Near field communications - the death of the password?

Bit slow off the mark with reposting this, but a nice article from Computer World about how near field communication (NFC) enabled devices, like the new Android Nexus (can't wait for them to be released here in OZ), could not only change things like credit cards and micro-payments, but also how we handle secure access to data and services.

How Apple and Google will kill the password
Prediction: Your phone is about to become a universal biometric ID and debit card

By Mike Elgan

January 29, 2011 07:55 AM ET


Computerworld - Imagine sitting down at a public PC, surfing the Web, visiting Facebook, checking your online bank account and buying something on Amazon.com -- all without entering passwords or credit card information.

It gets better. You get up and leave without even logging out. Some shady criminal type sits down at the same PC and finds his attempts at cracking your password foiled at every turn. Your accounts can't be accessed because your phone is no longer on the desk.

It gets better still. Hop in your car and press the "Start" button -- no key necessary. The car knows it's you after you wave your phone over the dashboard, and it adjusts the driver's seat and steering wheel just for you.

On your way to work, you swing by Starbucks to grab a Trenta Iced Cafe Mocha with whip. To pay, you wave your phone over a terminal on the counter, grab your drink and head for work.

Arriving at the office, you sail past security with doors unlocking automatically as you approach them. When you walk into your office, the lights and PC come on auto-magically.

But what's this? While you were out, IT replaced your old-and-busted PC with the latest and greatest. The PC is a blank slate, and it's unaware of your data or settings. No worries. Just drop your phone on the desk, and the system instantly implements your settings and begins downloading your work documents from the cloud.

While all this is happening, a co-worker walks in talking smack about the game yesterday -- and the ill-advised bet you lost. You owe him $10, so you both pull out your phones. You launch an app, type in the number 10, and tap the phones together to transfer the money.

All this has taken place without a single password or credit card.

The magic happens when you can combine a biometric ID system (which uses some kind of scan from a smartphone to verify that you're actually in possession of the device) with a secure short-distance wireless communication technology that other devices (cash registers, PCs etc.) can read.

What's wrong with passwords?

Why do we need a new ID system? Because most users don't create secure passwords, and they can't always remember the ones they create.

On any public system -- like, say, Facebook -- if a hacker tries the 20 most common passwords on enough accounts, he'll eventually break in. Any two-bit suburban script-kiddie can download free software to crack the majority of passwords on a public system within hours.

Many people use a single password for all accounts. Once a hacker gains access to the password, he can wreak havoc, steal your identity, destroy your credit, ruin your relationships and expose your secrets.

Password protection -- or lack thereof -- is the IT industry's dirty little secret. Passwords are a broken and obsolete model, yet everyone relies on them and pretends they do what they're supposed to do.

The obvious password replacement is biometric identification -- the use of a system capable of recognizing unique physical attributes, such as fingerprints, iris patterns or voices.

Far too many people don't trust biometrics because it feels like Big Brother technology. But I believe that if the biometric system resides on the user's cell phone, and is under the user's control, such technology would be far more acceptable to the public.

How Apple will kill passwords

Apple doesn't discuss future product plans, but it appears likely that the company is aggressively pursuing the development of technologies that replace IDs, passwords and credit cards.

Two years ago, Apple was in the news for patenting a range of biometric ID tools for the iPhone, such as a voice recognition system, a retinal scanner that uses the phone's camera or, most likely, a system that uses the screen to scan fingerprints.

Last year, Apple hired an expert in Near Field Communication, or NFC, to head up the company's Mobile Commerce department. NFC is technology that enables the transfer of data over distances of just a few inches -- a model that's far more secure and reliable than, say, Bluetooth. Other inside sources have been quoted as saying that Apple plans to build NFC into the iPhone 5.

Apple has also recently advertised three job openings related to payment platforms and short-range wireless data transfers.

And Apple has been granted NFC-related patents.

Apple is in a unique position to add biometric ID and the short-range communication technology that would make it effective.

Because Apple makes both handheld devices and PCs, it could easily build support into both. And because Apple already maintains one of the largest e-commerce systems in the world -- the various iTunes stores -- it already has most of the infrastructure for payments in place -- and the credit card numbers of millions of customers.

Most important, however, Apple has proved to be the best company in the industry at taking research concepts that have been going nowhere for years and mainstreaming them overnight. It did that with multitouch user interfaces, cell phone videoconferencing and touch tablets. And it could do it with biometrically secured NFC ID and commerce systems.

In other words, all Apple needs to do in order to turn the iPhone into a universal debit card is to add a tiny, inexpensive chip to the device. And all Apple needs to do in order to make the iPhone a universal secure ID is to add a fingerprint scanner to the phone and put another chip in its various desktop systems.

