Written on September 18, 2008 – 10:22 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Written on September 11, 2008 – 5:18 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Google has just challenged Yahoo’s MyBlogLog in a face-to-face battle by posting a very peaceful-like announcement on the Official Google Blog:
At Blogger we’re passionate about helping communities form around blogs. To further that goal, we’ve introduced a new feature that lets you easily follow your favorite blogs and tell the world that you’re a fan. To follow a blog with the Followers’ Gadget, simply click the “Follow This Blog” link. You can show your support for the blog by following it right from your Blogger Dashboard or in Google Reader.
So as you can tell by this message, Google starts the battle in a guerrilla manner since the MyBlogLog rip-off boxes are only featured on Google Blogger blogs. Probably just to test the service for a while and preparing it for the real clash with MyBlogLog.
I think this follow box will particularly popular with beginning bloggers (like Blogger.com bloggers). The ones who are more experienced have their MyBlogLog tracking script running and aren’t waiting for yet another “connect to your friends”-tool.
But.., Google has one secret weapon, a deadly feature that might after all wipe out MyBlogLog: the address book. Calender, Reader, Gmail, and Docs all revolve around this feature. That’s what gives the Google tools structure. The address book is the glue that keeps them all together. No, it’s even better. It’s the DNA of Google’s web apps collection. Whether you want to share a Google Doc, invite somebody for an appointment or tip a good article from a feed, all your contacts are easily available for your sharing-needs. And now, your blog friends are included.
Written on August 18, 2008 – 2:38 pm
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Last Thursday, European Twitterazi experienced a bad start of the day. Their beloved micro blogging service would no longer send SMS updates. Smart phone users can still find ways to receive updates about Twitter conversations. Yet people with less sophisticated mobile devices are in the dark now.
My co-editor Patrick suggested that Twitter should offer a pro-account option, so that people would have to pay for SMS updates. But co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the Twitter blog that he didn’t share this opinion:
International billing is a significant project and not something we are comfortable focusing on before we have a dependable offering. It’s not right to charge for spotty service—and we know there are bugs.
Although Twitter still sends updates to 96 percent of its users, the remaining 4 percent is pretty pissed of. Especially in the UK, Twitter users are quite angry. Read for example the comments on this TechCrunch UK post.
The first commenter on the Techcrunch UK post was Paul Bradshaw from Online Journalism Blog. He called it a “stupid move” and was “in a very bad mood”. He even sacrified his Twitter avatar for the cause. But for Bradshaw, it doesn’t end with just being angry. He’s now actively looking for ways to still get SMS messages from Twitter. Here’s his try:
I realize I’ve described the solutions in a rather cryptic way. Did that on purpose, as I don’t want Bradshaw to miss the reward for his work. So check out the step-for-step instructions on his blog.
Written on August 11, 2008 – 11:50 pm
Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten,
Apple received a lot of criticism lately for the .Mac to MobileMe transition. But Google today demonstrated that online email can be tough. Gmail has been down for a while now with no information except an error message.
If you need to get to your email you can still access the HTML basic version of Gmail. Even the professional Gmail app is down for the first time in 1,5 years. The Google Calendar and other Google apps seem to be working at this moment.
Oh well…
UPDATED: The 502 Service Temporarily Overloaded message is gone. Gmail is up again. We can all relax again…
UPDATED 2: Google’s official statement: “We feel your pain, and we’re sorry“.
Written on June 26, 2008 – 11:56 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Two weeks ago, Google Blogoscoped’s Philipp Lenssen was welcomed on gmail.com with the following message:
We can’t provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we’re called Google Mail here instead. If you’re traveling in Germany, you can access your mail at http://mail.google.com. Oh, and we’d like to link the URL above, but we’re not allowed to do that either. Bummer. For general information about Google, please visit www.google.com or www.google.de.
Of course, he directly linked this to the lost trademark battle of Google. German Daniel Giersch owns “G-mail” and successfully sued the Internet giant for using it. Google had already replaced the Gmail logo with a Google Mail logo and now it seemed that they’ve retreated even further. Anyhow, a few hours later, Gmail appeared to be in its normal shape again.
But now, rumor has it that the sorry message is back…, for good. Several blogs like Slashdot, Betanews, and WebhostDirectory report that the screen is here to stay:
I’m sure on of our German readers can confirm this. If so, I feel sorry for you to type in mail.google.com as it’s six characters longer. That seems like a minor effort, but let’s assume you check your email ten times a day. Then, all of a sudden, it’s 60 characters extra. Now consider the number of Germans using Gmail, probably millions, and multiply it with 60. All this extra typing work for the copyright needs of one man. What’s this world coming to?
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