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Twitter had a “big” press conference yesterday evening. They sent out invitations with little explanation of what was about to be revealed. The invitees felt the excitement in the air, the secret was filling the room and the Twitter employees giddily smiled, barely containing the secret.

Twitter was a flurry of tweets, even people (like me) who were not present in the conference were hanging from every tweet from TechCrunch and others talking about what was going on in the event. First they showed a little egg, obvious allegory to the twitter bird being born (or reborn as the case was), and blog writers present wrote every word coming out of Twitter’s Evan Williams, Jason Goldman and Kevin Cheng.

Little by little the secret came out… Twitter has a new interface!

Twitter has been working for a while in a new two paned interface that allows for seeing pictures and watching videos embedded in your tweets. It is very similar to the Twitter interface available in the iPad app, just set up directly in the official Twitter site. Some people felt this wasn’t such a big announcement, but lets just consider this for a bit.

A question came in the room about Twitter looking more like Facebook, to which Keving Cheng responded clearly that Twitter is Twitter and it is about the tweets. The direction Twitter is taking is becoming more of a news stream, rather than falling under the “Social Network” classification.

Twitter has become a source of information, most people are still trying to figure it out and understand how such a simple thing can be a source of information. My opinion is that this new change will effectively make that clearer. Beyond the images and videos, twitter’s second pane will provide more information to make it clear for new users what twitter is about. The right  pane will show related items, mentions, and other streams of information, more like what some of the Twitter applications and clients expert users are accustomed.

Additionally, Twitter has stated that the new Twitter will be faster and more stable, unlike the several “happy Blue Whale” sightings we’ve had recently.

See the video about the new Twitter here: Twitter’s New Interface or below:

So, what do you think? Is Twitter’s new interface really a big announcement? Do you think this is a great improvement?

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

Every day I see the web grow, become more important and transcendent. The internet has come from being a toy for little geeks like me hidden in a basement to an everyday tool for everyone. From its humble origins, to what it is becoming today, the road has been long, but really fast compared to any other medium.

The following are two good examples of what the web is accomplishing:

Example #1:

Image via Wikipedia

Recently I read about bloggers getting a Press pass in New York. They can even cross police tapes and get rights as professional journalists. There is a process to obtain it, but this is recognition of the hard work some bloggers put into the web and the reputation for information and news the internet is acquiring (and also a legal battle well fought). Of course, this little blog is not news worthy, but just as Press Bloggers come into the game, many other “new professions” will come to bear. It will not be long before other states and countries emulate that status. Bloggers can write almost anything, almost anywhere (even from their cellphones) and this makes them a very sharp weapon of freedom of speech. They are harder to censor and if they really want to, can be harder to find if a post is really offensive to the powers that be. Of course, there will be those who abuse these powers, but as in almost every human instance, everything tends to balance itself out. Just pay attention to how the US government is trying its best to regulate the internet, which by many, is still a wild crazy west.

Example #2:

Image via Wikipedia

Today, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is giving his response to the Speech to the Throne live, via YouTube and will get questions from public. Of course, they can’t risk having a hooligan come in and ask uncomfortable questions to the Prime Minister, but this is just another step into the internet`s shoes as a source of information and contact between a country and its politicians. Is this a new era of direct communication between politicians and the people? I highly doubt it. The questions will  be selected by votes (and screened by the Minister`s people) and then answered by Mr. Harper. This is hardly a direct line, but its an improvement.

Where will the internet get us? This feeble medium that is totally dependent on electricity, certainly has a long way to go.

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

So Google is having a killer week. They just released several things out and plan on stomping on everything and everyone of their competitors. Just when you thought Bing was quirky, but if fixed may have a chance, Google comes out and shows some brawn by pushing out several new products and features in about two days grace.

One such interesting change is related to search. Big Bro is now watching everything you do, whether you are signed in or not to its many, many services. The personalized results are in theory a great idea, as Google will learn with use what you prefer and what you like, tailor suit the results to fit your preferences invisibly and make it an overall seamless experience. We’ve had this feature when signed on to any Google service and performing a search. But the big G has just announced that your searches will be personalized even if you don’t sign in. Considering that only by clearing your cookies on your browser or disabling the feature in a not very obvious way (but accessible non the less), we may consider that Big Bro will now have much more information about everyone else.