Of course, it could be a while before you can use an iPhone as a universal debit card. It could take Apple some time to establish the partnerships and programs necessary to get every gas station and grocery store to support iTunes. But the password-killing ID card functionality could exist on Apple systems as early as this year, or most likely next year.

How Google will kill passwords

Google, meanwhile, does discuss (some) future plans. CEO Eric Schmidt announced late last year that Android Gingerbread 2.3 and later versions will support NFC at the software level. It's up to Google's hardware partners to build that functionality into Android devices.

Google is already using cell phones to improve security. The company has a universal password log-in that grants admission to most of its many online services, from Gmail to Google Latitude. Google encourages users to associate that single sign-on password with their cell phone number. If someone hacks your Google password, you can get a new password sent to your phone.

The Android platform has also been at the forefront of workable biometric solutions for cell phones. In fact, you can already download Android apps that do face recognition and iris scanning.

What doesn't exist yet is a Google-approved or Google-designed system that ties it all together -- NFC, payment and biometric ID. But with Apple apparently taking the lead when it comes to using a cell phone as a debit card and a universal ID, you can be sure Google will step up and do whatever is necessary to compete.

I believe that it will soon be possible to live without passwords or credit cards. If Apple builds in these capabilities, you can be sure Google will. And if Apple and Google do it, so will all of their competitors.

It won't be easy -- we can look forward to messy standards and privacy battles. But once they ship cell phones that can replace both passwords and credit cards, I think life will be more convenient -- and more secure.

Mike Elgan writes about technology and tech culture. Contact and learn more about Mike at Elgan.com, or subscribe to his free e-mail newsletter, Mike's List.

Google launches it's online 'shopping mall'

With Youtube getting on the shopping band wagon and Facebook launching 'deals' it was only a matter of time before Google also took part in the conversation.

On Wednesday, Google launched Boutiques.com, it's very own online shopping centre. The website is designed to give users a personalised shopping experience allowing you to browse through designers, follow them and be followed. It includes bloggers recommendation pages, celebrity style pages and popular trend pages. Perfect for those who need inspiration to build their wardrobe.

Googles Product Management Director, Munjal Shah wrote:

"It lets you find and discover fashion goods by creating your own curated boutique or through a collection of boutiques curated by taste-makers -- celebrities, stylists, designers and fashion bloggers. These days, bloggers, stylists and everyday fashionistas are expressing their sense of style online. We invited them to create boutiques so people could shop their diverse styles. But you have a unique and independent style too, so Boutiques also lets you build your own personalized boutique and get recommendations of products that match your taste."

The site is set up to let users filter their searches by size, silhouette, patterns and colors. Google also is offering what it's calling "inspirational photos." If a user searches for brown boots, photos will pop up on the right showing brown boots with matching outfits.

However, Boutiques.com is currently only available in the U.S. and only for women's fashion. Google has said that it intends to expand but has yet to state when.

New Google phone a 'virtual wallet'

A new Google mobile phone which has a chip embedded that makes it a virtual wallet so people can 'tap and pay' is poised to make its debut.

The successor to the internet firm's Nexus One smartphone runs on fresh 'Gingerbread' software and is fitted with what's called a 'near-field communication chip' for financial transactions, according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

"I have here an unannounced product that I carry around with me," Schmidt said while pulling a touch-screen smartphone from a jacket pocket during an on-stage chat at a web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco.

"You will be able to take these mobile devices that will be able to do commerce," he said, "essentially, bump for everything and eventually replace credit cards. In the industry it is referred to as tap-and-pay."

The near-field chips store personal data that can be transmitted to readers, such as at a supermarket checkout counter, by tapping a handset on a pad.

Schmidt hid markings that might reveal which company made the mobile phone, and playfully stuck with referring to it only as an unannounced product.

Google worked with Taiwanese electronics titan HTC to make the Nexus One handsets it released in January in a high profile entry into the booming smartphone market.

Nexus One smartphones built on Google's Android platform won rave reviews for their capabilities but weren't a hit with buyers.

Inside Retail

Google wave - 5 case studies

Thanks Mashable for this first look at how the Wave is being applied.

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The Google Wave invite rollout extravaganza started more than a month ago. While in some respects the buzz around Google Wave has started to subside, the term is still constantly one of the top trending topics on Twitter, and new gadgets, extensions, and applications are now starting to appear on a daily basis.

Each day more and more people are opening up their email inbox to find an invite to Google Wave (). With that shiny new invite comes the inevitable quest for ideas about to how to put the medium to good use.

