Integrating a desirable Internet experience onto a mobile platform or device is something that we discussed quite a bit on this blog in the last 6 months, and in an article earlier this week, we talked about the importance of search, especially to the big three, GYM (Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft, an acronym I decided to adopt, at least temporarily). Google is obviously the search king, and needs little to support the argument, but I will re-link to this article that potentially offers 7-figures to anyone who can ‘crack the Google code.’ Yahoo! has been working feverishly on Panama, their attempt to re-define search, and of course, I linked to an article about Microsoft looking for ways to improve their search through mash-ups and outside developers. But what happens when you throw the idea of mobility into the mix?

What happens is a company like Tellme develops a cutting edge application that allows people to use voice technologies to search via any phone - and they are suddenly bought up by Microsoft for $800 million or so. Again, Google is the king of search, so this is definitely an attempt to crack that stranglehold, and it’s got a sexy allure, doesn’t it? Who cares about old fashioned searching; everyone will eventually be carrying a computer in their pocket, complete with digital camera, streaming digital video capabilities, and mp3 player. When they need to find something, are they going to want to type it in to Google, or simply call and ask? The gap is closing, and search results are obviously getting better for Yahoo! and Live Search. Microsoft might have bought themselves a nice boost with this one.

If there was any doubt in people’s minds that there was huge potential in digital media, then the recent announcement by java-giant Starbucks (offering FREE COFFEE today from 10am - 12pm, March 15th) that their record label, Hear Music, will now look to sign their own musicians and sell their own albums through Starbucks stores and other retail outlets. Hear Music was formerly heard in Chapters bookstores in Canada, and is also available on XM Satellite radio.

The coffee company has not limited themselves to music, forging into a variety of lines that would typically fall into the Entertainment Industry; starting with the popularity of Norah Jones and Alanis Morisette albums, Starbucks now offers books, and was part of bringing ‘Akeelah and the Bee‘ to the Big Screen. With digital rights meaning digital downloads and digital dollars, Starbucks is attempting to capitalize on a userbase that is typically more techy, and would potentially opt in to such luxeries as on-site, digital download stations. Think of the roots of Starbucks in Seattle during the initial rise of tech and this not only makes digital-sense (and cents), it reflects one of the common themes we like to preach here: capitalizing on an existing userbase, something Starbucks has, and they’re fiercely loyal.

Tom Hanks would probably have a harder time tracking this one down, and I’m sure that Sergei and Larry would probably be at least as good a challenge as Paul Bettany, but they might not be as pale - but with payouts in the tens of millions for deciphering the search algorithm that drives search giant Google, it might be worth the efforts. Although search will definitely be the key to capitalizing on online advertising, and companies like Yahoo! (Pandora) and Microsoft (the money-losing search deal with Facebook, for example) are making great efforts to break the approximate 50% stranglehold that Google boasts in the search engine business, I think that those who control the online portals, the gateways to the Internet, so-to-speak, are better positioned to eventually conrol the search market. Google knows this, and that why it’s invested so heavily in acquiring and developing its own properties (YouTube, the search deal with MySpace, the rise of Orkut) and has increased the presense of their toolbar for the average user.

Microsoft is obviously in for a battle with Google, and the two are closing the gap quickly. Google has released their version of an Office suite, and Microsoft is quickly trying to take a Google-like approach to their Live Search and Virtual Earth mapping by seeking outside developers and mash-ups. Like Yahoo!, the potential in their userbase is undeniable, coupled with the popularity of their desktop software and operating systems, Microsoft has anything but lost the war. And like Yahoo!, the company can continue to lose the battle, so long as they maintain those users in their various properties and continue to improve on that one aspect that continues to lag. With billion dollar lawsuits starting to come at Google, now is the time for other companies to make their move, and Yahoo! and Microsoft have made moves that would suggest they are doing just that.

In the meantime, anyone able to crack the Google Code is probably setting themselves up for a major windfall.

While we were down, one of the articles that Rob pointed me to was from our friend (one of AT LEAST ten, I’m sure) Jordan Behan. The clip was put together by Michael Wesch, Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Kansas State University, who posted about the video here. It’s an interesting video, and an interesting angle to take on Web 2.0; anthropology is the science that deals with the origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics, and social customs and beliefs of humankind. Web 2.0, and before that the Internet revolution, has had such an impact on society, and brought us closer to a borderless, one-world community, and it’s great that those with this type of knowledge are taking the time to help us understand the scope of the impact and change that Web 2.0 and the Internet have created.

I recommend taking the time to look at The YouTube Project that is on the site, as well. Here are all the videos.

It’s funny how this seems to have sprung up on everyone so unexpectedly. Not only do I remember hearing about this nearly half a year ago (probably somewhere around the time that we were ‘falling back’), I had read several different articles talking about the problems that would cause headaches for IT specialists. I’ve even glanced at an article that suggested the magnitude of the change to DST is far greater than the Y2K bug. Despite the scope of this change, affecting almost every single system and application, there is little news about the implications, and not only is the average person probably going to be left an hour behind, several companies will probably have to deal with band-aid fixes.

I support the idea in principle, and think that the powers that be were honestly trying to do good things when they made this change. However, in typical government/bureaucratic fashion, I don’t think the downstream affects of this type of change were fully understood or considered. Either that, or the powers that be simply didn’t care…

If you’re worried or need help with DST, this link might help.