Why Google missed a beat with Buzz

Reprinted with permission from my original article featured on the TalkTalk Blog

The attraction of social networking is undeniable. Posting status updates, photo tagging, ‘poking’ and telling each other how pretty we look has been like catnip to web surfers for many years now. In fact, if Facebook were a country its 400m members would make it the third largest country in the World behind China and India and 25% larger than the United States. Understandably, as widely recognised king of the Internet, Google felt it was being left behind. It wanted to catch up, and – as is Google’s obsession – fast.

From the moment it made this decision, however, the problems started. The cleverly named Google ‘Buzz’ was launched on 9 February to widespread disdain. At best, Buzz was deemed a me-too service with little to distinguish it from Facebook or Twitter, and at worst an invasive, assumptive robot that led to genuine privacy concerns and even fears over personal safety.

Buzz off

What had gone so terribly wrong? On the outside Buzz is a simple, almost Twitter-like, status update service which allows users to share their thoughts across other Google offerings such as Picasa, Reader, Blogger and YouTube as well as integrating with Flickr and Twitter. The key message: that Buzz would bridge the gapbetween work and leisure.

The problem, to my mind, was that Google hadn’t thought enough about the ’social’ element of ’social networking’ – that, at heart, it is founded on people’s need to interact and to do this with all of the quirky, illogical, endearing and infuriating methods that make up the human condition. Google isn’t a company based around the quirky, illogical, endearing and infuriating. It isn’t even really a fan of the human condition. To me, Google is more of a fan of ones and zeros, of computer logic and crunching the numbers, of building by formula and that silicon chip approach is ill-fitting with the unscientific heart at the centre of social networking.

Consequently the key message was the most fundamentally misplaced: the gap between work and leisure is often there for a reason. Those who we email most often are not necessarily our friends or the most important people in our lives; in fact they may be the people we least want to know out innermost thoughts and ramblings. Computers don’t pick up on this and neither did Google.

Consequently Buzz automatically conscripted all Gmail users, their friends lists were determined by frequency of communication and their personal information spread between them. The result? Your boss was suddenly told about the slacking you did in the afternoon, your parents about how drunk you were at the weekend, you ex-partner about your latest love life revelations. Understandably, criticism flooded in and emotions ran high.

Back to the drawing board

Thankfully Google was quick to respond to feedback. Within 48 hours it had added privacy options to hide personal information from so-called ‘friends’ and introduced the most basic of human needs: the ability to block people who start following you. Another 48 hours passed and on 13 February yet more changes appeared with fundamentals such as giving users the right not to automatically follow their most emailed contacts. Your personal Picasa Web Albums and Google Reader stories of interest were also not fair game to anyone who had reason to speak with you regularly.

To anyone not using the world’s most powerful collection of servers to make their business decisions these would have been obvious omissions from the start and Buzz product manager Todd Jackson spoke to BBC News acknowledging “tens of millions” of users were “rightfully upset” and that it was “very, very sorry”. I wonder why everything was so rushed? Perhaps Google was upset that Orkut, its previous attempt to hop on the social networking bus, lags far behind Facebook with just 100m users (the majority of which, famously, live in Brazil). Perhaps it didn’t want to rely on the importance of Twitter for real time search. Or perhaps it was just a little frustrated and desperate – two very real, but unfamiliar emotions during its meteoric rise.

Google is famous for launching products unfinished, but this is dangerous with social networking. And you can’t make up for lost time by forcing a social network together out of Gmail users, anymore than you can force users of the same telephone company into a room and tell them to be friends.

The irony in all this is sublime. Google is a company obsessed with collecting and analysing data on human behaviour, yet when it came to the crunch I don’t think it really understands us at all…

PRWeek Video Podcast: the relationship between PRs & Journalists

What makes for a good relationship between PRs and journalists? I sit on the PRWeek sofa with Paul Borge, head of digital at Consolidated PR, to discuss this. Comments welcome.

How Twitter will change internet search forever

Reprinted with permission from my original article featured on the TalkTalk official blog…

The name alone instantly polarises reactions, but ‘Twitter’ looks set to have a far greater impact on our lives than anyone could have imagined.

If you haven’t heard the phrase already, ‘Real Time Search’ is likely to become one of the buzz words of 2010. What it refers to is the ability to search for information published on the Internet as it happens and it is something Twitter has perfected as it sought to organise the tens of millions of tweets sent through the service every day. Consequently Twitter users can immediately see what the ‘trending topics’ (read: hot topics) of the minute/hour/day/week are, read about developments and get involved.

