Today’s link-a-palooza

Google to create an Internet alternative?

For a while now it has been known that Google is buying “dark fibre”, fibre optics cables which have never been connected because of the tech industry’s downturn of year 2000. There have been many speculations regarding the reason Google is doing this. The picture is starting to clear up as Google is apparently trying to create an alternative Internet.

This reminded me that Microsoft once tried to create an alternative internet. This network was called MSN, and was different from the MSN that we know today. If you wanted to connect to MSN you had to use your dialup modem to call a different network that was not the Internet. Needless to say, this attempt failed.

Now that Google is losing its shine in the eyes of the public (privacy concerns, products which failed to impress like Google Video) it will be interesting to see if they can really attract a critical mass of users to an alternate internet.

ืจื•ื™ื˜ืœ ืชืชืืจื— ื‘ืจืฉืช ื‘’ ื‘ื™ื•ื ืจืืฉื•ืŸ ื”ืงืจื•ื‘

ื‘ื”ืžืฉืš ืœื—ืฉื™ืคื” ืฉืจื•ื™ื˜ืœ ืžืงื‘ืœืช, ื”ืคืขื ื”ื–ืžื™ื ื• ืื•ืชื” ืœืชื•ื›ื ื™ืช “ืขื•ืœื™ื ืขืœ ื”ื’ืœ” ืขื ืื™ืจื™ืก ืœื‘ื™ื ื‘ืจืฉืช ื‘’. ื”ืชื•ื›ื ื™ืช ืชืฉื•ื“ืจ ื‘ื™ื•ื ืจืืฉื•ืŸ ื‘ื™ืŸ ื”ืฉืขื•ืช 19:00 ื•- 21:00. ืื ื™ ืžืื•ื“ ืžืงื•ื•ื” ืฉืชื”ื™ื” ืœื™ ื”ืงืœื˜ื” ืœืฉื™ื ืคื” ื‘ืืชืจ.

ื›ืžื• ื›ืŸ, ืืœ ืชืฉื›ื—ื• ืืช ืชืขืจื•ื›ืช ื”ืฆื™ืœื•ืžื™ื ืฉืœื” ื‘ื’ืœืจื™ื” ื“ื™ื–ื ื’ื•ืฃ ื‘ืชืœ ืื‘ื™ื‘. ื”ืชืขืจื•ื›ื” ืชื”ื™ื” ืฉื ืขื“ ืกื•ืฃ ื”ื—ื•ื“ืฉ.

Google Video takes it up a notch

Google has recently announced that its video service, Google Video, is going to become an online video store service. It’s a service in the sense that video content publishers, e.g. TV networks, will be able to put video content (TV shows) in Google Video and let users download it free or for a price.

To enable the miscellaneous pricing schemes (like allowing a person to watch a video only a certain number of times) Google Video will use their own Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology. DRM has been a controversial issue ever since it was introduced, as it touches the delicate issue of online privacy. So Google is already taking the heat for that, even before launching the video online store.

Personally, I want to see if and how Google will change the video and TV world. Although I do care about privacy issues, changes in the current TV viewing model are long overdue.