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The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

robinsloan.com

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Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#211

Post by gcb »

jack-r-abbit wrote: post #69
swalsh wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sir I challenge you to a bet, $100 to our respective favorite charities. In my opinion Google Glass is set to be a game changer from the start. I wager that when google glass is launched, it will be a cultural icon no more than 1.5 years later. It's clear WHY google needs glass. Owning the channel between my eyes and the world is a huge potential pot of money. Targeted ads have a lot of potential to disrupt the ad sp…

I was thinking the same thing. I think one of the biggest issues with the Newton was timing. We are a different people now than then. The timing is right. If they don't mess it up with weird looking hardware, then it will probably be a success.

> If they don't mess it up with weird looking hardware

Q.E.D.

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#212

Post by gcb »

zeroonetwothree wrote: post #86
swalsh wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sir I challenge you to a bet, $100 to our respective favorite charities. In my opinion Google Glass is set to be a game changer from the start. I wager that when google glass is launched, it will be a cultural icon no more than 1.5 years later. It's clear WHY google needs glass. Owning the channel between my eyes and the world is a huge potential pot of money. Targeted ads have a lot of potential to disrupt the ad sp…

What does "cultural icon" mean? Is the Segway a cultural icon even though only ~30,000 of them exist? Pretty much everyone knows what it is but most people have not benefited from them. I would be willing to take this bet if we determine some objective criteria.

30,000, of which 19,500 are California security mall personnel.

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#213

Post by gcb »

pstuart wrote: post #88
gcb wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marketing. apple made walkmans cool again. After the 80s. with marketing alone.

marketing alone? yeah, right. edit: Adding a hard drive, making it easier to use than the competition, itunes store, app store. None of that had anything to do with it?

itunes and appstore is monetization of the post marketing success. you convert them to switch, and then lock them there.

hard drive was a step back. for the same price (and 5 months before ipod launched) you could get a creative flash memory mp3 player with 2/3 of the size. again, same price, you give away 1/3 of the storage for NO gravity or dropping of issues. far superior if you ask me... yet, bad marketing on creative. (btw, ipod evolved some 5yr later and what? 1/2 of the space and flash memory, so yeah, even apple consumers agree it was better without it.)

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#214

Post by jack-r-abbit »

gcb wrote: post #211
jack-r-abbit wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking the same thing. I think one of the biggest issues with the Newton was timing. We are a different people now than then. The timing is right. If they don't mess it up with weird looking hardware, then it will probably be a success.

> If they don't mess it up with weird looking hardware Q.E.D.

I don't follow.

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#215

Post by apu »

robinsloan wrote: post #90
Steko wrote: post #83

Ultimately he's making a pretty big claim about Google's future here that isn't grounded in reality. This is the same sort of talk that crowned Microsoft the tablet king over a decade ago while reality waited for Apple to actually build a consumer viable version . Whether it's the usual suspects like Google, MS and Apple who we know are already spending R&D here or a new entrant like Instagram which came out of nowhe…

Author here: You're right that it's a big claim, and I think it requires a lot of imagination & even some suspension of disbelief. It's safer to be skeptical. But specifically re: competition of all shapes & sizes, I do think that two of Google's long-term investments give it a pretty strong position: 1. Google Maps & Street View, which together comprise an amazingly detailed model of the real world. There are altern…

To lend some credence to these claims: other than the well-known Sebastian Thrun, Google also has at least a dozen world-class computer vision researchers working on a variety of different products, from Maps to the self-driving car to Goggles and others. This is some serious fire power, and in so far as the technical problems are unsolved (which they mostly are right now), no other company can touch them in the near future.

Of course, there is always the important step of making something that consumers will use, but that's only possible if the technical problems are solved first. And perhaps Google is learning how to make more consumer-friendly things...

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#216

Post by solnyshok »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #97
dkarl wrote: post #63

Facebook as a photo sharing app is a fascinating example of the service being generic and the context for the service being the main focus of competition. A bar sells drinks, but providing a competitive lineup of drinks is much easier than providing a competitive context in which to consume them. Coffee shops sell coffee and wifi, but they compete against each other as contexts within which to consume coffee and wifi…

>a small advantage that can't make up for the fact that it isn't as universal as e-mail or texting Well, I'm a teenager, and sadly Facebook is far more universal as a means of contact than texting or e-mail, personally. I don't have the email addresses or phone numbers of most of the people I know (often because I don't know them well enough), but I do have them friended on Facebook.

I always felt that facebook is nothing more than a glorified address book for the internet generation. That's why I am keeping it, just to have all those contact sync to my phone's address book.

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#217

Post by r0s »

manpreets7 wrote: post #162
planetguy wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, as far as I'm concerned they're still gonna be dorky. Wearing electronics on your face is irredeemably dorky, and I don't see any way around that. Electronics in your pocket: cool Electronics in your hand: cool Electronics hanging out of your ears: cool Electronics on your head, face, or built into your clothing: irredeemably uncool. I can't explain why in words, all I can tell you is that the world sees these…

A lot of people used to carry pens on their shirts. Many still do. Now using bluetooth earpieces is commonplace. I am sure people will get used to using very tiny gadgets on their clothing or ears if they assist them in meaningful ways.

I really don't see as much earpiece fashion anymore. To me it always screamed "extra device" which is the opposite of luxury or convenience. Or maybe I'm just blind to a common trend now.

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#218

Post by r0s »

shpoonj wrote: post #143

Naive question: The author says image views are a subset of page views. Is this accurate when the photos are shown in a light box capable of cycling through thousands of photos without leaving the initial page?

Good question, I'd like to know the answer too. Javascript abstracts the whole theory of a "webpage" but I'm sure the image viewer reports back metrics and they have some system to track it all. In the end I'd guess it's probably treated similarly for marketing purposes.

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#219

Post by cdavid »

apu wrote: post #215
robinsloan wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Author here: You're right that it's a big claim, and I think it requires a lot of imagination & even some suspension of disbelief. It's safer to be skeptical. But specifically re: competition of all shapes & sizes, I do think that two of Google's long-term investments give it a pretty strong position: 1. Google Maps & Street View, which together comprise an amazingly detailed model of the real world. There are altern…

To lend some credence to these claims: other than the well-known Sebastian Thrun, Google also has at least a dozen world-class computer vision researchers working on a variety of different products, from Maps to the self-driving car to Goggles and others. This is some serious fire power, and in so far as the technical problems are unsolved (which they mostly are right now), no other company can touch them in the near…

I don't have numbers to back it up, but I would gather that at least MS has as many if not more world class researchers in those fields.

Re: The futures of Facebook and Google are embedded in these two images

#220

Post by btipling »

clarky07 wrote: post #201
vibrunazo wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe it's simply the Thrun factor? That man's track record of amazing projects is really jaw dropping. Self driving cars, udacity and glass? I want a planet with more people like that in it.

We have one. Sadly half of them are working at Facebook trying to figure out how to make people click on more ads. The other half are working in the non research part of google trying to figure out how to make people click on more ads.

It's because they have to eat.
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