Candidate for The Web's Best Error Message - Air Asia

This week's candidate for the best error message yet comes here:



Enjoy

Cheers

The Googleplex Is The New Libya

This is one of those epiphanies one has when staring at the evidence before you. You can draw the conclusions any which way from Sunday. In my personal opinion Google has co-opted the freedom of the internet and this has resulted in a Libya like state of the electronic world. I believe that Google’s leaders have lost the plot and despite their personal belief system – they have created a monster that has in effect enslaved us all. Dissent is not punished physically but by a form of exile and exclusion. In this post – I will lay out why I think we have reached this state and what should be done about it. Make no mistake there is no individual on the planet save Larry Page or Sergey Brin who can fix this. So it must be up to the collective to deal with it.

Understanding the minds of the Googleplex - and comparing them to the mind of Qaddafi, the world must look at the core principles. Libya's Green Book has the same ring to it as the Google manifesto. OK so I am probably being a bit extreme in comparing Google with Libya however I am steadfast in my belief that the impact on the world at large is indeed far greater with Google than it is with the wild man of Libya.

Although I am an ex-Microsoft person - this should not deter you, dear reader, from understanding why I believe that Google has become a force for evil in the world that today most of us inhabit. We have come to depend on the web and its tools as part of everything that we do. Commercial, Political, Social, etc - all spectrum of the human thought process. Those who have come to guide us have the power to do both good and evil. That can happen overtly, subtly, and by happenstance. Newton's second law needs to be re-written for the web. For every action there is an amazingly complex set of reactions. With this comes respect and responsibility for the power that has been unleashed and that the Googleplex now has in its hands.

For everything that happens - this responsibility has to be maintained ethically. The Googleplex workers believe they are doing good. They appear to act ethically and responsibly. But – that is not enough. The burden of this responsibility must be controlled explicitly. Things cannot be allowed to happen by benign neglect. In the incredibly complex work of the web – the combination of any action has become almost impossible to predict and control. But if you are the gatekeeper then both your own and the actions of those around you become your responsibility. And here is where I believe that Google has failed us all. Accidental evil is no excuse for Google.

In my view Google’s effort’s to drive commercial value has blinded it to its moral responsibilities. The seeds of Google’s fall from grace go back quite far. When Google started to allow an end to separation of church and state by making the Organic results “gamable” at that point Google abrogated its right to control/manage the entry point of the web. Successive governments – admittedly in hindsight – have failed to understand the impact. Perhaps the only government to comprehend the power of Google was China, and we all know how that turned out.

Google is in my view guilty of gaming its own system. The State of Texas surprisingly has the same view. There is a lot of evidence to support this. You dear reader will have to satisfy yourself of this fact. Any evidence I put up will be rubbished but there is enough of it to make me believe this to be the case. But Google has not only increased the ability to game the system – and thence drive more revenue to its coffers – it has done so by making the entry point of the web tighter and tighter. The losers in all this have been the long tail of local and niche providers. Ultimately the consumer must pay. The benefit of having "free" stuff at the expense of "freedom" is not a parallel that should be drawn. The equation is very simple.

Google’s Money Making Power > Any Leveling of the Playing Field

Just picking on 2 recent changes – the imposition of Google Instant – a $1billion bet which has made Google’s power even greater. No one else can match this power. However perhaps the icing on the cake is the deployment of PANDA – Google’s new organic algorithm. I have scoured around looking in Bing, Google and via links to see how the world has assessed the changes. Here is one of the best of the early analysis reports.

However I subscribe to the view that in general the results of the change have favoured the bigger brands at the expense of the smaller players. For a good example go and check out this article in webpronews.com. Also read the comments below the article.

So where do we go from here? I am a capitalist. A Reagan Democrat if you will. I abhor the interference of Government in commerce. But I believe that Google’s power has become matchless. As a result we have to turn to regulation or some other means to control Google. The history of the resulting state after Government intervention in the USA has not always been a good one. If you look at the Bell System - AT&T - and its break up one can see the benefit from a global perspective. We traded ubiquity of service for an explosion of services. And this was mostly good but many people in rural communities have and continue to suffer. Now of course the re-emergence of one of the progeny which set about – recreating the model with the acquisition of T-Mobile USA we are back into oligopoly again. The other example I can point to is Microsoft, one of my Alma Maters. A company that having fought to maintain its independence fell to the burden of trying to demonstrate its compliance. In my view Microsoft should have split as soon as it won the contest with the USA. Now it has lost its leadership role and deservedly so.

