the elevator pitch

It took airports years to finally give in and start providing free Wi-Fi services, and some still haven’t caught on that the general flying public don’t like to dish out the cash for a few hours of Internet service. Well, it’s taken a while, but thanks to Google, free Wi-Fi has hit the skies. In a special sponsored campaign through Virgin Airlines, Google has agreed to front the in-flight Wi-Fi bill on certain trips between November 10th and January 15th. In a move that will cater to holiday travelers and people taking to the skies through the Winter time, Google looks to have done a great thing by allowing people to open up and actually connect for free during a flight.

The benefits are quite obvious – free Wi-Fi is always a bonus and when a branded company like Google is paying for it, it actually might feel a little better. Although only available on a limited number of flights, passengers can now freely access email, surf the web and absorb media while in the air.

But as the saying goes, nothing in this world is free. It turns out that the service Google is providing is far from perfect. Some user feedback has been negative stating problems like connection time and fluctuating bandwidth. But free is free and most are generally happy to take it.

The war for in-flight Wi-Fi isn’t a new one as companies like Verizon have been trying to turn a profit from the concept for a while. After a few failed attempts with partners like Boeing, Verizon ended their service in 2006. Since then a company called AirCell has attempted the same thing with airlines like United Airlines and Air Canada. Both of these airlines require passengers to pay of course.

So is Google doing the right thing by offering free in-flight Wi-Fi? Yes it is free, but could this just be a ploy to get people hooked on the fact that they can’t go without their daily Facebook fix, even while mid-flight? In any case, if you’re flying with Virgin Airlines between November 10th and January 15th, be sure to take advantage while you can. Just understand that if you really enjoy it, you’ll probably have to pay for it later on…

Source: Live Science

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Yesterday marks a bit of a milestone in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) field as two major search engines have agreed to use microblogs within their results. What does this mean? Well, here’s the skinny right now:

Yesterday afternoon Microsoft’s search engine Bing announced that they will be including Tweets, Twitter pages and most forms of micro-blogging within their results. Their hope is to be able to present users with real-time search results for time sensitive issues. This would include things like traffic and weather reports just to name a couple. Although Bing is still quite fresh in the SEO world, opening up their results to micro-blogs is a huge step in the right direction.

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Then, 20 minutes later, Google announced a similar of not exact same agreement with Twitter. They too will be giving Tweeted results for much of the same reason. So far, the only unconfirmed difference I can find at the moment is that Bing! will take a full 7 days to index a Tweet. Google on the other hand, has not announced how long it will take to index micro-blogs. I would assume much quicker if the intent is to have up to the minute results.

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In any case, it looks like Microsoft’s grand plan to be a big player in the online search game has been somewhat thwarted by mighty Google. Maybe next time…

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We all know the name, the brand and the functionality of Google on the Interweb. In fact, the term is so widely used that it is often used as a replacement for it’s function.

“Hey I need to search for something on the Internet.”

“Just Google It”

Basically I’m trying to demonstrate that Google dominates the current internet search market to the point where people don’t even use the term “search” anymore. Anyways, in recent news, Google has actually improved its searching capabilities two fold. What was once the easiest way to get an answer, a phone number a map or an image is now even more intuitive for users.

Firstly, Google has added a link within all (most) of their results that allows users to view specific snippets of information provided on the actual page. What was once reserved purely for the description of the page and possibly some introductory text is now being used for specific information directly related to the query. Basically it works like this:

If you search for something like “Child Labour” you’ll probably be given Wikipedia as a result. But within that result is a specific piece of information based on your query that allows you to jump to a particular part of the page that could help you find the information you’re looking for.

The second part of Google’s improvements allow users to jump within a website without defaulting to the home page. Like the first improvement, this allows users to access the information they could be seeking directly without having to re-search for it once they’ve landed on a page. The second improvement stretches beyond the page and allows users to go directly to a specific page within a site. We’ll take our “Child Labour,” example again. Lets say, for the sake of argument that Wikipedia has all of their information on a page buried deep within their site. Normally you might be given a home page with a lot of general information about the topic. But lets say that you searched “Child Labour,” but you really wanted the “history of child labour.” Google will now give you multiple results from within Wikipedia for you to jump to.This allows users to jump directly to the section on a page within a site as well as give them a snippet of information from the to make sure the result is accurate.

On the surface these improvements might not look like much, but if you’re an avid Google user, these little tools can save a lot of time and gives you access to your information in a more focused way.

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