Pequeñas empresas se estan orientando hacia trabajar directamente en la red Internet.

WEB 2.0 Small Businesses Are Taking Tentative Steps Toward Online Networking By MICKEY MEECE Published: June 3, 2009 Angela Jane Evancie for The New York Times Staff members of Brighter Planet, a start-up with an environmental focus. From left, Matt Kling, Patti Prairie, Ian Hough and Andy Rossmeissl. BY choice or necessity, successful small-business owners are earnest networkers, gladly shaking hands, handing out cards and attending local meetings to find and keep customers, solve problems, seek feedback or support and bolster their bottom lines. Now, the Internet is starting to upend those long-established methods; online networking on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and newer niche sites can be instantaneous and far-reaching. The sites are efficient and free, which is especially important in an economic downturn, as owners scramble for new customers, said Rob King, vice president for strategic marketing at Sage North America, a unit of Sage P.L.C., a global supplier of business management software and services. Fast, free and efficient — those attributes appealed to Brighter Planet, a socially responsible start-up based in Vermont, which built social networking into its DNA. "There's almost a grass-roots quality to it," said Patti Prairie, its chief executive. "As a start-up, we can't afford to be buying ads anywhere. We have to use our outreach." For more than a year, the Brighter Planet team has been blogging, Tweeting, friending on Facebook and initiating viral marketing campaigns intended to help consumers reduce their carbon footprints. While most small businesses have not yet embraced social networks as Brighter Planet has, their numbers are growing. According to the April index of Discover Small Business Watch, compiled by Discover Financial Services, 38 percent of owners were a member of an online social networking community, up from 22 percent in October 2007. Charles H. Matthews, president of the International Council for Small Business, said the key was to view the sites as tools, not toys. "It can certainly help enhance the process of identifying customers, especially in niche markets." For Brighter Planet, the niche is the environment. Before Earth Day, for example, it sponsored Earthtweet, an Earth Day Tweet-a-Thon, which has generated 4,200 conservation Tweets and 2,500 followers. Soon, BrighterPlanet.com will feature a portable social Web application that will allow visitors to calculate the status of their carbon footprints and share what they are doing on conservation on other social platforms like Facebook. Friends, family and colleagues can immediately see how saving the environment is important to BrighterPlanet members, Ms. Prairie said. "That's what we find is the beauty of social networking, particularly for environmental-type causes." A recent study for Sage North America found that 65 percent of small businesses that used social networking sites said that they felt more comfortable doing so this year than they did last year, and 51 percent said that they had acquired and retained customers because of it. More than 260,000 North American businesses currently use social networking to promote their businesses, Mr. King said. In April, Sage, which has 2.9 million small and midsize business customers, introduced its own networking site, SageSpark .com. "We know we're not the first to the game," Mr. King said. "Our twist really is the community, tools and services." Practically Speaking Mickey Meece writes about strategies to help small-business owners overcome daily challenges. Mickey Meece's Columns Other niche sites have sprouted recently, like Shustir.com. Last week, Shustir.com introduced its virtual marketplace, which was started by two former Lehman Brotherscolleagues, Shu Kim and Khanh Pham. "It matters where you spend," Ms. Kim said, echoing the site's catchphrase. The goal, they said, is to keep Main Street U.S.A. alive. "We want you to spend with small businesses," Ms. Pham said. "By doing so, 80 percent of the money goes directly back to the community." The site is arranged so owners can create virtual storefronts with photos, video, blogs and store information, and communicate with customers. "Shustir gives consumers a one-stop destination," Ms. Kim said, where they can buy from trusted businesses, post about their favorite shops and make recommendations. Businesses can exchange advice, ideas and information, and network on a site that provides them search optimization. In its second phase, Shustir will add Facebook and Twitter badges so owners can use other social media to build business. There will also be a shared community calendar. "The call to localism is existing across the country," Ms. Pham said, "because small business is suffering." PartnerUp has been around longer. It is a social networking site that helps entrepreneurs and small-businesses owners find partners or co-founders, network, ask for and offer up advice, find resources and create or join groups based on their interests. It was founded in 2005 and acquired by the Deluxe Corporation in 2008. PartnerUp has more than 100,000 active members, and more than 300,000 unique business owners and entrepreneurs come to the site every month, according to Steve Nielsen, its president. "We're at an inflection point now," Mr. Nielsen said, "where social media sites that are specific to a purpose for a market are going mainstream, and they're not just for early adopters any more." In late 2007, David Reinke joined PartnerUp for a specific purpose. He had quit corporate America to start a fashion rating Web site, StyleHop.com, but needed a partner well versed in technology. He posted a profile on PartnerUp, and a job description for a chief technology officer and said, "Let's see what happens." About a month later, Froilan Mendoza, who had 12 years experience building technology start-ups, contacted him and after a series of discussions, Mr. Mendoza quit his job to become chief technology officer of StyleHop.com. Turning to PartnerUp, Mr. Reinke said, was consistent with how he uses online sites. "I was looking for something specific. I go to the source where the experts are," Mr. Reinke said. PartnerUp also allowed for a quiet search and limited exposure, he added, so thousands of people would not know about his start-up. To be sure, the majority of smaller concerns have not caught the online wave. In its monthly index, Discover noted that 62 percent of businesses still do not have Web sites. What's more, when asked which networking opportunities they used most, 46 percent of small-business owners identified traditional methods like conferences, trade shows, local in-person groups or chambers of commerce. Of the remaining respondents, 16 percent cited "other" networking opportunities, 8 percent cited online sites, 7 percent said e-mail messages and 22 percent said they were not sure. Mr. King of Sage North America estimates that small businesses have a 12-month window to figure out online social networking. "I hate to say it, but if they don't, they'll get left in the dust," he said. "It's here to stay."

