2 The Next Level

Posts Tagged ‘Google’

In the past couple weeks Google has shut down two of its latest failures. The first true Google phone the Nexus One and Google Wave.These failures are just a string of bad misses that Google has come up with in the past several years. See “10 Google Flubs, Flops, and Failures” That being said, why do you think Google keeps trying its hand at products and services with the best of intentions only to have them fail?

Heck, the first name the Google founders choose for their search engine failed. Imagine us all going around saying, Did you “Backrub” the name of Micheal Jackson to see how many tribute websites come up? or I bet you can find that street address on “Backrub” maps.

Well I say Google’s failures are our gain. For every Google failure there is at least 2-3 success stories. Case in point. In the last year how many times have you searched for something using Google search, sent and email using Gmail, or Watched a video on Youtube? How many of you are now making calls with your Android powered cell phone, listening to your voicemail using Google Voice while locating your favorite restaurant on Google maps.

We could go on and on about some of the awesome tools Google has created but the more I think about it the more I am convinced that the founders of Google are from the school of Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln. It took thousands of filaments to fail until one finally burned long enough to make the light bulb a success. It took Abraham Lincoln 15 years of many political defeats and failures to finally become our 16th president.

So, I say continue to fail Google. Continue to go out on a limb and try to prove us all wrong with yet another product or service destined for the scrap heap.  Every time you fail you make it easier for tech nerds like me to strive for that one shining moment of success.  You give people like me the will to stay the course and dream about one day turning our own “Backrub” into billions.

So, Solopreneurs. How many times have you failed?

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Google is at it again, and this time they are messing with Television. I have been an admitted TVaholic for many years now. It got so bad some years ago that I used to schedule my life around my TV shows. Five years ago just after the birth of our first child my wife and I decided to give up TV. We wanted to see if we could do other more meaningful things instead of sitting in front of the television for hours a day.  Web TV was at its infancy back then. Both Hulu.com and Fancast.com were not around so there were slim pickens when it came to TV watching online.

Fast forward to today. I now can now watch the majority of my TV online at most of the major network websites. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox all have full episodes of their shows online.  So now I can catch up on the latest “Undercover Boss” whenever I want.

Well Google now wants to take my Web TV experience and put it back on the big screen. Google TV will allow you to do a search for your favorite TV shows from the web and then watch them on your 60 inch HDTV set. Unfortunately mine is only 30 inches and its not an HDTV but 30 inches is bigger than my 22 inch computer monitor.

So take a look at the Youtube video demonstrating Google TV and let me know what you think of Google TV in the comments below.

Google is also collecting your email address to enable Google to contact you with news, updates, and launch information related to Google TV. http://bit.ly/googletv2

All the best

JB

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First of all, I want to congratulate the Who DAT Nation for winning their first Super Bowl. With that said I have to give my review of some of the Super Bowl Ads.  Ok if you didn’t know it I am a man and I have to say some of the ads were quite sexist to say the least. I won’t harp on how tired the Godaddy ads have been getting but from what the business model say they have been effective.  The the two ads I am going to focus on are both sexy and sweet. These two ads made the most impression on me because they were done with both the audience in mind as well as the audience at large.

The Audience in the Mind of a Male

The first ad was the Motorola MOTO Blur Ad featuring Megan Fox.  Ok now for the disclaimer.. I own a Motorola MOTO Blur phone but I am not being paid for this review…  This ad used the popularity of Megan Fox’s sexuality to bring a point home on what would happen if she were to send out a picture of herself taking a simple bubble bath.  If you have not seen the ad please take a look below and then read on.

This ad uses humor and the power of a man’s imagination run wild. I watched this ad with my wife and we both laughed and agreed that it was very effective. Now here comes the tech part. At the same time of this ad’s airing, I got a text from, who esle Motorola on why I should go to their website to watch the rest of the commercial. I then went to http://www.motorola.com/super-bowl and saw the rest of the ad and I laughed even harder.  This ad was built for the audience in mind which for the most part was primarily male. If Motorola was smart they would be quick to hire Megan Fox to be the MOTO Blur spokes person and do a series of ads that play off this same idea.

The Audience at Large brings Love

Google did an excellent job of not only promoting their search engine but it told a story of how to use Google search to find love. Please view the video below if you have not seen the commercial and then read on.

