There’s no replacement for good research and preparation, but hunches are just as important in guiding us to the right answer. Microsoft and Flickr's co-founder, Caterina Fake, hope we find a lot of value in hunches in our decision making. I’m left to wonder …Is a hunch enough?

We’ve seen and heard the Bing ads, the ones with people regurgitating search results in everyday conversation. Their hunch is that people are tired of the irrelevant garbage we get back from Google that we’ll turn to a new tool. Is the decision engine a Google killer? My first test was to use my own name as a search term. While the results were ordered differently on Google and Bing, I didn’t feel like one outperformed the other. I filed it away in my head. Since Bing’s launch in May, I mostly forgot about it until I read about Bing’s upward trajectory. Microsoft must be on to something here. My second test came when I was researching a client’s social media outlets. My search term was something like “client name” + “facebook” and Google’s first result was a link to a political event that had nothing to do with what I wanted to find. I tried Bing, and the very first result was exactly what I needed.

What’s the take away? I'd say Bing is a good second choice to Google, but with the Yahoo/Microsoft merger, better things may soon be on the horizon. Meanwhile, give Hunch a shot.

being that McKinney is a deeply technologically savvy organizaton, i'm surrounded by people who are WAY out in front when it comes to the internet, mobile, applications, technology, development, etc. 

i also have two daughters who are entering 2nd and 4th grade, and are blessed to attend a school that is way out in front when it comes to using technology in the classroom.

while visiting school today i was struck by how my two worlds are coming together and it literally made me pause and wonder, will my daughters be writing code before they leave middle school?  at what point in the future will software development become an academic requirement for all students, not a special skill? 

will it ever become the modern equivalent of the 4th R?

Google is notoriously an innovative culture.  Here are their Nine Notions of Innovation:

1.       Innovation, not instant perfection

2.       Share everything you can

3.       You're brilliant, we're hiring

4.       A license to pursue dreams

5.       Ideas come from everywhere

6.       Don't politic, use data

7.       Creativity loves restraint

8.       Worry about usage and users, not money

9.       Don't kill projects, morph them

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of auditing the first ever ANA Innovation Day, hosted by Google/NYC.  It was a real honor to receive the invitation to attend from the ANA as it was technically a member-only event!

The jam-packed agenda provoked many questions and thoughts, I've tried to capture them here...

•·         General Electric takes a very strong stand that the CMO is central to innovation which was refreshing to hear!

•·         They talk about innovation in terms of imagination which reflects a more purposeful, but creative approach.  Surprisingly, however, was to learn that GE only has 34% attribution of "ecomagination" as part of their corporate tagline...would have expected more.

•·         They also talk about Insight in an interesting way..."In" is the emotional component and "sight" is the functional component.

•·         Ryan Jacoby from IDEO shared a great silicone caulk case study...yes, silicone caulk.  All about design thinking - and designing for a total experience, not just a product.

•·         Microsoft, GE and Google all mentioned the mobile device...there are 1.2B PC's, 3.2B mobile devices and 6.8B people...the move to mobile is going to be furious!

•·         Google will be releasing GoogleWave soon...supposed to be an entirely new way to communicate...can't wait, we'll see!

I'm psyched about the idea of v2.0!

lots of interesting insights and data points about google exist but i want to focus for now on part of an article in wired magazine. 

hal varian, who among other things is google's chief economist, talks about adwords and reveals a bit more about how it works.  everytime someone clicks search on google a silent real time auction takes place to decide who gets one of the 11 sponsored slots on the results page.  one blog described it as 'the world’s biggest, fastest auction, a never-ending, automated, self-service version of Tokyo’s boisterous Tsukiji fish market'

the article also discusses the reasons behind why google gives away its products- its browser, its apps, and most recently the operating system android for mobile phones. 

go and take a read here

...Google's just down...

This morning Google had a hiccup and everything Google is down from YouTube to Gmail to Search to Blogger.

The funny thing about Google's little hiccup is the effect it is having on the online habits of people. This is a small sample of what I've witnessed in the last 25 minutes since Google's gone down:

• "Gmail" has become one of Twitter's "Trend Topics" as people freak out because they're GChat and Gmail has stopped working. There are also a lot of post that can be summed up by the following post I found: "Google isn't working, I don't know what to do..."
• A number of my friends' Facebook statuses have changed from the joys of their recent graduations to statements such as "What happened to Google?" or "The world is ending, Google's broken."
• My fellow McKinney-ites have been calling our IT department because "the internet is not working" only to be informed that the internet is working fine, just Google isn't working. (And to some of us, I think that is the same thing...)
• A friend of mine called my cell to alert me of the problem because she was unable to access work documents, emails, or calendar because they are all on Google.

I think it's interesting that people:

1. Can get this freaked out because they feel disconnected because a single server went down. the Apocalyspe
2. Can get this vocal about a service not working correctly...especially one that they don't have to pay for. 

I can't help but wonder: Has Google's dominance of the internet made people forget that you can use Yahoo and MSN to search, AIM to chat and Mapquest for finding your way? Does the Google-ifying of internet make it so the old adage "You get what you pay for?" is less relevant?

Maybe we shouldn't put all out "E-eggs" in one (free) basket.

A college friend of mine sent me this video about the progression of information technology and our global society. It was researched and created by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod, and Jeff Bronman.

Since I do reporting on advertising, I have a pretty good idea of how Google figures out what ads they should show you based on the words and topics you chat, email, and search. I've always thought of it as cool that something can be that personalized but never really took it pass that.

Then today a college friend was telling me about the ads that she saw after an email chain between 5 friends trying to figure out where to go to dinner. She said she saw ads for apartments and bars in Washington because we have a friend with "Arlington" in her email signature and the word "apartment" and "moving" came up a few times. "Google thinks we drink a lot and want to move to Arlington," she said. Her next one was about small business marketing, her profession. "Makes more sense."

This got me thinking: What does my Google ads say about me?

Google looks to see what you're doing online and then sends you things it thinks you'll be interested in based on your most recent past (and personally I believe that the best way to evaluate people is by their most recent past.) It's like a mirror of yourself based on your online activities. A distorted mirror, but one all the same.

Mine Gmail sponsored links for today:

• "Laugh, Don't Be Stressed - WorkingLunch.msn.com - Get Rid of Job Stress With Laughter & Watch New Office Comedy Skits"
• "Spring Fashion Trends - www.nordstrom.com/FashionWeek - NY Fashion Week videos & blogs. Be first to see Fall 2009 styles!"

What does the Google "mirror" say?: I'm stressed and I want to go shopping...sounds about right.

What do your Google ads say?