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Google reinventa el correo e con Google Wave.

May 28,2009 Google Reinvents Email, Docs with 'Google Wave'. by Mark Hachman

Google Wave Video. Click here or over image to see the Video on You Tube.

SAN FRANCISCO -- What would e-mail look like if it were invented today, rather than several years ago? Meet Google Wave, a preview application shown off Thursday at the Google I/O conference. The Google Wave site is now up and running, although access to the application will be restricted. Google Wave was developed by the Google Maps team, led by Lars Rasmussen and his brother Jens. "One of the best times of my life was in 2005, just after the launch of Google Maps, when developers started doing crazy things with the APIs," Rasmussen said, adding that he hopes developers will do the same with Wave. What is Google Wave? Think of an open-source version of Gmail constructed via instant messaging. To start a wave, two users start what is essentially an instant-message session, which can be archived as a conversation. Other users can then be invited to join each wave or conversation, and there's even a "playback" feature to track the process of the conversation. Google also said it intends Wave to be a platform as well as a protocol, with the appropriate tools and extensions for each. In fact, it might not even be accurate to call it a reinvention of e-mail. Google executives tied the instant-message/e-mail model to real-time document collaboration, even search, and extended it to the Web and to blogs. Not surprisingly, images can be attached easily. What's fascinating, however, is that those images or embedable objects can also be Wave gadgets: for example, in a demo, a Google Map of Bora Bora was dropped into a wave. However, Rasmussen was able to manipluate the map in real time from his own screen, and the changes showed up dynamically on the screen of Stephanie Hannon, the project manager. Real-time updates seem to be a critical element of Wave. Not only can conversations be updated in real time, but users who allow others access to their wave can allow those users the ability to update thier waves in real time.

Rasmussen displayed the design document overseeing Wave, which featured not only collaborative editing but also embedded conversations within Wave, an interesting tweak to the collaborative toos already inside Microsoft Office and other suites. Want to publish a wave to a blog? No problem. A tool called "Bloggy" allows you to publish the entire wave, which can itself be updated like a normal wave. Rasmussen and Hannon also said that the Google Wave model will be extended to Android for mobile updates. Integration with Firefox was also demonstrated as well. Google will provide APIs so that developers can integrate their own code in to Google Wave. One of the ones demonstrated was with Twitter. Tools called "Searchy" and "Linky" also will allow embedded links and real-time search. Google has come up with extensions called robots, which are embedded tools. The search is real-time, too: in one demo, Hannon searched for "wave". Rasmussen, on his screen, saved his wave as "wav," then again as "wave". When he added the final "e", the document showed up in Hannon's search. Saving it again as "wav" instantly removed it from the list of search results. The team even added a real-time spell-checker. Waves can be made private. Although Google monitors the ongoing waves so that it can add links and other real-time capabilities, making a wave private blocks Google from viewing it at all, Hannon said. In an amazing closing demonstration, adding a robot called Rosie allowed real-time translation, character by character. That closing demonstration earned Rasmussen and Hannon a standing ovation from the assembled developers. No word yet on when Google Wave will be launched, but all I/O attendees will be given accounts for a more in-depth preview, most likely on Friday.

