Google responded with a phone call asking for details and they said they’d send me some information via email, I never heard from them again. With Google’s latest spate of recommendation gadgets and their latest product change, “web history” (something I have been waiting for for a while because I was fed up of never being able to search my history — an offline version would be nice and more secure), it seems relevant to post what I submitted.

I called it Google Channels, for lack of better words and to embrace Google’s brilliant naming tradition (see: Froogle’s death, one of my favourite play on words). This was my pitch:

PDF Summary & Advert for Product

PDF Google Proposal

Google Channels
A free, automated, user specific and editable channel to facilitate the discovery of entertainment on the internet.

The Problem

Finding entertainment is very much a different process to an information search. For information, a user, for the most part, knows what he or she is looking for and creates an appropriate search query to find what they need. For current entertainment search processes, a user must know what they want to read, watch or listen to before beginning their search. This, in many respects, is contrary to the act of discovering fresh entertainment. In mature mediums there exist two paths — one for the acquirement of media and a second for its discovery. Internet search acts predominantly as the former similar to a cinema which shows a film you chose specifically to watch. Examples of the latter are television, radio and libraries; each provides a selection of entertainment services for the discovery of new quality content.

The internet today offers a unique worldwide medium for text, video and audio; it has quickly become the ultimate entertainment, communication and information hub. Google, with aims to organise the world’s information, has made great strides in providing tools for finding information fast, and via Gmail and Google Talk (amongst others) online communication is being made easier. With the emergence of flash streaming and legal movie and music downloads it is now the entertainment aspects of the internet that must be addressed by Google. The first steps have already been taken with Google Video and YouTube. I believe Google’s next big innovation should be to improve the accessibility and discovery processes for the wealth of quality content available on the internet, to match the second element of Google’s aim: to make content universally accessible.

The closest the internet currently has to an entertainment discovery service is “StumbleUpon” a site that allows users to recommend web pages so that readers may stumble through the internet finding its hidden sweet spots. Other undertakings include; The “Venice Project”, from Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, creators of Skype, which sees their focused efforts in creating a recommendation driven Broadband TV service for quality video content delivery and discovery. Last.fm, a British based company, collates music listened to and generates free customised radio stations for discovery of new music. I believe now is the time for Google to begin developing a service in this field, as internet content begins to escape the confines of the PC box. Last.fm’s growing popularity and success is proof that there is a demand.

The Solution

For Google Channels to solve these entertainment search issues it needs to offer two things; first it must deliver interesting content and secondly this must suit the user’s tastes. Google already has a head-start with regards to content delivery; its extensive crawl index, video and book libraries present the essence of a solution (though to my knowledge no Google owned music or audio database currently exists). To show content that is relevant, knowledge of the users’ tastes must be known and items must be grouped by similarity. Google Sets is already the foundation of these grouping functions — searching for television shows like “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons” yields “South Park” as a top suggestion. Knowledge of the user can be obtained through existing data or by user input.

Creating the Channel

Google’s personalized search data can give an accurate portrayal of a user’s tastes (e.g. top search terms), as does their rating trends, labelling actions and Google Talk’s music trends. Collating this data with similar neighbours and data from Google Sets, a selection of materials matching the user’s tastes is produced without needing search. Hence a user-specific recommendations channel is generated, creating the basics for a discovery driven internet service (an extension of the pre-existing personal homepage gadget “Interesting things for you”). With refinements through categorisation this channel can be split into genre specific bands.

The alternative approach is to ask the user for a few things they already enjoy — favourite music artists, websites, television shows and books may be key pointers. Using a grouping structure a list of recommendations can be generated, allowing relevant content from indexes (Books, Google Video, RSS feeds, etc) or established channels to be combined into a personalized channel. As Google Channels evolves the accuracy of recommendations will improve.

Channel Implementation

Implementation becomes the next question; channels may be video, audio or written, or an amalgamation. Video channels may be a generated stream of video not unlike television channels, with one recommended video continuing directly on from the previous — this stream may play live to multiple parties, play from a chosen point (e.g. select first video from a list), be skipped through or downloaded. Music channels may act like those on Last.fm, playing music similar to artists the user already knows, they could also be geared towards podcast discovery or online radio which may then be played in-browser. Reading lists would act much like existing feed aggregation services, however could contain a degree of useful automation and Google Book recommendations to inform users of literature, sites and news that interests them yet lies outside of their confined internet corner.

User Control

User editing adds significant benefits:

·        Remove subjects that are uninteresting.

