Google Takes Apps Pitch Worldwide

Cloud computing, especially with Google is vital to non-profits that are cash strapped and looking for ways to improve their efficiencies/economies of scale. What struggling non-profit trying to provide direct services to folks (and spend the bulk of their money there) can afford full time (competent) IT Staff and hideously expensive licensing requirements and upgrades? This is the way out of the hole, once cloud computing’s stability and redundancy issues get sorted out. ~Michelle

http://www.internetnews.com/breakingnews/article.php/3844361

Google said more than 2 million businesses now use its online office software, and the Web search leader is going global on Monday with an advertising campaign to lure customers away from Microsoft and IBM.

The campaign, which starts Monday in countries including France, Japan and Britain, represents a rare foray by Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) into mass-market advertising and underscores increasing competition to provide businesses with e-mail and other office software.

More at the link!

OK, so here’s a clip of the Dark Side of Google

I would not be appreciative of having my GV messaged indexed. This leads me to the statement I frequently make in my classes: there is no expectation of privacy on the intertubes. None. Nada. Zip. That being said. reading the TOS and using privacy settings, along with maintaining control of your public image by using common sense improves your chances on staying under the radar. But still. C’mon Goog. Follow your own mantra: Don’t be evil. Or at least use Wil Wheaton’s: Don’t be a d*ck.~ Michelle

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/19/the-best-of-the-google-voice-public-messages/

By now you may have heard that Google indexed quite a few user’s Google Voice voicemail messages, and these were showing up in search results. Despite earlier speculation, this actually wasn’t an error, Google was doing this on purpose for users who had chosen to share their voicemails somewhere on the web.

More at the link!

Google Voice invites coming up!

I am going to invite a few folks in when I get my Voice invites. I’ve been having a lot of fun using Voice so far, and have found it to work very well. I think i will like it even more when I get a Google Phone! ~Michelle

http://blog.internetnews.com/mmegna/2009/10/google-extends-voice-party-lin.html

The Internet giant today said it will start allowing more people to use its Google Voice call management app.

“As a token of appreciation for all of the feedback our users have been sharing over the past few months, today we’re going to start giving Google Voice users invitations to share with friends and family. Over the next few weeks, each Google Voice user will receive three invites to distribute to whomever they choose,” a Google spokeswoman told InternetNews.com.

Prior to today’s news, Google Voice, which manages a user’s calls under one number, among other services, was only available to a limited pool of users.

The move to expand the Google Voice user base comes as the app becomes more controversial — most recently as the subject of an FCC inquiry over how it routes calls to rural areas.

More at the link.

Google Wave already works on the iPhone!

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/13/google-waves-little-secret-it-already-works-on-the-iphone/

I just got my invite to Google Wave and am having a bit of trouble with it. It KILLS my computer and I can’t read anything. I am going to keep trying until i figure out what is wrong. In the mean time, i am going to try this and see if it will make using Wave any easier. ~Michelle

Google Wave, the search giant’s latest experiment in post-email communications, is hardly out the gate, with some of the first 100,000 private beta testers still waiting for their invites. (I just finally got mine today, two weeks after launch). But Google Wave already has a few secrets. The one that surprised me is that even though not that many people can use it yet, Google Wave already works on the iPhone.

There are two ways to get Google Wave to work on your iPhone. The first way is to simply go to wave.google.com in mobile Safari on your iPhone. It warns you that you are not using a browser supported during the preview, but if you click through, it works pretty well. The site has obviously been optimized for Webkit-based browsers like the one on the iPhone and Google’s own Android phones (I tried it on Android, and it works there as well). You can select different conversation “waves” (or threads) and contacts, or dive into a specific wave.

But here is where it gets interesting. In addition to the Web app via the mobile Safari browser, you can get rid of the Safari wrapper altogether.
more at the link.

Video: The past and future of YouTube on third anniversary of Google deal

I love YouTube, and watch videos daily. I love Google, privacy warts and all. But I am still not completely enthused about Google’s purchase of YouTube and the consolidating of all that video into one company’s hands. Ah, modern life, modern problems.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=3132

Video at link.

