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Google I/O 2010 Keynote (Live Blogging)

by walter.roth on May 19, 2010

Google I/O Wednesday

05/19/10

Thurs keynote starts at 8:30 am …

I/O stands for the first thing a developer learns, and also Innovation and Open …

Keynote:

  • The web grown up
  • All other platforms have declined, the Internet continues to double …
  • Its incredibly important
  • 2004 Ajax was introduced
  • People started to not just publish pages but also applications
  • Now, web applications are becoming more powerful thanks to HTML5
  • Web apps need to be able to use resources locally
  • More HTML5, supported by all “modern browsers”
  • Another important trend is Mobile
  • More HTML5 on the Mobile web
  • Gmail Demo
    • Using HTML5 file api’s, drag and drop files into an email as an attachment
    • Using HTML5 notification api’s, get notifications when an email gets in
  • Charles Pritchard (Founder, MugTug)
    • Darkroom app
    • 2004 used html4, image editor online
    • Now using html5, move a lot of that to the desktop
    • Editing offline, using cache (Application Cache, local storage and file reader)
    • Quick to load, quick to close and quick to use … (next generation of apps)
    • Using JavaScript …
  • Jim Lanzone (Ceo, clicker)
    • TVGuide for the web, massive db of premium content (launched a few months ago)
    • See Charlie Rose archives
    • Start typing, get show pages, then hit play (shows video)
    • Joke about Lost, hoping someone would ask a following up question … finally…
    • Purely native, very rich thanks to HTML5 and the guys at Chrome
  • Use of video, its one of the most important mediums on the web
  • On the web you have a lot of formats to choose from …
  • We think video should have a great, free and open option just like images and pgn
  • Invested over $120M to contribute to this vision
  • On2 … based in NY, working in video since 90 92, over 2B+ installs, used by flash, skype, etc, Acquired by Google in 2010
  • Today: announcing that we are open sourcing VP8 under an open source and royalty free license
  • WEBmproject.org …. webM
  • Mike Shaver of mozilla
    • You tube will be support webM video
    • high quality video, built into the stac, with great performance
    • Mozilla is very interested in open video
    • Have seen the importance of universal video
    • Video is key of the web experience and needs to be part of the web
    • Just like JavaScript, HTML, CSS etc are all used without strings attached, now video will be like that
    • The web is gaining important capabilities, so browsers need to take advantage ofthat
    • Takes advantage of multiple cores, low and high bandwidth, etc.
    • Its high quality and embedded into the stack, use like text
    • Project London: 400 some lines of codes (text, video, animations, controls, etc)
    • Firefox supporting WebM, we want to see this available in all browsers for all users and developers to use
  • CTO of Opera, Hokem
    • Published a call for video on the web manifesto a while back
    • Not easy, syntax would be easy <video>, what was hard is the free format, <video src=webm> webm joins this list….
    • labs.opera.com
    • Tim didn’t patent html, name didnt’ patent JavaScript, I didn’t patent ss
    • Graphics is text, and text on screen … all using HTML5
    • We’ll have very rich pages with HTML5 and CSS3
    • Done right, we can get ride of over half images (some are just for styles)
    • “To the web community, start using this…”
    • “To Google, I’d like to say think you, its very civil of you…”
    • I look forward to work with Google in the future to make sure the web is open …
    • We believe web access will be a human right of this century
  • Kevin Lynch, CTO
    • Fun to see new technologies come out for people to express themselves
    • Today focusing on HTML5 and how we are working with it
    • Dreamwever demo (most popular pro html editor next to note pad)
    • How do you do this across screens (mobile devices)
    • Multi screen view (see how it looks across devices)
    • Demo transition effects, works consistently and smoothly
    • How do we support enabling graphics?
    • A table of available seats at a restaurant
    • Illustrator supports SVB
    • JavaScript code to create colors that represent free vs. busy
    • Integrating graphics editing and using HTML5
    • How we can do animations within css and HTML5
    • Motocycle ad demo
    • Putting VP8 in our flash player reaching all of our users …
    • Working with Google on a bunch of devices with flash, will say more tomorrow about that ….
  • GoogleVP returns
  • One problem on the web is finding applications on the web
  • Easy to find one of many chess games on the web
  • But hard to find the good one
  • Can’t see the ratings, uses, etc.
  • Its easier on the phone to find such a game, but not on the web
  • Second problem, developers need reach
  • Third, developers need moniizing
  • Should be easy to create and sale a premium application on the web
  • CHROME WEBSTORE preview (New Chrome page)
  • You can add apps to this new tab page, eg, TweetDeck
  • TweetDeck has a complete HTML5 version, in browser, slick, drag and drop
  • Notification api, geo location api to show tweets on map, etc.
  • Conviently installed on the chrome tab
  • Chrome Web Store has applications, see ratings, revneue, see how many are using it, see comments, buy, etc….
  • You can buy apps there … one click, adds to the tab page
  • Games is a huge web app category
  • Plants vs. Zombie
  • Lego Star Wars. Different level of game, 3D, Legos and Starwars (will work well with this audience)
  • Unity is porting all of their games to work natively in Chrome, rich 3D gaming experiences
  • CONTENT is another important category (newspapers, magazines, etc)
  • Recreating magazine experience on the web
  • Introduces Terry McDonell, editor of Sports Illustrated Group
  • Shows video with “swagger” and shows where we are coming from Sports Illustrated
  • Live html5 prototype, showing the possiblitiy of bringing rich magazine experience to alll these devices
  • Pulls the best of the web and the best of magazine
  • Rearrange the magazine by users
  • Live polls, Videos, save for later w/ video playlist, scroll navigation with thumbnail pages, Typography is important,
  • The idea of being able to go deeper, wider, etc is important …
  • Sharing with friends with the social networks, etc…
  • The advertisers need to work hard too .. useful info … so useful it becomes content itself
  • Its would be new to actually develop it …
  • View lenses, where to buy it on map, etc…
  • Using, css animation, embedd fonts, drag and drop and custom drag and drop, html5 video, geolocation, web workers, app cache, web db, feeds, google maps api, google buzz api, polls, lazy loading pages — The wonder factory
  • Needs to be open, search able, available everywhere, social, etc. – then we can get people to pay for it (didn’t catch all of these)
  • Back to VP of GoogleDocs
  • Over 70M active users of Chrome (great graph showing adoption)
  • Chrome Web Store: coming soon
  • Chrome and Chrome OS
  • Free and paid apps
  • The future of the web is HTML5 – IE Blog april 29, 2010