·        Actions when viewing channels may include:

·        “add similar items to my channel”*,

·        “add this item to my channel”,

·        “add items in this label to my channel”,

·        “create new channel based on”,

·        “label item/channel”,

·        “ban items in this category”,

·        “ban this item”,

·        “blog this item/channel”,

·        “share this item/channel”,

·        “combine channels”,

·        “recommend item/channel”

·        “invite user to chat”

·        “rate this item/channel”

·        Recommendations can evolve using rating systems that promote good content and ban bad content.

·       Complete control of channel could bring true “internet TV” to life.

* e.g. “add sites similar to Slashdot.org”, letting users find domains that match their normal reading materials without the trouble of building a specific search query to find them.

Once channels are created the next logical steps are sharing of channels, channel labels, recommended channels, RSS channel feeds, top channels lists, searchable channels database, public and private channels, embeddable channels, sponsored channels, channel collaboration, Google Talk integration for chat whilst viewing, content databases allowing creators to add their work directly to channels (much like the existing YouTube channels system), exclusive content or subscription channels.

Targeted Advertising

Revenue streams for Google and content creators are also instantly apparent. Google would know the full specifics of the ‘now playing’ content. Hence incorporation of Google Ads is only a stone’s throw away. Video channel features can be interlinked by relevant video ads, and similarly for audio. For incentives to create channels owners may receive payments from a pay per click or impression initiative. The cost of displaying ads on a channel may also be proportional to the number of regular viewers or readers a channel has.

Creators of content (e.g. a television network) may wish to receive more return and have greater control of proceedings; a corporate control panel may be an option. Similarly an advertising control panel may be helpful to large advertising corporations that want to specifically control when and where their ads are shown.

Benefits Elsewhere

Other benefits to Google are the natural categorisation and sorting made by users of channel content, which will not only improve recommendation quality but also add to the usefulness of Google search results; for instance a fuzzy search that returns results matching the users search aims but not necessarily matching their query; particularly helpful for those having trouble refining search terms. 

Pop-up playlist, this appears beneath when thin (as below) and to the side when wide.

A pop-up menu, buttons and control panel

Im sure I will think of some much more advanced uses of this integration in the near future. But for now I think this is exciting enough. For those interested, to get going, the code for tabbed panels in PanelsUI is:

$select($add($getpvar(display.mode),1),
$panel(Option1,Track Display,0,20,%_width%,140,)
‚
$panel(Option2,Album list,0,20,%_width%,140,)
‚
$panel(Option3,Console,0,20,%_width%,140,)
)
$button2(0,160,0,0,14,14,button text,button text,‘PVAR:SET:display.mode:0′,)
$button2(14,160,0,0,14,14,button text, button text,‘PVAR:SET:display.mode:1′,)
$button2(28,160,0,0,14,14, button text,button text ‚‘PVAR:SET:display.mode:2′,)

This simple example (that needs the button text replaced with a $font()text code) is the basis for tabs, clicking the first button shows the track display, the second an album list, third a console.

Red Moon states on its page,
“Redmoon Interactive provide free Internet access in Shopping Centres and high footfall locations across the UK through our network of interactive touch screen terminals. Using our service your customers can search the Web or check their Email free of charge without leaving the comfort of your premises.”

My results soon appeared, alas I recognise this page structure, it’s a “Made for Ads” or “MFA” site. All of the search results, which claim to be genuine, were irrelevant cost-per-click ads that somehow matched a keyword. Attempting to generalize my search in hopes of obtaining some form of relevance brought no luck and only the most general of terms such as “video game” brought any relevance whatsoever. Heading back to the main page I clicked the various categories, a new list of ads pertaining to a specific category appeared in a different colour. Every single link on the terminal took you to an ad, in order that you may find any content you had to click an ad. There is no address bar to confirm the page you are on or to enter a new page. This makes the terminal a potential security risk and rife for phishing scandals that attack the non-savvy Internet users likely to use this “service”. Even the email links lead to ads for online email providers.

