Launching India Business Network

Welcome to the Launch of India Business Network : Business + Networking with Indian Professionals worldwide.

The mission of India Business Network is to provide an engaging and dynamic online place for business and social networking with Indian Professionals worldwide.

India Business Network Website:

http://www.indiabiznet.com/

Social Networking Website:

http://indiabusinessnetwork.ning.com/

Try out the exciting social media features such as collaboration through Groups and Forums, networking through Events, communication through Blogs, Video and Notes, and even some fun through Photos, Music, RSS and more.

Create your business profile, invite your friends and business contacts, and build your own professional presence at India Business Network. Comment on each other's wall, write notes and express your opinion, and make your point across through the discussion forums.

Upload your business video, introduce your presentation, experience music, share ideas and explore new opportunities with fellow members and businesses.

Invite your friends, colleagues and business contacts to join the India Business Network.

Already about 50 executives and members from various professions and corporations have joined the India Business Network since our launch a few days back. Join the India Business Network today, and communicate with these professionals, network, and do business.

India Business Network - Your online social network for doing business with Indian Professionals worldwide. Everyone invited to Join.

Google Wave Creating New Waves of Communication & Collaboration

What is Google Wave?

"A Google wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A Google wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A Google wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time. " - About Google Wave

What are the key technologies in Google Wave?

Real-time collaboration
"Concurrency control technology lets all people on a wave edit rich media at the same time.
Watch the tech video"

Natural language tools
"Server-based models provide contextual suggestions and spelling correction.
Watch the tech video"

Extending Google Wave
"Embed waves in other sites or add live social gadgets, thanks to Google Wave APIs."

Bottomline:

Google Wave technology is promising - but the question is for whom? Would businesses use Google Wave internally for collaboration, and replace Microsoft, Lotus, Oracle or other workgroup collaboration software. Would small businesses use Wave to communicate with their clients? Would consumers use Wave for its cool features as a social networking tool? Ultimately, the success of Google Wave will depend on who embraces the Wave, and in what numbers. Google is shooting for the holy grail of workforce collaboration with this latest innovation. However, it has a long way to go...

Google Health - 60 Tips and Resources

I had posted an article on Google Health when it was commercially launched in May, 2008. The folks at NursingDegree.net have put together a solid resource on Google Health in the form a guide. This resource guide links to 60+ tips nicely organized into key categories. Check it out.

Here are the top level categories from the article with couple of references:

"Your Doctor

Although Google’s integration with doctors is limited to just a few right now, the potential for greatness exists as more health providers sign on as partners. Here, we’ll take a look at some of the existing features at work.

1. Ask to have your records transferred: With a Google personal health record, you can create a database of information on your own health that can follow you wherever you’d like it to.
2. Keep your doctor more informed: Send your doctor information from other doctors and specialists you’ve seen, and they’ll have a better view of your medical history, which can cut down on mistakes and adverse drug reactions.

Information

Google’s mission is to wrangle the world’s information, and they do a great job of it here. These are just a few of the applications Google Health offers.

7. Research your conditions: Look up conditions and symptoms in Google Health’s encyclopedia, and you’ll see loads of information and illustrations.
8. Don’t delete important information: Although some health records may reveal conditions you’d rather hide, it’s important that you leave them intact so that health providers have a clear view of your medical history.

Medications

For people on multiple medications, Google Health is an especially useful tool, as it offers a handy dashboard that organizes all of the drugs you take. Here are a few more things it can do.

14. Import your prescriptions: By importing your prescription list from pharmacies like Walgreen’s and Longs Drugs, you’ll be able to have a handy record of everything you’re taking.
15. Get medication alerts: With Google Health, you can see drug interactions and notices based on what you’re taking.

Convenience & Organization

With Google Health, all of your medical information is in one easy to manage, convenient spot. These are just a few of the ways this Google tools can help make your life easier.

23. Create a profile for your family: Google Health offers the option to create profiles for a number of different people, so you can stay on top of your entire family’s health from one dashboard.
24. Cut down on lab tests: Use Google Health to show your doctor the results of lab tests, and you won’t have to take them over again.

Privacy

Google’s excellent health tool is not without its drawbacks. Many are concerned about privacy issues, and while some discussions have little foundation, there are a few things to be vigilant about.

36. Be aware that you’re leaving a trail: If you ever get into a dispute about pre-existing conditions with your health insurance, you could be storing all of the evidence the company needs in your Google Health account. With that said, however, Google does promise that you can permanently delete data at any time.
37. Create an alias: If you’re concerned about linking your identity to your health records, just create an account without any personally identifying information.