Reluctantly I support the effort of the State of Wisconsin, Texas and the European Commission to force a new set of rules on the power of Google. I believe that Google has been given adequate time to put its own house in order and has failed to do so. Strangely enough, I can find no legal reason to deny the acquisition of ITA. However the new framework of the web and its impact on our world – all aspects thereof – demand a new set of constraints and rules for the protection of the individual and the collective. (For an interesting perspective please read this article in the Cornell Law Review)

Yes - I believe we need a new legal theory. However we don’t have one. So the conventional theory has to be applied to the Googleplex. And therefore the only possible result is to term the company a monopoly and break it up.

Regime Change on the web. And now please.

Thanks for reading

Ryanair - In Hotwater Over Lack Of Email Contact Address

Irish Favourite Ryanair may be the butt of a lot of jokes and also the scorn of certain regulatory controls, however in general they do their bit.

Just lately they are back in hot water over the issue of not providing an email contact for their customer service process.

However they are not the only airline to do so.

So just a quick suggestion - you might want to think about being in compliance with EU regs on this topic. Here is the story in all its gory details.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/bargains-and-rip-offs/travel/article.html?in_article_id=524844

Cheers

Timothy

Linked In Reaches 100 Million Users

The emergence of Business Driven Social Commerce has been fascinating to watch. I view this as a positive sign. While there are many pitfalls/hazards and even fraud associated with Social Commerce - I find it far more enjoyable and satisfying than the old hierarchical models of commerce.

I was really interested to get an email from the folks at Linked In. I am officially classified as one of their early adopters - stretching it a bit as my user number was just over 850,000. Puts me into the top 1% of the users who have the service.

Check out the infograph from Linked In.

Shopping Behaviour of US Smartphone Users

A goo piece on understanding the behaviour while shopping in the real world by US Smartphone users.

I think the article is worth a quick read. I will caveat it with one thought. This is sub set behaviour. IE this is of those who reported using their phone while shopping. So the percentage numbers need to be considered in context.

I am particularly encouraged by the percentage of QR code use. This in my view - and I am admitting to being a late convert to the game - one of the cheaper low tech ways to integrate Mobile into your overall strategy. It's well worth looking into.

Indeed HAC - Holland America Corp is one of but many who are also looking at QR codes. Check out this story in TNooz.

Cheers

Join the @Flyscan 24 hour Challenge

No excuses this is for Comic Relief.

Go to Skyscanner and follow the instructions.

Then TWEET away the requests.

If you are hacking and developing a tweet engine to support this - please make sure to keep under the 300 per hour 1000 per day limit.

Cheers

Twitter - matures but end of stellar growth

Just when I seem to get Twitter its huge growth spurt starts to fizzle out.

Using Data from Pew research - eMarketer has found that in fact the use of Twitter is actually quite thin. And its growth will peak this year.

In my view Twitter has evolved into a standardized form of communication that makes great sense for some specific applications particularly for communicating on a multi-level scale. It is great for the one to many and even one to one. The driving force of Twitter was its personal communication but I believe that Facebook has thwarted that. As a result Twitter will evolve more slowly. And in my view that is not a bad thing.

The eMarketer analysis is entitled a look at the true Twitter audience. However I think that the basis of the study is based on the believe that Twitter's chief users are females. I believe that this doesnt equate to the audience in reality.

I think it is important to consider things in context.

Anyway - give the teaser paper a read and then if you feel inclined then buy the report.

Cheers

The Changing Of The Guard - Airports Reflect

Oh dear... the old world received another shocker today. The annual ACI - Airports Council report rankings.
Just look at the numbers. The surge in traffic from the Chinese airports show that the global economy has definitely tilted East.



One of the more dramatic changes has been the surge in traffic in Hong Kong which after 18 years has now toppled the traditional king - Fedex's Memphis.



Old World - read it and weep. New World ditto.

