5 Reasons Why your Business should Adopt Google Cloud Services

[Guest Post]

Google has become a part of our everyday lives, without a shadow of a doubt. Not only do most of us use their search engine daily for all manner of things - whether it be to look up goods, services, useless facts and trivia, or just to check the spelling of a word. However, they’re much, much more than just a search engine nowadays, and their products are as numerous as they are ingenious.

 

 

Many of us now have Google Mail (Gmail) accounts for all of our emailing needs, use Google Maps to look up directions, and even use Google’s office software as opposed to Microsoft or Apple’s own ones. There’s also the Android operating system which power many of our smart-phones (any of us who own a Samsung, for example).

In this blog post we aim to outline five of the things you should know about Google and how their products can benefit your business, and we’ll also talk about the extent of their influence over the modern technology and communications markets.

Google are quite rightly very proud of the fact that they keep it real, as it were. The working environments within their offices are famously kept very open and informal - employees wear their own clothes and often hold meetings with their shoes off as they sit on comfy chairs. Many start-ups mimic Google’s office culture, as it helps to stimulate their staff and their creativity.

However, no matter whether your business is a start-up which mimics the Google atmosphere (like so many do these days) or has a more traditional approach to the office set-up and atmosphere, their products can help you go about your business much better.

1. Google Drive cloud storage

As you may have noticed, there has been a buzz about cloud storage which has become increasingly loud recently. This is all down to the various advantages it brings to both individuals and businesses alike, making everyone’s life much easier. Many businesses are now switching to cloud technology, as it can cut their operational costs and also free up some space in many an office (and this is putting it very crudely).

When you store all of your business documents on the Google Drive, you can grant access to those within your organisation who will need to access it whenever and wherever they want to. It really does allow for a paperless office. Of course, there will be certain things now and then which will need to be printed off for one reason or another, but you will be spending much less money on paper than you were before.

Not only is this paperless aspect good for your operational costs and overheads, but it’s also great for the environment - and the more businesses that get involved in this, the better.

Anyone can access the Google Drive as long as they have their login details and a device which can access the internet. You will be able to do your work from anywhere in the world (literally), and communicate easily with colleagues and customers who are based on the other side of the world.

2. Google Docs

A fantastic alternative to the Microsoft Office package, Google Docs lets you write documents which can be shared instantly and edited simultaneously by numerous different people on different devices.

The word processor is extremely easy to use - certainly no more difficult than Microsoft Word itself is, and you have a range of fonts to choose from. After a day or so of using it, you and your staff will be fully acquainted with it and won’t ever look back.

You can also of course create spreadsheets and presentations using Google Docs, which are essential in the modern business age. Again, like the word processor, they are very easy to use even if you’re new to them.

Google Docs items are all stored in the cloud, which means that you don’t have to worry about saving your files on the computer itself or a pen drive or anything like that - you can just log into your account from anywhere and access your documents that way.

3. Gmail

When it was first set up, Gmail dazzled the market by offering 1GB of storage capacity (free) per user (the normal amount of initial storage offered by other email providers was between 2MB and 4MB).

Now, Gmail is said to be the most popular email provider on the internet, which is definitely not hard to believe. It is extremely easy to navigate around and organise generally, and is perfect for pretty much any business.

Ed. Note: Google Apps for business is a better solution for business users. Gmail should be used only for personal email accounts.

4. Google+

Apparently the second biggest social network in the world, Google+ is yet another illustration of Google’s impressive ability to enter into any market and succeed. It is also referred to as an ‘identity service’, meaning that it associates content with its author.

It works rather like Facebook in that users have a profile which includes a picture of themselves, an ‘about’ section, school and work sections, and the ability to updates their ‘status’. Many people within businesses use Google+ as one of their social networks, as they can not only post and seek out insightful content, but they add an element of personality to their account as well. It links directly with a user’s Gmail account, and allows them to become much less ‘faceless’ on the web.

5. Connectivity

The major advantage to all of Google’s products is the accessibility of them all - in terms of where you can access them. Unlike many traditional office software and email platforms, ones powered by Google can be accessed anywhere in the world as long as you have access to the internet. This can be absolutely invaluable as sometimes circumstances will arise which dictate that staff will not be able to come into the office, or in a business which has a lot of employees working from home. The fact that Google’s apps can be accessed from anywhere means that you will be able to better facilitate work and productivity within your organisation.

