GOOGLE WavE-Mail

While Microsoft was revamping its Live Search Engine into Bing-the Decision Engine,Google was busy re-inventing the good old email.

What would Email look like if it were to be invented today?          This was the question Google asked its Googlers and BING!! (pun intended) they got the answer(atleast they say so)…Google Wave is the new email.

What is a wave? Google says:

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Its like hybrid email which has Gmail enriched with cool features of many Google products like Docs,Gtalk, iGoogle, Orkut, You tube, Search etc etc.

What surprised me was, Google which is known for making things simple,has actually made email a little complex by adding so many features in one application.Of course,there could be another view that instead of using 4 0r 5 different applications,users can “simply  Wave it”.

Its still early to comment on the success of Wave,however I am pretty sure,good ol’ Email wont be washed away by the Wave,at least for now .

bing……. from Microsoft

Microsoft’s new search engine which was rumored for quite some time under project name KUMO has indeed become a reality.      MS has officially announced that the new kind of search engine termed the “Decision engine” will be launched very soon. This decision engine is named “bing” which i personally feel that its a lil lousy,but considering “kumo” its far more better.The site is already up but not yet running. 

The letter  page describes the objective and need for for a new search engine and also mentions new features like cashback offers,Price Predictor which are very new to a search engine.

        Click above to have a peek to the “bing “–the decision engine

Although bing is not a Google killer,if it catches on,I think it has great potential to generate more revenue than any other search engine because of it new features like Price Predictor which will attract firms to tie up with bing on revenue sharing basis rather than just advertising.

But of course, when it comes to simple search  Google will still rule and we all know why…coz its really simple..just Google it :)

Speed Mail – the tech courier

I heard a voice saying “Courier” at my doorstep and I found that my brother’s bank statement had come.While I was looking at the envelope,checking the name ,I held by hand out instinctively as I usually do, to get the pen from the courier guy to sign.But he didn’t he give me the pen as this was no ordinary courier service.As I looked up  ,believe it or not I saw him entering details in a small i-mate PDA  with the stylus. 

If it was FedEx or DHL , I wouldn’t be surprised but there was no name in the envelope and by his appearance I assumed it was a normal courier service. Then he asked me to sign in the PDA itself with the stylus.(frankly i was dazed at this). When he was about to leave,i asked him which courier which he replied “Speedmail”.

The name didn’t ring a bell  ,so at once i went in and googled it. They didn’t have any website ,but were listed in the classifieds.Then i searched  for news and Voila i got it.

From Hindu : Xpress Deliveries, a leading corporate courier services company, has launched ‘Speedmail Deliveries’, its retail courier business unit

The fact that it is a new courier service and is not into retail yet(only corporate clients ) might be the reason why “Speedmail” is not popular yet .

It is interesting to know that,by using PDA’s ,around 16hours is saved every day and the personnel are handling around 700 packages per day against the average count of 300-350.

Speedmail would be starting retail services from August and I am pretty sure they will make other couriers like Professional or DTDC run for their money.Its better they gear up and embrace technology before they get wiped out by new age couriers like Speedmail.

Aww Snap!!! Chrome unfriendly to Win 7

I was never a great fan of Google Chrome.As  a heavy browser,I find Firefox as the best browser for me.Main reason being the plugins and Add-ons. Although IE8 is faster than FF consuming less memory,i still prefer FF over IE8 because IE 8 crashes more than bumping car..oh.. MS  :( .

Anyways, since Chrome caught my attention recently,I thought I would try it on WIN 7. The installation went fine and it even imported my bookmarks from IE8.but once I opened Chrome,it said “Aww Snap Chrome has crashed..”.I tried restarting,then opened in compatibility mode..still couldn't even open a single page.

It looks like the problem is already noted as I found this issue reported in Chrome’s official website .(issue 11583).

I also tried installing the latest beta version and  the shortcut modification which appears to be the only solution available now,unfortunately both didn’t work. I don’t think i will try it again..I am happy with Firefox(3.1 beta 4) and will wait for FF 3.1 full release .

A Royal Wii – For Her Royal Highness

Last week, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth received a unusual gift   but truly a royal one,  a gold plated Nintendo Wii gaming console. THQ  which is launching the “BIG” series of games for the Wii delivered this unique one of a kind,gaming console to the delivered to the Buckingham Palace.

People Magazine (UK) had already reported  in January that, Her Royal Highness is having a great time playing ten pin bowling in Prince William’s Wii which was his Christmas gift from girlfriend Kate.

Although there is no official comment from the Queen, it is a well known fact that she owns a good gadget collection which includes a IPod, Blackberry etc and a Royal Wii would be a perfect addition to it.

Even though,it may not be true that the Queen, aged 83 is smashing with the Royal Wii,it has sure caught everyone's attention  which was the main idea in the first place.

“Live for the Future” – Eric Schmidt

Google Chief Eric Schmidt’s Keynote speech in Carnegie Mellon University.Interestingly, he requested the graduates to switch off their computers and mobiles and to see the real humans around them and Live for the future

Some Quotes :

“You cannot plan innovation. You cannot plan invention. All you can do is try very hard to be at the right place and be ready”

“We used watches to tell time, maps to navigate,cameras to take pics and listen to transistor radios..well you have a cell phone”

“You will find  that nothing beats than to hold your grandchild’s hand as he takes his first step”

“You’ll find today is the best chance you have to start being unreasonable, to demand excellence, to drive change, to make everything happen.”

