| | | Floogle
A lot of people are unaware of Google.org, the philanthropic wing of Google. Since its inception, Google.org has been involved in a variety of initiatives covering such global issues as health and disease, climate change, education, poverty and alternative energy.
Their involvement includes grants for a wide variety of projects, encouraging employee involvement and use of their own innovative technologies to help make the world a better place.
While this program has its detractors, there are those who claim Google does this only to toot its own horn or to make money. While this may be true, Google does seem to do quite a bit more than most, if not any other corporation, to help improve the world we live in.
Last week I was reading about Google.org's latest venture, Flu Trends, which I found to be a very interesting use of their search technology.
Basically, through coordination with experts in the field at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and using search data on specific "flu related terms" they have started to track overall patterns of flu infections throughout the US.
While there is some question as to how accurate using search terms is to determine how many people are actually sick in a given area, the results are surprisingly close to the data collected by the CDC. Also of interest is that this data was obtained up to 2 weeks more quickly.
The use of search trends is hardly new; Google has this incorporated into its keyword research tool to help track trends for marketing and keyword visibility purposes.
It also has Google Trends for viewing and comparing specific keyword search patterns graphically.
Google Insights for Search can also be used to obtain this sort of data categorically, by date range and across specified regions worldwide.
This provides a nice map interface that can be viewed from a world level right down to a state/regional view. Two images are shown below; the first at a Regional level.
And here is an example by State Level:
So, essentially, all Google has done with Flu Trends, is to take data anyone can get using their tools and focused it on one specific set of search terms and made it available for view on a site for everyone to see. There are some differences though.
In Flu Trends, you can click from state to state to compare and also you can see results from previous years charted in advance of the current year's display progress.
Below is an image of flu activity in New Mexico for 2008
Below is an image of flu activity in Mississippi for 2008
The thing I find odd, is the geographical limitations they've imposed on the Flu Trends site. They could easily display the same type of information for countries other than just the US. Nor do I really understand why it's limited to state level. They could just as easily show flu trends by city.
Google can track these trends by geographical region because each search query is tagged with the searcher's unique IP Address. Anyone can track the rough location using software or even web based applications. As an experiment I used the latitude and longitude values for our office IP address that I obtained here, pasted them in the decimal value fields on this site and a map location within about 9 blocks showed up.
Certainly not exact, but close enough to be able to track search queries at least by city, if not down to individual municipalities. Personally, if I was after this information, I would rather know if there was a big surge in my immediate area, rather than the whole state.
Maybe they don't want to make users nervous about privacy issues, as seems to be implied in this interview with Elizabeth Landau, from CNN.com.
As Google has IP's for all search queries, I can't see the fuss about them knowing who searched for flu related terms, but that's just me.
While this seems like a great idea, there are shortcomings with this sort of tool, for example:
- People who are sick with the flu but don't search.
- Searchers not actually sick with the flu, just doing research for whatever reason.
- Searchers looking up info out of concern for a friend or relative who is sick but in an entirely different area.
I'm sure this is just a first step as there's much, much more that this could be used for, as we can see on the Global Health Watch site (incidentally powered by the Google Maps engine), the incidence of influenza in the US is not the only going health concern.
What else could they do?
Google is uniquely placed for these types of services; not only because they have the resources and the apparent desire, but because of exposure. A lot of people go to Google, not just for search, but for their mail service and a host of other integrated free services.
Given that, I starting wondering what else they could do to improve the accuracy and utility of this sort of thing.
One way I could imagine, would be to have some sort of direct user input - something like a Google suggest tool for self diagnosis. I can see how doctors and lawyers both would be horrified at what I just suggested, but I'm talking about a way to not only track patterns of health issues but also to better prepare the consumer who is ill for the next stage(s) of dealing with their issues. Obviously, this is not to provide a substitute for consulting a physician.
I know I tend to drag my heels about going to see a physician unless I'm bleeding to death, but by the time I get there I forget a lot of possibly important details that my GP might not be able to dredge up in our brief appointment.
I would love to have something like a logical, online questionnaire/checklist with some sort of flowchart type progression of questions based on my answers that I could fill in at my leisure. Even better, if I could then print off the results and hand it to my doctor when I got to my appointment. This would save their time and reduce the number of irrelevant questions that need to be asked.
Even if the tool only gathered symptomatic data, rather than conclusive diagnostics, it would still be valuable. For example: if in a short period of time an specific area shows a higher than normal set of specific symptoms, it could tip off health authorities or even people browsing the data that something out of the ordinary is taking place and they could track down that contaminated water supply, or previously unknown environment hazard or whatever. Likely this could enable problem identification and resolution much quicker than by normal means.
Another public service field that Google could provide is a plug for the huge gap in emergency notification.
Currently, disaster notification is kind of all over the place. There are all manner of solutions ranging from those that require people to have their TV or radio on right through to commercially available corporate notification and disaster recovery services, and anything and everything in between. One great model for updated alerts and information is GDACS, but that is geared towards keeping the international emergency response community notified and not designed to handle specific area notification to the average Joe.
Some sort of system that provides rapid, mass notification to subscribed users in affected areas could be right up Google's alley. Imagine if this sort of system was in place a few years ago.
Picture this scenario:
You're going to Phuket, Thailand for Christmas holidays in 2004. You do all the standard trip planning for medical insurance, booking, itinerary, etc. You go to Google Emergency Alerts and update your subscription to receive SMS text (mobile texting) and gmail emergency notifications for Thailand for the duration of your trip. Your vacation is wonderful and the beach is a dream. Suddenly, you receive a text message on your cell, warning of a possible Tsunami. You snatch up the kids and head for high ground immediately, warning everyone you pass by. Those critical moments, could mean the difference between life and death.
