Microsoft and comScore? Introducing RF Planner

A short time ago, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Advertising and comScore are entering into a collaborative agreement "to bring new digital insights to traditional media planners".

In all honestly, I probably wouldn't have noticed this had it not been for a very subtle link in an e-mail from the Microsoft adCenter team.

A few moments later, it appeared as a full blown Microsoft press release which can be found here.

One day after the Yahoo-Microsoft search deal announcement, Microsoft announced it is developing what they are calling the 'Reach and Frequency Planner' or 'RF Planner'.

A new digital media buyers' tool which apparently will use comScore's data to measure ROI.

Could they be looking (directly) at Google's Ad Planner or ... Google's newer product Ad Manager ?

Updated links July 30 4 PM ET

It's Official - Microsoft to Power Yahoo! Search

After almost a year of talks, at one point with Microsoft seeking to acquire all of Yahoo!, word came a short time ago that the deal that has been hinted at for the past week, is done.

Microsoft's new Bing search engine will be the default provider to Yahoo! Search and Microsoft acquires a 10 years license to Yahoo's search technology.

Microsoft and Yahoo! just released simultaneous press releases here and here.  The companies have also set up a joint informational website here.


The Microsoft Press Release has videos from both Steve Ballmer and Bartz with links to more. 

The timing of the announcement was obviously set for the US stock market open as a conference call is set for 5:30 AM PT today.

You can follow Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) here and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) here.

Update: A complete transcript of this morning's conference call has been posted here.

Update 3: Yahoo has re-released their initial Press Release (adding the term 'Multimedia' and more) here.

Update 2 Wednesday, July 29 12 AM ET (Image from TwitScoop.com)

Sobees - Twitter and Facebook in Silverlight 3

Switzerland-based deskNET SA has been testing various versions of their Sobees online social interface as well as their social client app bDule for several months now in Alpha.

While numerous others have similar products permeating the growing Twitter API client landscape, in this space most notably Tweetdeck and Seesmic, Sobees has garnered a devoted early adopter audience with their products, with reviews appearing on blogs again over the past few weeks.

Earlier today, Sobees went to version 0.1.6.0 alpha.  The online product, which already embraces multiple Twitter accounts and url shorteners, has added optional automatic signature for Tweets, and Facebook integration is now onboard.

An updated real-time search, powered by OneRiot, Twitter, and Friendfeed is now fully functional (and somewhat fascinating).

You'll need Microsoft Silverlight 3 (available for both Windows and Mac) installed to try this latest version which can be found here.


Seesmic recently released (then updated) their online client to excellent reviews by many. 

Is Sobees a competitor?

Considering the company is still calling it an 'alpha', this recent addition to the online social client scene bears some watching.

More information can be found in today's Sobees blog post here.

Google Blog Search in Real Time (or close)

If you go to Google Blog Search (this could be experimental?!) and look to the right you will now see Google Trends at the top (identical to our gadget at the right) and then, just below it ... you'll see blog headlines delayed just a few minutes.

While it is NOT real-time, it is a running ticker of recent blog posts from all sorts of blogs (and not yet by category) ... very similar to what one might see on Twitter or Friendfeed a few minutes earlier, depending on who you are following.

With no 'announced' deal with Twitter, it appears that Google (which has been indexing many blogs within minutes of publication for well over a year), is recognizing that beyond 'trends', the real-time web machine is starting to hit home with a lot of people, in a variety of industries, in a big way.

I refreshed it a few times today and it's NOT limited to blogs that appear in Google News.  It is a very diverse feed.

Is it a challenge? An experiment? ... or just a new (or relatively new) feature?

Will it go real-time?

No doubt from comments made in the past by Google executives, they certainly recognize the importance of the latest trend on the 'net (Real Time).

The question now is how, when, and where will they deploy it.

Updated July 25 2 AM ET

Remember the Blogroll?

Those of you that have been following this blog for some time may remember when it had a blogroll that I used to rotate about once a month.

Why rotate?

There was an ever-increasing amount of new authors that were bringing interesting and cutting-edge technologies to the SEO and Internet landscape.

I discontinued the blogroll some months ago as it became apparent that it would take a full page to list all the websites and blogs I read and wanted to share.

So what's with the new list at the lower right??

As part of the makeover of Google Reader, you can now create groups of rss feeds and share them.

