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Wanted: Your Weather Reports, Geotagged and Tweeted

cgseo — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:00:53 +0000

If your natural reflex when the weather gets rough is to tweet about it, that reflex can now help the National Weather Service do its job better thanks to a new Twitter storm reporting program . The NWS has always solicited severe weather reports from the public. After all, no amount of technology can ever be a substitute for an accurate report of what's actually happening on the ground. Because of the new Twitter geolocation API and the increasing number of applications that support it ( TweetDeck for iPhone is the latest to add geotagging support ), it's become very simple for the public to submit severe weather reports and for the NWS to pinpoint where they happened. Sponsor How does it work? According to the program's documentation , a system monitors Twitter for tweets starting with the hashtag #wxreport . These tweets are then plotted on a Google map using the tweet's geolocation information, or in cases where the geotag data is not available, an approximation of the reporter's location within the tweet using the format WW [location] WW . Finally, the report is relayed to the appropriate NWS field office for use by the office's meteorologists in a variety of ways, including possible inclusion in an official storm report. It's not just the NWS that could benefit, either. The public already will be more informed simply by watching the #wxreport tag, regardless of whether one of those reports is released in an official storm report. Sites such as Weather Underground , which already hosts an extensive network of citizen-owned weather stations, could further integrate these reports into its own products. Media outlets monitoring Twitter for storm information can use the tweets in their own reporting; The Weather Channel already does a good job of this. You can see some of these reports in action today. Check out the Twitter search for #wxreport to see how much snow fell from a winter storm that's hit much of the U.S. We can't help but wonder what this search will look like once spring rolls around and the severe weather season kicks off. Hopefully, the NWS has the tools in place to handle a high volume of tweets and an effective way of dismissing hashtag spam and other Twitter nuisances. The National Weather Service program demonstrates how powerful geolocation on Twitter can be, and we can't help but wonder what else will be created with geolocated tweets . Look for even more creative uses of geolocation throughout 2010. Discuss

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Wanted: Your Weather Reports, Geotagged and Tweeted

"Smart Phone" is a Misnomer: It’s a Computer, not a Phone

cgseo — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:33:06 +0000

The smart phone is not a phone. It's a computer. It's like your desktop or laptop. It stores data. It connects to the Internet. It runs applications. It's a computer, not a phone. The real challenge for the enterprise is to shift its thinking about how it will move beyond the carriers and one day become an entirely data-centric organization - an organization that gives information workers the ability to work entirely on an IP infrastructure, be it for Web-based productivity applications or on a VoiP network. Forrester Research issued a report today that calls 2010 the year of the smart phone. That seems pretty obvious, doesn't it? To its credit, Forrester does use the report as an opportunity to explore how the enterprise can make the smart phone a part of the daily work life for as many employees as possible. Sponsor There are many reasons for the enterprise to adopt a smart phone culture: There is no excuse anymore. Workers have to be connected. The big weave on the social Web is getting richer. Billions of threads are being added by the day. How can we even tolerate not being connected? Collaboration depends on being connected. You can't be fully connected without a decent smart phone strategy. People are not working at the office as much anymore. They need a smart phone to keep up with their work. As illustrated by Forrester, the trend is already in play: It does not have to be that expensive to adopt a smart phone culture. People want to use their smart phones for both their personal lives and work, too. They will pay for their data plans. Forrester agrees. From the executive summary by Ted Schadler: "Employees, aka consumers, are mad about smartphones, attracted by the ability to email, collaborate, and work with documents from anywhere. Fourteen percent of information workers across the US, Canada, and UK already use smartphones to do work today, and another 64% would like to. That demand, coupled with the willingness of some employees to share the cost of a monthly mobile plan, sets the stage for a surge in the use of personal smartphones for information work. Information and knowledge management professionals should immediately call for a formal bring-your-own (BYO) smartphone strategy, establish a sliding scale for when to reimburse employees, and pressure mobile carriers to cut costs across corporate-liable and personally liable plans." Forrester's BYO recommendation makes sense. But he does not explore how smart phones can be treated as computers. This discussion can create a new level of discourse in the enterprise between IT and business users. Forrester points out that IT recognizes the importance of smart phones. Many companies are already developing policies for how the devices should be treated. Collaboration tool are not being heavily used but this could change if smart phones were treated as tools as much as communication devices. MobileIron follows this approach, offering services that give IT managers the ability to be more like change agents than police forces. In MobileIron's view , information can be tracked with a data-centric approach. Applications can be monitored. Users and administrators can view a social graph that shows usage. That's a smart approach. It stimulates thinking and moves people to start exploring how a fully data-centric approach can be adopted over time as VoiP matures in the enterprise. Discuss

