esn studio

Google launched OpenSocial on Novemeber 1, 2007 and I was made aware of it by a colleague at work. OpenSocial is a social networking platform which will allows application developers to work with social data from the participating social networks. OpenSocial, unlike any other social networking site is, not another social networking site. Rather, it provides a common set of APIs for social applications across multiple websites, thereby minimising development and maintenance work. There are basically two type of OpenSocial APIs: JavaScript APIs and Google Data APIs.

According to google, there are many websites implementing OpenSocial, including Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, Hyves, imeem, LinkedIn, MySpace, Ning, Oracle, orkut, Plaxo, Salesforce.com, Six Apart, Tianji, Viadeo, and XING.

Oh, that sounds exciting, how do I get started, I hear you say. Well, fear not, there are quite a few example applications that you can check out. There is even a tutorial on how to build your first OpenSocial application.

I will definitely be checking the documentation out on the weekend and report my findings in due course.

So what do you think? Is google going to pull this off and take control of the social networking phenomenon?

Related News & Blogs

• Google Aims to Break Open the Closed World of Social Networking
• OpenSocial: Developers speak out
• Google Squares Off Against Facebook With OpenSocial

Technorati Tags: opensocial, social, networking, networks, google, news, web, developers

It seems like every man and his dog is writing about google maps street view and thus, I feel the need to jump on the wagon. I personally think google maps street view is great; it is more useful than my street directory, and it gives me a chance to explore the world from the convenience of my desk.

But with these great advanced technologies, there are often some drawbacks which come with them. And google street view is of no exception. Many people are saying it is an invasion of privacy for having photographs of themselves, their homes, and their belongings available on the Internet for anyone and everyone to see.

A boing-boing reader is freaking out, Larry Dignan from zdnet is wary of the whole thing, Daniel Terdiman from Webware is doing a story or a photo gallery of spying with google street view and I am sure there are many more concerned users out there.

Whether it raises a serious privacy issue or not, most of us would be happy to agree that this google new feature is amazing and is definitely impressive.

Technorati Tags: google, street view, google map, web 2.0, privacy, street map

Ever wondered how google will be like in the future, say 20 years from now? the.voyager (Flickr) has uploaded a screenshot of the future google.

View this on flickr

That would be very cool!

Technorati Tags: google, search engine, humor

I received an email from Google Analytics Support Team this morning about the release of a new version of the Google Analytics reporting interface. The new version is so much cleaner, faster and easier to use and I am loving it.

Product tour

The following is an excerpt from the email I received:

In the new version, your reports have been redesigned for clarity, greater visibility of important metrics, and ease of use. Here are just a few of the features you’ll notice:

- Email and export reports: Schedule or send ad-hoc personalized report emails and export reports in PDF format.

- Custom Dashboard: No more digging through reports. Put all the information you need on a custom dashboard that you can email to others.

- Trend and Over-time Graph: Compare time periods and select date ranges without losing sight of long term trends.

- Contextual help tips: Context sensitive Help and Conversion University tips are available from every report.

The new interface has everything the previous interface had and more. In addition, links within reports make it easier to navigate related information and explore your data.

Technorati Tags: google, statistics, tracking software, google analytics, release, software

Google announced today that they will be acquiring DoubleClick Inc. for $3.1 billion (in cash). DoubleClick is a global leader in digital marketing technology and services, and is well-known for its online ad management technology.

“It has been our vision to make Internet advertising better – less intrusive, more effective, and more useful. Together with DoubleClick, Google will make the Internet more efficient for end users, advertisers, and publishers,” said Sergey Brin, Google’s Co-Founder and President, Technology.

“DoubleClick’s technology is widely adopted by leading advertisers, publishers and agencies, and the combination of the two companies will accelerate the adoption of Google’s innovative advances in display advertising,” said Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer of Google.

“This transaction will strengthen our advertising network by expanding our access to publisher inventory and enabling us to serve the needs of a broader set of advertisers and ad agencies,” said Tim Armstrong, Google’s President, Advertising and Commerce, North America.

“Google is the absolute perfect partner for us,” said David Rosenblatt, Chief Executive Officer of DoubleClick. “Combining DoubleClick’s cutting edge digital solutions for both media buyers and sellers with Google’s scale and innovative resources will bring tremendous value to both our employees and clients.”

Google recently acquired YouTube in October 2006 for $1.65 billion in a stock-for-stock transaction.

I wonder who is going to acquire what next?

Source: Press Release

Technorati Tags: google, doubleclick, youtube, news