Somewhat similar to sharing individual posts (that will continue), this feature allows you to group feeds, share them via Google Reader or present them with a gadgets (as I've done, for now, to see if you guys like it).

In other words. Want to subscribe to 10 or 15 feeds that I do?

It's as easy as hitting the subscribe button right there on the widget.

The 'sharing' evolution (and well as the Google ecosystem) continues.

Hope you like it, and look for (many) more links in the months to come.

Warning ... this blog will always be on it :)

Great weekend all ....

..... and thanks for all the notes and your support.

Charlie

Update: I have discontinued the module at right mostly due to the fact that you never know what someone will publish .... You can still follow (or subscribe to) my shared Google Reader feed at the right. (Was a good experiment ... needs some work :)

SEO is not Voo Doo

Those of you that read this blog know that I try to 'get out there' at least once a year (if not more often) and feel the pulse of the tech and SEO landscape ... and what people and businesses are doing on the Internet.

While I probably should be pitching a speaking gig at an SEO conference or traveling and networking more, I choose to see what small businesses and individuals are doing.  How they're doing.

Regardless of YOUR mission, face-to-face wins the race.  That hasn't changed.  If the economy's got you down, lose the tube and get out there and network!  


My latest tour, a localized 'mini-exploration' was somewhat disheartening.

There's an incredible amount of bad information out there.

If nothing else, read this:

There is nothing wrong with 'White Hat' SEO.  Why else would Google, Microsoft (Bing) and Yahoo attend major SEO and online marketing conferences?  NOT just to sell their PPC products.

Reality.  The Internet continues to grow at light speed.  The trends change and so do the rankings.

Google's algorithm for ranking is mindboggling awesomeness.....

Think about it for just one minute.  How many search phrases are possible?  When was the last time you got a totally lame result on Google?

That's awesomeness, years of tweaking, and it's also the reason they have over 60% of the search market.  People Google-it because it works.  Relevant (not skewed) results is Google's No. 1 reason for dominance in the search space.

.... and they want to keep it that way ..... as potential long-term challengers like Bing are working hard to reach a similar level of relevancy.

Ex-Googler Vanessa Fox posted this piece last week to Nine by Blue.  My in-person reaction to various small business people over the past two weeks was even more extreme.

There are a lot of companies shooting themselves in the foot.  My take is it's the ones that either have the wrong impression of SEO, or have been fed a lot of bad information by a webmaster who 'dabbles' by reading an occasional blog.

You don't learn SEO in a week or from a FREE CD (plus $12.95 shipping and handling :).

Google WELCOMES SEO.  The growth of Webmaster Central (which Fox founded while at Google), appearances and blog posts by Google's spam buster Matt Cutts, and lots of information provided is saying to everyone, very simply, that despite an awesome little 'bot' (or 'bots'), Google welcomes your help in discovery if you truly belong in the top-10 (or top-5?) for a specific search word or phrase.

The landscape has changed A LOT in the past 2 years.

So what's the answer?

Most SEO's price to the market but reality dictates that some will overcharge.  There is no 'BBB' for SEO's and like any other industry, there are a lot of phony's out there.

There was a (wrong!) impression floating out there for a while that I was undercutting the market.  There are others as well.  We were simply realizing that in these economic times, while SEO is actually a growth industry, that there are many that need help (now!) and can only afford so much.  There are a few of us out there.  It's just our way of giving back and getting some satisfaction at the same time.

Having wrapped my head so tightly around this stuff for as long as I can remember, there is simply no greater satisfaction than seeing a good (or great) company prosper because they did it right (which not only takes in SEO, but social networking and other factors as well).

It disturbs me to no end (and several others have written about this recently as well) when some IT rocket star sells a package that gets a good company penalized beyond recognition on Google.  Yes, there are penalties for trying to trick the big G ... and it's not easy to recover from one ... despite what you may have read.

Network.  Don't just put an ad on Craigslist.  If you can afford it, go to an SEO convention or local meet-up.  Learn BEFORE you execute.

I think most would agree that a combination of SEO, PPC and the right social networking mix is a winning formula.  It IS entirely possible, depending on YOUR business and the space it plays in, that a majority of your visitors (potential customers) can come from organic SEO.  (IE: Your rank on Google).

