Google to launch PCs

[Neo2000]

Originally Posted by thedragonreborn

I guess not. Atleast not to start with. Google will be launching the service across the globe and it will be hard pushed to cater to all countries.

What we might see is a tie-up with a local (national) ISP or better still, access through any ISP of our choice. The onus will be on us, most probably, to make the best of available resources.

Its a darned stupid idea anyway.

cheers!!!

Did you know Google is offering free Wi-Fi at a coupla locations? I am not saying that they will offer free Wi-Fi here in India but becoming an ISP provider at rock-bottom prices is very possible for them. India is thte largest growing nation in terms of computer users,internet penetration etc etc
Not to mention the potential revenue it can generate for them. Imagine seeing the Google brand name Every time you log onto the net.Actually dont you already??

When Google entered the e-mail segment,everyone thought it was a stupid idea to compete against all the bigger established players. Look at how successful that has been!!

[Jackal]

these people amaze me no end...!!

[uRmad]

In case you guys watch google, and a lotta other companies, the one thing that interests them *most* is generating a *lot* of user content, and making that pass thro' google servers.....And anyone even remotely familiar with patterns will tell ya, thats Godsent....Combine user-generated content with books accessed, search history, groups browsed, ads published thro' ad-sense, mails sent thro' gmail, hours spent on google talk, prices compared on froogle, blogs started on blogger.....<phew> If someone still cannot reconstruct a near-perfect profile of you, then prolly even you cant do that yourself

Cheers

[ketanm]

Originally Posted by uRmad

In case you guys watch google, and a lotta other companies, the one thing that interests them *most* is generating a *lot* of user content, and making that pass thro' google servers.....And anyone even remotely familiar with patterns will tell ya, thats Godsent....

Hey UrMad... I am NOT even remotely familiar.. so care to explain

Originally Posted by uRmad

Combine user-generated content with books accessed, search history, groups browsed, ads published thro' ad-sense, mails sent thro' gmail, hours spent on google talk, prices compared on froogle, blogs started on blogger.....<phew> If someone still cannot reconstruct a near-perfect profile of you, then prolly even you cant do that yourself

Cheers

So what kind of "profile" can someone re-construct .. apart from what kinda surfing someone does... unless they go on looking *inside* emails or tap the talk......

Ketan

[Neo2000]

Originally Posted by k_patel

Yes .... u r right !!!
Just ... in Desktop Search ... if u create a new file and don't get it indexed on the google's server ... then u won't be able to search it.

Sorry for having taken so long to reply to this.Didnt see this post earlier.

In Desktop search "Google's server" is your desktop!! Ok, so a newly created file takes a little while to show up in the index. But you can easily rectify that by turning on the Index option and leaving it on. Then anytime your computer is Idling, the index will update itself!!

Have fun!!!

[uRmad]

Originally Posted by ketanm

Hey UrMad... I am NOT even remotely familiar.. so care to explain

Aah, sorry for the delay, but I dont have anything substantial to add.... I am not an expert on profile creation...But you could see it at its most basic level when you get calls from *a* certain class of marketeers....Say you spend a lot on your credit card and also have maintained a good credit history (no, its not abt timely repayment, but more abt prompt repayment after due date so they could thrive on the insane interest rates they charge)...Then you might get calls from timeshare holiday companies or certain clubs for memberships....Or for that matter, your friendly neighbourhood kirana store fellah might suggest an alternative soap/shampoo based on your previous purchase patterns that he knows....What I mean to say in all this rant is, with *so* much of data passing thro' google's servers, and our lives becoming more and more intricately intertwined with the internet, Google stands poised to create an excellent profile of you with your tastes and that is a marketeers dream come true as then they would get the biggest bang for their buck....It might be minimal today since in India, most ppl still prefer to shop offline or donno abt a lotta google utilities that I'd mentioned earlier...But with increasing bandwidth availability and insanely powerful servers coming dime a dozen..Whats to stop.....

unless they go on looking *inside* emails or tap the talk......

I haven't gone thro' google's privacy policy, so don't quote me on this...But my understanding is, google will never use any of your message content for marketing purposes...But it can darned well track the ads that it served on your account and since it has reasonable faith in the ads and their contextual applicability, it still can get a fair amount of idea...Do that over a period of time and you end up with enormous amt of stuff u might be interested in.....

Most of what i've ranted above is hypothetical..And may seem to be the paranoid delusions of a wandering mind.....But if my understanding goes, I'm not alone in that

Cheers

[ketanm]

Industry Feeling Presence of the 800-Pound Google


Cheap PCs, anyone?

Google will unveil its own low-price personal computer or other device that connects to the Internet.

Sources say Google has been in negotiations with Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among other retailers, to sell a Google PC. The machine would run an operating system created by Google, not Microsoft's Windows, which is one reason it would be so cheap — perhaps as little as a couple of hundred dollars.

Bear Stearns analysts speculated in a research report last month that consumers would soon see something called "Google Cubes" — a small hardware box that could allow users to move songs, videos and other digital files between their computers and TV sets.

Larry Page, Google's co-founder and president of products, will give a keynote address Friday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Analysts suspect that Page will use the opportunity either to show off a Google computing device or announce a partnership with a big retailer to sell such a machine.

Another interesting article though a bit out-dated. The Google Box

Ketan

[uRmad]

Hehe, saw the *story* on /. yesterday.....Like most ppl said, its a gossip inside a piece of predictions And google making announcements at CES ? Hmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't really recall Google really saving any great announcements for such fests....They tend to do it alone, when not much is happening elsewhere....Gmail beta was on april 1st, iirc

If speculations were to be believed, M$ would have long since bought every dotcom worth its dot But hey, thanks to google, I guess most ppl are now re-discovering that they have a future in being technology futurists What with so many tech mags/sites comin up by the day

Cheers

[uRmad]

Something slightly related can be found @ The Post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012001799.html

Cheers