litl_phil wrote: While it's nice that Google and Acer share the vision of cloud-based computing, it's also worth noting that we at litl already have a webbook on the market (available at litl.com) that runs our own cloud-based OS.
Unlike Chrome, litlOS is focused on creating a new and better web experience for the home, so we don't have the usual browser interface, we have our own innovative UI. In conjunction with easel mode (litl's inverted-V position) and our growing cohort of litl channels (special apps t...
Like so many of the ideas that tumble out of the Googleplex into the public domain, Google Trends is irresistible. SYS-CON group publisher and editorial director Jeremy Geelan puts the application, newly taken out of beta and now available to all cyberspace from the Google main page, through its paces by taking it out for a giddy spin around the i-Technology world. The results are surprising...
"See what the world is searching for" says the slogan accompanying http://www.google.com/trends - and that very precisely encapsulates the aspect of Google Trends that makes it addictive. Like Technorati on speed.
There really isn't any limit to the number of searches one can do while still assuring oneself that it is diligent journalistic research. Take the usual run-of-the-mill stuff, for example, like comparing "Java" and ".NET":
java.net
But the real apples-to-apples comparison, obviously, is not this one but "J2EE" and ".NET":
j2ee.net
And even this smacks way too much of mock-empiricism, almost as bad as those articles on slow news days which use Monster.com stats as a way of suggesting which technology is "ahead" out there in the i-technology marketplace.
No, what is needed is an altogether more personal approach. This is where Google Trends is dynamite. Take for example "McNealy" and "Jonathan Schwartz:
"mcnealy""jonathan schwartz"
Not in itself especially revealing until you drill down into the datapoints below, which is a breakdown by cities:
In other words, while Sun's new CEO may be the talk of all of Wall Street, Sun's outgoing CEO (and still its Chairman) still remains a major focus of folks in the Valley.
Turning from i-technology people to i-technology phenomena, Steve Rubel - the writer on social software and how it's transforming marketing, media, and public relations - has already drawn attention to this comparison, a true gem:
blogswebsites
Again, the breakdown by Cities reveals some surprising data, such as that blogs aren't yet dominant in Delhi, but they're sizzling in Sao Paolo, Brazil!
Next I couldn't resist taking a peek at whether "Web services" was waning as a search term, perhaps in favor of "SOA." As I suspected, while "Web services" is alive and well and being searched on worldwide, "SOA" is rising as steadily as it falls from primacy as the key concept driving integration.
"web services"soa
Last let's turn to AJAX. Here, Google Trends - for my money - comes into its own as a viable new tool.
Look how instantly, for example, it pinpoints the birth of the term "Web 2.0" - October 2004. Tim O'Reilly probably ought to use Google Trends on a daily basis, to see how it's faring against AJAX: it doesn't look good!
ajax"web 2.0"
Let us know what you're using Google Trends for by sending a mail to google@sys-con.com. Maybe we should have a weekly competition to see who devises the best search, with readers voting on the Google Trend of the Week from among the best five submitted each week (according to our editors). Anyone care to start the ball rolling?
About Jeremy Geelan Jeremy Geelan is Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events. He is Conference Chair of the all-new International Cloud Computing Expo series, of the International Virtualization Expo series, of AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo series, and of the long-running SOAWorld Conference & Expo series. He's founder of Cloud Computing Journal, Web 2.0 Journal, AJAX & RIA Journal and other leading SYS-CON titles. From 2000-6, as first editorial director and then group publisher of SYS-CON Media, he was responsible for the development of all new titles and i-Technology portals for the firm, and regularly represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" on SYS-CON.TV.
I still have a few problems with it though, the main one being the following: When typing in a multiple-word query and wanting to delete just the first word of that query, doing so using keyboard shortcuts (home, ctrl + shift + RightArrow) to select just the first word, selects the entire query and deletes it.
Of course, doing this with a mouse is not a problem, but it's annoying as hell when doing it with a keyboard. This is also true with middle words if you select them from the left.
#6
an0n commented on 12 May 2006
These graphs don't actually give you very useful information because you can't tell what the units are. And they're obviously cooking the numbers in some fashion if the overall volume for searches on subjects is not going up between 2004 and 2006.
Or perhaps the graphs represent searches as a percentage of total searches? It's really hard to tell what you're looking at.
It is an interesting tool, but I have one question about it.
Why is it that for pretty much everything, the search volume has decreased over time? Is this because there is less accurate or different data for older searches, or perhaps Google isn't quite as popular today as it was a couple of years ago? I mean, one would think that for most things the search volume should increase over time since more and more people are getting onto the internet and using search engines...
[From the Google Trends instructions] "just type in up to five topics, separated by commas, and you can see the cities, regions or languages that have had the 'top results' for each topic, along with Google news articles."
Why the breakdowns for cities, regions, or languages..but not by time-of-search? This makes it impossible to answer such crucial social research questions as: do as many people search for "porn" during the day as during the evening/night?