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"Smart Phone" is a Misnomer: It's a Computer, not a Phone

2 Million Downloads and Counting: Why Such Loyalty for Microsoft Office?

cgseo — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:18:00 +0000

In the past seven weeks, more than 2 million people have downloaded the beta for Microsoft Office 2010. That's a whopping 40,000 downloads per day. It's a record breaking pace, surpassing the beta release for Microsoft Office 2007. It begs the question: In the face of so many free options, why are people so loyal to Microsoft Office? Sponsor There are a few possible reasons: Microsoft has a locked in user base. It is an enterprise standard. As the story goes, no one has ever been fired for buying Microsoft. As one person replied to the question on Aardvark : "A lot of the free options simply aren't suitable for corporate use. You are basically out of luck if your free-no-guarantees Google Docs spreadsheet disappears. The free products do not have the complex formulas, interconnecting tables and client data that comes with Microsoft Office." Another person stated on Aardvark: "That is because it is the most accepted office package. Try doing business without the capability. I had to purchase it just to be able to work at home instead of extended office hours. Now I am loading Open Office on all computers I repair and send out. I also think Google is going to do a large bite into Microsoft business." How long will the loyalty last? This is where we wonder about how the events over the past few days may affect the future of Microsoft Office. Google is coming on strong with it's Nexus One . Couple that with its big push into the enterprise and you have to wonder what Microsoft is going to do to counter Google's undeniable momentum. We are still waiting Windows Mobile 7. LG did let it slip at CES yesterday that Windows Mobile 7 will be available later this year. The Microsoft Office Web Apps are in beta with limited usability. The full-featured version will be available in the Spring. It will require a Sharepoint server. The free edition will only allow you to view documents. Enterprise 2.0 applications are a whole other issue. Its user interfaces are web-oriented and mobile-friendly. This new breed of applications will be increasingly enticing to Office customers. Two million downloads is impressive but loyalty is a fickle thing. The real test is still to come. Discuss

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2 Million Downloads and Counting: Why Such Loyalty for Microsoft Office?

Will the Word-Blocking Patent Extend Beyond Microsoft?

admin — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:17:00 +0000

As of today a federal appeals court is upholding the judgement to bar Microsoft from selling current versions of Word and Office. The question is, what does the patent actually entail? The original patent can be summarized as covering a "method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other." With this broad an abstract, it appears that the patent could affect a lot more than simple word processing. But, as with all patents, the devil is in the details. Sponsor As of January 11, 2010, the Redmond Microsoft will no longer sell its flagship word processing products in their current format. In August a Texas jury filed in favor of i4i Inc. finding that Word infringes on the Canadian company's software patent. Microsoft announced that it is already taking steps to remove the "little-used" infringing software feature from Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007. The removal would make these versions of Word unable to open XML files for editing. An addiitonal workaround may already be planned. In early August ZDNet UK's Rupert Goodwins covered Microsoft's patent for an SML Schema Document - a way of creating rich XML files so that word-processing applications recognize the file as a native document. Microsoft is also taking this opportunity to direct users to the beta versions of Word and Office 2010. It'll be interesting to see if this patent resurfaces to block additional consumer products or if the Word trial will be an isolated incident. Discuss

