Earthlink (NASDAQ:ELNK) is financially struggling, as the mortgage crisis deepens and Americans jump "home", internet access is one of the first to get cut. So today the company jumped ship on its committement to build a Wi-Fi network with Google in San Francisco. Earthlink CEO called San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and said we are out.
Earthlink won the right to build the Wi-Fi network along with Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), which was expected to be the first in the country. For more on how the housing crisis is affecting Wi-Fi deployment in the U.S. click here.
The latest issue of The Economist has an article on the rising power of Google (NASQ: GOOG). The article makes the case that the internet giant is more like JP Morgan than Microsoft. The article is harsh at times as when quoting Eric Schmidt "Our goal is “not to make money”, as its boss, Eric Schmidt, puts it, but “to change the world”.
Google is the white knight that rescued silicon valley after the dot com bomb and prevented it from becoming death valley. Google ignited the next evolution of the web, made silicon valley the online advertising capital of the world, overnight, and has empowered millions by making information universally accessible and not the domain of a priviledged few. Yes, Google has changed the world. Click here for the article>>.
Blog search engine Technorati announced that David Sifry, CEO and eight other employees are no longer with the company. Sifry said, "Technorati isn't a place for idea-making any longer. It's reached its "revenue-stage," which Sifry said "strikes me with a bit of sadness."
Technorati's fate was sealed when Google Blog search entered the space. Googles' vast crawlers have become a hugh competitive advantage as they crawl the web and index and organize the same information much faster that competitors can. With thousands of blogs posted every hour and 100,000 new blogs being created daily, indexability of blogs has become a huge cost. It affects timeliness of posts and ultimately readership. If user can search and find blogs on Google before other places the it eventually errods the market share of other blog search engines.
Also, as Sifry, pointed out its "revenue-stage". Technorati will have to figure our a way to monetize blog search. Google's on the other hand can offer blog search as a loss leader as it primary revenue comes from source other than blogs search.
If Microsoft was smart they would buy Technorati while it still has a large market share and pump in the resources to needed to stay ahead of the curve. Or are they waiting for Google to amass a 90% market share, then realise that it is a business worth pursuing and spend like drunken sailors to play catch up?
It was another jam packed event at the Googleplex, with tonnes of great food, great companies and fantastic panel on "The Future of Online Platforms". Before the speakers talked about the future, Ismail Ghalini, focused on the definition of the platform. Twenty years ago, we all understood what a platform is. It's essentially an OS, and you had three options: MS-DOS if you want the large market, Mac OS if you're edgy, and UNIX if you're really technical. They all did pretty much the same thing, had fairly similar business models, and people built applications that could be ported from one to the other (somehow). What is a platform today? What is it made of? How do you use to build not only applications but real businesses on top of it? What are thebusiness models? Can I build for multiple of them at the same time? What do the ecosystems look like? Who do I talk to in order to getstarted? That kind of thing. Does it make sense? It was a controversial and fun event and we will have to video soon for all to view.
Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, was recently asked how he would define Web 3.0 and what Web 3.0 means to Google.
I am paraphrasing below so watch the video as well.
Web 2.0 is a different way of building applications using Ajax as the underlying technology.
Web 3.0 are applications that are pieced together which are relatively small, the data is in the cloud, apps can run on any device (PC or mobile), apps are very fast, very customizable, apps distributed virally by social networks and email, not store bought.
It's a very different application model from the mainframe era and PC industry, likely to be very very large, low barrier to entry, new generation of tools being introduced by Google and others make it relatively easy to do, solves a lot of problems, and works everywhere.
I recently interviewed Chuck Villard II, über Web Developer, at VeriSign whom I worked with on the re-design of the VeriSign.com homepage. Chuck and I have a healthy mutual respect and admiration for each other's expertise and crafts which makes for a highly synergistic relationship, crucial in any project, but especially so for a high-visibility project such as this. I thought it would be beneficial to share some of what went into this re-design from a development perspective, which some of you may find useful in your own re-designs. So here goes.
Q: What were some of your goals in the development of the page?
A: I would say my goals fit into two groups - team and personal. As a development team, we wanted to have a home page that grabbed the user's attention and presented them with content in a more attractive and interactive manner. We also wanted to be able to continue to present one unified home page globally, across all our sites.
