Sergey’s secret Google projects, and the challenge of 1,000 blooming flowers
What’s Sergey Brin been up to since his pal Larry Page took the reins as CEO of Google, the Internet search company that the pair co-founded 13 years ago?
Brin, who spoke at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, discussed his new role at Google, which he said is focused on advanced research projects like Google’s famous self-driving cars, as well as some “infrastructure” projects.
Brin said he was optimistic that Google’s so-called “autonomous cars” would eventually make it to market – though he noted that the vehicles still required a good deal of research and development before being ready for prime time.
The cars have successfully completed a 1,000-mile challenge, covering tricky terrain such as San Francisco’s steep and wind-y Lombard Street without human intervention, Brin told a small group of reporters during a media briefing that followed his on-stage appearance.
But, he said, “we need to move on to doing a million miles. And the level of reliability that we need for a real consumer product is high. And we’re getting there.”
Brin told reporters that Google remains committed to the spirit of open innovation within the company, including the famous 20 percent time that allows Google engineers to devote time to side-projects.
But he said that Google’s “let a thousand flowers bloom” approach to product development created a glut of products that were not always up to Google standards.
Google+ to Facebook: TMI!
Vic Gundotra, Google’s head of social, doesn’t care about every song his friends are listening to and every article they’ve read.
“We do not believe in over-sharing,” he said at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Gundotra may not have said “Facebook,” but his comments were aimed directly at the world’s No.1 social networking service, which recently introduced a so-called “frictionless sharing” feature in which a user can elect to have all their online activities – such as the names of the videos they’re watching and the songs they’re listening to – automatically broadcast to their friends.
“Curation matters,” Gundotra said. “There is a reason why every thought in your head does not come out of your mouth.”
Gundotra’s fledgling social network, Google+, has only a fraction of Facebook’s more than 750 million users. And many observers have wondered whether the world really needs Google+, given that it doesn’t do anything drastically different from Facebook.
With Facebook increasingly pushing the boundaries on the amount of personal information that people share online, Google may have found a soundbyte-ready raison d’etre (that is, in addition to the strategic rationale of preventing Facebook from eating Google’s lucrative online advertising business).
“We want to do social in a way that is more like real life, where you actually take time to think about how you express your thoughts, your ideas,” Gundotra said.
“a user can elect to have all their online activities – such as the names of the videos they’re watching and the songs they’re listening to – automatically broadcast to their friends”
Wow, that’s just way beyond narcissistic. What in the world makes people think they’re so d*mned interesting that anyone gives a flying fig about what YouTube video they’re currently watching? I’ve even told my own brother to stop tweeting every restaurant he dines at. I would never annoy my friends like that. At least, if I want to keep them.
What would Frank do? Quattrone sheds light on the art of M&A
Frank Quattrone, the mustachioed dealmaker that helped generate multi-billion bidding wars for clients 3Par and DataDomain, says the technology industry is ripe for more acquisitions.
The reason is simple: a top tier of tech companies have loads of cash in their coffers and many of those companies are interested in buying a much broader range of companies than in the past, Quattrone explained during a rare public speaking engagement at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
“Instead of having one or two buyers within each sector, now if you’re a networking company you might be bought not just by Cisco, but by Oracle, by IBM, by Dell, by HP, now there are five or six big companies that want to buy almost no matter what you are,” he said.
Quattrone, who faced charges of interfering with an investigation into IPO kickbacks during the dotcom boom days (the first trial ended in deadlock, the second trial’s conviction was thrown out on appeal, and a third trial was avoided when he reached a deferred prosecution deal), has led the technology world’s most remarkable second-act since Steve Jobs returned to Apple.
Quattrone told the audience on Wednesday that he went through a period of “soul searching” before starting his new firm, Qatalyst Partners, in 2008, during which he considered getting into everything from private equity to clean tech.
And he offered a peek into the dealmaking savvy that has made his Qatalyst one of the top names in the technology M&A world.
