Category: Analysis

How does Google Earth and ISRO’s Bhuvan compare?

Post author By Aditya Kane
Post date August 31, 2009
5 Comments on How does Google Earth and ISRO’s Bhuvan compare?

Comparing ISRO’s Bhuvan and Google Earth is that its like comparing a child with a full grown person. Google Earth has been at doing this for a long time so obviously ISRO Bhuvan cannot really reach that level as yet. Ofocurse being an Indian there is that sense of pride one can associate with Bhuvan 🙂

Screenshot of ISRO’s Bhuvan:

Screenshot of Googler Earth:

Some differences between the two:

‘Bhuvan’ is supposed to work with Internet Explorer 6.0 upwards and also recently with Firefox but I could not load it on Firefox. It worked fine with Internet Explorer 6. It still cannot be used with Chrome. Unlike Google Earth I had to register at the site before I could use Bhuvan.
ISRO’s Bhuvan is supposed to have resolution upto 10 mts but when I checked it first-hand I saw its resolution was not even upto the mark compared to Google Earth which is supposed to be about 200 mts. See both screen-shots from my computer which was overhead shot of our office building.
The ISRO site claims I could book-mark places with ‘Bhuvan’ in a map but finding a place on the map is quite a tedious task. The search option is good for looking up a city but not really helpful if you want to find a particular address or even a locality. ‘Bhuvan’ had no easy option for me to bookmark our rtBlogs office. With Google Earth usually most landmarks and roads are covered.
Google Earth is after all an application made by a private company for comercial purposes and hence it is quite open to listing tourist landmarks, cafes, restaurants and hotels. ISRO Bhuvan is a application made by the Goverment of India and hence it obviously has its main focus on not strictly commercial aspect but more on geological factors like water tables and soil elevation.
ISRO Bhuwan has tried to emulate Google Earth and thats not a secret. The design struture the layout has tried to stay close to Google Earth and thats not really a bad thing for first time users but novelty would have been to do something different.
Finally Google Earth has evolved from a company since 2001 and Bhuvan’s prototype beta version was out on 12th August2009 and even ISRO admits it has bugs and they will be fixed over time. The challenges for ISRO will be mainly its ability to handle traffic which is often a goverment owned website’s ‘Achilles heel’.

I dont really think the two softwares will compete with each other in the recent future. Google Earth is far too well entrenched and ISRO Bhuvan has its sights on different functionalities compared to Google Earth. Also ‘Bhuvan’ covers India sepcifically and hence if they really do end up becoming competition to Google it might be only in India. I think that after the initial buzz dies down a bit ISRO’s Bhuvan will target a niche clientele which will include town and city planners along with road and railway developers.

Why dont you check out Bhuvan’s website for registration and leave your comments about the post for a lively discussion? 😉

Links: Google Earth | ISRO’s Bhuvan

Tags Google, Google Earth, ISRO Bhuvan

Analysis

Google Search: Caffeine and Decaf

Post author By Aditya Kane
Post date August 28, 2009
6 Comments on Google Search: Caffeine and Decaf

I was quite interested in knowing more about Google Caffeine after reading the post by Akshay a couple of days ago. So looked up some more details to see how it compares with the Google Search Engine we are using at the moment. The new search engine which is still “work in progress ” is codenamed Caffiene and hence the current Goggle search can aptly to be nicknamed Decaf.

Came across a test and its conclusion by 360i on Search Engine Watch and the results were quite interesting.

10 major retail brand names (keywords)
10 retail head terms (single keywords)
10 retail torso terms (two-word phrases)
10 retail long-tail phrases (four-word phrases)

They came up with the following conclusions:

Domains and rankings will fluctuate.
The index size of single keyword search relevance will increase, meaning more competition.
Long-tail becomes more relevant.
Caffeine is faster. You’ll get results (SERPs) in half the time, on average.
Universal (aka Blended) results will increase
Social media listings will increase, primarily due to a lift in YouTube listings.

My Comparative Ego Test of both the Engines

I decided to do some testing myself. Nowhere as comprehensive as Search Engine Watch but a lot more fun I guess. 🙂

I did a search on both the search engines with my own name and there were some interesting minor differences. The screen-shot on the left is with the normal Google.com search engine and the screen-shot below is that by using Google Caffeine.

