雲端運算與智慧型行動裝置出頭天

財富：智慧型手機出貨量本季將超越個人電腦

索尼和谷歌合作 又見傳聞：任天堂與諾基亞聯合研發手機 ?

車庫誕生的Google傳奇 搬上大銀幕

這講得真好：對於個人、公司、大企業、團體、國家...都相當受用..，也許中間有許多波折起浮、跌倒失敗，一但過了挑戰，一切風清雲淡、過眼雲湮...天下就會太平起來

Google offers free voice calls via Gmail

Google's Craig Walker said the product promotes "cheap easy communication"

Google is taking on internet telephone companies like Skype by allowing users to call from its free web-based email service.

For the moment only users in the US will be able to make calls from inside their Gmail account.

Phoning anywhere in the US and Canada will be free until the end of the year, while calls to the UK, France, China and Germany will cost 2 cents a minute.

Until now Google offered computer-to-computer voice and video chat services.

"This is a real big deal because now hundreds of millions of Gmail users can make phone calls right from their Gmail page," Craig Walker, product manager for real-time communications told BBC News.

"They don't need to download an additional application or anything to start making really high-quality low-cost calls. For the user it means much more efficient and low-cost communications."

The product link will appear on the left hand of the Gmail page within the "chat" window. A "call phone" option will pop up along with a number pad to let you dial the number of the person you want to talk to.

Google said money raised from international calls will pay for the free US and Canadian calls.

"What surprised me was that they actually said they hope to make money off the calls," said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of technology blog SearchEngineLand.

"Normally Google is like 'We don't know how we are going to make the money' or 'We will make money down the way, don't worry about it' and this stands out as a big benefit that they get actual revenue early on."

Competition

Skype, which is the most successful internet phone offering, claims to have over 560 million registered users. The firm said 124 million used the service at least one a month while 8.1 million were paying customers.

The company is planning to offer shares to the public later this year. But should it be worried that Google is putting a stake in the same ground as Skype?

Google hopes to roll the product out to users around the world soon

"Skype is a well known company in this place and they are almost like a verb in the internet calling world in the way Google is with search. You Skype someone. So I think there is some inertia there to get over and I am interested to see how Gmail users respond," said Tom Krazit, senior writer with technology news site CNET.com.

"But you always have to worry when Google comes after what you do. They don't do things half way and bring a lot of resources to any problem they try to tackle. It doesn't mean you are doomed.

"Google's product won't work on your mobile browser so Skype has an advantage there but I don't think it is a stretch to assume Google will come out with a mobile version pretty soon," said Mr Krazit.

The company plans an eye catching way to get non-Gmail users to give the product a go. It is in negotiations with a number of university campuses and airports to install red telephone boxes around the country to give users the chance to dial and try.

(BBC News)

線上付費影片市場 YouTube尬蘋果

 

What Is Google Instant?

Google's just announced Google Instant! They say it's going to transform search forever—making it faster, better, stronger. But what is it, exactly?

It's predictive search...

Should you activate Google Instant Search, you'll start seeing search results as soon as you start typing. You'll also be shown a range of possible queries in grey to refine your options, all before you ever hit the "Search" button.

...that saves you time...

Google estimates that Google Instant will save people an average of 2-5 seconds per search. The reason? We read faster than we type, and predictive search pretty much takes typing out of the equation. If every Google user around the world switched to Instant, we'd save 3.5 billion seconds a day, or 11 hours per second.

...(unless you're looking for porn)...

While the normal SafeSearch filters—like those used in Image searches—apply, Google Instant draws the line at "pornography, violence and hate speech." Which means that when you try to autocomplete a generic "porn" search, you're stuck with this:

...that's already here for some users...

There's a good chance you've already got Google Instant up and running, but if not, don't feel too left out; it's going to take a couple of days for the service to hit all Google users. And a bit longer than that to hit mobile—Google says that it's not available in the immediate future for phones, but that it should be coming in the next few months. Ditto for the search bar in your browser. In any case, if you don't like it you're not forced to use it; next to every search box will be a link that lets you turn Instant off or on as you please.

...and has at least one neat trick up its sleeve.

When Google Instant is activated, the right arrow key acts as the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button. Glad to see that a healthy sense of adventure has been maintained.

Illustration by Sam Spratt. Check out Sam's portfolio and become a fan of his Facebook Artist's Page.

...................................................

(gizmodo)

谷歌創業12年十大啟示：微軟地位並不穩固
來自：騰訊科技


據國外媒體報導，谷歌創業已有12年的歷史了。在這12年裡，谷歌從一家雄心勃勃的初創公司一步步發展成為一手改變科技產業面貌的行業巨頭。無論是網路搜索還是軟體服務方面，谷歌都已自己獨特的方式佔領著龐大的市場份額。

但谷歌12年的成就並不意味著其完成的每一個項目都給用戶帶來了便利。事實上，谷歌本身秉承的“不作惡”的公司理念在過去的幾年裡一直飽受非議。從某種程度上來說，谷歌也曾迷失了公司發展方向。

截至目前谷歌給業界帶來的影響有利有弊。以下是過去12年裡谷歌給IT產業帶來的十個啟示：

1.搜索產業前景廣闊

當谷歌首次涉足互聯網搜索業務時，互聯網搜索業務佈局與現在大相徑庭。當時的搜索產業被幾家公司控制，這些公司雖然知道該做什麼，但對如何實施卻沒有明確的想法。谷歌的出現改變了當時的這一狀況。谷歌向業界證明只要依靠網路社區和自己獨有的創意，就可以在網路搜索產業獲得成功。

