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Source: regis gaidot | 12 Mar 2010 | 1:14 am

Le commissariat de Saint-Denis? "Un local d'armée d'occupation" | Rue89

Source: regis gaidot | 12 Mar 2010 | 12:35 am

Le commissariat de Saint-Denis? "Un local d'armée d'occupation" | Rue89Source: http://www.rue89.com(De Genève) «Quand Nicolas Sarkozy détruit la police de proximité, est-ce de la méconnaissance ou un fond de commerce incroyable pour les politiques?» Yves-Patrick Delachaux,

Why Google Releases New Apps: They're Desperate for Content

Source: regis gaidot | 11 Mar 2010 | 11:00 pm

It seems like in the past few months Google has relentlessly released new applications, some of which perhaps could have used some more baking in the oven before they were unleashed on the general public. To some it's becoming a tiresome exercise simply to try to keep up with everything that Google is doing week in and week out. But there is a method to the madness, and it has a lot more to do with Google's bottom line than you may think.

We all know that the way the search engine giant makes money is through advertising - over $23 billion in 2009 - but what may surprise you is that its advertising-based revenue comes almost exclusively from sites that are owned by Google. Sponsor

Guest author Daniel Cawrey is a freelance writer and tech enthusiast, among other things. You can check out his latest musings in blog form at thechromesource, where he writes about Chrome browser, Chrome OS and just plain Google in general.

Take a look at this graph from the Silicon Valley Insider that depicts the location of advertising and the dollars associated with it:

Ever increasingly, Google is relying on itself to make money through its own real estate - places where it can position the ads that advertisers purchase. This is a concern for publishers that rely on Google for revenue through Adsense because there has to be a point at which this is no longer a profitable exercise for the company.

If it reaches that point, Google will essentially be subsidizing publishers. And it may not have a choice but to keep doing so. Because without fresh content creation, what is there for users to search for on the Internet that is of value? The main tenet of the search business is to provide quality results, and while that may be the case now, if publisher's Adsense revenues were affected, one can wonder what kind of effect that would have on content.

So although Google may have made some mistakes with applications like Buzz, along with the half-hearted emergence and now slow death of features like Gears, expect them to continue to increasing space for content to grow, even if that means one of several strategies:

Become an ISP

An experimental program has been announced whereby Google will provide gigabit service via fiber directly to homes in select markets. Interested municipalities and community organizations are encouraged to submit a proposal for this right. At the World Mobile Congress, CEO Eric Schmidt talked about the goal of this program being purely experimental, which means showing infrastructure operators such as cable companies that this is possible, rather than Google becoming a full fledged ISP. But once the fiber has been rolled out, it doesn't roll back in, does it? How long does the "experiment" last?

Trounce the Competition in the Browser Wars

Google's Chrome browser is getting a lucky break over the next few weeks. That's because Windows users in Europe who use Internet Explorer will be getting an update to their machines notifying them about browser choices that they have. This is in response to the European Union's ruling that Microsoft's practice of bundling Internet Explorer with Windows restricts competition. While the update offers many browser choices, the result will be a boost to market share for Chrome. It has steadily grown in popularity and already has roughly 5% of the market since emerging in 2008.

Offer Computing Architecture to Device Manufacturers Completely Free

We've seen this already with Android, and it appears that the no-cost operating system has basically saved Motorola from a fall to obscurity with its release of the Droid. Expect to see more of these developments as 2010 unfolds with Chrome OS attempting to break into not only the netbook market, but also tablets and smartbooks, which fill the gap between a high end mobile phone and a netbook.

So when you hear these new announcements of applications and services that Google rolls out, think of content. Think of how they can better deliver information to users. They want it to be as easy and as seamless as possible. While sometimes these initiatives don't always work out, they aren't going to stop trying. Discuss

Twitter a de quoi faire peur | Pierre-Olivier Carles

Source: regis gaidot | 11 Mar 2010 | 10:15 pm

Twitter a de quoi faire peur | Pierre-Olivier CarlesSource: http://www.pocarles.comNon, pas comme Facebook fait peur par son total manque de respect de la Privacy, cela n'a rien de comparable. Twitter inquiète celui qui, comme moi, connait pas mal d'entrepreneurs qui ont basé leur business sur la star de San Francisco.

Still waiting for my HTTP-scanner

Source: regis gaidot | 11 Mar 2010 | 8:27 pm

Les USA s'émeuvent de voir la Barbie noire vendue au rabais

Source: regis gaidot | 11 Mar 2010 | 7:37 pm

Les USA s'émeuvent de voir la Barbie noire vendue au rabaisSource: bit.lyInternational : Les USA s'émeuvent de voir la Barbie noire vendue au rabais

Google's Mobile Product Search Now Shows Real-Time Local Inventory

Source: regis gaidot | 11 Mar 2010 | 7:15 pm

Google just announced that the mobile version of Google Product Search can now tell you if a certain product is in stock at nearby stores. Currently, Google is only working with a handful of retailers, including Best Buy, Sears, Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn and West Elm, but the company is actively looking for more partners. To see these results, just browse to Google.com on your mobile phone (Android, WebOS or Android), click the "more" link and then "Shopping." The local inventory will be updated in real time and is currently only available for users in the U.S.
Sponsor

Google obviously thinks that providing the best local results possible is the future for a large number of its services. Now that most modern mobile browsers can forward your location data to web apps, it's become even easier for Google to offer these kinds of local results and Google's initiatives around Google Maps and Place Pages show how serious the company is about local search.

For now, with this small number of participating retailers, this isn't necessarily the most useful feature yet. If Google actually manages to get more businesses to use this feature (and/or to expose their inventory through an API), then Google Product Search - which has remained relatively underused - could easily establish itself as the go-to local shopping service.

For more details about the mobile version of Google Product Search, have a look at this video (the introduction of Product Search starts about 19 minutes into the presentation)

Discuss

« Les jeunes ne sont plus intéressés par l’outil-ordi »- Ecrans

Source: regis gaidot | 11 Mar 2010 | 4:46 pm

« Les jeunes ne sont plus intéressés par l’outil-ordi »- EcransSource: ecrans.frOn les croyait geek jusqu’au tréfonds de leur mémoire. On les tenait pour des surdoués du clavier. Première génération à avoir grandi avec le numérique, les digital natives (natifs numériques) seraient, dit-on, intuitivement à l’aise avec les nouvelles technologies (ordinateur, téléphone portable, I...

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