Means Of Production

Steven Levy and Jon L. discuss Google

• #26: Ted Newcomb (tcn) Wed 8 Feb 12 03:31
  From John Battelle's Searchblog: http://battellemedia.com/archives/2012/02/larry-pages-tidal-wave-moment.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JohnBattellesSearchblog+%28John+Battelle%27s+Searchblog%29"To continue being a great search engine, it needs the identity and relationship data found, for the most part, beh […]
• #25: Ari Davidow (ari) Tue 7 Feb 12 09:08
  More than any other SaaS vendor, Google exemplifies "we're not supporting this; if you're not bright enough, use something else." I don't think I have used products or services from any other vendor where I have more frequently found myself with a problem preventing use of the service, no one to contact, no FAQ or help file that cove […]
• #24: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Mon 6 Feb 12 21:30
  How do you see Google's business strategy now, in the Page era? How has it changed? [Read entire topic] […]
• #23: Steven Levy (steven) Mon 6 Feb 12 12:38
  Probably more the latter. Look, Eric took over when the company was fairly tiny and grew it to the giant it is now. I also don't know if you can tie it directly to Eric that the company's efforts seemed so diffuse in the last couple of years. We do know that Eric was shackled by a management structure of a troika -- the big decisions would be deter […]
• #22: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Fri 3 Feb 12 21:43
  Google seemed all over the map with acquisitions and initiatves for a while, then Eric Schmidt left the role of CEO and and, now under Larry Page's leadership, the company started focusing. Can we draw a conclusion that Schmidt didn't know how to focus the company, and that's why his role changed? Or is there a more complex story behind the tr […]
• #21: Steven Levy (steven) Fri 3 Feb 12 20:55
  If you have the energy to go through some paces, it's pretty easy to use Google anonymously. Don't log in, and wipe the cookies after you use it. Poof. The action in all these products is in the default settings. A big majority of users don't change defaults. Google really wants to know who you are because it now feels that's a key to del […]
• #20: Brian Slesinsky (bslesins) Fri 3 Feb 12 18:26
  Yes, there are ways, but they're not especially convenient.Charging money for anonymity doesn't make a whole lot of sense, given that they then have your credit card information. But it's not necessary because you can do it for free.IP addresses aren't all that useful for tracking people unless the ISP cooperates or you've given away […]
• #19: Gary Greenberg (gberg) Fri 3 Feb 12 16:12
  I don't see any need to help google in this. I mean, I appreciate its help in searching and so on, but I would rather pay them in money to leave me alone than pay them in personal information that they can then sell. So a few questions:1. Why don't they offer that service? Or am I the only idiot who would pay for osmething that is available for fre […]
• #18: Steven Levy (steven) Fri 3 Feb 12 10:30
  Sea Monkey, clearly Google recognizes the importance of mobile. You can argue that the smartest move in its post-search history was the purchase of Android, which at the time was seen as just another shot in the dark for a disorganized enterprise plagued with corporate ADD. Where would Google be now without such a prominent mobile platform?Not much has been […]
• #17: Steven Levy (steven) Fri 3 Feb 12 10:26
  Jon, the new Google initiative has a lot to do with Facebook. After a number of failed efforts in the social space, Google realized that it was vital to build up that component of itself. So it came up with a plan to remake Google itself into a social space, beginning with what we now know of as Google+. Once Larry became CEO he typically applied his approac […]