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Posts tagged Matt Hartley

Google voice vs Skype

Jul23
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley at Lockergnome writes an article asking some questions on Google Voice and Skype (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/23/is-google-voice-a-threat-to-skype/).

Among other things Matt says “At the end of the day, I see Skype failing big time in the mobile space while continuing to grow on the desktop. And I see the reverse happening with Google Voice”.

I agree on this, but  on the other side I also think that Google voice has the advantage of offering a good set of features that could be appealing also to Skype users.

It’s a big match, but I think that Skype is a little advantaged, because of the installed base.

This post also as a comment at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/23/is-google-voice-a-threat-to-skype/#comment-151957

Posted in communication, Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , ,

Bing vs Google

Jul16
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley at Lockergnome reports of  an article (http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-survey-confirms-bing-will-bomb-2009-7) arguing if Bing is a serious threat to Google (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/14/can-bing-make-a-ding/#respond).

Also Ron Schenone at Lockergnome covers the point (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2009/07/15/microsoft-bing-gains-respect-so-why-will-it-fail)

I think that Bing is not a so radical change from Google to represent a breakthrough and so bring people to a switch.

Positions are consolidated and, in my opinion, only a real breakthrough or dumping (means something as was done by Microsoft for IE) or niche players (like Wolphram) can get some market shares.

This post also at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/14/can-bing-make-a-ding/#comment-151557 and at http://www.lockergnome.com/blade/2009/07/15/microsoft-bing-gains-respect-so-why-will-it-fail/#comment-186937

Posted in Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , ,

Real time search engines

Jul07
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartely at Lockergnome expresses an opinion on real time search engines like FriendFeed (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/06/real-time-search-is-not-a-search-engine-cure.

Matt says “Still, at the end of the day. Real time search is NOT here the way we might like to think it is. While it is cool to watch topics of discussion develop right before our eyes, I have yet to see it solving any relevancy issues whatsoever. And for Joe Casual, that is what matters most about search. Not shiny Ajaxy boxes with real time results.”

When you search, you need a result.
And if this result is not correct or relevant is unusefull.
And this is not related to a real time search, which I consider as a nice to see but not so usefull add on for the average user.

This post as a comment at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/06/real-time-search-is-not-a-search-engine-cure/#comment-151088

Posted in communication, Tech - Tagged , , , , ,

Twitter spam

Jul04
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley at Lockergnome writes that Spam on Twitter is increasing and “[...]Worse however, is when this spam becomes a trending topic within Twitter itself. This can be quite annoying, especially if happen to see the spam trending during some kind of crisis like an international incident or a death of someone famous”.  (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/02/twitter-spam-is-trending).

I agree spam, especially in the cases presented is really not only low class, but also pure speculation.

Control over followers could be a good thing, but could frustrate some people digital ego measured on number of followers instead of quality of content. In my opinion is preferrable to have less followers and readers but true and “aficionados” instead than having a lot of followers and lot of spammers.

So it’s circle: those with the most followers are more exposed to spammers but at the same time are also, mostly, those that cannot (or don’t want) to control followers.

This post also as a comment at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/07/02/twitter-spam-is-trending/#comment-150761

Posted in communication, Tech - Tagged , , , , ,

Google and Bing questioning each other

Jul03
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Mat Hartley at Lockergnome comments on the fact that Google is facing some fear of Bing and, for this facts, antagonizes Bing (full article http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/30/is-google-better-equipped-for-search/#respond).

What follows is my comment:

“Some fear of Bing in my opinion is natural: Google is passing from a quite complete monopoly to the risk of a duopoly.
And in love and war everything is acceptable.”

This post as a comment at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/30/is-google-better-equipped-for-search/#comment-150641

Posted in communication, Economy, Tech - Tagged , , ,

Google as a company could crunch under its own weight?

Jun30
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley (http://www.lockergnome.com/web/author/matt-hartley/) at Lockergnome makes some considerations on Google as a company and possible monopoly implications (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/29/is-google-too-big-for-its-britches).

I agree on the fact that Google as a company is big but not to huge.

I agree on the fact that Google has a tremendous market share.

But this position makes Google position “privileged”, avoiding de facto any other player entering the market, despite enormous investments in advertisement and technology development.