On Google Decaf I found after I typed in and got the results, the 3rd entry (circled in red) is incorrect. It wasnt even my name. When I ran the same search on Google Caffeine the same incorrect result was not the 3rd entry but the 14th which meant the next page. That’s pretty good because someone using a search engine might not really end up checking beyond the first page.

Another difference I got with the Caffeine search was it did not give out results on my Facebook or Linked In profiles as much as the Google search engine.

On the other hand the 2nd search result returned by Google Caffeine was a link to a friend’s facebook profile but not mine. Obviously my name was in this friends list and hence it must have showed up. But thats the only negative point I can think about when it comes to Google Caffeine.

Over all I prefer Google Caffeine to the current Google search engine because the top 10 results inculded links to my facbook, twitter, Linked In profile pages. Caffeine also includes a link to my blog which is not so well know. So that makes me happy 😛

So how about carrying out this test for yourselves and telling me about it in the comments. For me caffeine is pretty cool, looks like Google which has made geeks all over the world look cool is going to make them look cooler!

Links: 360i Search Engine Watch| Google Caffeine | Google.com

Tags Google, Google Search

Analysis

News Aggregation With Twitter Integration

Post author By Swati
Post date August 6, 2009
1 Comment on News Aggregation With Twitter Integration

We all know how Twitter has turned into a powerful medium for sharing news going around the world. Not just this, recent reports indicate that Twitter has turned into the fastest growing site with an increase of 1,928 % year-over-year. However, it is a pain when people have to navigate between their preferred online news and social networking websites to collect information.

Overcoming this challenge has come into existence TweetNewz. TweetNewz is a news aggregator and desktop ticker with Twitter integration. It keeps readers connected to the news and content they love, all while browsing the web.

This means that while you can post tweets about blogs, articles and events to Twitter, you could also view Twitter social commentary around your favorite Newz.

Stay updated with your favorite news and information, allowing socialization around articles through Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and Delicious, all while browsing the web.

Benefits at-a-glance:

Conveniently stay connected with Newz while browsing the web
Tweet about articles with friends and colleagues
Ability to synchronize with Google Reader
Add RSS Feeds that are relevant to your interests
Stay current with all your favorite Newz* and content via one click
Post favorite stories to Facebook, Delicious, Digg, or Email a friend
It is FREE!

How is TweetNewz different from other news aggregators?

Unlike other news and social desktop aggregators, with TweetNewz, you can stay up to date passively.
It fits into your computer screen, allowing you to choose an appropriate time to view an article.
If you already have a list of your favorite blogs, news, etc., then you can save time by merely synchronizing your Google Reader account with the TweetNewz application.
There are also a set of default channels with precompiled feeds, which means you don’t have to waste time digging the web for information.
You also have the option to choose the colors of your choice for your favorite channels, highlighting stuff that interests you most.

Link: TweetNewz

Tags Internet, News, Twitter

Analysis

Most Prefer Socializing Face-to-Face, Not Through Social Networks or Phones

Post author By Swati
Post date August 3, 2009

According to a recent study done by Brightkite – the Social Discovery Network, and GfK Technology, a leading market research agency, it has been discovered that most people choose to socialize face to face, the old fashioned way, rather than through social networking sites, computers or smart phones. Two-thirds of the respondents said that they don’t meet or interact with their friends as often as they would like.

Highlights

In-Person Social Interactions

Here are the highlights from the report:

Out of 1,000 of respondents, 87 % of them favored face-to-face interactions over social networking on the Web.
As compared to men, women prefer face time 70 times more than using social networks.
Men only prefer face time 33 times more.
Overall, people prefer face time 44 times more than social networks.

Actual Consumer Behavior

65% of respondents, i.e., two-thirds of respondents agree that they don’t see their friends as often as they would like.
9 % of respondents agree that they are addicted to social networks. This peaks at 21 % for the age bracket of 18-24 years).
11 % of respondents between the age group of 18-24 years spent more than 4 hours per day on social networks.

