Author Archive
By Ginger Lennon
Google not only lets you search for content, but now they will help you create and publish it (minor note: they will make money off your content). Yesterday, Google rolled out Knol – a site they’ve been testing for about seven months that allows “experts” to contribute articles under a Creative Commons license.
Although many are calling Knol the Wikipedia Killer, there are some fundamental differences between the sites. 1 – Wikipedia functions through “Wisdom of the Crowds” while Knol relies on one “expert” to write on a topic. 2 – Changes made to a Knol article must first be approved by the author, making the usability similar to About.com. 3 – Knol pages will make money through Google AdSense, a program Wikipedia does not use.
Controversy has quickly arisen around whether or not content on Knol will get pushed to the forefront to promote the interests of its parent company. For the time being, Wikipedia is still the leader in content, with over 2.5 million articles submitted to the English version alone – all of which typically appear in the top Web search results on Google – but it will remain to be seen if Knol will take the lead.
The New York Times spoke to a Google spokesperson and reports: “We will treat Knol pages as we treat other Web pages,” said Cedric Dupont, a Google product manager. “If there is a Knol that is the first place in search results, it deserves that place.”
Is Google gaining too much power, dipping its toes in both the content creation and delivery pools? Are they just upset Wikipedia didn’t buy into AdSense? If we all trust one “expert’s” article on Google, aren’t we closing ourselves off to the power of collective intelligence? Would love to hear your thoughts.
In the meantime, you can learn more about Knol here on Wikipedia.com. (Irony at it’s finest)
July 24th, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
RaceTalk recently connected with Lewis Cunningham of EnterpriseDB while attending the Xconomy Forum: The Promise and Reality of Cloud Computing, and he graciously agreed to answer some of our (many) questions about cloud computing – for example, why is this technology creating so much buzz, who are the players to watch, and which applications and companies will benefit most from jumping into the cloud?
Q: As cloud computing is a term that continues to be developed, how would you describe the cloud? How does it differ from SaaS?
A: You’re right that it continues to be defined. Ask 10 people and you’ll likely get 10 different answers. I think the best way to differentiate them is to look at the use case. When you use a SaaS, you are truly using a service. It might be CRM, ERP, or any other type of service. It may allow you to customize the experience, change colors, add a logo, etc, but you are still using a service.
Cloud computing lets you decide what you’ll be running. In the case of Google, you get an IDE and you write your program. It can interact with all of the Google services (mail, documents, maps, etc) via APIs. With Amazon, you load an operating system and your choice of tools. You’ll run whatever applications you chose to run. If you have applications on aging hardware, it might make sense to migrate them to the cloud and never worry about hardware again. If you’re already running those applications on Linux or Unix, the migration can be exceptionally painless and satisfying. 
Technically, SaaS runs within a cloud computing architecture. SaaS is just one cloud application. As a business, you might write your own service in a compute cloud and then sell that to world at large as a service. This is where Platform as a Service (PaaS) comes into play (think force.com).
Q: What are the benefits of adopting this technology? What about cloud computing has made this an attractive option for EnterpriseDB?
A: The obvious benefit is the low cost of entry. If you have an idea, you can get started for pennies. In the past you needed computers, someplace to house the computers, power for the computers, etc. Now you can click a few buttons and have robust server up and running. No purchasing or configurations delays. If you later decide the idea is not working, you can turn off the virtual server. The only money that you are out is the money you paid for actual use. You really can’t beat that.
In addition to massive cost savings, you get a potentially faster time to market. While your competitor is working those purchase orders and getting things configured, you’re already up and running. You can also scale faster and easier. Before the cloud, you were either constrained from scaling by available computing power or you had to have extra hardware resources sitting idly just in case you needed to scale. Now you let your infrastructure provider provide that capability and only pay for what you use.