Take the free CD .... and recycle it.

Why Windows 7 WILL be Welcomed by Enterprise Users

I rarely if ever disagree with Walt Mossberg ... and while I think his recent piece on AllThingsD hit some important points about transitioning to Windows 7, overall it's my (humble :) opinion that we will see quick adoption of the new Microsoft operating system by large and small companies as well as individuals.

After yesterday's announcement on the Windows Team Blog that Windows 7 had in fact been released to manufacturing, I took the opportunity to run the various MS compatibility tools across 2 networks, one large and one small.

While both networks had boxes that flagged incompatibility, I was able to force older legacy drivers to get those boxes up and running.  I even got this nasty box goin'!  It wasn't rocket science.  While I don't recommend this (yet), it will be a factor in what people, companies, and industry will be looking at the end of this year.

The point is very simply ... upfront and ongoing cost vs. long haul reliability, efficiency and ease of use. 

Despite the times, large companies haven't really changed that much.  They're looking every day at efficiency.

The best example is the 30% or so of the Fortune 500 that are already all over SEO and Social Networking.  Many have completely relaunched complex websites ... and it's working.


Windows 7 offers a host of features that will work smarter and require significantly less calls to the IT team.

Hardware is at bargain basement prices where that becomes necessary and by the time Windows 7 is actually delivering, forcing hardware (unlike Vista) should be a lot less necessary.

Application compatibility may be the only stumbling block for some, particularly in the case of proprietary programs.

This operating system is a quantum leap.  I agree with those that have said that "it's what Vista should have been" but Vista's failures were largely due to a lack of compatible drivers and firmware. 

With a free public Beta and now the RC in the wild for some time, as well as a host of companies preparing to develop for it (Check out the latest list here), the ROI should become clear for those thinking about deploying the product.

I'm betting that expensive legacy service contracts by large companies will be terminated and replaced by either outsourced or in house IT 'uptime' and 'tune-up' teams. 


Those contracts are generally very expensive and many of them, due to economic-driven delays in the replacement cycle, are supporting old, somewhat dying hardware.

It'll be the first or second quarter of next year before anyone gets a good read on this and Microsoft's profits will also depend on migration to newer Office products (and potentially Bing), but it's a safe bet, than when there is an economic turn, tech in general should be one of the leading indicators.  Windows 7 will be a part of that landscape.

Cool Twitter Mosaic Tool. Are YOU here?

If there's one blogger than consistently comes up with new and cool stuff, it's Orli Yakuel (GO2WEB20).

A blog post by Orli earlier today led me to this site which I though was pretty cool (and will be cooler if this works and Twitter's API allows this to keep working?!).  You can read Orli's complete post with a lot of  other cool stuff from sxoop.com here.

Here's 'a few' of my Twitter followers.

Are you here?

The New Yahoo! Front Page is here

I've been messing with the new Yahoo! test front page since last night.

No, I didn't have 'an invite' in this case.  Someone leaked the preview URL on two social networks.

I waited until now, close to the 'premier', but since it's obvious the embargo is long gone, if you're not yet seeing it at this point and want to take a peek, you can access it here.

On the surface, it looks like Yahoo! is trying to do what a lot of other companies have already realized.  Make it simple.

According to Yahoo!, I've been a 'user' since 2001.  I seriously doubt I would have found (or looked for?) that info had it not been for the new interface.

In addition, the new interface moves wholesale right into social networking territory:






Another "What am I doing?". Some please write a script to tell everyone I'm OK and having a great day ?! :)

Sure, another social network provides yet another vehicle to tel 'someone' about your next big thing, it'll be curious to see how many people actually embrace this front page tag line.

The good part I suppose is that I had one there and didn't even remember.  (Clear this!).

Access to other pages was also much simpler and revealed old e-mail addresses that I discontinued years ago.

I also liked the front page mouseovers.  While I'm obviously aware that it is a vehicle for Yahoo! to get right down to your preferences and deliver more pages (and ads), it's a very quick take on a variety of subjects directly from the front page.

Yahoo!'s geo-targeting (this is not unique to them) could use a little work.  Once you log in (assume they have your home town), it's not bad, especially on the news page, but the non-logged in (IP-sensing) page put me about 700 miles from here.

