Tanner Hobin » Google

The GPhone is coming!

Tanner Hobin — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 09:01:29 +0000

According to a recent article from Rediff.com, Google is nearly two weeks away from a concurrent launch across India, the US and Europe of their new Google branded mobile phone.

An un-named source at Google had this to say, “We don’t comment on market rumor or speculation. However, Google is committed to providing users with access to the world’s information, and mobile becomes more important to those efforts every day. We’re collaborating with partners worldwide to bring Google search and applications to mobile users everywhere. However, we have nothing to announce at this time.”

Read the full story here: Forget iPhone, the Gphone is here

Who stole Google’s laptops?

Tanner Hobin — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:10:19 +0000

At the recent Book Expo America conference in New York, the CEO of Macmillan Publishers Richard Charkin stole two of Google’s laptops from their booth. The stunt was to raise awareness regarding the method in which Google is using to acquire copyright protected content from books. Google Book Search is currently working towards digitizing books from various libraries around the nation. Their method is to gather the information, and then publishers would be responsible for telling Google if they do not want their content in Google Book Search through their Partner Program. Charkin argues that this method is a blatant copyright infringement.

Though I do not agree with the way in which Google is handling the acquisition of information in this case, I’m not sure why a publisher would NOT want their content on Google. It’s essentially free advertising. Plus, if Macmillan’s internet marketing strategy is advanced enough to include PPC advertising, the company could leverage the power of targeted ads for their publications. I’m not familiar with the publishing process, so I may be wrong in assuming that promotion falls in the hands of the publisher. However, I’m certain that Macmillan would eventually benefit financially from having the exposure through Google Book Search.

Regardless, interesting tactic! It may even get Google’s attention towards the issue.

Google Acquires FeedBurner!

Tanner Hobin — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 03:41:14 +0000

Google has officially acquired FeedBurner, the most comprehensive feed syndication platform on the web.

What a great pair they will surely make. Barry Schwartz over at Search Engine Land had an exclusive conference call this afternoon with Susan Wojcicki from Google, and Dick Costolo from FeedBurner. Here is his notes regarding the conversation: Google Confirms Acquisition Of FeedBurner

So how close is Google to officially ruling the worldâ€¦wide web?

Google April Fool’s Day Hoaxes

Tanner Hobin — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:39:09 +0000

Google once again unleashes a humorous hoax for April Fool’s Day. In celebration of Google’s recent hoax, I’ve decided to research some of their jokes throughout the years. Wikipedia has a detailed list outlining all of Google’s April Fool’s Day hoaxes. My favorite has to be Pigeon Rank. What’s yours?

Google Enhances Personalized Homepage

Tanner Hobin — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 04:11:36 +0000

Google recently added feed snippets to personalized home page’s. Click the plus sign to view a brief snapshot of an article, and click the minus sign to remove the snapshot. This is a great feature that allows a quick view of an article without having to click through to that actual site. They have also added article posting times so you can see when the article was posted. This is a great feature as well because you obviously know what the newest article is.

What does this mean for feed and blog managers? The first couple sentences of your article had better be interesting enough to click through and read. Or you can expect a drastic drop in your click through rate.