From my web sleuthing it appears the ads are provided by Overture which is now Yahoo! Search Marketing , and they state: “The move opens up the opportunity for advertisers to reach a more localised audience in the run-up to the launch of Overture’s geo-targeted searches. For example, consumers may use the terminals to search for specific services in their local area while out and about. […]  Overture’s sponsored links will be returned whenever a user conducts a search via the front screen on any INFO-NET terminal. (2003)”

I wonder, do Yahoo advertisers know that their ads are being used in such a way? Would they wish to be associated with such a company? Do they want people to view their sites in a public place where online purchases are risky and unlikely?  Obviously ads for shops within the mall will have some relevance and may lead the shopper to their store, however the advertisers themselves will not see goals or direct purchases online and the value of such ads can never be accurately determined remotely by the advertiser. As for those ads that need web based returns, whether it be click-throughs or sales, any hope of achieving these through such a service is highly unlikely.

My experience with the access points, a rough 20 minute test exploring different avenues of search, as I waited for a film screening, concluded that this is a commercial venture (albeit a clever one) that I could and would not classify as a service. Finding what I wanted proved impossible and knowing that each click would generate a tiny profit for Red Moon with little to no return for the advertiser, as a web advertiser myself, was infuriating. If you add to the mix the non-savvy users that will ignorantly click on all links in frustrated hopes of finding something of importance you get a highly profitable business that further devalues online advertising. Indeed, the less of a service Red Moon provides the more users will return to the search index or “results” to try another site, thusly building a tidy pile of coppers through cost-per-click ads.

If you are looking to install these terminals please take note of this. The inadequacies of the Red Moon terminal to provide a service to its users will be directly proportional to its profits — the longer it takes to find information, the more ads are clicked, the more money is made. Red Moon, as an anonymous provider, has no reputation to maintain with its users; it is those that host the kiosks that will ultimately be faced with the disgruntled surfers and declining respect of its patrons. Once more, the security of this service is questionable.

• Upon migration the URL for archives was reset so all updated archives linked to a 404. I quickly fixed this once my server, that has been up and down a bit lately, allowed me back into the FTP.
• Previous Post links have stopped working, the conventional tag instead of providing a list of the 10 posts prior to the post being viewed now shows only the ten most recent posts. This makes navigation of the older pages less fluid and to find old posts you need to visit label pages or archive pages with the aim of finding a specific post.
• The uploading dialogue for blogger has also been tweaked, it now shows the successfully uploaded files in a list and when errors occurs it tells you them. A nice addition to this would be a suggestion on whether or not to perform a republish based upon the severity of FTP errors. When I see the errors I ask myself whether or not all the files uploaded ok — the last thing I need is a corrupted page that I don’t know about. One caveat of this new system is the removal of the percentage uploaded indicator, I like to know how far through the process is and whether or not connectivity is good or bad, taking away the only indication seems wrong to me. Hopefully it is just part of the inevitable blogger beta ftp teething stages.

Moving onwards, once I had confirmed files could be uploaded and my template would not be utterly destroyed I chose to add labels to my posts before publishing the blog again. It is now that I discovered the new template system blogger has developed and is implementing, one in which blog style editing is made easy for those that do not know code, html or css etc. Simple colour picking schemes etc. However in doing this they seem to have completely abandoned the template tag technique which I like to use to fully customize my template design. Backwards compatibility remains yet under my existing html templates I cannot add the new shiny features. Blogger also provides no template tags for these features, instead opting for defined widgets and sections. After publishing I also noticed that labels were automatically appended to the post body in a separate div with the name “blogger-labels”. The text “Labels:” cannot be altered in anyway and I have had to use absolutely positioned CSS to shift the labels into the comments bar where I want them and alter the hyperlink format. Here are a few other problems I noted:

• Labels with a gap in there name e.g. “My Life” would link to a labels page: “labels/My Life.php” without substituting the space for a ‘-’ character or removing capitalization (e.g. labels/my– life.php)
• The labels directory is not customizable and is fixed to the “/labels/” default.
• No pagination occurs on the label pages, despite the number of posts — one of my labels has 33 posts and they all load to create a mammoth scrolling fiasco.
• When labels have a gap in their name they do not show up in the labels section on the individual post page — I noticed this and tested it to check it had uploaded correctly. All pages that I had applied the label “My Life” to did not show any labels, though others did. I have since changed the label title but it is an issue that needs fixing.

Finally I decided to post something new. The inclusion of a quick switch between html and rich formatting is an excellent addition that is very handy. Posting via a 1280x resolution the blogger post box seems very small. I like a large area to play with and it would be nice if the box could expand to fill the whole screen, much like in Gmail.

The interface is all very fluid and fast, quickly pulling up 160 posts and labeling them was not a daunting task as I had expected. The dashboard makeover also improves usability, I now only need one click to reach certain regularly visited sections.