This could be used for more than just disaster notifications; subscription channels could be used for prescription drug alerts, food allergy alerts, all sorts of things beneficial to the safety and wellbeing of users.
I think Google is capable of great things and kudos to them for instituting Google.org in the first place. I could name a lot of other big corps that could sure use that kind of PR, but they never seem inclined to go that extra distance.
by Tim Rule, PPC Specialist
| | DivX Files Lawsuit Against Yahoo
As if Yahoo doesn't have enough financial troubles. San Diego based DivX is suing Yahoo for $25 million in damages. Allegedly Yahoo had breached an advertising agreement with DivX accounting for more than 20% of their revenue.
 The contract between Yahoo and DivX was set to expire at the end of 2009, and only 9 months into 2008 Yahoo had stopped making payments. During those first 9 months DivX received $15 million in revenue under the deal.
When a similar agreement with Google ended last year, Yahoo snatched up the opportunity and won the deal with DivX that would have the Yahoo Toolbar incorporated into DivX downloads.
Yahoo has been slashing costs lately including mass layoffs. Trying to get out of this deal is likely just another way for them to try and save money. On Nov 11, Yahoo had demanded that DivX renegotiate the contract to eliminate termination restrictions and reduce the payment terms.
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| | Google Book Search Settlement
Google has now made one big step forward in its initiative to have out-of-print books online. Tuesday, Judge John Sprizzo approved a lawsuit settlement between Google and numerous authors and publishers to the tune of $125 million. This money will be placed in a fund to go to copyright holders and will allow Google the rights to placing out-of-print material online.
 This lawsuit has been going on now for a few years and Google is undoubtedly glad to see an end to it. This could see Google becoming one of the biggest out of print book retailers around. Any revenue received by Google from its print services will be split 37 / 63 between Google and its publishers - the publishers getting the lions share.
Once fully operational, Google print will make it easy for users world wide to access a vast amount of difficult to find information - as Sergey Brin noted, "It's a real win-win for all of us, the real victors are the readers."
More information on the settlement can be found over at Google.
by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| | Google's Market Share Keeps on Rising
The figures from Nielsen Netratings and comScore are not in as of yet, but Hitwise has posted their latest numbers for October, and they show Google closing in on the 72% mark.  According to Hitwise, Google now sits with 71.7%, up 0.54%, Yahoo is down 0.3% to 17.74%, and MSN is pretty much the same at 5.4% (up a miniscule 0.04%). As Google grows ever so slowly month after month, it will be no surprise if they manage to reach the 80% point. Will Yahoo or MSN ever manage to steal back some of this market share? Not likely in the near future, but time will tell. by Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO
| | The Net Reality
Planetarium for Your PC: Stellarium is a free open source software lets you check out the friendly skies from your computer.
Duplicating House Keys from Digital Photos: Security alert! This article suggests prudence in publishing photos or safeguarding from people who take your picture. With the advent of low cost cameras and pretty much all cell phones having this capability these days, keys can easily be duplicated through digital photos.
"If you go onto a photo-sharing site such as Flickr, you will find many photos of people's keys that can be used to easily make duplicates. While people generally blur out the numbers on their credit cards and driver's licences before putting those photos on-line, they don't realise that they should take the same precautions with their keys."
Junk Mail Economics: It takes just 1 response in every 12.5 million emails sent for spammers to turn a profit. Other interesting statistics can be found in this blog. The author recommends iHateSpam v5 to ward off unwanted spam. Cost is $19.95 for a one year subscription.
10 Most Overrated and Underrated Gadgets: Fun slide show showcasing some great and not so great technologies, products and services.
The Network of Everything: "According to ICT Results in 'The Network of Everything,' wireless experts estimate that our personal networks will include about a thousand devices in 2017, including dozens of sensors checking our health and our home."
Wireless World Research Forum (WWRF) "predicts 7 trillion devices for 7 billion people by 2017 - in other words, around a thousand devices for every man, woman and child on the planet."
"How is this possible? "In the future, there will be hundreds, even as many as a thousand devices in a PN. It may seem an impossible figure, but in the near future the number of personal devices will multiply enormously. One person might have dozens of sensors, monitoring vital signs like heart rate and temperature, and even the electrolytes present in perspiration. And then there are sensors and actuators in the home, including light switches, and more again in cars. People will be able to link with TVs, stoves and spectacles, which could double as a personal TV screen, and even clothing. They will have a home gateway, to manage all their home devices, and a car gateway while driving."
To learn more about why a consortium of 35 companies from 16 countries have spent over €17 million on a project called MAGNET Beyond (an acronym for My personal adaptive Global NET and beyond) check out this article. The researchers have constructed a Smart Personal Network which integrates Personal Networks and Personal Area Networks.
An Interplanetary Internet: NASA reports on its first successful use of deep space communications modeled on the Internet.
"NASA and Google VP Vint Cerf developed a software protocol for disruption-tolerant networking (DTN), which sends information through a method that differs from the normal Internet's TCP/IP communications suite, 10 years ago. It can withstand delays, disruptions, and connection losses in space when a spacecraft moves behind a planet, or during solar storms, NASA said.
If a destination path can't be found, each network node retains the data packets until it can communicate safely with another node."
PC Magazine Print Edition Goes Offline: After 26 years in circulation, Ziff Davis Publishing's PC Magazine will issue its last print edition in January 2009. Silicon Alley Insider reported Wednesday that its publishing efforts will shift to the online edition, PCMag.com
By Bill Stroll, Sales Manager
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