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000167 EndHTML:0000017929 StartFragment:0000000487 EndFragment:0000017913

  • Lars Rasmaussen ( Google Wave)
  • Last year showed you a vision of Wave, today its a real product, we are opening it up now, no need invite anymore
  • We are integrating it into GoogleApps (we might be crazy)
  • Wave really shins as a place to get work done …
  • Especially if you have remote collaboration on a project
  • It changes the way you work, sometimes in subtle and surprising ways …
  • Hotel using it to track tasks throughout the day, keeping everyone on the same page
  • If you’ve tried Wave before, please check it out again
  • Have added a lot on front end and back end
  • Google robots can live anywhere now, making it easy to integrate with your applicatio
  • Adding media and attachment features for both robot and wavve api’s
  • Can built inline viewers for wave
  • Also creating more hooks to integrate your product with wave
  • E.g., Salesforce is showing how they are embedding Wave into Salesforce Chatter
  • People like SAP and their StreamWork will support federated Wave
  • Open sourcing more components, like in browser editor (one of the hardest pieces to write)
  • Also starting to publish the client server protocol (didn’t catch exactly what he said)
  • Google Director of Engineering; David Glazer
  • Hockey Shirt with Web Worker on front, HTML 5 on the back
  • The Web – Is Heading to Work
  • More Web Applications at WorkaroundsGreat chart (get it, email, accounting, sales, customer service and support, enterprise mgmt, employee performance, recruitng, elearning, web conferencing, etc….) in order
  • Issues
    • It takes too long to build apps (idea to app is too hard)
    • Employees work everywhere, on all devices (apps you build for them need to run all devices)
    • Apps are trapped (choices of architecture trap you, locks you into a deployment model)
    • Too many apps to manage (we hear big enterprises have over BIG NUMBER, in thousands, didn’t catch it of apps to manage)
    • Fast and familiar development, mobile flexible deployment, powerful app management.
    • Bringing the cloud to the enterprises
    • Open gives choice, and choice drives innovation
    • Announcing: Google <3 Vmware
  • Paul Moritz, CEO of VM Ware
    • Allowing existing applications take advantage of the cloud (customers have huge investments in applications they can’t walk away from, the only hope for them is virtualiziong, put them in a black box and add functionality, sliding applications around)
    • Allowing operations to become more cloud like, extending their data centers outside their own facitlies into ones they can rent from etc
    • The questoins becomes, what about NEW APPLIcatioNS?
    • There will be many clouds out there, internally, public ones like Google/Amazon….
    • Wouldn’t it be great to be able to write applications that are portable across different clouds
    • What is the OS for the cloud? What is the level of abstraction that will allow apps to work great across clouds
    • The new operating system are these new frameworks
    • Developers have voted with their feet, working with frameworks that deliver more productivity
    • Thats why we acquired SpringWork (they believed it was just too hard to develop java applications, developed a light weight but extremely powerful platform, started it in open source, now more than half of java development uses it, etc)
    • Wouldn’t it be able to give the largest body of develoeprs, the java community, to give them the ability to write java applications
    • Worked with google, to share what we’ve built on the backend, with what Google has done with the front end
    • To give an open source layer
    • Cloud portability …
  • Back to Googl
  • Fast and familiar development
  • GWT 2.1 + Roo integration.
  • Ben Alex, Senior Staff Engineer, SpringSource/VMware
    • GWT takes Java source code, compiles it as optimized JavaScript code that works in modern web
    • Used Google Web to collaborate on making Roo to work with GWT
    • Demo started … buiding application live on stage
    • Expense Reports (near to your hearts)
    • GWT front end with ROO backend, in under 200 keystrokes
    • Roo is open source tool you can download
    • Sets up database (persistence layer)
    • Creates tables, employees, fields, gets reports, date fields, etc.
    • Now to the front end … GWT, will look at the domain model and make a front end …
    • Tables on left, fields for the object on the right
    • Handles the CRUD
    • If want to add columns, like comments
    • Free IDE with Roo integration
    • Can edit in Java fashion, string comment;
    • Roo detects that you’ve updated the java class, and it updates the GWT
    • Comment field is added to the interface
    • In a few minutes, gone from empty directory, get full round capabilities, etc.
    • Under 200 keystrokes later you have the basics of an application
    • Demo end
    • After adding a little UI polish, its now a rich web applicationsIts very fast, shows refreshing in terms of drawing UI and getting the data
    • App is only 100k, optimize JS including CSS et al
    • Don’t have to wait for new page, you can click on an boject and the details come into the screen at the screen shifts left
    • IT gets the data you need when you need it
    • Traditional spits out a lot of html and data
    • With HTML5, it just fetches exactly the data you need and then populates the page with that data
    • Speeds up the app and makes it feel more responsive to what you are doing
    • Developers know all this already