The cloud is attractive for EnterpriseDB because, while cloud computing changes where the database will run, it doesn’t change the fact that a database is still the most critical component of any real application. It’s always about the data. EnterpriseDB is an early adopter of the technology and we’re learning quite a bit working with some of our customers in this space.
Q: At the Xconomy Forum, you said that your company was currently in Beta testing. Can you speak a bit to the work you are currently doing, and some of the preliminary results you have found (storage, cost gains, etc.)?
A: Well, we are still in Beta and we have mutual non-disclosure agreements with many of our customers so I can’t tell you very much specifically. I can say that we have had excellent feedback and just about everything we’ve heard has been very positive.
EnterpriseDB is not planning on being a cloud provider. We don’t plan to compete with the likes of Google or Amazon. We plan to build strategic partnerships with companies that are the experts in the cloud. Elastra was our first big partnership in this area. You can read more on the elastra site here.
Q: SD Times recently named EnterpriseDB and their Postgres Plus products as the leader in enterprise open source databases. How will EnterpriseDB’s business model map onto cloud computing?
A: I was excited to see that SD Times chose us. Linux Magazine named EnterpriseDB one of the top 20 companies to watch in 2008, we were a finalist in the Jolt Product Excellence Awards and, of course, IBM has chosen to invest in us. It has been a great year for EnterpriseDB all around. I can’t say much about the specifics of our cloud business model. I better leave that to my CTO, Bob Zurek, and the rest of the EnterpriseDB executive team. I believe there will be an announcement on that topic in the near future.
I can talk about what I see in general in the industry. It looks like the cloud providers are sticking with pay as you go as are some of the service providers like Elastra. Other third party vendors, including some management tools like Rightscale, are moving to a subscription model. I think Rightscale is currently $500/month at the low end but they provide a complete solution for dynamic cloud computing (using Amazon).
Q: Are large enterprises ready and willing to move into the cloud? Do they have a choice?
A: Of course large enterprises will always have the choice to run everything in house. They have the capital, the skills and the space to host a large number of servers. In a large enough environment, this can make sense. They’ll actually save money in the long run by making intelligent use of virtualization. This is especially true if they have predictable scaling needs.
Are they willing? Everyone I speak to is at least interested. It’s still a new buzz word. Businesses are still very concerned with SLAs and security. At a minimum, I think every size enterprise is poking around trying to decide what it can for them and where it might make sense. That’s where short sessions like the Xconomy forum are very useful. I got a lot out of that session.
Q: Which applications will benefit most by leveraging the large amount of computing capacity and data-processing ability found within the cloud? Is cloud computing best for large companies with big data centers?
A: The applications that will benefit the most are, and the quickest, are small, niche web applications. Applications that feed on or to Facebook, MySpace, Linkedin, Twitter and any other platform with a huge number of users. Get a viral hit and scale from 10s to millions in a few days. You can call that the Animoto story.
Large companies with big data centers won’t want to throw away their investment any time soon. However, they can actually launch their own private cloud. Their internal developers can get the usefulness and scale up of the cloud but run it all behind a firewall. Personally, I think private cloud computing will be a big part of the future cloud landscape. Once the cloud building technology advances to a point where a non-Google or non-Amazon can implement it, the cloud will become a purchasable software component just like an operating system. That’s in the future though.
Q: Amazon was an early pioneer in cloud computing, boasting services such as Amazon Simple Storage Service, Amazon SimpleDB, and the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud that manage large amounts of computing volume. However, Google has the largest infrastructure, with over a million servers deployed. Who is the one to beat and are there any competitors you believe will soon be able to compete with these services?
A: Google and Amazon have taken two very different approaches to cloud computing. I think the Amazon approach is the most expandable and is useful to a broader array of users. However, Google’s approach is very attractive to those who want to spend a minimum amount of time in the OS. Time will tell but both approaches are very useful for the right use case. My time is spent mostly with Amazon right now.
Q: Salesforce.com, Microsoft, Yahoo and IBM are all also making moves in the cloud computing space. Who is a company to watch and what do you believe will influence companies to adopt cloud computing services?
