I would encourage any junior or senior looking to take a course which is immediately applicable to your working career to sign up and take BIT 330. The biggest thing you will realize is you really don’t know as much as you think you do about uncovering information which is freely available. For instance, I thought I was pretty good with google searching. I used quotes, I used AND & OR for searching – I quickly found out there is so much more you can do. You can make sure words are withheld, you can make sure you only search certain url’s. I thought I was utilizing my searches very well – I was waaaaaay wrong.

On top of learning ways to find and uncover information more efficiently, I also learned a lot about things I didn’t know. Specifically, I learned a lot about efficient ways to allow other people to find information for you. We all learned delicious, but learning about other websites such as Digg, Reddit, and Furl were also interesting. What about email alerts? Those are extremely useful if you want to learn more about a topic (perhaps for group projects?). Bloglines, Blogroll, the list goes on and on….the bottom line is, most of the topics covered you can immediately use.

In terms of immediate usage, I will use most of these topics post-class, but there are two concepts which I will use on a daily basis:

1. RSS Feeds. Let other people find your information and have bloglines aggregate it for you. It’s a great way to follow topics and information while doing essentially zero work. Plus, I get daily updates of the Dilbert comic…..pure comedic gold.
2. Page Monitors. Want to know when websites change or update? Use a page monitor, and it will send you an email when it does. I will continue to use these monitors when dealing with information not available for RSS feeds.

To be fair to everyone, I will also go through one thing I think could be improved for future classes:

I wasn’t incredibly fond of the entire test question set-up. Not because of what we tried to do, but because of the execution behind it. If you don’t know, the students wrote most of the multiple choice test questions for each of the two tests. This was cool – you get to be tested on what you feel you should know as a student and you know the questions beforehand. However, the quality of many of these questions were, well, crappy. Typically, if you signed up to take notes on a reading and report it to the class, you were also expected to come up with 10 good questions, Well, a number of students didn’t come up with 10 good questions, and things got changed at the last moment before exams. This made exam time slightly frustrating with constant changes occurring. So I would hope that another year of the class would clear those problems up, but in case they aren’t ask the professor what has been done.

Even with that thought / suggestion, I am still extremely happy I took this BIT 330 course. There is absolutely zero -- zilch – 0% chance I would have learned these things on my own. Was it the easiest class in the world? No, I had to do work and try to learn more about the information available. So…should an upperclassmen take it? Absolutely. You will learn about concepts which are not only applicable to almost everything, but becoming more important in business.

I hope this gives you a good idea about what to expect out of BIT 330!

(And if you don't like what I think --- at least the books are cheap!)

Background

Last week I went over the pros and cons I uncovered in my usage of email alerts. This week, I will be doing the same for RSS Feeds. As opposed to email alerts, which I found to be relatively annoying, my usage of RSS Feeds went very well. I'll first take you through the feeds I have set up, then explain the pros and cons, and finish with a broad overview of my opinion on RSS Feeds.

Much like email alerts, I will give a quick synopsis on how RSS Feeds work. On most websites, there is an option to subscribe to information updates for the website. For instance, you could subscribe to my blog's RSS Feed. By subscribing, you receive an update everytime an addition is made to that feed(in the case of my blog, another entry). These feeds can be brought together into an aggregator, such as Bloglines, where you can easily view all of your updated information. If a website is not RSS compatible, I suggest using the website Feed43 and creating your own RSS Feed capability (I may create a blog revolving around this website in the near future).

My RSS Feeds

Over the course of the school semester, I set up multiple RSS Feeds through a number of different mediums. I compiled my RSS Feeds into Bloglines for easy access. To view that listing, click here.

My two main focuses have been on Michigan Basketball and the Silver Market (my two semester projects), however there are also RSS Feeds on Dilbert and broader sports topics (enjoy my public bloglines)! To think about them specifically, I have set up RSS Feeds to follow places such as: the Michigan Daily Basketball RSS Feed, the SLV yahoo news line, the ESPN.com news for Michigan Men's Basketball, the mgoblue page for Men's Basketball, etc. Setting up feeds such as these is very easy, you pretty much just have to go to the website and subscribe. In my case, I use Mozilla FireFox, so the subscription button is located within the address bar for easy access.

Pros

Consistent Data Source

This was a pro for email alerts, but also fits in this category as well. RSS Feeds are great for bringing you updated information on the topics you wish to monitor. They tell you when additions have been made and allow you to continually monitor what is occurring. There may be some delay as to how long it takes to report the addition, but RSS feeds are essentially Real-Time. In my case, I can count on Basketball and Silver Information everytime I log into Bloglines.