    • Whats new, is, how do you get this working well
    • Developed “speed tracer” … its a chrome extensions
    • HTML5 wizzing interface built with GWT … tells me down to the mili second where the time is going (script checking, garbage collection, etc) Its like a xray machine for your browser’s guts
    • Sometimes its the server that is slow, not just the browser
    • Spring has that, its called SpringInsight
    • We’ve combined that information with SpeedTracer.
    • The way it works on your desk is not how it works in production … use the same tools to your production server … Appstats, introduced by google app engine, etc
    • So we’ve brought it into speedtracer
    • Want to give easy ways to connect widgets together with minimal code
    • New set of data presentation widgets
    • You’ve seen dozens of ajax demos where they show you the kitchen sink
    • So how to make this interesting?
    • 18M records, show it everything works fast
    • 125k employees, 5k expense reports for about 20 million line items … non trivial amounts of data
    • FAST. Claps.
    • Sorting is often done.
    • Done quickly. 5M records.
    • Search limits down fast. Very itunes like.
    • Started empty directory, made app, spent a few days to make it fuller, tuned it on the desktop, then tuned it again on server, uploaded massive data (took a few days to upload it), and continues to run in the browser as intended re: performance … we think thats kind of cool.
  • Fast and familiar development (done)
  • Now show you how to make it available from all devices
  • Ben and Bruce come back up, to show how it works on mobile devices using the same libraries (GWT 2.1 Widget Libraries)
  • For mobile device, more constraints to deal with
  • Customized the expense app for different devices
  • iPad, works the same way, small adaptations like finger dragging
  • Android, (wifi issues) trying to show adding a record on Android, gets updated on iPad list view
  • Finally works with some great demo fast thinking … round of applause (real time updates)
  • Shows manager deny the $150 entry, and the android list gets updated with x icon
  • Aside from the network glitches … the arc … empty directory, 200 keystrokes later you go tan ap, then have library that builds apps that work with a lot of data, have performance tools for desktop and clouds … and these apps can be adapted for use on all other devices …
  • Back to Google VP
  • Now showing Flexible Deployemet (how make sure you are not logged in to one architecture)
  • Coud Portability, run your app where you want
  • Google, vCloud, vSphere
  • Same app run in many different places
  • What need to change in the different deployments?
  • Because its built on open standards, then drag and drop to any server that supports these standards
  • It just works, because open standards leads to innovation
  • Now, powerful app management
  • You will have a lot of apps
  • Introduces Kevin Gibbs, Software Engineer
  • Enterprise == Scaling Applications
  • Warning: lots and lots of apps
  • Growing problem: managing the growing number of applicatoins
  • Going from a few to a hundred web apps, a few employees to thousands, can be a challenge
  • GoogleApp Engine hosts over 100k apps used every week
  • App Engine’s Enterprise Challenges
    • Easier to management
    • Better support
    • More reliable
    • Key features
    • Predictable pricing (better way to pay, engineers paying with a credit card each time is not scalable)
  • New product: Google App Engine for Business
    • Domain console (security controls)
    • Pro supporting
    • Formal SLA
    • SSL and SQL databases (the choice of using bigtable or your own database)
    • Sensible pricing (based on something simple, applications and users)
  • Over have a billion daily page views;
  • Easy to use, easy to get started for free
  • Pay by the app: $8 per month per use up to $1000 / application
  • Heard from CIO’s used over 60% of budget to keep the lights on, we can help move that to zero
  • If your app doesn’t have any usage, you don’t pay a dime
  • Demo starts
  • Find your app easily within organization
  • Creating an app has auto configuration with domain main
  • Wants to add a blog
  • Security by default
  • Lists all the apps created in a company
  • I can see which ones I have access to and ones that I don’t (encourages collaboration internally between developers)
  • Permissions: who has access to each applications and at what level
  • Eg., developer access, view data, create new data, change data, etc.
  • Some apps (eg., code review app), only listed as viewer … can view logs, but can’t change the data, or the app, etc.
  • Some apps I don’t have any access to, but I can request access by clicking a link
  • Let’s look at the CIO or Domain Administer view…
  • I don’t have apps cause I don’t write code.googleBut I have full access to any applicationGrant developers access, remove developers that have left the compay, etc.
  • GoogleApps for business is a new focus, its not available for everyone to use, its just an announcement, etc.
  • Today we are publishing the roadmap, some will be ready sooner than later, so you can plan
  • code.google.com
  • I’ve showed you a new version of AppEngine that is suited to businesses need and how to manage all your application
  • Google VP
  • Faster dev, all devices, cloud portability, juggle thousands of apps
  • google.com/cloudportability ; also at vmware.com/cloudportability
  • The Web is Build for the Future …
  • Because you choose to build on open standards, you were ready for the future …
  • What you’ve been building is

