RockMelt + Fb Email Could Rip Space Time Continuum

In this post, we'll take a look at what happens if two social media software forces on the horizon merge onto some hapless citizen's computer screen. Heaven help us all.

RockMelt Gives You More Stuff To Do At Same Time

Netscape-person Marc Andreeson is backing a new internet browser, RockMelt, that's driven by the power of social media. It's built off of the same thing that gives us Google Chrome, but this time the sides of your screen will be loaded down with all the social media shortcuts you could possibly need in a hot second. Hang on... I need to Tweet that, Like it, and Post it to my profile right now.

Google Chrome = Gas Powered Mini-Cooper
Fun, lightweight, and gets you
there without costing battery life

One RockMelt tester reported that all the excess live activity made him feel twitchy, like having too much caffeine. It seems that for everything you might do on the internet there are 30 responsive actions you can take to let everyone know that you did it. One second... I need to Share it, Friend it, and save it to my queue right now.

Well, imagine if this was combined with other news, like say for example:

Facebook Awakens Sleeping Gmail Killer

In a move that's called “Project Titan” by those on the inside and the “Gmail Killer” by those on the outside, Facebook seems to be opening up a new portal into a seamless social-media-driven email client. This will let you have an email address ending in @facebook.com, and it will presumably further merge your personal and your social lives, so everyone will be all up in your business.

Caution: Checking Facebook Email on RockMelt May Rip Space-Time Continuum

If you find yourself with plugs running from your upper spine down one arm to a USB port while in the other arm you have a coffee needle slow-dripping into your arteries, you may be going too fast. In fact, your brain speeds may reach critical mass and threaten the fabric of space and time. A tiny black hole could invisibly open, right behind your computer screen, and it will suck all of your brain power through it to the other side of the unknown reaches of the universe.

Is All This Constant Brain Activity Making Me Better?

According to some reports, excessive and constant multitasking can actually make you do everything worse. One family suffered from burned cookies, dropped grades, and a $1.3M business deal nearly lost. Think about it: Are you getting more done? Hold up for one minute... I need to poke it, Buzz it, Yelp it, and tell everyone I know. Right Now. 

Thirty of your friends like this. Do you like it too?

Brief Illustrated History of Google

Based on a True Story

(Click on a picture to view larger version)

Larry Page and Sergey Brin conceive the idea.

They hire Craig Silverstein and name the
company after the number 10 to the power of 100.

Starting with a gift of $100k from the cofounder of Sun Microsystems, they try to
sell the company for as little as $750k. They are turned down, but they subsequently
receive about $25 million from other companies to keep going.

Google expands rapidly by buying lots of other good ideas, including a
3D Earth software and internet upstart-turned-sensation YouTube.

Google begins hopscotching around several different
industries and services until it just about offers everything.

Justin Bieber vs. Level 19 Fire Troll

Now you can choose on Google's free in-flight WiFi

Need to play World of Warcraft in the sky between JFK and LAX? Or review the YouTube library of Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga music videos before the peanut cart arrives on the aisle? Let the fight between two of your favorite WiFi options begin--maybe even before the seatbelt sign turns off!

For most of the year, you can pay just $11 for 24-hour access to Google's WiFi internet at certain airports and on certain planes. However, recent news reports let us know that Google is once again offering free WiFi at certain airports and on certain planes during the holiday season.

Free?!?!

Wait a second, you're saying. There's no such thing as a free lunch, and certainly there's no such thing as free WiFi.

How does a big ticket company like Google get its millions if it spends its days offering free, high-quality, and useful items? I feel like Microsoft charges for nearly every little thing it can offer, so to me they're not on board here. What's the business strategy in offering free stuff?

To me it seems like Google has long held a mantra of offering choices and, when possible, free choices. Their original search engine was famously simple to look at, not riddled with flashy banners and ads, and yet today Google is considered today to be a powerhouse in advertising.

Google acquired YouTube and kept the free service free: because free is a great word for building an audience. Today Google offers free WiFi all year round for a number of nearby Californian residents. From Google we get a free internet browser, a free desktop gadget utility, free lightweight yet powerfully adaptable email, and even an entire operating system (although this last one is admittedly not free; it does come preloaded on gadgets to be announced in the future).

