Check It Out !!

http://checkout.google.com

Google just released its new service Google Checkout™ -- a new service that makes online shopping faster, more convenient and more secure.

Some of the Key features.
1. You can search for the participating stores across the web.
2. Take advantage of Google Account, no need to sign up ahead of time. Just do your shopping and click the Google Checkout button to complete your purchase
3. Keep your credit card number and email address confidential.
4. Track all your orders and shipping in one place

Some Questions
1. Will it be PayPal killer or both will co-exist as Mastercard and Visa?
2. What is the big picture that Google Trio has in their Mind ?
3. What is Microsoft doing?

Its not a beta Product.
It hasn't yet come to India.

Rediff 's New Look

Did you also notice the new look of rediff ! If not have a look at the site http://in.rediff.com.

Here is the justification for the same by the CEO Ajit Balakrishnan:

The Internet is first, and foremost, about helping you connect with the world. The joy of being online is all about the interesting people you encounter and the opportunity to exchange views through the various tools we provide: Blogs (ILand), Social Networking (Connexions), Instant Messaging (Bol), Matchmaking (Matchmaker). We have gathered all these community services together under 'Featured Users' and hope this will make it easier for you to participate in our community...

Notice the word "community services" here.

So finally the indian portals have also started projected themselves as a community portal and service providers. Surely, content always matters, but what matters most is what is useful for the end-users.

Wisdom Of Crowds

Evolving Trends has a nice article about the "Wisdom of Crowds". It takes an example of Digg and shows the flaws of the existing social bookmarking system.

Excerpts From the Article:

Crowds are not wise. Crowds are great as part of a statistical process to determine the perceived numerical value of something that can be quantified. A crowd, in other words, is a decent calculator of subjective quantity, but still just a calculator. You can show a crowd of 200 people a jar filled with jelly beans and ask each how many jelly beans are in the jar. Then you can take the average and that would be the closest value to the actual number of jelly beans.

I think, the issues raised are very genuine, the current democratic form of Digg is certainly much better than the autocratic nature of slashdot but still it needs to evolve a lot.

Superman Doesn't Soar ...

Wired write...

In the film, Superman (newcomer Brandon Routh) returns to Earth after visiting the ruins of his home planet, Krypton. Bad news: He found no survivors. Worse, in the five years since he's left, his would-be sweetheart, Lois Lane, acquired a significant other, a kid and a Pulitzer Prize for an editorial titled, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." (It's a follow-up to her earlier article, "I Spent the Night With Superman.")

Ten Possible Consequences of Google's GBuy

Why does Google want to automate the advertiser click cycle and make it as fast as it possibly can?

The first reason is obvious: Google makes money on click conversions. The more clicks done quickly, the more money for Google, and the happier the advertiser.

The second reason is that by automating the click cycle, Google will be vastly improving the efficacy of its search results, and how searches correlate with adWords. Unlike destination sites that measure success by how much time is spent on a page, Google measures success by how quickly a user navigates off Google. The company is constantly testing out data centers to see which center returns the best results that get users off Google quicker.

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