Watch those permissions.  Yes, Yahoo! is asking for your permission to share information with other web services.  It's still a little vague but enables cross-networking. 

It also seems like they've replicated MyBlogLog separately within the social platform with approx 20 services you can import to your new Yahoo! stream.  (Is MyBlogLog toast?).



That's three Googly services right there .. and who could leave out Twitter??

Sidenote: Google's Picasa (which is free) has been adding social features in recent months as well. The assumption would be to capture part of Flickr's market and / or to start bringing together some of Google's more recent Google social initiatives (IE: Friend Connect).

Are we confused yet?

Overall, I think it's safe to say that the Yahoo! new FP is an improvement.  The social features bring it inline with Live and Google with access to many other services and more.

The question is ... Will you use it?  Will people switch?

Most people don't embrace change easily. 

While this change really isn't that radical (on the surface), it'll be interesting to see the reaction of hard-core Yahoo! users over the next few weeks.

code edit 2 PM July 21, 2009
staff edit 2:36 PM July 21, 2009

Boston.Com does it again - Apollo 11

As the fight for your page views continues (see upcoming post) and the Internet sees incredibly rapid innovation and change, some long-time websites are seeking out niches.

Sometimes those niches are outside of their former 'mission'.  Other times, they fit.  Sometimes they work.

Regardless, if they get a buzz (especially a continuing buzz), they get visitors.

For some time, Boston.com has been delivering extraordinary photographs.  The buzz among bloggers and those participating in interative social networks has been nothing but positive.

Sometimes 'stills' can deliver a feeling as good as, if not better than video.

I spent a decent part of yesterday looking at websites and watching the recounts of Apollo 11 (as well as the miraculous return to earth of Apollo 13) on TV.

While I was just a (little) kid when Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the moon, the memories (and outright excitement) returned as I realized that this was, in fact, one of maybe 6 or 7 events in my life I would never forget.

It's important for all of us that call the Internet community home to realize that an incredible amount of the technology we all use today came from those early NASA missions and experiments.  

Growing up on Long Island, I remember all too well the excitement and pride in the employees eyes of the company that Leroy Grumman founded in a garage in Baldwin, NY.  (Grumman Aerospace, at one time Long Island's largest employer, later acquired by Northrup, was responsible for building the LEM and many other space projects as well as military jets).

But back up to Boston and their latest delivery to the Internet audience.

Take a look at this and try to imagine the excitement ....

..... well before anyone dreamed about PC's or the Internet.

Charlie

Google Docs - Over 1000 Templates (and climbing)

This past week, Google Docs opened the online template gallery to those wishing to contribute and share their own.

What I'm fairly certain that many may not realize is that there are already over 1000 templates in the Google Doc template gallery.

Many are outright impressive. With the 'global downturn', the large selection of resume templates might be an offering that a few job seekers may find interesting.

There are invoices, calendars, cover letters, project management schedules, and lots more.

You can access the collection (without a Google Doc acct) here.

Whether you currently have a free or paid Google Doc account, it's positively worth checking this collection now being highlighted also at the top of you Google Docs homepage (and, of course, searchable :).

As far as the upcoming Chrome OS .... unless it's unique to me, it appears that many of the Google Enterprise products are now, in fact, easier to reach (quickly) and appear to work faster with Chrome, although, as of this post, I didn't do any benchmarking.

Update: Sidenote for those who haven't yet needed it, Google Adwords is now compatible with Firefox 3.5.1.

Firefox moves to Version 3.5.1

The latest version of the Firefox browser was updated a short time ago to version 3.5.1.

This is a security and stability upgrade with a few important security issues now addressed.
It is recommended that you move to the new version.

If you don't see a pop-up reminder to auto-update, simply go to the top of your browser,
tap 'Help', then check for updates.  The update is available in most languages as of this post
and is being rolled-out now.

Release notes (and full downloads) can be accessed from the Mozilla page here.

NASA Continues to Engage Social Networks

I think many of us remember when 'marsrover' appeared in the early months of Twitter.

A NASA employee was Tweeting as if the Rover had a voice and it was just outright fun to follow.

With the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor and also on the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11, I took a moment to visit the NASA website earlier today.

I know there's a lot of you 'space fans' that read this blog and thought you might find this interesting, despite the fact that this social expansion has been in place for a while.