The company's unofficial slogan at its inception was, “Don't be evil.” My thought is that the company seems to have spent its history making useful products that are either free (Google Earth is free, but its former competition wasn't), pleasant in their efficient utility (Chrome, Google search engine), or just a straight up challenge to the existing market competition (Buzz, Android).

To see evidence that Google is growing and succeeding, just take a look at the history of their investments, including stocks and acquisitions. I don't think that just because a company is enormous means that they are evil. So far Google has been pretty good to me.

Next time:

A Brief History of Google: An Illustrated Companion

Prophet Speaks End Times for Microsoft, and I Don't Mind

Earlier this morning InformationWeek published an article spelling out the clues for the end of Microsoft, citing poor fiscal performance, failed fringe products including a blogger platform, and a lack of innovation in the new tech spheres that have become the main arena for thumb masters of late: “cloud, social media, mobile, and tablet.”

For the last several years, Microsoft has consistently seemed a day late and a dollar short in the tech world. Years ago Google skybombed members of Search Engine City (if you don't remember AltaVista, Ask Jeeves, Yahoo, then sneak a peek at some of the former citizens of Search Engine City here) and set itself up so strongly that its name was literally verbalized (“Verbalized? Let me Google that.”). In my mind, it was the search engine of choice because it gave not only fast and thorough results, but because its simple white page was easy to look at, its advertisements were not flashy color banners, and my search results for “how to get rid of poison ivy” weren't sidelined on the results page by news headlines for celebrities, sports, politics, and album releases. Google felt like a functional tool and not like a commercial machine. Not that there's no money to be made in being "anti" commercial. One search result suggests that the worth of Google is $153 billion.

People Named Bing (from left): Fan Bing Bing, Carmella Bing, Bing Crosby, favorite apartment neighbor Chandler Bing (played by Matthew Perry)

Microsoft's answer? Bing. I guess they wanted a name that would be quickly verbalized as well. Although originally loaded with news headlines for celebrities, sports, politics, and album releases (arg! I don't need another portal page!), the new search engine streamlined these features down to unassuming links available on the margins of the search page. Search results come up easily, showing results from wiki pages, eHow, and some suggested search terms. I can even easily switch my web search to an image search and be shown a grid of pictures gleaned from web pages according to my original search query, “how to get rid of poison ivy.” Hey, you know who had all of these features already? Google. Am I switching? No.

How about in the realm of computing? The article cited at the top of this entry has Microsoft claiming 90% of the operating system market when computers are sold, and this is supposed to be evidence for Microsoft's continued long-term strength. Too bad when it was time to upgrade from my Windows XP desktop to a shiny new laptop in 2008, Microsoft was just then getting on board (see: day late dollar short) with producing a system that looks good and offers some finger functionality as well, similar to the cool tricks that a Mac can do. Its name was Vista, and it had appeared on every single computer in Best Buy without me knowing about it until my poor self showed up at the store. I was not prepared to see a label that promised to double my PC memory and speed, only to find out that Vista runs like an old woman and needs all the rocket boosters you can strap to her.

Then of course, two days later and two dollars shorter, Windows 7 came out, promising to fix all that and add even more. The commercials for Windows 7, where Windows users each claimed to have created a cool feature in the software based on what they wanted before, really said this to my ears: “I've seen Macs do this ___________[cool feature], and I've wanted it for a long time. Microsoft, after years of deafness, finally listened to its customer base.”

If this is Microsoft's status pro quo, I don't mind seeing it die. Google has risen from the depths to provide a meaningful competition with Apple, and since I love both companies, I'm excited to see where it's going. What I don't need is Microsoft shouting from the corners in Round 3 that it's ready to start fighting.

Then again, as Paul McDougall says in his InformationWeek article, Microsoft might recognize that the future of computing lies in cloud, social media, mobile, and tablet. If Microsoft can stop producing knock-offs of great innovations and counting on its loyal customers to flock to it, and instead if Microsoft can become a true innovator in these new and fast-moving media, I won't mind seeing Microsoft stick around.

That's one teacher's opinion.