Personally, I wanted to challenge myself to create a homepage that was cross-browser compatible and standards compliant, all while taking advantage of some of today’s hot topics like DHTML and CSS.
Q: What, if any, were some of the challenges you encountered with the development and why?
A: I think the biggest challenge was trying to create an interactive homepage in a content driven business. I think this actually tends to be the most challenging aspect of development on a regular basis. Our development team wants to be challenged and push our own limits, however, when content is king it can be quite difficult. I feel Web 2.0 practices are about finding a sweet spot. That spot where you can make an eye catching web page but still be able to speak to the customer and not distract them.
Q: The new home page is a deviation from the previous iteration of the page from both a Web 2.0 design as well as functionality perspective. Can you describe the Web 2.0 technologies you used and how?
A: As we were preparing for the home page project we talked about how to present the content and how we could come up with a sexier look. The page was created using XHTML for content and CSS for the presentation.
To keep the news headlines concise and clean we used a DHTML news ticker. Following along that line we used DHTML for a hover system that allows the user to view all of the products and services without taking up too much real estate. This also worked out excellently for SEO purposes.
We have a flash piece that tells our story, but our biggest change is the top level navigation. We are now using a DHTML hover menu system that gives users quicker access to the sub-level pages of content that they may be looking for.
Q: Standards based development practices has gotten a lot of web airtime recently. How did you incorporate coding best practices into your programming of this page?
A: It’s tough at times trying to keep in mind that every browser displays differently, and there isn’t just one major internet browser anymore. Attempting to comply with W3C standards is often more of a challenge when it may not benefit an organization financially. The first few times trying to use this process can be, developmentally, time consuming. The time spent on it may cut into other projects or budgets but the benefits are worthwhile when perfected, especially when considering scalability.
Standards have been a passion of mine as of late, and despite technological issues we may have internally, I wanted to implement a 100% compliant home page. When I started development, I laid out the content in XHTML before thinking about what a border might look like or what size the text might be. After this process I started to create the CSS, laying out the content and checking and making adjustments for major browsers issues. After the major page is laid out, we add all the fancy stuff.
Q: What steps were taken programmatically to improve the web accessibility of the page for users utilizing assistive technologies to view it?
A: Along with the separation of content and presentation, making sure that the page degrades well without CSS and Javascript was a focus. Part of my development process is to also use a text based browser to try and make sure all users are considered when putting the page together.
Q: AJAX has gotten somewhat of a bad rap for encumbering accessibility. What has been your experience with this and what would you advise on this issue?
A: I think some people see flashy, slick interfaces or applications and automatically think "Ajax". However, this can just be the presentation which is mostly DHTML. Ajax refers mainly to the data requests behind the scenes without those pesky page reloads. My thought process is; use DHTML and Ajax where it’s not going to greatly affect content and where it just makes life easier. There is a great article over at StandardsSchmandards.com that talks about some of these issues.
Q: Newsweek has declared 2007 the "Year of the Widget". What are your thoughts on this as it relates to the widgetization of the web and/or future revs of the homepage?
A: With the addition of services to the web, and user generated content, widgets and mash-ups are the next big thing in the future of the internet. You can view the stock market, the weather, the news and have them available to your PC, phone, and now on your TV. At this point I am not sure how VeriSign’s home page will fit into the mix, but we are constantly trying new things to enhance the usability of our site.
Q: What are some of your favorite developer resource sites?
A: With the introduction of sites like iGoogle, I use RSS feeds to read all the great articles in one place. I regularly read Ajaxian and A List Apart (great CSS resources), as well as, the truly Geek site - Slashdot.
Q: If you had to do it all over again, what, if anything, would you do differently?
A: I don’t feel I would do anything differently; however, I would love to have other resources like PHP available to make a more dynamic home page. We are working on a more dynamic environment while keeping security in mind, which is time consuming. At this point, I just look forward to the next redesign.
I agree with the premise of this article that finding an appropriate application for the use of a widget in the corporate arena can be tough and requires careful consideration. The author's recommendation is that you ask these questions:
-What's right for my message? -What's right for my audience? -What's the right context for my brand? -How can it demonstrate value?
Forbes has an interesting article on how companies can beat Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) when it comes to recruiting talent.
By Brian Caulfield
Let's just call the Googleplex what it really is: the ultimate recruiting tool. Employees are shuttled to Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters for free. Once they arrive, they're treated to massages and free gourmet meals. Plus, they're surrounded by thousands of young, type-A employees from the best schools.