This Guest post was written by Rachel Jensen, on behalf of Cloud Technology Solutions

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30+ Google Cloud Computing Services for You

Although I am a Microsoft.Net developer, I am also a Google fan - one who is amazed at Google’s grand vision for cloud computing! Interestingly, starting from the most fundamental layer of web, i.e., domain name system (DNS) look-up, to more sophisticated search and productivity apps, it has a significant presence everywhere. Ten years back, even savvy computer users would have found it difficult to believe that Google could offer such a wide array of efficient services to millions of consumers so cheaply, or, in some cases, even for free.

Below is a list and brief description of the Google Cloud Services that can be consumed by an individual, small office home office (SOHO), or a micro business to achieve the desired efficiency in day to day activities. I am a consumer of most of the services mentioned here.

What exactly is Google's cloud?

I borrowed the following paragraph (in olive, italics) from BusinessWeek

“It's a network made of hundreds of thousands, or by some estimates 1 million, cheap servers, each not much more powerful than the PCs we have in our homes. It stores staggering amounts of data, including numerous copies of the World Wide Web. This makes search faster, helping ferret out answers to billions of queries in a fraction of a second. Unlike many traditional supercomputers, Google's system never ages. When its individual pieces die, usually after about three years, engineers pluck them out and replace them with new, faster boxes. This means the cloud regenerates as it grows, almost like a living thing.”

What should a Consumer Expect from any Cloud Service?

• Data should be available irrespective of his or her location
• Data should move seamlessly between devices (notebook, mobile phone, desktop, laptop)
• Data should be secure
• If needed, collaboration should be faster
• There should be higher reliability and uptime
• There should be extensive flexibility and control of data
• The cloud service should be less expensive than the traditional way of achieving similar results(Google’s economies of scale)

What are Google Cloud Services?

Apart from the extremely popular Google Search, Gmail, Chrome browser and Android OS there are various Cloud services from Google. Most of these services can be categorized under SaaS (Software as a Service) and are free. A few, like Google Maps, are free only for non-commercial use. For details on the services described below, please read Google’s Terms of Services associated with each service.

Let us start from the basic services, in a random order.

Google Public DNS

Announced on December 3, 2009, Google Public DNS is a free, global Domain Name System (DNS) resolution service. It aims to make the web faster and more secured.

The Google Public DNS IP addresses are as follows:

• 8.8.8.8
• 8.8.4.4

To know more: Compare Google Public DNS, OpenDNS & ISP DNS.

Page Speed Online

Page Speed Online is for the web masters. It analyzes the content of a web page, then generates suggestions to make that page faster. Page Speed Online is also suitable for mobile websites, i.e., it gives you suggestions specific to mobile optimization.

Google Places     

Its tag line is Get your business found on Google. Google Places is Google’s directory of businesses.

How many times have you used the good old Yellow Pages in the last year? Most of you may answer - never. The upcoming Facebook and Twitter generation may not even have heard of the Yellow Pages. Google Places is the new Yellow Pages, but unlike the Yellow Pages it’s free to businesses and online. To give a Google booster to your business, simply add your business and claim it.

Google Offers

After a recent failed attempt at acquiring the daily-deal site Groupon, Google responded with Google Offers. Google is already building a network of local merchants through Google Places, so it looks like Google Offers was the missing link. Offers started with a beta version in Portland, Oregon (US), on April 20, 2011.

As of the writing of this article, apart from Portland, the deals are available for five locations only: New York City Downtown, New York City Midtown, New York City Uptown, Oakland-East Bay and San Francisco (the last two are in California).

Note: Google also launched Google Earth Builder on April 20, 2011 but Google Earth Builder is not discussed here as it is an enterprise oriented application.

Google Checkout

This is an online payment processing service provided by Google. I have used Google Checkout since September 2009 for various payments, including:

• to buy and later renew my custom domain (techno-pulse.com);
• to donate to the Japanese Red Cross Society (Tsunami and Earthquake relief fund).

