Chaching to Google...Googling to Chacha....

Back in the 90's when the Internet was still in it's infancy there were all sorts of search engines poping up. The search space was the hot space to be in then, whether you were Yahoo!, Alta Vista, Webcrawler, Lycos, Alto AuctionSales it was boom time in the search world. The internet was starting to become the in thing then. The general public was a little aprehensive of this new phenomonon that Bill Clinton dubbed as the Information Super Highway. No one quite new what he meant by this term, everyone had there own version of what it meant. Or what is the internet...or inter-net...what is that, many across the nation and world were dump founded.

Putting up a basic html webpage, not even a full site was such a novelty. People would be awe struck, 'wow you did that'. The internet was seen as this geek creation that emerged out of the barracks of DARPA. Who would have thought that a few years later most of the world would be conducting business, interacting with friends, hosting e-conferences and e-workshops which are commonly known as webinars would be commonplace.

Then comes this concept of searching from your personal computer, searching for any and every type of information without leaving your home or office. Search for information without stepping into a library or bookstore. Who would have imagined that this would be possible. Schools and University professors actually discouraged their students from researching for data for papers and projects from the internet. Students who were caught using the internet search engines where severely penalized. This was not too long back, around the mid to late 90's.

Today, the search world is booming with Yahoo! and Google being the top search engines on the internet. There are other smaller search engines, however to the most part these little guys tend to end up using some aspect of Yahoo! and Google.

Both Google and Yahoo! have complicated search algorythms which are continually develop and upgrade. However, they do have limitations, for one searching for specific information still requires the human factor. Where the user has to have some skill in choosing creative search strings. Searching for specific information can take hours, and even then you may not be satisfied. Out of a thousand hits you may find perhaps ten hit that has some relevance to what you are searching.

Despite these issues in the search world, millions of people from around the world search the internet through one of their prefered engines, Google or Yahoo! are generally the case.

But that is about to change with the recently founded Chacha Live Search Engine. Chacha on the surface of things looks like any other search engine. In fact, when you first visit www.chacha.com your first thought will most likely be...'Oh my God, this is a Google copycat...' As the home page looks very similar to www.google.com. Even the logo could be seen as following a Google like style.

But you will notice one thing: there is an option to search with a guide. That is a real live, breathing guide. A human guide who you can speak to and who will help you locate what your looking for. Now this is an experience, recieving VIP service for free !

Literally it feels like VIP service, you feel like a VIP who is being served by a dedicated search consultant. It is a novelty in todays world, to be able to speak with a person via a text chat about information you are in need off. This is would appear to be the new wave in Information Technology--providing the Human Experience to all your online activities. Allowing the user to experience the online world with the human touch. Not just Chacha, but many internet companies are begining to realize the end-users need and demand for the human touch.

Search engines such as Chacha may very well be next distructive technology in the search space. Thus creating a cascade effect where other search companies will be forced to rethink there business and technology models. They sooner or later will have to look into providing the human element to their services, as the trend is appearing to go in that direction.

In the next several months we should be seeing some dramatic changes in the search world, Google most probably will attempt to acquire Chacha, or perhaps Chacha's user share will increase with more and more users opting to use www.chacha.com over www.google.com. This is similar to how Yahoo! search lost its user share to Google.

So are you going to Chacha or Google?

Copyright C. 2007 Rabita Technologies Inc
TechRabita is a trademark of Rabita Technologies,Inc

Butchers go online @ ebakra.com

This is an Islamabad, Pakistan based venture, which has brought the local meet butcher online. It is quite an innovative business model utilizing the transactional technologies which by todays standards may appear archaic in the world of web2.0, web3.0, and tomorrows web4.0. However, one cannot discount the creative aspect of this model.

The world of the internet has opened up doors to unimaginable opportunities. Now you don't have to be a Silicon Valley based techie with access to loads of Venture funding. Anyone with an idea, anyone who is courageous enough and willing to take the plunge can use the web technologies to enhance their business.

