Netizen

Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Data Centers And Light Phones

World map depicting Asia Esperanto: Mondmapo bildiganta Azion Español: Ubicación de Asia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If the data centers are pervasive enough and powerful enough, your phone can be light as light. The two extreme ends feed on each other. Larry Ellison is right. There is no cloud. What we refer to as cloud is really these data centers. I am surprised Google lags so far behind in Asia. And I am guessing it lags even further behind in Africa and Latin America. Come on, Google, you can do better than this.

New Google Asia servers expected to bring 30% speed boost when they go live later this year

the new servers could provide up to a 30 percent improvement in the speed of Google services in Asia .... Google already operates seven data centers in the US and facilities in Finland, Belgium and Ireland, but the lack of an Asia center has likely inhibited the company’s potential for growth in the region

The Underbanked, The Underserved

There is a lot of room for for profit microfinance.

Tech’s Hot New Market: The Poor

some 2.5 billion people globally lack access to basic financial services like checking accounts, debit accounts, credit, and insurance. Though not integrated into the mainstream financial system, they will still spend around $6 trillion annually

Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Snapchat, Poke And Facebook

Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

You end up feeling like you have seen this movie before. Facebook tried to do in FourSquare. FourSquare's popularity skyrocketed after Facebook's try.

Pokey

Snapchat, the trendy smartphone app that lets you send photos and videos that self-destruct after a few seconds ....... Facebook constantly “roams the tech universe in search of interesting technology, then mercilessly assimilates all the best stuff into its ever-larger catalog of features.” Over the last couple years it has copied the defining ideas behind Foursquare, Twitter, Google+, Groupon, GroupMe, Instagram, Quora — and now Snapchat. .... The only reason that the app could acquire millions of users in a few months’ time is because Snapchat spread through each of its users’ Facebook friends. Instagram and Pinterest, the two other recent social-networking successes, also benefited tremendously from their users’ Facebook’s connections. .... Every photo that people were sharing through Instagram was a dagger at the heart of Facebook, the world’s largest photo site. That’s why Facebook attempted to copy Instagram—see its Camera app—and then had to buy it. Similarly, every message that you send to your Facebook friends through Snapchat is a lost opportunity for Facebook. That’s why Facebook had to squash it. ... But Poke is already losing to Snapchat in the app standings. Like Facebook’s failed imitations of Instagram and Quora, Poke’s quick decline shows that if Facebook wants to stay on the vanguard of online communication, it needs to act even before it sees an opportunity—by the time somebody else has had success with something, Facebook’s version isn’t going to catch on.

A Social Graph Can't Last 10 Years

Image representing Bijan Sabet as depicted in ...

Image by Spark Capital via CrunchBase

I am saying this before I have read the blog post. I am responding to the title of the blog post. Now let me go read.

Bijan Sabet: Can a social graph last more than 10 years?

Because the graph we have today is much more interesting and useful than previous graphs. We are connected in new ways that touch us deeply. And they have their own characteristics.

Hunter Walk: Trying to be the one true social graph is like trying to hold water in your fist

Facebook needed to buy Instagram because it was creating a mobile-first photo-centric social network. Snapchat is interesting to Facebook because it's creating a mobile-first ephemeral content social network. Twitter was threatening enough to Facebook because of an asymmetric follow graph that Facebook added the equivalent 'subscribe' option. And so it goes... I don't believe Facebook's position as the 'one graph to rule them all' is established. They'll continue to be successful and useful for quite a long time - and they may even be the largest single graph - but it's not going to be the only one of consequence. .... There will be another Instagram, another Snapchat. Facebook can't buy or fast-follow all of the innovations. Can they?

These guys are talking about particular products like Facebook, Twitter, and so on. That is not what I am talking about. I am talking about the real social graph, the one technology tries to emulate. Solitude is when you want to be left alone. What is your social graph then? A good service would know that. When you are with someone you really want to be with, you do not want to be bothered by anyone else. What is your social graph then? The most engaged people in your life - that list changes over time. What I am saying is none of the mentioned services have been able to grab that real social graph.

Google Beating Apple On Software

Image representing Google as depicted in Crunc...

Image via CrunchBase

Hardware is not far. I think Google's Motorola unit is about to create magic. And if Google is to outperform Apple on all the core software, what is to say the Google operating system is not also better?

Google Is Attacking Apple From The Inside Out—And It's Working

Over the past six months, Google has begun to systematically replace core, Apple-made iOS apps with Google-made iOS apps.

In July, Google launched Chrome for iPhone—a Safari replacement.

Then, in October came Google Search—which included a voice search feature to compete with Siri.

In December, Google launched Google Maps to replace Apple Maps, and a much-improved Gmail to replace Apple's core Mail app.

It also put out a new YouTube app, to replace the one that Apple removed during its last iOS upgrade.

Google doesn't plan to stop there.