Oh, and then there's the ultimate status symbol: Google's soaring stock price.
Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ) has been grabbing talent at a ferocious pace. It's on track to double its head count to 20,000 from 10,000 at the end of last year. It employs swarms of contract recruiters to scour top engineering schools for fresh-faced newbies and raid competitors for hoary veterans. Read the glowing press clips and you'd think that Google has an insurmountable edge in the war for tech talent. The stakes can't be much higher: Even if it never capitalizes on the ideas all those brilliant new hires generate, Google locks them away from would-be competitors.
But if you talk to people who have worked inside Google's recruiting operation--or people who have competed against it--they'll tell you that the Silicon Valley's ultimate hiring machine can be beat. The trick: use Google's consensus-driven decision-making process--and exacting standards--against it. "Hiring over there is a protracted battle, to say the least," says one recruiter.
To understand how to beat Google, you first need to know its history. Early on, the company faced a dilemma. While the company's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are Stanford-educated computer scientists--in other words, they are quite bright--as the smartest companies get bigger, they tend to get dumber. Call it reversion to the mean.
So, Google created a process designed to keep Google chock full of brainiacs. The result: an exacting, consensus-driven process. New hires are vetted extensively to ensure that they are not only smart enough, but that they'd fit in with Google's culture.
That makes speed Google's biggest vulnerability, recruiters say. While a Google hire might have to endure round after round of interviews, a savvy company can pluck off a candidate at the manager level and below by hitting him with an offer--and giving him or her just a few days to respond.
Tough standards are Google's other vulnerability. The company targets graduates of top schools who have top grades: that all but rules out, say, Microsoft Founder Bill Gates or Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs, neither of whom have a college degree.
Moreover, candidates on the cusp will get less lucrative offers from Google than candidates from elite schools with the top grades that Google targets. That makes a brilliant student from an out-of-the-way school a soft target.
Another weakness: A single objection will almost always sink a candidate's chances of ever getting hired at Google, those familiar with the company say. That gives a competitor a shot at grabbing a socially awkward but otherwise brilliant young engineer.
The most daunting problem for Google, however, is a math problem. While Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt asserts that Google's growth is accelerating as it grows larger, that pace may slow down: Google disappointed Wall Street after admitting it "overspent" on new hires during its latest quarter.
Moreover, recruiters are already pointing to Microsoft and Cisco (nasdaq: CSCO - news - people ) when talking about the future of Google. The two mega-cap tech companies cranked out millionaires in their earlier days, but their share prices have been sedate for years now. Google may only hire geniuses, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Google is just too big to make its newest employees as rich as their peers.
Answers.com (nasdaq: ANSW) reported that traffic on its web property dropped 28% last week due to a change in Google's (nasdaq: GOOG) search algorithm.
Answers.com is heavily dependent on Google for search-related traffic, and this has already impacted its stock price and possibly will online advertising revenues.
The company is in the process of acquiring Dictionary.com for $100M and has file a offering papers with the SEC to raise $140M for the related purchase. The primary motivation for the deal is to secure a steady source of direct traffic and mitigate from dependence on search engine algorithms.
Bob Rosenschein, CEO of Answers.com said, "On a pro forma basis, we expect at least 70% of our total traffic to come from people navigating directly to our Web properties or typing the term ‘dictionary’ in a search engine.”
The planned service will be an extension of the existing Amazon Payments, which allows third parties selling items on Amazon’s extended network to receive payments from buyers.
Expected to mirror Checkout, the competitive offering will bring buyers to an Amazon-hosted site when they use it to make payments.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed on the WebGuild Blog including posts, comments, and external links, are those of the individual
authors and not WebGuild's.
Earthlink (NASDAQ:ELNK) is financially struggling, as the mortgage crisis deepens and Americans jump "home", internet access is one of the first to get cut. So today the company jumped ship on its committement to build a Wi-Fi network with Google in San Francisco. Earthlink CEO called San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and said we are out. 
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Those who missed Marissa Mayer's Keynote at SES can listen to her Keynote at Searchnomics which is identical to the one she did with Danny Sullivan. 
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I recently interviewed Chuck Villard II, über Web Developer, at VeriSign whom I worked with on the re-design of the 
