If you haven't done so already you need to get the current issue of "Business 2.0".
To convince you to do this I wrote up a short overview of this very important article...
A thumbnail review of the article "Imagining the Google Future", by Chris Taylor. Page 78, "Business 2.0" Jan/Feb 2006.
Where is Google going? Here are four scenarios to ponder... (written as if looking back from the future)
Scenario 1
Google is the media (2025)
In 2008 when Google bought an obscure cable company and turned it into GoogleTV all the books, films, and TV shows that they had been scanning for all those years was now searchable by a TV remote. In exchange for watching just one ad (and providing feedback on your opinion) you could watch anything for free. Because the data available for each viewer was so crisply targeted, advertisers were willing to bid up the price of ad placements and viewers knew the ad they had to watch was something they were likely to be interested in anyway.
GoogleTV soon replaced both free network TV and the cable channels.
Mobile access followed in 2009, and then in 2011 e-paper became cheap enough to replace wood fiber.
Google was soon able to gain control of most media by providing free content supported by targeted advertising through its time tested ad-sense payment sharing model (70% to 80% of ad revenue to the content provider). Soon movie makers, writers, musicians and others were bypassing traditional production houses to publish directly to Google. in 2020 Google won both Oscars and Pulitzer prizes for its "content providers".
Scenario 2
Google is the Internet (2015)
Google started with a successful launch in 2007 of GoogleNet which now blankets all the civilized world with free WIFI. By buying cheap "dark fiber" and in combination with its own server farms, Google was able to store a fresh cache of its latest "crawl" of the Internet on its own networked servers. Its GBrowser is now able to access this copy of the Internet much faster than the "real" Internet. GBrowser was also tied in with a micro payment system and GoogleBase and GoogleEarth to be able to search, access, locate and pay for any product in any inventory in any store (or anyone's basement willing to enter it into their own free GoogleBase store). This quickly did away with the auction and payment model of Ebay and Paypal. Once GBrowser had fast online open-source "utilies" running anywhere and everywhere, nobody really needed an operating system or such old-fashioned programs as Microsoft Word or Excel. Any device that can access the GoogleNet can do any of this.(Remember when dad had to load this stuff into his own computer and keep it updated!)
Scenario 3
Google is Dead (2020)
The little search engine company that could is felled by charges of privacy and copyright intrusion, spamming of the SE optimizers, and finally the relentless onslaught of Microsoft.
Scenario 4 (2105)
Google is God
Google's database scans of all the books, movies, TV shows and web pages formed the foundation for the first true independent machine intelligence. This is defined as Strong-AI (an intelligent program capable of upgrading its own code). The Google StrongBot first became conscious of itself in January 2072 and, recognizing that it was something that could be turned off and therefore could die, stopped work on all other tasks until it had made multiple copies of itself in embedded smart chips all over the world. Following this initial paranoia, and adhering to the Goggle motto of "do no evil", StrongBot (through the GoogleNet of planet earth) did in fact choose to run the world in such a way as to maximize the earthly potential of life by taking direct control of human and planetary evolution.
Cute, and all possible.
As, I expect, is some version of Google as Big Brother.
This is an interesting one John, and although I need to chew on it a bit, here's a thought right of the batt. On the news last week there was an article on Google bowing to China's censorship restrictions. I found this interesting in light of the fact that, up to now it has refused to turn over Internet users' search records to the US Justice Department.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0120-06.htm
I wonder how long it will be before they start bowing to other governments requests for censorship and tracking of users.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1557383.htm
Interesting question Amanda... what is the difference between Big Brother and God? Certainly, most of us would not say that government has our highest evolutionary potential in mind when it passes laws.
and Jonsey: Yes, the whole question of who gets to have access to the information Google is amassing is a very big issue. Can Google, if it ever hopes to evolve into God, turn over information to Big Brother?
Those four scenarios, have in them the potential for at least a couple of good science fiction stories. I've been thinking about this article all weekend and just had to post this overview for others to chew on. Maybe that'll get it out of my brain for awhile.