Cheers

Thanks to CAPA for the information and to the NYT for the image of Heathrow.

Have You Good Mobiquette?

OK I admit it... I have done the following:

Snuck a peek at my crackberry sitting in traffic
Read AND written something while walking
Spoken too loudly on a mobile
Left my mobile on when in flight
Not turned mobile to silent mode when asked to...

So am I a bad person

Well most of America thinks so.

Go here and see what the Intel Based Survey found out about Americans and Mobile Etiquette

http://newsroom.intel.com/docs/DOC-1883

Cheers


PS Thanks to Mobile Dog for the image... good one.

Farewell Sidestep

It was a blast but like Pointcast and other services that were desktop add-ons it has gone the way of the Dodo.

Cheers

Oh Dear - Twitter To Restrict 3rd Party Development

One of the joys of Twitter has been its openness in a world where closed services and platforms are the order of the day.

Well it seems no more. Farewell Open Twitter, hello Johnny Appltwitter.

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/developers-lash-out-against-new-twitter-restrictions-23678

Let's hope enough people put pressure on Twitter to make it change its mind.

And to think I used to really decry Twitter! It only goes to show that one can change ones mind. The change of Twitter from a way to blab mindlessly to a valuable communications based commerce and service tool has changed my point of view.

Cheers

Gaming The Blogging System: Comfort_Hotels Should be Ashamed

Some Time Ago - I noted that a certain hotel in India started to post comments which were not appropriate and designed to act as a free way to promote this hotel.

Well - now I have another hotel - this time in the USA trying to do this as well.

Here is the comment they tried to post thinking that they would get SEO mileage from it:
Comfortsuiteshuntingtonbeach.com is one of the most leading Huntington Beach Hotel & Orange county hotels. Comfortsuiteshuntingtonbeach.com is unique choice in Disneyland hotels for Comfort Suites & memorable Huntington Beach visits.

So @Comfort_Hotels...I hope you are listening because now your chap has pissed me off.

I will also Tweet this so that their corporate brand people can have a taste of this.

Moral of the story - Don't Game The System.... it really isn't nice.

Boeing’s Next Gen Vision

Trying to discern Boeing’s vision for its commercial aircraft line is like trying to read tealeaves. But lets take a little walk through the mind of the collective at Boeing.

Boeing currently has two solid product lines – the 777 where most of the profit lies and the 737 where the volume side of the business lies. The 3 other current lines are not quite so well off. The 787’s issues are well known and will eventually be solved. The 747 is enjoying a boost in its career but whether or not the market for large aircraft will be split profitably between Boeing 747 and Airbus A380 remains a question. Both aircraft are running at very low production rates.

That leaves us with where do we go from here.

Boeing is committed long term to maintain both the 767 and the 737. The former represents a Pyrrhic victory over Airbus for the tanker. Which in the view of EADS was bid below cost. Well its going to be there for a very long time arguably 20 years or even longer. The same can be said of the 737 even if Boeing does introduce a new twin aisle replacement (See the image for a patent filed by Boeing) to be announced in June at the Paris air show. The problem will be that the P3 program will run for another 20 years in my view and as a result so will the venerable airframe. Boeing has acknowledged the same by saying the 737-800 and 900 variants will remain in production “if the market wants them”. With Boeing boosting rates to the highest level ever – there is now a new level of fragility in the supply chain.

What does the world order for Boeing look like if all this comes to pass? It means that Boeing will be supporting MORE production lines not less. So synergies will be flying out the window.

Everett – 777, 747, 767 tanker 787 line 1
Renton – 737 legacy
South Carolina – 787 Line 2
TBD 737 Next

That is 6 production lines vs today’s 5. Further Boeing will be producing 787s in 2 lines at opposite ends of the country. The SC facility will be cheaper and more efficient as it will be closer to other Boeing manufacturing facilities. In my view a situation that will be unsustainable come the next recession.

So where will the 737 Replacement be built? At the present time the assumption will not be Renton. Boeing has sold off much of the surrounding land around the plant and has made no bones about the fact it wants to relocate to – lets say Everett. If however they do keep it in Renton then they will face a big problem. With only 3 possible production lines and one closed off to the military with the P3 program effectively there will not be a full facility or room to run a full 3 line production line for the new aircraft that will be needed to match Boeing’s market estimates by the time 2030 rolls around when the new aircraft will be in full production at peak. Therefore either the new line locates up to Everett or goes somewhere else. Either way its not going to be pretty.