NASA currently has numerous (make that A LOT) of participants on Twitter and Facebook, in addition to some awesome video and pictures galleries on YouTube, Flickr, UStream, and a presence on MySpace.

In addition, NASA now offers Firefox add-ons, Google Gadgets, Yahoo Widgets and more.

I looked through some of the Flickr images (please note the copyright!) this morning and a few of the videos.

Although you probably can't through it all in one day, the complete list (which you need to expand to appreciate), can be found here.

As for me ... I'm off to grab a gadget. This stuff is too cool :)

Charlie

Google Reader - Glitch or not?

Google Reader is one of the first things I look at each day.
(You can subscribe to my list of current subscriptions anytime from the link in the right column).

As more and more people discover the new features unleashed yesterday in Google Reader, a few are beginning to appear in my 'left column'.  Initially I'm 'green lighting' all of them just to see what I've been missing (and trying to avoid information overload at the same time :).

So far, I really 'like' the new community features ....

As always, there are a LOT of smart people out there and discovering all of them would take up a greater part of anyone's lifetime, even with all the tools available.  This is new and should be interesting to watch.

I'm already growing a small list of new people to follow on Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed while at the same time offloading many that no longer update or just don't talk about stuff that I'm interested in.

I've always liked the 'Like' feature that first appeared on Friendfeed then migrated to Facebook and now has been embraced by Google Reader, so I decided to 'like' a few posts this morning.

Then came the all-serious acid test.  The same test I threw at Facebook when they implemented 'likes' (and cracked a few 'friends' up in the process).

Here's your big chance to Like Yourself!

Either Google has complete respect for your ego .... or somehow this slipped through :)

Logging in just got easier

I always had a difficult time having to 'join' or log-in a blog or website just to make a comment.

Although I understand the logic, there have been many times, I've turned the page on a post on CNET (and numerous other sites).

While Disqus has made this a LOT easier, at least in many of the places I travel, the latest move to 'log-ins you may already have', is making it even easier.

The 'inspiration' for Alltop, Thomas Marban's PopUrls perhaps has the widest group I've seen yet (graphic above).  Friendfeed and many others are also implementing this easy way to log-in as well.

Keep in mind, that in some cases, your favorite blogger is paid by page views and the more comments, the more likely the piece will stay fresh and they're hard work rewarded (I don't know how they do it ...... but they do, and MANY are still very much around).

Perhaps the most significant example of what I call 'easy log-in' is the use of Facebook Connect by Digg.

Instead of having a network which includes a bunch of people you probably don't know, the recently implemented connection allows you to send an invite to your FB friends.  Result (at least for me and many, many others so far) .... an instant Digg network of people that you've been hanging with on Facebook and probably share your true interests.

Should you trust your password to others sites?

Despite steps taken by those offering the vehicle and / or the log-in, that decision is yours.  It's an open question how much 'real security' is in these pipes.

Reality dictates that if a hacker really wants you .... they're probably going to get you one way or another.

As opposed to a few short years ago, there's hardly anyone that's completely invisible on the web anymore.

I suppose it's a good time to remind those who haven't recently taken a look at their Facebook privacy settings.  Many changes have been made there and you now can be much more selective on what you share and what you don't.

.....and yes, I'm going to do it again. Wander over and check out Friendfeed (no I'm not on the payroll :).  While it's hard to make predictions in this crazy economic climate, it's my guess, you'll see Frieddfeed right along side Twitter and Facebook on blogs and websites in less than a year ... maybe two.

Update: August 3 - Since the piece was written both CNET and GigaOM have implemented Facebook  Connect comments.

Where to find what on Google

In 2004, Google began rolling out 'a few' blogs.

For the most part, these blogs are written by the individual product dev teams but occasionally are cross-linked to the Official Google Blog when a significant announcement is made.

There were a slew of so-called cheat sheets put out by individuals to find them in 2006 beginning in the SEO community and later in the tech news and other communities.

Enter 2009 - Google now has A LOT of blogs.  They're chock full of information to the extent that at least one of them probably interests you.

How do you find them?

You don't have to 'search' far ....

The Official Google Blog Directory can be found here.

Note: Beyond the myriad of blogs and updates you'll find in the directory, it is not all-inclusive. There are actually a few beta blogs and others that don't appear in the listing but there should be enough to capture your interest if you haven't been there before.

