendly?

How Social Media is eroding Google’s influence

Posted: December 8, 2010 in Uncategorized
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chart of the day

via businessinsider.com

Will Facebook ever displace Google as a search engine? Not likely.
But, it could quickly erode Google’s dominance as the way people find information.
Above is a chart from a Wedbush presentation. As you can see, the referral traffic from social networks to a number of big sites is greater than that from Google. Note it’s not just media sites, it’s commerce sites too.
This is not a form of searching as we’ve traditionally thought of it. But, it’s certainly a way of finding information.
So, Google’s lead in the world of search is probably safe, but its influence is at great risk.

Google’s URL Shortener Is Here, And I Like It

Posted: October 4, 2010 in Uncategorized
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Google just lowered its hammer on another web segment: URL shorteners. And as usual, they hammered it hard, because the new product works like a charm and will probably become the market leader soon.

google-url-shortener

It’s called Goo.gl, and according to Google it has several advantages over competing services. Here is a quote from the announcement post:

There are many shorteners out there with great features, so some people may wonder whether the world really needs yet another. As we said late last year, we built goo.gl with a focus on quality. With goo.gl, every time you shorten a URL, you know it will work, it will work fast, and it will keep working. You also know that when you click a goo.gl shortened URL, you’re protected against malware, phishing and spam using the same industry-leading technology we use in search and other products.

I tested it briefly and I must say I really like it. The security aspect alone would be enough to make me switch, but the redirect also worked much faster when compared to other URL shorteners.  

Currently, I use Bit.Ly with my own pass-key to track clicks but Goo.gl is connected to your Google account, so it will track clicks for you automatically. I hope it gets added as an option in third-party clients like Tweetdeck and Seesmic soon.

Check it out if you haven’t yet.