Home What's Brewing? Google Chrome & Crowdsourcing

Google Chrome & Crowdsourcing

Google enters the Web browser market today wih a browser that it is touting as a game changer in Web surfing capability and usability. Redmond is offically on “Red-alert.”

In nothing less than a comic book format, Google made its case for the new browser named Chrome.

“We realized that the web had evolved from mainly simple text pages to rich, interactive applications and that we needed to completely rethink the browser. What we really needed was not just a browser, but also a modern platform for web pages and applications, and that’s what we set out to build.”

This is just the beginning — Google Chrome is far from done. The beta release is for Windows only and intended to spark a broader discussion and get community feedback as quickly as possible.

If you’re a Windows user you can now download Google Chrome.

[24×7]

“Crowdsourcing” Author Jeff Howe Explains Seattle’s Stock Photo Industry Transformation
Wired’s contributing editor, Jeff Howe, the author of “Crowdsourcing, Why the Power of the Crowd Is Driving the Future of Business,” will be in town this month to present in the Seattle Chamber of Commerce Author series. The book goes a long way to explain the sea change being experienced by Seattle stock photo leaders such as Getty and Corbis among others.

“Crowdsourcing the stuff people make — as opposed to the stuff they already know — threatens to disrupt and ultimately displace established companies,” pens Howe. Getty’s total inventory of stock photography represents only 2500 photographers, while iStockPhoto, Getty’s microstock portal, combines the talents and output of more than fifty thousand iStockers. Instead of $2500 for a single rights’ managed image shot by a professional photographer, $250 or even $25, most iStock photos, shot by “prosumers” are available for $5-10.

“If someone’s going to cannabalize your business, better it be one of your other business, Howe

quotes Getty CEO Jonathan Klein as saying. As of Feburary 2008, iStockphoto had 1 millon regular customers purchasing photographs, video footage, illustrations and anmations, making its Getty’s fastest-growing business. Check our Calendar for Howe’s Seattle presentation. [24×7]

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