Should you happen to be one of those people, we’ve got a number of different resources that you can use to get up to speed with Google Wave. This time around, however, we wanted to look at how people are actually using it now. From process modelling and customer service, to project collaboration, annotation, and gaming, the examples listed here highlight the power of the newborn medium, and in part, showcase what we can expect as the platform matures.

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1. SAP Gravity: Modeling within Google Wave

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Understanding the power of real-time collaboration and its relevance to clients, SAP Research in Australia () has developed a business process modeling tool called Gravity that works within Google Wave.

The sophisticated tool, which can be embedded within a Wave as a gadget, allows for team members to remotely build complex models in unison, or after catching up via playback, without having to leave Google Wave.

Gravity and Google Wave work together harmoniously to create a modeling environment that appears to be just as robust as, if not more flexible than, expensive desktop software built for the same purpose.

We think SAP is certainly on to something here, and we encourage you to watch the video demonstration of Gravity in Google Wave in action.

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2. Salesforce: Google Wave for Customer Service

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Salesforce, like SAP, has figured out that they can use the Google Wave platform to support client needs and tackle real-life problems. As such, Salesforce has created a Google Wave extension that clients can use to help automate, and even personalize, the customer service experience.

Watch the demonstration video to see how the Salesforce extension gives customers the ability to use Google Wave to interact with an automated support robot. Of course, customers can request assistance from a human within the Wave as well.

What makes this example stand out is the fact that not only is the Google Wave dialogue being stored as a case record within Salesforce, but, because the robot is connected to the Salesforce Service Cloud, the robot can access previously stored customer data for tailored service. Ultimately, Salesforce has found a way to potentially save clients money on customer service efforts, all the while maintaining active records, with the assistance of Google Wave.

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3. Mingle: Integrated Project Collaboration

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Mingle is a project management and team collaboration tool developed by ThoughtWorks Studios, who realized that they could add Mingle’s project management metadata to conversations in Google Wave.

The integration is still a work in progress, but a demonstration of the concept was highlighted at Enterprise 2.0, and the basic idea is to give Google Wave users/Mingle clients the ability to bring their Mingle task data, which takes the form of cards, into Google Wave. Existing Mingle cards can be embedded into Wave conversation threads, and new Mingle cards/tasks can be created within Google Wave.

This particular use case highlights how Google Wave can work with existing project management systems for more streamlined and cohesive communication, creating parity regardless of where the user is accessing project data.

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4. Ecomm Conference: Annotating a Live Event

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Just last week our CEO, Pete Cashmore, wrote about how the savvy people behind the Ecomm conference doled out Wave accounts to attendees so that they could collaborate, in real-time, to annotate presentation content. The result was arguably a much better way to consume conference content than attempting to follow hashtag tweets on Twitter ().

You can read the full account, which was documented by Charlie Osmond, on the FreshNetworks blog, but here’s an excerpt that we think drives home the utility of the use case.

“Here’s what happened: an audience member would create a Google Wave and others in the audience would edit the wave during the presentation. The result would be a crowd-sourced write-up of the presentation: a transcript of key points and a record of audience comments.”

We happen to think this particular use case is genius, especially for content-rich seminars and events where attendees are typically taking their own individual notes. With the shared Google Wave experience they can combine forces to create a more meaningful and accurate recounting of information shared in conference sessions.

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5. Gamers: Google Wave RPGs

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A very detailed Ars Technica post highlights that there’s a growing collection of Google Wave users who are using the medium to play wave-borne RPGs (role playing games). As mentioned in the post, there’s a even a Wave dedicated to serving as an index for all the Wave RPGs currently in existence, and the last time we counted it included upwards of 300 contributing members, and a combination of 30 different ideas or full-fledged games.

According to Jon Stokes, the author of the post, Google Wave is adequate for some RPGs, but it could certainly be improved to allow for a more enjoyable experience. In the excerpt below, Stokes describes the current RPG () experience within Google Wave:

“The few games I’m following typically have at least three waves: one for recruiting and general discussion, another for out-of-character interactions (”table talk”), and the main wave where the actual in-character gaming takes place. Individual players are also encouraged to start waves between themselves for any conversations that the GM shouldn’t be privy to. Character sheets can be posted in a private wave between a player and the GM, and character biographies can go anywhere where the other players can get access to them.

The waves are persistent, accessible to anyone who’s added to them, and include the ability to track changes, so they ultimately work quite well as a medium for the non-tactical parts of an RPG. A newcomer can jump right in and get up-to-speed on past interactions, and a GM or industrious player can constantly maintain the official record of play by going back and fixing errors, formatting text, adding and deleting material, and reorganizing posts. Character generation seems to work quite well in Wave, since players can develop the shared character sheet at their own pace with periodic feedback from the GM.”

