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Posts Tagged ‘Subscribers’

Google Index to Go Real Time

Google is developing a system that will enable web publishers of any size to automatically submit new content to Google for indexing within seconds of that content being published. Search industry analyst Danny Sullivan told us today that this could be “the next chapter” for Google.

Last Fall we were told by Google’s Brett Slatkin, lead developer on the PubSubHubbub (PuSH) real time syndication protocol, that he hoped Google would some day use PuSH for indexing the web instead of the crawling of links that has been the way search engines have indexed the web for years. Google senior product manager Dylan Casey said yesterday at Sullivan’s Search Marketing Expo in Santa Clara, California that the company plans to soon publish a standard way for site owners to participate in a program much like that.

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How The System Might Work

PuSH is a syndication system based on the ATOM format where a publisher tells the world about a Hub that it will notify every time new content is published. Subscribers then tell the Hub “when this Publisher posts new content, please deliver it to me right away.” So instead of the Subscriber checking back with the Publisher all the time to see if there’s new content, they just sit and wait to be told that there is by the Hub. The Publisher publishes something, then tells the Hub that it’s available, then the Hub goes and delivers it to all the Subscribers. This can take as little as a few seconds.

If Google can implement an Indexing by PuSH program, it would ask every website to implement the technology and declare which Hub they push to at the top of each document, just like they declare where the RSS feeds they publish can be found. Then Google would subscribe to those PuSH feeds to discover new content when it’s published.

PuSH wouldn’t likely replace crawling, in fact a crawl would be needed to discover PuSH feeds to subscribe to, but the real-time format would be used to augment Google’s existing index.

As Danny Sullivan told us today, Google would have to implement some sort of spam control and not just let content be pushed live to the index unvetted. That was what happened in the earliest days of search and it was a real mess, he told us.

The Advantages of a Real Time Google Index

PuSH is much more computationally efficient for Google but Slatkin says that even more important is the impact of such a move for small publishers. Right now many small sites get visited by Google maybe once a week. With a PuSH system in place, they would be able to get their content to Google automatically right away.

A richer, faster, more efficient internet would be good for everyone, but the benefits in search wouldn’t be limited to Google, either. The PubSubHubbub is an open protocol and the feeds would be as visible to Yahoo and Bing as they would be to Google.

“I am being told by my engineering bosses to openly promote this open aproach even to our competitors,” Slatkin says. That’s a very good sign.

We expect this will be a very big deal and we’ll be covering it more extensively in the coming days, as well as whenever Google has something to announce more formally.

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10.5 Million Wordpress Blogs Get PubSubHubbub

Last September, Wordpress made millions of its blogs real-time with RSSCloud, but today it has taken real-time a step further by enabling PubSubHubbub for its 10.5 million blogs.

What this means, essentially, is that you no longer need to wait for your news reader to ping your blog every so often to find out if there are any updates – you’ll find out in real time.

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PubSubHubbub, also referred to as PuSH, is a decentralized real-time Web protocol that delivers data to subscribers the moment it becomes available. Traditionally, an RSS reader would poll a blog every so many minutes, like an annoying child on a car trip asking if you’re there yet. With a PuSH enabled blog, the blog and the reader both communicate through a hub. When new content is published, the blog immediately notifies the hub, which then notifies all of the subscribers. There is little to no delay. As Wordpress notes in its blog, “In most cases these updates are sent out with in a second or two of when you hit the publish button.”

Unlike the adoption of RSSCloud last fall, there is no need to opt-in or install a plugin for a blog hosted on Wordpress.com to become PuSH enabled – it’s already active. For Wordpress blogs hosted separately, a PuSH plugin, PuSHPress is now available for download.

This is yet another big step in our progression to a real-time Web. Last month, Google Reader went real time by consuming PuSH feeds, meaning they show up on the news site almost immediately after being published to the originating site. In conjunction, this means that any Wordpress.com hosted blogs, as well as any PuSH enabled blogs running Wordpress, will be immediately available on Google Reader and any other reader set to work with PuSH.

This also means that, if you want to be on the razors edge of what’s happening on the Web, you can also receive chat notifications of PuSH enabled blogs. RSS readers can be so last year when you can get a chat notification the instant a piece of content is published.

For a further explanation of PubSubHubbub, read Marshall Kirkpatrick’s article from last year’s Real Time Web Summit.

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AT&T CEO: iPad will be mostly used on WiFi, won’t drive many new 3G subscriptions
We all know by now that AT&T has secured the rights to furnish US iPad owners with 3G connectivity, but apparently the market desire for that service won’t be quite as big as we might have expected. That comes straight from Randall Stephenson himself, AT&T CEO and eternal believer in the power of i-branded devices, so it may have some legitimacy to it. Surely Randall’s dearest wish would be to announce his network is about to be overwhelmed by new subscribers, and the rather cooler news has already caused a small dint in AT&T’s stock price. Then again, this is hardly shocking news given that 3G on the iPad can be had on a month-by-month basis without contract, and in truth any subscriptions related to it would have to be achieved by AT&T’s own ingenuity — which, judging by its CEO’s comments, won’t be suffering any undue exertions any time soon. Not only that, Randall’s also taken the opportunity to advise us that higher data rates are likely for intensive users of unlimited 3G data plans — whether on the iPad or on smartphones. Way to endear yourself to the masses, dude.

