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Google Street View Aids Cops in Finding Missing Child
We often hear about the bad stuff about Google’s Street View on its mapping product. People are concerned about privacy and some have been photographed in a less than flattering light. Google’s street view vehicles have also been banned from U.S. military bases.
But today Street View is getting some good press by way of a happy ending to a missing child case.
Nine year old Natalie Matlais was picked up from her legal guardian’s house by her biological grandmother last Saturday. Some comments made by the grandmother alarmed her guardians and they notified police.
Cooperating with a cell phone company, they were able to track GPS coordinates. One smart officer plugged in the coordinates to Google Maps, and found a hotel near the given coordinates using Street View.
It was their best bet, and their hunch turned out to be right. You can read the entire story at the Worcester Telegram and Gazette.
Related Reading:
Street View and Walking Directions Added to Google Maps for Mobile
Google Releases Updates to Google Earth; Includes Street View
Microsoft Study Reveals Online and Digital Behavior of Women
Microsoft teamed up with Mindshare and Ogilvy Chicago to study the online and digital behavior of women. They surveyed 800 women of varying ages and careers, including stay-at-home and work-at-home moms. Here’s what they found:
- 22 percent shop once per day.
- 86 percent pass along interesting “finds” to others.
- On average, they have 171 contacts in e-mail, social networking and cell phone address books.
- E-mail is overwhelmingly, 85 percent, the most important tool.
- They view tools such as rewards, loyalty cards, cell phones, coupons via the computer, TIVO and DVR, video on demand, opt-in daily e-mails, and handheld wireless devices to be “blessings” in their lives.
- The majority views devices such as cell phones and computers as “extensions of themselves.”
- More than half “never” unplug from their digital devices, even when sleeping.
- Technology “curses” were few and centered on activities and types of communication that were “out of their control.”
- If forced to, they would “throw out” their television or cell phone first; only 11 percent would throw out their personal laptop.
- On average, they have 5.8 “screens” and 12 digital devices.
A special note about moms, which we already know are powerful influencers:
“For moms, the Internet serves as a link to the ‘outside world’ — especially moms with a new baby,” said Debbie Solomon, managing director, Business Planning of Mindshare. “And moms are really the future of content creation. They have an insatiable appetite to create and share content — posting more than twice the average U.S. adult, whether publishing, maintaining or updating a blog or Web page.”
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ChaCha Selected by Rock the Vote for Mobile Answers
ChaCha has been selected by Rock the Vote to provide SMS search for the duration of the 2008 elections. Rock the Vote is the effort by MTV to make voting cool among youth.
Users can text questions RTVOTE (788683) on their cell phones and receive nonpartisan answers from “politically-trained ChaCha Guides.” Texters can learn where their polling place is, candidate issues, and whether or not it’s possible to remain nonpartisan in this election anymore.
“As the presidential election continues to heat up, we’ve seen a sizable increase in questions about the election,” said ChaCha Co-Founder and President, Brad Bostic. “ChaCha has rapidly become a popular, trusted resource for young people who want information while on the go. By making credible answers easy to access on virtually any mobile phone, ChaCha and Rock the Vote are providing unprecedented access to the information voters need to make informed choices.”
Related Reading:
ChaCha is Fastest Growing Mobile Text Search Service
ChaCha Launches Enterprise Mobile Answers Service
Moms See Search as Task-Oriented; Websites as Entertainment
Moms are now packing more activity into their day, according to a new data released by AOL’s Platform-A. A survey of 7,000 women found that the average internet-using mom reports conducting 27 hours of activities during the day.
On average they spend:
- 2.6 hours on the internet
- 2.1 hours of television
- 1.2 hours a day listening to the radio
- 30 minutes with newspapers, magazines and games
Parenting was the #1 online activity conducted by moms. They use the internet for advice on parenting and as a resource to help their children learn.
Another popular online activity is shopping
- 79% of those surveyed use the internet for shopping.
- 52% use the internet to find coupons or sales.
So how do moms feel about search? They associated the words “task-oriented,” “focused,” and “interested” with search. 71% use the internet to find information.
Websites were described as “entertainment.”
Hopefully, your website is entertaining to moms and offers them coupons or sales. Because 86% report being the primary decision maker in their household.
52% will recommend a good brand to others (another reason why social media is so hot!).
And moms like to share media with their children. 95% of moms share at least one form of media with their children at least once a week. Here’s what they share.
- 79% share television
- 62% share internet
- 58% share mobile phone
- 48% share digital camera
- 38% share email
- 33% share games
Do moms fit into your target audience? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Related Reading:
Playing the Game With Mom
E-Mail Marketers Haven’t Forgotten Mom
Sitting Pretty: Finding Moms Online
GPhone Coming Soon, Should IPhone Worry
The oft rumored G phone is becoming a reality and given the popularity of the Google brand I wonder if the Apple crew are starting to worry. T-Mobile will soon be offer the Android-driven cell phone, according to reports.