Mashup, app based promo - Day in the cloud

Really nice work from Virgin America and Goolge - use google apps to solve the problems and gain altitude. And it's hard!

http://www.dayinthecloud.com/#

THE WAVE

Thanks MASHABLE for this guide to the google's latest, ubercool comms platform. If you have 1 aroudn an hour and a half to kill, i've posted the original demo video at the bottom.

Today has been dominated by news and excitement surrounding Google Wave (), Google ()’s new real-time communication platform that will launch to the public later this year. In fact, there’s been so much buzz that you might just not have enough time to read the thousands of articles being released on Google’s biggest product launch in recent memory.

To make sense of it all, we have compiled key information, definitions, and links related to the launch of Google Wave. This in-depth guide provides an overview of Google Wave, discusses the terminology associated with it, details information on Google Wave applications, (i.e. the Twitter Wave app Twave), and goes over ways to keep yourself informed. We know you’re excited about Google Wave, so here’s what we think you should know:

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What is Google Wave?

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While we suggest reading our article on the launch of Google Wave for more detailed information, here’s the sum of it: Google Wave is a real-time communication platform. It combines aspects of email, instant messaging, wikis, web chat, social networking, and project management to build one elegant, in-browser communication client. You can bring a group of friends or business partners together to discuss how your day has been or share files.

Google Wave has a lot of innovative features, but here are just a few:

- Real-time: In most instances, you can see what someone else is typing, character-by-character.

- Embeddability: Waves can be embedded on any blog or website.

- Applications and Extensions: Just like a Facebook () application or an iGoogle gadget, developers can build their own apps within waves. They can be anything from bots to complex real-time games.

- Wiki functionality: Anything written within a Google Wave can be edited by anyone else, because all conversations within the platform are shared. Thus, you can correct information, append information, or add your own commentary within a developing conversation.

- Open source: The Google Wave code will be open source, to foster innovation and adoption amongst developers.

- Playback: You can playback any part of the wave to see what was said.

- Natural language: Google Wave can autocorrect your spelling, even going as far as knowing the difference between similar words, like “been” and “bean.” It can also auto-translate on-the-fly.

- Drag-and-drop file sharing: No attachments; just drag your file and drop it inside Google Wave and everyone will have access.

While these are only a few of the many features of Google Wave, it’s easy to see why people are extremely excited.

Google Wave was the brainchild of a team based out of Sydney, Australia. The core team members are two brothers, Jens and Lars Rasmussen, and lead project manager Stephanie Hannon, all of whom were involved in Google Maps () previously. Google Wave was announced today at Google’s I/O Developer conference, although the product will not be available to the public for several months.

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Terminology

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Google Wave actually has its own lingo - yes, you have to learn a few definitions if you’re going to really understand this new communication platform. Having knowledge of these terms will help you understand more about Google’s newest project.

- Wave: A wave, specifically, refers to a specific threaded conversation. It can include just one person, or it can include a group of users or even robots (explained below). The best comparison I can make is that it’s like your entire instant messaging (IM) history with someone. Anything you’ve ever discussed in a single chat or conversation is a wave.

- Wavelet: A wavelet is also a threaded conversation, but only a subset of a larger conversation (or a wave). It’s like a single IM conversation - a small part of a larger conversation and a larger history. Wavelets, though, can be created and managed separately from a wave.

- Blip (): Even smaller than a Wavelet, a Blip is a single, individual message. It’s like a single line of an IM conversation. Blips can have other blips attached to them, called children. In addition, blips can either be published or unpublished (once again, it’s sort of like typing out an IM message but not yet sending it).

- Document: A document actually refers to the content within a blip. This seems to refer to the actual characters, words, and files associated with a blip.

- Extension: An extension is a mini-application that works within a wave. So these are the apps you can play with while using Wave. There are two main types of extenisons: Gadgets and Robots

- Gadgets: A gadget is an application users can participate with, many of which are built on Google’s OpenSocial platform. A good comparison would be iGoogle gadgets or Facebook applications.

- Robots: Robots are an automated participant within a wave. They can talk with users and interact with waves. They can provide information from outside sources (i.e. Twitter ()) or they can check content within a wave and perform actions based on them (i.e. provide you a stock quote if a stock name is mentioned).

- Embeded Wave: An embeded wave is a way to take a Google Wave and the conversation within it and place it on your website. Users could use this as a chatroom, as a way to contact you, or for something more.

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Wave Gadgets

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A Wave Gadget is one of two types of Google Wave extensions. Gadgets are fully-functional applications. According to Google, gadgets are primarily for changing the look and feel of waves, although this seems to only scratch the surface of the potential of a wave gadget.