I find this service hassle free, fast and easy to use as the basic information (like credit card number and shipping address) is stored by Google in the user’s account. Moreover, you can view your receipts online with all the details – anytime, anywhere.

Google’s fraud protection policy covers you against any unauthorized purchases. For online transactions, I must trust someone and I trust Google more than any other entity.

The above description describes the buyer’s experience. If you want to sell something online, check out Google Checkout for Merchants. This service charges a nominal fee per transaction (Ranges from 1.9% to 2.9% +$0.30)

Google Profile

You can use your Google account to create a publicly accessible profile in Google Profile. Like a LinkedIn or Facebook profile, this also appears in Google search if someone searches for your name. This profile represents you in the different Google products and services like Blogger, Buzz and +1 services etc.

Google +1

Google’s answer to the Facebook Like button, this service lets you vote for your favorite search results. You must have a Google Profile to use Google + 1, and the service is still in Labs so to use it, you must activate it here.

With integration of social signals into search parameters, I’m hoping this service will make Google search more relevant and efficient.

Google Maps

Which service should you use to find places, get driving directions and explore street-level imagery?

Simply visit Google Maps. Type a location or business into the search box and click Search Maps.

Google Translate

Willy Brandt, a former German chancellor, once said:

"If I'm selling to you, I speak your language. If I'm buying, dann muessen Sie Deutsch sprechen [then you must speak German]."

The above statement highlights the importance of multi-language support in your site/blog. Google Translate is a free machine translation service supporting 50 languages. My personal experience (while using it for English to Hindi translation and vice-versa) is that the translation quality is not at all satisfactory and the software needs improvement.

Read more about Google Translate Widget, a website translator gadget powered by Google translate.

Google Transliterate

Converting a given written text from one script to another is called transliteration. Currently Google Transliterate supports 25 languages. The same application programming interface (API) is used for Blogger, Gmail, Orkut ,etc. You can use this API for your website as well.

Webmaster Tools

This is an absolutely free tool for webmasters. You can register your blog/website to get feedback from Google Webmaster Tools regarding:

• Keywords
• Indexing
• Broken links
• HTML suggestions
• Sitelinks,
• Crawl errors
• Malware
• Robots.txt etc.

Google Analytics (GA)

Unlike the webmaster tool described above, which is aimed at webmasters, GA is targeted at internet marketers. GA is one of my favorite services and I use it to know the following details about my blog:

• Detailed statistics about the visitors
  • Country, City level tracking of the visitor
  • Operating System, Browser, Screen Resolution
  • Connection Speed, Service providers etc.
• Detailed statisticsts of mobile devices and carriers used to access my blog.
• Traffic Sources
  • Direct traffic
  • Search Engine
  • Referring Sites.
• Details about AdSense
  • Top AdSense Content
  • Top AdSense Referrers
  • AdSense Trending etc.
• Adword campaign details, Keyword positions etc

(See below for an explanation of AdSense and AdWords.)

Google Trends

As the name suggests it’s a service to determine the frequency of a particular search term on web. Wikipedia defines it as public web facility based on Google Search, that shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages. Check Google Trends.

Google Insights for Search

You can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties. It’s an excellent tool for extensive Keyword Research. Also it is more feature rich and advanced than Google trends. Check Google Insights.

Google Alerts

Although this is the simplest, it is one of my favorite apps.  Google Alerts is a monitoring service, your online postman who dutifully delivers email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query. You can determine the frequency of updates.

Example - If you are interested in knowing about cloud computing, just create your alert here with the search term “cloud computing”. Or, if you are interested in knowing what others are saying about you online, you can create an alert with your “name” as the search term.

Google Reader

Read your favorite blogs/websites all in one place on Google Reader.

• Stay up to date
• Share with your friends
• Use it anywhere, for free

Website Optimizer

I’ve not used this personally. This service looks like Google Analytics but a little more detailed. Google’s official site informs me that it can be used to create experiments with any element that exists as HTML code (fonts, headlines, forms etc). Based on your experiments, you can create a landing page to achieve a significant increase in your conversion rate.