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Will Apple and Microsoft Join Forces To Fight Google?

cgseo — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 20:42:38 +0000

With Apple, you never know who is going to be evil next. Microsoft usually gets the grand prize, but as of late it appears that Google may be getting the cold shoulder for its forays into the mobile word. Apple and Google have historically been very friendly. But in recent months, the tenor of that relationship has changed. Apple rejected Google Voice for the iPhone. And now it appears that the relationship may get a bit cooler with all the talk of a Google phone. As that relationship becomes more distant, it appears that Apple and Microsoft may be warming up a bit, which may prove fruitful for the future of the iPhone in the enterprise. It may also prove beneficial for Microsoft, too, as it is also fighting off Google's efforts to win over the enterprise with its Google Apps productivity applications. Sponsor As PCWorld points out, Microsoft may be smart to team up with Apple. The iPhone is a solid, smart phone. Microsoft could do well by developing applications for the iPhone that serve its customers. Its Exchange Server and Office products still dominate the enterprise. As it is platform agnostic, Microsoft can develop applications for the iPhone that support its customers and protects its market base. Apple needs a good partner like Microsoft to make any significant dent in the enterprise. It does not have the enterprise infrastructure like Research in Motion does with the Blackberry Server. Without an enterprise management service, Apple will find it tough for the iPhone to make any deep play into the corporate world. Further, Google is showing signs that its plans to dominate the Internet is dependent on having hardware to go with its enterprise services and cloud-based operating systems. Google is reaching out to handset and netbook manufacturers. This suits Google's designs on the enterprise. Google Apps are gaining acceptance as a enterprise suite. The Android OS finally seems to be gaining some momentum. And the Chrome OS is a strong contender for the netbook market, especially as Windows 7 shows yet more signs of delays. We expect the enterprise will serve as the place where the battles intensify between Apple and Google. Microsoft has nothing to lose in teaming with Apple to fend off Google, a common rival and current evil force du jour. Discuss

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Will Apple and Microsoft Join Forces To Fight Google?

Microsoft Office Web Apps – Let the Confusion Begin

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 01:35:46 +0000

What exactly from Office Web Apps and Office Mobile 2010 can you use on your mobile right now and what will be available when the product ships next spring? Mary Jo Foley does the best job of outlining what is happening here. Let's take a sky high look and see if we can make sense of things so you know what to do if you really have an interest in giving Office a try on the mobile. Sponsor First of all, Office Web Apps is now in beta and available for download. It is free. Here is the first point of confusion and in our book goes to the heart of the issue. The Office Web Apps you download today is NOT the Office Web Apps that will ship next spring. What you download today is actually the business version, which is the paid version of the product. We expect that if you download the application today then you will have to download a new one when the REAL Office Web Apps launches next spring. Let's move on to the next issue. What is exactly available with Office Web Apps ? According to Foley, it works with the following phones and apps: * IE on Windows Mobile 5/6/6.1/6.5 * Safari4 on iPhone 3G/S * BlackBerry 4.x and newer versions * Nokia S60 * NetFront 3.4, 3.5 and newer versions * Opera Mobile 8.65 and newer versions * Openwave 6.2, 7.0 and newer versions Hold on one more time. There is more we need to explain. According to Foley, you can only view documents in Office Web Apps. You can not write to

Cartoon: That’s What Friends Are For

cgseo — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:30:30 +0000

A while back, a friend of mine wondered about LinkedIn's somewhat limited options for indicating how you know someone. ("I vomited on their shoes at the office party" isn't on the list, for example.) We had a back-and-forth on her blog , and I came up with a list of some potentially useful additions to LinkedIn's categories. You'll find them below... but they're only a starting point. Kindly add yours in the comments, and maybe - just maybe - they'll be coming soon to a form field near you. Sponsor More Noise to Signal. Discuss

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Cartoon: That's What Friends Are For