First: almost any iGoogle or OpenSocial gadget can run within Google Wave. That means thousands of applications that have been already created will work in Google Wave. Second: a gadget built within Google Wave can take advantage of live interaction with multiple users. This means something like a live online game with active participation from all users. In that way, it has similarities to Facebook or MySpace () applications, which take advantage of your friend network to make games, quizzes, and applications more meaningufl and useful.

Gadgets are specific to individual waves, rather than to specific users. Thus, it’s not like having a Facebook app on your profile - the gadget belongs to everyone within the wave. They also do not have titles, to better integrate with the actual conversation. Some of the gadgets already built include a Sudoku gadget, Bidder (which turns your wave into an auction), and Maps (which allows for collaboration on a Google Map).

For a more technical explanation, be sure to check out Google’s Wave Gadgets Tutorial.

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Wave Robots

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Robots are the other type of Google Wave extension. Robots are like having another person within a Google Wave conversation, except that they’re automated. They’re a lot like the old IM bots of the past, although far more robust. Robots can modify information in waves, interact with users, communicate with others waves, and pull information from outside sources.

Because it acts like a user, you can define its behavior based on what happens in the chat. You could build one as simple as “change the word dog to the word cat” or one as complex as a fully-functional debugger. We’ll probably start seeming some very advanced robots in the near future.

Some of the robots already in service include Debuggy (an in-wave debugger), Stocky (which pulls stock prices based on stock quote mentions), and Tweety (the Twave robot, which displays tweets inside of a wave).

A more advanced explanation is available at Google’s Wave Robots Overview.

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Wave Embeds

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Wave embeds are a little more complex than embedding a YouTube () video onto your blog, yet in the end, that’s really what Google Wave Embeds are: a way to take Google Waves onto a third party website. Embedded Waves support many of the functions of the actual Google Wave client, including dragging-and-dropping files.

While the Wave Embeds is still very early stage, Google has already built two: YouTube Playlist Discuss and Multiple Extensions Embed. The former allows you to discuss a YouTube video via a wave and the latter allows for interaction with multiple waves on the same page.

One possibility: Google Wave Embeds may be a real-time replacement to static comments. If Google perfects wave embeds, you could even see YouTube.com comments replaced with waves, although it is way too early to make any calls on the potential of this.

Google’s Wave Embed Developer’s Guide has more advanced information embedding waves.

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Furthering your Google Wave education

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The Google Wave Logo

Still can’t get enough of Google Wave? While information is sparse, hopefully this collection of links will help you understand this new product even more.

- Mashable ()’s Google Wave Coverage: We highly suggest bookmarking our Google Wave coverage and checking Mashable consistently for the latest information on Google Wave.

- Google Wave Federation Protocol: Google has provided some community principles, architecture information, and more detailed definitions on their Wave protocol webpage.

- Google Wave API: For developers interested in building applications for Google Wave, be sure to check out the Wave API website.

- Google Wave Updates: Want to be informed the second Google Wave is available? Here’s the sign-up form.

Jump Into The Stream

Cheers TechCrunch and Erick Schonfeld for this post on something i'm very passionate about: THE STREAM! Let's go swimming!

Once again, the Internet is shifting before our eyes. Information is increasingly being distributed and presented in real-time streams instead of dedicated Web pages. The shift is palpable, even if it is only in its early stages. Web companies large and small are embracing this stream. It is not just Twitter. It is Facebook and Friendfeed and AOL and Digg and Tweetdeck and Seesmic Desktop and Techmeme and Tweetmeme and Ustream and Qik and Kyte and blogs and Google Reader. The stream is winding its way throughout the Web and organizing it by nowness.

This real-time stream has been building for a while. It began with RSS, but is now so much stronger and swifter, encompassing not just periodic news and musings but constant communication, status updates, instantly shared thoughts, photos, and videos.

What does this mean for how we will come to consume information? John Borthwick from Betaworks has identified the real-time Web as a key investment opportunity (Betaworks portfolio companies include Twitter, bit.ly, Tweetdeck, Chartbeat, and Tumblr). He admits he and other investors are still feeling in the dark, but he describes the shift he is trying to capitalize on this way in a post titled “Distribution . . . now”:

First and foremost what emerges out of this is a new metaphor — think streams vs. pages.

In the initial design of the web reading and writing (editing) were given equal consideration - yet for fifteen years the primary metaphor of the web has been pages and reading. The metaphors we used to circumscribe this possibility set were mostly drawn from books and architecture (pages, browser, sites etc.). Most of these metaphors were static and one way. The steam metaphor is fundamentally different. It’s dynamic, it doesn’t live very well within a page and still very much evolving.

