Apparently there was a new pope chosen yesterday but you probably wouldn't have caught the news as easily on Twitter. This is due to the uproar that was caused when Google announced the closure of Google Reader on July 1st 2013. Business people, Social Media enthusiasts, Gamers, Journalists and other peeps were just so outraged that Google Reader began trending on Twitter and is still trending at the time of writing! There was even a petition submitted set up and it currently has over 60,000 names!

We can only guess at the thinking behind this but I would hazard a guess that it has something to do with getting more people on Google +. Also lots of people sync their Google Reader feeds to other platforms and, of course, Google can't sell ad space on those. It seems a bit of a shame that this was such an abrupt affair. People have a lot of trust in the Google brand and I think something like this will have a negative impact.  If an increase Google + usage is the goal, why not integrate Google Reader with Google + then look at phasing it out over a longer period of time? July seems very sudden.

Then again Google Reader wasn't the most social of tools and RSS is almost 15 years old now! Maybe  it's just the next stage in our evolution of online media consumption. I guess we'll move to something which is targeted, customisable but also social....

It's official then! Facebook is bigger than Google now in the US. The lead is miniscule at the moment but the trend of Facebook's growth over the last couple of months seems to be an undeniable indicator of a further movement in this direction.

But what does this all mean for us? There is a now a battle on between Google and Facebook. Both sites want to be your starting point for the experience of the web. While Google provides a highly efficient way of searching the net more are turning to social recommendations on Facebook. Social media can also put you in more direct contact with experts online where you can gain the information you require

Early guises of the internet were of static sites that did not change but this evolved into more dynamic web-content. It is now going one step further towards a continuous social streams of information. Facebook is currently capitalising on this while Google seems to be still coming up with ideas. Google's first proper venture into Social Networking, Buzz, was met with lots of privacy concerns which they are still trying to iron out.

For us digital life will be case of surfing and manoeuring around the online social slipstream which no-one person can really control or regulate entirely. While this is good for sharing information it can lead to a state of information overload. People may walk around with a smartphone in one hand and iPad in the other in a permanently distracted state. One big problem about all this is that you cannot easily switch off or disconnect easily especially with mobile web. Another is the issue of a growing digital divide between people who can afford the internet and take it for granted and those who do not have access. There may be many that are left behind while others rush ahead.

On the positive side, however, the possiblity for creating new communities that span the globe is immense though this must be handled with responsibility and care. It has implications for all parts of society from politics, to media, to business, to interpersonal relationships. Authenticity, transparency and trust are becoming vital commodities that hold all of this together.

For my part I hope that the sharing and collaborative aspects of online communities will far outweigh any downsides and we are moving from the darkness to a brite new world.

Social communities and the slipstream will be what we make it so we should strive to make it as positive and inclusive as possible.

What comes to mind when you think of the Wild West? Gun totting outlaw gangs, cowboys, stern sheriffs, musky saloons, desperate land and gold rushes....

This all sounds like America of the 1800s which is the era in which TV shows like HBO's Deadwood are set.

Strange as it sounds, however, this world is not a million miles away from cyberspace. Online businesses are in a constant state of one-upmanship and bravado similar to rival cowboy outfits. The online world transcends international boundaries so legal issues can become very confused leading to an almost lawless environment where byte-tottin' gangs run wild looking for gold.

For instance, Steve Jobs' comments about Google and Adobe are the perfect example of an old style bar-room rant. I could imagine him in the Wild West with all his Apple cohorts heckling his Google and Adobe counterparts on the other side of the bar.

"You darn two-bit Google hoodlums!" or

"You lazy Adobe go-fo-nuthins!" he would probably say.

I guess he would also be jumping around with an iPad in one hand and a glass of the strongest whiskey possible in the other. Google's Brin, Page and Schmidt would be sitting in the corner of the bar grumbling to themselves in multi-coloured Stetson hats emblazoned with the words 'Don't be evil'.

Of course the weapons of the online era are not guns but hardware, web apps and online business models and there is much money (gold) to be made. Google is looking to bring some law and order with its evolving web apps and advertising models but recently stepped on rival turf with the announcement of the Nexus One phone.

This was treated as an act of disrespect by Apple and a challenge to Apple's successful iPhone. Apple wants to make it clear that it 'runs the town' as far hardware goes and when you split you will split Apple's way. However, there is now talk of a gPad to rival Apple's iPad and this will only cause more unrest in the town.

Apple have also been increasing unhappy with the Adobe outfit. In their eyes they seem to be just an unreliable bunch of layabouts that spend all day in the saloon drinking whisky.

Of course there is also the Microsoft outfit too and they have been there for a long time. They used to 'run the town' pretty much outright once. Unfortunately, the Google outfit appeared from over the hill just over ten years ago and since then they have been muscling in all the rackets in the town. From operating systems, email and office applications Microsoft found themselves losing ground and have precious gold taken away from them. They have not been happy but struck back at the very heart of the Google outfit with the Bing search engine.

Over the hill there is a new town being built and a new gold rush. Two big outfits have emerged namely Twitter and Facebook. They have started making a lot of noise in their saloons too but this is the subject for another online Wild West tale.

This all makes for some interesting outlaw rivalries and whatever happens the online gold rush is here to stay. Only time will tell who gets to be sheriff (if one appears) but in the meantime there will be plenty of interesting bar-room brawls to follow this year in the Wild West of cyberspace.

Google's search engine dominance is a subject that has been discussed before on this blog in October of last year where I questioned whether the Google search engine was on the way out.

It has only been a matter of weeks since Microsoft's launch of its new search engine Bing. The new service was aimed to win some of the search engine market share which Google has dominated for so long. Recent weeks have seen Bing claim up to 15% of the market and it continues to further challenge Google.

