A Disturbance in The Force
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Tag Archives: google
Why Google Chrome?
“Google’s greatest fear — that Microsoft will turn off ads in IE.”
Flare Smith reaches new milestone
My Flare Smith Plugin, reached a new milestone today: v0.17. This version fleshes out the functionality to support new school AdSense enabled feeds, but also supports the popular My Brand feature which allows you to mask feeds.feedburner.com URLs with your own domain name. Version 0.17 also sports a shiny new options page that should be a little easier to use, especially now that there are 3 distinct settings that must be manipulated, depending on your needs, to get Flare Smith up and running.
There is one caveat though. The AdSense enabled feed support is a little wonky, but of no fault of my own.
The Microsoft Killer
In every business there is some version of the 80-20 rule that says 80 percent of the business comes from 20 percent of the customers. Smart businesses do whatever they can to play to that powerful 20 percent. If you are a new CEO who needs to turn around a business 10 minutes after walking through the door, there are two things you can do: 1) cut costs, and 2) focus on your top 20 percent customers. That’s it — you are now a turnaround expert and I grant you an honorary MBA.
There’s another kind of company, however, that applies the 80-20 rule in a different manner and Apple is one of those companies.
Is Steve Ballmer thinking too much about the wrong competitor? Probably. Read on.
The Google Enigma
Whenever a company becomes wildly successful in a brief span of time, it naturally becomes an object of fascination for corporate executives and even the general public. More than that, it comes to be presented as a new model for business success. Reporters and scholars scour its history and its practices, looking to distill general lessons for other firms to copy. Google is no exception.
For all its success, Google is still a young company, and it has yet to be tested by adversity. We don’t even know whether its approach to management, and in particular its approach to innovation, is a cause of its success or a product of its success — a crucial distinction.
Interesting stuff. More here.
Google Maps Mobile Adds My Location
Google Maps Mobile, has just been updated to add a slick new feature that helps pinpoint where you’re at using the Cell Towers for triangulation. If you have a GPS enabled phone, it will use that instead. Its pretty accurate, so far – usually pulling my location up within 3 meters (with my new Blackberry Curve II).
After the jump is a video explaining how it works.
PayPerPost Bloggers Losing Pagerank
If participating in PayPerPost wasn’t questionable enough morally before, today it’s now a poisoned chalice as Google has commenced punishing PayPerPost bloggers by completely removing their page rank.
This story hits close to home, both as a blogger – and as an Orlando resident – where PayPerPost is HQ’d. I’ve never really seen the benefit – except to advertisers – to use any good will and influence I’ve built up on my sites to push products on my audience that I didn’t believe in. And while IZEA, the company behind PPP and other Social Media Marketing efforts tries to balance their commercial interests with social awareness, Google’s move against them was warranted, in my opinion.
Google Maps – Public Transit features
Google Maps is starting to integrate Public Transit features. You can pick to ‘Drive There’or ‘Take Public Transit’when getting directions. Works for your city if you have decent public transportation.