A: The cloud is a big place and there’s plenty of room for everyone. I have no doubt that both IBM and MS will have a major impact on the future of cloud computing. Force.com is already out and it putting a new spin on the cloud.
Don’t forget, though, that it’s not just the big guys who make the market. Keep an eye on Elastra, Rightscale, 3tera, GoGrid and any number of smaller players. It’s these folks who are making the cloud easy enough for any business to adopt. Amazon and Google are both easy enough for the technicians to use but these third party vendors are making it easy for anyone to use.
And make sure you keep an eye on EnterpriseDB. We’re built on open source, compatible with Oracle and available in the cloud. Three for three!
-Thank you to Lewis for answering our questions!
July 7th, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
Wedding budget a little tight? Get corporate sponsorship on eBay!
Kelly Gray and her fiancé Karl Gau were set to be married in April of 2009, but the budget was tight and the couple hoped to have a bit more money to put toward the wedding. The solution to their money woes: creating the “Be My Bridesmaid” eBay auction.
The highest bidder wins a spot in the wedding party, a dress/tuxedo, shoes, and a “plus one” invitation to the reception. The auction created instant buzz, gaining the attention of media people waiting to see how far bidding would go.
When bidding closed on June 25, a member called “drpeppersnapple” had bid $5,700. To Kelly and Karl’s amazement, they had caught the attention of the people at The Dr. Pepper Snapple Group – who later raised their offer to $10,000. (Note: They will also be providing drinks for the wedding… Snapple iced teas all around! Wooo!)
The Dr. Pepper Snapple Group put out a press release yesterday saying “Weddings are about families, and we have a large one … more than 50 different brands from Dr. Pepper to Rose’s Mojitos,” said Greg Artkop, spokesperson for Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. “In fact, you can find us behind the bar at most weddings, so we’re looking forward to being up at the altar for once.”
Snapple has had super-creative advertising campaigns in the past… but this one takes the [wedding] cake. Cheap publicity or not, Snapple sure knows how to leverage online buzz to its advantage.
Race you to the alter, Coke and Pepsi!
June 27th, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
Are you overwhelmed by your social networks? Do you feel there is just not enough time in the day to SuperPoke on Facebook, update your MySpace mood, add your Flickr pics, Plurk and follow fellow Twitterers? Today’s Wall Street Journal profiles “social Web browser” applications that can make your social networks work for you.
- Toolbar that runs on left-hand side of Firefox browser (will be on IE in July)
- Aggregates friends’ updates on Facebook, Twitter, FriendFeed and Last.fm
- Chat on AIM, GTalk, MSN and Yahoo!
- Drag, Drop and Share videos you find on YouTube and MetaCafe and add pics to Flickr
- Universally update your profile status
- Interactive screen saver and desktop viewer called chirpscreen (Mac only runs viewer)
- Aggregates friends’ photo updates on Flickr, Facebook and Twitter
- Users can comment and share photos without stopping the screen saver
- Gives you live updates on eBay auction items you like
- Toolbar that runs on Firefox browser
- Aggregates friends’ updates on Facebook, Digg, Pownce, Twitter, del.icio.us, Magnolia, Blogger, Blogsome, LiveJournal, TypePad, WordPress and Xanga
- Check email on AOL, Gmail or Yahoo! Mail
- Media MiniBar has a scrollable filmstrip view of photo and video streams from YouTube, Flickr, Photobucket, Picasa, Piczo
- Toolbar that runs on top of Firefox and IE browsers
- Aggregates friends’ updates to MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and Twitter (coming soon: YouTube, Bebo, Orkut, LiveJournal, Flickr, Yelp and Flixster)
Any other sites or tools that help simplify your social networking world? Post a comment and give us your suggestions!
June 18th, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
I had the opportunity to attend PRSA’s Digital Impact Conference the past few days in New York City, and discovered quite a few new resources that I wanted to pass along, as we all try to identify the best ways to make our digital and social media marks online. Check them out when you get a chance!
