Daily Tech Digest

In the past we have seen many big companies that came in to change the way we think,communicate, search and analyze the data we receive. No matter whether it’s related to something as simple as making our journeys pleasurable to navigating for information to using machines with the least of knowledge about it. The list of companies goes on from the likes of Ford, IBM, Yahoo, Apple, eBay, Microsoft, Toyota, GM Motors to the latest MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and the last but not the least Google which brought a virtual revolution in the 21st century and forced me to further investigate and discuss the ideas given below.

Earlier to Google there were many search companies like Alta Vista and Lycos who offered good enough service of extracting information from data but it was not sufficient and accurate enough to meet the demands of the ever growing demand for information. Google came in and devised it’s very own ranking system called as “Page Rank” which filtered out the relevant information from load of data on the internet. The main idea behind it was that it judges the relevance of a web page by the links its getting from other sites on the web which indirectly worked as a ranking system and then giving the importance on the no. of links its getting. It worked wonders for Google and soon they became the leaders in the search engine industry on the internet. This was the turning point for Google as they knew how to gather and distribute the information across the internet and by which they came to know the likes and dislikes of the users. After this enormous success they were struggling to make some money out of their own invention and after the brainstorm they came up with an idea of stepping into advertising sector which again transformed the way in which goods and services are sold which was named Google Adwords and Adsense. It changed the traditional “Push Strategy” to “Pull Strategy” in the advertising world.

The third biggest service they launched was Gmail – an email service which has a very easy to use interface which has a similar design to their search engine ( i would refer the similarity to the search engine by colors they use ie. white background and blue or black font color which is very simple yet appealing). It has got all the perks you can ask for like chatting within email that too with the facility of video chat as well and it also has got the facility of adding plug-ins to enhance the overall experience.

Then came the most used navigation software in the world called Google Earth (earlier called BBS Keyhole) which revolutionised the way we find our way around work & home. They further polished it with the introduction of Street view in almost 15 countries raising concerns over privacy but at the end it was Google who won and still leads in the best online navigation systems. The whole list goes of products released after goes on and on and on and from which the latest being Google Android OS for mobile phones which is also gaining very quickly over the rivals. It is one of the best open source operation system for a mobile device in the market as of now. Many operators have opted to go for it on their devices which include the likes of Sony, Samsung and HTC as of now and many manufacturers would follow the same in future. Google is also ready to release their Operating System called Google Chrome for netbooks this year but would move into Laptop & Desktop PC’s in future. The forecast about Google making wave in the OS market is very thin as people are very used to Windows and MAC  as they have been in the market for more than 35 years and its not that easy to overtake them so quickly.

As you see the growth of Google in the recent years, there have been one common trend in Googleplex and that is acquisition of budding companies who they think will overtake them or give them a run for their money. The list starts with one of the most successful companies bought by Google known as YouTube which streams over 2 Billion Videos per day. It has become so famous that many of the celebrities have their own homepage and many channels can now be watched free of cost in HD quality from comfort of your home. Recently it also hosted LIVE Twenty20 WorldCup for users worldwide. They are one of the best companies in forecasting the future of their rivals with some of them described below.

-> Google Picasa – Product born from Idealab acquisition.

-> Google Earth – Product born from BBS keyhole acquisition.

-> Google Youtube – Product born from Youtube acquisition.

-> Google Android – Product born from Android Inc.

What is my Opinion about Google?

Well my personal experience tells me that no matter how many companies they might have acquired to gain an upper hand in the competition, they are still the best The best thing about them is that they know how to polish an unfinished product and then release it with all the required options that meets the end user requirements.

So Do I THink that they are becoming the sole authority on the (Pla) Net?

I         WOULD              SAY                  YES…….

All the opinions expressed above are my personal and does not reflect any authority whatsoever. Feel free to leave your comments on my article.

Google has now covered UK in its Street View service that includes London, Belfast, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Cardiff (street-level maps), giving its users a 360-degree view of the city streetscapes. The users can have a look around including traffic, people and buildings with the help of the pictures taken by Google car cameras.

This service was introduced in 2007 in US followed by France, New Zealand, Japan and now UK with some uproar from the privacy authorities and individuals regarding the privacy issues which was then rectified by blurring the images of car number plates and faces of people to protect them from falling into to the wrong hands.

Users have the option of flagging the images which they think are inappropriate or private and then Google will make sure that they are blurred or removed from the maps. Ed Parsons, a geospatial technologist for Google assured their users by these comments.

“Privacy is really important to us. We think we have largely addressed those issues. Anything that can identify an individual person or car, we are doing our best to try to remove (that) image.”

This is the part of their future plans to introduce this service in another 100 cities in 9 countries. The pictures are taken from a special car equipped with 30 cameras to capture the public streets aroud major streets.

I think that it has been and will be very helpful for all of us to find a wayout, no matter where we are going at any time  of the day. What do you think? Feel free to leave your comments.

Gone are the days when Google was only in your PC or mobile or in your car, they are now aiming to enter your house.  Yes , you read it right they are currently testing a system wherein the consumer will be able to track the energy bills, starting right from every individual item in the house like heater, fridge, iron, PC, dryer, TV, server etc. and then you can reduce the electricity consumption based on the figures given by the ‘Smart Meter’ which will very soon make their way into millions of home worldwide.

Currently it is prototype wherein the consumption of electricity is done in a smart way by smart power meter which is then transmitted across to the user whoever have signed up for the service right on their iGoogle homepage. The bar graph given below gives a more clear picture as to how each of the appliances are consuming electricity.

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I think it would great to see if ‘Google Power meter’ goes live because then the user will know as to what appliances are consuming more current and how much can we can cut down on each one of them. Lets keep our fingers crossed and wait for the results. Till then for more info and updates on Google power meter visit the Google.org site.

So, what do you think, how successful or unsuccessful can it be? Feel free to leave your comments on the topic.