A stream. A real time, flowing, dynamic stream of information — that we as users and participants can dip in and out of and whether we participate in them or simply observe we are a part of this flow.

In a sense, he is trying to rationalize his investment strategy. But if he is correct, the shift from pages to ever-widening eddies of information will have a dramatic downstream impact on many Web businesses, especially media businesses. This rising stream has the potential to fundamentally change the contours of media distribution on the Web. Large destination sites like Yahoo and AOL, already weakened as distribution hubs by search and social networks, now face the prospect of becoming completely bypassed. No wonder AOL is sticking the stream in every part of its service, from its homepage to Bebo to AIM. (Yahoo is grappling with the emergence of the stream as well, but so far still thinks it can hold onto its place as a central traffic and distribution hub).

The stream does not replace Web pages or search, for that matter, but it has the potential to completely transform them. Already, we are seeing Web pages adopt the stream as a new user-interface. Web pages are increasingly being designed as places to present the most relevant streams of information. And with streams of data spreading everywhere, search actually becomes more important than ever as a navigation tool. As Borthwick points out:

Traffic isn’t distributed evenly in this new world. All of a sudden crowds can show up on your site.

Traffic occurs in bursts, depending on what people are paying attention to at that second across a variety of services. Someone might notice an obscure blog post on Twitter, where it starts spreading, then it moves to FriendFeed and Facebook and desktop stream readers such as Tweetdeck or Seesmic desktop and before you know it, a hundred thousand people are reading that article. The stream creates a different form of syndication which cannot be licensed and cannot be controlled.

The problem, more than ever before, becomes one of information overload. How do you keep from drowning in the deluge? Borthwick suggests letting go of teh notion that you can ever master the stream, even just your own personal data stream of friend’s Tweets, updates, blog posts, Flickr photos, YouTube video finds and so on:

This isn’t an inbox we have to empty, or a page we have to get to the bottom of — its a flow of data that we can dip into at will but we can’t attempt to gain an all encompassing view of it.

So jump into the stream and let it carry you away. Or you can stand timidly on the banks until everyone else around you has already taken the plunge.

(Photo credit: Flickr/Justin Lowery)

Google Starts Ranking Twitter Search Results Pages

Thanks Blogstorm for highlighting this development in search ranking of Tweets. If Twitter opens up to google a little more, could twitter become a useful tool in increasing a brands serach presence?

by Patrick Altoft on March 23, 2009

Over the last couple of weeks it appears that more and more Twitter search results pages have started ranking on Google for “news” type queries.

This is interesting because Twitter has made no efforts to ensure the search pages are SEO friendly and even goes as far as blocking Google from spidering the pages using robots.txt.

User-Agent: *
Disallow: /search
Disallow: /*?

Google has obviously decided, algorithmically or manually, that even thought they don’t know what content is on these Twitter pages they are probably high quality enough to warrant high rankings.

The screenshot below is from the “gaza” search result. You can see that Google isn’t spidering the page and therefore can’t generate much of a description or use the pages correct title.

The actual pages are likely being discovered in two different ways. The first is via the usual link discovery method where Google spots lots of links to a page and ranks it based on link data.

The second method Google might be using is to generate the Twitter results pages themselves. If there is a particular keyword that Google wants more results for they can just plug that keyword into the Twitter search page and generate a brand new page to suit.

We know Google is filling in forms on thousands of websites every day to try and index the deep web so it comes as no surprise that they are doing the same with Twitter.

The only surprising thing is that Twitter is actually working against Google rather than embracing SEO and using it to build marketshare and perhaps even revenue.

How Google Is Showing Off Chrome

Cheers Businessweek for this report on google's Chrome Experiment contest. Some pretty cool stuff, sans flash, being done here. I presonally love the browser. Just wondering how long before it hits critical mass and doing some of this cool stuff is worthwhile

A new project spearheaded by the search giant calls on designers and developers to exploit the potential of its Chrome browser

By Helen Walters

The Google (GOOG) home page has been ransacked. The familiar, colorful logo is upside down. The search box and the "I'm Feeling Lucky" tab have been uprooted and now point up at a rakish angle, jutting into white space. Other links have tumbled from the top navigation bar and lie in a heap on the side of the browser. What on earth is going on? Have the hackers taken over?

Yes, actually they have. But they were invited to do so. The screwy design is part of a new series, Chrome Experiments, that Google launched on Mar. 18 to demonstrate the potential of Chrome, the search giant's much-trumpeted yet little-adopted browser, which itself was updated with a handful of new features the day before.

The jumbled home page is actually a program called Google Gravity. British interactive design firm Hi-Res! recreated the search giant's regular home page, giving users the ability to wreck the joint. With the mouse, a user can spin the traditional elements into space. They soar, they careen, they bounce, until they settle higgledy-piggledy at the bottom of the browser window.