Google Cloud Connect

Do you need online collaboration ability in MS-Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel)? You can share your word file right from your desktop to your team members with View only or Edit permission.  You just need to install a light weight (less than 30 sec on a broadband connection) Google Cloud Connect Plug-in to your desktop which has pre-installed MS Office 2003, 2007 or 2010. Local edits are synced back with the web version. Others who are working on the same doc can download and make their own edits. Google Docs stores all versions of the file. Google Cloud Connect is flawless and works like a charm!

P.S. - You can only edit docs locally from your computer, not online from Google Docs. The web version is a Read-Only.

Google Cloud Print

Google Cloud Print’s official page informs us:

“It is built on the idea that printing can be more intuitive, accessible, and useful. Using Google Cloud Print you can make your printers available to you from any Google Cloud Print enabled web, desktop or mobile app. To get started printing using Google Cloud Print, connect a printer to your account. Google supports both cloud ready and classic printers.”

Currently it works only with Chrome OS, Gmail for mobile and Google Docs for mobile.

iGoogle

A customizable Ajax-based start page or personal web portal - with a handy drag and drop interface you can organize news, photos, weather and stuff from your favorite blogs at one place.

Google News

This is an automated news aggregator. According to Wikipedia, the service is available in 19 languages (I guess now this number has increased). The English language service aggregates news from 4500 different sites. It supports four Indian languages Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Visit Google News.

Blogger

Regular readers of this blog may be aware that this blog is hosted on Blogger with a custom domain. The only price I’ve paid is for a custom domain name, which I bought through Google Checkout ($10/Year). There are no hosting charges. I monitored Techno-Pulse’s uptime through Monitis, from different locations of the world for a couple of months and the uptime average was 99%. The uptime for Techno-Pulse at different locations in the US on most of the days was 100%!

Based on my monitoring, is uptime for this service somewhere near the much discussed five nines (99.999%) availability?

And who says Blogger blogs are less search engine (SE) optimized than WordPress Blogs? In the month of March, I got almost 80% of my approximately 13,000 visitors (PageViews 22000) from Google.

P.S. – My blog has approximately 60 articles (excluding static pages like About Me, Contact, etc).

Google App Engine(GAE)

This is useful for developers. It is a Platform as a Service(PaaS) for developing and hosting web applications in Google-managed data centers. Currently, it supports Python and Java (by extension other JVM languages are also supported). Google App Engine is free, but only up to a certain level of used resources.

Check out this much talked Royal Wedding site, powered by GAE.

Google Docs

In plain English, you can call this an SaaS (Software as a Service) adaptation of your desktop based office suite. It helps in providing faster, and real-time, collaboration as it can be accessed from any connected device. You can upload files up to 1024 MB. Interestingly, your storage space is also 1024 MB (= 1GB). How do I use this?

• I’ve conducted a few CEO Interviews for Techno-Pulse using Google Docs. I share the questionnaire doc with edit permission granted to the eMail Id of the interviewee. In this way I can ask follow-up questions as well, because both of us are working on the same doc.
• I’ve uploaded one PDF and one Presentation file to my Google Docs. I’ve linked these files with my post Download - Cloud Introduction Presentation. Whenever a user clicks the download link at the post, he or she is redirected to the Google docs page of that specific PDF/Presentation file. From here, he or she can easily download the desired file. As these files are marked “Public on the Web” anyone can view or download them without any sign-in required.
• I’ve also used Google Docs Forms to capture information from a user in one of my posts, namely Cloud Computing Directory. The user fills up and submits the form. Immediately after a successful form submission, a few things happen behind the scenes:

1. The Spreadsheet linked with the form is updated with user submitted data.
2. I get an email update (that someone has edited the spread-sheet)
3. If I wish I can also integrate (publish as a web page or embed as HTML or CSV or PDF) the above spreadsheet with any website/blog and redirect the user so that he can view the submitted data. All this can be achieved without a single line of code.

Google Site

An individual or micro business can have their website on free Google Site. Buy a custom domain through any registrar and configure (change the CNAME records) it to use with Google Site. It provides 100 MB of storage (for free account). Check this site powered by Google Site.

Picasa Web Albums (PWA)

PWA is a photo sharing web site, similar to Flickr. With a free account, it allows you to store and share 1GB of photos. Blogger implicitly stores its images at PWA.

