Author: Ben Debski

Google has announced that it will enable search enquiries to integrate with personal searches, such as in a users Gmail account, as a way to maintain its dominance of the search market.

In a “limited field trial”, some users will start seeing email content appear alongside other web searches. Part of the reason for this is to create a seamless experience for users, but for Google it is an important way of collecting huge amounts of data about users.

Tying all this data together will allow Google to learn more about its users, allowing them to know the relationship between specific searches.

Director of Product Management for Google, Sagar Kamdar told reporters: “This is a baby step in a really complicated area.”

Many users may find the idea of seeing their emails appear when searching for something in Google worrying, particularly those that use shared computers. Maintaining security on with this project is, as Kamdar says, a “hard problem.”

The trial is reportedly going to be open to other email providers, and not just people with Gmail accounts. Senior Vice President Amit Singhal said: “We are very willing to work with every email provider.” Whether these email providers are willing to give up their valuable user data remains to be seen.

A deal announced yesterday by the US Defence and Interior Departments will see military land put to use for renewable energy, which it is hoped will cut the military’s $4bn a year energy bill.

Solar, wind geothermal and biomass energy production will begin on military land, which the government will also hope will encourage a further move towards renewable energy in other industries, as well as helping boost the US’s energy independence.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement: “Energy security is critical to our national security. Our nation’s military lands hold great renewable energy potential and this partnership will help ensure that we’re tapping into these resources with a smart and focused approach to power our military, reduce energy costs, and grow our nation’s energy independence.”

The renewable energy industry in the US has struggled to take off in recent years, with no clear technology able to challenge oil and gas production for cost and efficiency. Last year it accounted for just 14.3 percent of energy production, with hydroelectricity leading the way.

Leon Panetta, the Defence Secretary, added: “Developing renewable energy is the right thing to do for national security, as well as for the environment and our economy.
“Renewable energy projects built on these lands will provide reliable, local sources of power for military installations, allow for a continued energy supply if the commercial power grid gets disrupted, and will help lower utility costs.”

Many people insist on buying cars that rarely get used, with congestion on the roads meaning it’s better to take public transport. Solving the problem of this wastage, and potentially saving drivers a lot of money, may have been achieved by a group of new start-ups. So-called peer to peer car sharing services allow drivers to lease out their private cars to other drivers when they’re not in use.

Getaround, a US firm recently set up, has received a lot of interest from investors like Google CEO Eric Schmidt and actor Ashton Kutcher, with an initial round of fundraising seeing $13.9m pumped into the company. Another firm, RelaRides, has also seen investment from Google and General Motors.

Menlo Ventures, who led the investment into Getaround, thinks the opportunities of this new business model are huge. Partner Shervin Pishevar, who is set to join the board of Getaround, said: “Most cars are only used eight percent of the time. This is incredible waste happening each and every day across the world, and Getaround solves this problem beautifully.”

The idea seems sound, but the initial set up costs of installing the technology, as well as sharing the insurance, might deter car-owners. If it’s successful, however, car rental companies may see a great deal of competition from this new sector while the auto industry might see a reduction in sales from people that don’t require their own car. For drivers, this may mean finding a parking space will become a lot easier.

Since the internet went mainstream in the middle of the 1990’s, email has revolutionised the way people communicate with each other. Providing users with a simple, instant and efficient way to communicate with people all over the world, it has become a staple part of people’s every day use of the internet.

Microsoft realised the importance of email when they purchased Hotmail, one of the first and most prominent services, in 1997 for $400m. Since then, other players have emerged, most notably Google with their Gmail service, which simplified email and attracted many of Microsoft’s users that felt Hotmail had become cumbersome and weighed down by intrusive adverts.

However, with the emergence of social networks like Twitter and Facebook, the way we communicate is continuing to evolve. People can now seamlessly switch between platforms when communicating, which has eroded the ubiquitous use of email from everyday life. Even Google has integrated their Gmail service into their new social network Google Plus, as well as their Android mobile operating system, blurring the lines between instant messaging, video conferencing, email and text messages.