AUDI bets big on India

Despite all the recession stories going around Audi India is very positive about Indian markets.Its aims to grow at a massive 55% to reach the target of 1500 cars in FY2009-10.Considering that it has grown 200% last fiscal despite facing a decline in other major global markets it seems like a realistic target.With A6 already launched in India and Q5 coming soon Audi is confident to achieve this.Out of 80 cars set for the Kerala market,25 has already been sold which is a very good start. 

The German Luxury Automobile company founded in Zwickau, Germany in 1909 will be completing its 100th year this July.Audi which sports its German tagline Vorsprung durch Technik, meaning "Advantage through Technology" is planning to expand its portfolio to 40 cars by 2015.

Hey There Della !!

DELL has launched a separate web page named Della for its computers targeting the female consumer segment.Sony was the first one to bring in colors to laptops and popularized the idea of  presenting laptops as fashion accessories.Dell has taken this bit further by making a separate webpage for them and how to choose the correct PC they need which will not only help them in their productivity but also compatible with their style of fashion by offering them customized patterns for their notebooks.The website also encourages to join in online discussions in social networking sites like Facebook ,Myspace etc.

I think it’s good idea,because women are very attentive to details and often need to be attended in a personalized way. Generally gadgets are often seen as a guy’s thing,but its a fact that  today even women are into gadgets ranging from mobile phones,PMP’s or laptops. So I think they will love a personalized website for them which will take note of the other style& soft features apart from the technical aspects when buying a laptop.

Apple bites back @ MS ads

Apple has responded to Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters campaign with a slew of new “I am a Mac,I am a PC” ads. The ad below is a direct answer to laptop hunter ad,while others feature customer care,PC CHOICE chat,time traveler etc.

  While MS ads have been very descriptive & appear to be “realistic”, Apple uses simplicity and humor which i think is more effective in reaching audience and enjoy a higher retention rate.

As much I love Microsoft, as a marketer I must say when it comes to ads Apple wins hands down.

Google Chrome comes to TV

It may very well qualify to Ripley’s Believe it or Not,but u better believe it.Yes, Google has embraced Mass media Advertising starting with TV spots to promote its Chrome web browser.

Although it is said it will be aired only in Japan for now , a YouTube Channel named Google Chrome has a video collection called Chrome Shorts.

I still remember ,the first offline advertising from Google I recognized was the billboards in Bangalore when the Google SMS search was launched.I have to admit it was little weird to see the Google Logo in the physical world , seemed like the virtual entity jumped out of the PC.

However , I wonder what exactly Google intends to achieve by these  promotional efforts? Okay lets say the browser share of Chrome increases , how will it affect the revenues of Google?.

I guess if more people use Chrome,the more they will use Google services like search etc ,which will increase traffic which may have a positive effect on its revenues. Also, Google chrome keeps track of user’s online behavior  which is also a key component in optimizing search results and help in targeted advertising.

Google Squares the Wolf

I cant believe that I missed this when I read about WolframAlpha. Anyways,looks like Google is all set to rip off the Wolf.

Google will be rolling out Google squared as part of Google labs by the end of May.The special feature in Google Squared is that it will extract data  from the web and produce the results in “Squares”  in the form of spreadsheets.  Techcrunch has released a demo video on Google Squared.

Also Google has already added new tools called Search options which “are a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier”

This may not exactly mirror WolframAlpha’s capabilities but the point is ,no matter what competition comes ,Google can easily replicate and will even better it.So that when it comes to search GOOGLE RULES ALWAYS.

Who Cried Wolf ? - Try WolframAlpha.

Imagine what will happen if we mix Google is merged with Wikipedia? May be it will tell u the answer to any question by searching the answer over the net and presenting in a concise format.Sounds cool? well its coming soon..

Its not called WIKIGLE or Googipedia but Wolfram|Alpha.

Usually we search using keywords.But sometimes keywords don't help.We might want to ask questions like in Yahoo Answers,but the results are not great. Wolfram Alpha aims to fix this.

Stephen Wolfram who is the man behind WA,is a highly acclaimed scientist and is noted for  his previous projects like Mathematica and New Kind of Science. Although the these were very technical in nature,WA is to the mainstream.

Wolfram mentions in his blog  "All one needs to be able to do is to take questions people ask in natural language, and represent them in a precise form that fits into the computations one can do"

That means instead of just searching India + Economy..I can ask what is Indian economic situation in 2008-09 and instead of links I will get my info like a Wikipage. 

Though it looks promising, I don't think it will affect traffic of Google or Wikipedia.But I am sure it will be a hit  if it works.

M.J. UNPLUGGED

Hi all, yes  yes I am aware my blogging rate is declining steeply.but hey its recession time ,everything is declining :)

Jokes apart ,I assure I am working on it and.....as a  result,            MJ 2.0 .0 is all set to roll.

So what exactly is it ?  Well simply put,I have started another bl0g. This seems paradoxical, but in a attempt to make DENOVOS much more professional I have started my personal blog MJ UNPLUGGED, so that I can concentrate only on BTM (not B.T.M layout) but Business Technology & Marketing.

 MJ UNPLUGGED will feature all my personal stuff,things I Like,dislike ,which I want to share etc etc. So I wont post songs movie reviews, emotional posts in DENOVOS any more.Sounds cool?

Yes as always there is negative side,the blog post count will come down,but quality will definitely go up. I guess it will somewhere around 12-15.lets see..hope I can handle it...this itself a denovo after all  ;)

Thanks for your support, pls do visit often and give ur feedback.

HAPPY LABOUR DAY!!!

Did you know that May day is celebrated by the success of Eight-hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest?

More interesting facts about International Workers Day here.