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Nuevo producto "open source" de Google. Google Wave.

28 de Mayo del 2009 Google Wave, todo lo que tienes que saber. Por: Freddie Hoy en el Google I/O fue presentado Google Wave. Definirlo es complicado, pero de entrada hace obsoleto Gmail, Basecamp, Facebook, Office, Messenger, Flickr y los Wikis. Una "wave" es mitad conversación, mitad documento. Un email que se convierte en wiki, que se convierte en centro de conversación, que se convierte en un trabajo final, que hasta puede convertirse en un blogpost. Lo que vimos es un preview para desarrolladores, pero de entrada podemos decir, sin dudas, que las tecnologías detrás de Google Wave cambiarán la web en el próximo año, de la misma manera que Gmail creó la Web 2.0. Todo está basado en el navegador, HTML 5 Google está empujando MUY fuerte a HTML 5. Primero con la versión de Gmail para iPhone, luego con todas las novedades de Android y ahora con Google Wave. Sin embargo, no son idiotas y saben que si quieren éxito, han de poder implementar esto en todos los navegadores. Por lo que desde ahora, todo navegador con el plugin Google Gears instalado obtendrá mágicamente las habilidades de HTML 5. Bases de datos offline, Canvas de dibujo vectorial (nada de SVG o SWF), videos nativos, etc. Pero no se contentaron con HTML 5. Crearon una nueva tecnología para navegadores... Drag and drop en el navegador Imagina arrastrar una carpeta llena de fotos desde tu escritorio encima del navegador y subir automáticamente a Facebook o a Flickr todas esas fotos, son más clicks ni procesos que el arrastras y soltar. Eso es posible ya mismo en Google Wave. Es una de las capacidades que Gears incluirá para los navegadores, pero Google ya envió la proposición a W3C para ser incluido en el draft definitivo de HTML 5. Y ya vendrá implementado en las próximas versiones de Webkit, Google Chrome y Firefox. Chat, edición y colaboración en tiempo real Un nuevo protocolo de comunicación instantánea, aparentemente más veloz que lo que hemos visto en sistemas de mensajería como messenger o Google Talk, llamado Wave Protocol, está detrás de varias innovaciones de Google Wave. Imagina ir respondiendo un mensaje en Messenger y ver letra por letra lo que escribe la otra persona. Luego extiendelo a la edición de un documento. Donde cuatro personas pueden estar trabajando sobre el mismo documento, al mismo tiempo, en tiempo real. O quizás retocando una fotografía y dando comentarios punto por punto en cada zona modificada. Y todo centrado en un "wave", la visión de Google del futuro del email. Publicación a blogs y otras plataformas de contenido ¿Cuantas veces una serie de emails se convierten en un post de blog? ¿Cuantas veces la cadena de correos que escribiste con el jefe se vuelven un comunicado de prensa o una carta para clientes? Google Wave toma todo este contenido, lo centraliza en un "wave" y tras terminar su edición (con colaboración en tiempo real), es posible publicarlo a un .doc, convertirlo a PDF, enviarlo por correo tradicional, ponerlo en blogger o en una multitud de plataformas, como quieras. Incluso exportarlo a HTML o a texto plano. Además, el API de Google Wave permitirá que esta plataforma se conecte, virtualmente, a lo que te imagines. Google Wave puede ser integrado en cualquier sitio web Tomando una nota de Friendfeed, la capa de comentarios en tiempo real puede ser instalada en CUALQUIER sitio web, embebible. De modo que puedes poner comentarios realtime y colaboración en tu blog, foro o donde sea. Esta cosa tiene que cambiar la forma que usaremos internet y la centralización de las conversaciones. Es posible hacer enlaces profundos entre emails y contenido o WaveLinks ¿Has imaginado poder hacer un link profundo a un email que enviaste antes para que todos los que lo leen tengan la referencia? Hasta ahora