Great week all
Charlie

Touch First! Microsoft launches Surface Partner Program

It appears that with the announcements today coming from Microsoft about Office 2010 and the electronic and 'regular' media all over it, Microsoft subtly took the opportunity to launch the new  Microsoft Surface Partner Program just a few moments ago.

The new launch comes along with the Touch First Microsoft Surface Developer Challenge.

An official Surface SDK is now available and full details on the launch can now be found in the Microsoft Surface blog here.

Windows 7 - Should you upgrade?

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Windows 7.

I think it's fair to say that most others running the current Release Candidate have reached the same conclusion.

In my case, there were a variety of reasons I embraced Microsoft's latest:
1) It's the closest to 'plug n play' Microsoft has ever gotten.
2) Lots of flexibility on turning on and off features and tweaking CPU / memory use.
3) Dramatic improvement in graphics rendering on many platforms.
4) Literally out-of-the-box networking, back-up, repair, and more.

I've been running the Windows 7 RC on 4 PC's ranging from relatively current to about 6 years old. The only box that had problems was one using a legacy Intel chipset (845GV) on an ECS motherboard. Despite numerous attempts by Windows Update (and directly by me), the drivers, at least so far are not there. On the other hand, this is NOT the 'Vista problem', where both hardware and software updates simply weren't ready on time (or for a long time).

On the other hand, every dual (and quad core) machine I tried found all the drivers necessary from either the install disk or Windows Update. I'd call that pretty impressive.

Problems are greeted with an easy, plain English screen that allows you to troubleshoot quickly.

There's obviously a lot more under the hood.

The bottom line for personal or enterprise users on upgrading to Windows 7 is once again hardware, but in this case, pre-release drivers and full release drivers are either already on-board (in most cases) or being released as I write this for the new WDDM architecture.

Use the tools! The latest Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (version 5.5) can be found here.

There's also a simple Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser here and ....
A brand-new Windows 7 Compatibility Center is being readied here and is set to launch simultaneously with Windows 7.

Numerous other links, videos, walkthroughs, and other information are already posted to TechNet, MSDN, and the dedicated Windows 7 website.

Overall, it's a pretty safe bet that your IT guy (or gal) may sleep a little better with a Windows 7 network. They'll still need to be around ..... but the 3 AM 'Help!' calls should go down dramatically :)

Edited July 13, 2009 2 PM cba

Microsoft goes Clubbing ?

Well, it may not be as fun as it may sound ... but it appears Microsoft has purchased the URL ... clubbing.com.

As part of the ongoing multi-million dollar campaign to promote their new search (woops ... decision-making) engine, Bing, Microsoft has launched ClubBing at yes, clubbing.com here.

There's games, prizes and it looks like a decent amount of users already.

Careful ... there's a few games that might keep you goin' for a while :)

Great weekend everyone
Charlie

Microsoft launches Silverlight 3 (Update 2)

Microsoft quietly began rolling out the latest version of Silverlight (3.0.40624.0) late yesterday.

Visitors to numerous Silverlight-driven websites were greeted with a message "You do not have the latest version of Silverlight ... Would you like to install?".

Details on the new Silverlight 3 can now be found at the Silverlight website here.

The roll-out of Microsoft's rich media competitor to Adobe's Flash, came a day sooner than the official announcement, which took place a short time ago.

Update 1:  Previous developer builds of Silverlight 3 must be uninstalled (from Windows Update in the case of Windows 7) before installing this new version.

The demo is now up and running at seethelight.com, and a few moments ago, Microsoft product manager Karen Corby posted links 'to the good stuff' (including the all-new Microsoft Expression Blend 3 Release Candidate) at her blog here.

Update 2 Jul 11, 2009 12 AM: A comprehensive rundown of the new features in Silverlight 3 (including HD and more examples of the technology) can now be found at Scott Guthrie's blog here.

Google : We're looking at you Microsoft (Update 2)

There was a lot of speculation last year when Google announced their own Internet browser Chrome.

The search giant was developing a competing product to Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Firefox (heavily funded by Google), Apple's Safari (and numerous other products).

This morning, Google reintroduced Chrome as an Operating System.

Cloud computing has been in heavy development by both Google, Microsoft and others.  Essentially, using the web for your applications rather than having them loaded on your hard drive. 

