The company posted an article from Google Fellow and Engineer Amit Singhal on its public policy blog. It stemmed from “a debate” about fairness in search published by the Wall Street Journal. Singhal talks a bit more about Google's secrets and competition:
"Making our systems 100% transparent would not help users, but it would help the bad guys and spammers who try game the system. When you type "Nigeria" you probably want to learn about the country. You probably don't want to see a bunch of sites from folks offering to send you money . . . if you would only give them your bank account number!"
"We may be the world's most popular search engine, but at the end of the day our competition is literally just one click away. If we messed with results in a way that didn't serve our users' interests, they would and should simply go elsewhere—not just to other search engines like Bing, but to specialized sites like Amazon, eBay or Zillow. People are increasingly experiencing the Web through social networks like Facebook. And mobile and tablet apps are a newer alternative for accessing information."
Singhal also says that Google reveals more about its ranking factors than any other search engine, and offers more tools to webmasters to take advantage.
Sullivan appears to think the list should be published, without revealing how factors are actually measured, but Schmidt says even the list would reveal too much.
Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:
Hats off to Ron Conway. Angel investor Ron Conway, whose prolific portfolio has included Google and PayPal, wrote a scathing e-mail to the super angels involved in what's now being referred to as "Angelgate," and, yes, TechCrunch got a hold of it. When Michael Arrington crashed a secret meeting of angels this week and later wrote that they could be conspiring to cap startup valuations, he mentioned that "a couple of the attendees are saying they were extremely uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going." Apparently, a partner at Conway's investment firm, David Lee, was one of them. In the e-mail, Conway calls fellow investors "driven by self serving factors around ego satisfaction and 'making a buck.'" He goes on to basically kick ass and takes names ... or rather, drops names. He writes that some fellow investors' actions are "despicable" and specifically calls David McClure out for blogging about the ordeal and causing "embarrassment" for Silicon Valley. Conway also defends David Lee, saying he was "uncomfortable with both gatherings." Conway drives the point home, writing that he wants to disengage, with all the e-mail recipients. "Lets agree to disagree and not have to even engage in any idle chit chat or discussion of any sort….ever." Wow.
Ciao to unlimited data? Verizon recently announced that it expects to start charging wireless customers on the amount of Internet data they use. Robert Chang, writing for the The Wall Street Journal, notes that "the wireless industry has struggled to balance the increasing demand for data capacity with unlimited plans that limit how much revenue carriers can generate from their subscribers." In other words, corporations like Verizon are having a hard time squeezing pennies from the unlimited monthly data plans. The announcement follows Apple's decision to halt sales of unlimited data plans to new customers, and replace it with two service plans that have monthly caps. Customers who go over their limits are charged. But could Verizon be shooting itself in the foot by reducing smartphone Internet use, which could be potentially tapped for revenue streams itself?
Is Obama's small business program falling on deaf ears? The $30 billion in federal lending the president pledged yesterday was supposed to aid struggling small businesses with easier credit and other incentives to grow and hire new workers. But what if businesses don't want the money? Today the AP reports feedback from a number of small businesses and community bank that show reluctance to participate due to concerns about expansion and heightened scrutiny. "We have taken a strategic decision not to have our primary regulatory, the government, also be a partner in our bank," said William Chase Jr., CEO of Triumph Bank in Memphis. Many businesses have also frozen plans to expand since the recession in 2008, and don't intend to borrow until customers and revenues grow as well. Additional fears arise from the strings attached to TARP funding, when participating banks had to later cut dividends to shareholders and limit compensation. While the government has promised fewer regulations this time around, many still balk at the program's ability to change the rules at any time.
Five myths about Facebook. As The Social Network premieres in New York, and Facebook does damage control in Silicon Valley, David Kilpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World writes in the Washington Post about common misconceptions. Before you get too excited, remember, these are myths, not secrets. Example: "Facebook keeps changing to help sell advertising." Sure, there are tweaks over the use and display of personal data, but it's more about staying nimble than pleasing advertisers, Kilpatrick writes.