YOU Go For Information

As opposed to alerts which are sent to you no matter what the situation, RSS Feeds are there whenever you want the information. I appreciated that I would not be crowded with unwanted information and could go retrieve the information when I wanted it.

Universal Usage

As discussed earlier, RSS Feeds are essentially applicable at every website you go to, whether it is build on an RSS foundation or you make an RSS feed for the website. The ability to track information from any website is far more powerful of a tool than one which relies on searches from a few websites (aka email alerts). This is very important when you are trying to trap information beacause the ability to trap will always be there.

Easy, Easy, Easy

As I discussed in my background to RSS Feeds, they are very, very easy to set up and follow. In most cases, it is as easy as signing up for a RSS aggregator (i.e. Bloglines) and a click of the mouse while on websites. This means that even people who struggle with internet technology could easily set up information traps to find information. Despite never having used RSS feeds before, I was able to trap my topics and learn abotu how to use RSS within a few hours.

Cons

YOU Go For Information

Yes, this was a positive as well, but I'm sure some people would rather have information sent to them always rather than having to go to the information themselves. Therefore, if you are a person who would rather receive too much information and not do anything (as opposed to accurate information and you have to go to a holding of the information), this is a con.

Piggy-Back Information

RSS Feeds, although great, can include some data points which you may not want. For instance, in my effort to create RSS Feeds for Michigan Men's Basketball, I subscribed to the Michigan Basketball feed of the Michigan Daily. Unfortunately, my RSS Feed updates with Women's Basketball as well as Men's Basketball. In this case, RSS feeds can give you relevant and irrelevant information.

Overall Thoughts

If the title didn't give you enough indication, I love RSS Feeds. I had never used them prior to the beginning of this semester and now use them on a daily basis. For instance, one of the sections of my project wiki on Michigan Basketball is current events. By having wiki's in numerous Michigan Men's Basketball areas, I am able to have updates which I can add to the wiki on a quick, informative manner. They work as a great way for me to stay up to date on all my desired information and do not clutter my inbox like an email alert does. If I were only allowed to explain one information trap to a person learning effective web-retrieval, I would go through RSS Feeds.

I hope my blog has given you some insight into RSS Feeds and my usage of them. Check back often for future updates....or even better, subscribe to my blog and read up as I update!

Description

If you read my post on email alerts, you already are aware about what I think about them. But what did my peers think? As a class, we were required to each take a look into these alerts -- how did they fare overall? In this post, I will take you through what my classmates considered to be the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good

Google Alerts

What a suprise! The largest stock in the market creates the largest boom in email alerts as well. Overall, individuals with the last name of K-Z found Google Alerts to be the top choice of email alert systems. In fact, approximately three out of every four people would prefer Google Alerts against other alerts. Why did they think that? Well, for a number of reasons. Take for instance, Dane Rook, who found that Google Alerts was far easier to assemble a query; Jon Montville thought Google Alerts served as a great way to keep up with information you needed on a daily basis; Carolyn Rhode found it to be a great access system into the Blogs of the web. I guess Google really may have everything....

Constant Data Feeds

For the most part, people LOVED not having to do work (Another suprise!) and enjoyed that Email alerts brought all of your work to you. In fact, everyone loved it. Now, everyone didn't always love the frequent emails, something we will discuss later, but the consistency of information was a frequent plus for the class.

Potpourri of Information Types

Within the search results, almost everyone who touched on reasons why they liked Email Alerts spoke about the plethora of information the alerts provided. Blogs, Websites, Images, Videos, you name it and these alerts were sending them. This broad aspect to the information enabled the alerts to be a "one stop shop" for information trappers.

The Bad

Emails, Emails, Emails

Gah! 5 emails a day everyday for months on end! This is the reaction of a number of people to email alerts. This aspect was either, "you love it" or "you hate it" -- as seen by the fact most people enjoyed the information, but not the buildup of it. Obviously I discussed my distaste for the flow in my post, but other users expressed their dislikes as well including Steven Richards and Joe Zatkoff.

Yahoo Alerts

In fairness, some people did enjoy using Yahoo Alerts, but since most people tended to favor Google Alerts it seemed as if Yahoo Alerts were pushed into the background. Dane Rook's, for example, hated Yahoo's inability to establish relevant search categories. This led him to "attempt to set up alerts for some of my existent RSS feeds." Clearly individuals were able to make due with what Yahoo had to offer. However, in total, people seemed to have to work harder to make it work, and that forced some level of resentment. An additional problem a number of students found was Yahoo's inability to preview the search beforehand. As Kai Schultheis put it, "It would be, however, much more convenient if you could play around with your query within the Yahoo! Alerts portal."