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Google I/O 2010 Boot Camp Live Blogging (Social 101 Session BUZZ)

by walter.roth on May 18, 2010

Google I/O Bootcamp NotesWill-Norris

#iobootcamp on twitter

05/18/10

Introduction to Google Buzz
Speaker: Will Norris
Google Buzz allows users to share updates, photos, videos and more from right inside of Gmail or
using the new developer APIs. This session will provide a high-level view of the APIs available for
interacting with Buzz, and the open protocols they are built on.

Social 101: Buzz

The Conversational Web

  • Previously there was more consumers of content than creators
  • We believe you should have interactions across the web regardless of where its posted or where you’ve entered the web

Google Buzz

  • Baked into gmail, where you are spending a lot of time already
  • Keep track of whats going on and not losing it all
  • Post to Buzz widget, can put on your own site
  • Buzz andorid app, and html5 app

Relevant Technologies

  • Enough to get a frame of reference for later in the sessions
  • Atom (and friends) … xml format for syndicating web content … great for blogs … doesn’t go much further for that … so extensions were added
  • Like an image inclosure …
  • Atom + MediaRSS … eg adding height and width of image to be displayed correctly
  • Atom + GeoRSS … Location is becoming more important, most devices have data … to add geolocation data to Atom is GeoRSS … point and feature name …
  • Atom + GeoRSS + Portable Contacts … common format for importing address book … uses “poco”
  • Atom + Threading … To create real conversations about this, not just posts … this specifies this is a reply to this post … Here is the post and point to comments … OR …. I am a comment in reply to something else … it can be a video in reply to another video (e.g., youtube, etc).