The phone is being manufactured by a small Taiwanese-based company, “that makes its own (relatively obscure) brand of handsets, plus house brands for carriers including Vodafone and Telecom New Zealand,” the National Business Review reported.
Given Google’s popularity, this foray into the mobile space could have implications for the entire mobile industry. As NBR asks is the company “poised to take advantage of Google’s recent foray into buying large amounts of wi-fi spectrum – creating a possible future scenario for mobile VoIP calls that cut traditional cellphone service providers out of the picture altogether.”
The one plus is the phone is selling for the same price as the new IPhone – usually Google buys into an industry and gives away the services to dominate. If they start reducing pricing the industry may have cause to start worrying.
The other notable part of the new phone is the Google branding given they are not the carrier or the manufacturer – a first in the space. Guess Google sells!
Guess the new Androids dream of world dominance of the mobile industry.
27 Million People Watched Over 3 Billion Videos Online in the U.K.
According to new data from comScore Video Metrix, more than 27.4 million U.K. Internet users (78 percent of the total U.K. Internet audience) viewed 3.2 billion videos online in June 2008. Google Sites, driven by the popularity of YouTube.com, attracted nearly half of all videos viewed online in the U.K, followed by BBC Sites (1.4 percent share), Microsoft Sites (0.8 percent share), Fox Interactive Media (0.7 percent share) and ITV Sites (0.6 percent share).
U.K. Internet users watched an average of 117.7 videos per viewer in June – the highest videos per viewer average of any of the five countries reportable in comScore Video Metrix, which also includes U.S., Canada, France and Germany.
Google Sites also attracted the most viewers (20.5 million), who watched an average of 77.8 videos per person. BBC Sites drew the second most viewers (5.9 million), followed by Microsoft Sites (5.8 million), and Fox Interactive Media (3.9 million).
Other notable findings include:
– 19.7 million viewers watched 1.4 billion videos on YouTube.com (72.4 videos per viewer).
– The average online video duration was 3.0 minutes.
– The combined U.K. online video viewing audience watched a total 161 million hours of video content.
– 4.2 million mobile phone subscribers used their phone to watch any kind of TV or video in the U.K., of which 37.6 percent were younger than 25 years old.
Video Search Engine Optimization Panel Recap, Greg Markel
At SES San Jose 2008, Greg Markel of Infuse Creative talked with Byron Gordon of SEO-PR about the Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) session. Markel emphasized the crucial nature of an online video (and online video optimization) strategy especially with relation to YouTube and Google’s universal search.
The Video Search Engine Optimization session will also be held at SES Chicago on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2008. As I’ve mentioned before, if you register before Sept. 26 you can take advantage of the “recession special” to save up to $600.
Less is More: What Social Media and Electronics Can Teach the Establishment
Read the news and it quickly becomes obvious how complex this world is. So, it’s no wonder that what’s popular in social media and electronics is simple.
MySpace (IMHO) was easier than Friendster. But Facebook took the best of both and now reigns.
LinkedIn makes it easy to network professionally, and YouTube makes it easy to be entertained – and quickly.
Twitter makes a bunch of things easy – from breaking news to gathering feedback about a product you’re considering.
In electronics, the Flip Video has revolutionized camcorders (I am a proud owner of one myself). And now, smaller, more affordable laptops are all the rage. Plus, Apple threw its iPod on a mobile phone, inserted the internet and simplified mobile communications.
So why are these services and gadgets so popular but companies like Microsoft are watching their market share slowly fade?
Dan Kimerling at TechCrunch thinks its all about motivation. Microsoft is motivated by features, while Facebook, et al, are motivated by the user experience.
He has a point. Microsoft considers Google a major rival, and Google is almost always talking about the user experience.
Steve Ballmer might want to take a cue, because he talks an awful lot about catching Google via advertising. And while advertising revenues are most certainly a key to Microsoft’s long term success, it will only prove profitable if the customer is happy.
Google should also watch out to avoid the pitfalls that plagued Microsoft. But a Google failure would not automatically equal Microsoft success. It would only leave the door open for a Facebook-esque startup to come along and steal the show.
AOL Releases Beta Version of Truveo Video Search
AOL has announced the launch of the beta mobile version of Truveo, a video search engine. There’s already an iPhone application, but now other mobile phone users have a chance to search Truveo from their phones. Users can access the mobile version at http://wap.aol.com/truveo.
“One of our missions is to provide consumers with easy access to our products no matter where they are or what device they are using,” said Kevin Conroy, Executive Vice President of AOL. “Truveo Mobile Video Search continues that effort by giving mobile users access to the industry’s leading video search engine and enabling them to enjoy videos anytime, anywhere.”
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