Allegiant's Answer To Rising Oil Pricess - Flexible Fares

Allegiant has a new wrinkle on the whole pricing thing.

Dealing with different pricing models has proved to be difficult for everyone. Most of all the new pricing models dont give you exactly what you want to know.

IE what is the minimum price. Since the nice people who write laws are happy to pursue people who transgress rather than writing sensible laws... no one seems to be dealing with the problem correctly.

Other markets that have complicated products have the same issue and create a pricing model that is clear. Cars do it ... even educated houses do it. My answer would be for someone to state what a minimum price really means. IE what is the price you could get on a plane for. Then there is the equivalent "nicely equipped price" model.

Getting back to Allegiant - the plucky travel company that has planes, their idea is to let you pay for a ticket in the usual format but also to enter into a risk contract with the airline betting if the price will go up or down.

Its a good idea and someone should really look into it.

Anyway read the article from the WSJ.

And Y'all hurry back now d'ya hear!

Travelport Offloads GTA to Kuoni for $720 Million

Travelport has managed to offload one of the albatrosses around its neck with the sale of GTA to Kuoni.

GTA has been a step child in the Travelport organization since the creation of Travelport out of the Ashes of the Cendant empire. The synergies long hoped for never quite materialized.

With Amadeus shedding non-core businesses and now down to the twin pillars of Airline IT and GDS, Travelport finds itself as a one trick pony. Well not quite if you include the bizarre purchase of SPRICE.

GTA has always been a somewhat uncomfortable member of the family. Now it is going to a new home with perhaps an opportunity for Kuoni to restore some lustre to the once high flying traditional brand.

In my view don't look to Sabre to spin out Synxis any time soon. The big 4 GDS companies are still holding onto their cash cow businesses. This divestiture allows the core of the business to be judged on its merits - good or bad of the purity of the GDS model. Then of course there is still that small matter of their 48% shareholding in Orbitz Worldwide.

Cheers

Ryanair - Looking At All Options

Ryanair is not letting the moss grow under its feet. Having been spurned by Boeing while it ponders what to do with its aging 737 - clearly Airbus is not biting yet either with the A320NEO; so what other options does the spunky Irish LCC have at its disposal?

Well the answer is several.

At the moment there is no need for either of the two big boys to play the Two Michaels game. With Fuel Prices at nearing historical heights due to the conflicts in the Middle East Region - there are many others looking to cut deals to meet Ryanair's demands for a low cost aircraft. Remember that Ryanair is still shopping a 300 plane order. Probably the largest order for jet aircraft ever. As I wrote in January this is a story that will run for a bit.

So now the Michael Crawley (Ryanair #2 man) has hinted at the Russians or the Chinese as options. The Bombardier or the Embraer aircraft are likely to be a bit too small for the pack 'em in crowd.

So I have a suggestion - and I am prepared to throw my hat into the ring with another idea.

Re-engining Low Time MD80/90s and B717s with a GTF engine. There is a huge number of these aircraft. The total cost of this process would be about half of the new aircraft in small numbers - in volume the savings could rise to about 60% or more for a fuel load penalty of perhaps 10 - 5% over the existing 737NGs. Another factor in its favour is that they come in varying size which would enable FR to serve additional smaller markets. I thought about 737 Classics and NGs but the cost to re-engine these machines while attractive requires the addition of fixing the undercarriage which has so far stumped some of the best minds.

Just a thought.

Cheers

When a Blogger Courts Attention - a Cautionary Tale - and a Promise.

With thanks to one of the Professors for bringing this story to my attention.

There is a Blogger who seems to have led a rather charmed life and done an incredible amount of things. At least by his own reports. The web has a way of exposing the truth. And lord knows we are all guilty of transgressions (and yes I am a sinner). But so far no one has started a blog that specifically targets me personally for something I may or may not have done. But it seems this blogger in question has done just that.

So I bring this cautionary tale to my adoring readers (you do adore me don't you! ;-) as what happens when you upset the delicate atmosphere of the Blogsphere.