“I think companies need to keep in mind where they are in the musical chairs game of an industry. Because the best, most spectacular sales happen when there’s six buyers and one or two sellers. And knowing where you are — you might not necessarily want to be the first, but you sure don’t’ want to end up without a chair,” he said.
LinkedIn’s secret anti-Facebook weapon: Keg Stands
LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner has two words that reassure him that his professional social network is not threatened by Facebook: Keg stands.
Weiner took a moment to explain the ever-popular college tradition of imbibing beer directly from the tap of a keg while being suspended upside-down by drinking mates during his talk at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.
“While many of us in college probably were at parties having a good time, doing things like keg stands, or being exposed to keg stands, I don’t know that many of us would look forward to having a prospective employer have access to picture of those events,” Weiner said.
The point, he explained, is that most people prefer to keep their professional online personas and their personal personas distinct.
Facebook, which has more than 500 million users, is increasingly interested in having various industries, from commerce to music, build social versions of their business on top of its vast social network.
One potential ramification of this could be to negate the entire raison d’etre for separate networks like LinkedIn.
But Weiner argued that while LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are often lumped together in a broad social networking category, all three represent separate social platforms that serve different needs for people.
Facebook’s Zuckerberg on relationships with big companies
Facebook has had its differences with Google and Apple in recent months.
And Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried his best not to comment directly on the budding rivalry with the two tech titans during his appearance at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Tuesday.
But Zuckerberg did offer some clues about Facebook’s philosophy towards working with big companies that might offer some insight into its relationships with Apple and Google.
“If you’re a very large company and supporting you is going to cost us tens of millions of dollars, then we want to at least have an understanding of how you’re going to use what we’re doing, and that you’re not just going to import the data but also try and contribute back to the ecosystem and make people’s Facebook experience better.”
In other words, if you’re big and want to play ball with Facebook, you can’t be a parasite.
As an example of a healthy relationship, Zuckerberg pointed to Zynga and other social gaming firms, with which Facebook has recently inked multi-year deals. The companies committed to develop games on Facebook, and in some cases, to exclusively using the Facebook Credits virtual currency.
“We build out tens of millions of dollars of infrastructure to support the games on Facebook,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg seems to have matured quickly. I agree fully with him, he has what both Apple and Google wants, and should let them in on his turf, only on his terms.
Google sells advertising – telling other people what they do not want to know and explain that what they consider lesser to be “better”.
Apple has technology and a congregation of loyal followers that they want expanded. Sorry, but the customers have accounts on Facebook, and are all already proud owners of an Internet access device. The access to the customer is what has value, court them and make them return. If you have to constrain them in any way or form, you will loose.
He does not have to discuss with Nokia, they make widgets that work on Facebook without any modifications, and effectively eliminates Google’s advertising. So, why should he change anything?
Yahoo jumps into the local deals game, partners with Groupon
Rumors continue to swirl that Yahoo would like to buy Groupon, the fast-growing group-buying service.
But Yahoo’s heart seems to be in partnerships these days, and the company announced on Tuesday that it had struck a deal to offer Groupon deals in its new local offers program.
Groupon is one of 20 partners in Yahoo’s local offers program, including Goldstar, ScoopSt and ValPak.
Yahoo executives, who briefed reporters about the new program at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco on Tuesday, were tight-lipped when it came to describing what its local offers service would actually look like or when it would officially be introduced, noting that different iterations of the service were currently being “bucket tested” to users in the U.S.
The general idea of the program is to offer coupons from local merchants that are specially targeted to Yahoo users based on the users’ location and other data Yahoo has about the user (similar to the way Yahoo targets online ads to Web surfers).
Will the service be able to target mobile users with local deals from the various businesses near them as they move about town, similar to Facebook’s new deals program? Yahoo was mum on the subject.
Yahoo executives did say that the partnerships with the coupon providers entail a revenue sharing arrangement, but declined to provide more details.
I totally agree, this upgrade will be a big boost to social networks! GOOD JOB YAHOO!!
