SF Gate has an article about Google proposing to offer free Wifi to SF. The interesting bits:

Sacca said that Google, which makes virtually all its money from online advertising, had yet to determine whether it would include ads in the service. But Google said it would make its Wi-Fi network available for a fee to companies that want to offer paid Internet services. Sacca said there were no plans to share any revenue with the city.

Of course there will be ads...they will promote Google out of the deal...and ads are all that drive their business model :)

SBC thinks the city is already fairly well covered:

SBC spokesman John Britton said his company encourages competition but believes that governments should seek greater investment from private companies to increase broadband service. He said San Francisco already was served by SBC and enjoyed more than 400 free Wi-Fi hotspots, more than any other city in the country.

Earthlink does not like the Google idea:

"We've looked into free service, and we haven't found a model where free works," said Berryman. "At some point free becomes less sustainable because there's no way to upgrade service and the networks when no one's paying for it."

No surprise Google's competitors think Google doing free Wi-Fi is both unnecissary and unsustainable. Of course it's competitors do not have the largest database of human intentions and the largest ad network in the world.

Some think San Francisco is a bad test city because of it's rough terrain, but that - along with it being a tech culture mecca - is probably a good reason to use it as a test city. If you can get it to work there it should be no problem to get it to work elsewhere.

Others also made bids on the project, but Google is getting the press. How many business models Google kills before they are done achieving their goal? How far will public officials let Google control the information streams when other companies worth a few hundred billion dollars may go under if Google does everything they want?

Whether or not you like Google, you have to admit that in many fields they raise the bar on the competition, but I don't think it is good for anyone if one company is too dominant in the web - and Google seems to be making ALL the right moves thusfar.

Adam Bosworth on Salesforce.com. It is about a 15 minute audio, and well worth a listen. Adam is one of the people who really get the web. The thesis of that speech is that by:

• reacting quickly; and
• providing a framework and marketplace for others to build on

a company is far more likely to succeed than trying to guess what people need and slowly building it all in house based on some master plan.

It is a bit unfortunate that people give Google crap whenever he expresses his opinions and others do not agree, as that has kept him from posting much on his blog.

link from TW

Some readers may not have a WSJ subscription and be able to read the recent TP profile in the Wall Street Journal, lucky for them the whole article is also available in the Startup Journal.

Well, I can't think of a single way Traffic Power could be pleased by an article like this [sub req]. Some quotes:

Harold Hollister, a former salesman at the firm, said he was present during a morning pep talk on the sales floor where a manager stood on a desk and told salespeople that "a sucker is born every minute." Salespeople sometimes showed potential clients reports on existing Traffic Power clients, he said, highlighting how well the sites had done with the company's help. But some of those reports were falsified by the company, he said, and sites were listed with higher ranks than they actually had.

To be fair, Traffic Power denies that sucker is born claim:

Traffic Power said it was "absolutely untrue" that reports were falsified, and denied that managers ever told salespeople "a sucker is born every minute."

Now I don't have a perfect myself (tended to drink a bit much when in the Navy and such), but I can't imagine the Traffic Power CEO likes this WSJ profile at all:

Mr. Marlon, 61 years old, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy-court protection in 1996. In 1997, Mr. Marlon was indicted on charges of conspiracy to manufacture a controlled substance. He later pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, related to possession of a chemical used to make methamphetamine, and was sentenced to three years of probation, including six months of home confinement. The court record for his drug offense said he also had an alias, "Jimmy Ray Houts."

As far as past claims that Traffic Power and 1P are one and the same:

Not long after clients complained about getting dropped from Google -- and Traffic Power's own corporate site disappeared from the search engine's results -- Traffic Power began using different names to promote the same business, said former employees. Other names the company has used include 1P.com, or First Place.

Mr. Kwasny, the former Traffic Power employee, said this strategy backfired with at least some potential clients. The company, he said, failed to change its name with its phone company, so when salespeople began calling potential clients and saying they were from 1P.com, the listing on the client's phone said the call was coming from Traffic Power.

They sure are giving their PR firm some work! I can't imagine this article helps their lawyer much either.

For a while SEO Consultants hosted pages related to Traffic Power and 1P.com.

Out of nowhere (perhaps even magically) a degenerate hate site about Edward Lewis appeared. That hate site, which has a design that looks an awful lot like Traffic Power Sucks.com, disappeared around the same time that SEO Consultants dropped their Traffic Power coverage.

That hate site recently reappeared.

I can only guess as to why the Edward Lewis hate site reappeared, but if I had to guess why, it would be one of the following (although these are just guesses):

• I recently linked into the Internet Archive / Wayback Machine coverage of Traffic Power & First Place that was on SEO Consultants

• somebody wanted me to comment on, and make a definitive statement about the ownership of that proxy registered hate site

I wonder if the fake SEO forums will be reappearing as well soon? If so, I hope the server logs are protected. Especially when some of the old ones still show referal data from other sites.

Interesting to note this post, which was mentioned on SEO Consultants, is still live. I hope Edward sues.