2.網路廣告是搜索產業發展方向

當谷歌確定利用廣告資源發展搜索業務的戰略後，該公司向產業內部證明了網路廣告既是當時搜索產業發展的需要，也是搜索產業未來的發展方向。目前，眾多的網路公司以前所未有的速度投資發展在線廣告業務。這一點他們不得不感謝谷歌。

3. IT企業應尋求多元化發展

曾幾何時，網路企業似乎都堅守這樣一個信條：如果能在一個產業獲得良好的發展就萬事大吉了。比如eBay立足於拍賣業務以及亞馬遜擅長在線零售。而谷歌卻向業界證明，網路企業應尋求多元化發展並可以做得很出色。谷歌的業務涵蓋了從搜索、廣告到雲端運算服務，再到行動操作系統等多個範圍。目前該公司正在計劃向光纖網絡擴張。至少谷歌已證明，一個網路企業不必非要死抱著網路不放。

4.小公司更容易獲得用戶認可

從建立之初，谷歌就表示要始終堅持“不作惡”的公司原則。但隨著公司規模的不斷壯大，谷歌越來越難以始終堅持這一原則。最近谷歌Buzz和街景服務就屢遭隱私保護組織的質疑。谷歌向業界同時證明，公司發展規模越大就難以取悅於用戶。

5.公司規模問題

谷歌目前是一家大公司，其公司規模決定了谷歌能夠抑制其他潛在競爭對手的發展。事實上，每當一家業界公司發展得稍微壯大了一些或者一家公司認為自己可以獨立發展自身業務時，谷歌就會輕易地將其收購。在過去的數年裡谷歌的這一策略屢試不爽，而且還會在未來繼續使用。但正是因為這樣，使很多希望重複谷歌成功之路的小企業面臨著越來越多的發展難題。

6.單個公司也可以獲得用戶接受

多年前的互聯網和現在完全不同。只有幾個公司各自提供單一的業務，卻沒有一個公司像谷歌一樣家喻戶曉。谷歌幾乎成了搜索的代名詞。在這個過程中，谷歌很好的詮釋瞭如果能夠提供好的服務，給用戶帶來好的體驗，網路企業也能夠得到用戶的廣泛接受。或許Facebook是唯一取得類似成功的案例。

7.好的創意是在網路成功的關鍵

從谷歌創始人塞吉布林(Sergey Brin)和拉里佩奇(Larry Page)策劃創立谷歌開始，這就注定是一個很好的創意。他們的成功再次告訴我們，好的創意會得到網絡用戶的支持。這是互聯網企業家們在策劃下一項服務時所必須考慮的因素。

8.微軟地位並不穩固

雖然12年前我們不能預知，但是谷歌的成功經驗表明微軟的地位並不穩固。微軟在研發軟體上花費了太多的時間和精力，而忽略了其自身網路業務的發展。微軟的戰略性失誤從某種程度上促成了谷歌逐漸發展壯大至目前的規模。要想繼續前進，微軟面臨著艱鉅的挑戰。看起來在未來發展的道路上微軟勢必要與Google展開全面競爭。

9.發展模式更像蘋果

在谷歌成長為搜索業巨頭的過程中，有人認為谷歌的發展模式是典型的微軟模式。也就是憑藉自己在業內的規模直接影響整個行業的發展，剩下一些小公司努力地想與之抗衡。但是在過去的數年裡，谷歌很好地證明了自己的發展模式更接近於蘋果模式，而非微軟模式。不錯，谷歌確實影響了整個行業的發展，但蘋果也是這樣做的。在產品設計方面，谷歌遵循的是蘋果的優雅之道，這遠比微軟要好得多。谷歌更像是微軟和蘋果的有機結合，但更像蘋果而不是微軟。

10.獲得行業控制力
　
很顯然谷歌想在其涉足的每一個領域都擁有足夠的控制力。谷歌希望在搜索領域遙遙領先其他搜索服務提供商。谷歌還想成為雲端運算領域的領跑者。目前谷歌正全力進軍手機行業。谷歌想要的就是行業控制力。

(Weiphone)

Google宣布，採用最新的GPU加速技術的Chrome 7將比 6的速度快60倍。

(WeiPhone)

Bing來勢兇 谷歌高層怕怕

 

（法新社舊金山25日電） 谷歌（Google）執行長施密特（Eric Schmidt）今天表示，微軟的搜尋引擎Bing是谷歌面臨的最大威脅，不是臉書（Facebook），也不是蘋果（Apple）。

 

「華爾街日報」（Wall Street Journal）將施密特的專訪影帶張貼在網路上。施密特說：「網路搜尋不是唯一的戰場，這是實話，搜尋資料才是重點。」

 

他形容蘋果是可敬的對手，臉書是「社群網絡傑出成績造就出來的公司」，但是微軟最新搜尋引擎Bing才是谷歌的最大敵人。

 

施密特說：「Bing是運作順暢、具備高度競爭力的搜尋引擎。」

 

根據尼爾森公司（Nielsen Co）的報告，微軟的Bing與其他網路搜尋服務8月首度超越雅虎，成為美國第二大搜尋引擎。

 

尼爾森表示，微軟的Bing、MSN及Windows Live，8月在美國網路搜尋市場有13.9%的市佔率，比7月成長0.25%；雅虎13.1%，比7月的14.6%減少。

 

谷歌市場佔有率平盤維持在65.1%。

(Yahoo!)