Paying for Alert Systems

GoogleAlert, for real, enter into the 21st Century whenever you feel like it's time.

The Ugly

Filtering Options

A number of people expressed their desire to be able to filter their searches even more within the Alert systems. This fits natually with the natural resentment the students exhibited in their blogs towards working hard and placing a great deal of time establishing a search query. I guess there is a consistent desire for a "one stop shop" version, where you can type in your short query and modify it 4329843290472390 ways (please note, sarcasm).

Overall, there wasn't too much ugliness about these email alerts. A majority of King - Zeitoun found them to be very helpful and plan on using them in the near future. I guess that's not too shabby for something most people had never used ever before, oh, a month ago.

See you next week for my blog on RSS Feeds!

Background

My next few blogs will revolve around a few information trapping techniques we have been learning about in my BIT 330 class. This week will include e-mail alerts and next week will be RSS Feeds. For each, I will include a quick synopsis of how I utilized the information trap as well as the pros and cons to each and how they related to my investigation.

For those of you who may not know what Email alerts are, I will quickly explain it. You can go to a number of different sites and enter in a search query, Yahoo Alert, Google Alerts, or GoogleAlert are all viable options. Once your query is set, the system will send you periodic emails with information on your search

My Alerts

A few weeks ago, I set up multiple email alerts through two alert systems, Google Alerts and Yahoo Alert. I set up these alerts on a topic for my personal wiki (a class project) - Michigan Basketball. To clarify, simply emailing alerts on "Michigan Basketball" would be email alert murder, so I had to be more specific. I won't go through each query I placed, but they were very similar in nature to something like this:

"Michigan" "Basketball" University Beilein

I'll touch more about queries later in the post. Now onto what I found.

Pros

Consistent Data Source

One thing I really enjoyed about email alerts was the consistency. There was ALWAYS information available for me to use towards my research. To put this into perspective, I had six separate queries set up, meaning I would receive six daily emails with information links to stories regarding my topic. The constant information was refreshing as I looked to keep pace with new stories and articles on Michigan Basketball.

Additionally, there was a wide breadth of information which was provided. Within each email it provides News Alerts, Blog Alerts, as well as Web Alerts. This ability to see different kinds of information was refreshing to receive at once.

Efficiency

Its incredibly efficient and easy to not only set-up email alerts, but to view them. They get sent to you on whatever time table you desire, and are essentially as easy as a click of your mouse. They save you search time and energy to do other things that you enjoy, such as reading your favorite information technology publication.

Cons

Consistent Data Source

No, you aren't crazy, you did see this as one of my Pros. Why? Yes it was nice to get information consistently and know when you were going to receive it, but I hated the clogging of my email box. As a person who gets many many many emails a day, email alerts started to, at some points, get annoying. Its great when you get information when you want it.....it's not so great when you don't want the information and are still receiving it.

Inconsistent Quality

Initially, I had to work really really really hard to try and get quality data for my alerts. I either had search queries which were too broad and brought in too much irrelevant information or too little and barely helped much at all. After figuring those out with more efficient queries, I had troubles with duplicate links. Links between queries would be the same, leading me to the realization that multiple email alerts about similar topics can be very frustrating to skim through.

Overall Thoughts

For me, the annoyance of the emails and the frustrations with the quality were too much for the efficiency and consistency to overcome. However, If you are someone who can deal with the email clutter, email alerts will be perfect for you. Make sure you establish a well submitted query (to ensure relevant data) and you should be ok in your information trapping. If you can't take the clutter, you may want to consider creating an email specifically for your alerts. One of my big peeves was receiving information when I really didn't want to -- a seperate email account gives you the power to retrieve the information when you want while still letting the information highways do the work.

In terms of the alert providers, I preferred Google over Yahoo. Google seemed to not only return more relevant information, but enabled me to more quickly refine and change my queries. Yahoo seemed to take more setup time -- but it also had more power (alerts to cell phone, pda, etc.). I did not need these additional alert pathways, but if you do, Yahoo might be the way to go.

In total I hope my blog helped you get some insight into the world of email alerts, look for next weeks blog on RSS Feeds!

My Adventures with Feed Readers

The options

Today I will be trying out 6 searchable feed databases: Blogdigger, Google Blog Search, Technorati, Blogpulse, Rojo & IceRocket, to evaluate them and assist you in your online endeavors. To do this, I have searched through each of them with something we have all at some-point struggled at writing, "Cover Letter" (exact term search). So without further adeau, here are my evaluations of the website, in classic "divisional" form (Of cliche' windows platforms that I have used in my lifetime, of course)

The "Windows 3.1" Division

As you would have probably guessed, this division consists of the feed databases I was less than impressed with.