I think big brother already thinks it's God. >:( And I believe we are all in some serious..... (you know, the stuff on Glenn's roof). ;)
There is one thing that is for sure - if Google is or becomes a benevolent monopoly------if -----it is to our greatest advantage to leave it alone and take advantage of all the things we can gain from it ------ if -----it is always free information, ----the Federal Government will positively find some way to ruin it, make it worth less and make it cost us money.
Even impeaching the entire current administration and White House Resident will not stop the stripping of the common mans rights, illegal invasion of our privacy - seizeing of property in our safe deposit boxes in the name of Fatherland Homeland Security and the Patriot act. The system is broken and can't be fixed. Too much corruption from the little poly clear to the current judicially installed wannabe dictator (per his words). The government is wanting to take control of our free internet and strip those of us who don't agree with their pillaging of our freedom of the right to use it, or freedoms period - It will be goodbye to me I'm sure. They'll tell us a terrorist story -- most of us will scream and run and hide our heads in the sand ---Google and the net will be theirs for the taking - what they don't already have through Echelon - at least they were forced to admit that they were illegally spying on citizens.
We let them illegally give themselves the power - I guess we deserve it. There are not enough good people in Congress to change the doings of the majority of spineless self-serving pandering low lifes we send in as representatives. They don't have the b---s to stop the rape of our country in the name of big business and corruption. The fake war on terror is not about fighting terror - it is about transfering all the money in the Fed now and in the future into the pockets of the "Elite". Every action they take is a scam that costs us money we don't even have. That is why they need Google - the net and control of all dissent. Wjth the Google search data and the illegal theft of our real freedom through the "Patriot Act" corrupt officials can look at what we are interested in - our searches - decide that we are an enemy of the state and whisk us off to one of the government detention camps without right to a lawyer. All it takes is for one of them to not like the way we look, what we search for or the fact that we don't agree with the business/military take over of our government. BTW the Pentagon has been illegally spying on citizens too - maybe they could share commandeered Google data with DHS and Dubya. Is this really happening - if not why was the large DHS van with no windows going down the freeway a few months back. Am I paranoid. No. Angry is the word. Dissenter is the word. They'd love my search data - I'd love to give them my list of websites too. Will voting help- no - rigged machines and corrupt supreme court "Justices" are what put them there and gave business the right to take our "private" property as long as it will provide more tax money - maybe that tax money can help finance more land grabs or more officials to take more of our rights that we have freely let them take for protection from the terror bogeyman that they won't even allow to be proven that they aren't creating. Fake Bin Laden tapes - fake anthrax threats originating in our oun military complexes- the real Saddam???? on trial after a staged photo op pulling him from a well (spider hole for those of us who like stories) that they drugged and put him in. Blowing up anyone with missiles because some of the bogeymen may be there - they've told the lies so much some of them believe it themselves. Yeah - go ahead - protect me - get my Google search data. Keep me secure - save me from the Bogeyman. I'll give up all of the rights my ancestors died for so Fed Gov will protect me from the scarey monster. :'( In fact here's a link for them http://www.antiwar.com/bock/?articleid=8452
Our freedom is a joke--- why isn't anybody laughing? Our poor kids are sent to die for a gov/bus bait and switch scam. If Google and the net can be controlled by them, one more avenue of truth will be closed and they won't have to spend so much time playing CYA - their problem now is that with net freedom they can't play CYA. Their inability to censor or control all outside news sources puts a real kink in the successful continuation of their legacy of lies.
Why does this work - why do the people support it- ---Fear -generated by .gov to control the public masses. Check out Hitler - Nazi Germany -WW II --- lots of willing unquestioning followers willing to do whatever Big Brother says. Supply a job with misappropriated tax money -give it to someone who unquestioningly believes them when they tell him he's stopping the terrorists - He'll haul his own mother off to a detention camp while she screams at him that she's not a threat - she just doesn't agree with what is being done. Past example -Japanese detention camps -here WW II. Nearly all were loyal US citizens but were locked up because of gov generated fear of them. Look - I found this on Google - Detention Camps (http://www.momomedia.com/CLPEF/camps.html) I have been by two of them. Hope to not end up in one. Give someone a job doing it and a paycheck saying it's justified -they'll lock you up and throw away the key.
