It’s been interesting to note that, while technology has moved forward over the last two to three years, there haven’t really been any stunning “eureka” moments.

I have a feeling that is about to change!

I’m currently working on building a new social networking site for a very specific niche. Now whilst most social networks have created the social model and then tried to make it fit a given niche, I’ve turned this upside down!

I’ve created the business model and then applied the social networking techniques to it! Clever, eh?

A particular market is going to be turned upside down, inside out and back in on itself when I launch this product...it may even disappear up it’s own….enough of that! They won’t know what’s hit them as the saying goes!

However, in doing some research for this project I have come across some really interesting “stuff”.

I think it’s fair to say Microsoft and Google have been at each other's throats since Google gatecrashed the Internet party in 2000.

So, in the latest posturing Microsoft has hit hard into Google’s core business, search, with the launch of Bing.

Bing is the upgraded version of the much-maligned “Microsoft Live Search”. In layout it looks very similar to Google, but it does have a very nice picture as the background rather than the white screen.

In having a play with Bing, it delivers very similar results to Google at a very detailed level of search. However, with more broad terms it’s clear a different algorithm is being used as the results do differ. This has to be good.

Bing also has some nice little features once search results come up and generally speaking it’s OK, although I got poor results on some searches.

But, it’s worth a look and having a play. Check out Bing here.

As far as Google is concerned they have been making some changes on search recently and seemed to have made the “content is king” maxim even more vital to their being.

Google have promised an imminent announcement on search, so watch this space. But, I think I know what is coming, see more on this later.

We are now starting to hear the term Web3.0 being banded around. What is Web3.0?

Well, Web1.0 was very static and very much one way in how the user accessed information.

Web2.0 made the entire web “interactive”. It allowed people to become masters of their own destiny and the small “man on the street” to compete with the “big boys”.

Blogging and social media changed the face of the Internet.

So, what will Web3.0 bring?

The best definition I could find suggests Web3.0 will be a task based “journey”. Seeking information to seeking validation to seeking entertainment.

For the technical among us, information will be held in highly specialised silos and will be moderated by a “cult of personality”. Information will be validated by the community and put into context with the inclusion of meta-data through widgets.

O.K, I’m cool with that, well I would be if I understood!

Seriously though currently search is based around keywords that let you see chunks of data based on the keyword (or phrase) you use. It’s linear with results presented en masse in order of relevance.

Indeed relevance has been the keyword (excuse the pun) for Google over many years.

However, remember the word “context”.

Web2.0 brought us tagging, which is great as it allows you to market on YOUR terms as opposed to Google’s, so I like tagging! It’s a subject I cover in depth in the Instant Social Traffic Formula. And, basically tagging allows searching more in line with how people think.

Web 3.0 will take this one step further.

Say you are searching for information on cars, you would search as you normally do, but contextual algorithms will bring back results that include not only the main keyword, but also sub categories.

So cars might return automobiles, BMW, Hyundai etc.

So, if you were to dig deeper into the search and say decide to major on Hyundai (can’t think why) you would then be able to capture an RSS feed that would keep you updated with news on that subject.

This “contextual” technology will permeate all of the social media over time.

I do find this all a bit rich coming from Google though. If you tried to put the keywords car, automobile and BMW in to the same Adwords ad group, I have no doubt you would get slapped – very hard!

Maybe they will change their view, but they do seem to like having their cake and eating it as well. Maybe if Bing can make inroads they will change their view, but I doubt it!

More on Google later!

Let’s talk gaming for a while. Many thought Wii was a major step forward in gaming. That is about to be seriously usurped by Microsoft’s latest gaming technology.

Announced a couple of weeks ago, have a look at these videos which show you examples of Natal in action.

This really, truly gobsmacked me.

Sales of the Xbox and most gaming consoles are on the way down as the market reaches saturation. So something new was needed. Yes, Wii was slightly different, but Natal has NO controller.

Your body becomes the controller. Now this is seriously cool, and may even persuade me to take up gaming! It’s physical and properly interactive. Soon, you’ll be able to have a great workout in your front room, and the best bit…it will be fun!

But also check out the video about Milo. This is truly stunning technology. To be able to transfer data from the physical world into the electronic world so effortlessly is a real quantum leap forward.

Now I understand that gaming is different to the commercial environment, but I am sure you agree this is a major jump forward in technology. I’m sure business applications will be found by MS before too long.

In fact, I feel they are bound to take this technology into the business world, I just haven’t worked out how they might do that yet?

Which brings me neatly back to good old Google and the wave.

Last week Big G announced the Google Wave.

I spent an hour an twenty minutes watching the live demo, and again, I was blown away by what is coming.

So, what is Google Wave?

Watch the demo click here.

It’s a web-based tool that allows instant messaging, e-mail, real-time collaboration, forum functionality, wiki and source control all in one hugely functional tool.

To give you an idea of the advantages, take Skype. If I message you, you sit there and wait while I type the message then I have to sit and wait for your reply. Still fun, but very time consuming.

With Google Wave we can see each other type in real-time. Not only that, but we can both add information and amend it at the same time. You can invite anyone with a “Wave” account to join in. You can even make some parts of the wave available publicly and some private between nominated participants.

You can import video, pictures, text, whatever you like and the entire wave is hosted centrally with full real-time access for all.

What’s more, it’s open source so anyone can create their own wave environment and have wave applications on their website!

From an Internet Marketing perspective we currently have video sales letters…how about interactive sales letters?

But the part that really interested me is the spell checker. Yes, that’s right the spell checker.

Why? I can hear you screaming why!!!

Well, the spell checker is truly contextual. Watch the relevant bit of the demo. The demonstrator types in Icland is an Icland and in a nanosecond Wave corrects it to Iceland is an island.

Now that is very cool indeed.

However, it also clearly shows Google have got contextual algorithms working.

This means that the Web3.0 contextual search I mentioned earlier can only be a stone’s throw away!

Now that really will change the way search works. Not only that it is bound to mean huge changes in Pay Per Click marketing.

Quite how that happens I can only imagine right now, but if you want to stay ahead of the pack, you will need to understand and integrate these new and upcoming technologies into your business plan!

Exciting and daunting at the same time! Come what may, it looks like we are at the start of a new and exciting “wave” of technology!

What do you think? How will this all effect you? I’d love to hear what you think, please add your comments below.

I was trying to find the Google Wave image and searched Google Imgaes - nothing anywhere after an extensive search.

I found it on  BING! You have to laugh!