BlogPulse

This site has potential for a great blog searching site, however I really couldn't stand how sloppy it seems and its inability to quickly change focus on searches. As you will see in the later divisions, there are many options to fine tone your feed search, there really aren't any at BlogPulse. BlogPulse seems to have a good connection specifically to blogs (although, it should, as its name is, well, yeah), as you can view the blog profile, see when it was updated, and view the full url. However, in addition to prior negatives, I was less than impressed with the hits it gave for "Cover Letter."

The "Windows 95'" Division

An upgrade from their predecessor, but still lacking the ability to reach their full potential

IceRocket

I wouldn't use IceRocket if you have A-D-D, because the amount of information that jumps on your screen is rediculous. The cramped nature of the results leads me back to what BlogPulse looked like, however these creators have found a way to add in multiple adds, hot topics, and fee-required service links for the search you put in (for a cover letter, I think that actually renders bonus points). The big draw back on IceRocket, though, is the searcher's inability to quickly find the information. For instance, for my search of cover letter, I received what seemed to be numerous good blogs to go through. But, to really find out if they were good or not, the two lines of text provided on the search were not good enough. I still had to click on each individual blog. Although better than BlogPulse, it's not OVERLY better, and thus ends up in the Windows 95' Division.

The "Windows ME" Division

They did many things right, but just doesn't seem to fit in the grand scheme of things. These feed databases have numerous positives, yet cannot match those in the later divisions

Rojo

Rojo does a lot of things right. The post-search of "Cover Letter" leaves a number of valid feeds with large text blurbs to let the user decide whether its worth looking into or not. It also contains a small box next to each result for Rojo users to "Add Mojo." This provides the results with validity. Through an options drop down, there are search options for things such as "search by date" and "search by headlines only", etc. The home page also allows for searching of quick topics.

One thing I didn't like about Rojo is that I was reduced to stories (Blogs) only. As I attempted to move toward a feed search, there were no results for cover letters (wha?). Also, it still has the messy, old html feel that the prior two feed readers contain. I was impressed with some of the new features, but didn't really get into Rojo as a whole.

Blogdigger

The ability to quickly move between date and relevance searches makes Blogdigger a handy tool, however it simply can't match up to what the next division can do for search capabilities. I found Blogdigger's content to be very solid and easy to work through. The feed -- focus -- exclude option could be very useful for a long time searcher (to omit and focus on certain blog areas), however, for me I did not utilize them too much. The site allows for easy subscription to searches and contains come of those ever so fun pay for service ads about your topic (maybe I should have searched how to write a blog...).

In total its a good feed database, but if you really want to control your database, use some of the next database search tools.

Usage: Blogdigger is pretty simple to use. Initially, you have the option to search through date or relevance, but there are no true indexes you can begin with -- so I would really only use this one if you have a set search to create. Once your search is done it is a standard search result screen. If you decide you want to search for relevance instead of date or vice versa, click the corresponding bubble at the top and dig it! once more.

The "Windows XP" Division

These feed databases have it together. These are sites which will be able to help searches find a great deal of current, relevant, information.

Google Blog Search

Searching is what Google is known for and they do not disappoint here. The ability to quickly change search options, from relevance, to time, to related entries is all visible and easily accessable. I was happy with the content provided by the search and impressed with the pre-click information provided. Google Blog Search also leaves three different options at the bottom of every search:
Create an email alert for "SSSSSS"
Add a blog search gadget for "SSSSSS" to your Google homepage
Subscribe to a blog search feed for "SSSSSS" in Google Reader
In all, if you enjoy google, you will do just fine sticking to the motherland

Usage: If you know google, you know google blog search. The only thing that may be tricky is the left side of the screen. There you can choose the amount of time you want to search (12 hours, a month, etc.). Results can also be sorted by date in the upper right corner of the screen. It's your typical google search.

The "Windows Vista" Division

Takes everything good from the prior divisions and makes them, well, cooler and more efficient.

Technorati

I really find Technorati to be a far far better version of Rojo. Everything that makes Rojo solid is also within Technorati, including the valid search return, peer ratings & text blurbs. Technorati trumps in other areas, however. For instance, in Technorati, one can break down the search into five different areas: Quick View, Posts, Blogs, Videos, Photos. In addition, there are automatic searches for "popular" and a "Topics" section which can be broken down by industry (entertainment, sports, business). This provides different types of searchers to quickly find different kinds of information. The website is also much cleaner, leading me to get through it with more ease.