Whether you are a Butcher (Kasai as they are known Pakistan) or say a sweeper (Jemadar as they are known in Pakistan), all you need is the courage to go out and present your idea to whatever and whomever will listen. No matter how ridiculous sounding it may be, someone out there will lead you in the right direction.

So whether it is an eButcher.com or a eSweeper.com or eJemadar.com, the sky's the limit, or rather not the limit to the infinit possibilities to explore.

With that we at TechRabita would like to wish all our readers Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Eid-ul-Adha Mubarak.

Until next year Chao !

Copyright 2006 Abdulrahman Rafiq

The Sky's no longer the limit....

Today Google announced its intent to go boldly where no one has gone before, Space the final frontier. Google will provide end users with a conduit to journey into space and visit strange new worlds, witnessing births and deaths of stars, peeping deeper and deeper into deep space, thus fostering a new generation of space explorers who need not venture physically beyond their web browser.

The Google SpaceShip will be launching within the year, allowing its end users to travel for the first time into Space, to view NASA's massive data banks of images and videos it has collected over the years.

There seems no end in sight to what Google will do? From internet search to creating a virtual desktop (VDnet's) environment, where users instead of using there PC based word processors and spreadsheets can create, share, and store documents online. Thus, giving Microsoft a run for its money. Further, there is talk about Google venturing into voice communication, where it is working on the development of a unified data/voice communication system which will be based on the browser---thus giving companies such as Cisco a cause to be concerned about, is Google going to be a possible competitor or partner, is the question Cisco exec's are asking themselves?

Google has taken it upon itself to lead the internet generation into space. Where NASA and the Aerospace industry have failed to provide low cost public transport to Space, Google has the the next best solution to space travel. Instead of physically taking the public to space, it will bring space to them! Perhaps, the next step for Google is to partner or acquire Linden Lab's SecondLife. A social networking site, which unlike other internet social networks provides a 3D universe for users to create an alternate life, with your own personalized alter-ego or avatar. Now this site has not only attracted your typical techies and geeks, but has drawn attention from some of the worlds brand name companies who have setup shop in this virtual reality world.

A SecondLife partnership/acquisition would pave the way for Google to converge all its services into one virtual world. Thus placing Google ahead of the curve, positioning itself for the next big wave in the internet revolution. The wave of web4.0 which will integrate holographic technologies and enable users to create and visit remote worlds and destinations without leaving their homes. The Web4.0 revolution will transform our homes and workspaces into HoloDecks and HoloSuites as seen on Star Trek. Web browsing as we know it will be a thing of the past. Where user interaction with the web, will be like interacting in the Real world. Web4.0 will most certainly blur the lines between the Real-World (R-World) and Virtual-World (V-World).

Copyright 2006

The Techies 'i' ....Who own's it?

iPod, iTunes, iMac are all brands of Apple, it would appear like they have the rights to the iBrand, however with the recent launch of the iPhone it is clear that isn't the case. The iBrand has outgrown Apple and now can be considered a public domain branding tool for all to use.

The iPhone brand rights have belonged Cisco Systems, Inc since 2000, though Apple owned the iphone.com domain since 1999. And now Linksys, a subsidiary of Cisco has recently released it's newest product under this brand--a revolutionary product which could very be considered a destructive technology to the Telecommunication industry.

This techies i is a sought after brand in the Silicon Valley. Public companies to individual bloggers such as iFaqeer have used it. If you do a basic Google search, you will find many other products which have used the techies i, like iGive, iTools, iVillage, iFilm, iRobot

So who owns this techiies i? Apple? Apparently not, it is surely a public domain branding tool and can be appended before any other brand name like how about iGoogle, or iYahoo, or iCisco, or iPepsi. The point is, anyone or any corporation can use this techies i. So whomever is looking to enhance their brand image can do so by piggy backing on Apples with the use of the techies i.


Copyright 2006