by Andy Brudtkuhl on June 29, 2006
The much anticipated Google Checkout has arrived offering features that were unexpected, primarily for current AdWords clients. What’s nice, like paypal, is that checkout information is stored in one spot but is transparent to the merchant, meaning they never know your credit card information.
For Adwords clients, a shopping cart (Google Checkout Badge) appears next to your adwords ads in search results letting the user know you are certified by Google. This is nice for both Google and the merchant giving legitimacy to both. The standard transaction rates are also lower than Paypal’s.
The feature I am most excited about is the API released in conjuction with the product release allowing any developer to plug Google Checkout into their existing online checkout forms.
Another great addition to this service is its integration with Google Base, Google’s Listing service. Also with the launch is a list of several online retailers who have integrated this service into their checkout systems. While this will be a great service for small businesses, which is obviously their target, it will be interesting to see the level of adoption.
technorati tags:google, googlecheckout, software, saas
by Andy Brudtkuhl on June 28, 2006
While writing you a post about Google’s much improved interface (not aesthetically but functionally) for their Google Reader, it crashed. Sucks for you. I think I made it crash because it just showed up today. I tried to add a new feed to my list and it crashed, and now I cannot get back to it.
Seems like poor defensive design to me.
technorati tags:defensivedesign, webdesign, designpatterns, design, error, google
by Andy Brudtkuhl on June 26, 2006
by Andy Brudtkuhl on June 21, 2006
Greg Spotts at Fast Company will be releasing a theoretical case study for using the SaaS model. He claims this is the way to liberate yourself from the reigns of Microsoft enterprise software. And, you can fire your ‘IT Guy’. The SaaS model is great but its adoption rate is and will be for some time quite slow.
I have discussed why apoption for enterprises will legitimize the technology, much like most productivity platforms. I also noted why they will be the last to implement. I have not as of yet addressed adoption by small businesses.
I think small business adoption will come sooner as they are far more agile. But I still don’t think the usability of the SaaS model is quite where it needs to be for mass adoption. If you tell your average small business to drop its infrastructure in favor of a new platform they will definitely look at you funny. And when you tell them they will lose control of their data, they will ask you to leave. Security will be the deterrent of the model. And at this point an average small business owner will have to unwillingly approach a technological learning curve for adotion, implementation, and migration.
It’s feasible, but don’t go firing your IT guy just yet.
Scott’s case study will be released Friday.
Is Now the Time to Dump Microsoft and Fire Your IT Manager?
Read more from me on SaaS:
Office 2.0 in a Web 2.0 World
Web 2.0, SOA, SaaS
Dynamics
Web 3.0 In Production
Search Results
technorati tags:web 2.0, saas, soa, service
by Andy Brudtkuhl on June 21, 2006
I have seen many services using map API’s that are essentially a proof of concept using mashed up services. All in all none have been ‘sticky’ for me or really added much value. But, wikimapia is different. Wikimapia is very simple web service that is a wikipedia for places. From their site, “WikiMapia is a project to describe the whole planet Earth.” Only released a month ago I was surprised to see many places mapped out in central Iowa (which is generally one of the last places to receive attention from user-generated content).
If you are familiar with google maps, you will know how to use this right away. First thing I did, map out my hometown – Sheldahl, Iowa. Yes, it really is that size. Moving on to Des Moines (Capital City as we call it) I found that many places had already been added, such as public areas like the baseball field and parks.
When adding a place, you simply give a title, description, and tags. Simple, easy. The search is pretty cool too. I added and tagged my favorite pub, the Hessen Haus. Now, if you search for the tags ‘desmoines’ and ‘bar’ you will see Hessen Haus in the list (only bar added thus far). The interface is excellent in that it’s a huge map with options in the upper right. No nonsense.
As usual though, I have my feature requests. I think when a place is added, a link to its wikipedia entry should be automagically placed in the description in order to find out more information.
technorati tags:wikimapia, map, wiki, tools, web 2.0