Creathor Venture: European VC Moving to Federated Model for Global Expansion (RWS Interview)

admin — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 21:00:49 +0000

Creathor Venture is a 25-year-old venture capital firm based in Germany and Switzerland. That makes it unusual. In 1984, when it started, not a lot of VC funds were in Europe. So, we decided to speak with Cédric Köhler in Creathor's Zurich office. As innovation accelerates and globalizes, we wanted to find out how a smaller regional fund like Creathor can compete with much larger Valley-based firms that have a global footprint. And of course, we wanted to find out what's hot on the European tech scene. Read on to find out. Sponsor Aka Aki: European Play in the Web's Golden Triangle First, what's hot? In short: mobile + social + real time. That sounds like it was created by a random buzzword generator. But the combination can be very powerful. This is what Fred Wilson calls the Web's golden triangle . When Fred talks about this, Foursquare is probably at the front of his mind. He is an investor, and Foursquare is as hot as it gets. This area is hot for a reason. Mobile devices reach more people and occupy more of their time than desktops or laptops could ever do. But to reach people effectively on mobile, you need mobile-native services, built for the limitations and advantages of the small screen. (Standard HTML apps retro-fitted to mobile are like the talking heads in early television.) Mobile is inherently social: you use it to communicate with people. It has to be real time (or "just in time" if we want to be accurate), because the small screen demands a filter that shows only what is relevant right now. (Yes, that does pre-suppose great filtering capabilities.) When Cédric talks about mobile + social + real time, he is thinking about Aka Aki, in which Creathor has invested . The way Cedric puts it, Aka Aki "adds the dimension of time" to location-based services. This addresses the question, "Which of my friends is within shouting distance right now ." FourSquare is from New York, and Aka Aki is from Berlin. With location-based services, location matters. Specifically, density matters. People will use the service if it connects them to people they know locally. If I am in Rhinebeck, New York, discovering that I have friends in Manhattan, Zurich and San Francisco who are online right now does not help me. I am only interested in the friends in Rhinebeck. This is an argument for a territory-based expansion model. You become dominant in one area, and then expand to neighboring areas. This is the way business worked for centuries before the Internet. Then the Internet heralded the death of distance. You could create a site and get readers from all over the world. With mobile location-based services that connect you to people in the real world, the old territory-based expansion is returning - with a twist, of course. German, Then French, Then English? Aka Aki started in Berlin. As this blog from March 2007 shows, it was early to the game of mobile + social + real time. It got its first round of funding from Creathor in December 2007. Then, in October of this year, it got a second round from INNOVACOM , the leading French VC (with Creathor joining in that round as well). That is a natural expansion model. Aka Aki did well enough in Germany to raise a second round and then uses that to grow geographically. In this context, bringing on a French VC made a lot of sense. Insta-Site: The No-Barrier-to-Copying World Cédric gave us a good perspective on the early-stage investing scene in Europe. Like other European VCs, he pointed to the rash of copy-cat ventures in the Web 2.0 era. These have been referred to, more politely, as "concept arbitrage": someone sees a service doing well in one location and creates a version for their location. While "copy cat" is a derogatory term, Cedric was keen to point out that it has been a valid strategy in the past. As he puts it, "If I have a successful pizza shop in one location, I could probably create a successful one in another location". In the Internet business, many successful exits have been based on this model. But VCs around the world who we have spoken with tell us that this game is pretty well over. The reason? Well, it's all our fault. Bloggers and tweeters spread ideas so fast that the time needed to exploit a concept arbitrage has shrunk to nothing. The tools for building and deploying a website have also dramatically shrunk the time and cost to market. 1. Get idea on Monday, 2. Launch on Friday, 3. Move out of dorm room on Sunday. In the world of close-to-$0 insta-sites, the copy-cat model is being challenged. This is just like the arbitrage strategies on Wall Street. When friction goes, profits eventually wither as well. But Don't Underestimate Local Nuance We can still see big wealthy countries where the US Internet giants have not become dominance for one reason or another. For example, Google does not dominate search in Korea or China. What looks like a tiny bump from 30,000 foot can be a massive obstacle when you are in the war on the ground. This is even more true in the world of social media. By definition, social involves cultural norms, and they differ around the world (thank goodness for that, homogeneity is terribly boring). When social + mobile + real time connects people in the real world, the differences can be even more striking. We are all humans with similar basic needs, but the cultural differences between, say, Germans, the French, Americans, Brits, Chinese, Indians and Koreans (to name just a few) are significant. The Globalization Challenge for VCs The top-tier VCs on Sand Hill Road know that innovation is going global and that the biggest markets and best ventures may no longer reside within a few miles of their office. So, the big VC funds are setting up branch offices around the world. This is the traditional multi-national model. The problem is that it might not work as well in the VC world, where personal relationships matter so much and yet you have to make decisions very fast. The multi-national model does not easily square that circle. Venture capital is not a naturally scalable business. VC funds have to decide between staying local (i.e. being a small firm of partners who can meet face to face every Monday in their office) and going global. The business does not scale well. If you bring in more partners, you won't be able to maintain the situation in which all partners agree on every deal. That would create way too much overhead and friction. Fast decision-making overrides the standard layers of corporate management approval. On the other hand, if local partners are making the investment decisions, what value would they get from being part of a big global fund (one in which the folks way over at head office take a big chunk of their profit)? Is branding really that important? Smart entrepreneurs know that a fund's name (i.e. its brand) is much less important than the individual partner who they deal with. This is a strategic dilemma for big funds. Federated Best-of-Breed VC Creathor, along with other smaller regional funds, is moving towards a federated model. As Cedric puts it, "We are partnering more with other funds." In one sense, this is nothing new. VCs have always worked together on deals. But in the past, this usually meant two VCs on Sand Hill Road meeting at a Palo Alto coffee shop. Now, it means a Swiss fund working with a French fund (or a New York or Indian or Chinese fund). European VCs have to innovate in this way. They cannot win on the multi-national model: their funds are not big enough for that. As the markets move East - to China and India, for example - VCs have to "be there." Similarly, a VC in Asia needs to work with VCs in Europe and America. It will be interesting to see how the globalization of innovation plays out and what new models emerge. Discuss