SEO / Linking and Ranking Tools
- Seodigger.com - Shows how a company ranks for organic search
- Market Leap - Add in a URL and see how many links your site has versus competitors, and what their ranks are
- Yahoo! Search Site Explorer - Tells you how many inbound links there are to a particular domain name
- SEO Book Rank Checker - Free Firefox rank-checking tool that lets you see how your website stacks up to competition
- SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool - See how one certain word ranks for SEO purposes
- Search Rascal - Shows the sites that are ranked for use of one certain word, and how it changes over time
- “Link:” on www.Google.com – If you type “link:” immediately followed by a domain name (ex: link:racepointgroup.com) into Google search, the results will show you which and how many sites are linking to that domain name
Twitter
- TweetScan – A real-time search engine for Twitter that lets you find the conversations on the topics you want.
- Who Should i Follow - Enter in your Twitter username, and this tool will give you suggestions of people you might want to follow.
- TweetWheel – A tool that shows you which of your Twitter friends know one another
- TwitDer – A Twitter directory that shows you the most popularly followed people on Twitter, and the people that send the most updates
Video
- Icyou.com – Healthcare video community that brings you everything from late-breaking medical research videos to exercise tips
- Blinkx – Search online video
- Tubemogul – Video analytic tool that shows you when, where and how often videos are being watched, letting you measure how powerful your video marketing campaign is against competitors
- RedLasso – Search national and local TV and radio broadcasts and make clips to post to your site
Podcasts
- Podscope – Search engine that lets you search podcasts by typing in a phrase of spoken words
- Podcast Alley – One of the biggest collections of podcasts on the Internet – features the top 10 podcasts as rated by listeners
- Podcast Directory – A podcast search site similar to Podcast Alley
Any really great tools that you have come across that you would like to share? Let us know about the sites that you have found!
June 12th, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
Today, the first p2p network for scientists – ResearchGATE – was launched to give researchers a global web-based community to interact, collaborate on projects, and exchange resources and information.
This Web 2.0 community – labeled the Facebook for Scientists – allows scientists to create profiles similar to those found on Facebook. ResearchGATE members fill out an “about me” section to describe their research skills, submit their CV – Research Vitae, and list recommended scientific resources to connect with other members with similar scientific interests and projects.
One of the most significant aspects about this social network, which was created by researchers, for researchers, is that members can search for partners for research collaborations and grant applications. This search functionality is guaranteed to change the way researchers connect with one another, giving them the opportunity to identify the ideal person to work with on a collaborative project that they might have not found otherwise.
Providing researchers with free global access to one another, quickly and easily connecting some of the world’s brightest minds on collaborative projects could mean limitless possibilities for the scientific community – this is definitely a site to keep an eye on.
May 23rd, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
Can you imagine living under a government that cares so little for your wellbeing that it deliberately fails to notify you of an impending natural disaster?
More than 100,000 people have died or gone missing at the hands of the cyclone that tore through Burma on May 2 – regulations and censorship boards created under the military dictatorship of Than Shwe ban free press, providing the Burmese people with no warning, and no forum to speak to the atrocities they have been facing.
The 30 Days for a Million Voices campaign has enlisted the help of celebrities to create poignant and thought-provoking video messages each day of the initiative, with the ultimate goal of raising money and awareness, bringing the truth about Burma to light.
A few of the startling facts I’ve learned from this campaign:
- Political activist Aung San Suu Kyi – the world’s only imprisoned recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize -has been on house arrest for 12 years for fighting for human rights and democracy in Burma
- 3,200 villages in Burma have been destroyed under the illegal military regime
- For public healthcare, Burma ranks 190th out of 191
- For freedom of expression, Burma ranks 164th out of 168
W2 Group is working with Fanista to raise awareness and activism, through Racepoint Group’s media outreach and Digital Influence Group’s viral marketing campaign, which includes developing a Facebook application and social networking badges promoting burmaitcantwait.org. DIG will also be contributing $10 to the U.S. Campaign for Burma for every non-spam comment or trackback made to this post.