Additionally…

Facebook is the most popular social network, except for the under the age of 25 who prefer MySpace.
Facebook skews female, MySpace skews strongly male.

Says Brightkite CEO Jonathon Linner.

“As use of social networks proliferates, we need to find ways to use them to stimulate more face time, not use them as a substitute for real social interaction.”

Share your comments on what you think about this.

Tags Social Media, Social Networking

Analysis

Email Security – How Aware Are You?

Post author By Swati
Post date July 31, 2009
2 Comments on Email Security – How Aware Are You?

The Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group (MAAWG) surveyed consumer emailing behavior and security awareness amongst them and found out that almost a third of consumers accepted to responding to an email they suspected to be spam. Alarmingly, about 80 % of users doubted their computers were at risk of being infected with a “bot,” – a slyly planted virus that can send spam or cause other harm without the user’s cognition. Bots are responsible for generating much of today’s illegitimate email.

The study clearly points out a lack of awareness among consumers.

Highlights

[The report is based on 800 interviews with computer users in the United States and Canada who said they were not “security experts” and who used email addresses that were not managed by a professional IT department.]

About two-thirds of the consumers consider themselves “very” or “somewhat” knowledgeable in Internet security.
Most consumers use anti-virus software
Over half say they never click on suspected spam
21 % take no action to prevent abusive messages from entering their inbox.
63 % users would allow their network operator or anti-virus vendor to remotely access their computer to remove detected bots.

Internet and Email Usage

Virus Infections and Anti-Virus Software Usage

Awareness and Perceptions of Spam

Action Against Spam

It is interesting to note that while 82% of consumers are aware of “bots” and malware threats, only 20% believe there is a very good chance their computers could get infected. Even then a majority of junk email today originates from bot-infected computers. The picture seems to e clear after analyzing the report – users are familiar with general email based threats but are not necessarily as alert or cautious as they should be to proactively protect themselves against spam, online fraud and other email-related hazards.

So, how aware, alert and cautious are you? Comment on.

(Source: MAAWG)

Tags Anti-Spam, Hacking, Internet Explorer

Analysis

Location Based Applications for your iPhone 3G

Post author By ripe
Post date July 31, 2009

The iPhone 3G with inbuilt GPS system have introduced many new location based and navigation applications. These location based applications takes full advantage of your device integrated GPS and most of them are just cool. Check this list of navigation based iPhone applications.

Whrrl

This service from pelago gives iphone users a personalized view of their surrounding world.You can also locate your friends and know what they are upto in real time.Moreover,it has a location browsing functionality which lets you see the places reviewed by your friends. Whrrl also has a web based service by which you can access your account via a browser.

NearPics

Nearpics is a location based photo browser.It uses your location to select local photos from Google’s Panoramio service.

Twittelator

Twittelator is a twitter client which lets you tweet your current location to your friends.Its Twitter 911 feature will inform all your followers with a Help Me message along with your current location link.

Geocaching

Geocaching is a global treasure hunting game where participants locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share their experiences online.There are over 750,000 boxes hidden all over the world and this application tells us about each one and gives us the tools to find them. It is real-world, high-tech treasure hunting on the iphone.

Which is your favorite app, let’s hear from you.

[Editor’s Note: This post is submitted by our guest blogger Ripe akka Renjith, who is a web-a-holic and his keen interests include blogging, travelling and photography.

If you, too would like to write for Devils Workshop, please check this. Details about our revenue sharing programs are here.]

Tags Application, Gadgets, GPS, iphone

Analysis

Application Developers – Shaping the World Wide Web

Post author By Amol Wagh
Post date July 31, 2009

Over the past few years, we have seen tremendous growth in technologies all over the World Wide Web. From Web 2.0 to micro blogging platforms like Twitter have changed the way people living on the Internet.

So who are those geeks who made this change possible ?

I guess they are none other than Application developers. They have changed the way they used to be. They have coded some of the greatest ever add ons which we use daily for all kind of stuff like blogging & twitting on net.

I would like to give some examples which can prove the thing that I wish to say.