Activity Streams

  • What are the right things to add to Atom to capture whats going on in applications today (streams)
  • Its not so much about the content, its the actions on the content that is important
  • What do these feeds have in common? (showed actoin lists, like uploaded videos, updates, uploads by a person, favorites of video’s uploaded by person, etc)
  • Not many things in common
  • The conversational web is not just about the content, its sharing the video … its not just sharing but also letting people know that you “favorited” the content, etc… doesn’t really fit well in the Atom model
  • The examples are two same action on two different sites, the other two are two different actions on the same site
  • How do we get away from these dumb feeds, add some more meta data, to do interesting things
  • Actor + Verb + Object (start simple)
  • Ted committed revision 42
  • Cami favorites a video
  • Ted friended Cami
  • Atom + Activity streams (showing how to do this)
  • What does adding this additional meta data buy us?
  • We are still early in it, havn’t seen a lot of applicatoins doing interesting things on this
  • But you can image, like an app that wants to Pivot on these things (e.g., one object tyep is “reviews”)
  • Show me all of my “Reviews” regardless of where I created the reviews.
  • Or show me all my “Favorites” regardless of where I favored them.

Salmon

  • I have my blog with comments and Likes
  • I want my blog to get as big an audience as I want, so I syndicate to Buzz, FriendFeed, etc.
  • Each of them have their own comments and likes
  • We are fracturing things
  • You want to engage people where they are and comment there, but it would be nice to have that content to come back to your initial place of post
  • Salmon does that, allows comments and likes to swim upstream
  • When someone leaves a comment, it will notify my initial site
  • It can go for any object that is taken on any object
  • This works cross sites, like mentioning an individual with an @ sign, (he mentioned clickset users, status.net and they use salmon and have cross mentioning) … Buzz will be supporting this hopefully in the not so distant future
  • Check out Bridging the Islands 3-4pm room 9 hosted by creator of Salmon (TASK)

PubSubHubbub

  • You’ll hear a lot about this this week
  • It hits the core of a lot of what Google is doing, beyound google
  • Its part of making the web faster
  • Its enabling the realtime updates of things like appfeeds
  • Your rss reader keeps checking with your blog for updates, it keeps checking (e.g., once an hour maybe)
  • As a site owner, I’d love for them to stop hammering me … one or two users is not a big deal … but many “the thundering heard” will tumble your site on godaddy …
  • The idea solution is a different model
  • Replaces your blog with a HUB
  • Your blog posts to the Hub
  • The Hub pushes it out to the subscribers
  • Ream app Wed 4:15 pm -5:15pm same room as SALMON

Oauth

  • Password anti-pattern (e.g., entering in your twitter u and p, or email u and p to set up an account and import your contacts) … gives away the keys to your kingdom …..
  • Your valet key for the web
  • Valet Key (limits speed to 20 mph, limit total distance to 20 miles, reistrict access to the trunk and glove box)
  • Oauth Token (limited to particular app, what data applicatoin can access, how long the data can be accessed, revokable)
  • “Find your friends the right way…”
  • From twitter takes you to Google, it tells you what the app wants and will do with it
  • e.g., asking for one time access
  • Then goes to flickr and they match your contacts with people on flickr

Big buzz announcements tomorrow you may want to go to that session …

On Thurs there is a building on buzz session ….

Q: why not use (couldn’t hear, xmtp)

A: We don’t believe in having data in silos. We wanted to use existing standards. There was a project called Diso that was all about distributed social network of sorts. The most distributed is everyone is their own node. The other extreme is having one huge network. We were building a lot on wordpress. With that in mind specifically, we choose (couldn’t hear) instead of (couldn’t hear xtmp). Another issues is OneSocialWeb. XMTP is what they are building on. Similar to what DISO is trying to do.

Q: Who are the early adopters?

A: ActivityStreams (Myspace and facebook have done some work with it; Microsoft life is using ActivityStreams) … they are not all 100% compatible with each other. Slight different implementations. 6Apart CEO is the primary editor of the spec. Facebook is involved. MSFT is as well. Lots of collaboration there.

Q: Can PubSubHubbub support authenticated feeds?

A: Not yet, its at the top of our TODO list. Oauth will be a prime way to deal with authenticated feeds. It will probably be address with PubSubHubbub. Today there is no good example of what that will look like. If you have a good idea, please join the community and add your thoughts on how that should work. (Said the issues is something about being able to trust the source or something …).

