A guide to Europe’s tech hubs — Cloud Computing News. Digg. The Apple / Google / Facebook Message War Starts Now. We’re on the cusp of a global conflict that will see the three most powerful consumer Internet companies fighting to win control of interpersonal communication. The war will pit Facebook’s unified Chat / Messages / Email vs Apple’s cross-device iMessage system vs. Google’s Gmail / GChat / Hangouts. If one emerges as the definitive victor, it could sway the future of digital human interaction. Read on as we survey the battlefield, review the weaponry of each company, and assess who could win the epic message war and the fortune that comes with it. Last week we saw Facebook fire the latest shot of this war when it changed everyone’s profile contact info to display their @facebook.com address and hide their previously selected Gmail, MobileMe, or other email addresses.
We’ve likely reached “peak SMS” — next year fewer text messages may be sent than this year due to the rise of data-based alternatives. Preparing For Battle Facebook Google Google’s strongest asset is its diversity. Apple. The 7 Ways Dropbox Hacked Growth to Become a $4 Billion Company. Did you know Dropbox has spent very little on advertising, yet it is worth $4 billion? What have they done that’s made their business so successful? They’ve implemented many growth hacks that we’ll discuss in this article. What’s a growth hack? Instead of using traditional advertising to “buy” each new customer, it’s possible to use growth hacks to acquire customers in ways that scale. In other words, the cost of acquiring each additional customer is much closer to $0. For example, one growth hack is to incentivize some of your current users to refer others. Dropbox has received many awards, including best overall startup for 2011 & the Webby for Best Services and Practices.
Here are some stats regarding Dropbox’s scale: Revenue reached about $116 million in 2012 and was expected to reach $200 million in 2013. Not many SaaS companies can reach that kind of growth in 4 years, with or without advertising. 1. Then: Now: The number of options on the homepage are limited. Takeaway: 2. 3. Link:
Meet MillionShort: The Google Hack That Could Be The Antidote To Search Engine Spam. Recently I tried to do a Google search for a wine to pair with swordfish, and it was pretty much a disaster (first world problems, I know, but still.) The problem is, web search results for certain topics are just overloaded with dummy websites with little to no valuable content, many of which have utilized “search engine optimization” (SEO) tactics.
Of course, search engines work overtime to stay one step ahead of the SEO spammers, but sometimes the bad guys just win out. There’s also the issue of discovering new content. Say you’re looking for a new recipe for a dish you’ve made lots of times before. The top 20 search results are going to be from very popular food sites, of recipes you’ve probably already seen What if you want something fresh? That’s what a neat hack called MillionShort aims to help with. Results for "ratatouille recipe" search (click to enlarge) Technically it seems pretty basic, but the idea is pretty powerful.
GOSSIP: Apple Offered $800 Million For Dropbox. Google co-founder Sergey Brin gives $500,000 to help Wikipedia. The Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, has just received a $500,000 grant from the Brin Wojcicki Foundation, an organization started by Google co-founder Sergey Brin and his wife, 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki. The Wikimedia Foundation started its eighth annual fundraising drive this week. It is based in San Francisco and is an audited, 501(c)(3) charity funded primarily through donations and grants. “This grant is an important endorsement of the Wikimedia Foundation and its work, and I hope it will send a signal as we kick off our annual fundraising campaign this week,” said Wikimedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner in a release today. “This is how Wikipedia works: people use it, they like it, and so they help pay for it, to keep it freely available for themselves and for everyone around the world. I am very grateful to Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki for supporting what we do.”
Still, the Wikimedia Foundation itself is small.