Meebo introduces Web site check-in service
A number of Web companies are fighting to become the primary service for people to “check in” to real world locations, like coffee shops and stores.
But Meebo believes there’s an equally important need for people to check in to Web sites that’s been overlooked.
Meebo hopes to fill in what it says is a missing piece of Today’s social Web, creating a social network based not just on friends and contacts, but on personal interests.
Meebo’s new service, which is being introduced this week, will allow web surfers to “check in” to any Web site, and build a profile that’s publicly viewable of other Web sites that they check in to frequently.
The idea, Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg told Reuters, is to provide Web surfers with a quick way to find more information about a topic they’re interested in: After all, a person who frequently checks in to a popular biking Web site might also have frequent check ins to other, lesser-known Web sites about biking.
According to Meebo, people who check-in to a particular Web site frequently will become VIPs. Eventually, Meebo plans to offer rewards programs for VIPs with its partner sites.
Meebo’s Web check-in service will initially be available as a browser extension, but in December the company will offer the functionality directly within the Meebo bar that sits at the bottom of 8,000 partner Web sites, viewable by 180 million users. A number of companies, including Macy’s, Sprint and Fresh Air Fund will also integrate Meebo check-in button directly in their Web sites.
from The Great Debate UK:
Remembering how to forget in the Web 2.0 era
Amid ongoing debates over the hazards of excessive digital exposure through such Web 2.0 social networking platforms as Facebook and Twitter, a new book by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger extols the virtues of forgetfulness.
Since the emergence of digital technology and global networks, forgetting has become an exception, Mayer-Schonberger writes in "Delete".
"Forgetting plays a central role in human decision-making," he argues. "It lets us act in time, cognizant of, but not shackled by, past events."
Mayer-Schonberger shared his theory on how to fight back against the digital panopticon with Reuters before giving a lecture at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce in London.
Interesting concept, even though I dont quite agree that “forgetting” is a virtue.
Since it’s easy to find information as and when we want it through Internet, that means we do not have to try our best to memorize. We can free our brain cells to focus on application of information, rather than memorizing the information.
This does not imply “forgetting”. It just means that we utilize our brain cells in other way.
Comcast’s Brian Roberts at Web 2.0 (video)
Comcast Chief Executive Brian Roberts took time out from strategizing over his company’s reported bid to buy NBC Universal to speak at the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco on Tuesday. As expected, Roberts declined to comment on any ”specific” deals including NBC. But he did indicate as he has done in the past that content will be an important part of his company’s future and that it is always “prudent” to take a look at opportunities as they come up.
While he remained on message (or is that off message?), Jeff Immelt, his counterpart at NBC Universal’s parent General Electric, was a little more forthcoming, saying the company is considering its options for NBC Universal which could include keeping it.
In this 43 minute interview, Roberts also talked on a range of other topics including the importance of building faster Internet services and gave a demostration of his company’s On Demand Online service which he said will be launching nationally before the end of the year.
Flu and Twitter mark Web 2.0
Twitter love was in full bloom at the Web 2.0 conference on Wednesday, with Microsoft and Google each announcing deals to partner with the microblogging service.
But marring the Twitter hoopla were no-shows from two of the event’s highest-profile speakers.
A day after Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz skipped the company’s quarterly earnings conference call (because she had “come down with something” as CFO Tim Morse explained), Bartz skipped the Web 2.0 conference, where she was scheduled to kick off Wednesday’s events with a 30-minute talk.
Web 2.0 organizer John Battelle told the crowd Bartz had come down with “a very, very, very bad flu.”
Before the day was through, Battelle delivered news of another absentee.
New York Times Chairman Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., slated to be part of a panel on the future of journalism in the online age, was also hit by the flu, Battelle said moments before the panel began. Fortunately, Martin Nisenholtz, the New York Times head of digital operations, was there to stand in as Sulzberger’s second.
With one more day to go, attendees at the event are hoping no one else gets afflicted.
I think google outstanding at what you do…
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