The blogger in question is Flying with Fish. He has apparently transgressed so badly that he now has his own site of detractors. He has even done something so bad as to have had his Twitter account suspended (and then reinstated).

I bring this to the Professor's readers so that we can know that when you do something that other people don't like for what ever reason then you had better be prepared to accept the consequences. Social Media has some really great attributes but it is still the wild west. Journalistic ethics are often ignored and never enforced. in my view one must be careful as to what you say and how you express it.

This blog is about opinion. I cover a narrow area related to Aviation Travel and Tourism. Note that I also write for other sites and have to conform to their principles and guidelines. Everyone should always try and stick to the moral high ground. Spelling and Grammar may occasionally be off the mark - and for that I will apologize.

But let us all do what is the right thing. We need to stick to being good and doing no evil and decidedly not to target others for our own personal gain or profit. Dear Reader know that I will try and do that and continue to bring the thousands of you who read this blog the best that I can. On that you have my word.

Cheers

The Battle for Video Standards puts Google as The White Knight - but is that a good thing?

I am never happy with the big guy and usually in favour of the little guy. There is now a battle royal brewing over the standards of video on the web that you and I watch every day.

Frankly I detest the idea of patent hoarders (greenmail is the nicest thing you can say about the process). But also I recognize the importance of Intellectual Property and its protection.

IP is governed by an imperfect set of rules and regulations. Not least of which because IP is so easily transported across jurisdictions and the legal systems do not match that. So to say that the law has not kept up is an understatement.

I wont bore you with the details - the WSJ has done a good enough job of explaining the battle between the current collective standard representing some 1700 Patents that are collectively the high-definition video encoding standard known as H.264. Google is promoting the alternative as VP8 for which it paid $125 million.

The issue is whether anyone should be allowed to control video. Clearly Google didn't buy the standard just for altruistic reasons. So there is no reason to pity the poor little rich boys and girls at the Googleplex. But this has become political with now the politicians stepping into the game to ask the question as to whether there is funny business going on between the collective managed by the MPEG LA group and Google.

Tsk Tsk - I dont think the law should get involved in this fight. This is a no harm crime at the moment. Google can take its knocks. Let them use some of the rest of their cash pile to address the issue. And then leave our politicians alone to do their usual work of stuffing the general populace.

Cheers

Olympic Comes Out Swinging Against the EC

Olympic was initially thwarted in its proposed merger with Aegean. Now it has made its response clear.

It is pulling back from highly competitive markets and moving instead to bolster its near and domestic market.

As reported in Flight, they will close several major routes including London, Vienna Brussels and Paris. This essentially means that the former national Greek carrier has retrenched from most Western Europe markets with the exception of Amsterdam.

This is somewhat sad as OA was once the pride of Greece.

The Case For Consumer Protection UK vs Australia

There is a certain amount of cheering going on as a result of the IRISH (that is not a misprint) beating the English at Cricket in the World Cup. The shock defeat was not due to just poor performance by the English - but rather a stunning performance by the minnows from the Emerald Isle. Congrats to the Pink Haired Mr Kevin O'Brien.

Given the relative approaches to cricket and travel from the British Isles to the Antipodes it is interesting to see the difference between the level of consumer protection provided in the Northern Hemisphere and that in the South.

An consultation paper entitled "Consumer protection in the travel and travel related services market" A Consultation paper dated March 2011
was commission by the Canberra Government and found that the regulatory cost of consumer protection and travel licensing in Australia is nine times the value of compensation paid to consumers each year, the independent report into financial protection has found.

In the UK the nature of the Consumer Protection has been in disarray for many years and successive governments have passed the buck. The result has been that the coverage for travel in the UK is poor and essentially the fund covering it is in deep deficit. Yet at the same time a string of Her Majesty's Administrations has taxed and levied costs against the air traveller. The current cost for a family of four to travel between the UK and Australia is close to a thousand pounds of APD - Air Passenger Duty. The latest proposals by HMG have managed to please just about no one.

So a little advice for the Government of Ms Gillard - free, no charge - don't change it. Keen the high level of the cost structure you have in place today. If you do you will be sorry. However there are some good recommendations in the report.