I now have one plea: Please do not abandon the template tags scheme. I love it and use it successfully to create my blog exactly how I want it. Please maintain these tags and add respective ones so that us power users can continue using blogger and its new features in the same way we always have done. We do not need to utilize simplified template editing techniques and whilst two separate schemes never seem wise I don’t know why they cant run side by side — leaving the templates tag as an advanced yet maintained option for those with a little more knowhow.

This is still in beta so I can remain hopeful for changes, it is nice to finally see some changes and I do feel that Blogger is moving in the right direction.

Nonetheless… the headline is this: Bill Clinton did what almost none of us have done, in five years. He has spoken the truth about 9/11, and the current presidential administration.

• The Bush Administration did not try to get Osama Bin Laden before 9/11.
• The Bush Administration ignored all the evidence gathered by its predecessors.
• The Bush Administration did not understand the Daily Briefing entitled “Bin Laden Determined To Strike in U.S.”
• The Bush Administration… did…not…try.

Moreover, for the last five years one month and two weeks, the current administration, and in particular the President, has been given the greatest “pass” for incompetence and malfeasance, in American history!

[…]

To hear [Bush] bleat and whine and bully at nearly every opportunity, one would think someone else had been President on September 11th, 2001 — or the nearly eight months that preceded it. That hardly reflects the honesty nor manliness we expect of the Executive.

I also find Olbermann’s commentary on the Katrina fiasco last year refreshing:

A couple of things I don’t like, or maybe I am just not used to, are the changes to tabs. The changes give a fixed minimum width and a horizontal scrollable toolbar when the number of tabs exceed the screen width and also a “Close” icon on each tab. So I thought it would be helpful to state here how to change the tabs back to “the old style” ( i.e. FF 1.x):

Remove Close Button
To remove the close button from each tab and instead place one button in the top right, in the about:config file change browser.tabs.closeButtons to “3”
(For more details see: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Browser.tabs.closeButtons ).

Fit More Tabs on the Page
To do this you have to reduce the minimum width of tabs. Once again, using the about:config file change browser.tabs.tabMinWidth to a value of your choice. The changes will not be apparent until you restart Firefox.

For the complete run down visit: Mozillazine

Other notable online t-shirt retailers:

• Oddica
• Dirty Microbe

From Oddica:

But then again not everything is perfect in the increasingly large and amorphous world of the GOOG. In general, the spate of recent releases and acquisitions over the last year or so has left Google with an assortment of great and good products that need more dedicated development time and overall integration with other services to become truly useful. It has become increasingly difficult to find or even remember that Google has a suitable method for dealing with a certain enquiry. Google’s aim is to organise and make available the world’s information — I fail to see how this can be achieved when their own development procedure and release methodologies lead towards an increasingly difficult plane to circumnavigate. It is a white-walled maze -

For all is clean and clear but hidden behind a thousand doors.

Woe betide my Dell, (Renata’s Blog)

Some quotes:
Tech: When you go around the web — yes? On your browser program. You can run into bad programs called viruses. And these viruses can cause all the problems you are talking about.
Me: I know what a virus is. I don’t have a virus.
Tech: But viruses cause all your problems. You have a virus — yes?
Me: I do not have a virus. I have a hardware firewall on the router. I have a software firewall on the computer. I have up to date commercial virus protection that updates its definitions on the fly and I have scheduled full system virus scans that run every night at 3 AM. I do not have a virus.
Tech: Well, you know, too much security can cause problems too.

The first tech was adamant that the problem was not related to memory, and that there were only three causes for bluescreens: a bad motherboard, a bad hard drive, or software conflicts. She explained, again, that she had just replaced the motherboard and hard drive. “Must be software,” the tech said. Exasperated now, my tech explained that she had just replaced the hard drive, so there was no software on the machine. He still insisted it was a software problem and refused to send memory. In fact, he suggested something that I will be writing to Dell about. He actually suggested that she install only one of the four memory modules, close the box, determine quickly if that module was okay, and then leave, telling me to continue installing Windows and call tech support if I had any more problems! He actually suggested to her that she LEAVE OUT 1.5 GB of my memory, memory I paid for, presumably without telling me what had been done.

Engadget: Dell Laptops Exploding…

Dell knew dozens of their laptops had sustained extensive heat damage at least two years before initiating any kind of recall. The source, who is claimed to be someone “close to the company,” has said that Dell execs were provided with documents and photographs in 2003 and 2004 showing lappies described as “burned,” “melted” and even “scorched.”