Google's Presentation App Confirmed

Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced at the Web 2.0 expo that Google is really working on a Presentation application. I can almost hear the crowd going ooh-aah.. but the thing is, this is not a product that is coming out of Google's own stable. Google's recent acquisition of Tonic Systems will provide the technology that will boost the development of the product.

Tonic Systems possesses the intricate know-how in presentation & document conversion technology.

They state that -

"The PowerPoint file format is a very complex format made more so because of the lack of any documentation from Microsoft.
Through many man-years of R&D we understand that format better than any other 3rd party provider. This is why we can produce the range of products we do. This is not a sideline for us. Our products faithfully read and write to that format."

The pertinent issues with Google Docs & Spreadsheets are mostly compatibility issues. So Tonic's acquisition will hopefully plug the issues related to the PowerPoint format compatibility.

The launch of the presentation app will complete the 'basic' suite of applications & will hopefully position Google as prime competition to MS Office although Mr Schmidt refuses to agree that Google is going to compete with MS Office directly.
He says -

"We're not as fully functional as MS Office, we're more in line with how
people use the Web than how they use the desktop."

Well Mr Schmidt, its alright to play safe & hide all your cards in a game of poker but I think all of us know that any productivity application that gets launched will most definitely compete for market space with the big boys from Redmond no matter how much Google champions the adoption of a web based computing platform.

It's still a long way to go.

The Machine is Using Us

John Battelle interviews Michael Wesch, the brilliant cultural anthropology professor who gave us this terrific video. He says --

"For me, cultural anthropology is a continuous exercise in expanding my mind and my empathy, building primarily from one simple principle: everything is connected. This is true on many levels. First, everything including the environment, technology, economy, social structure, politics, religion, art and more are all interconnected. As I tried to illustrate in the video, this means that a change in one area (such as the way we communicate) can have a profound effect on everything else, including family, love, and our sense of being itself."

I always try to maintain a holistic perspective on the inter-connectedness of the different spheres of technology, politics, economics, fine arts. If not at all times, all or some of these seemingly disparate fields seem to merge at a focal point.

For a cultural anthropologist, Michael is pretty high on the geek quotient & his video is absolutely crisp & brilliant in its quality.
Although the video shows us the evolution of how digital technology has evolved but it is his study of the correlation between the ever changing technological landscape & the human & societal barriers that it helps break that is so fascinating.

I think it would be safe to label this one as a viral video as it has become one of the most widely viewed videos on the web.

"I did not know it would reach so many people, but I had hoped that for
those it did reach it would spark some reflection on the power of the technology they were using. Because without proper understanding and reflection, “the machine” is using us – all of us – even those that don’t have access to the machine at all."

Read the complete interview.

Changing the world.. one keystroke at a time!

Silicon valley has given us a lot of 'dorms to riches' tales of daring & enterprising young guns starting their own ventures & shunning promising careers..

What drives these people to go that extra mile taking huge risks & laughing at the face of unsurmountable difficulties? I guess the simple explanation is that these people knew that they had a million dollar idea that was innovative, had a viable business model & they couldn't wait to get down to it & get their hands dirty.

The Google duo started their super search machine while pursuing their PhD's in Stanford.

Super rich Bill & spaceman Paul had dropped out of Harvard to start their closed source empire.

Michael Dell started one of the biggest PC companies out of his dorm room.

There are hundreds of such examples floating in the media today but I gues it all starts with a vision. Most technology start ups do not have profit as the sole ambition although it becomes a side effect & the some of them go on to make millionaires out of its employees. The motivating factor for these techies is a chance to change the world so to speak..

The impact of Google, eBay, Amazon, Youtube, MySpace has been phenomenal & has brought about a sea change in consumer behaviour. They have radically altered business models of conventional media platforms like broadcast television & blockbuster film studios.

It really must feel great to become a CEO at 19.

Any idea what was the first item sold on eBay? Me neither.