Maybe the only one who can attack part of this market share is Microsoft with Bing, but also redmond’s giant will face big problems, because Google is so pervasive in our digital lives that switching to another provider (or maybe more specialized providers) could be really hard for the average user we are not.

This post also at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/29/is-google-too-big-for-its-britches/#comment-150365

Posted in Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , ,

And the winner is….Google (again)

Jun19
2009 1 Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley at Lockergnome makes some comments on the fact that Google won’t face real threats from supposed competitors within predictable time (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/18/search-has-winners-and-losers).

What follows is my comment:

“Google has become so pervasive and so stable in our lives that no real big threat is coming, I think in next periods.

What could be more likely to happen is that some contenders turn in niche players (like I think will happen for Wolphram Alpha) and get some little specific market shares from Google”.

This comment also at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/18/search-has-winners-and-losers/#comment-149719

Posted in Economy, Tech - Tagged , , ,

Digg business model

Jun11
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley at Lockergnome writes an article asking if really Digg has this great business model some think it has (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/09/is-digg-really-that-great-of-a-business-model).

On eof the things he says is that “Down the road, with nothing more than sheer volume, I can see Digg moving itself into the green with regard to actual earnings without more funding. But I also think that they could do so much better with better, more on topic advertising”

What follows is my comment:

“I agree on the fact that Digg is a way to get lot of people on board.
I think that Digg has a quite solid idea behind.

But I also think that Digg has to find some way to differentiate from other “news sharing sites”, also in the way used to make revenues.

Sometimes reminds me something that has happened in communication within telco.

In late 90′s SMS for GSM were a break through because of easiness of use (an Digg has it), no frills look and velocity of use (and Digg has at different extent both of them).
Since MMS have been introduced, high value services (with advertisement built in) helped their diffusion.
But this times are passed.
I see Digg (or some similar service) using in the near future something more disruptive than “simple advertisement”. What will it be? I don’t know, but the one who will get the point will get in the green and survive in this niche created by Digg and similar sites.”

This article as a comment also at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/09/is-digg-really-that-great-of-a-business-model/#comment-149412

Posted in communication, Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , ,

Twitter, Facebook and competition

Jun09
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley at Lockergnome, in his article, asks the question if Twitter will be able to compete with Facebook (full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/09/can-twitter-compete-with-facebook/).

What follows is my comment:

“I think that competition for these two services can be spotted in their diffusion, but not in the use people make of them.
Of course we are talking about social networking medias, but the use of two media adresses different communcation needs:

  • Facebook targets medium or long lasting networks of people, with a share of informations and contacts
  • Twitter seems to me something faster and quite similiar to SMS for cellphones.

I don’t see them competing, while I’m quite sure they (or someone else) will find an aggregator, providing an integrated way of communicating (in a faster and more effective evolution of the chat system now available).

This article can be also found as a comment at http://www.lockergnome.com/web/2009/06/09/can-twitter-compete-with-facebook/#comments

Posted in communication, Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , , ,

Cost of labour and Ballmer choices

Jun06
2009 Leave a Comment Written by hotrao

Matt Hartley at Lockergnome writes a good article on “How Ballmer’s Employment Choices Could Boost Desktop Linux” (Full article at http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2009/06/05/how-ballmers-employment-choices-could-boost-desktop-linux), where he puts in relation increasing taxes, cost of labor and possible linux growth.

What follows is my comment

“In my opinion it’s not (only) a problem of labour and tax costs.
It’s also a problem of desired gross margin. Now OS market is quite full (intending with this that Microsoft has, of course a dominant position) and so, costs and revenues curves could be not so balanced at this time.
The first wave brought many work places to India ad other high-tech-developed-but-low-labour-costing-countries.
At this time, I think Mr. Ballmer and othe IT big company will have to bounce a little bit more (Argentina, east europe, asia,…) to find truly lower labour rates.
Unfortunately I think that Linux is only a mid term solution, because if it gets bigger market share, companies dimension will necessarily increase and sooner or later will have to deal with cost optimization.
This article also at http://www.lockergnome.com/linux/2009/06/05/how-ballmers-employment-choices-could-boost-desktop-linux/#comments“

Posted in Economy, Tech - Tagged , , , , , , , ,
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