Breathe Easy Everyone

So Google released a redesign to their search engine. I got to be honest–I don’t like where they are going with this one. The idea behind it is that the new design makes it easier to access everything related to a search term, including social media, news, etc. But wait, weren’t all those options accessible from the top bar in the past? How is this change not redundant?

Furthermore, I know a lot of people use Google because the search results are not cluttered. It (was) mostly a bare page which I believe was one of Google’s high selling points. I want to be able to quickly get my search results, without being distracted by huge ad banners or mostly irrelevant videos and twitter feeds. This old bare search engine is quickly becoming a thing of the past– I’m seeing more and more ads that take up more and more space, videos, twitter streams, news streams, etc. If I wanted a left bar, I’d goto Yahoo.

Here is an excerpt from some of the more impassioned opinions from Google’s support forums.

In response to: “However, as would be expected to see in every organisation that matures, grows, acquires, earns, they have become over-confident in almost everything they do.”

“I think it’s the opposite. To me, everything that Google’s done seems to stem more from an inferiority complex if anything. The new You Tube layout begged, borrowed and stole elements from several other popular web sites (Digg, Metacafe). Now the new Google layout is modeled on Bing. This is quite shocking from a company that always prided itself on being a leader, not a follower. But that seems to be the prevailing trend now.

Google is feeling insecure, if not threatened by other internet entities. I don’t know why. But it’s written all over the new Metacafe/ Digg version of You Tube and Bing’s doppelganger. It didn’t need to be, but it is. The irony is that if it keeps revamping its brand to copy other ones, it’s going to lose competition to the very entities it’s afraid of.”

-hpstudios

To me, Google is adding clutter and it’s unnecessary. What do you think?

Finding the right telephone service can be frustrating.  It gets even more complicated if you’re shopping for a small business.  In today’s teleco industry, there are literally hundreds of options, ranging from the old on-premise PBX to newer options like hosted business VoIP.  Today, we’ll be focusing on hosted VoIP and explaining why it may make your life easier, especially if you’re a small business.

1.  Cost

Hosted VoIP options are often much more affordable than an on premise PBX, which can run into the thousands of dollars.  The setup costs for a hosted business VoIP telephone system are also often negligible.  Most of the time, they run on the plug and play model:  plug in your VoIP phones, configure using a simple to use web interface, and ‘play’, so to speak.  The idea here is that you save money and time when setup is fast.  Furthermore, maintenance and management of your telephone system is handled off site by your hosted provider.  You will have to buy VoIP phones, however, which may cost more than the ‘legacy’ phone systems you’re used to, but the overall startup cost is usually much less.

2.  Features

Cost savings alone are not responsible for the spread of IP business communications.  Saving money means nothing if your telephone system is not robust and full of useful ‘enterprise’ features.  In the past, only corporations could afford to have an on premise PBX, meaning that only larger, already established businesses had so called advanced telephone system options.  Hosted VoIP providers have essentially leveled the playing field, by allowing almost everyone access to features that they could not afford otherwise.  Features like auto attendants, conference bridges, voicemail boxes, ACD queues and call groups can all be obtained from a hosted VoIP provider, usually on the cheap.

IP communications is also responsible for the rise of wideband audio, more commonly known as high-definition voice.  HD Voice allows users to experience their calls in over twice the regular voice quality, making it great for calls with foreign speakers or long conference calls with multiple participants.

Finally, as VoIP and SIP tend to go hand in hand nowadays, many hosted VoIP providers also act as hosted SIP services.  Users get a SIP address, which looks pretty much identical to an email address, which can substitute for their phone number.  A SIP address can be used to find a user’s network location so that when it is dialed, a connection can be made regardless of where that user is or what device he happens to be using at the time.  Perhaps in the near future, we will see a widespread migration from phone numbers to SIP addresses.