FCC Opens Inquiry on Google Voice

In my great galloping enthusiasm for all things Google, I missed the current “controversy” regarding Google and blocked/rural calls. Methinks this is manufactured “controversy” from companies that can feel their traditional revenue streams drying up rapidly.
~Michelle

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fcc-opens-inquiry-google-voice/2009-10-09?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

The FCC sent Google a letter Friday afternoon probing the company’s Google Voice service, two days after a group of House lawmakers pressed the commission to look into whether the service was blocking calls to certain rural areas.

In the letter to Google, the FCC asked Google for information about Google Voice’s functionality, how calls are routed and whether calls are restricted. If calls are restricted, the FCC wants to know how the calls are blocked as well as how Google informs users about any restrictions. Additionally, the commission is seeking information on how Google pays for the service, how many users it has and whether Google considers the service to be a traditional telecommunications service or if it competes with traditional phone services.

Read more: http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/fcc-opens-inquiry-google-voice/2009-10-09?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0TrDXxEPb

More at the link.

IBM email challenges Google in the cloud

Hmph. No comment. No, wait. One word. Wave. ~ Michelle

http://tech.yahoo.com/news/afp/20091003/tc_afp/usitinternetibmgoogle

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) -

IBM on Monday will begin offering businesses a basic “cloud computing” email service at a price that undercuts a plusher offering by Internet giant Google.

IBM unabashedly pitched its new LotusLive iNotes as an alternative to email service Google has been promoting as part of a campaign to win businesses over to using applications hosted as services on the Internet.

“Email and other collaboration services are the right entry point for many companies to realize the promise of cloud computing,” said IBM Lotus Software general manager Bob Picciano.

“But, only if clients feel confident they’re getting business-grade service from a trusted leader in enterprise services.”

Google Wave: There Will Be Backlash

I was hoping to get an invite into Google wave today and was disappointed that it did not happen; turns out it was pushed back. There is still hope! I missed out on Google Voice when it came out (but will try it eventually) and would hate to miss this!–Michelle

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/30/google-wave-there-will-be-backlash/

by MG Siegler on September 30, 2009

Have you gotten your Google Wave invite yet? Just kidding — they’re not out yet. The team (which is based in Australia) decided to push them out later today so they could be up to deal with issues surrounding the massive influx of new users. And judging from the response on the web, “massive” is also the perfect word to describe the anticipation for the service.

Ever since it was unveiled at Google I/O this past May, it seems that everyone wants to know everything about Wave. And yesterday, when it was revealed that a big roll-out to more than just developers was around the corner, interest spiked again. Since then, the term has not left Twitter’s Trend Topics area. But there is always a downside to so much hype, and I’m pretty certain we’re going to see it in the coming days and weeks with Google Wave too: Backlash.

Actually, some amount of backlash started immediately after it was first revealed in May. While we were wowed after a hands-on demonstration we got, writing that Wave “drips with ambition,” there were plenty in the press and general public who quickly jumped on the other side of the coin. Upon seeing the public demonstration, reactions ranged from “Wow” to “I don’t get it.” But the real test will come later today when many of those people actually get to use it for the first time.

We have been using Wave since Google I/O, and while it has been very buggy, the team has worked hard to iron out a lot of the kinks since then. Still, there will be plenty who begin using it today who will be disappointed. It’s a tricky situation for the Wave team. From the get go, they’ve said that the ultimate vision is for Wave to be a new communication platform for the web — meaning they hope hundreds, if not thousands, of other services are built with Wave as the backbone. But that’s a long ways out. Today, all we have to play with is Google Wave, the service, which is still very early in its lifespan.

It’s really Google Wave’s ambition that is a dual-edged sword. Because the team is trying to do so much with the product, there will be plenty of people who find it confusing and cluttered. And to some extent, they’re right. But anyone who labels it a failure at this point is either a curmudgeon or an extremely shortsighted person claiming to have foresight. It’s a nice thought that every product should be a taut bundle of execution with an easy path to monetization. But the web, and really the world, would be a much more boring place if that were the case.

Read the entire article at the link above.