Google Calendar

Manage and organize your schedule hassle free. Google’s official website provides the following reasons to use Google Calendar and I fully agree with it:

• Share your schedule
• Get your calendar on the go
• Never forget another event again
• Send invitations and track RSVPs
• Sync with your desktop applications

AdWords

Explore this if you want to advertise your product on different websites or blogs. Advanced users can explore DoubleClick for Advertisers.

AdSense

It’s the most popular contextual advertising system on the Internet. You must apply and get an approval to start using it. Explore this if you own a website or blog. Do remember that to earn something from this program high traffic is a pre requisite. To give you an idea, apply for this only if you have a daily traffic of at least 150 unique visits. Advanced users can explore DoubleClick for Publishers.

Youtube

Does this need any introduction?

This Video sharing site was acquired by Google in November 2006 for $1.65 billion, and now operates as a subsidiary of Google.

You can also explore

• Video (Irrelevant after YouTube acquisition)
• Orkut (Looks like everyone has migrated from here to… Facebook)
• Buzz (Nothing can create a buzz like Twitter)
• Wave (Too late to explore - it’s dead)

What is the Core of Google Cloud?

Google Apps – The plethora of apps available here simply confuses a common user. If you own a domain name, you can get started with this service by updating the MX records (DNS management section) to Google’s mail servers. These settings are available when you log-in to your dashboard at your domain name provider’s portal.

But the simplest way to get started is by buying a custom domain from Google apps ($10/Year). This way you can have Google Apps (Free) which supports the following apps:

For Google Apps (Free): Maximum number of users (or eMail Ids allowed) = 50

Messaging Apps	Gmail, Google calendar
collaboration Apps	Google docs, Google Sites
Other Google Apps	Google Reader, Blogger, Picasa Web Albums, AdWords etc

With All of these Choices, What About Security in the Cloud?

Cloud services are always under suspicion when it comes to security. Also, we hear about online theft almost on a regular basis. But I feel 100% protected while using Google Services. Why?

Because even if I give my account password to you, I know you cannot sign-in to my account.

I have enabled the newly launched Google’s 2 step verification for my account. Now a hacker will require something more than just my password to hack into my account. Also, Google Apps have been independently verified and have been issued SAS 70 Type II audit certification to verify confidentiality, integrity and availability of customer data.

Please share your experience with Google Cloud. Did you like this? Spread the word. +1, Tweet or Like…

Related Articles

• Cloud Computing Service: A Basic Introduction – 1
• Cloud Service Models - SaaS PaaS IaaS - Which One is for You?
• Cloud Deployment Models – Private, Community, Public, Hybrid with Examples

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Free Cloud Based PHR (Personal Health Record)

What happens in case of a medical emergency? You are out of station, far away from your near & dear ones, met with an accident, sort of emergency. What’s the best way to help your attending physician to take crucial decisions of drug related allergies or medical history?

Personal Health Records (PHR) may come to your rescue if you’ve maintained one.

Wikipedia defines PHR as:

“A health record that is initiated and maintained by an individual. An ideal PHR would provide a complete and accurate summary of the health and medical history of an individual by gathering data from many sources and making this information accessible online to anyone who has the necessary electronic credentials to view the information.”

Optional Info:

Though PHR may sound like an EHR(Electronic Health Records) there’s a marked difference between the two. A PHR is initiated by an individual whereas an EHR is initiated by the health care providers and may be legally mandatory in most of the countries.

Free Cloud Based PHR

• Google Health
  • Available everywhere without any restriction.
  • Import medical records from hospitals & pharmacies.
  • Sign up & Access through Gmail Account.
  • It’s not only a storage, you can also produce intelligent reports/charts for analysis.

Important Update: Google Health is retiring January 1, 2012; data available for download through January 1, 2013. Read the official announcement at Google Blog.

• Microsoft HealthVault
  • It’s a platform that can be integrated with many PHRs.
  • It can be used by health care providers (i.e. EHR)
  • There are many compatible devices (pedometers, blood pressure monitors, weight scales) that can be connected to HealthVault connection center to upload your device data directly to HealthVault record.
  • Currently launched only for two countries: US & UK
  • Sign up & Accessed through Windows Live Id.

