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Looking at Google these days we not only see a search giant but also a software company which has been built through acquisitions and internal developments. Google now boldly validates this fact with the announcement of Google Chrome OS, a lightweight open source operating system. “Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects,” says Sundar Pichai, VP of Product Management at Google.

The first place we can expect to see the Google Chrome OS in action will be on netbooks, popular with business travelers, and eventually full-sized desktops. The operating system is targeted towards users who spend most of their time online. The new OS is designed to start up and launch the Web within a few seconds.

Viruses, malware, and security updates may be a thing of the past for Google Chrome OS users. “It should just work,” says Google who is “going back to the basics and completely redesigning the underlying security architecture of the OS.”

With Microsoft battling for ranking in the search market and Google booting into the OS market, expect to see some interesting developments in the near future.

Source: Google Blog

If you haven’t been living under a rock recently you are well aware of Microsoft’s latest foray into the search market with Bing. The latest buzz word in Web search is “real-time” lead by the constant flow of 140 character posts from the Twitter platform. Many companies have been attempting to harness this information in the form of real-time search engines. Some recent contenders include Topsy, OneRiot, CrowdEye, and now Bing.

Bing’s real-time search experiment as of right now is only indexing results for popular tweeters. It’s still unclear on how they plan on delivering these results as my own tests have been varied. For example if I search for “Al Gore” on Bing I do not see anything related to Twitter. If I search “Al Gore Twitter” I see some results at the bottom of the page. However if I search “@algore” the Twitter results are right at the top.

I tried a second test with “TechCrunch” and this time I do see tweets at the bottom of the page. “TechCrunch Twitter” delivers the results at the top of the page, as does “@techcrunch“.

Search heavyweight Google as of yet has not launched any products to index Twitter content (outside of user pages), but rumors of a Google microblogging search engine have been surfacing.

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference will begin on Monday in Boston and more than 20 companies have been selected to showcase their new enterprise collaboration and business social media offerings. Here is what we can expect to see this week…
 
Alcatel-Lucent is integrating real-time communications and Web 2.0 technologies with OmniTouch My Instant Communicator.
 
ArtusLabs mixes collaboration and social networking with refined scientific data mining to drive research with Ensemble for Life Science 4.5.
 
blueKiwi combines social recommendations, micro-blogging, idea generation and widgets into a new business platform with bK2009 Social Board.
 
Bluenog will showcase an open source Enterprise 2.0 development platform, or Integrated Collaborative Environment: ICE 4.5.
 
Box.net has created a partnership with a global provider to offer users anytime-anywhere document shipping.
 
Brainpark productivity and collaboration software will announce a new Task Awareness system that learns from employee work history to provide recommendations on contacts and resources.
 
Central Desktop has developed a SaaS mico-blogging platform for business.
 
CMS Watch has updated it’s Enterprise Social Software & Collaboration research and will release the new results.
 
Joyent will announce two new products at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference. Develop, deploy and scale web applications with the Joyent Smart Platform. My.Joyent allows companies to monitor and control their Cloud Infrastructure within the Joyent Cloud via a new web interface.
 
Leverage Software will debut major updates to it’s business social networking platform including new conversation tools and enhanced privacy.
 
NewsGator’s Social Sites 3.0 beta, which is built on top of Microsoft SharePoint, will offer new features including self-assembling wikis called Socialpedias and the ability to rate Topic Experts.

Google conducted a small survey in Times Square not too long ago simply asking people, “What is a browser?” The result was that less than 8% of those interviewed knew the answer. Most people responded with search engines such as Google and Yahoo but a few were on point naming Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

The interviewer later asks participants, “Have you heard of Google’s browser Chrome?” with no positive results (keep in mind this video was shot around October 2008). I’m sure most of us who work online will get a laugh out of this one, I certainly did when I saw a friend of mine in the video get tripped up as if it was a loaded question. I apologize in advance to my friend for this post, however she is the one who showed me the video!

Apple announced the iPhone 3G S at it’s World Wide Developers Conference Monday in San Francisco, the fastest most powerful iPhone yet. Upgrades in the new iPhone include video recording, 3-megapixel still camera, Voice Control, faster processing speeds, up to 32GB of storage, and more.

New video recording capabilities allow you to shoot and edit video and then upload directly to YouTube all from your iPhone 3G S.

The 3-megapixel camera includes auto-focus functionality that lets you focus in on a certain area by simply tapping the screen.

Voice Control, iPhone’s new voice recognition software, allows you to audibly request names from your contacts list or songs from your iPod.

Applications load up to 2x faster with the new processing power of the iPhone 3G S, along with improved 3D graphics to enhance the iPhone gaming experience.

Prices for the iPhone 3G S will range from $199 to $299 for 16GB and 32GB versions. Also the original iPhone 3G will still be available with 8GB of storage for just $99. Apple’s aggressive pricing strategy is undoubtedly in response to the release of the new $199 8GB Palm Pre, which has been dubbed an ‘iPhone killer’.

Other notable features of the iPhone 3GS include a built-in digital compass, cut, copy & paste capabilities, a landscape keyboard, and multimedia text messaging.

The iPhone 3G S will be available in stores on June 19th, 2009.

Social media marketing mishaps – say that five times fast. Today companies cannot afford to ignore the momentum of the social media revolution; still considered to be in an early stage of development and yet has had a profound impact on society and business at a global level. When looking towards the marketing possibilities of social networks and new media some tend to be apprehensive and unsure of a proper approach. While no one marketing manager or public relations team has all the answers, here are some important considerations to help avoid common pitfalls when forming a social media marketing plan for your company or brand.
 
Creating a social media page for the sake of having a presence; this is not enough. The idea behind social media is interacting with your target audience, generating rapport and gaining feedback about your business. Keep the conversations going, frequently update content, and make your consumers feel like they matter.
 
Lack of transparency can hurt your social media marketing efforts. If you make the commitment to enter the social-sphere then be ready to share more than advertisements and press releases. Consumers want to see there is a human side to your company and expect more intimate details, stories from the inside, and personal experiences that show there is a relation between their needs and your offerings.
 
Try not to spread yourself thin by creating a presence on every social media outlet available. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and LinkedIn are good starting points, but know your market and target audience and seek out niche networks that relate to your company or brand.
 
Abandoning traditional media outlets and relying exclusively on a social media marketing plan is risky. While several grass-root campaigns have had success purely based on their social media exposure, the best approach is to unify your message across multiple channels to effectively create brand awareness.
 
Don’t assume social media marketing is a free ride because many platforms are free to use. It takes time and energy to build an effective social campaign that portrays a genuine effort to reach out to consumers and build lasting relationships.