Without resorting to the Doubleclick acquisition that has been analysed ad nauseam around the blogoshere these past few days, there are two things to point out that Google has also done.
The first comes to me via Andy Beal (which comes to me via Scoble).
Google Acquires Video Conferencing Company
There’s just no stopping Google. Seriously, if you’ve bought into the idea that Google is not a threat to your business, it’s time to re-evaluate that position.
Why so? Google has just announced their acquisition of Marratech, a video conferencing and collaboration company, which will now see them compete with the likes of WebEx.
Forgive me, but, how many services does Google have now? Just kidding, but you get my point. Google is diversifying beyond its core business of search. Why is Google doing this? Same reason why Microsoft is poring Billions in to its Home Entertainment Division – Defense In Depth. In addition to that the more diverse the company is the better able it is to survive, kind of like the Greek Myth of the Hydra .
At the same time, its also returning to its core business of search though this acquisition. Confused? Read this:
Here’s how it works…
- Works on Mac, Windows and Linux.
- Runs on existing PC’s and Laptops – no additional capital expenditure.
- Have a private ‘one-to-one’ conversation with any participant
- Share any application and hand control to another user.
- All participants can record and playback the entire net meeting including voice, video and whiteboard.
- It’s easy to include office group meetings or video conferences in a Marratech video net e-meeting.
- Call remote people into the video net meeting even if they are away from a computer.
- It does all this over highspeed broadband internet without the need to use a telephone.
- End-to-end encryption ensures security for your entire net meeting including voice, video and documents .
- You can present or ‘broadcast’ to an unlimited audience.
- Marratech’s licensed Manager works on Mac, Linux, Windows and Solaris servers.
- Marratech Manager offers quick installation, upgrades and administration features for fast and easy configuration.
Let me just repeat that: All participants can record and playback the entire net meeting including voice, video and whiteboard.
Ahh, its clearer now. Google will have a killer algorithm for searching said recordings. Perhaps Google will provide contextual ads to help the meeting along. So if you are, say, a construction company looking for a new timber supplier, the appropriate ads show up on the side of the screen.
I must admit, Google is good.
The other bit comes to me via Rex Hammrock ( also via Scoble).
He takes a look at Google Web History (formerly codenamed “Search History” 🙂 ).
The newly renamed service goes beyond chronicling merely what I’ve “searched” for via Google, but now maintains a history of every site I visit — complete with a time-stamp of when I visited. And, perhaps the most significant feature of all — if it truly exists — is speculated by Gary Price: that Google is caching a version of the page you visited, so that when you search across your history, you can find the site as it was when you visited. Yes, that is truly amazing, if it works, and is a feature that could make one overlook all of the creepiness of being shown the reality of everything Google knows about you when you use one service for searching, mapping, comparing products, sending email, and then, embed a tool of theirs in your web browser.
This now takes what we say and do on the web to a new level. What ever we write, will still be there in 100 years time – erasing it is not possible. Now what we do is in the same category.
Now you could argue that there are legitimate applications for this – i.e. policing employee behavior, in investigative police work and so on. But on the whole, its worrying. I can can also see parents demanding that this be turned on for their kids.
I would find it helpful to hear from some of the folks associated with AttentionTrust.org, as this type of data — and the belief that we, as users, “own” this data — is their focus. While I can see how to activate, pause, edit or delete the data stored in my “Web History,” I haven’t seen yet if I can “export” the information. If a user can export such data, it becomes more than a “feature,” it becomes the basis of an economy where I can exchange such data about myself for something of tangible value beyond the transaction I have engaged in with Google by exchanging my attention for the value I derive from the efficiency and productivity they provide me through such a service. If I can export that attention data, not only will Google be rewarded for knowing exactly what type of car I am shopping for at the moment, I will also be able to benefit from it in the marketplace.
Something about all of this makes me think of a song by Police.
Every move you make
Every breath you take
Every bond you break
Every step you take
Ill be watching you
If you’re interested, SearchEngineLand.com has a nice writeup of Web History
Anil Dash (also via Scoble) has this to say:
From a technical standpoint, Google Web History is one of those tools that’s so well-executed it seems simple, or even obvious, the first time you see it. There’s a basic timeline of your search history, with the ability to drill into specific search result histories for Google properties like web search, image search, news, Froogle (now renamed Google Product Search, though the UI for Web History shows the old name), Video, and Maps. There’s even, astoundingly, a history of which AdSense Ads you’ve clicked on.
So Google, not content with merely searching the web, now enables us to search our own online lives.
All ideas in this post Copyright (C) 2007 Roberto Bonini All Rights Reserved
Random Musings 
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