If Michael Arrington from TechCrunch is right, Google’s iPhone voice recognition application should hit Apple’s iTunes store today. (Apparently there was a misunderstanding between Google and Apple that created the widespread belief that the free application would be available last Friday…)

In any case, Google’s technology is pretty neat. Basically, it enables iPhone users to generate Google search results based on a question they ask into the phone. The sound is converted into a digital file and sent to Google’s servers, which attempt to decipher the words spoken, and then send them to Google’s search engine.

Using some of the iPhone’s features, the technology will also take into account the user’s location to generate localized search results.

Source: Michael Arrington, “Update On Google iPhone Voice Recognition App: Look For It On Monday”, TechCrunch, November 16, 2008

Mahalo, the editor-driven-search-engine-and-wiki-all-in-one founded by Jason Calacanis has laid off just under 10 percent of its staff. It has also cut other expenses and made other changes in an effort to give ‘Mahalo another year of ‘dry power’ (or runway) to complete our mission.’

Writing about the cost-cutting measures in his blog on Wednesday, Jason said the cuts were based on the challenging economic environment, and his view that the advertising climate will be severely depressed for the next two years.

He said that although Mahalo had a significant amount of cash on hand (presumably a lot of the $20 million the company originally raised), and was ahead of schedule in terms of traffic with 4 million unique visitors per a month, the measures would allow the company to operate past 2012 even if it never made any advertising revenue.

According to Silicon Alley Insider, Jason wants Mahalo to be generating 10 million to 15 million unique visitors per month before it sells ad inventory.

While Jason said 10 percent of Mahalo’s workforce were let loose, a former employee told Silicon Alley Insider that 11 of Mahalo’s editorial staff and two developers were laid off, with some of the positions to be rehired in the Philippines.

Silicon Alley Insider calculated this to be a third – not ten percent – of Mahalo’s staff. Evidently the variation is based on a misunderstanding of how many staff Mahalo actually has. According to Jason Calacanis, post-layoffs, the company will have 70 permanent staff, as well freelancers.

Sources: Jason Calacanis, “Tough times, hard decisions”, Calacanis.com, October 22, 2008, Nicholas Carlson, “Jason Calacanis’ Mahalo Fires People”, Silicon Alley Insider, October 22, 2008

Seth Godin has just lost the respect of hundreds, maybe thousands, of Internet marketers worldwide.

His recent blog post, “Ads are the new online tip jar” is surely one of the dumbest posts I’ve ever seen from an esteemed marketing “guru” such as Mr Godin, and reflects a total and utter misunderstanding of the economics of online advertising. And perhaps of the purpose of advertising in general.

In his post, Seth Godin recommends people click on online ads they like. He suggests this as a way of saying “thanks”.

Let’s see, as someone paying to have my ads displayed on the Internet, do I want people to:

1. Click on my ad to say “thanks”?

or

2. Buy my product?

Furthermore, do I want loads of people saying “thanks” for the nice ad… and thereby distort the performance metrics associated with my ad?

And last but not least, do I want to PAY people to click on my ads to say “thanks”. ‘Cause if I’m running a pay-per-click campaign (whether it’s on Google Adwords or elsewhere) that’s what I’ll be doing.

The sentiment of asking people who appreciate online ads to tip advertisers is fine and dandy, but apart from making advertisers pay for others’ “kindness”, it also reflects a misunderstanding of what advertising is all about.

Advertising is NOT art. It doesn’t exist to look nice or entertain. It may do those things. Those things may be a by-product or even be intended.

But the main aim of advertising is to get people to take ACTION. To read something, sign up for something, and ultimately to BUY something.

Seth Godin… what were you thinking?

Source: Seth Godin, “Ads are the new online tip jar”, Seth Godin, August 22, 2008