Whimsical, Fun—and Pointless

There are a further 17 inventive devices displayed in Chrome Experiments, which was commissioned by tech lead Aaron Koblin, who works in Google's Creative Lab at the company's San Francisco office. He handed a simple brief to his chosen anarchists: "Here's this browser. Make something cool with it."

In Browser Ball, you casually bounce a beach ball between different windows on the screen. Twitch loads a series of windows to guide you through the levels of an infuriatingly addictive game. In BallDroppings, the user plays around with an interactive sound-generation device to produce artistically atonal results. A couple of the experiments use data from the micro-network Twitter as a starting point to create intricate visualizations. Not all of the projects are entirely clear. The overall results are whimsical, fun and, well, ultimately fairly pointless.

There is, however, a serious mission beneath the sense of play. Google wants consumers and advertisers to see the sophistication and reliability of Chrome's technology. These toys are built using the ubiquitous development language JavaScript, which has caused browser performance problems in the past. Given that many of Google's own Web programs, such as Gmail, rely heavily on JavaScript, Google is signaling that it's serious about building a strong, sturdy platform for cloud applications.

"There has been a steady flow of new releases and features [for other browsers]," wrote Gartner analysts David Mitchell Smith and Ray Valdes in a paper published on Mar. 13. "But the speed is not enough to keep up with Google's rising goals for Web applications." With Chrome, the company has taken matters into its own hands.

Slow Uptake of New Technology

Still, it's early days for Chrome, which is available only for PCs and currently boasts merely 1.15% of the browser market share, according to the latest figures from Net Applications. In contrast, Microsoft's (MSFT) established Internet Explorer (IE8 will likely be announced soon) has nearly 68%.

More serious for Google, as the company continues to build its case for cloud-based business apps, is the slow pace of enterprise adoption of new technology. According to Forrester Research, 60% of companies were still using Internet Explorer version 6.0 in the second half of 2008. That means they haven't upgraded to the latest version of the software they have, let alone contemplated shifting platforms altogether.

"There's a lot of effort and potential risk in moving off a browser," warns Forrester analyst Sheri McLeish. "Upgrading your company to a new browser may break customized enterprise applications." Design-focused programs build buzz and goodwill from early adopters, and a consumer-driven push could even help to drive buy-in from the bottom of an organization upwards. But McLeish notes, "Chrome is certainly not secure enough for prime time."

For now, Koblin says, he hopes the project will take on a life of its own and form a library of JavaScript experiments and a community of those constructing them—a "submit experiment" form is built into Chrome Experiments' interface. So is he volunteering to monitor the submissions personally? Koblin laughs. "The worst-case scenario of too many to look at would be wonderful."

Visa befriends Android

Thanks Contagious

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Visa recently unveiled a partnership with Google’s mobile platform, Android, where users can sign up to receive offers from marketers that will be delivered directly to a simple interface on their mobile phones. In practise, this means that Starbucks could send consumers vouchers for cut-price cappuccinos straight to their mobile handset.

Those who opt in click an ‘offers’ button for the latest promotions, and can then use their handset to find out the location of their nearest Starbucks (normally right in front of them). Visa is also teaming up with Nokia to roll out a mobile payment system before the year-end.
Contagious caught up with Prakash Harirami, senior business leader, global product innovation at Visa, to find out more.

Contagious: What are the specific benefits for Visa Mobile services developed for the Android platform?

PH: The benefits include:
Alerts: Near real-time notification of purchase activity based on customised cardholder preferences. The consumer can personalise the types of alerts delivered to their mobile device according to pre-selected parameters, such as the size of the transaction or whether the transaction is in foreign currency
Offers: Consumers will receive targeted offers from merchants directly to their phone. These offers, ranging from discounts to loyalty offers, could be based on a consumer’s previous purchase activity.
Locator: The Locator service is expected to integrate with technology developed by Google, such as Google Maps and Google location-based services, to show consumers nearby locations of merchants sending them offers, or of an ATM that accepts Visa.
Finally, with more than three billion mobile devices worldwide and 80% of the world's population living within range of a cellular network. Visa has a significant opportunity to extend our products and services to geographies where they don't exist today and enhance the consumer payment experience.

Contagious: Nielsen Monitor-Plus reports that credit card companies in the US – including Visa – have reduced the number of TV spots that they’re buying by 24% year-on-year. Are you planning to invest more in mobile platforms instead?

