Tim Howell’s Weblog

Numerous reasons for the lack of postings lately, so I won’t go into detail. The main reason was a simple one: I was away at CeBIT. Rod and I made the journey to Hannover in early March, and spent a week at this show, the world’s largest for ICT. Rod has posted several time about what was there, and I won’t attempt to republish what is old news, suffice to say a few less time-critical points:

• IT and the technology industry is exciting at the moment. CeBIT brought together devices of all shapes and sizes, and while success may elude many of them, the range of technology for both consumer and business use was exhilarating.
• Hardware is innovating faster than software. Perhaps this shouldn’t be a surprise, but I was surprised. Not only were there devices of all shapes and sizes, there were Windows devices of all shapes and sizes. What was lacking was decent software to drive these, despite the comparatively low cost of development (at least compared to developing a hardware device). Conversely, the opportunity for software developers is significant, and the field for innovative applications looks wide open.
• HDTV is real - literally and figuratively. While I had read about HDTV and its promise, to view HDTV in action was amazing. I’m not a DVD or video nut, but could see the dramatic improvements delivered by this new technology.

With the release of version 1.0 of Google Desktop, the activity in this space has calmed in recent weeks, however a recent Washington Post round-up of desktop tools created a bit of a stir.

In the article, the writer stated: “These programs also shouldn’t exist: Their capabilities should be built into the operating system, something both Microsoft and Apple are working on.”

Several watchers agreed with the assessment, believing this is core functionality which should be part of the operating system. While I can see where they’re coming from, I also believe that regardless of what Microsoft or Apple, or whoever else, may do, there is always room for innovation.

While it’s inevitable improved search capabilities will appear, the existing desktop search companies will hopefully be able to add value around the fringes, by either incrementally improving the search capabilities, or presenting search results in different ways.

With the ever expanding web, and the significant growth of personal hard drives and corporate stores, there is significant opportunity to search, retrieve and present information in new ways. Afterall, we’re no longer going to be dealing with tens, or hundreds or thousands of documents – in the years to come we’ll be dealing in the millions, billions and trillions, if we’re not already there…

Recently we’ve become hooked on Skype conference calling. Not so much because it’s cheap - which it is - but because it’s so easy. Simply see who’s online, or make sure they are, and then set up the call - no telco to contact, no numbers or PINs to call, and of course this is free. Couple this with Skype’s paid for services like SkypeOut and SkypeIn, and you can expand the contact base even further.

Currently there’s a maximum of four conference call participants, but this could well change…

It’s an oldie but a goodie: “knowledge is power.” Google’s recent purchase of Urchin, a web analytics company, didn’t create much of a stir, but looking further down the track there are some definitive short- and long-term benefits for such a union.

They all relate to the usage of the web, and in the context of Google, being able to profile what web site visitors are doing, and then relating that back to the site’s web advertising dollars. This information can then be used to determine what marketing initiatives generate the most activity, and then which activities generate the most sales. For Google, most of what they do is about monetising their search technology thorugh the sale of contextual advertising, and the purchase of Urchin helps to justify AdWords AdSpend.