Microsoft's challenge has not been unanswered as Google announced today that it would be launching it's own operating system in a direct challenge to Microsoft's dominance of the operating system market. It is possible that Windows may become a thing of the past if Microsoft do not up it's game. Its continued success will hinge upon Windows 7 which is due to be released later this year. However, Microsoft has had great difficulty in previous years with a very lack-lustre reaction to Vista. Microsoft even agreed a deal with some PC companies to ship new PCs with the older OS Windows XP. Vista has been viewed for the most part been viewed as clunky, cumbersome with some significant security flaws.

With the wide variety of Google Applications and products such as Maps, Gmail, Street View and the upcoming Wave would people be happy using a Google OS to? For my part I like to have a bit of variety in my life and would not like all of my IT tasks to be reliant on one company. On the other hand, Microsoft’s offerings have not been anywhere close and even the enthusiasm of Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer could not win me round. It is a real pain for people to keep having to learn how to use new systems and people favour what they are familiar with. This is the reason for people's and business' reliance on Microsoft. However, just because something is familiar does not mean it is the best product out there. Many people also go for an open source linux based operating system such as Ubuntu. Its open source nature means it free to use, distribute and modify if necessary. However, Linux operating systems have a reputation of being a little too techie for the average 'Joe' off the street.

The Google OS will have to be very easy-to-use if it is going to realistically challenge Windows and it will have to demonstrate clearly benefits on security and privacy issues. Google is a strong, well-recognised, trusted brand and this will give it a strong foundation.

There is also another OS that I have not mentioned and that is MAC OSX which comes with Apple's computers. As people have become very used to using iTunes and MAC the Apple OS looks like it is also coming to more prominence. While much of the focus is a showdown between Google and Microsoft a new OS will also affect Apple.

Who knows? What happens if another Search Engine or OS player comes on the market? How will these companies feel about splitting the market further? The IT/Online world is constantly evolving and anything is possible right now. Whatever happens Google, Microsoft, Apple and whoever else will have to integrate with each other to survive the fast-paced online world.

Google recently celebrated its ten year anniversary recently and over the last couple of years we have seen its meteroric rise from a university research project to one of the world's most successful companies. However I have a slightly differing perspective (as always!) to the norm with respect to the search engine.

People are now so used to 'Googling' things that it has now become second nature. Google has become an almost indispensible lifestyle and business tool with people using it buy products and services as well as research and general surfing. Having said this the evolution of IT and Web Technology is very quick. History has taught us that the rules of the game change often.

Google's income mostly comes from its innovative non-intrusive advertising techniques. These have worked very well so far but I must say that I for one pay little or no attention to sponsored links whether they are on the top or on the side. I do not think I am alone. As people get more and more accustomed to Google and they will start to ignore all the irrelevant information. They will have to because there is so much rubbish out on the net it is unbelievable. Companies may find that there pay-per-click and other advertising may become less effective on Google.

However, this is not the only strategy employed to get positive exposure on Google. Research shows that statistically people most of the time only look at the first three search engine results. This has given rise to a whole specific industry who's sole purpose is to get your company to the top spot of Google. The process is called Search Engine Optimisation. These companies streamline your website with related keywords (search terms that be picked up by Google) and generally create more links to their site from other sites to increase your Google ranking. There are other strategies involved in SEO too and everyone seems to be obsessing about it at the moment. Competition is fierce for the top spots and there are lot of SEO companies cashing in on this at the moment.

My problem with this if everyone is doing this I feel it may undermine the integrity search engine process as whole. If you are search for stuff and all you get is rubbish and websites trying to sell you things you may soon get sick of the search engine and lose trust in it. This is something that Google should be paying attention to as at the moment they are one of the most trusted and liked brands out there but it could all change so quickly! It also seems to assume that Google is the ultimate internet authority. It is certainly one of them now but may not be for ever as IT world moves very quickly. The question is will these companies, who rely on SEO in Google, be able to adapt when the game changes (which it inevitably will). I think many of them would be left behind if other search engines were to become more popular. Different search engines use different techniques to crawl the net so what works for Google will not be as effective in other ones. Companies offering SEO will also have to adapt very significantly or enjoy their current success while it lasts.

There are new search engines appearing now and the older ones like Altavista and Yahoo may soon catch up with Google in time. Resently some ex-Google employees set up a search engine called Cuil which has a more magazine like interface. I have to say I really like Cuil too.

However, it does not end there. Google offer other services like Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, along with a whole manner of others which are fantastic and very versatile. They now also own YouTube and will pounce on the next big thing I am sure! Then again the popularity of Facebook shows that other companies are on the rise too.

Maybe Google have realised that their days may be numbered as the top search engine and have branched out into other areas. However, Google's search engine is still central to its reputation and other services will to a greater extent rely on its continued success.

Oh Gosh! I have just realised Google actually also own the company who host this blog! I love you Google honest I do! :-)

It is hard for me to to really chose a topic to focus on a the moment. So much seems to be going on at the moment from the Global Financial Crisis to Facebook's new look.

What I will say is that everything seems to be speeding up with internet communications. Something can happen on one side of the world and within seconds it can be transmitted to the other side of the world. It is certainly the the wonder of technology that the world has become an even smaller place.

It is possible now to virtually walk the streets of Tokyo and New York with Google's Street View. Coming from the UK, I have never been to Tokyo but now I have an idea of what it looks like without going there.

I think all of these developments are good and I think it can certainly help people to share ideas. I hope it will mean that people will be able to understand each other better. Unfortunately there is a negative side to this as well. Unfounded rumours and scaremongering spread like wild fire. As we have seen over the last month or so with 'credit crunch', information has spread across the world instantaneously causing panic in places. It has cost companies millions and been the demise of others.

It looks like we've opened Pandora's Box and we are finding it very difficult to control it at the moment.