For search engine optimization this is kind of a curse, as SEO experts will need to change the way they optimize sites… or maybe just start providing the best possible services online. Of course, any small business will have a harder time of attracting people, but we will need to see how this pans out and keep a close eye on search changes.

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

Have you noticed the new über-cool fading effect in the Google’s home page?

Yes, indeed! Google’s new home page has a fading effect after you move your mouse cursor on the screen.

The guys at Google really went out on this one and have yet again, amazed us.

Jokes aside, it looks nice and has a little cool factor to it. So, go to the Google home page and try it out!

On the marketing side, what has this to do with anything else, probably not much, or maybe, it is related to Bing’s pretty looking home page (of course, Bing’s still pretty bad, but at least its pretty) and Google felt a little sweaty about competition (as Bing seems to be growing in users – can’t understand why, maybe Windows 7 has something to do with it?).

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

Once upon a time there was a little wave that came to shore. It splashed and splashed and people talked about how splashy it was. It really tried and was able to get some people wet, and people increasingly wondered, will this wave actually be the next big hit online?

And then, gray clouds began to form, and people lazily wondered, will this little rain make the waves bigger or smaller? Indeed, a little raindrop began to fall and before hitting the ground, it noticed that waves were coming and coming.

Sorry about this little fantasy. The point is very simple: Google Wave vs. Mozilla Raindrop. Most people talk about the Wave as it is coming from Google and no one can ignore anything coming from G. A lot has been said, will Wave revolutionize the web, change the way we interact or simply flop as a big loss of privacy and a bad iteration for email? But hardly do we hear about Raindrop, which is a project of the Mozilla foundation that also aims at revolutionizing the email as we know it.

Both projects are different. Wave aims to help in group collaboration, privately and publicly, by combining email, blogging, and instant messaging. Raindrop is interested in combining social media with traditional email to scrape over conversations, categorize them and connect them.

Even though this are somehow different projects, both aim to regulate an overflow of information that is happening online to most advanced users. These two projects signal the future of the web and in every instance of it, the social media has had a major effect and will be an integral part.

One other detail strikes me here, the web has been moving from the incredibly flashy and colorful to the simple and streamlined. Sure, images and video are an integral part of the web, but the elements of design are becoming more straight forward and clean, more text centered.

In a future, were the internet in computers and supercellphones combine, one can only get a very small glimpse of what that future holds.

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

I get a lot of news from my RSS feeds every day. Usually I skim through looking for any relevant news. Today, I found out that we are on the edge of science fiction! Well, maybe not so much the edge, but it is a bit of fun and interesting news.

I am a sucker for technology and games and an even bigger sucker for game’s technologies. Can you imagine playing your favorite game in 3D? On your laptop?

Aside from video games, I can hardly think of any other application unless 3D can be interactive, like when a flying line of code can be selected with your fingertips and then moved to another part of the file by dragging it in the air (or your virtual space). Until then, 3D in computers is just a cool toy.

Got ahead of meself a little, but I’m talking about Acer’s Aspire 5738 3D laptop. This new toy shows video in 3D like Monsters vs. Aliens or Up. It even emulates 3D from 2D video and images. Can’t wait to try 3D PowerPoint with my clients or doing some fascinating tables in Excel!

Asking price: $780 bucks!

4 the geeks: It comes packed with an Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6600, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 5400-rpm hard drive. It also comes preloaded with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edition.

What’s next? A pocket robot that does everything you ask for? Done, see it here.

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

As soon as Bing came out and announced it, Google was not far behind. We last heard that Google was in the talks with Twitter and they have apparently closed the deal.

Currently, if you do any google search, you will find that for some results Twitter twits are already showing in the SERPs. More will be coming soon. Real time results is what the buzz is all about these days. Exposure will become much more sensitive and businesses need to keep learning as fast as the market evolves. Speaking of which, Google Wave is coming too and that has some people talking about revolutionizing the way we email and do internet in many ways (and a healthy dose of detractors, of course).

Getting back to Twitter in Google, this was mentioned in Google’s blog yesterday. See the blog post here: Google Blog.

