Does Congress Really Think They Can Stop Big Tech?

It was simply embarrassing to watch.

Politicians (um lawyers) tried to grill the heads of Big Tech, and all they did was prove how clueless they are when it comes to how Big Tech works, and how they make their money. (but they don't mind taking donations from them).

This isn't Big Tobacco or a physical product, it is data creation and monetization that they control. You can't touch it or just change the packaging.

What these ignorant politicians don't realize is that Big Tech has ALREADY identified every computing device that has connected to the Internet.

Silicon Valley is 3 years ahead of the curve when it comes to technology, and the government is 3 years behind.

If the government is really serious about breaking up Big Tech, before they start regulating ads, search or content, they need to start with HOW Big Tech is able to collect data from EVERY device that is connected to the Net.

Take away the thing that gives them their monopoly..device identification.

Remote browsing is a great start to level the playing field against Big Tech.

Sure Big Tech will still be able to collect data from the computer doing the browsing, but they won't be able to correctly match the data with the actual person that is doing the browsing.

Amazon Offers Solution To Long Checkout Lines

The cart, which Amazon unveiled on Tuesday, uses cameras, sensors and a scale to automatically detect what shoppers drop in. It keeps a tally and then charges their Amazon account when they leave the store. No cashier is needed.

The online shopping giant opened a cashier-less supermarket in Seattle that uses cameras and sensors in the ceiling to track what shoppers grab and charge them as they leave. Amazon.com Inc. also has roughly 25 cashier-less convenience stores with similar technology.

 

 The cart, called Amazon Dash Cart, will first show up at a new Los Angeles supermarket Amazon is opening later this year.

The questions here.

Does Amazon continue to open their own cashier-less stores and take on Costco? 

Does Amazon license this technology out to other stores?

Does Amazon ad a display and offer ads while browsing in the store?

Does Amazon create their OWN ad network with these carts?

Amazon Cuts Out The Middleman, Could Kill Fedex?

Why pay a service to deliver goods bought from your store when you can do it yourself?


Amazon is leasing 20 Boeing 767s from Air Transport Services Cargo and negotiated to buy 20% of the company. They can now ensure one and two-day delivery. 

How long before Amazon is considered a monopoly?

What other companies do you see that will adopt the same strategy?

Predictive Advertising Based On Amazon's GPS Patent

You probably use "predictive text" on your phone. That is when the device fills in the rest of the word you are typing.


Next up, advertising that is catered to your GPS and current route.

A patent, made public last week, covers a system to not only track, through mobile devices (Kindle, anyone?), where individuals or aggregated users have been, but determine where your likely to go next to better target ads, coupons, or other messages that could appear on a mobile phone or on displays that individuals are likely to see on their routes.  (Amazon's Big Brother Patent)

Creepy or a good idea?


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Amazon's Silk...The First Cloud Computing Browser And A Big Threat To Google?

When Amazon announced the launch of the Kindle Fire, probably the biggest story was the introduction of Silk, the browser on it.

In addition to being a much faster way to surf, the Silk browser and Amazon will be creating a huge database of surf habits/history. A threat to Google's advertising business?


A typical web page requires 80 files served from 13 different domains. This takes a regular browser hundreds of round trips, and adds seconds to page load times.

When you use Silk, without thinking about it or doing anything explicit, you’re calling on the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services cloud (AWS).

A typical web request begins with resolving the domain names associated with the server and establishing a TCP connection to issue the http request. Establishing TCP connections for each request consumes time and resources that slow down traditional browsers. Silk keeps a persistent connection open to the backend server on the AWS cloud so that there is always a connection at the ready to start loading the next page.

In addition, the Silk backend server keeps persistent connections open to the top sites on the web. This approach further reduces latency that would otherwise result from constantly establishing connections. Further, the connection between Silk and the backend infrastructure uses a pipelined, multiplexing protocol that can send all the content over a single connection.

Should Google be concerned?







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Amazon Versus Apple..Which Offers Greater Upside?

Many people mocked Jeff Bezos and his Internet vision, heck he even looks and acts kind of funny. However, this November he will be regarded as a visionary.

Amazon created a one stop ecommerce shop for any type of merchandise and made it simple to buy with their one click technology. They opted to stay away from the music side and focus on books with the Kindle (hardware).

The ad supported version of Kindle, when idle, will display the Amazon Local Deals. Amazon found a way to "push" these deals...am I the only tired of getting endless groupon type emails?