High profile examples of this during 2009 include the breaking news of Michael Jackson’s death, the Hudson river plane crash and the Trafigura waste dumping scandal. In fact multiple heavyweight news organisations now scan Twitter on a daily basis for breaking news and trends in public opinion – all of which is pulling traffic away from traditional search engines. After all, why use Google to find what the weather is like in Madrid when a Twitter search can pinpoint a local who made comment on it in the last five minutes and posted a picture?

The keyword in all this is ‘relevancy’. The battle for web supremacy lies in the service which can provide the most relevant information to the user and a key aspect of this is speed. So while traditional search engines work by web search crawls which index them into a logical order, the delay can take hours when the goal is seconds. Consequently the Twitter licensing deal will initially see users Tweets integrated into Google and Bing search results (Twitter users have the right to opt out) and the impact of this is profound.

While what Ashton Kutcher or Stephen Fry had for breakfast is unlikely to trouble CNN, it means the on-location reports from (for example) the Hudson River crash would now break through search engines not the BBC or Reuters. Never before has such people power been harnessed. Of course such a system is also open to great abuse, the recent tasteless fad for spreading fake celebrity deaths on Twitter is a prime example, but with this door now open it is extremely unlikely to ever be closed.

Still not convinced? YouTube and Facebook have recently both announced plans to integrate this technology into their respective sites. So that’s Microsoft, Google, Facebook, YouTube (Google by proxy) and Twitter all focused on real time search. Resistance is understandable, but in the long run it’s futile.

First A-Team Cast Photo Doesn’t Bode Well

Comingsoon.net has managed to grab the first on set photo from the new A-Team film and it looks like yet another of our fondest childhood memories is going to be put through the mincer. Directed by Joe Carnahan, it stars Liam Neeson as John “Hannibal” Smith, Bradley Cooper as Lt. Templeton “Faceman” Peck, Sharlto Copley as Captain “Howling Mad” Murdock and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson as Sergeant “B.A.” Baracus.

So the obvious question to all: why does Hannibal look like Steve Martin, Howling Mad Murdock look like Face and Face & B.A. look like no-one?! Ho and indeed hum.

via Comingsoon.net

Upgrade fever hits Mac and Windows worlds

Reprinted with permission from my original article featured on the TalkTalk official blog…

Unless you live in a bunker on the far side of the Moon (in which case, congratulations on finding your way here) then you’ll know we are entering a huge couple of months for the computer industry with the launch of Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’. Windows 7 arrives on 22 October and Snow Leopard is already here having touched down on 28 August.

Both are expected to help drive computer sales during this wretched global recession of ours. Each has more things in common than either Microsoft or Apple fans would care to admit, but perhaps the biggest is this: both are essentially service packs with price tags.

Yes, there are plenty of counter arguments to this controversial viewpoint and many can argue Windows 7 in particular offers far more upgrade benefits to PCs than Snow Leopard does to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard users. I’d say that’s because there was far more to fix in Vista than there ever was in Leopard. Whatever your standpoint however we are ultimately looking at spring cleans not root and branch surgery.

Now before I incur too much wrath, or get into a tit for tat feature comparison battle, let me say I think this is a good thing. It’s the way software should be – or at least it’s a step in the right direction. Gone should be the days of waiting 3 – 5 years for your next OS. In fact, ideally there shouldn’t even be a ‘next’ OS. Whatever platform we choose should see continual evolution and be as seamless to the user as possible. After all, what version of Gmail are we on now or Google Search? iPhone OS may be up to its third major iteration, but new and old iPhone models alike continue to benefit.

There are practical applications too. Incremental improvements mean end users don’t need retraining on wholly different systems – they are constantly learning as changes are made little step by little step. I’d also argue there would be less resilience to a small monthly fee than singular upgrades dumped upon us at hundreds of pounds (though Snow Leopard’s £25 RRP is a notable exception here), it would also make piracy more difficult.

The web will play a huge role in this vision with real time updates, virus protection and the continual offloading of processing onto farms of remote servers as witnessed every time you perform a Internet search (you really didn’t think your computer was doing those immense calculations did you?). I believe we don’t want Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 we want ‘Windows’ and ‘Mac OS’: smoothly evolving platforms that detect your hardware and optimise appropriately for computers old and new.