Benefits of a Cloud Based PHR

• Organize your health info in one place.
• Gather your health/medical records from hospitals, doctors and pharmacies.
• If you wish, Share your info securely with your doctor, health care provider or family member.
• Analyse & gain insight from your health records.

PHRs can Include following Information:

• Medications (doses & frequency).
• Allergies
• Drug interactions
• Illnesses & Hospitalizations
• Surgeries
• Immunization
• Test results
• Insurance
• Family history
• Fitness records (weight, height etc)

Sign up for these Cloud Services?

• Google Health
• Microsoft HealthVault

Suggestions

Sharing personal medical information is a sensitive issue. Though a PHR empowers you as you are in complete control of your own profile (you decide what you want to share & what you want to keep private) sign up for these services after reading & understanding the Privacy Policies of the corresponding service provider:

• Google Privacy Policy
• Microsoft HealthVault Privacy Policy

Cloud Articles

• Free Cloud Apps for Education Sector
• Best & Free Cloud Computing Applications
• Cloud Computing Service: A Basic Introduction – 1
• Cloud Computing: A Basic Introduction – 2
• SaaS Introduction with Example – Cloud Service
• Cloud Computing: A Catalyst for IT adoption in SMEs/SMBs
• Microsoft leaps into the Cloud – Office Web Apps

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Microsoft leaps into the Cloud – Office Web Apps

With the yesterday’s worldwide launch of Microsoft Office Web Applications for the business customers, the cloud war is getting fierce. "A lot of people say we will see pigs fly before we see Microsoft Office running in the cloud," said Tim O'Brien, Microsoft's senior director of platform strategy. MS has proved them wrong & is betting big on Cloud Computing. The launch of Microsoft’s one of the most lucrative & successful products is a testimony to the fact that though MS is a late entrant its quite serious about the new trend.

Perhaps MS Office is one of the most popular products till now, consumed by millions of user around the world on a daily basis. Though there are many options, even today it’s difficult to think of a computer without MS office. Back in 2006, Google launched Google Docs – a product similar to MS Office but with a different delivery model – documents/apps accessed using a browser, without installing any software. Google docs has become very popular with the retail consumers but is yet to gain a sizeable chunk in enterprise market.

As per Forrester Research estimates, Google’s share (in %) in this segment is still limited to single digit whereas MS Office is leading the office productivity app competition with a comfortable margin, as 81% of businesses are religiously using MS office. May be the users are so comfortable & familiar with the omnipresent MS Office that they can’t think of anything else. Lately Microsoft realized this and has innovated itself to make its presence felt in in the web sphere.

The free to use consumer (individual users) version of Office Web Apps is scheduled to be launched in June. It’ll be available via a windows live account. Definitely the consumers will hugely benefit with the cloud war. Only time will tell who will emerge as the winner: though entering late in cloud-sphere, will the biggest IT giant specializing in desktop software turn the table in its favor or   will it be the most innovative web company?

Only time will tell…wait & watch.

Cloud Computing Articles at Techno-Pulse

• Top 10 Cloud Computing Service Providers of 2009
• Best & Free Cloud Computing Applications
• India Based Cloud Computing Service Providers
• Cloud Based Project Management – DeskAway SaaS
• Develop SaaS on OrangeScape PaaS to Run on any Cloud Infrastructure
• Cloud Computing Service: A Basic Introduction – 1
• Cloud Computing: A Basic Introduction – 2
• Cloud Computing Platform Introduction - PaaS
• Cloud based on-Demand SaaS CRM for India: Impel
• Infrastructure as a Service – IaaS: Cloud Computing
• Develop Cloud based SaaS Applicatios on Wolf Platform
• SaaS Introduction with Example – Cloud Service

Read More

Google vs. Bing: An Interesting Comparison

Bing Is Not Google. This may be un/official full-form of BING. But contextually it is true. This is more pronounced after the improved Google's algorithm of identifying and highlighting synonyms. Google is introducing a bit of artificial intelligence to make itself as intelligent as at least a 7 year old child. Now it can understand that pictures & photos mean the same. It can also relate the popular abbreviations & highlight its full-form.