Bing has been showing some improvements recently in regards to market share and seems to still be working out a deal with Yahoo. The marketshare war is still very hot, in spite of what most of us believed. Bing keeps kicking back, will this be it for Microsoft? Is this Microsoft’s retaliation for Google’s intrusion into the OS markets with Android and Chrome OS?

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

Windows 7 has beaten Harry Potter’s Amazon UK preorder record. It is officially the most preordered item in the history of Amazon UK. That is something interesting. I keep wondering if Windows 7 will be as good as it seems.

Windows 7 came out in beta for testing since early this year. I had a copy and tested it for a while. I found that most of Windows 7 really looks like Vista, but, there are small tweaks that make all the difference. I also found that it loads much faster than Vista, seems quite more stable and the new features make it a nice ride.

If you have followed the news, most people have agreed with this assessment. Another interesting fact is that in spite of being available for almost a year in Beta, no hacker/cracker has been able to crack the validation which may mean better security. Security and safety of Windows 7 is impossible to predict as Windows 7 hasn’t received much attention from hackers yet. This will very likely change as the official versions come out today and people start using it.

In the meantime, most of us will start toying with the new Windows 7 and making it personal. It even works with the small and easy to carry netbooks!

We’ll see, Windows 7 is out and it will be submitted to the most rigorous test… humanity.

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

Bing Tweets - Twitter to show in Bing

Direct from Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, we receive news of the future in search. What is being called “real time search” which involves using data from Twitter, facebook and similar services to include information currently surging about a search. In this regard, Bing has taken a big step forward by securing a deal with Twitter to include Tweets in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

There is also a deal with Facebook, but details about this have not been provided.

Want to see the beta? See it here.

This change in search will mean that using social media will become more important than ever. You will be able to see twitter feeds related to a link directly from the search without having to visit the social site to get the details. This adds a new perspective as people will be actually talking live about a subject and those comments will be shown in real time while you search.

For marketing this has many implications, simply starting from developing new ways of promoting a service and the fact that exposure to bad press will be more than an uncomfortable reality. Companies who don’t take care of their clients or have disgruntled customers will now be exposed live and online.

We can easily imagine coming out of a retail store where we dealt with a more than unfriendly salesperson, pulling out the phone and immediately tweeting about the bad experience to let the world know. Every user online searching for that store or a product from that store will be immediately exposed to that tweet. This may or may not influence the other users’ decision to visit the store or buy online from it, but the store has no control over what is said. The only control may be giving good service and reasonable prices.

Another application for this new offering is related to what has been happening with microblogging services. Twitter has allowed for people to report events as they happen. Many important journalists have their twitter account and constantly tweet about new articles and things happening around. Now, the tweets will no longer be circumscribed to Twitter.com, anyone (even those who presently are twitterless) will be exposed to what people are saying about the subject and in time, the tendency will be to finally fall to the pressure and get an account in Twitter.

Its an interesting time to be online. The brave will establish themselves, the rest will follow. Where is your company today?

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

More about this from the blogosphere:

Ben Parr

Chris Crum

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.

After some days of incredible anguish, Bing webmaster central is up and running again!

Still, Bing makes me cringe every time I visit it. The crawling is still erratic and still in need of some serious fix up. It does not make any sense that Bing’s bots will crawl a site but only take 1 page or 2 instead of the whole content. Or that it will suddenly take 5 pages and leave to never come back or come back and take 1 more page… you get the idea.

Bing... the indecision engine.

Speculation arise! Some say its strategy as Bing wants only the best pages of each site, therefore not indexing all of your site. Others think Bing’s crawler is damaged and needs repairs. And still others believe Bing is Bing and being a 10% market share holder at this time means you shouldn’t waste too much time trying to figure it out.

I tend to jump on all three camps depending on my mood and the day. As it is, I usually recommend people to focus on big players (mainly Google) and let Bing be Bing and hope one day you get better results. I of course, can’t do that. I have to know what makes Bing tic and will keep poking at it until the truth is revealed and can be used to help my clients. If there is a plan, I fail to understand it as well as many other SEOs and webmasters, but maybe that’s because our little minds can’t comprehend the secret master plan behind Bing’s MSNBot.

Rant’s end. I’m a happy blogger again.

Ma Cualli Ohtli!

©2012 the Marketing stuff. All Rights Reserved.