Perhaps those weren't the best examples, but that is how those services are paid for: advertising. Gmail's ads aren't very noticeable, but Facebook's are in my opinion. I don't appreciate all the Woome girls and a great many FB apps are just marketing ploys. The way Beacon essentially followed people around the internet was pretty uncool. I should have sited Yahoo and its banner ads, though I did say "among others."
In terms of screen area, the area given to FB ads is small compared to the content. Some of the apps may be bad, but the ones I see people actually use don't seem to be bad. Some advertisers do use somewhat provacative images, but that's not really a big complaint given what else is done on the internet.
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I was mainly giving strong examples of how iTunes is not a one-way street, but I do believe podcasts will at the very least give traditional TV a run for its money. A number of cable TV news networks offer up their shows as full, ad-free video and/or audio podcasts. Public broadcasting like PBS and radio shows from NPR are there. Then there are great podcasts from online publications like IGN and independent stuff from anyone with a mic and recording software, including tons of music podcasts. Coupled with an Apple TV and you've got a very compelling alternative to traditional TV programing (shouldn't have said TV in its entirety as the actual TV set is still necessary and important).
A lot of the TV shows cut to podcast are promotional, to get people to watch the shows where the real money is. When the promotion stops being effective, then it may very well just go away. I don't think they're pulling in the number of subscribers necessary to advertise very well on the podcast. The independent stuff is often the shakiest in terms of longevity, I've subscribed to several good podcasts that are long gone because they lost interest or it becomes too much hassle. Just picking up a mic and recording rarely nets good listening, to do a half-assed job is quite annoying, doing a decent job is a lot of work.
Are there specific set of circumstances known to be a problem, like a particular set of servers or region? I didn't notice anything and I regularly pop open a gmail window throughout the day.
In terms of screen area, the area given to FB ads is small compared to the content. Some of the apps may be bad, but the ones I see people actually use don't seem to be bad. Some advertisers do use somewhat provacative images, but that's not really a big complaint given what else is done on the internet.
Yeah, Facebook's ads are not horrible, but I'd prefer them along the sides only, not within the News Feed area. As for the provacative images, if you don't have a problem with them, fine. I do. Gmail has ads, but I never have to see that crap when checking my email. I don't really know why Facebook is even a part of this conversation considering it's really not a substitute for an actual online email service or desktop client.
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Originally Posted by JeffDM
A lot of the TV shows cut to podcast are promotional, to get people to watch the shows where the real money is. When the promotion stops being effective, then it may very well just go away.
Sure, but I'm talking about podcasts offered by NBC, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, all of which have been consistently delivering podcasts for a while now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
I don't think they're pulling in the number of subscribers necessary to advertise very well on the podcast. The independent stuff is often the shakiest in terms of longevity, I've subscribed to several good podcasts that are long gone because they lost interest or it becomes too much hassle. Just picking up a mic and recording rarely nets good listening, to do a half-assed job is quite annoying, doing a decent job is a lot of work.
Well, that happens. Just like TV shows conclude their final seasons and pilots don't turn out, some podcasts disappear. Of the ten podcasts I'm subscribed to and have been subscribed to for a while, none of the creators have disbanded. I was subscribed to that In Rainbows promotional video podcast done by Radiohead, which ended. Of course, the episodes didn't disappear off my computer, iPod, nor the iTunes podcast database.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
Are there specific set of circumstances known to be a problem, like a particular set of servers or region? I didn't notice anything and I regularly pop open a gmail window throughout the day.
Ah, so as long as you're not personally affected, everything must be hunky-dory? That's the message I'm getting from you.
Well, I don't notice anything wrong with MobileMe, so I guess everyone else has just lost their minds.
Here's the apology for the outage on the official Gmail blog:
Ah, so as long as you're not personally affected, everything must be hunky-dory? That's the message I'm getting from you.
But I didn't suggest that. I was trying to learn of the circumstances of those affected.
That said, it's only on this forum that I read people complaining a lot about gmail's QoS. It is a bit suspicious when it's the people that appear to be defending Apple by bringing up the spectre of major gMail problems, which according to another forum member, these problems have supposedly been pervasive from the start.
But I didn't suggest that. I was trying to learn of the circumstances of those affected.
If you wanted to learn the circumstances you could have read the report I linked to, which also linked to Gmail's official blog. Stating that you weren't having the same problems gave me an impression, whether or not you meant to suggest anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
That said, it's only on this forum that I read people complaining a lot about gmail's QoS. It is a bit suspicious when it's the people that appear to be defending Apple by bringing up the spectre of major gMail problems, which according to another forum member, these problems have supposedly been pervasive from the start.