Content wise, I was never disappointed with what results were given. Perhaps the only downside to Technorati is the inconsistency with pre-click information. However, the ease of finding the blogs and search options clearly make up for that liability.

Usage: its relatively straight forward. The home page allows for quick viewing of multiple topics. If you want to search one of them just click on the tab available and you're on your way. Otherwise, you can search your own topic. Once your search is complete, you can begin choosing posts that the search provides. Rather see videos? click on the video tab at the top. Blogs? Same deal. Its relatively smooth to transition and makes for good searching.

Well, those are my 5 divisions for the feed databases, I hope my analysis can help you find online information more efficiently

My Adventures in the Deep (Blue) Web

Wha???

Everyone knows Google. Everyone knows how to search Google (basically). Everyone expects Google to give them everything they need to know. What everyone doesn't know is the vast depth of information which the surface internet is unable to capture; information that is hidden behind query & databases within and even behind Google's vast information highway. Welcome to the Deep Web! A place where there is more information that you even knew existed (figuratively and, ironically, literally as well). My goal today is to examine this area of the deep by doing a few relatively simple searches and perhaps learn a little as well.

Timber Industry California & Equity Research

To dive into this information, I will be conducting two searches (Timber Industry California, Equity Research) on multiple websites (Google, Yahoo Directory, at Yahoo Web, Scirus, Google Scholar,UM Library’s Search Tools, & CompletePlanet). So....lets see how things turned out:

Timber Industry California

Google Search

Yahoo Directory

Yahoo Web

Scirus

Google Scholar

UM Lib

Complete Planet


Equity Research

Google Search

Yahoo Directory

Yahoo Web

Scirus

Google Scholar

UM Lib

Complete Planet

As you go through the list of searches (top to bottom) one thing I noticed was a common trend of specific search ability. Google and Yahoo web searches tended to pump out businesses and websites where as the later searches resulted in academic papers, articles, and pdf files. Therefore, the first thing I found interesting through my observations was the inability of top level search engines to easily grasp & organize specific information from other databases .

So, the latter search engines must be better for academic purposes, right? Well, as is the answer for most of life...it depends. Yes the information retrieved was far more specific and "deep" in nature, however the number of responses was also limited. This leads me to the second interesting thing I observed; the top level search engines, although less specific, are still far favorable in theoretical breadth. What I mean by this is as follows: after reading the He, Patel, Zhang, & Chang article on "Accessing the Deep Web" it was written that research suggests Google and yahoo web queries have been able to find approximately 32% of the Deep Web. So, percentage wise, if each of them gives 2 Million responses, about 640,000 of those revolve around Deep Web Information (You just have to find it). For the same search, the other search engines were providing about .5% of the responses (around 8-10k, but as low as 2k).

What does this mean? Mitigation, Mitigation, Mitigation. My third and final point is when searching, those looking for information should use a mitigation strategy to obtain as many facets of the information as possible. The Deep Web can be easily viewed by search engines such as Scirus & Complete Planet. Take advantage of this knowledge, but don't forget about the breadth of deep web from which the mainstream search engines can provide. If you are able to maximize the depth and breadth of your searching of the deep web, you will find yourself successful.

Success on del.ici.ous

Throughout the semester we have collectively been tagging websites through a social bookmarking site known as del.ici.ous. Founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003, Del.icio.us is a social bookmarking web service which allows users to store, share, and discover bookmarks through the use of “tagging”. Through this tagging, we were able to not only gather resources and information for our blogs – but learn more about our friends and even our entire class. Essentially del.ici.ous allows you to learn so much because of four things: a small learning curve, quick processes, social networking, and bookmark history.

Small Learning Curve. For the most part, del.ici.ous was relatively easy to learn and use. Obviously, just like any other part of technology, there was some learning to be had. However, anyone who played around for a half an hour would quickly understand how the system works. In fact, when creating your account the website asks if you wish to install the browser buttons. We highly suggest saying yes – it’s worth it as the buttons allow you to quickly and efficiently add new tags to web pages. This small learning curve allows everyone to at least trying the site and creates the base for many people to stay. Aside from typical, “what does this mean?” questions, del.ici.ous is extremely user friendly.

Quick Processes. Part of the quick processes stems from the use of browser buttons, but del.ici.ous’s ability to quickly take tagged sites and update them on your home page is vital to its success. Granted, sometimes it takes time to update (if servers are busy) but the relative speed is what makes the trendiness of the website work. At any given time, anyone can see up to date tags from anyone who is a del.ici.ous member. Quick search options for key words are available and even the act of tagging websites is fast – two simple clicks and a few words to type in. In fact, there may even be words suggested for you to use as a tagger – simplicity at its finest.

