Category: Google

Google Calendar supports CalDAV

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date August 6, 2008

Ok, maybe not the most glamorous headline, but if you are looking for a way to integrate into the “cloud” with minimal effort and not paying $99 a year to Mobile Me (and praying that it works), this is a pretty good solution from our friends at Google.

I share a group calendar with my coworkers at Boxbe and I don’t always remember to update my “cloud” calendar to be inline with iCal. This pretty much solves that problem.

What’s CalDAV?

CalDAV is an open standard for sharing calendar information from a desktop computer with a server. In this case, I’m sharing iCal calendar information with Google Calendar and my co-workers can see my schedule.

Previously, I could publish my calendar to Google Calendar, but I couldn’t make any changes to it on Google’s servers. Supporting CalDAV makes this works in both directions.

Setting up

It’s pretty easy to set this up. Here are instructions for setting up iCal and Google Calendar.

The only real trick is getting the URL correct for your calendar which is a URL that contains your Gmail address https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/ [ your Google Calendar email address ] /user.

There are some known issues, but nothing there was a show stopper for me.

I just started using this today, so I’ll let you know if I have any issues with it.

[via Daring Fireball]

Tags caldav, gcal, standards

Google

Google Maps = Peeping Tom?

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date June 1, 2007

So, I’m digging the new street level view on Google Maps. It is very cool to be able to walk around the streets of San Francisco (although for some reason, they couldn’t make it down my old street). But apparently the Google Bus is getting a little too close for comfort for some.

Today’s New York Times is reporting on a woman who saw her cat in Google Maps, in her second floor window. Yow.

Now, I’m all for new technology (and I love the street level view), but I could see where this might give you the heebie jeebies. From a privacy standpoint, I’m not sure where I stand on this, but if Google had pictures of me in a bathing suit (oh boy), I think I might be asking them to take it down too.

Wired has a great collection of interesting locations and people doing strange things that people have found using the new service (where the above image is from, um, but the other ones are real-ish).

Conferences Features Google

John Battelle and Economy of Intention

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date November 1, 2006

I had a great time at last week’s Blog Business Summit. I met a lot of people whose work I respect a great deal and people that I found that I had a lot in common with. John Battelle is someone that I hold in very high regard because he inspired me very early on.

I got an opportunity to hear Battelle speak Friday and he’s as well spoken in person as he is on his blog. The content of his speech inspired me yet again. I’ve read his book, The Search but I don’t think I truly realized how powerful an idea “The Database of Intention” truly was. Adsense and Adwords best illustrate the power of the intention economy and it is those products that have put Google where they are today.

Why FM Publishing?

Given all of that, I still have a lingering question. If Battelle truly believes intent will triumph over content, why did he start a “content” based publishing business, rather than one based on intent? I asked John that very question.

Essentially John replied that in the near term there are tons of advertising opportunities for content. To me that future seems limited. This limitation and distinction is currently being well demonstrated when comparing Yahoo’s quarterly earnings versus Google’s.

I relearned a valuable lesson that day; sometimes your idols let you down. Battelle isn’t a visionary, but he has spent his career being able to recognize them and to report on them, and in a limited way, to capitalize on them. I hope he will be able to learn the lessons he is teaching to capitalize on his Database of Intentions in the future.

Photo by Niall Kennedy.

Google Video

Diet Coke and Mentos, Part Duh

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 30, 2006

Feeling much like most sequels do, the EepyBird boys are back. Bigger and better than their first video, but lacking the wonder and awe. This time, they’re getting paid by Google, not Revver.

TechCrunch reports on the deal between Google, Eepybird and their new sponsors, Diet Coke and Mentos (You’d think that Diet Pepsi would beating down their door). According to the report, this will be the first of many sponsored videos from Google Video, but this doesn’t appear to be for just anyone. Google is focusing on the top producers, rather than their typical long tail.