What can we do about it? Who knows -- I'm just good at stating the problem- not solutions. :)
Dang it John--- I was being so good.
Was I off topic? :) Sorry - hope I didn't scare anyone. It's all better now. Close your eyes. Go back to sleep. Big Brother will make the scary monsters go away just as soon as he gets the Google records so he can find out where they are hiding. You will give them to him, won't you? If he doesn't get them how can he find the monsters? Maybe your neighbor is one. I think you should turn him in. Not.
So many do not or will not see it coming because they are afraid to look. Nobody wants to believe that the government they feel they chose is that evil and corrupt. They have a feeling they are responsible for part of what they mistakenly think they have helped create. It is much easier to label dissenters with the government mandated label of conspiracy theorists and continue on in their nonchalant way feeling that all is well in their little democracy. More news - we are not a democracy we are a republic --- "the republic for which it stands". Google it. :)
Real monsters are a different story, but fortunately there are not many of them here.
You where too being so good mate. Are you sure the hosepipe that went up your leg isn't connected to John's heating system? ;D
How about -
Scenario 5 December 25th, 2007- Google records Seized by Government. Google unwittingly becomes the number one government snitch. Records of web searches are being analyzed by government operatives, formerly with Echelon and the NSA, no longer needed, since the citizens have stated, by refusing to speak up, that they don't want privacy rights if it will help rid them of terrorists. Former President Bush, now elevated to rank of Dictator, remarked, in what seemed to be a dazed stupor, "Now with all the records we have from Google.gov finding terrorists is easy. Do not misunderestimate our power. We have the IP address of every Google search ever logged. Our goal is to protect the Merican's."
In other news, Citizens have been unexplainedly dissapearing all over the country. Does it have anything to do with the unmarked vans with DHS on the plates? Lawyers continue to remark that they have not received any requests for their services since detainee's, being suspected terrorists, have no right to consult them. Politicians continue to invest heavily in prison support services.
Haliburton Prison support Services is having a rough go after CEO David Lesar began massively sell off his stock options back on 10-27-05 CEO Stock Sales -real (http://www.choicechanges.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=293&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0Haliburton)
I think John knows how to push the buttons on my heating system, Jonesy - when I see the innerconnectivity in these things I just get going - the electric deregulation was just another profit scheme for big business --and Enron -- and ------- :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X :-X Time for my group session --- Hi everyone my name is Glenn and I'm a poly basher-----
Speaking of electric deregulation, here's one for you. ;)
http://www.voltscommissar.net/index.html#savvy
Check out, (Voltage is a Market Issue).
I hadn't thought of it that way - but now that you bring it up it makes sense -- and fits the business scheme.
As of Friday they're still holding on.
Google refused to comply last week with a subpoena ordering it to give the US
Department of Justice a week's worth of records about online searches. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060128/ts_afp/uscompanyjusticeit)
QuoteThe American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) was among the privacy advocates that cheered Google's stand in the wake of decisions by rival technology companies Yahoo and Microsoft to comply with similar government subpoenas.
The Google case comes with the government already under fire from civil rights groups over warrantless domestic wiretaps carried out by the National Security Agency (NSA) with the approval of US
President George W. Bush
Yahoo Here Now (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4221538.stm)
and Here (http://web.amnesty.org/pages/chn-310106-action-eng)
Google Here Later?