PH: This is a significant milestone because it shows how Visa is making mobile commerce a global reality. We developed a flexible, iterative mobile platform approach to encourage market trials, learn from real experience, and draw out the business models that make the most sense in each situation and local market. Visa’s continued investment in its mobile technology comes as more consumers adopt mobile devices which play a central role in commerce.

Contagious: How easy to track are the promotions that are run on the platform?
PH: Visa can easily track mobile offers/promotions on its platform, including redemption rates and purchases by merchant.

Contagious: How big will Google Android be?
PH: By developing these mobile services for the Android platform, Visa has taken a step toward achieving our goal of combining two of the world’s most powerful and ubiquitous consumer innovations: electronic payments and mobile technology.

It's war

Android Challenge Pt. I: Balancing the Expected with the Experimental

Thanks Mashabale for this overview of some of the apps soon to be coming out on Andriod. I'll post each part as it comes out.

his week the first round of the Android Challenge drew to a close. And if it hasn’t already done so, Google will be distributing over half of the $10 million cash prize pool promised among Challenge I and Challenge II finalists/winners. Judges of Challenge I settled on 50 finalists, all of whom were granted $50,000 applications. Additionally, 10 were given $100,000 awards each, while another 10 received $275,000 each. Challenge II takes place subsequent the release of the first handset(s) arriving with Android software.

Over the last couple of days I’ve casually observed what has achieved placement on the Android Challenge leaderboard. Many - if not most - applications are devoted very much to location-aware activities. Some are interesting gaming developments. But of course what drew my interest most from titles of the winners and almost-winners displayed are those that will cater social services to users.

Sure, the social apps are but a segment of what will be available come the launch of Android and the Android Market. The finalist labeled PedNav and GWalk, to name two examples, are likely to be useful for city residents or visitors aiming to get the most efficient use of pedestrian infrastructure. Not to mention that City Slikkers could very well be a gamer’s delight if enough first adopters make an effort to partake in the virtual-plus-reality play. We all recognize the popularity bestowed on games within Apple’s own big-selling storefront. Nonetheless, I imagine that the social options will be among those that rank among the most popular for opening day and the weeks that follow. Game reviews

Maverick, for instance, is a local client that allows for the communication of text, location and media (audio, photos, and “scribbles”) through Google Talk. It also allows Blogger users to publish content to the Web and for Gmail users to get notifications about messages in their inboxes. Granted, it sounds very Googley, and it is, but to deliver something so multifunctional, if done right, will I think be very appealing. PebbleBox, alternatively, is central to one’s location. Learn about events, restaurants, and hotels in a given area, and, if you wish, write geo-tagged blogs to share with fellow users. A rough parallel to Loopt on the iPhone, you might say, but a bit more general-purpose perhaps. Just to note, both Maverick and Pebblebox were awarded $100,000 prizes.

Dropping down into the broader pool of finalists, there is Marvin, which according to creator Laurent Pontier will allow users to post “geo-localized rich messages” to one’s friends and/or the wider network. Marvin taps the powers of the Android OpenGL API, Google Maps, and Google StreetView to give the user a virtual 3D representation of the so-called social graph, from Google Earth-like outer space view to one at road level. Visually, it must impress. Whether it’s truly utilitarian, we’ll see. Google Maps Google Earth

LifeAware is one more location-sharing service that automates your interaction with those you know (and maybe those you would like to). There are many similar services already put into play over the past couple of years that exhibit virtually the same capability, but this pick may nonetheless be something proves popular. An application called SocialMonster also draws from your phonebook to keep you and the people in your life in sync.

Again, it is hard to escape the location-smart dimension of many of Google’s picks, which of course falls well into line with some of the items we’ve seen arrive in the iTunes App Store marketplace. And that seems the right direction to take the Android Challenge - at least the first round of it. With more phones equipped with GPS devices or with software capable of gathering rough coordinates from cellular towers in a given area, where you are will determine what you want to do. Which is sensible. Planning outings with friends will not be so tedious.

No mass phone call campaigns or SMS relays. The act of getting together or simply staying in touch will be much less cumbersome. And wonderfully enough, Google has made it a point to incentivize independent developers and small developer teams. Much as the iPhone App Store shows on its own adjoining software platform, the finalists in this event seem to take a very experimental approach. Some of course are quite ordinary. But some stretch one’s curiosity muscle a good amount. Which is unquestionably necessary if progress is to be made. If Google ensures the openness of Android, all the better. The experience may not always be as polished as that of the iPhone. But as with anything in the business, it is the software that makes the star. Android’s star power will be seen in short order.

As for Round 2, there’s still $4.75 million to be distributed. If T-Mobile releases its Android-based device in the fall, as many now assume, the Challenge will continue on schedule. Google offers a rough estimate of “second half of 2008.” T-Mobile