Unfortunately, the biggest loser in this deal is Revver, but this certainly proves their business model.

Google Yahoo

The state of online advertising?

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 19, 2006

If you think of Google (GOOG) and Yahoo! (YHOO) as bellwethers for online advertising, you have to be scratching your head today. Or maybe not. I think Yahoo! may be the canary in the coal mine.

Google

Ad Slowdown, What Slowdown? – GigaOm
Google revenues surge on ad strength – Financial Times
Google’s 3Q Profit Nearly Doubles – AP
Google revenues surge on ad – MSNBC

and from a few days ago

Yahoo

Dear Google Bulls: Yahoo! Comments still suggests a problem – Henry Blodgett
Dot com bubble 2.0 – Slashdot.org
Yahoo shares fall on 3Q profit decline – AP

So, we’ve got Om Malik in one corner (who just started his own venture backed, advertising funded blog network) saying online advertising is strong versus Henry Blodget (Web 1.0 cheerleader who helped inflate so many dot coms) who thinks that we might be heading into familiar territory.

So who do you believe? If there is one thing that I have learned from being in business on the net for the last 11 years, diversify your revenue streams. Ad sales is a cyclical business which means you have good years and you have bad ones. Ask CNET or Yahoo! who limped through the downturn in 2001-2004. Ask eBay, who didn’t have any problems during the bust, but who is currently buying its way into growing businesses.

God, I hate to say it, but I think I agree with Blodget…

Google Social Media Video Yahoo YouTube

For Mark Cuban, history repeats itself

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date October 9, 2006

The first thing that I thought today was how strange it was that Mark Cuban had been calling Google “moronic” for thinking of buying YouTube. I don’t imagine that he was telling Tim Koogle that he was “crazy,” for buying his company, Broadcast.com, a company that Yahoo! would spend the next several years dismantling.

Mark’s definitely asking the right question as to whether this is a good deal for YouTube or not. After all, Broadcast.com, which arguably was more of a “real business,” (they had corporate customers, after all), wasn’t making any money and still got $5 billion. YouTube probably should have held out for a lot more money.

Ah, but those were bubble times and everyone thought that the future would come more quickly than it did. Who could have imagined that streaming video would suck so much? Aside – can you pause Real, QT or WMV streaming without waiting for 2+ mins for it to restart yet?

While the YouTube acquisition is similar to Yahoo!’s acquisition of Broadcast.com, I think there are two key differences. First, the iPod (and to a certain degree, the cell phone). Everyone has one (or both) and short form video excels on these devices. I know you can’t carry these YT videos around easily yet, but it’s coming.

Second, and more importantly, is the Class of 2009. If you live anywhere near teenagers, you may have noticed that there are a lot of them. The Class of 2009 (and the years surrounding them) is the largest graduating class in American history. These kids are already powering a lot of Web 2.0. They have always had a computer in their home and they probably can barely remember not being connected to the internet.

Google’s acquisition of YouTube is part of their bet on this upcoming generation of creators. It has taken us a long time, but we’re finally getting people off their butts and making them into content producers not just consumers. Mark Cuban helped lay the groundwork for this revolution and instead of pedantically nitpicking from the side lines, he should be cheering them on.

Now, let’s just hope they find a business model. :-)

Apple Google

Eric Schmidt joins Apple’s Board roundup

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date August 31, 2006

(image from Valleywag)

Oh boy. I do love the interweb some days. Being a long time Apple nerd, I’ve been through a number of rumors of x acquiring Apple, Apple acquiring x, what does x mean? Frankly folks, we’ve been here before.

Here’s the round up of “news” surrounding Eric Schmidt joining Apple’s board.

Is Schmidt the set-up pitcher for an Apple-Sun merger?
So I know this is Dvorak just being Dvorak, but man, this horse is glue already, please stop beating it. A Sun Apple merger would be horrible as other than being Microsoft haters, they’ve got nothing in common and culturally, it would be a really bad fit. Their histories in Silicon Valley are too long and both companies are heavily rooted in their own identities.