Social Networking. Obviously, this is the heart and sole of del.ici.ous. Without it, the tagging would simply not mean as much. The power behind the website from its’ social aspects are astounding. If you wanted to, you could watch as other people find the hottest news on anything you wish to know about. Or you can use other people’s tags to guide your search and your tagging. Or, you can be the tag leader! Think it can’t be done? Well, in a matter of a few months our class tag, “Bit200F06,” became one of the top 30 tags on the website – it even sparked outsiders to email our professor. Del.ici.ous really creates a community of fresh thoughts and ideas to numerous people around the globe. Language is no barrier and the fresh way to navigate information is exciting, interesting, and fun.

Bookmark History. Bookmark History essentially supports the social networking, but we felt it was extremely well put together and deserved to be mentioned as a del.ici.ous strength. The history can be viewed alphabetically or by frequency tagged and could also be bundled to help view important topics. For instance, Grant thought it would be interesting to see which websites he tagged the most – so he bundled some of the technology websites he tagged off of. It turned out he tagged news from BBC News the most with CNN.com in second and the New York Times third. What is really cool about the history, though, is the ability to click on the tag name to see every article or website you tagged with that specific tag title. This was extremely relevant to our project as we were able to quickly see what topic interested us and immediately find articles to write blogs on. It also allows us to look at how other people tagged with the same words, thus creating the social community and information highway.

With that in mind we have a few ideas for a better del.ici.ous. First, we think it might be cool to have an area where a community can place tags without creating a new account. For instance, we would like to have had a spot where we could see all of our team’s Google tags without having to go through each of our lists separately. We could have made a team account, but it might be interesting to think how del.ici.ous can do this in another way. Secondly, we thought it would be interesting to think about del.ici.ous implementing “staple tags” to websites. These tags would work similar to the recommended tags, but would not be a choice – they would automatically be a tag name. Obviously, you would only want constant tag names to be used in this way. For instance, if ESPN is consistently used as a tag for ESPN articles, del.ici.ous should make it a “staple tag” for all articles tagged from the www.espn.go.com domain name. These staple tags would do two things – first they would make it easier to gather similar information for people to find. Secondly, it could also provide del.ici.ous with a valuable amount of information they could use to fund their website if they begin to fall.

Regardless, Del.ici.ous was a fun thing to learn and very interesting to use and each of us plan on continuing our tagging!

Summary of Our Google Blogging Adventures

As our Google blogging comes to a close, we have come to realize the developments Google has made through their expansion into new areas. As a team we have blogged on a few of these expansions:

• Google's New Print Ad's
• The Google Book Literacy Project
• Google Leading into New Areas of Technology Stock
• Searching through Google (Google Searching tips)
• Google's Push Through Struggles in China
• Google's Testing of Audio Ads
• Google's partnership with BSkyB

These blogs taught us a lot about what it takes to continuously be among the top in business. No company is a hotter topic in technology right now than Google is. They are always expected to be the best; they almost never disappoint. How do they stay a leader? By constantly differentiating themselves from the rest of the market. Their creativity cannot be matched by competitors as they consistently stay one step ahead of their consumers wants and needs . This creativity can be seen through the wide array of areas Google developed through our three months of blogging. We went over some, but Google is on the crisp of literally hundreds of new developments including: the YouTube acquisition, Google's Teaching Partnership, Google Wikis, and much, much more.

It takes hard work. It takes determination. It takes a team of individuals with the desire to stay the best who work together for the good of the firm. Is it always easy? No, we saw this though their difficulties in China which Li blogged about. But they always find a way to get it done. They collectively come together and solve important issues and continue to move the company forward.

Google is about more than a search bar. They affect the lives of people across the globe, from the United States to France to China and back. This effort is proved through their project choice. One of their latest hit projects, the Google Book Literacy Project, has been thriving. Both Bret and Grant blogged on this topic and described its' in and outs, but the Google team is not even close to done with it as they continue make more books available for everyone to enjoy. They reach to new places, such as universities like the University of Michigan and the University of Virginia. Projects like these make us step back and really re-evaluate our thoughts as to what Google is. Ten years ago, no one had any idea one company could alter the globe's information like Google does now. We are in a new age of technology because of their innovation. They work endlessly to go above and beyond what people expect and make a difference in the world around them.

Why?


Because they are committed to being the best.

Google Inc. to Take BSkyB Under its Wing

“I've been waiting for this for a while," Google Chairman and Chief Executive, Eric Schmidt said at a meeting in London detailing it’s new global partnership with British satellite broadcaster, BSkyB. While Schmidt might have been waiting, this was nothing the public didn’t already anticipate, given Google’s continuing expansion in the media world.