Zoho Makes Another Move to be the IT of the Small Business Market

admin — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:30:28 +0000

Zoho is making another move to serve as the IT department for the small business market. Its latest offering is a service for staffing agencies and human resources to automate the process for hiring people. The new service, available now, is an applicant tracking system that helps staffing agencies and recruiting departments track job openings, resumes and candidates. The enterprise is stil heavily dependent on email and manual processes for any number of practices with human resources being no exception to the rule. Sponsor Zoho's strategy is to create a level of automation that makes a human resources functions manageable, a model they have used for the services they offer for sales, marketing and other functions in the enterprise. Zoho Recruit has a number of features including web forms; the ability to aggregate resumes from social sites and ways to track the status of a client within the application. Activity streams are emerging as a standard for new social enterprise products. In Zoho Recruit, though, the activity streams look more like simple views into the status of a job opening, profiles of other people on the team and the interviews on schedule for the day. Here's an overview of Zoho Recruit: It's clear that Zoho s gunning for the enterprise market with a focus on the small business sector. The company is increasingly perceived as a competitive threat to larger, more established companies. This is illustrated by a Microsft executive's remark earlier this month that Zoho is a "fake" Microsoft office. Zoho responded with FakeOffice.org , featuring a video they made in September, renaming it "Fake Office - the Movie." Zoho is a challenger to Salesforce.com in the small business market, whic has moved up market in the past few years. That approach has worked for Salesforce but in these markets the company faces deep pressures from larger competitors such as Oracle. Zoho faces its own competition but it has a unique approach. Its products are varied, giving customers the feeling that they are using a service that is customized for their particular needs. Plus, we like their videos. They explain their products. How about that? Discuss