I'm not following. Who's this other forum member? What are these supposed "pervasive" problems that have followed gmail since its inception?
If you wanted to learn the circumstances you could have read the report I linked to, which also linked to Gmail's official blog.
I don't understand why you think that's enough information. Did you actually read it? There are no details in that blog post. The only thing it really says is that "there was a problem and we fixed it, sorry about that". The rest of the words were just padding, not information.
Quote:
I'm not following. Who's this other forum member? What are these supposed "pervasive" problems that have followed gmail since its inception?
It was Melgross. I asked him for these media reports that he said exists because I really didn't find a lot on my own.
I don't understand why you think that's enough information. Did you actually read it? There are no details in that blog post. The only thing it really says is that "there was a problem and we fixed it, sorry about that". The rest of the words were just padding, not information.
Yeah, I read the report and the official message on the Gmail team's blog. This excerpt from the official apology should give you an idea of the problem's magnitude:
We don't usually post about problems like this on our blog, but we wanted to make an exception in this case since so many people were impacted.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
It was Melgross. I asked him for these media reports that he said exists because I really didn't find a lot on my own.
Well, I don't know what Mel said, and being a gmail user myself since its inception (when it was invite only) I haven't encountered any "pervasive" issues. Have I experienced bugs and server downtime? Yes. Often? No.
Google's rich formating bar and chat service, the latter of which they advertised and even changed the gmail icon for, wasn't even visible in Safari until Safari v.3 came out. Might this have been an issue with Safari up until then? Perhaps, but if they could get it working on IE, Firefox and Opera, why not Safari, the default Mac browser? In general, it seems most improvements that come to gmail are only compatible with Windows first, then they trickle down to Mac users. I love the conversation view, but the graphics/formating often look incomplete and of course, the overall style of gmail in no way resembles a desktop application.
Recently, gmail and Google's other services have experienced problems, like the two outages this week which also translated into subscribers paying for Google Apps being unable to access their accounts.
MobileMe's early problems, a number of which were simply due to launching it during the iPhone hysteria, need to be kept in context. It's hardly been out a month, its major services are up and running, yet pundits are trying to paint it as Apple's Vista, which is ludicrous. There's no service like it and the online apps will make you forget you're using an internet browser.
Comments
Perhaps those weren't the best examples, but that is how those services are paid for: advertising. Gmail's ads aren't very noticeable, but Facebook's are in my opinion. I don't appreciate all the Woome girls and a great many FB apps are just marketing ploys. The way Beacon essentially followed people around the internet was pretty uncool. I should have sited Yahoo and its banner ads, though I did say "among others."
In terms of screen area, the area given to FB ads is small compared to the content. Some of the apps may be bad, but the ones I see people actually use don't seem to be bad. Some advertisers do use somewhat provacative images, but that's not really a big complaint given what else is done on the internet.
I was mainly giving strong examples of how iTunes is not a one-way street, but I do believe podcasts will at the very least give traditional TV a run for its money. A number of cable TV news networks offer up their shows as full, ad-free video and/or audio podcasts. Public broadcasting like PBS and radio shows from NPR are there. Then there are great podcasts from online publications like IGN and independent stuff from anyone with a mic and recording software, including tons of music podcasts. Coupled with an Apple TV and you've got a very compelling alternative to traditional TV programing (shouldn't have said TV in its entirety as the actual TV set is still necessary and important).
A lot of the TV shows cut to podcast are promotional, to get people to watch the shows where the real money is. When the promotion stops being effective, then it may very well just go away. I don't think they're pulling in the number of subscribers necessary to advertise very well on the podcast. The independent stuff is often the shakiest in terms of longevity, I've subscribed to several good podcasts that are long gone because they lost interest or it becomes too much hassle. Just picking up a mic and recording rarely nets good listening, to do a half-assed job is quite annoying, doing a decent job is a lot of work.
Maybe he read this:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1349.../08/gmail.html
Second gmail outage in a week.
Are there specific set of circumstances known to be a problem, like a particular set of servers or region? I didn't notice anything and I regularly pop open a gmail window throughout the day.
In terms of screen area, the area given to FB ads is small compared to the content. Some of the apps may be bad, but the ones I see people actually use don't seem to be bad. Some advertisers do use somewhat provacative images, but that's not really a big complaint given what else is done on the internet.
Yeah, Facebook's ads are not horrible, but I'd prefer them along the sides only, not within the News Feed area. As for the provacative images, if you don't have a problem with them, fine. I do. Gmail has ads, but I never have to see that crap when checking my email. I don't really know why Facebook is even a part of this conversation considering it's really not a substitute for an actual online email service or desktop client.
