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They are talking about the software versus iTunes software. Not the store versus the iTunes store. This was an update to the player. The biggest point is synchronizing. They are saying, listen, we can sync very well without creating an artificial walled garden in the software. AKA - iTunes hates other music players, and is designed to only work with iP(od/hone/ad).

Of course the store sucks at this point. Google and Amazon, which have the real shots at popular stores, are working from a cloud perspective with cloud players. Miro is working from a local cache standpoint. Syncing to a computer and creating a local network cloud streamer.

If Google and Amazon are the big repositories, Miro is working on building the "last mile". Being that Miro is open source, they are really saying to Google and Amazon, if you like open source for Android, why not look at us as your open source music/video player for windows/linux/android. They are saying it to everyone, but I can bet they are hoping for a big check from the Googlzon to select them as the last mile solution to their crappy 1-off players.

*Cough*googlegrid*cough*

Which brings us all back to EPIC 2014. A world where Googlezon dominates everything we do. http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

Sounds like you might be talking about EPIC

http://robinsloan.com/epic/

Googlezon! http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/ This flash video that someone made makes claims that there will be practically no newspapers left by 2010. ^^' And before then, the news starts being fabricated... it's not really news anymore... News wars! So, is the Internet really good for professional writers... no, since it will be all fabricated eventually. ;) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPIC_2014

Sure seems to me like Epic 2014 is slowly coming to fruition

I find this pretty interesting in general, just because of how all kinds of wild predictions about computers have been made by all kinds of people, most of them totally wrong, but for one person to be (more or less) correct more than once about things is pretty fascinating to me.

I have to say, though, speaking of newspapers, the Epic 2014 video makes some pretty interesting predictions about the future of print newspapers. I'm relatively sure that news is going to continue to make a move to be more online (and probably subscription) based, but the Epic 2014 video is pretty interesting to think about.

Try troubleshooting a desktop on a dirt floor in a mud hut...

Duh, it is a "desk"top, not a "dirtfloor"top.

And where, pray tell, is this mud hut of which you speak? I'd think a shack in a shantytown would be more common, albeit more depressing.

Life imitates art.

EPIC 2014
http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

I've seen it--it's called EPIC 2014. It's funny, but also a bit scary.

I beleive you are referring to EPIC http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/ the history of what happens from the perspective of 2014 as Google basically takes over the world, while in the process becomes Googlezon.

This is an interesting case of diversification. Amazon, no longer content to be the middle man e-tailer, is shifting it's weight into Google's territory with a service-based profit model. If this trend continues at Amazon, I have to wonder if Google will make a hostile bid for its newfound competitor.
 
  Here is a Link to EPIC, a speculative piece on the future of media, including the GoogleZon segment.

Sounds one step closer to EPIC http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

It's finnaly happening! Epic 2014 http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

A relevant flash movie with a possible scenario about the future of news aggregation that people might find interesting at two locations. It has been linked to here on Slashdot before, that's how I know about it.
http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/
http://epic.makingithappen.co.uk/

Dare I say, better than All your base? No, probably not....

http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

This is a cool video about the subject, what would happen if Google and Amazon merged.

http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

Yup, it's official. Though the timeline has shifted a bit since this was created.

Initial merchant partners include Apple Computer's iTunes service, RealNetworks Rhapsody, eMusic and Amazon.com....

Let's hear it for Googlezon :)

And why make things better if you can destroy them?

These news guys are getting worried about what their jobs will become, they probably watched the epic movie and now want to kill everything that is new.

You can see clearly that they don't know a thing about wiki and how its supposed to be. Maybe they could read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki but can't trust that, right?

Looks like they're ahead of schedule.
http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

Remember http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/ - The Google Grid? I bet many laughed at such an apparently outragious idea.

I wasn't particularly laughing at this idea... and I don't think anyone at Google was either. Is Google turning the Internet into one massive grid computer with these super tankers of silicon by strategically placing them at all the main intersections of the Internet? I dunno, but I do know that Google has some serious cluster computing geniuses who've had an itch to scratch. Don't Google employees get 40% time to work on their own projects or something like that? This is probably the hardware guys' 40%.

The possibilities here are endless. Even mundane ideas could be very revolutionary. Forget Blogger, what if Google actually comes out with full web hosting and wireless connectivity in major cities around these hubs? A great many businesses would fall to that giant, especially considering they could possibly do all the hosting for free by placing AdSense on all pages. Don't discount this idea at all... Google just introduced free DB hosting of sorts. Jumping into hosting a few programmable web languages might not be that great of a stretch for them now.

I'm just wondering when we'll stop calling it The Internet, and start calling it The Google.

It reminds me quite strongly of EPIC 2014, a conceptual animation put out last year that seems eerily prescient in many ways.

It's all coming true!

I personally welcome our new Googlezon overlords.

The year 2014 in flash. Pretty amazing stuff.

EPIC

What would Robin Sloan and Matt Thompson say? http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

well this maybe the realization of google world denomination

I haven't RTFA (but will in a minute). Regardless of what it will say, I can say that it will mostly be wrong. Then again, the only prophet with any decent track record was Nostradamus, but not even he or anyone else predicted that Google Earth would be a smashing idea.

Then again, I'm still awaiting Google Grid.

check this out! predicts the future, it does! http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

And so the 'epic' battle between Google, MS, and other news sources begins! http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

One step closer to Googlezon".

am I the first one to think of this?