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Zoho Makes Another Move to be the IT of the Small Business Market

Live Blog: The Google Chrome OS Press Event

cgseo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:39:50 +0000

Google has scheduled a press event for 10am PST this morning where the company plans to announce more details about its Linux-based Google Chrome OS . According to the information we received from Google, the company plans to launch Chrome OS next year. We don't expect Google to release an early build of Chrome OS today, but we would be more than happy to be wrong. We do, however, expect to hear more details about the OS and to see a demo of Chrome OS's functionality. Read on for our live updates from the event, which will start at 10am PST. Sponsor 9:55am: Ahead of the event, Google has already made the Chrome OS source code available . 10:00am : Still waiting for the event to begin. "Some of our attendees are unavoidably delayed in traffic." 10:05am: Event gets started. No beta, no devices today. But they will give a demo and focus on technical demo. 10:06am: Google Chrome has been open-sourced. 10:07am: Why did we do Chrome? We wanted to push the web forward. Over 40 million users. Focus on speed. Mostly on the JavaScript engine, but also on other parts of the browser. Updated Chrome over 20 times in the last year, but users don't notice this because it happens in the background. User experience should be seamless. Coming soon for Chrome: Chrome for Mac will be ready this year. Chrome for Linux is coming along "very well." Extensions are coming soon as well (with automatic updates). 10:10am: HTML5: we want web application to get more access to the hardware. Example: graphics; multiple threads; real-time communication 10:12am: 3 trends in the industry: netbooks, cloud (everything is a web application today), phones getting computing capabilities Phones are becoming more like laptops and laptops are becoming more like phones. Chrome OS 10:15am: Chrome OS will be focused on speed, simplicity, security. Every application on Chrome OS will be a web application. Simplicity: Chrome OS is just a browser - all your data is in the cloud. Users should be able to log into any Chrome OS machine and be up and running with their apps and data in seconds. Security: users don't install binaries on the OS. Keeps the system safe. Everything runs in the browser. 10:18am: Demo time. Booting up on laptop takes seconds. "Everybody knows how to use a browser and we want Chrome OS to feel that way. UI will still change until release. Application Tabs : just like tabs in Chrome, you will be able to set persistent tabs for apps (Gmail etc.). App menu on the top left to access apps as well (see first screenshot above). These apps will be little widgets that appear in a panel just like Google Chat in Gmail. 10:23am: As netbooks get better, we expect them to become entertainment devices. Shows chess game. Shows Google Books in full-screen mode. Chrome OS will feature multiple windows. You can drag and drop tabs from one window to another. Even the file browser is a Chrome tab. Shows what happens when you click on an excel file. Actually launches Windows Live Office apps to show them. "Every app you write for the web is a Google Chrome OS app." 10:29am: Every file opens up in the browser: PDF, Micorsoft Office, etc. Under the Hood 10:30am: Matthew Papakipos, Engineering Director for Google Chrome OS on stage now. "We want Chrome OS to feel more like a Television." Instant on - all flash memeory. How to make the boot-up faster? Right now, operating systems still spend a lot of time on unnecessary boot steps (looking for floppy drives etc.) 10:34am: Verified Boot: makes sure all the components are working and haven't been modified by malware. System automatically fixes itself and reimages the computer with the last working version - saves all system settings and cache data. Security : all apps are web apps. The OS does not trust any app. Other security steps: files system is licked down, every tab runs in a secure sandbox. There is only a small list of known programs (verified and signed). User data on a Chrome OS machine is ALWAYS encrytped. All the data is synced to the cloud (on the Google Drive?) - user partition on the machine is basically just a local cache. 10:41am: Back to Sundar Pichai, Vice President of Product Management. Going to market: Chrome OS - but also working with hardware manufacturers. Will only support flash drives - not traditional hard drives! Google will specify reference hardware (specific wifi cards etc.). Google wants netbooks with a full-size keyboard, larger resolution, better trackpad. Launch: wants devices to be out by next holiday season. Chrome OS Open Sourced Google wants to work with open source community. Will give all of its contributions back to the community. 