In a prelude to today's announcement, Google dropped the Beta tag (finally) from a host of online products including GMail, Google Docs, Google Sites, and more yesterday.  The Google online 'office like' suite was, in fact, one of the first, and now competes directly with Microsoft's Office Online (now known as Microsoft Office Live)  which has been growing a rich feature set as well.

Enter Google's browser Chrome. Available in three 'flavors'. Developer, Beta tester, and a stable release.

Initially targeting Netbooks (mini-Notebook PCs), Google has used the phrase Google Chrome OS for the first time today and announced that Netbooks running the Google Chrome OS will be available in the second half of 2010 confirming that Google is also working with hardware manufacturers.

While some will speculate that Google is taking a shot at Microsoft with this announcement, it's more likely that Google is looking at the bottom line and other products and services that make money.  Google needs to go beyond search and this is one direction they are taking seriously.

With there's little doubt that the tech community will be all over this rollout, it still remains to be seen whether or not large enterprise users will embrace (or trust) cloud computing.

Our take for now is that this very possibly could effect the price of Microsoft's (and other) client products as well as their online offerings, depending on how aggressive Google gets.

Everyone is looking at the huge potential of an economic turnaround (worldwide) and the outright fact that almost every company in some way (including most in the Fortune 500) have a lot of delayed technology upgrading to do.

Competition is healthy for the consumer.  Google just kicked it up a notch for next year.

Update 1: An informative Q and A has been posted regarding the Google Chrome OS to the Chrome Blog here.

Update 2: Google has confirmed (on the Chrome Blog) that they are working directly with hardware manufacturers including Acer, Adobe, ASUS, Freescale, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Toshiba.

Beta invites go out - Microsoft Hohm

 

A few hours ago, beta invites were received by a variety of Microsoft Connect members, other registered Microsoft users, and even by quite a few users that simply have a .net log-on address.

The Hohm beta website, which is open to ALL, is now live and can be found here. 

You'll need a .net logon (IE: @live, @msn, @hotmail, etc.) to access the site.

A critical examination (with links to other articles as well) was posted this morning by my colleague Peter Troast at Energy Circle here.

Friendfeed on Steroids - NO LIMITS

It's no secret that I've been a fan of Friendfeed from just about the beginning.

Watching the service mature, change, experiment and react to suggestions by users has been not only fascinating ..... but I've always felt just a preview of the 'next big thing'.

While I'm the first to admit I've never taken the time to truly leverage Friendfeed's capabilities like Robert Scoble, Louis Gray and others have (particularly lists), those of us that have watched Friendfeed evolve and participated as possible, easily saw the potential of what these ex-Googlers were doing.

The one thing Friendfeed still lacks is a guide of sorts for new users. The feature set is not yet obvious despite numerous changes.  (I have been asked by lots of people why I'm so loyal to Friendfeed.  The reason they ask is that if you just stumble across it, you can engage, learn, even have some fun .... but you won't really  realize what it can do).

Factually, in the past year, some of my best (and profitable) business contacts have been made on Friendfeed.

Earlier in the week, Friendfeed added a few themes.  It had to be a teaser, although I like the Helvetica theme a lot:

This morning, Friendfeed which is already real time with no limits on followers, unleashed Friendfeed Real Time search.

This is more than gravy.  This is back to ' Friedfeed month one'. It's a whole new ball game.

Example (hat-tip Louis Gray):

This is my current Friendfeed:



If you're currently logged in to Friendfeed, you can literally access it right from here. There's no denying it. This is HUGE (and updating in Real-Time!).

Get lost?  Type in a couple of letters to Friendfeed's new search box and locate your groups, follows and more .... in seconds.

Then came a suggestion by Googler Matt Cutts:



It was implemented in less than a couple of hours (and yes, you can embed someone's else's stuff in your blog too .... :)

The reality (that Scoble, Gray, more recently Leo Laporte and others) have been trying to drive home is that if you take the time to set up Friendfeed to your own taste (including over 50 online services, most with import and export) you can have discussions, get serious, have some fun, or network the way networking should be.

Do yourself a favor and head over to the newly-updated (again!) Friendfeed.

Join in ..... or just find out more on the 'FriendBlog' here.

Just try not to get addicted ... like I did all over again tonight :)