Forums | MacLife

unresort · 2005-05-22 5:13 am

now you can personalize yer Google homepage.
http://www.google.com/ig

they now have my zip code since i use the weather thing. brilliant. newsbotster hasn't a chance. i am assuming that "ig" stands for "information gathering."

Last edited by unresort (2005-05-22 5:16 am)

Scott · 2005-05-22 6:04 am

Sweet!

unresort · 2005-05-26 4:02 am

hehe, and now /. has shut down Google from using it's RSS robot to connect. hehe, this is gonna be fun.

ScifiterX · 2005-05-26 4:29 am

Google is an excellent example that corporate honesty breeds paranoia. Yahoo does the information gathering too but they wont admit to it. MSN operates the same way as Yahoo. Excite does as well. The same goes for Netscape, Earthlink, AOL, and probably dozens of other ones. Yet since Google has to be upfront and tell you they are doing what they are doing everyone immediately goes squirrelly assuming there some sort of wrong doing going on with Google. Hell, if anything, it's more likely I'll trust them because they've made themselves accountable for their own actions.

unresort · 2005-05-26 5:27 am

ScifiterX you are correct in the fact that everyone does data-mine their customers, but you are missing the bigger picture. he who controls the information and uses it, has power.

please give me some stats that say MSN, Excite, Netscape, Earthlink, AOL, or anyone else has the ability to actually use the information to such an extent as Google can. that is the key.

if you combine my zip code on my Google homepage with froogle and google maps, as well as my blog, whoa. that is me buying a part i need at a hardware store b/c Google helped me find it.

and no one other than Google actually has the bandwidth to change the news like they can. seriously. if you can prove that Excite (and their parent company AskJeeves) can influence my (average user) actual purchases then maybe i will think about your statement.

Google is on top of the Information Gathering game b/c they are the ones most invested in actually using the information to control the users choices. if you know what they want, and know where they can get it, well, you become the most important link in the chain.

but that is not the point, we are not talking about IG here, the current vibe is all about how /. (media) has shut out Google's attempt to mine their media. that is what i find funny. i am not a deep guy and i don't necessarily want this post to go there. we have all seen the future already and we are all adults here. let's just sit back and laugh at them.

Last edited by unresort (2005-05-26 5:39 am)

yelowpunk · 2005-05-26 8:27 am

unresort wrote:
...
but that is not the point, we are not talking about IG here, the current vibe is all about how /. (media) has shut out Google's attempt to mine their media. that is what i find funny. i am not a deep guy and i don't necessarily want this post to go there. we have all seen the future already and we are all adults here. let's just sit back and laugh at them.

Whhooaaa, maaaaann... That's deeeeeep. wink

And, just to throw this out there, welcome to 2005. Information is the new currency. Everyone does information gathering. Hell, I'm 19, and run an itty bitty webserver and I know the phones, email addresses and street addresses of about 100 people that I've never before met in my life.

What's different here, is that Google uses this information to earn a buck while being helpful to me doing so. I haven't seen this being done in this manner yet, or at least in some time, and I for one, am completely for it.

(I am also under the impression that under current management, Google can do no wrong... and no stupid.)

/shrug

-Fanboi

ScifiterX · 2005-05-26 3:32 pm

Indeed. Other services targeted ads are invariably off topic despite it being the same information gathered. If you are gonna subject me to the annoyance of your information gathering and advertising anyway, be upfront, honest, and trying not to be annoying and actually be relevant to what I'm looking for.

i think G4 imac · 2005-05-27 12:15 am

unresort wrote:
Google is on top of the Information Gathering game b/c they are the ones most invested in actually using the information to control the users choices. if you know what they want, and know where they can get it, well, you become the most important link in the chain.

Google is on track to own Consumer2Business processes, ignoring B2C.....I wonder what their plans are for B2B
(sorry to sound too catch-phraseish)

NAG · 2005-05-27 12:53 am

I'm not a big fan of portal websites.

goandeatsomestuff · 2005-05-27 2:12 am

i love google not only because it has everything I need in a homepage, but now with IG it displays what I want where I want without any of the BS ads or articles associated with some of the other start pages (apple, msn, yahoo, etc). Google is one page, has my email, some news, a quote, and a search bar to begin my day. What could be better? Place a Maps button above the toolbar with Images, Web, etc, and have the quote change every time the page is loaded. Besides that, it's a perfect Home page.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2005-05-22 5:13 am

Googlezon is at it again!

#2 2005-05-22 6:04 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

#3 2005-05-26 4:02 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

#4 2005-05-26 4:29 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

#5 2005-05-26 5:27 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

#6 2005-05-26 8:27 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

unresort wrote:

#7 2005-05-26 3:32 pm

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

#8 2005-05-27 12:15 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

unresort wrote:

#9 2005-05-27 12:53 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

#10 2005-05-27 2:12 am

Re: Googlezon is at it again!

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