AT&T CEO: iPad will be mostly used on WiFi, won’t drive many new 3G subscriptions originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Let The Credits Roll (In), Netflix Is Down

For at least the past hour, Netflix has been down. Normally, this wouldn’t be a huge deal since as they note, “Our shipping centers are continuing to send and receive DVDs , so your movies will be processed as usual.” But, increasingly, Netflix is becoming a streaming video service. And while that aspect is up and running on the third-party devices (such as the Xbox 360) that it works on, it’s obviously not working on the web. And given Netflix’s awesome customer service, I bet that means refunds are coming.

As we noted back in August, Netflix sent a message to its subscribers (who were connecting through Xboxes) noting some brief downtime for their streaming service. Along with the message, they were offering a 2% credit to be applied to your next monthly payment if you were affected. You simply had to click on a link to claim the refund (and you could actually do it even if you weren’t affected, if you didn’t mind lying). A couple weeks ago, Netflix sent out the same notice following a similar downtime.

It will be interesting to see what Netflix offers its customers for this downtime, which is obviously much more widespread. As they note on the site right now, “Our engineers are working hard to bring the site back up as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience and, again, we apologize for the inconvenience. If you need further assistance, please call us at 1-866-636-3079.”

Despite my strong disagreement with their decision to agree to Warner’s 28-day window for renting new DVDs, Netflix remains a company that seems to handle customer service exceptionally well (unlike others). Check out this internal presentation too; great stuff.

[thanks Jeff]

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Apple posts articles to help protect MobileMe members against ‘phishing’ schemes

Filed under: Odds and ends, Internet Tools, MobileMe

It was just a couple of weeks ago that we warned you that there were a bunch of phony Apple emails being sent to MobileMe subscribers designed to trick them into giving up their credit card info.

Now, Apple has published a couple of Knowledge Base articles designed to help you if you get some mail that might not really be from Apple.

The first posting helps you to renew your account, update your credit card information, and to deal with messages MobileMe may send you about your storage limits.

It also has an additional older specific link to help you identify fraudulent emails that look like they are from Apple but aren’t. For whatever reason, crooks love to prey on MobileMe users, and there have been issues with fake renewals and credit card phishing schemes for a couple of years now.

If you have any doubts, check the Apple articles, and report any problems to Apple. A credit card is a terrible thing to waste, or lose.

TUAWApple posts articles to help protect MobileMe members against ‘phishing’ schemes originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 23 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rogers yanks HTC Dream from shelves for urgent emergency call fix
Some of you Rogers subscribers have probably already taken your carrier up on its offer to upgrade your Dream to a Magic, but if not, pay very close attention here: calling 911 doesn’t work right now without making some changes. Basically, there’s an issue that prevents emergency calls from being completed if location-based services are enabled, which means you’ve got to head into Settings and disable GPS — not an optimal solution by any stretch of the imagination. Rogers and HTC are said to be working on a patch as we speak, but in the meantime, don’t expect to waltz into a Rogers store and pick up one of these bad boys.

Rogers yanks HTC Dream from shelves for urgent emergency call fix originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 14:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Brightcove Teams Up With TubeMogul To Power Its Analytics

When Brightcove released a major upgrade to its online video platform last month, one of the new set of features was better analytics. It turns out that Brightcove’s new video analytics suite is powered TubeMogul. Professional video publishers who use Brightcove can now measure things like the geographic distribution of their viewers, how many seconds they watch each video, their drop-off rate, number of unique viewers, number of new viewers, as well as total video plays.

The two companies have also signed a joint R&D pact to develop new video analytics products exclusively for Brightcove. TubeMogul will also become a marketing partner for Brightcove’s paid video hosting, streaming, and advertising services. About 125,000 people use TubeMogul’s free video analytics. Many of them are online video professionals Brightcove is hoping to turn into paying subscribers for its new “low-end” $99/month plan.

Analytics are an important part of the video equation, especially for advertisers and marketers who need to demonstrate the ROI of spending money on online video. TubeMogul already has an advanced analytics package Brightcove can plug into its latest release. TubeMogul adds Brightcove as a customer and will receive both R&D payments and marketing fees for each new Brightcove client it helps to sign up.

Crunch Network: CrunchGear drool over the sexiest new gadgets and hardware.

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Verizon to forward RIAA warning letters (but that’s all)

If you’re a copyright owner who has gone to the trouble and expense of tracking down online copyright infringers, don’t send warning letters to Verizon without striking a deal first; Verizon simply chucks them in the bin.

Do a deal with the “big V” and Verizon is willing to forward warning letters on to its subscribers, but that’s it. No customer information is exchanged and no sanctions are implemented—and Verizon has been handling the issue this way for years.

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