Microsoft, attempting to wrestle control of the market back from Google, yesterday announced a brand new service that it hopes can reinvigorate email. Outlook.com, a web version of their desktop email client Outlook, will eventually replace Hotmail. It offers far more simplified design, based in their Windows 8 Metro UI, while also providing sophisticated junk email management tools.

Soon, the company plans to integrate online video conferencing service Skype, which they bought in 2011 for $8.5bn, potentially creating a unified communication system that rivals Google’s.

Is it too late to be revamping a sluggish email service though? Most users are already signed up to other services, and will be reluctant to change addresses after so many years with the same contact details. Also, the use of email has declined sharply in recent years. ComScore reported in 2011 that email usage amongst teenagers had declined by 59 percent on the previous year’s figure, with social networks receiving the most use from young people.

Microsoft will integrate Outlook.com with social networks like like Facebook, which they already have a strong partnership with. The difficulty will be in persuading people they need yet another way of communicating outside of existing services.

The technology industry in Australia has for a long time offered promises of great innovation, but never quite delivered on that potential. According to the boss of Australia’s largest telecom company, all that is needed is the confidence to support the burgeoning industry from investors.

David Thodey, Telstra’s CEO, yesterday told a conference in Sydney hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce that he sees no reason why Australia cannot produce the next technology giant, something that hasn’t yet happened for the industry, but investment is required.

“I’ve been in this industry for nearly 33 years, and I’ve talked a lot about the importance of innovation and technology within Australia, but the truth is it hasn’t nearly gone a tremendous way. There hasn’t been real sustainable investment in local technology companies within Australia.”

Thodey also said the country also needed to refocus its economy towards technology, as the mining resources that have fuelled growth in recent years cannot last forever. “We’re a lucky country, we’ve got great mining resources, we’re a great sporting nation, but can we really become the clever country? Many of the other things that our wealth is being created on are not necessarily sustainable over the long term. We have an incredible opportunity to change that focus to become a clever country, and I really think we need to do it.”

The industry has failed to take off in recent years. Last year, a number of US investment firms took stakes in Australian start-ups, such as Tiger Global Management’s buying 40 percent of e-commerce site Catch of the Day. However, none of these businesses have yet made an impression on the global tech industry.

However, Thodey doesn’t think it is up to the government to push this growth, but that it will come with a few successes. “We’re not looking for a hand-out. I think it’s about creating an environment where innovation is seen as good, we’re encouraging it, creating a vision for it. And success helps; if you can get a few good wins under your belt, then the industry will grow in its own right.”

Demands for mobile broadband connections are increasing rapidly, as consumers become ever more desperate to be online whenever and wherever they are. Added to this demand is the advancement of the devices that use the networks. The next generation of mobile broadband, dubbed 4G, is intended to provide this extra speed and capacity.

However, take up of 4G has been slow. According to a recently published report by the Wireless Intelligence group, 87 percent of all 4G networks are based in the US, Japan and South Korea. The US leads the way, with 47 percent of the global total, with 12.7m people connecting to the networks this year.

Elsewhere, 4G has struggled to get off the ground. Just six percent of all connections to 4G are in Europe, while the UK has yet to even launch a 4G network, as legal battles between operators has prevented the government from launching the auction for the bandwidths until mid-2013.

Another problem that faces 4G take up is the lack of standardisation. The US and Singapore have chosen Long Term Evolution (LTE) as their network, while South Korea and Malaysia have gone for Wimax.

Apple’s new iPad was trumpeted as the first mainstream tablet to offer 4G speeds. However, Apple was forced to remove advertising claims of 4G network speeds outside of the US because the LTE chip in the iPad only worked with US LTE networks. The US firm was even fined $2.2m in Australia for misleading advertising.

Finding a standard system is vital if the capacity needs are to be met. It’s likely that pressure from device manufacturers will lead to a standard system as they look to keep down design costs. However, governments must come together to settle on a platform that will allow consumers to remain online all over the world.