EPIC 2014

http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

It all makes sense after that.

http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

A foreshadowing of what may lie ahead..

Remember, you're only as dense as the content you consume.

Actually, their plan is much bigger...

(ok it's old, but still a cool what-if scenario)

I truly would like to believe that a new OS like the one you hypothesise about could appear. You're right about old roots and baggage. It's hard to imagine or believe such a thing could happen, but that's just because of the sheer nature of it - it would be so new and unprecedented that obviously it feels like a strange concept. Sadly, I can easily imagine such an OS being produced by GoogleZon -http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/randommirror.php or by Walmart-General-Motors

Tivo.

Well, why not ?
Google could unleashing searching on the DVR's. This would allow users to just input a search term and have it record all episodes that the term returned in results. Who needs the TV guides or tvtome anymore ?
I'm not the only who predicts it -
[flash video] http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

Googlezon!

Google may not have been first to the idea but they were first to goal in a lot of the cases mentioned above.

I have an idea that there should be search engine you can ask for anything from a recipe, to a song that will automaticly play in my living room, to the season finale of 24, to telling me for sure if Bill Gates ever said 640 should be enough.

Does that mean 10 years from now when http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/ googleZon comes out with the services mentioned above they are not "leading"?

While I do agree there is a paradox of choice, I know that there are solutions.

Utilizing "Editors" or collectives to sift through the vast content available and mark their recommendations. Slashdot provides that for "news for nerds," which editors, other sites such as delicious popular provides community "voting" on what is interesting.

Using social networks we can subscribe to other peoples interests, and "mine" through the mountain of content.

If you have seen it, check out EPIC for one possible future.

EPIC 2014, the Evolving Personalized Information Construct.

actually it's gonna happen befor 2010, check out the cool flash movie that looks into the future..

http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

Don't you know Googlezon made them obsolete?

Oh, wait. Not yet.

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a computer scientist at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland, invents the World Wide Web.

1994 sees the founding of Amazon.com. Its young creator dreams of a store that sells everything. Amazon's model, which would come to set the standard for Internet sales, is built on automated personalized recommendations - a store that can make suggestions.

In 1998, two Stanford programmers create Google. Their algorithm echoes the language of Amazon, it treats links as recommendations, and from that foundation powers the world's most effective search engine.

In 1999, TiVo transforms television by unshackling it from the constraints of time - and commercials. Almost no one who tries it ever goes back.

That year, a dot-com start-up named Pyra Labs unveils Blogger, a personal publishing tool.

Friendster launches in 2002 and hundreds of thousands of young people rush to populate it with an incredibly detailed map of their lives, their interests and their social networks. Also in 2002, Google launches GoogleNews, a news portal. News organizations cry foul. GoogleNews is edited entirely by computers.

In 2003, Google buys Blogger. Google's plans are a mystery, but their interest in Blogger is not unreasonable.

2003 is the Year of the Blog.

2004 would be remembered as the year that everything began.

Reason Magazine sends subscribers an issue with a satellite photo of their houses on the cover and information custom-tailored to each subscriber inside.

Sony and Philips unveil the world's first mass-produced electronic paper.

Google unveils GMail, with a gigabyte of free space for every user.

Microsoft unveils Newsbot, a social news filter.

Amazon unveils A9, a search engine built on Google's technology that also incorporates Amazon's trademark recommendations.

And then, Google goes public.

Awash in new capital, the company makes a major acquisition. Google buys TiVo.

2005 - In response to Google's recent moves, Microsoft buys Friendster.

2006 - Google combines all of its services - TiVo, Blogger, GMail, GoogleNews and all of its searches into the Google Grid, a universal platform that provides a functionally limitless amount of storage space and bandwidth to store and share media of all kinds. Always online, accessible from anywhere. Each user selects her own level of privacy. She can store her content securely on the Google Grid, or publish it for all to see. It has never been easier for anyone, everyone to create as well as consume media.

2007 - Microsoft responds to Google's mounting challenge with Newsbotster, a social news network and participatory journalism platform. Newsbotster ranks and sorts news, based on what each user's friends and colleagues are reading and viewing and it allows everyone to comment on what they see.

Sony's ePaper is cheaper than real paper this year. It's the medium of choice for Newsbotster.

2008 sees the alliance that will challenge Microsoft's ambitions. Google and Amazon join forces to form Googlezon. Google supplies the Google Grid and unparalled search technology. Amazon supplies the social recommendation engine and its huge commercial infrastructure. Together, they use their detailed knowledge of every user's social network, demographics, consumption habits and interests to provide total customization of content - and advertising.

The News Wars of 2010 are notable for the fact that no actual news organizations take part.

Googlezon finally checkmates Microsof

There's this neat little flash animation called EPIC, about the future of Google. It's been around for a little while now and is eerily accurate. You can find it here: http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/

It's alarming how accurately the Google Grid seems to be forming.

This sounds great, but I wouldn't mind Google Image search results that didn't keep returning 404's.

In a recent recruitment video that featured on GoogleBlog the nice lady says Google is all about "ambitious ideas, fast responses, big acheivements" but it seems to me they want to pump out new services as testaments to what the Googlers are capable of and show off their cool attitude..without actually producing a well polished and maintained product.

Who hasn't noticed degradation of Google search results or lots and lots 404's on image search?

I just hope the grid doesn't crumble and burn.

EPIC 2014