Twitter Applications

Twitter is a great micro blogging platform where you can share things in 140 letters. What makes that ‘140’ more beautiful are the applications like Twitterrific, TweetDeck or many applications that you are using every day.

If you are a developer & still not tested your hand in developing application for Twitter then this could help you to know more – API Documents

WordPress Plugins

Another interesting thing we call as blogging is made easier with the self hosted blogging platform named WordPress. This great platform is made simpler & better with almost 6039 plugins.

If there were no plugins, I guess there is no reason that I would have shifted from Blogger to WordPress. Every time I search for anything on this plugins page I always get it right there. Who is behind this great help – Application Developers.

Mozilla Firefox Add-ons

1,461,587,786 add-ons have been downloaded (Till the date) for Mozilla Firefox. Which acts as a extensions while we browse on the Internet. This is one of the most downloaded browser on World Wide Web, Its Application have been developed for all types of Internet users. These add-ons are covering various needs like downloading, file sharing, SEO, blogging, APIs, Form filling & hundreds of other things.

What I have seen in previous years is tremendous growth of WWW because of Application developers. Application developers are keeping pace with all open source technologies & I hope, they will keep adding such interesting features with their constant efforts.

Tags Developers, Internet, Twitter

Analysis

Playing ‘Doctor’ Online? You Are Not Alone!

Post author By Swati
Post date July 30, 2009

Talk about healthcare and most people bank on the Internet! According to The Harris Poll survey, most cyberchondriacs (people looking for health information online) value and trust the health care information they read over the Internet, and this in turn leads to discussions with their doctors.

Some 11 years ago, one-quarter of all adults, i.e., 54 million people had gone online to look for health information. Today, the numbers have increased rapidly to some 67% of adults, i.e., 154 million people who had done this. Reports indicate that a large number of users find online health information reliable and many discuss it with their doctors.

Highlights from the report

83% of cyberchondriacs said that their search for information online was successful and almost half (45%) say it was “very successful”.
87% believe that this information was reliable, and 28% say it was “very reliable”.
44% of cyberchondriacs have discussed information they obtained online with their doctors.
49% of cyberchondriacs have searched for information online based on discussions they had with their doctors.

Cyberchondriacs Trends: 1998- 2009

[Includes those online from home, office, school, library or other location + Based on July 2008 U.S. Census estimate released January 2009 (230,100,000 total U.S. adults aged 18 or over). NA = Not Asked]

Frequency of accessing health information online: 1998-2009

[Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding *Includes those online from home, office, school, library or other location]

Success in searching for health information online

Reliability of searching for health information online

Have you ever searched for health information online? Are you a cyberchondriac? I know I am!

Tags Internet

Analysis

The Most Trusted Forms of Advertising Globally

Post author By Swati
Post date July 30, 2009

The latest twice-yearly Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey of over 25,000 Internet consumers from 50 countries tells us that the most trusted forms of advertising globally are from recommendations by personal acquaintances and opinions posted by consumers online. Reports indicate that 90 % of internet users, which means 9 out of every 10 Internet user worldwide trusts recommendations from people they know. 70 % of Internet users, which means 7 out of every 10 trust consumer opinions posted online.

Advertisers will be happy to note that brand websites – the most trusted form of advertiser-led advertising – are trusted by 70 % of internet users.
However, other forms of digital advertising are trusted less than ads appearing in traditional media such as TV billboards, radio, magazines and newspapers.
The least trusted are text ads on mobile phones (24 %), online banner ads (33 %), online video ads (37 %) and ads in search engine results (41 %).

Says Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company:

“Despite the huge increase in the size of the world’s Internet population and the sheer amount of time being spent online, the industry has yet to attract advertising revenue consummate with the current levels of online media consumption. The study shows there is still work to be done to shift advertising revenue from traditional forms of media to the Internet. The ability to turn this around rests on overhauling the way display advertising is served online so that it becomes a more effective medium for brand advertisers and a more trusted form of advertising in the mind of the consumer.”

Degree of Trust

Forms of advertising ranked by changes in levels of trust from April 2007 to April 2009

So, which form of advertising do you trust most? Share your comments on your degree of trust.

Tags Internet