Information on the internet is publicly available. Google simply makes it easier for people to find publicly available material. Same for third party apps like Google Alert that allow you to search on a regular basis for certain terms.
Obfusacation may have allowed people to be sloppy with their data exposure until now. But that is no excuse for people being lax with their own data security.
The Internet is built by it's users. The responsibility for protecting data lies squarely with the users at the edges.
Despite their "quiet period", Google have been busy making all sorts of announcements over the recent months, no doubt to bolster their valuation before the IPO. Moving into email with Gmail, entering the world of digital photos with Picasa, adding a new adsense for search program, and improving their corporate search appliance.
They may also start leveraging the success of popular services that use their
Web APIs
, such as Google Alert and Copyscape
, particularly with the commercialization of Google Alert. Positioning themselves as a general technology platform for the web is surely a step in the right direction to further raising their valuation.
Will be interesting to see how quiet they stay from now till the actual IPO...
Interesting point. I think they have no way out but to stick with automated click-throughs and jsut take part in the algorithmic arms race with click fraudsters.
This is basically what they ended up doing and still do with basic search in their fight against SEO manipulators.
Advertising is Google's main revenue stream, so any sort of fraud would be taken seriously.
No doubt fradusters will keep dreaming up more innovative schemes to get this done. I wonder if the Google API could be used towards this goal or in fighting it. Perhaps by setting up a Google Alert to search for fraud schemers, the good guys can stay a step ahead.
Whether or not it's their code, Google's recent announcement that they would release some of their source code indicates that their general philosophy is one of openness.
While I think this is probably a case of people going after Google's newly deep pockets, it would be interesting if Google planned to release some of this code out into the open.
Google released its Web APIs back in April 2002. Since then a number of successful products have evolved, including Google Dance Tool and the Google Alert alerting service.
Google has been unclear about their future plans for the API, though it seems that it has allowed some apps to go commercial
- see this article.
One wonders if this source code will actually add value to the developer community, or is simply a way of counteracting the capitalistic vibes of the IPO.
With the release of their APIs in 2002, Google opened the gates to aspiring PhD's outside the company.
These efforts have yielded some well known products, such as Google Alert and Google Dance Tool.
Would be interesting to see how these API offerings will react to Google's IPO.
Alerting services, if high quality, are ideal ways to maintain customer loyalty.
I've been using the Google Alert free service for a while now and have happily upgraded to their paid service. If you get good information from something, you will likely stick with it.
I think the hype is well-grounded. With GMail, Froogle and Personalized search, they seem to be well-positioned for their IPO. Even their API is now starting to bear fruit, with third-party Google Alert about to launch a commercial service.
What will they think of next?
Google going in many directions
on
Google Files for IPO
·
· Score: 2, Informative
With GMail, Froogle and Personalized search, they seem to be well-positioned for their IPO. Even their API is now starting to bear fruit, with third-party Google Alert about to launch a commercial service.
I think that Google is offering a similar, but far simpler version of Google Alert. It will be interesting to see how the parallel API/main-site model works out.
Another new feature is the Google Web Alerts, which seems to be a simple version of the existing independent API-based Google Alert service. Is this the first example of a Google API application being copied by the mother ship?
I think this is definitely positioning for an IPO -- why else the sudden trademark enforcement campaign? Many of these Google-esque sites have been up for a while and only recently has Google started to approach them.
Slashdot Mirror
Obfusacation may have allowed people to be sloppy with their data exposure until now. But that is no excuse for people being lax with their own data security.
The Internet is built by it's users. The responsibility for protecting data lies squarely with the users at the edges.
They may also start leveraging the success of popular services that use their Web APIs , such as Google Alert and Copyscape , particularly with the commercialization of Google Alert. Positioning themselves as a general technology platform for the web is surely a step in the right direction to further raising their valuation.
Will be interesting to see how quiet they stay from now till the actual IPO...
This is basically what they ended up doing and still do with basic search in their fight against SEO manipulators.
No doubt fradusters will keep dreaming up more innovative schemes to get this done. I wonder if the Google API could be used towards this goal or in fighting it. Perhaps by setting up a Google Alert to search for fraud schemers, the good guys can stay a step ahead.
Same can be said for their Web APIs and some of the applications like Google Dance Tool and Google Alert that have developed from it.
While I think this is probably a case of people going after Google's newly deep pockets, it would be interesting if Google planned to release some of this code out into the open.
Google has been unclear about their future plans for the API, though it seems that it has allowed some apps to go commercial - see this article.
One wonders if this source code will actually add value to the developer community, or is simply a way of counteracting the capitalistic vibes of the IPO.
Pretty handy.
These efforts have yielded some well known products, such as Google Alert and Google Dance Tool. Would be interesting to see how these API offerings will react to Google's IPO.
Alerting services, if high quality, are ideal ways to maintain customer loyalty.
I've been using the Google Alert free service for a while now and have happily upgraded to their paid service. If you get good information from something, you will likely stick with it.
What will they think of next?
What will they think of next?
If not now, when...
Good question! they may be trying to stake a claim in all the major serach-infrastructure related services, including shopping, email, etc.
I think that Google is offering a similar, but far simpler version of Google Alert. It will be interesting to see how the parallel API/main-site model works out.
Another new feature is the Google Web Alerts, which seems to be a simple version of the existing independent API-based Google Alert service. Is this the first example of a Google API application being copied by the mother ship?
I think this is definitely positioning for an IPO -- why else the sudden trademark enforcement campaign? Many of these Google-esque sites have been up for a while and only recently has Google started to approach them.