Of late it has started understanding the context of a search query. It’s a small but remarkable step towards making the web intelligent. A significant step leading to the innovative contextual search from today's keyword search. I must confess I am impressed by the quality of Google’s new synonym search. I did a comparative study of Bing & Google with the following search queries. Undoubtedly the Google search quality has set a new benchmark for Bing and others. Perhaps that’s the reason very few web users think of Google vs. Bing as there’s no such comparison, Google is far ahead of BING.

Google vs. Bing Based on same Search Queries:

1. s/w update bb

Any human being with an average intelligence can understand that the query s/w update bb means software updates Blackberry. Following was the search result of BING. Here out of 10 results displayed at first page only one was a bit relevant.

 Observe the following screen-shot to see how Google Synonym & contextual search is working together for the above query. 10 out of 10 results are relevant.

It has identified (highlighted) software for s/w.
It has identified Blackberry for BB
This is how Google synonyms is working. How the contextual search is working? BB can mean Blackberry but sometimes few fitness freaks use it for Bodybuilding as well. Google has intelligently analyzed the word BB with s/w to understand that by BB the user means Blackberry and not Bodybuilding.

Now type the following keywords:

2. BB fitness tip

Check it & you’ll find that the same word BB has been understood by Google as Bodybuilding and has been highlighted. Artificial intelligence at work!

 Few other search queries you may find interesting:

• Song words (Lyrics is highlighted as a synonym of words)
• Bank a/c (Account is highlighted)
• Cool a/c (Air conditioning is highlighted)
• Cloud s/w (Software is highlighted)
• PM India (Prime Minister is highlighted)

You may think it only identifies popular and traditional acronyms. You may be wrong as I was surprised to find the following informal word:-

LOL: Laughing Out Loud is highlighted.

Currently you may not find synonyms at work for every query. Moreover you may find some poor (quality) synonym as well. It depends on many factors.
Google's official blog put it as "Our systems analyze petabytes of web documents and historical search data to build an intricate understanding of what words can mean in different contexts."

Trivia: Updated on July 25 2014                 Try to search the following in Google: do a barrel roll tilt zerg rush recursion Google in 1998 Google backwards

Definitely BING and other search engines has miles to go before they can catch up with Google’s intelligent search algorithm. Share your experience of the latest synonym search.

Let us call it, The beginning of intelligent search. Perhaps not the end of Google vs. Bing. The innovation continues…

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Google PageRank, Traffic, SERP: My Observations

On the New Year eve of 2010, there was was a New Year gift from Google to Pulse of Technology. It has achieved a PageRank of 2 (from PR 0) in a span of 3 months. Surprisingly one of the articles, Top 10 Cloud Computing Service Providers 2009, has achieved a PageRank of 4! I am still wondering how to share this article’s PageRank to my Home Page i.e. Pulse of Technology. Please share your tips.

My traffic experience and observations after Google PageRank update on 31st December 2009:

• I’ve noticed a sharp rise in the SERP of the article with PageRank 4 (mainly Google search). For many keyword combinations, now it appears at # 1 or # 2. For others it appears at the first page in Google search. Its bringing a significantly higher number of visitors from United States. Unusually today while writing this post the number of visitors from United States to my blog (as per Google Analytics stats) is more than the visitors from India. I noticed a similar trend in last 2 days.
• The overall traffic has increased from approx 60 visitors a day to approx 90 visitors a day, from January 4th onwards. I’ve to increase the number of posts. Still lagging at a total of 18 posts in 3 months!
• It may be a coincidence but I found few of my articles listed in 1st page of Bing and Yahoo in last 2 or 3 days. Earlier they were indexed but were buried somewhere on 4th or 5th page.
• Most of the posts in my blog are having a PageRank 1. A few older posts are not ranked yet.

What are your observations after last Google PageRank update of 31st December 2009? Share your views & experiences.

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Compare Google Public DNS, OpenDNS & ISP DNS

2 weeks back Google launched it’s Public DNS. The electronic media in general and the blogosphere in particular were all singing in favor of Google Public DNS. Many users claimed they have noticed significant improvement in their Internet speed after switching to Google Public DNS. Today, Google is undoubtedly the Most Powerful Brand in the world, but does it mean we should blindly follow what ever comes from Google?