Make your voice heard in support of a country of people that have no voices. Find out how you can take action today.
May 22nd, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
Social networks from Facebook to disease-specific sites are thriving and changing the way people address disease management. A recent report called “The Wisdom of Patients: Healthcare Meets Online Social Media,” written by Jane Sarasohn-Kahn of THINK-Health, discusses how social media is empowering and educating healthcare consumers and providers.
In a phenomenon referred to as “Health 2.0,” defined within the report as “the use of social software and its ability to promote collaboration between patients, their caregivers, medical professionals, and other stakeholders in health,” patients and providers have found a way to harness the power of collective intelligence, leveraging the accessibility of the Internet to address people’s healthcare concerns.
“When patients managing the same chronic condition share observations with each other, their collective wisdom can yield clinical insights well beyond the understanding of any single patient or physician.”
The report, which is free to download, includes a list of online health resources created by people that are working to change the way we share concerns and discover information. Some of the featured Health 2.0 pioneers: Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine; Matthew Zachary of the I’m Too Young For This! Foundation; Jack Barrette of WEGO Health; and Ben Heywood of PatientsLikeMe.
With an imminent shortage of primary care physicians on the horizon, I have to say that I feel better knowing that these resources exist to put this valuable information right at your fingertips.
May 8th, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
Last week, Segway launched a social network – Segway Social. This decision was made following a recent survey, in which 82 percent of users said they wanted to connect with other Segway customers. In this Web 2.0 community, people can share tips, inform fellow members about their personal experiences using a Segway personal transporter (PT), locate a “glide” (fun route to use a PT) in their area, and find out how much money they are saving by going green and riding the Segway wave.
This is a perfect example of the ways that companies are gradually adopting social media in order to improve customer satisfaction, allow users to establish a sense of connection with the brand, engage with new audiences, and drive sales. What was once merely a tool for security guards and police officers on patrol is now evolving into the “new bike” for eco-enthusiasts and commuters alike, through the power of peer-to-peer marketing.
What’s more is Segway’s strategy for promoting their company messaging and green goals through their blog. Segway is establishing itself as a thought leader in the green transportation industry by getting involved in the ongoing conversation and commenting on news, trends and events such as Earth Day.
What will be interesting to see is whether these social media marketing tactics prove fruitful and drive sales, as each basic PT runs at a cool $5100 or more. Although social networks like Social Segway are doing a great job demonstrating that it’s worth the green to go green, the ever-rising price of gas pretty much speaks for itself. I’d say PTs are A-OK.
April 24th, 2008
By Ginger Lennon
As if AOL Instant Messenger and Facebook don’t already consume enough of our attention, The Facebook Blog revealed that they will soon be rolling out Facebook Chat. Similar to GMail’s gTalk Sidebar, when we sign on to Facebook, we will now see a chat bar pop up at the bottom of our browsers. Facebook Chat will allow us to connect with other Facebook users in real-time, as opposed to posting on walls and message boards.
Granted, this application will keep us in “real-time touch” with more people in our social networks than ever before… This however, is not necessarily a good thing. I don’t know about you, but there are about 10 people I chat with on a fairly regular basis on AIM… yet I’m closing in on a solid 700 people within my Facebook network.
Just because we have profiles and have a lot of “friends” on Facebook, doesn’t mean we want everyone to have instant access to our lives. We all saw the backlash Facebook had when the News Feed was launched… Can’t we all just “stalk” each other from the secluded privacy of our living rooms without being hounded on IM?
I am going to have to agree with Mashable on this one, and say that between AIM, Yahoo, GTalk, MSN, Jabber, Skype and MySpace, enough is enough. The more does not always mean the merrier.
April 7th, 2008
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