10:45am: Showing marketing video. Q&A Question : What is the target group for a Chrome OS device? Will there be Chrome server solutions? Chrome as a server? Answer: First we want to get netbooks out - no servers - but this is a paradigm shift in computer. Other questions: time will tell. Question : Cost of Chrome OS netbooks?> Answer: We will see larger netbooks - no price point - no price target.Demo ran on Asus EEE PC. Question : How can manufacturers join the program? Answer: Documentation on website. Reaching out aggressively to hardware partners. For software developers: there will be a page that shows which devices are compatible already. Question : Will there be an app store? Will Google certify drivers from OEMs? What about applications to edit photos? Answer: App store: the web is our app store and we will work hard on making those discoverable. Drivers: working with hardware partners. Want devices to be build on reference devices and with open source drivers. Editing: some apps are not available on the web. Most people who will buy this machine will have another machine in their home. This is not meant to be a primary OS - just a "delightful experience to be on the Web." This is a companion device Question : What about video codecs? Answer: working on that. Trying to use hardware acceleration where possible. Everything that's available in Chrome will be available in Chrome OS - including the http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/ technology. Sidenote : a lot of what you will see in Chrome OS will also flow back into the Chrome browser. Question : Silverlight support? Answer: No comment. Question : Plugins? Other browsers? Answer: code is available, but we won't support other browsers to run on Chrome OS. Question : Do you expect to see this just running on netbooks or other devices as well? Answer: more info about devices will come next year. Google is currently focused on delivering compelling devices: netbook-like form factors. Question : How big is the OS? Answer: nothing specific. Question : Offline access? Google Gears support? Answer: you can play media - but device mainly meant to run online but will make use of HTML5 local storage. Question : can you run it in a virtual machine? Answer: yes. Question : are you working with partners? Can Android apps run on Chrome OS? Answer: we focus on making web apps better - mission of Chrome is to push web apps forward. About Android apps: no. Question : will there be third-party apps? Answer: no - on phones you need native apps, but not on laptops. Question : Native Client needs Intel - will you still support ARM? Answer: we will support X86 and ARM - working on Native Client for ARM. Question : What's the business model? Advertising in the browser? Answer: Right now, we are focused on getting the OS and devices out. Chrome OS is free and open source. As people use the web more, it benefits Google. No specific real-estate in Chrome OS will be devoted to ads. Question : What does Chrome do that I couldn't do in Firefox with plugins? Answer: most of what we do is available in other browser. But not the application tabs etc. We are offering a fundamentally different model of computing (fast, simple, secure). In Chrome OS, Google can offer things others can't: fast boot, security. Question : How do you get people to trust the cloud? How do you assure people that their data is secure? Answer: most of what you are doing is already in the cloud - so problem is not specific to Chrome OS. Google thinks the cloud is just as secure as local storage. Users have a choice - always in control. Question : data syncing - will this be open or data just controlled by Google? Answer: none Sergey Brin drops in and joins the Q&A. Question : Support for Java? Answer: nothing to announce right now - hopefully we can do something interesting with this in the future. Question : What about instant-on OSes on Dell etc.? Does Google want to do this? Answer: No - we want to just be able to start super fast. A lean and mean netbook. Question : Will a Chrome OS machine be able to run printers? Other devices? Answer: we will support storage devices. Printers: we are taking an innovative approach and share more about that next year. Question : Open Source. Answer: we want to upstream what we do and help the community. Want to collaborate with Question: Real-time notifications. Answer (Sergey Brin): We need better real-time notifications in the browser. Chrome will use the W3C Notifications API. Question (for Sergey): How does Chrome OS fit into Google's strategy. Answer: we want users to be able to use netbooks easily. Make it easy to manage software on these devices. The web is the right platform for this. Trying to fulfull this need. Discuss

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Live Blog: The Google Chrome OS Press Event