Of course, there is one group where I’m largely preaching to the converted. Many Linux distributions have long worked in this way and current Linux leader Ubuntu releases upgradeable versions free of charge every six months under such fabulous code names as Fiesty Fawn, Hardy Heron and Jaunty Jackalope. Ubuntu is free, technical support and services earn it revenues.

The obvious (though not necessarily inevitable) next step to all this is Cloud Computing, a system whereby the bulk of the OS is hosted online and users can forget entirely about such matters as updates and upgrades. It also makes the bulk of an OS mobile, allowing users to hop from one computer to another as if they were all the same machine. Cloud Computing is something Google hopes we will latch onto with Chrome OS (which I discussed back in July), but its weak point is the reliance on a reliable and near-constant Internet connection.

In the meantime and despite the furore surrounding Windows 7 and Snow Leopard, I’d be happy just to see the back of these generational OSes…

Opera Unite takes home PCs into the cloud

Reprinted with permission from my original article featured on the TalkTalk official blog…

Accessibility. It is perhaps the main drive behind the first wave of Cloud computing. It’s something that the exciting new Google Chrome OS is keen to promote and a factor which will come to simplify the lives of millions. In short it means having the ability to access your digital content from any web connected computer in any place at any time. Think of the possibilities. Never would you forget that important document or presentation, never would you be caught short without our favourite music, movies, television shows or eBooks. Sure, Cloud Computing hopes to achieve this by storing all our information securely online but its widespread acceptance will be measured in years, not weeks or months. Likewise expe

Accessibility. It is perhaps the main drive behind the first wave of Cloud computing. It’s something that the exciting new Google Chrome OS is keen to promote and a factor which will come to simplify the lives of millions. In short it means having the ability to access your digital content from any web connected computer in any place at any time.

Think of the possibilities. Never would you forget that important document or presentation, never would you be caught short without our favourite music, movies, television shows or eBooks. Sure, Cloud Computing hopes to achieve this by storing all our information securely online but its widespread acceptance will be measured in years, not weeks or months. Likewise expensive web servers can perform much the same task but they require technical expertise and ongoing monthly costs. So what if there was an easier and free way to do all this right now…?

This is what ‘Opera Unite’ looks to do. It is the brainchild of Opera, the innovative software developer behind the browser of the same name. The two minute tutorial video above provides a simple walkthrough of how it works but the fundamental point is you can easily share and remotely access folders on your computer using nothing more than the latest version of the Opera web browser.

To provide user security the content you share can be set with three access levels: public, limited and private and Opera Unite will create a URL and optional password for you that can be passed onto friends, family and colleagues. So what can you share?

On the most basic level documents, music and photos but more advanced users can host websites, chat rooms and even create a secure environment to securely exchange data. And Opera assures us this is only the beginning.

“Today, we are opening the full potential of the Web for everyone,” said Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner at the launch of the service. “Technology moves in distinct cycles. PCs decentralized computing away from large mainframes. Opera Unite now decentralizes and democratizes the cloud… consumers have the flexibility to choose private and efficient ways of sharing information. We believe Opera Unite is one of our most significant innovations yet, because it changes forever the fundamental fabric of the Web.”

Needless to say this is a big claim but Tetzchner may not be far wrong. Certainly there are limits with the inherent simplicity of Opera Unite – namely the PC hosting the information needs to remain on and the Opera browser must be used – but it does indeed flip around the traditional fabric of the web. After all, in the beginning the internet was solely about consuming the data provided by others, then ‘Web 2.0′ brought social networking and user generated content. Now the consumer friendly approach of Opera Unite could drive a third stage: decentralisation and accessibility.

Or in other words: your data under your control available anyplace, anywhere, anytime.

Google Chrome OS and what it means for you

Reprinted with permission from my original article featured on the TalkTalk official blog…

There is a new operating system in town and it’s built by Google…

This month the search giant announced ‘Chrome OS’ – a strange name you’d think because it is named after the Google Chrome web browser. Surely what is usually just one component of an operating system should not be the inspiration for it? After all you don’t see Microsoft announcing ‘Internet Explorer OS’.

In actual fact however this is exactly what Chrome OS is, an operating system named after a web browser which is its inspiration and core. The argument is simple: research shows users now spend the majority of their time on a computer using the web browser and Google believes elements traditionally outside it can be seamlessly integrated in time. This strategy includes an impending redesign of Google Docs which it hopes will tempt users away from Microsoft Office.