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Live blogging Google I/O from Android

by walter.roth on May 18, 2010

image

image

Tomorrow is Googl the I/O. Today I am attending its Boot Camp. This post marks the first time I am using a mobile apparently to post to WordPress. I will most Likely use my MacBook Pro for more posts, bu I could not resist starting off with the new a Droid phone Google gifted to me!

Update: Ok, I’m now editing from my MacBook pro. I love my Android but still am not thrilled with the recklessness of the touch keyboard. I’ve accidentally erased and exited accidentally without saving twice at a conference.

That said, I think its only time I get better at it, and they figure out ways to prevent that from happening. Seems like some intelligence just waiting to be baked in.

I’ll be posting more of my notes fromt he event.

Walter…

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Stealth as a Publicity Tool: Does It Make Sense for Startups?

by jenn.kho on April 14, 2010

jennifer_kho

SweatInvestor Guest Post: Jennifer Kho is a San Francisco Bay Area-based freelancer with more than a decade of reporting experience. Her stories have appeared in The New York Times’ Green Inc. blog, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, MIT’s Technology Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Reuters.com, Earth2Tech and more. She has been covering green technology since 2004, when she initiated cleantech coverage for Red Herring magazine. She also helped launch Greentech Media’s news operations as its founding editor in 2007.


screen-shot-2010-04-14-at-104650-am1

Sure, the Google Campfire last month announced its apps marketplace by the glow of kitschy fake campfires, under a canopy of fake tree silhouettes, in a room with a tent and campfire-logo fleece blankets as giveaways. But only the props were fake. The event was backed by a real product with 50 real customers. And, as fitting an enterprise product, it definitely qualified as a restrained launch for a company as big as Google.

Bloom Energy used some of the same tactics when it launched its fuel cells in February — although there was certainly nothing restrained about the event, which took place at eBay headquarters and included California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and former U.S. Secretary of State Collin Powell. As with Google Apps, Bloom kept (mostly) quiet until its launch and then made a splash by announcing key customers, including Wal-Mart, eBay, FedEx, Staples and, of course, Google.

The result, in the case of Bloom, was a huge bang of publicity. With its star lineup of Kleiner Perkins investors and directors such as Powell, the company scored a feature on 60 Minutes and many high-profile publications followed. All the hype has sparked envy from other startups that want the same attention.

Should other startups take a page from the launch book of Bloom, Google or Apple, which also has been known to keep quiet until a product is ready (although not in the case of the iPad), and get more attention by keeping quiet?

If You’re Not Google

Well, it doesn’t always work. One major difference, of course, is that Google and Apple launches are guaranteed to be big news. As a reporter, I knew I’d attend the Campfire regardless of what was being launched – and I was sure I’d get a story out of it. And Bloom had the advantage of big newsworthy backers and partners right out of the gate. Not so for most startups.

Using stealth as a marketing strategy comes with plenty of potential pitfalls, as well. Of course, the main reason to keep a company or technology quiet is to protect intellectual property. Once patents are secured, the decision becomes one of strategy.

Antenna Group CEO Melody Haller

Melody Haller, CEO of public-relations firm Antenna Group, explains that if you’re a big company, you have two choices: One is freezing out the competition by pre-announcing products that aren’t ready yet, which is a tactic Microsoft is famous for. (Once Microsoft has announced it is entering a space, competing startups are less likely to score backing from investors or partners as they wait to see what Microsoft has in store.) The other is waiting until a product is ready before launching it, like Google does.

The Cost of Quiet

The choices aren’t the same for most startups, as speaking out is less likely to deter competitors. Keeping quiet might help artificially bolster a launch, but could have the opposite effect if the company isn’t viewed as newsworthy enough to cover. In the meantime, the company may be missing out on potential partnerships and customers that could ultimately help it succeed. “It comes at a cost,” Haller says.

The extent to which a startup should talk largely depends on how much it needs others, she explains. For example, a company with a limited customer base and good access to those customers needs far less publicity than a company targeting consumers or hard-to-reach customers. Building a reputation can help companies meet those partners, or get them to pick up the phone.

In general, if a company’s in stealth mode after patents are filed, it’s a sign its product isn’t ready yet – or it’s still working out an issue that might not stand up to public scrutiny. Personally, I tend to be skeptical if a company makes big claims while keeping its product hidden from public view. Most entrepreneurs I’ve interviewed are proud of their products and want to discover any problems early.