So Amazon is really the first group buying player with their own piece of hardware..sorry Groupon you can't compete with this. Amazon already knows my billing info and I can easily one click to buy the latest deal.

If Amazon's Local Deals is anything like their Kindle Content, or Selling Platform, they just created one of the most effective ways for a small business to broadcast their daily deal.

I wouldnt be surprised to see Amazon create a secondary market for group deals too.

Now Amazon will be launching their own tablet, the Amazon Tablet for $250 Kindle Fire for $199 (and it's on pace to outsell the iPad and iPad2) in November...it may not kill the iPad sales, but it will sure take a good chunk of their marketshare away.


Amazon is valued at $100B, approximately one third of Apple's $300B.

Apple has done a fantastic job of selling digital content and hardware that supports it..but here's what they missed.

Four years ago I said that Apple needed to find a way to diversify the content/merchandise offered on iTunes. They have a one click purchase portal and use it for more than digital content.

Which company do you think offers greater upside?

The tool that turned $10,000 into $2,800,000 in 2 years. HowToFindBigStocks.com

TiVo And Amazon Create New Media Commerce Platform

Disruptive technology that initially hurt TV advertising, might actually be its savior.

Time shifted viewing and the TiVo (DVR) are disrupting TV viewing. More eyeballs leave TV, advertisers need a dynamic service for digital video recorders (DVRs).

From The N.Y. Times TiVo And Amazon team Up

TiVo, the Silicon Valley company that introduced millions to the joy of skipping television commercials, is trying to crack a decades-old media dream. It wants to turn the television remote control into a tool for buying the products being advertised and promoted on commercials and talk shows.

The company, based in Alviso, Calif., will introduce a “product purchase” feature on Tuesday in partnership with the Internet retailer Amazon.com. Owners of TiVo video recorders will see, in TiVo’s various onscreen menus, links to buy products like CDs, DVDs and books that guests are promoting on talk shows like “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “The Late Show With David Letterman” and “The Daily Show.”

The move highlights TiVo’s attempt to shift from being a creator of set-top boxes, competing with copycat devices, to being an advertising innovator that is trying to develop advertising technologies for the television industry.

“Just a few years ago, we were viewed with great paranoia as the disruptor,” said Thomas S. Rogers, chief executive of TiVo. “Our goal now is to work with the media industry to come up with ways to resist the downward pressure of less advertising viewing and create a way for advertising on TV to become more effective, more engaging and closer to the sale.”

But beware, Microsoft has a new "TV stopping patent".

The patent, which Microsoft originally applied for in 1993, enables the company to develop and market technology that allows television viewers to pause programmes to follow on-screen hyperlinks and participate in games, chat rooms and other interactive services.

What's bigger than all of these services?

The "Next Google" will be able to collect data, second-by-second, from all services/devices connected to the broadband pipe and deliver relevant advertising to ANY display.
The kicker...it already exists.

From the CEO " the ability to report actual anonymous second-by-second program and advertising audience viewership data from tens of millions of set top boxes (STB)s represents a huge technological and informational leap from today's television measurement standard"

"We currently have access to 500,000 set-top-boxes (STBs) made available to us through different network operators from multiple TV markets from which we are collecting, aggregating and reporting anonymous, second-by-second data to our development partners."

The Next Google is here.

Amazon's TextBuyIt Disrupts Physical World Retailing

I'm surprised it took this long to introduce this. Physical retailers will have to get used to price comparisons AND purchases made from online competitors in their store.

What can physical retailers do in order to provide value?

Until camera phones can scan a barcode, or resolve an image on a book cover, Amazon's TextBuyIt mobile application will disrupt physical book store retailers.

From Fox News Amazon Launches TextBuyIt

In less than a minute and using only text messages, Amazon.com customers can find the product they are looking for and complete a purchase using TextBuyIt.

Simply send a text message to "AMAZON" (262966) with the name of the product, search term or a UPC or ISBN code, and, within seconds, Amazon replies with the product or products that match the search, along with prices.

To buy an item, customers simply reply to the text message by entering the unique single digit number next to the item they want. Customers will then receive a short phone call from Amazon with the final details of their order and asking them to confirm or cancel the purchase.


When customers choose to purchase something for the first time using TextBuyIt, they will be asked for their e-mail address and shipping ZIP code they use for their Amazon.com account. With this information, Amazon uses customers' default settings for payment method, shipping address and shipping speed, including 2-Day shipping for Amazon Prime members.