Need a job? Just text it. Fast Company reports on Assured Labor, a MIT offspring company that connects low-income job-seekers with employers over mobile SMS. The employment service, created by Harvard and Sloan School of Management students, launched in Mexico this week. Check out what the company's founder and CEO has to say here.
U.S. seeing rising discrimination complaints from Muslim employees. Even before the dispute over the planned construction of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan erupted, more and more Muslim workers were filing religious discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The New York Times reports. "Although Muslims make up less than 2 percent of the United States population," the Times writes, "they accounted for about one-quarter of the 3,386 religious discrimination claims filed with the E.E.O.C. last year." The Times says that Islamic groups expect the 2010 numbers to set a new record. Complaints range from verbal taunts from co-workers like "terrorist" and "Obama," to employers prohibiting Muslim women from wearing head scarves.
The classy way to handle rejection. On his blog, venture capitalist Fred Wilson has some advice for any young company dealing with the anger and frustration of being turned down by investors. Rather than sending an expletive-laced e-mail to the firm that turned you down, Wilson says it is better in the long run to handle the rejection with class. "You need to thank the investor for taking a look," he says. "You need to keep the relationship intact for the next time you want to raise money." Wilson admits that it isn't easy to maintain composure after being told no, but he says, "I always make myself feel better by saying to myself 'this deal is going to be huge and the best revenge will be when they are kicking themselves for saying no.'"
More from Inc. magazine:
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The company posted an article from Google Fellow and Engineer Amit Singhal on its public policy blog. It stemmed from “a debate” about fairness in search published by the Wall Street Journal. Singhal talks a bit more about Google's secrets and competition:
"Making our systems 100% transparent would not help users, but it would help the bad guys and spammers who try game the system. When you type "Nigeria" you probably want to learn about the country. You probably don't want to see a bunch of sites from folks offering to send you money . . . if you would only give them your bank account number!"
"We may be the world's most popular search engine, but at the end of the day our competition is literally just one click away. If we messed with results in a way that didn't serve our users' interests, they would and should simply go elsewhere—not just to other search engines like Bing, but to specialized sites like Amazon, eBay or Zillow. People are increasingly experiencing the Web through social networks like Facebook. And mobile and tablet apps are a newer alternative for accessing information."
Singhal also says that Google reveals more about its ranking factors than any other search engine, and offers more tools to webmasters to take advantage.
Sullivan appears to think the list should be published, without revealing how factors are actually measured, but Schmidt says even the list would reveal too much.
Each day, Inc.'s reporters scour the Web for the most important and interesting news to entrepreneurs. Here's what we found today:
Hats off to Ron Conway. Angel investor Ron Conway, whose prolific portfolio has included Google and PayPal, wrote a scathing e-mail to the super angels involved in what's now being referred to as "Angelgate," and, yes, TechCrunch got a hold of it. When Michael Arrington crashed a secret meeting of angels this week and later wrote that they could be conspiring to cap startup valuations, he mentioned that "a couple of the attendees are saying they were extremely uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going." Apparently, a partner at Conway's investment firm, David Lee, was one of them. In the e-mail, Conway calls fellow investors "driven by self serving factors around ego satisfaction and 'making a buck.'" He goes on to basically kick ass and takes names ... or rather, drops names. He writes that some fellow investors' actions are "despicable" and specifically calls David McClure out for blogging about the ordeal and causing "embarrassment" for Silicon Valley. Conway also defends David Lee, saying he was "uncomfortable with both gatherings." Conway drives the point home, writing that he wants to disengage, with all the e-mail recipients. "Lets agree to disagree and not have to even engage in any idle chit chat or discussion of any sort….ever." Wow.