Public Troubleshooting

The danger of avoiding public scrutiny is the same as the danger of skipping peer review in science experiments – you could be missing a significant challenge which could end up being an Achilles heel. Once a product is launched, a company will usually have to spend more time and money to correct the problem than if it discovered the issue earlier.

By isolating themselves, startups also can end up victims of their own company cultures, Haller points out. Because startups tend to be dominated by researchers and engineers, rather than employees focused on marketing and selling products, they might focus on the science and technology and miss usability problems that their customers might face. Companies tend to be optimistic, which can be a key to success, but could also blind them to potential failures.

Finally, if startups succeed in generating huge launch buzz, it could be setting itself up for a fall if it can’t meet the lofty expectations it has (perhaps inadvertently) created. In other words, the greater the publicity, the higher the expectations – and the easier it is to plunge in the public eye.

Slow and Steady…

In the case of hardware, for example, it’s important to match publicity with the company’s ability to deliver products, Haller says. If a big launch creates more demand than a company can fulfill, customers will be disappointed when they can’t buy the product and the company could suffer a backlash, she says.

The best strategy depends on the specific product and its target audience. When the product is a free social networking tool, for example, which depends mainly on popularity for success and doesn’t face product availability obstacles, the challenges are different. In that case, it’s more important than ever to get the word out early and test the product with a beta group of early adopters while the user base grows, Haller says.

All in all, the biggest point startups can take away from Google and Apple product launches is the importance of building a company, she says. Google and Apple didn’t take shortcuts, but first built strong companies and products – then used savvy marketing strategies to get the most out of their launches. They need publicity because the success of their products depends on having users, but they deserve the buzz they get because they have – for the most part – lived up to the claims and expectations they have set, Haller says.

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Initial Thoughts on GoogleApps Marketplace

by walter.roth on March 13, 2010

Jenn Kho shared her front row access to the Google CampfireOne event last week allowing SweatInvestor to be one of the first sites to report live on Google’s announcement of the GoogleApp Marketplace.  She also wrote an article for AOL’s Dailyfinance entitled: Google Opens Market for Enterprise Apps.

In 2010 SweatInvestor plans to slowly build its presence at such events and to establish a few formats for SweatInvestors to have lively and informed dialog as it relates to their SweatInvestor expertise, credibility and network.

The current thinking is to make these types of posts sort of like merging the Huffington Post with the Techcrunch format/focus for SweatInvestors to join in on the conversation.  We might even throw in a little Edge.org and Charlie Rose formats/styles while we are at it. There will probably be a few micro formats as well as longer formats that might include video, podcasts, etc. Yup, its still early. Lots of ideas being considered and mashed up.

For me, one of my SweatInvestor expertise is in setting up Inside Sales organizations for startups.  This includes formulating how a startup can create successful cold calling campaigns and cultures. As I watched the live stream from Hawaii, I concluded that the GoogleApp Marketplace is definitely worth exploring for startups, especially given GoogleApps Reseller program.

From a sales perspective, leveraging Google’s core offerings, brand name and market momentum while extending it with your startup’s secret sauce via the new API’s, is potentially the perfect inside sales platform for Customer Development. I plan to elaborate on this as I dig into the details for my own startup currently in incubation stages, called AppFeeds. In the meantime, please use the comment box below to ask any questions you might want covered or if you wish to give your take on the announcement,  inside sales for Startups or potential formats for the SweatInvestor blog reporting from innovative and/or exclusive live events.

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Google Launches Apps Marketplace at Campfire Event

by jenn.kho on March 9, 2010

google_campfireI’m at the Google Campfire One event at Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., and the company’s just launched a new marketplace for business app called, simply, Google Apps Marketplace.

The idea is that businesses that use Google Apps will get access to far more apps that are then integrated into the same Google Apps interface — and that can work together.

Meanwhile, developers can sell their apps to the more than 2 million businesses — and 25 million users — that already use Google Apps, integrate those apps into the Google Apps control bar and navigation bar and access data from other apps (in order to, say, add events to Google Calendar or tap into users’ contact lists) with users’ permission.

All that doesn’t come free, of course. Developers pay a one-time fee of $100 and a 20 percent revenue share.  But it’s not likely Google will have trouble attracting developers at this price. Google’s already signed on 50 partners for its marketplace.

