In another blow for freedom, Iran is launching its own email service and suspending GMail. I guess this will make it easier to monitor the population. After the riots last Spring it seems like Twitter will be banned before too long. As far as Google is concerned it’s not clear why Iran doesn’t like the company. Google donates almost exclusively to the Democratic Party. Shouldn’t the Islamic Republic love that?
Iran’s telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.’s email services, saying a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out.
It wasn’t clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Gmail services in Iran, or even if Iran had implemented its new policy. Iranian officials have claimed technological advances in the past that they haven’t been able to execute
Club Soda did a great job summing up the political ramifications of an actual Green Police. Last night’s Audi ad was great because it appealed to both groups. Please read David Roberts’ article today in the Huffington Post. The same site that brought the world Katrina Cannibalism has this take on the Green Police ad:
The ad only makes sense if it’s aimed at people who acknowledge the moral authority of the green police — people who may find those obligations tiresome and constraining on occasion, who only fitfully meet them, who may be annoyed by sticklers and naggers, but who recognize that living more sustainably is in fact the moral thing to do. This basically describes every guy I know.
In other words David Roberts is okay with a police state as long as it suits his political beliefs. This is the great thing about totalitarianism. Someone ultimately gets to be in control. Everything is cool until someone has a gun in your face telling you to stop emitting C02.
Anyway, the point of my post today is to discuss what I thought was the best advertisement last night during the Super Bowl.
Google’s Parisian Love ad is simple. Google’s service is simple. The ad told a story and the sole focus was the brand. From a marketing perspective it was perfect. Evidently Microsoft’s search decision engine Bing is slowly gaining traction. Google has never advertised like this before. Plus, the fact there was a Google ad and nothing for Apple must make someone unhappy.
I haven’t been doing a good job of keeping up with the Joneses. It seems like everyone I know not named Club Soda is using a smart phone these days. iPhones are great, but I didn’t want to leave Verizon for a variety of different reasons. Mainly due to the fact most of my family uses Verizon and free calls all over the United States is a nice feature. Unfortunately Verizon hasn’t had a great smart phone until now.
I was eligible for an upgrade so I got the Motorola Droid for only $99. It costs an extra $30 a month for the data plan. I’ve only used the iPhone a little so I can’t really compare it to that device, but the Droid does pretty much everything I’d expect a smart phone to do. It syncs with my work and personal email accounts. I can tweet and follow tweets from the device (follow: DailyPlunge). It browses the web, gives turn by turn directions, and there are variety of different apps available. Basically every popular app I’ve ever heard of on the iPhone is available for the Droid.
The Droid uses Google’s Android OS which might spell doom for Microsoft’s phone OS. There are something like 50 phones coming out this year that use Android. Android is open, flexible, and easy to use. Overall I’m very happy with the phone. I can’t see a real reason for anyone to switch from the iPhone to the Droid; however, I can’t see why anyone would leave Verizon to get the iPhone when there’s now a comparable device available. The Droid is going to be a big hit for Motorola, Google, and Verizon.
There’s something conspicuously absent from this image.
I still remember the first time I used Google to search. It was a refreshing way to search. Google was uncluttered and it actually provided good search results. The competition at the time was so poor that Google has gone on to dominate the Internet search space. I use the Google toolbar, and I have to admit it’s very difficult for me to try to use another search engine. Microsoft has been trying (I’ll give them that), but Live Search never really gained much traction.
The Internet needs a better search engine to push Google. It’s not good to have one behemoth running searches. Microsoft debuted Bing last week as its new “decision engine.” Bing is great. I’ve been using it for a week and it does everything I would expect from a search engine; however, there are some issues. At home I use Google Chrome as my browser. I like Chrome because it’s so much faster than Firefox, and Internet Explorer is just terrible. I’m hoping Firefox gets better because I like the plug-ins and I like the fact that I’m able to control searches. With Google Chrome you’re basically stuck with their search. It’s funny, because isn’t that exactly why Microsoft got in trouble? I should mention that Chrome allows the user to change the default search, but you’re still stuck with just one option.
Google also has an edge with its blog search. Bing will likely add that feature at some point, but I really like that about Google. With Bing I’ll likely switch back to Firefox, keep the Google toolbar, and make Bing my default search engine. I’ll find some kind of Wikipedia plug-in to work with Firefox. I’ll have no problem using Bing, especially when Google contributes so heavily to the Democrat party.
Help Save the Polar Bears
My doodle for Google expresses how I want the world to pay attention to how Polar bears are on the verge of extinction and the great priorities we must take in order to stop this, such as stopping the increase in Global Warming.
Name: Alex Jordan
Age: 15
School: TAYLORVIEW JR HIGH
City, State: Idaho Falls, ID
Dear Alex Jordan,
I appreciate your passion for art but I’m less inclined to tolerate your uninformed and misguided beliefs about vicious Polar Bears and the theory of Global Warming. I see that you’re 15 years old, so I guess that you haven’t had a chance to learn that Polar Bears are, in fact, not on the “verge of extinction.” This isn’t your fault, really. If your only information about Polar Bears comes from the public school system and WWF commercials, then I can understand why you’re so concerned.
You will be very happy to know that the number of Polar Bears has been increasing for some time now (25% the past decade in Canada). Also, the amount of ice in the Arctic is within the average standard deviation. I’m sorry, given your public school background, that you probably don’t know what standard deviation is, though I’m quite sure you know all about condoms and that some people have two daddies. What I mean by “standard deviation” is that things are normal at the North Pole.
Also, you’ll be excited to learn that global temperatures have been trending cooler for the past decade. There hasn’t been any alarming shift in worldwide temperatures. I know that two years ago Nobel Prize winner and former Vice President Al Gore said the Arctic would be “ice free” in five years. Please don’t pay any attention to Gore; he was pro-life before he was pro-choice, pro-tobacco before he was anti-tobacco, and president before he wasn’t president. If history is any precedent, he’ll be a climate change skeptic before it’s all said and done.
If you’re looking for a new subject for your art I suggest a Google potato man. It would represent your state a lot better.
Sincerely,
Nemov
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