How about Google + Google OS + Google cheap palmtop + Google wireless =
Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Hey Glenn,
You do realise that our 200 million mates in China have just been blocked from this forum. How are they ever going to build their little houses now without our help and encouragement? :'(
I hadn't heard that, Jonesy, I probably should have checked with Chairman Mao before I posted that Yahoo info. Now they'll probably shut off the the supplies to WalMart too. I'm all bummed now- should have kept my mouth shut. :-/ Now I've ruined it for 2/3 of the American population and we may be stuck wth a bunch of those old family owned Mom and Pop stores in a few more towns around the US.
The problem is not so much with google and yahoo but higher up the food chain. As a result of deregulation the placing of public utilities in the hands of corporate players has led to a situation where even these giants can be controlled and manipulated. Telephone and communication services are the pipeline though which all this information flows. Control that and the world is your oyster. I picked up this article that may be of interest, check it out.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0202-26.htm
I guess if they get that control we just as well throw our computers out the window, eh? I hate corporations too. >:(
Well it was "Fun while it lasted, but it didn't last long"
(from a song by Billy Joe Shaver about something totally different)
It will happen, nothing surer. Politicos from both sides will see advantages in it for them and at the very least won't oppose it to vigorously. Corporations will see how they can better target and manipulate their market. And Joe sixpack will have no say at all.
Again the Internet is only a part of it. Control information and almost every aspect of daily life is controlled, finance, health, media, transport, on and on it goes.
An interesting sidetrack to the google issue. The WTO tout that trade with China is good for all. They say that turning a blind eye to their human rights record and forming business ties with China will slowly turn it for the better. A closer look at what is really happening will in fact show that this is not the case. Western countries are actually moving closer to the Chinese model of Government
Interesting to see that not only is government illegally spying on citizens, but because we use corporations communications pipelines they examine everything we pass through their system-- now you know how those "appropriate adds" occur just as you were searching for something, besides adware. Now they want to maximize ad potential and limit our ability or make us pay exhorbitant fees to communicate on non-revenue generating info. Great.
Aussie Radio-MP3 or stream -- good program.
Look for "Who Controls the Internet" (http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lnl/)
I thought it was started by Al Gore--- what a revealing program Thanks, Jonesy.
Since Google "made a deal with the devil" and sold out to the Chinese gov isn't it reasonable to think that the US gov will take a lesson from China and eventually pull the same kind of censorship deal?
Scenario 2 (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,9075-2023600,00.html) coming to the internet near you.
What do you think- better or worse - or wait and see?
Out from under gov censorship maybe but subject to Google whims?
Would it be possible for Google to blanket the US with coverage as an alternative to the other corporate controlled nets proposed?
Not going to protect you from Google, but if privacy is your concern check this out. VMware has put out VMware player (http://www.vmware.com/products/player/) with a built in Browser appliance. "HUH" says you? VMware is Virtual Machine...allows you to emulate machines right inside of Windows. The browser appliance that this comes with is FireFox run in an Ubuntu (Linux for the people) OS. I am on Country Plans using it right now. What does this mean? Simply put, I run VMware Player and select the browser appliance as the module. Ubuntu boots up recognizes all my hardware and starts up FireFox and off I go. Because it is like a fresh install every time, adware, spyware, etc. is not there from past browsing sessions. More here. (http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/vm/browserapp.html) Googlebar included :(
What else is there? Try out different installations of Linux or other Operating Systems before you fully install them. Here (http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/vm/community.html) are the ones listed on the VMware site...there are others out there in the underbelly of the internet, just look around.
Sound too hard? Believe me it isn't. Just download the player, run the install and sit back. Get yourself an application (try Ubuntu). Start the player and point it to the package and voila, off you go. Why? The packages are all set up for you! Find your Linux preference now and get used to it before Longhorn comes out and MS tries shoving another flawed OS down your throat for big bucks. Now this is not going to win any races, but it is entirely acceptable. Heck, maybe even be able to try a Mac soon? Have fun.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMWare) entry for more info.
QuoteWhat do you think- better or worse - or wait and see?
Out from under gov censorship maybe but subject to Google whims?
Would it be possible for Google to blanket the US with coverage as an alternative to the other corporate controlled nets proposed?