You can watch the event here: http://www.youtube.com/googledevelopers.

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Live Blogging: Google’s Web Search Evolution Event 2009 (Real Time Search)

by walter.roth on December 7, 2009

Google Search Event (Note: SweatInvestors are welcomed to make posts from interesting events, especially if the events are “invite only”. Both to share their access as well as to share their unique perspective on the event.)

Live Notes

I’m sitting at a Google launch event with no idea of what will be launched…(for full live blogging notes, go to my personal blog at www.WalterRoth.com.)

A Few High Lights

10:13: Marissa Mayer jumps onto the stage… She outlined 4 major focuses of Google…

10:18: Vic Gundotra, VP of Engineering appears on stage… Trends:

  1. Computing: Moore’s Law
  2. Connectivity: More connections from More Devices
  3. The cloud: access to huge resources
  4. Mobile devices: video, speakers, gps, camera, etc.

By themselves, these sensors on this android phone are not so special. But within context to the cloud, its much more. They becomes eyes and ears.

Location…wants to make an integral part of all products. In Japan, everyone always hangs on to their mobile devices, always within 1 meter. Same here.

Making “Location” a first class object. (I’ve worked at a Location based company before, I’ve seen this coming, and its huge.  Looking forward to seeing how this rolls out and how it relates to all the GIS/LOCATION/ETC companies that are starting to be introduced to the market. Its just the beginning.)

GoogleGoggles - lets you use a picture as the query. Gives eyes to the internet…

Why is this product in GoogleLabs?  Because we are just in the beginning. Still lots of room to improve…. We are at the beginning of the beginning… 10:43

Amit Gundotra arrives on screen to make the big announcement in search, but first, a little history… The history of information flow:

  • Kids asking grandpa, “Should I eat those beans?” “no, they are poisonous”…
  • Then the printing press…knowledge spread around the world a lot quicker…
  • Servers: billions of documents available to users via search engines…(crawled the info every months, indexed it and then published monthly…then faster, now crawls every few minutes…in today’s world, that is not fast enough…the world updates info every second, twitter, blogs, etc. Info is being created at a pace that we’ve never seen before. Seconds matter).

Announcement: Google Real Time Search Google relevance technology meets the real-time web. Relevance, Relevance, Relevance.

11:03 - Talks about the huge amount of work that goes into making this Google InnovationsHad to develop dozens of real time technologies to make search real time…

Query hotness, probability of relevance, author quality, tweet quality, language model, topicality, Query volume fluctuation, etc…

We at Google will not be satisfied when the speed of light is the only barrier between you and your information.

11:07 - Back to Marissa…. Facebook will be providing a live feed from public pages, and will be included in real time search. Same for MySpace.  Twitter is already in there.

Marissa Concludes: last year we laid out our vision of search (the 4 modes). Now we talk about adding eyes and ears in real time. We did a lot in just one short year.

Q: Can you disclose the financial details of these partnershps? Or at least if there are details?

A: we can’t disclose the financial details. MySpace Chief Product Officer Jason Hirschhorn

Funny back and forth, as expected, no comment. Interesting implications either way, great question…after the event as the guy from Myspace, picture right, was leaving, as if rock star, people paused asking Marissa questions on the side of the stage, and everyone, including Marissa, directed their attention and questions to him:  can YOU comment on any financial components to the google/myspace deal?  No comment, of course. But could have been straight from a movie screen play.

Marissa Google Questions My Wrap-Up Comments

Today was a great glimpse of what its like to Live Blog with the fishes (i.e., big media).  We’ll see where 2010 will take me and how many “back stage” access events I will find my way into. I look forward to any pointers from readers who are knowledgeable of the press circuit. Google no doubt is an amazing company with a lot of smart folks.  Their focus on search is incredibly smart, especially because it clearly has become the most important component to any application.  Or rather, in my opinion, is 80% or more of an application if done right. Answering the question of whats important to a user right now, right where they are (i.e., here), continues to become more more valuable as the number of object types, contributing devices and real time updates grows and is indexed by Google…done right, navigation controls are less important, and the user is simply provided with a search results page (maybe with special presentation or refinement controls).

On a personal note… One of my goals for 2010 is to set the foundation of getting press passes to unique events to meet and interview innovative people.  So, I’m giving Live Blogging its first go. I’m wiredless up and ready to update live. If there is anyone out there that is knowledgeable about obtaining press passes, or has advice on how to make live blogging, please comment below.

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