A lot of the TV shows cut to podcast are promotional, to get people to watch the shows where the real money is. When the promotion stops being effective, then it may very well just go away.
Sure, but I'm talking about podcasts offered by NBC, MSNBC, PBS, NPR, all of which have been consistently delivering podcasts for a while now.
I don't think they're pulling in the number of subscribers necessary to advertise very well on the podcast. The independent stuff is often the shakiest in terms of longevity, I've subscribed to several good podcasts that are long gone because they lost interest or it becomes too much hassle. Just picking up a mic and recording rarely nets good listening, to do a half-assed job is quite annoying, doing a decent job is a lot of work.
Well, that happens. Just like TV shows conclude their final seasons and pilots don't turn out, some podcasts disappear. Of the ten podcasts I'm subscribed to and have been subscribed to for a while, none of the creators have disbanded. I was subscribed to that In Rainbows promotional video podcast done by Radiohead, which ended. Of course, the episodes didn't disappear off my computer, iPod, nor the iTunes podcast database.
Are there specific set of circumstances known to be a problem, like a particular set of servers or region? I didn't notice anything and I regularly pop open a gmail window throughout the day.
Ah, so as long as you're not personally affected, everything must be hunky-dory? That's the message I'm getting from you.
Well, I don't notice anything wrong with MobileMe, so I guess everyone else has just lost their minds.
Here's the apology for the outage on the official Gmail blog:
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/?utm_s..._content=gmnav
Ah, so as long as you're not personally affected, everything must be hunky-dory? That's the message I'm getting from you.
But I didn't suggest that. I was trying to learn of the circumstances of those affected.
That said, it's only on this forum that I read people complaining a lot about gmail's QoS. It is a bit suspicious when it's the people that appear to be defending Apple by bringing up the spectre of major gMail problems, which according to another forum member, these problems have supposedly been pervasive from the start.
But I didn't suggest that. I was trying to learn of the circumstances of those affected.
If you wanted to learn the circumstances you could have read the report I linked to, which also linked to Gmail's official blog. Stating that you weren't having the same problems gave me an impression, whether or not you meant to suggest anything.
That said, it's only on this forum that I read people complaining a lot about gmail's QoS. It is a bit suspicious when it's the people that appear to be defending Apple by bringing up the spectre of major gMail problems, which according to another forum member, these problems have supposedly been pervasive from the start.
I'm not following. Who's this other forum member? What are these supposed "pervasive" problems that have followed gmail since its inception?
If you wanted to learn the circumstances you could have read the report I linked to, which also linked to Gmail's official blog.
I don't understand why you think that's enough information. Did you actually read it? There are no details in that blog post. The only thing it really says is that "there was a problem and we fixed it, sorry about that". The rest of the words were just padding, not information.
I'm not following. Who's this other forum member? What are these supposed "pervasive" problems that have followed gmail since its inception?
It was Melgross. I asked him for these media reports that he said exists because I really didn't find a lot on my own.
I don't understand why you think that's enough information. Did you actually read it? There are no details in that blog post. The only thing it really says is that "there was a problem and we fixed it, sorry about that". The rest of the words were just padding, not information.
Yeah, I read the report and the official message on the Gmail team's blog. This excerpt from the official apology should give you an idea of the problem's magnitude:
We don't usually post about problems like this on our blog, but we wanted to make an exception in this case since so many people were impacted.
It was Melgross. I asked him for these media reports that he said exists because I really didn't find a lot on my own.
Well, I don't know what Mel said, and being a gmail user myself since its inception (when it was invite only) I haven't encountered any "pervasive" issues. Have I experienced bugs and server downtime? Yes. Often? No.
Google's rich formating bar and chat service, the latter of which they advertised and even changed the gmail icon for, wasn't even visible in Safari until Safari v.3 came out. Might this have been an issue with Safari up until then? Perhaps, but if they could get it working on IE, Firefox and Opera, why not Safari, the default Mac browser? In general, it seems most improvements that come to gmail are only compatible with Windows first, then they trickle down to Mac users. I love the conversation view, but the graphics/formating often look incomplete and of course, the overall style of gmail in no way resembles a desktop application.
Recently, gmail and Google's other services have experienced problems, like the two outages this week which also translated into subscribers paying for Google Apps being unable to access their accounts.
MobileMe's early problems, a number of which were simply due to launching it during the iPhone hysteria, need to be kept in context. It's hardly been out a month, its major services are up and running, yet pundits are trying to paint it as Apple's Vista, which is ludicrous. There's no service like it and the online apps will make you forget you're using an internet browser.