#2
StopThisWorld commented on 12 May 2006
Any math teacher will tell you: a graph without a scale is like an eagle without wings. How long will it be before we start seeing real numbers attached to the graphs in Google Trends?
#1
blogospheroid commented on 12 May 2006
Steve Rubel's comparison is the best use of Google Trends yet. Brilliant!
Palal wrote: In other news, Google Suggest has just emerged from BETA! So, jump on over and start using it: http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en
I still have a few problems with it though, the main one being the following: When typing in a multiple-word query and wanting to delete just the first word of that query, doing so using keyboard shortcuts (home, ctrl + shift + RightArrow) to select just the first word, selects the entire query and deletes it.
Of course, doing this with a mouse is not a problem, but it's annoying as hell when doing it with a keyboard. This is also true with middle words if you select them from the left.
an0n wrote: These graphs don't actually give you very useful information because you can't tell what the units are. And they're obviously cooking the numbers in some fashion if the overall volume for searches on subjects is not going up between 2004 and 2006.
Or perhaps the graphs represent searches as a percentage of total searches? It's really hard to tell what you're looking at.
babbling wrote: It is an interesting tool, but I have one question about it.
Why is it that for pretty much everything, the search volume has decreased over time? Is this because there is less accurate or different data for older searches, or perhaps Google isn't quite as popular today as it was a couple of years ago? I mean, one would think that for most things the search volume should increase over time since more and more people are getting onto the internet and using search engines...
sugge$$ion wrote: [From the Google Trends instructions] "just type in up to five topics, separated by commas, and you can see the cities, regions or languages that have had the 'top results' for each topic, along with Google news articles."
Why the breakdowns for cities, regions, or languages..but not by time-of-search? This makes it impossible to answer such crucial social research questions as: do as many people search for "porn" during the day as during the evening/night?
StopThisWorld wrote: Any math teacher will tell you: a graph without a scale is like an eagle without wings. How long will it be before we start seeing real numbers attached to the graphs in Google Trends?
Oracle seems to have divided the open source ranks over the MySQL delay it’s having closing its acquisition of Sun. Eben Moglin, the GPL’s most ardent defender and delineator, the lawyer who has worked hand in glove for years with the Free Software Foundation’s founder Richard Stallman...
Cloud computing is a game changer. The cloud is disrupting traditional software and hardware business models by disrupting how IT service gets delivered. Entrepreneurial opportunities abound as this classic disruptive technology begins to proliferate, so it is no surprise that SYS-CON'...
The irony is that Oracle has advanced MySQL, lost money in the process, and helped its competitors - all at the same time. When Oracle buys Sun and controls MySQL the gift (other than to Microsoft SQL Server) keeps on giving as the existential threat to RDBs is managed by Redwood Shore...
WSO2, the open source SOA company, today announced the launch of the WSO2 Cloud Platform. Available today, the new WSO2 Cloud Platform features a family of WSO2 Cloud Virtual Machines; WSO2 Cloud Connectors for enabling fast, secure cloud services; and the multi-tenant WSO2 Governance-...
Now, the open source Mozilla Thunderbird client software can be used with Open-Xchange collaboration software. The "Community OXtender for Thunderbird" software connector gives users full access to appointments and contacts stored in the Open-Xchange Server and enables them to use Thun...
Morph Labs, a leading provider of enterprise cloud computing technology, today announced an introductory trial of the Morph CloudServer, an open, standards-based server IT organizations can use to rapidly model and evaluate their cloud implementations. A miniature "Cloud Environment in...
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Like so many of the ideas that tumble out of the Googleplex into the public domain, 
Oracle seems to have divided the open source ranks over the MySQL delay it’s having closing its acquisition of Sun. Eben Moglin, the GPL’s most ardent defender and delineator, the lawyer who has worked hand in glove for years with the Free Software Foundation’s founder Richard Stallman...
Cloud computing is a game changer. The cloud is disrupting traditional software and hardware business models by disrupting how IT service gets delivered. Entrepreneurial opportunities abound as this classic disruptive technology begins to proliferate, so it is no surprise that SYS-CON'...
The irony is that Oracle has advanced MySQL, lost money in the process, and helped its competitors - all at the same time. When Oracle buys Sun and controls MySQL the gift (other than to Microsoft SQL Server) keeps on giving as the existential threat to RDBs is managed by Redwood Shore...
WSO2, the open source SOA company, today announced the launch of the WSO2 Cloud Platform. Available today, the new WSO2 Cloud Platform features a family of WSO2 Cloud Virtual Machines; WSO2 Cloud Connectors for enabling fast, secure cloud services; and the multi-tenant WSO2 Governance-...
Now, the open source Mozilla Thunderbird client software can be used with Open-Xchange collaboration software. The "Community OXtender for Thunderbird" software connector gives users full access to appointments and contacts stored in the Open-Xchange Server and enables them to use Thun...
Morph Labs, a leading provider of enterprise cloud computing technology, today announced an introductory trial of the Morph CloudServer, an open, standards-based server IT organizations can use to rapidly model and evaluate their cloud implementations. A miniature "Cloud Environment in...