So is Google OS simply an operating system which loads a web browser? In short we don’t know. What we do know it is will be open source so anyone can develop for it and that it will be built upon Linux, the same core behind the increasingly popular Ubuntu platform. Google says the benefits of Chrome OS will be extremely fast boot times and much faster operation on old and low powered PCs compared to Windows.

Moving your data onto the internet means that users will be able to access it from any computer and the theory is it should be much more secure with the might of Google looking after it (conspiracy theories aside). Furthermore, if your computer breaks or is stolen then that data is safe. Critically it will also be free.

The drawbacks? We simply don’t know enough about Chrome OS yet. Google recently published a Chrome OS FAQ which confirmed major PC makers such as Acer, Asus, HP, Lenovo and Toshiba are interested but up to now we haven’t been presented with so much as a screenshot. Google Gears will allow common online tasks such as Gmail and Google Docs to be used offline but it is still awaiting widespread industry acceptance. It is also unclear how Google will tackle popular pastimes such as gaming with Chrome OS though the OnLive Cloud based streaming model may become paramount here.

The relevance of Chrome OS however is clear. Google sees the future of computing online. As the most powerful company on the Internet that could be expected but the cost savings, performance benefits and accessibility of information online does make for a compelling argument. That said, I would stress expectations are tempered, at least initially. The first version of Chrome OS will not arrive until the second half of 2010 and Google is a company which famously likes to beta test in public so expect things to be extremely rough and ready at first.

In the meantime, whether Google or Microsoft has the right approach, there is one indisputable fact which cannot be ignored: in future we’re going to be spending even more of our time online and what we do with it will become ever more advanced. So be sure to grab yourself a fast and reliable broadband connection and hold on tight!

Top 5 Gadget Recommendations

Reprinted with permission from my original article featured on the TalkTalk official blog…

Navigating the tech jungle can be hazardous at the best of times, but following a flood of summer releases just what are the most desirable gadgets now available on the market? I’ve come up with a Top 5 list designed to hit different product types and budgets, so let’s kick on…

Mobile Phones

Finally, and perhaps predictably, we can’t have a gadget roundup without mentioning the new iPhone 3GS (available at Carphone Warehouse – Ed). It may have been more evolution than revolution but Apple’s third generation handset remains king of the hill thanks to a focus on craftsmanship in a sector too long dominated by specifications. If you can afford the steep tariffs proposed by O2 (a network believed to be coming to the end of its iPhone exclusivity) the 3GS is without doubt the best mobile phone money can buy. If you’re looking for a sneaky sixth recommendation and the iPhone 3GS proves a little too rich for your blood check out the HTC Magic on Vodafone. Built on top of Google’s exciting Android mobile phone operating system it may lack the glamour of the iPhone but Google doesn’t like to be second with anything and it remains a hugely impressive handset on a fast evolving platform. In fact this time next year it may just be Apple iPhones which are the poor man’s Google phone.

The Sky’s the Limit!

My blog has not been running long enough to know exactly who my readership are. I suspect many are UK journalists and PRs (probably due to all the Twitter links I post) while no doubt a number of TrustedReviews’ more avid readers have tracked me down. Hopefully some of you arrived here completely by chance – I’d like to think that’s the power of the World Wide Web. Whatever your make up however I suspect you may have heard something about what I’m about to discuss…

Here are the facts: on Friday 13 March I managed to scoop a fairly large story about the secretive mass recall of faulty Sky+HD digiboxes. It wasn’t life changing but as it affected 90,000 subscribers (approximately 10% of Sky’s entire HD user base) relevant nonetheless. The story was popular with our readers and two or three rival sites popped up articles kindly sourcing back to me. In short come Friday evening the Google News aggregator page looked like this:

In truth I had probably expected more sites to pick up the story but I suspect given it was late on a Friday before a large majority of the tech world jetted off to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona meant – understandably – their focus was elsewhere. Fast forward four whole days however and as MWC news began to dry up the sniffing around began again and guess what tasty little story they found? Yep, by February 17th the Google News UK aggregator page looked like this:

I was rather flattered. I presumed something additional must have been dug up for such a media frenzy. I was wrong it was just what I had reported four days earlier. Furthermore, on flicking through a few of the more major sites (broadsheets, BBC, etc) to my horror I discovered not a single, solitary credit back to TrustedReviews for my industry. This wouldn’t be so bad if a number hadn’t directly ripped off the quotes posted on our comments section by an appreciably hackled Sky+HD Team. Co-incidence? In some publications without the quotes – quite likely, in orders absolutely not it was word for word.