This deal will enable BSkyB to provide Google’s type of search portal, mail and video services to its broadband customers. In return, the revenue generated from pay-per-click advertising links on the BSkyB site will be shared between the two companies. More concrete financial arrangements have yet to be released. According to Schmidt, this partnership is just the first of what Google hopes to be many deals with other media firms, “If we can get this structure right over the next few months and it rolls out, then it becomes the index case for every other country and every other operator."

This deal is a significant example of the growing importance of Internet search-based advertising to media companies. As we have seen in previous examples, Google is on the cutting edge of online advertising and through this partnership they will only strengthen their firm. BSkyB will also help to strengthen the connection to European Google users and continue to help Google meet their ever expanding consumer base. We all believe BSkyB will be big for Google -- especially since they have had past troubles overseas. Li showed us some of these troubles in a previous blog the troubles with China; by continuing to match up with firms such as British Sky Broadcasting, Google continues to prove their global committment to meet every consumer around the globe.

Google Begins Testing Audio Ads

Google's financial successes primarily stem from its profitable advertisements. As Brett, Grant, and I continuously find information, we are all amazed at the power Google and its ability to generate healthy cash flow from just simple advertisements. However, just today, Google announced that it will begin a new form of advertising through audio.

Google Begins Testing Audio Ads

Google plans to extend a system of audio advertisements through radios. This could be a bold move for the search giant. To diversify its financing strategy through audio ads, Google is essentially reducing risks to keep up with technology.

"Google Audio Ads is working with more than 700 radio stations covering more than 200 metropolitan U.S. markets, Google spokesman Mike Mayzel said.

We're happy to announce that the integration is now complete and we've recently begun a U.S. beta test of Google Audio Ads with a small group of AdWords advertisers," Google said in a statement on its official advertising blog.

Just as pay-by-click online advertisement, radio ads reach a wide variety of people in the market. "Audio Ads offers detailed reporting, targeting by demographic, location and station type, and provides easy access to the huge market reached by radio programming," Google said in discussing the project on its AdWords sales site.

This step for Google could prove to be profitable, however, it is still risky as the name Google does not seem to blend well radio stations. We believe that this is the challenge Google would have to face.

It is particularly interesting to see the extent what large technology companies are doing to keep up with fast-paced technology. As Brett, Grant, and I continue our career search for certain industires and specific companies, we realize that tech firms such as Google might not be a bad idea. However, we also realized that working for a technology company may be exciting, yet risky.

Google Management Struggles in China

Grant, Brett, and I all acknowledge the power and influence of Google. However, little did we know the search engine's influence in other countries such as China.

Google Loses Top Ad-Man in China

Though Google has been the dominant search Engine in the United States, it might not be so indomitable in China. Yesterday, Google's top Chinese sales executive, Johnny Chou, is officially resigning his role. This could possibly indicate "a change in direction for the Internet search company."

Even though Google praised Mr. Chou "in making an important contribution in setting up an excellent local management team," Google is urgently looking to expand its sales and management division, which can only spark from leadership and creativity. Losing a key leader in this role will impact the search engine giant immediately.

Criticized with its failure to grasp the use of Chinese language, Google's market share in China dropped from 33% to 25%, behind Baidu.com, a Chinese based search engine. Unfamiliarity with the Chinese advertising business, Google will began facing tough challenges as it strives to penetrate the Chinese Market.

Well, you can't win them all. Google has climbed from a no-name start-up to the world's biggest search engine with over 200 billion market cap and $500/share. Though it might remain a dominant force in the West, it might not be so hot in other countries such as China. As technology changes in fast paces, Google's unique capability for innovation and excellence may create solutions -- it might just take a little time. What this does show is Google's continuous efforts to stay a leader not only in the US but worldwide. Through hard work, patience, determination, and innovation, we think Google will reach this goal in time.

How Much is too Much?

After reading Richard O. Mason's article outline the threat of the information age through the acronym PAPA (Privacy, Accuracy, Property, and Accesibility), We believe online stores such as amazon unethically use consumer information. The article inspired Bret, Li, and I to think of the security debates within the PAPA framework:

“What must one person reveal about themselves, under what conditions?”
“Who is responsible for the information and who will be held accountable for errors?”
“Who owns the information?”
“What information do people or an organization have the right to obtain?”

