Google has a flair for the unusual, the bizarre – even the quixotic! – if you’ll forgive me a bit of a hyperbole in this AgeGoogle of Hype. I suspect the aim of all their imagination-engaging stuff is to keep occupying a slot in your mind on a more or less permanent basis. Ries and Trout call this strategy ‘positioning’, remember? One such activity is their annual All Fool’s Day joke that this column regularly covers. (The latest coverage can be found here: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1313393,00030007.htm.)

Now here comes another endearing ‘sleight of hand’. It’s called Google Suggest Beta. You can reach it by bookmarking or keying in http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1. As you might have guessed the job of Google Suggest Beta is to outguess your search term just as you’re entering it in the searchboxandto give you helpful suggestions in real time. Besides being a time saver, it could be a lifesaver if the searcher is a poor speller. The really significant function it seems to perform, though, is that it helps the searcher to decide exactly what combination of terms she might want to use for a search. Not only will it make some suggestions the searcher might not have thought of but it will also tell her how many results she can expect – it's not exactly accurate – from the search. She can then use the arrow keys or the mouse to select any of the suggestions to do the search. Also, she can continue instead to key in the remaining words from one of the suggestions in the list to further refine the search parameters.

Looks like Google Suggest uses data about the overall popularity of various searches to rank the refinements it suggests but does not base it on any personal search history. It may come a bit later, though. In the meanwhile, do try Google Suggest. Just a humble suggestion, mind you. PS: Google Suggest works with all the popular browsers – provided they have both javascript and cookies enabled.

BLOGS AS BUSINESS. Two case studies.

Last week this column cited an 8-page Business Week feature about Web logs and how they will change business. http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1343028,00030007.htm. (‘MORE ON BLOGOSPHERE. From Business Week.’) I now draw your attention to Frank Barnako’s article, ‘Bloggers search for a business model’. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid={73f12b37-95bd-458a-8f7a-358c09b23560}&siteid=mktw&dist=SignInArchive&archive=true&param=archive&garden=&minisite=. The key question he poses right at the beginning is: “So how do you make money with Web logs?” For an answer he looks at what Roger L Simon, the mystery author who wrote ‘The Big Fix’, ‘Director’s Cut’ and many other novels. Here’s what Simon says on his blog: “Charles Johnson, Marc Danziger and I have been sneaking around over the last few months, trying to turn blogs into a business. We have enlisted some others with names familiar to you with the intention of working in two areas - aggregating blogs to increase corporate advertising and creating our own professional news service.” http://www.rogerlsimon.com/mt-archives/2005/04/an_open_letter.php.

The other start-up (FM Publishing http://fmpub.net/) is by John Battelle, formerly CEO of Standard Media International (publisher of ‘Industry Standard’) and author of a book-in-progress on Internet search. He’s rather close-lipped about his business model so far, He plans on  providing what he calls "back-room" tech services to online publishers and selling category-specific ads on the sites – similar to what he has been doing for BoingBoing.net for the past six months, earning an estimated $40,000 a month in ad revenue. “…it's not a bad time to be starting a business that has as its primary business model online advertising,” he writes in his April 29 post. “The industry is posting record numbers, quarter after quarter.” If you want to know what “record numbers” he’s referring to, have a look see at http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3501211.

BLOGS FOR BUSINESS. The sky’s the limit?

The Business Week feature http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/toc/05_18/B3931magazine.htm cited last week here has two noteworthy observations on blogs as a business tool: (1) “Think of the implications for businesses of getting an up-to-the-minute read on what the world is thinking. Already, studios are using blogs to see which movies are generating buzz. Advertisers are tracking responses to their campaigns. "I'm amazed people don't get it yet," says Jeff Weiner, Yahoo's senior vice-president who heads up search. "Never in the history of market research has there been a tool like this." (2) “One more idea. Think of TiVo, think of the iPod. When you're using one of them, do you consider the company that provides the programming? CBS, for example? Not much. You're putting together your own package. The pieces come from lots of companies and artists…  Aggregators do the same job for the Net. So, just like the record companies, which have figured out how to market bits and pieces of their albums as standalone songs and ringtones, the rest of the media and entertainment world is going to have to think small. Content, whether it's news or a Hollywood movie, is going to travel in bite-size nuggets. The challenge, for bloggers and giants alike, is to brand those nuggets and devise ways to sell them or wrap them in advertising.”

NO GROWTH. But profits, yes

Tata Consultancy Services, assuredly India's No. 1 software maker, earned an annual revenue of $2.24 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2005 – almost 60 per cent of which came from North and South America (62 per cent in the last fiscal). The net profits stood at $510 million (up 38 per cent from the previous year). The growth was flat in the final quarter, though, as compared to the third quarter’s. TCS has on its rolls around 45,000 workers in India and at its offshore operations as of now. "The challenges we face are to address effectively concerns relating to security and protection of clients data and intellectual-property rights, ensure a smooth transition of work from offshore to onshore, and manage our attrition rates carefully so that work flow is not affected," S Ramadorai, CEO, said at a press conference. According to TCS, the shrinking revenue from the American market stemmed from its strategy to focus more on European markets. http://techrepublic.com.com/2100-10593_11-5676736.html?tag=nl.e019.

INDIA CALLING. “Backpackers, most welcome!”

At the Offshore Customer Management Conference in New Delhi in the last week of April, delegates said that there were already two or three recruitment agencies targeting UK graduates and backpackers for supporting UK customer service operations in offshore Indian call centres on Indian salaries – between Rs 11,000 (£132) a month at the entry level to Rs 40,000 (£480) a month as team leaders – “in an attempt to bridge the culture gap between agents and customers”. “In terms of the cost of living in India, that would rank the UK workers at a similar level to teachers and other young professionals,” argues Andy McCue. (‘Indian call centres recruit UK backpackers’) One such agency, Launch Offshore, just signed a deal for a pilot of six travellers to work for HSBC in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Colombo (Sri Lanka) and also has 10 UK graduates working in Pune for the global contact centre firm GTL.

Most of the graduates, aged 21 to 25 years, already are ‘seasoned’ travellers. They usually go out to India on a 12- month contract, 10 months’ work with two months' of travel within India pre-paid. Accommodation and flights are also paid for. "The cost of living in India is so low. The graduate call centre agents are better off than they would be doing it in the UK. One of the attractions is also the travel experience," explained Tim Bond, Launch Offshore’s founder and MD. http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/offshoring/0,3800003026,39129934,00.htm.