la unica forma era copypaste, pero Google Wave permite esto tan nativa e intuitivamente que es inevitable no hacerlo. Un nuevo corrector ortográfico basado en la inteligencia artificial de Google Translator Hace un año, Google analizó cientos de miles de libros escritos en varios idiomas, traducidos profesionalmente por humanos. Creo una serie de algoritmos que analizaran las conversaciones en esos libros y, usando este mapa de conocimiento, traducir cualquier tipo de conversación basada en el contexto. Pues ahora los cabrones han tomado esta tecnología y han creado un corrector ortográfico que es capaz de analizar y entender el contexto de la conversación y corregir a un nivel que, honestamente, jamás se ha visto. Errores ortográficos, gramaticales o incluso de contexto. Google Wave tiene gadgets colaborativos Con el API abierto de Google Wave es posible crear aplicaciones para Wave. Las aplicaciones son básicamente widgets incrustables dentro de los "waves". Pero sumándole la colaboración realtime y el historial de modificaciones, se crean interesantes posibilidades. Imagina incrustar un juego de ajedrez. Dos personas juegan, pero para Google, cada movimiento del juego es una edición a un documento. De modo que si quieres dar un replay a una jugada, vas a una linea de tiempo colaborativa, mueves para adelante y atrás y ves estos cambios volviendo a ocurrir. Los gadgets están hechos en Javascript y HTML 5. Mapas colaborativos y "grabables" Toma lo que dije de los gadgets y aplicalo a un mapa. Puedes grabar con instrucciones detalladas y comentarios una ruta en un mapa de Google Maps, enviar el "wave" a tu madre y decirle cómo llegar a tu nuevo apartamento, paso a paso. Encuestas, formularios y minería de datos a través de waves Es posible enviar formularios en waves y permitirle a Google Wave recibir, indexar y analizar la información que los destinatarios del wave llenen. De modo que puedes enviar una encuesta de calidad a todos tus empleados y ver en tiempo real las respuestas de ellos, quien ha respondiendo, quien no. Sumale Google Charts y puedes tener gráficos analiticos de los resultados recibidos. Por supuesto, en tiempo real. Google Wave Server, Google Wave instalable en tu servidor Google Wave Server es Open Source. Puedes descargarlo e instalarlo en el servidor de la oficina, reemplazar el correo con waves y tener todo en tu empresa. Puedes personalizarlo con los colores y logos de tu empresa, crear una intranet... lo que sea. Es open source. Sólo necesitas un server Linux (o quizás windows, si está hecho en Java). Fuck... instalable en tu propio servidor, open source... Traducción real-time de lo que escribes ¿Recuerdan el corrector ortográfico con inteligencia artificial. Ahora, si hablas ahora mismo con un japones al otro lado del mundo, puedes hablarle en español y decirle a Google Wave que traduzca en tiempo real la conversación a japones para él. Él, por supuesto, puede hacer lo mismo. Va de nuevo: Conversación entre dos idiomas diferentes con traducción en tiempo real. Si esto funciona a un 80% de calidad y llega al mainstream, cambiará el comercio y la conectividad del mundo a un nivel doloroso. ¿Cuando está disponible esto? Hay invitaciones para la beta privada de Google Wave. Por lo que hemos escuchado en la rueda de prensa, aun es un trabajo en proceso y faltan muchas cosas, cómo ¿Cómo se borra un wave? ¿Quien es el dueño de un wave? Pero a medida que estas cosas terminen, seguro empezará a estar disponible para el público pronto. Sospecho que en un año tendremos versión definitiva instalable en nuestros servers para todos. Video Ver el video (en inglés) de la presentación de Google Wave en You Tube, haciendo click aquí o sobre la imágen. Abrir artículo en el blog Criatalab. ©Cristalab, Todos los derechos reservados.

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