Ciao to unlimited data? Verizon recently announced that it expects to start charging wireless customers on the amount of Internet data they use. Robert Chang, writing for the The Wall Street Journal, notes that "the wireless industry has struggled to balance the increasing demand for data capacity with unlimited plans that limit how much revenue carriers can generate from their subscribers." In other words, corporations like Verizon are having a hard time squeezing pennies from the unlimited monthly data plans. The announcement follows Apple's decision to halt sales of unlimited data plans to new customers, and replace it with two service plans that have monthly caps. Customers who go over their limits are charged. But could Verizon be shooting itself in the foot by reducing smartphone Internet use, which could be potentially tapped for revenue streams itself?
Is Obama's small business program falling on deaf ears? The $30 billion in federal lending the president pledged yesterday was supposed to aid struggling small businesses with easier credit and other incentives to grow and hire new workers. But what if businesses don't want the money? Today the AP reports feedback from a number of small businesses and community bank that show reluctance to participate due to concerns about expansion and heightened scrutiny. "We have taken a strategic decision not to have our primary regulatory, the government, also be a partner in our bank," said William Chase Jr., CEO of Triumph Bank in Memphis. Many businesses have also frozen plans to expand since the recession in 2008, and don't intend to borrow until customers and revenues grow as well. Additional fears arise from the strings attached to TARP funding, when participating banks had to later cut dividends to shareholders and limit compensation. While the government has promised fewer regulations this time around, many still balk at the program's ability to change the rules at any time.
Five myths about Facebook. As The Social Network premieres in New York, and Facebook does damage control in Silicon Valley, David Kilpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That is Connecting the World writes in the Washington Post about common misconceptions. Before you get too excited, remember, these are myths, not secrets. Example: "Facebook keeps changing to help sell advertising." Sure, there are tweaks over the use and display of personal data, but it's more about staying nimble than pleasing advertisers, Kilpatrick writes.
Need a job? Just text it. Fast Company reports on Assured Labor, a MIT offspring company that connects low-income job-seekers with employers over mobile SMS. The employment service, created by Harvard and Sloan School of Management students, launched in Mexico this week. Check out what the company's founder and CEO has to say here.
U.S. seeing rising discrimination complaints from Muslim employees. Even before the dispute over the planned construction of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan erupted, more and more Muslim workers were filing religious discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, The New York Times reports. "Although Muslims make up less than 2 percent of the United States population," the Times writes, "they accounted for about one-quarter of the 3,386 religious discrimination claims filed with the E.E.O.C. last year." The Times says that Islamic groups expect the 2010 numbers to set a new record. Complaints range from verbal taunts from co-workers like "terrorist" and "Obama," to employers prohibiting Muslim women from wearing head scarves.
The classy way to handle rejection. On his blog, venture capitalist Fred Wilson has some advice for any young company dealing with the anger and frustration of being turned down by investors. Rather than sending an expletive-laced e-mail to the firm that turned you down, Wilson says it is better in the long run to handle the rejection with class. "You need to thank the investor for taking a look," he says. "You need to keep the relationship intact for the next time you want to raise money." Wilson admits that it isn't easy to maintain composure after being told no, but he says, "I always make myself feel better by saying to myself 'this deal is going to be huge and the best revenge will be when they are kicking themselves for saying no.'"
More from Inc. magazine:
Get this delivered to your inbox.
Follow us on Twitter.
Follow us on Tumblr.
Like us on Facebook.
robert shumake
The Hockey <b>News</b>: Fantasy Pool Look Column: Fantasy Pool Look: Late <b>...</b>
Looking to pick up a producer in the late-rounds of your draft? The Dobber has a few suggestions.
Apple TV: Good <b>news</b> and bad - Apple 2.0 - Fortune Tech
Apple TV: Good news and bad. Posted by Philip Elmer-DeWitt. October 6, 2010 10:57 AM. "The hobby is a hit!" declares one analyst, but a head-to-head review gives the nod to Roku. Photo: Michael Copeland. "Apple TV is selling out across ...
Movie <b>News</b> Quick Hits: 'Transformers 3' is Now 'Transformers: The <b>...</b>
He's been talking about filming it for years, but now Kevin Smith is finally able to reveal the first image from his new film,
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