This ad helped us learn how to use Google search while in Paris. In this case the user wanted to impress a girl who thought the user was cute.  This ad clearly connected to both male and especially female viewers or the audience at large.  I thought this ad was very effective in not only telling but showing  us why we should use Google as our main search tool.  Google has a series of videos called Google Search Stories. Parisian Love was shown on Youtube over 2 months ago and  just repacked by Google just in time for the Super Bowl.  It is now the most viewed of the series at just over 2 million views.

And the Winner Is….

Even though I am a big Motorola fan, I am going to have to go with Google on this one.  Goolge’s ad was more appealing to a much larger audience.  It not only told the story,  it showed you how to use their service and even better why you should use their service.  It was one of the most low budget yet highly effective ways to produce a Super Bowl ad.  All Google needed was a screen capture software, some music and a few sound effects. Motorola on the other hand had to pay for the services of all the actors plus pay Megan Fox. Google can clearly reuse this ad over and over again like it did for the Super Bowl and it will still have just about the same effectiveness.

Although I picked Google over Motorola, I am a MAN and have to say that I look forward to the next series of MOTO Blur ads featuring Megan Fox.. There I said it.. I will now sit my sexist self down…;-)

No offense to the Colts and the Saints but I clearly had more fun watching the Super Bowl Ads this year.

What was your favorite ad?

All the best

JB

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It has been 4 long years since I had the ability to call my cell phone anything but smart. Today I was fortunate enough to be given a brand new smart phone. Why does it seem such a surprise it has taken me this long to finally get with the program and get one of these remarkable devices.  Well, without going into detail I guess I was waiting for just the right one to come along and give me everything I ever wanted in a smart phone.  Believe me it was a long and drawn out quest to find this phone.

I like most of you toyed with the idea of going First Fruit Phone but I have been a PC man for so long I just new there was something out there for folks like myself.  Then came HTC and the Android operating system by Google and I was hooked. HTC came out with so many great looking phones to rival the First Fruit of Phones and the Android operating made me take notice even more. The HTC G1 was a  huge draw to me and I was 2 minutes from jumping into the deep end of the smart water pool when that first G-phone just looked so darn bulky and down right ugly compared to Mom’s Pie Phone.

It finally took an oldie but goodie cell phone manufacture to get me back. Motorola, king of the cell  phones back in the 80’s. Did you know that In 1969, Neil Armstrong spoke the famous words “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” from the Moon on a Motorola Radio? And who could forget the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, AKA the “Brick Phone”.

Well Motorola is back with a vengeance and it has taken their new Android powered phone the CLIQ with MotoBlur to bring me back into the smart phone fold for good. Please see my blog post “Social Media Meets Motorola MOTOBLUR” for additional information on this spectacular smart phone.

This Christmas Santa brought me a smart phone that can connect me to my social media network without missing a beat. I watched my first Youtube video, downloaded my first smart phone application, updated my status on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin all while I chatted via Google Talk with two of my best friends.

Motorola I solute you for bringing me back to life when it comes to mobile technology.

All the best and Happy Holidays

JB

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Who has the ultimate Operating System? Windows 7 is making a lot of noise right now. Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) is on the rise.  But what about Google’s Chrome OS where does it sit in this hierarchy of operating systems.  Well if you are looking for a fast booting completely web based application, that needs no explanation to operate because if you know how to use a browser you will know how to use Chrome OS.  If you biggest question is “How fast can I get on the Internet?” then this OS is for you. Especially if you are thinking of purchasing a new Netbook like I am one day.  See the Gadget Lab blog post to find out more  Five Things Google’s Chrome OS Will Do for Your Netbook.

Cost, Speed, Compatibility, Portability and New Applications are the main reasons you would choose Chrome OS over Windows 7 or Mac OS X for  your Netbook. The only drawback to this operating system is that if you are not connected to the Internet you will have problems. This OS is almost entirely dependent on the the Internet so if you have to store anything locally or you have to work offline 95 percent of the time, I would not suggest getting or installing Chrome OS.

So if you want go from 0 to Internet in less than 10 seconds, I totally recommend Google’s Chrome OS. I look forward to purchasing my first Netbook with Chrome OS already installed.

Here is a link to one of the first demos of Chrome OS

Here is a link to Tech Crunch where you read how to download and install Chrome OS

All the best

JB

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