The best way to understand the situation further is to simply go through each area of this. To create an amazon account we must provide numerous amounts of private information, including: email, name, mailing address, city, state, zip code, and phone number. We do have the option of using false information and thus have control of the information accuracy. Who is in charge of the Errors? Yup, you guessed it, we are. Amazon probably won’t be too forgiving if we happen to accidentally put in the incorrect mailing address (good luck with that phone call if it ever happens). But who owns the information? Well, we d...or do we? Yes, the information is ours. Yes, we control its’ accuracy. But it’s on Amazon’s website – and they have the ability to do numerous things with it. They run the domain and you chose to put your information into their databases. Aside from information ownership, accessibility provides some interesting debates for this Amazon example. Obviously we have accessibility to our account, and there is some security because we cannot directly look at other member’s homepages...but what about Amazon? They have free range on any information on us they want and we would never know. This is where market efficiency has led to less privacy. By having our information accessible, it makes transactions and purchasing problems less prevalent. However, by keeping tabs on everything we do, Amazon (and potentially other people) learns numerous things about us. They learn what we like, what we are looking to purchase, our purchasing habits, and much more. They are able to manipulate this and make themselves more profitable while making their consumer more vulnerable.

This shouldn’t be the case. Online stores should not be able to use information on the consumer unless explicitly allowed by the consumer themselves. Consumers should know exactly where their information is going, because in the big picture, it is the consumer's information.

Searching through Google

As we continue through our Google blogs, we felt it was important to go over some neat searching characteristics which people can use through Google and other search engines (you may have forgotten by now, but searching IS Google’s main function). We found two articles in particular which were very informative and interesting to go through:

“Ten Tips for Smarter Google Searches” from informit.com

and

“Advanced Google Tips” by Cyberwyre

Both of these articles explain searching tips which most people are aware of, such as: using the either / or function and searching for exact phrases by using quotation marks. However, there were numerous things which we found insightful and different that how we typically search. One of these things was the “site, related, and link” functions.

Essentially, these search functions heap you go through resources in a more efficient manner. If we were performing a college search and we liked the University of Michigan, we could use google and search “site:http://www.umich.edu” to find websites which only reside within this domain (128,000 total), “related:http://www.umich.edu” to find websites which are very similar to it (10 total), or “link:http://www.umich.edu” to find all websites which have the U of M homepage linked in their own websites (25,600 total).

What is the next step? Well, as it says in the Cyberwyre article, we can begin to combine searching methods. For instance, think about a person who is looking for information on College Football on ESPN.go.com. They can search:

“College Football” site:http://www.espn.go.com

What does this all mean? Well, if means Google and other search engines are constantly making information pathways stronger and stronger. Gone are the days of shelved information; today we can find information on the most miniscule subject from thousands of miles away in a matter of milliseconds. On top of that, our searching has become better-organized and more capable to find our desired subject.

The evolution of these search tools is what keeps the engines themselves fresh, and their core strong. Do you think Google still be Google without them?

We don't.

Google Shares Reaches $500 landmark

After successfully acquiring YouTube, Google's stock reached a landmark of $500 per share, closing at $509.65. Since it first went public at $85, Google jumped nearly six-folds. The #1 search engine surpass this milestone for the first time in history, demonstrating strong market power and healthy cash flow.

Over the last couple of years, Google seems to have dominated the search engine business, outperforming Yahoo. In fact, with its stock price rising, Google is now the second most valuable company in Silicon Valley, surpassing Intel and Hewlett-Packard. Cisco remains to be the only other company more profitable. Wow!

It seems unimaginable that a company providing a simple type-and-click search service can surpass computer giant Hewlett-Packard as well as Intel, the world’s largest chip maker.

From an investor’s perspective, Google has momentum. Growing since 2004 and recently acquiring other popular start-ups, Google will continue to increase sales and profit as demand for online advertising increases. Expectations for next quarter earnings are high according to several analysts.

``Expectations for the online advertising market overall remain very robust,'' said Sasa Zorovic, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. in Boston who rates the shares 'buy.' ``Revenue continues to grow very nicely.''

“I was one of the first analysts to expect $100 billion market cap,” Rohan said. “It’s clearly exceeded any expectations I could’ve had along the way. The growth that Google has been able to capture is unprecedented.”

All in all, Google has made its mark. Everyone knows it, and most people use it. Synonymous with the word search, “Google” is defined as “to search for information about a specific person through the Google search engine” on dictionary.com.

Again, it seems unimaginable that a simple type-and-click search engine service can be worth so much, and it is absolutely ridiculous that Google have over 100 millionaire employees. This company could prove very profitable as we BBA's jumpstart our careers, where the typical annual starting salary of $60,000 could amass up to millions.

With one great idea and over 80,000 geeks working, Google is now worth over $155 billion!!!!!!