2008 is a good year to think beyond Websites and start thinking about lifestyles—how we live and why we do what we do. The Web isn’t going away—but the way we interact with it, might just turn into a moving target. Actually, it already is.

(Thanks to Jennifer Laycock for this). As Armano says, life is becoming increasingly mobile.

While fully supporting his sentiments, and although Microsoft has some powerful initiatives, I predict that Mobile 2008 will be the year of the Google. They have a number of irons in the fire, but the activities of the Open Handset Alliance will strongly support their mobile thrust.

By chance, the US Patent Office has already published in 2008 a Google Patent Application on a User Interface for a Phone, which Bill Slawski describes:

User interface for mobile devices
Invented by Sanjay Mavinkurve, Shumeet Baluja, and Maryam Kamvar
US Patent Application 20080005668
Published January 3, 2008
Filed June 30, 2006

Since it was filed in 2006, nothing should be read into its appearance now. However I believe it has symbolic importance.

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Bill dominates the discussion, which I expected because there’s a ton of information in his head. He can pull out facts and figures as effortlessly as my husband does. They have brains that work like databases with Google installed. A quick search, prompted by a discussion and they have the information in seconds. I’m so jealous.

Loren Baker and Bill Slawski have worked together and individually on local projects. They bring to the interview personal observations based on their work, as well as pointing out how differently search engines handle local search. Bill points out a patent in China and how it’s specifically designed to locate businesses there. They point out that Yahoo! and Google get and compile their local search data differently from one another. The differences in their approaches directly affect SERPS.

The discussion on blog ethics begins with Bill’s describing what prompted the outcry for a code of ethics in the first place. They roll around topics like moderating comments, and who is responsible for what appears on their blog property. The consensus is that we can’t tell people how to aspire to certain conduct because it’s too indefinable. Bill compares it to how laws start out, and gives an example of how a basic idea for a rule builds from something to aspire to, towards something based on behavioral data and circumstances. Kinda like it’s not helpful in the long run to fit everybody’s blog into a “one size fits all” type of box.

I get the biggest kick out of the Webronews interviews because of the background silly stuff. Half the fun for me is watching people behind the interview table who forget the camera is on. It’s funny to see how many times Bill moves his soda, and is it me, or did Mike’s subtle southern accent get stronger after he mentioned he’s from Kentucky?

Two good topics. For anyone seriously interested in local marketing, Bill injects some great ideas based on simple, easy techniques he’s already seen in action. Great inspiration there.

Get comfy. You can watch the interview here.

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