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On Google: Bad Publicity Is a Good Thing?

Not only has this heap of grievances failed to deter DecorMyEyes, but as Ms. Rodriguez’s all-too-cursory Google search demonstrated, the company can show up in the most coveted place on the Internet’s most powerful site.

Which means the owner of DecorMyEyes might be more than just a combustible bully with a mean streak and a potty mouth. He might also be a pioneer of a new brand of anti-salesmanship — utterly noxious retail — that is facilitated by the quirks and shortcomings of Internet commerce and that tramples long-cherished traditions of customer service, like deference and charm.

Nice? No.

Profitable?

“Very,” says Vitaly Borker, the founder and owner of DecorMyEyes, during the first of several surprisingly unguarded conversations.

Threaten your customers with physical violence and you can get to the top of the natural search results. Your google ranking is based on a lot of things, but attitude or opinion is not one of them. Using machines to determine 'sentiment' is a significant artificial intelligence challenge and likely one that will not be fully solved in the near term. I do think its likely that machine learning will soon get good enough at it to have some statistically relevant value over large amounts of data.

IPhone App to Sidestep AT&T? Probably not.

David Pogue of the New York Times writes about Line2, an app for the iPhone that can let you make 'free calls' over WIFI and 3G without using minutes on AT&T.  I've had 3 people so far email me a link and ask me what I think so.

I think its Google Voice, except that Apple so far seems to have decided not to swoop in and kill it.  I feel (especially since it is clearly getting attention) that it could get killed.  But then there is this other side of me that wonders... what if Jobs personally let this stick around just to totally f*** Google on Google Voice.  The "rivalry" between Apple and Google seems has reached a fever pitch (possibly just in the imagination of the press) and would'nt it be fun to think that Jobs is sitting there saying "I'm going to let this one ride just because its NOT Google".

If that or something like it were the case, it could also be a signal of a power shift between AT&T and Apple.  Early on there was no way that AT&T would want to have a phone that allowed you to avoid paying AT&T money.  Nowadays maybe AT&T will go with the flow (a.k.a. whatever Steve wants) to try and keep exclusivity with the iPhone 4.0 release.  

Will I use it?  Probably not.    And I have to pay another $15 for this service on top of the money I already give to AT&T?  At least Google Voice is 'free'.  Who wants to talk on the phone anyhow?  I'd consider getting a MMS only plan

Will Android fragmentation destroy the platform?

I've said many times before, that I think the answer to this questions is YES. I'm not anti-android, i just foresee the challenges that prevented widespread linux adoption or the difficulties that make releasing *good* versions of Windows so seemingly unlikely.
If I had purchased a Droid I would have been pissed when the Nexus (os 2.1) came out right after, and I'd be even more pissed when Google started offering cool new apps that didn't run on my brand new Droid.
As a mobile app developer, you have to seriously consider this fragmentation before you invest time and money in developing your application. This fragmentation means a fragmentation of your customer base.

Google Maps Advertising

Targeted and powerful stuff.

*via iPhone