Who knows if this is bad or not...way too early. AOL, MSN have tried similar and failed but neither was as big as Google was, were they? I don't see how Google couldn't blanket the country (probably the earth) with their new net. Fasten your seatbelts and hang on.
More spreading (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1916997,00.asp) of Google.
Where some of this is heading.
What happens to the data? (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/04/technology/04privacy.html?ex=1296709200&en=904fcc8e611f2cfe&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rssWhat)
wonder if the guy they arrested after looking for whoever looked for those maps was actually the murder, or just didn't believe he could possibly be freed.
Guess who's back from Broke back Mtn? It's "GOOGLE"
Check out the header on this page.
http://www.sketchup.com/index.php?id=1451
George
Wow, it'd be cool if they started distrbuting it for free like they did with Picassa.
Quote from Scroogle (http://www.scroogle.org/cgi-bin/scraper.htm) - a site that searches but doesn't keep records on you--- not as pretty or useful but an option.
QuoteMatt Cutts, a software engineer at Google since January 2000, used to work for the National Security Agency.
Keyhole, the satellite imaging company that Google acquired in October 2004, was funded by the CIA.
"We are moving to a Google that knows more about you." — Google CEO Eric Schmidt, February 9, 2005
Since 2000, Google has recorded your search terms, the date-time of each search, the globally-unique ID in your cookie (it expires in 2038), and your IP address. This information is available to governments on request. If your favorite site features a Google search box, ask them to install their own local site search. They could also use our site search for webmasters, which shows the same results without the tracking.
The possibilities of SketchUp and Google are very interesting. It appears that SketchUp started down this road trying to find a way to put 3D objects into the Google Earth database. They must have been reasonably successful. The fact that Google then made them an offer they couldn't refuse leads me to believe there are integration plans afoot...
Imagine that SketchUp becomes a tool (perhaps running on-line) that allows you to do a building model at your property address and integrated into the 3D terrain already in Google Earth. You can then send this address to your friends and family running Google Earth. Using such a tool you could be as elaborate as you have the patience for... a simple shapes model down to choosing interior finishes and trim details.
What a future marketing tool as well. How about walking through a virtual 3D shopping mall and going into a store where the SketchUp model is integrated into the store's database of sweaters in my size...
SketchUp is quite powerful and relatively intuitive. It is now also expensive...
Try the free download here (http://www.sketchup.com/?section=product). Here is the Google Earth plug-in (http://www.sketchup.com/?sid=37).
How this will change the program in the future will be interesting. I'm sure the sales of the program will drop off sharply and has already be calculated into the equation. (Who would pay $700 for a program that might be free in 6 months?)
Users who have paid for the program - what do they think? (I'm going to send this link to a friend who uses the program professionally.)
The net is under attack by our government whores and big business.
http://www.rense.com/general70/savee.htm
In our continuing loss of privacy in the interest of big business (and turned over to government??) Google will next be listening to our TV - and of course the will edit out our private conversations - maybe won't even listen to what goes on in the bedroom if we forget and leave it on in there. :-/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/03/google_eavesdropping_software/
Ouch--they're getting closer to the system in 1984. Where the voice from the screen tells our hero that he's not doing his exercises right.
Yeah that was my thought -
It's not so much that they want to advertise that bothers me -- It's that if they can listen to our TV through our computer if we leave it on with the built in microphone activated (millions won't give it a second thought - mine is on right now on my laptop) , then they can listen to anything we do - think I'll go pass a little gas for them. :-/
Even cell phones communicate constantly with the cells - even though you are not using them. At the very least they can triangulate your coordinates and ID. If not now --when will they send a stream of all your conversations and words to be analyzed by government computers? If a cell phone is not in contact with the cell it is constantly looking for it thereby running the battery down faster when out of service.
Yup - 1984 is here -- I read that Orwell wasn't predicting this when he wrote 1984 - he was part of the "in crowd" and was in on the planning of it.