Many excited Internet users have already configured their settings to Google Public DNS. Before Google’s launch many users were shifting to OpenDNS from their ISP’s DNS. We always have a doubt on the capability of our local ISP DNS server. The question which keeps up popping in web users mind is:

• Which one is the fastest DNS server, Google Public DNS or OpenDNS or your ISP DNS Server?

Optional Info:  Let me simplify DNS (Domain Name System). Most of the human beings are more comfortable in remembering say for example google.com than 202.12.12.12. The domain name of this blog www.techno-pulse.com is more human friendly, as it helps us to remember it easily. What happens behind the scene when you type www.techno-pulse.com in your browser’s address bar?

• Browser will request the IP address for www.techno-pulse.com
• The above request will go to a DNS server, if you’ve not changed the settings, by default it should be your local ISP’s DNS server.
• The DNS server will check it’s cache for the IP address of www.techno-pulse.com
• If it’s not available in the cache it’ll query root servers for authoritative DNS server of www.techno-pulse.com
• The IP address of www.techno-pulse.com is resolved, your browser will connect to port 80 of destination IP address and will render the requested page.

In plain English we can define a DNS server as a Translator, sort of, from the human readable language to machine readable, i.e. it converts domain names into machine understandable IP address.

Which one is the fastest and the best: Google DNS or OpenDNS or your Local ISP DNS

How fast response comes back from a DNS server may significantly depend on where the server is located. DNS servers are located hierarchically in the network and DNS queries (name resolution) is done from the closest server (if DNS entry is valid). The following factors may affect the performance of a DNS server.

• Response Time,
• Number of hops traversed
• DNS server diversity
• Load-balancing factor
• Time-of-day effects,
• Impact on web-security etc.

Geographical proximity is not essential for better performance always.

CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) and DNS Server

There’s one more important factor to take a note of, especially with the growing trend of Cloud Computing. Every major website (Yahoo, Microsoft etc) have their CDNs or use some CDNs (viz Akamai CDN) nearest server will fulfill the request. If this is the case, Google DNS may route the request to a server which may not be the nearest one. Your ISP will at least be in a better position to provide the exact location & hence request will be routed to the nearest server… Since most CDNs have servers in ISP point of presence, clients’ request can be dynamically forwarded to topologically proximate replicas i.e.

Optional Info: “CDNs attempt to improve web performance by delivering content to end users from multiple, geographically dispersed servers located at the edge of the network. Content providers contract with CDNs to host and distribute their content. Since most CDNs have servers in ISP points of presence, clients’ requests can be dynamically forwarded to topologically proximate replicas. DNS redirection and URL rewriting are two of the commonly used techniques for directing client requests to a particular server”. Akamai CDN is perhaps the biggest CDN provider operating in 69 countries.

---Northwestern University

How to Test or Compare DNS servers speed

There’s a tool and that too from Google which will help you in comparing & benchmarking DNS Servers. The tool is known as NameBench.

How to use the benchmarking tool: Namebench

1. Download Namebench. (Light weight, Approx. 5MB)
2. Run it. It’s very smart and will populate your default DNS server.
3. Even with a dial-up connection, It won’t take more than 30 minutes to render the result.

I got the following results for a test performed in Hyderabad, India on 13 Dec 2009.

It also recommends you 3 fastest + Nearest DNS Servers for your location

Optional Info: With reference to the above screen-shot:

You can uncheck the blue colored encircled check box if you are not interested in other DNS Servers of your region. Moreover, if you are on a slower connection it’s better to uncheck it.

For best results keep the Number of tests (Encircled in Red) to default i.e. 200. But if you are on a slower connection you can run a test for less number of tests i.e. 50 or 100 etc.

Analysis of the Result

Why ultraDNS was faster than Google Public DNS? I explored a bit more about it and I found out that UltraDNS has a DNS server in Noida (India). It also seems that UltraDNS is a paid service. Though Google claims to have DNS Servers hosted world-wide in its data-centers, I am not sure but it seems they are yet to host a DNS server in India. May be the Geographical proximity lead to a faster ultraDNS Server. I am not sure.

Perform your test and find out yourself as which one is the best and fastest DNS server for your location. Let me know.

The debate of GoogleDNS vs. OpenDNS vs. ISP DNS ends here~~~

References

Dhiman Barman

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