WebNerd Alert: Google, Pandora, and Customized Domain Extensions

Google Music

I'm not sure which came first between iCloud and Google Music but there appears to be a war brewing between Google and Apple over who has control of all the music (and in Google's case, documents in general) that is soon to be "in the cloud". I just got an email from my boy that he'd received his invitation to sign-up for Google Music and he was PUMPED! We had talked about Google Music versus iCloud a couple weeks back when he initially sent me an article about iCloud. To be honest, I have done enough research yet other than looking at the Google Music website to really have an informed option. I've signed up for an invitation so hopefully I can get access, check things out and do another post about it. I know one thing though, with the 152 gigs of music I have on my machine, it'd be nice to be able to store it somewhere that's accessible from my computer, my phone, and other mobile devices on or off-line... And that's what Google's selling it as. At least for those who have Android-based phones and tablet devices. Not sure I like that, especially when I'm gonna cop that iPhone 5 in September, lol. Google is also adding a Pandora-esque feature where you can play "similar songs" by "similar artists". This should be interesting.

More on Google Music below:



Google Launches a Tool for "Online Reputation Management"

Apparently, Google is "launching" a tool to be used for "online reputation management" called "Me On The Web". It's not really a launch per se (because the functionality is already there) and it's aimed at helping people keep others from finding out things they don't want them to know "manage search results for your name". The new feature is available on your Google Dashboard and "encourages you to keep tabs on [these mentions] by setting up search alerts for data points included in your Google profile, like your name and email address."

This could already be done before and for this reason I don't consider it a "launch" but more of a re-branding and refresh of Google's Dashboard options. This is definitely useful for everyone, not just those that want to keep a "low profile" on the InterWeb. For more information and to check out the full article visit mashable.com.

Pandora... How Does It Work?

Ever wondered how, when you create a Jay-Z playlist (or whatever artist) in Pandora that the website/app somehow knows what other artists to play (aka Biggie)? I did. So I decided to do a little InterWeb research to try and figure it out, lol. What I found out is that back in 1999 two guys started this Music Genome Project and in 2000 they joined up with a guy named John Kraft to form Pandora Media and from there I assume Pandora the application wasn't long after.

The Music Genome Project set out to "'capture the essence of music at the fundamental level' using almost 400 attributes to describe songs and a complex mathematical algorithm to organize them." So basically they tried to create a genetic code for music and then find a way to use computer software to make relationships between different songs. It's also stated on the Pandora website that "[t]aken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like." Sounds nerdy, but best believe that's some cool shyt.

Pay an Arm and a Leg for Your Own Domain Extension

If you've got a measly $185K laying around (plus another $25K to throw around annually) you can now have your own customized domain extension. Is del.icio.us not enough for you? Well, now you can have I.AM.DELICIOUS as your domain name if you want. Just cough up the skrillz to the good folks at ICANN (Internet CORPORATION for Assigned Names and Numbers). Naturally, the first people to dive in and pay for these customized extensions will be companies that have big bucks and need to protect their brands. Microsoft won't want Apple going in and grabbing the .microsoft extension so they'll no doubt cough up the dough. This probably won't reach the consumer for a long time (read: until the price comes waaaaaay down) but it's going to be interesting to see who are the early adopters and innovators when it comes to grabbing these customizable extensions. It seems like a great opportunity to re-brand and perhaps reinvent specific product lines for a company using the InterWeb.

For more information and the full article that inspired this part of the post, visit the Associated Press.