Common Enemies
Common enemies seemed to be a theme with almost all the news stories and this one does make sense. Google and Apple together pretty much cover the gamut of competing against Microsoft.

Current Board Members
Looking back in history, I remember when Mickey Drexler (then CEO of Gap), Al Gore and Bill Campbell joined Apple’s Board. Other than the iPod being fashionable, I don’t really know what “synergy” that Mr. Drexler brought to the board, other than being CEO of a huge consumer brand. Al Gore being on the Board, well, it can’t hurt to have the former VP of the USA a phone call away. And last, Bill Campbell. The only thing to say here is that Quicken for the Mac is one of the reasons I installed Parallels to run XP.

And finally, Valleywag chimes in:

Six effects of Eric Schmidt joining Apple’s board
Cloud of smug says it all.

So what will Eric Schmidt bring to Apple? Hopefully, a better .Mac, more support for OS X with Google Apps and services, and maybe iTunes will get distribution in Google Video.

My guess is that we’ll see a whole lot of nothing.

Google

Google Checkout

Google Checkout launched today and is Google’s attempt at the universal wallet. The idea is that you sign up with Google and you don’t have to enter in your credit card and personal information at every website that you purchase from. Google also provides fraud protection against shady merchants, so theoretically, you will feel safer purchasing from merchants you may not recognize.

While this is an interesting proposition, this is a path well worn path by Google’s competitors. Both Yahoo! and Microsoft have wallet products that have been moderately successful, but there are no grand slams here.

Google has made Checkout more consumer friendly than it’s competitors. First, it doesn’t transmit your credit card number to the merchant. Second, if you select the option, Google won’t send your email address to the merchant either. While these features are consumer friendly, this program is not friendly to merchants.

Google’s biggest challenge here will be acquiring merchants who are willing to accept not owning (or even knowing) their customers. Merchants view advertising on Google (and Shopping.com, Yahoo! Shopping, etc) as a necessary evil to acquire new customers, but ideally they would like to convert customers from these aggregators as customers of their own.

Google has one thing going for it: size. Since the vast majority of web merchants derive their customers from search engines and Google is the most used search engine, merchants may have a hard time saying no, especially if Google skewed results in favor of merchants that offered Checkout.

One thing is for sure, the web shopping landscape just got a little more interesting.

Google Checkout
Participating merchants

[UPDATE: Om Malik has an interesting take on what Checkout means about the CPC business]

Google

Google Sketchup = Bee’s Knees

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date June 13, 2006

Wow… I had seen Sketchup at MacWorld Expo this year and thought, wow, that’s kind of neat, another 3D drawing tool that I may have some use for, but not $200 some odd-dollar use for. Along comes Google shortly after Macworld and scoops up the company and makes the program free… for Windows.

Well, laddies, get your drawing pencils ready. As of yesterday, the free version of Google Sketchup is available for Mac OS X and boy is this program cool. Most CAD or 3D programs have been expensive and fairly difficult to use, not so with Sketchup. Take the 10 minute video tutorial and you’ll be up and running fairly quickly. You’re not going to releasing the next Pixar movie with this app, but you will can make some 3d representations of objects pretty darn fast.

Call me lazy, but I’ve always wanted a program like this to layout a room or space to get a sense of what it might look like before I do all the heavy lifting. This app is so easy to use, my back thanks you, Google.

Download

Google iPod Playstation Portable Entertainment

Google Video – now for iPods and PSPs

Post author By Randy Stewart
Post date March 16, 2006

Need a little content for your iPod? Google has made its videos (not the ‘for pay’ videos, mind you) available for download reformatted for the PSP and iPod. Thank God, I can finally watch “Road Trip Prank,” “Shtanga,” “Indian Exotic Dance in Office 2” wherever I want!

Check it out
(Via The Unofficial Google Weblog)