Of course no one is perfect. Bemoaning the problem on Twitter I was rather sternly reminded of my own shortcomings by my friend Ian Morris, the Television, DVD and PVR editor at CNet. He pointed out that 2 years ago I had posted a story and failed to credit him for the discovery. I had fallen victim to the ‘via curse’ which afflicts much web based journalism. This is where a story is written linking to the site where the author found the information without tracking down the original source. Following them all back can sometimes work, but not always. That said, it was my fault, I should have dug deeper and a few quick words (I’ll not repeat the exact colourful phraseology) sorted it. The difference is it wasn’t intentional and I ultimately held my hands up.

Funnily enough I pretty much took Ian’s head off for pointing this out during a rather undignified public battle. I was still rather raw so Ian – if you’re reading this – apologies.

Before I get too far off topic however let me conclude with this: I expected better. I expected better of myself when I failed to spot Ian’s original article 2 years ago and I expect better of the high profile national press who knowingly rip off the hard work of others. Now I’m sure I’m overreacting. My editor said I should ’suck it up’ and he’s right, after I vent this Riyad I will. But the worst aspect in what essentially amounts to theft is it isn’t even unusual, for many it is common business practice. I’ve heard numerous horror stories far worse than my own example since this occurred and they all left an impression. Each is locked in tight – as is the tarnished image of my profession.

…Ok, Riyad. I’ve Sucked Up.

PART II: Twitter verses Facebook: Can Tweets Improve Your Life?

The second of my two part Twitter feature inspired by comments I made on an article entitled Correct Twitter Usage on my good friend Spode’s Think About Tech website:

Let’s get this lazy comparison scrubbed from the very first line: I don’t believe Facebook and Twitter are even remotely connected.

The old line: “Twitter is mass Facebook status updates for your friends” I believe to be utter – well – shite. The difference is Facebook has a certain ‘distance’ to it. With it I feel I get to know something about the LIVES of my friends on it and also the school friends I haven’t seen in years, but vitally many – if not most – of my Facebook friends I have no desire to interact with. Facebook is largely voyeuristic.

 

By contrast, Twitter is INTERACTIVE. Sure, there are professional sites simply rehashing their RSS feeds but they are largely catastrophic failures when you consider their number of followers when proportional to their site’s web audience.

No, Twitter is not about saying “I polished my car today” it is about interaction. It is a great online IM brothel between your friends/respected colleagues or others and one which goes on whether you are there are not. With Twitter I genuinely feel I have BONDED with virtually all of those I follow, I have not just watched them from afar via a sterile ‘Today’ page. I would even go so far as to say Twitter has helped improve social relations with a number of friends because we no longer need to engage in fatuous small talk . We already KNOW what is going on with one another’s lives and have often commented on it via Twitter so when we meet up we already feel comfortable, can cut the “so how has your week been…” waffle and have far more meaningful conversations.

Personally speaking, I know many people have issues with Twitter but let me be blunt here. If you find the people you follow say things you find dull then DON’T follow them. Cruel as it may sound I have many good friends in real life whose Twitter feeds I do not enjoy. I had the stones to remove them and we get on as if Twitter never existed.

Likewise for those I do continue to follow I find I now feel genuinely closer to them. Their tweets delight, entertain and touch me about the goings on in their lives. One friend in particular who is living abroad I watch to see how his very ill son is coping. From his Twitter updates alone and my occasional real time responses to them I feel more useful than 50 FaceBook wall messages, virtual app flowers and picture posts ever could.

In essence then, perhaps what I am trying to say is that while Twitter can seemingly be written off by generalist and trite statements it is actually a hybrid creating a new form of communication. A merger of Facebook and IM, a grand forum or cyberspace town hall where you can share your daily/weekly/monthly highs and lows in a way representative of what drives you in this wonderful thing called the human condition.

Hardest of all however is to realise your own tweets paint an unrelenting self portrait, something which scares away many. Yet hopefully this close-up study of yourself and others also brings about realisation of where and how more can be made of your own life to give you more interesting things to Tweet about…

Link: Twitter Gordon Kelly Profile (follow me and see just how exciting/dull my life is!)

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