Tools

Through some of Google’s service partners, you can link your profile to get even more functionality. As we’ve discussed, it’s always important to read the fine print when signing up with these services, as they do not have the same privacy standards that Google Health promises.

43. Cleveland Clinic MyConsult: Using this service from Google Health partner Cleveland Clinic, you can get online consultation with Cleveland Clinic physicians, who can offer second opinions, pre-adoption, and nutrition consultations.
44. iHealth: With iHealth, you can improve the communication between you and your doctor by importing your data from Google Health to their service that records your medical information. This is especially helpful for users whose patients have not yet partnered with Google Health.

Future Offerings

These are just a few of the features you can hope for and expect to see in the future from Google Health.

57. Schedule appointments: In the future, Google plans to make online scheduling part of their online integration with doctors and other health care providers.
58. Community: Although there’s been no word from Google, some speculate that you could be connected with others who have similar conditions through Google Health, and it doesn’t sound like a stretch of the imagination.

Guides

For further reading, check out these guides that offer a look at what to do with Google Health.

61. The Inside Dope on the New Google Health Service: In this guide, PC World walks you through the process of using Google Health.
62. This won’t hurt a bit: Google Health launches: This article has lots of great ideas for using Google Health."

Google Health - How Are You Doing Today?

In terms of new products, (we made) Google Health is publicly available. It offers users a safe and secure way to collect, store, and manage their medical records and health information online. How many of us have touched, or even seen, our medical records? In this day and age of information, isn't it crazy that you don't have a copy of your medical records under your control? You could use those records to develop a better understanding of your health and ultimately get better care. It's your data about your own health; why shouldn't you own and control it?

Back in February, I wrote about how Google Health will harness the power of the Internet to put users in control of their own medical records. Data will stay with you -- if you change doctors, want a second opinion, if you're traveling -- and not stay siloed or stuck in files or databases that you can't get to. To break down these information silos, we launched Google Health today with several partners and third party services already integrated. These partners are as committed as we are to solving this urgent need. Our flagship partners include everyday brand names such as Walgreens, Quest Diagnostics and Longs Drugs, to name just a few.

In addition to helping you get better control of your medical information, we've also put strong privacy policies in place to keep your information safe and private. There's a lot left to do in health -- literally thousands of partnerships to forge and petabytes of data to move around -- but we're looking forward to hearing feedback from early Google Health adopters about our first step.
- Marissa Mayer, VP Search Products & User Experience

Bottomline:

Are you ready to post your personal health data online, and let Google manage it? Do you want control over your own health data? What if your boss or your adversary at work or your competitor gets hold of your personal health data, and misuses it? What value do you see in keeping your own health data online? Would it lead to better health? Would you sleep better at night? Would you feel better?

Many questions. Not many answers yet.

One relevant need for Google Health is in the emergency care, where the doctors can immediately find your health data, and provide you relevant and timely care.

If Google can guarantee that there will be no misuse of a person's personal information, and that the private information is absolutely safe, perhaps users will begin using Google Health. Google must emphasize the "health" benefits of using Google Health - for instance, how would it improve a person's health or create for a healthier outlook.

Google Inc. is one of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index.

Google Rises To Dizzying Heights

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) announced the quarterly earnings on April 17, 2008 after market close. Google blew away the earnings, topped the analyst estimates, and importantly, shook off the investor worries about Google's revenue and earnings growth. There were many doubts going into Google's earnings announcement - whether Google can sustain the market share, whether AdWords is producing enough clicks, whether Google can continue the torrid growth. Google erased these doubts in one swift announcement, and investors who were on the sidelines rejoined Google's party.

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is one of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index. Innovation Index Group has a BUY recommendation for Google with Q4, 2008 price target between $675 to $745.

Google shares are up 21.40% in one day at $545.90 on April 18, 2008. Google shares are still down 22% for the year after today's run up.

What were the earnings specifics?

"Google reported revenues of $5.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2008, an increase of 42% compared to the first quarter of 2007 and an increase of 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2007.

GAAP operating income for the first quarter of 2008 was $1.55 billion, or 30% of revenues. This compares to GAAP operating income of $1.44 billion, or 30% of revenues, in the fourth quarter of 2007.

GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2008 was $1.31 billion as compared to $1.21 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Non-GAAP EPS in the first quarter of 2008 was $4.84, compared to $4.43 in the fourth quarter of 2007."

Which Google properties showed strength?

Google Sites Revenues - Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.40 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2008. This represents a 49% increase over first quarter 2007 revenues of $2.28 billion and a 9% increase over fourth quarter 2007 revenues of $3.12 billion.

Google Network Revenues - Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.69 billion, or 33% of total revenues, in the first quarter of 2008.

International Revenues - Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.65 billion, representing 51% of total revenues in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 47% in the first quarter of 2007 and 48% in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of our AdSense partners, increased approximately 20% over the first quarter of 2007 and approximately 4% over the fourth quarter of 2007.

Google performed rather well globally, and the all important Paid Clicks continued the upward growth with a 4% increase from the last quarter of 2007. This was perhaps the measure that most investors were worried about. Ultimately, a growth in search market share should translate into an equitable growth in Paid Clicks. The Paid Clicks growth does represent a 56% drop from previous quarter's growth of 9% (Google Paid Clicks had grown 9% in last quarter of 2007 from the third quarter of 2007). Is the Google Paid Clicks growth slowing? Would Google Paid Clicks go back to greater than 5% growth quarter over quarter once Google begins growing Search market share and make the Paid Clicks engine even more efficient?

Bottomline:

Google delivered. Google also consummated the DoubleClick acquisition in March 2008. The Top 20 Innovators of the The Innovation Index have been delivering on their earnings - IBM, eBay, Intel, Research In Motion, Nike, Best Buy have all met or beat their quarterly earnings. Whereas the market was upbeat after their earnings announcements, the market is exuberant today. The major U.S. indices are up about 2% today. Google has quenched the investor sentiments today, and if the overall U.S. economy improves in the 2nd half of 2008, watch out! Can Google be a $1,000 stock in 2009? If Google continues this growth trajectory, why not? Only time will tell.

About Innovation Index Group:

Innovation Index Group, Inc. is a new investment management company focused on systematically identifying, tracking and investing in the most innovative publicly traded companies in North America – collectively called the Innovation Index. We have developed the Innovation Index Fund, LLC as our first vehicle to invest in the Innovation Index. Over the past six years, the Innovation Index has generated a gross average annual return of 40%.

Innovation Index Group, Inc. and Innovation Index Fund LLC are registered California Corporations, and member of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce in Orange County. Further, Innovation Index Fund LLC is a private placement investment partnership organized under the California state regulations.

The Innovation Index Reports:

Invest in The Innovation Index - Innovation Index Fund tracks The Innovation Index
The Innovation Index closes 2007 at 66% - 2007 Annual Report on the Innovation Index
Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world - 2007 Report on Top 50 Innovative Companies
Annual Report - Chapter One - Total Innovation Activity - 2006 Annual Report One
Annual Report - Chapter Two - The Top Innovator - 2006 Annual Report Two
Annual Report - Chapter Three - The Innovation Insights - 2006 Annual Report Insights
Innovation and Stock Performance Correlation - The Innovation Index and Stock Performance

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America.

The Innovation Index returned 66% in 2007, and returned 174% over the previous five years (2002-2006). This assumes equal investment in each stock of The Innovation Index as of December 31, 2001. An average of $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $454 as of December 31, 2007. By comparison, $100 invested in S & P 500 returned 28% or $129, $100 invested in NASDAQ returned 34% or $136, and $100 invested in the Dow Jones Index returned 30% or $131 through December 31, 2007. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by more than seven times over the past six years.*

Alphabetical list of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index for 2008 and their stock ticker symbols:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
America Movil - (NYSE: AMX)
Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
AT&T Inc. - (NYSE: T)
Best Buy Co., Inc. - (NYSE: BBY)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Costco Wholesale Corporation - (NASDAQ: COST)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Merck & Co., Inc. - (NYSE: MRK)
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
NIKE, Inc. - (NYSE: NKE)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)

The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the Top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2008, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index.

Disclaimer: The Innovation Index Group, Inc. invests in the stocks comprising The Innovation Index.
*Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results

References:
Google Press Release
Creativity And Innovation Driving Business

Google Launches Google App Engine - Preview Release

Run your web applications on Google's infrastructure.

Google App Engine enables you to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications.

No assembly required. Google App Engine provides a fully-integrated application environment.

It's easy to scale. Google App Engine makes it easy to build scalable applications that grow from one user to millions of users without infrastructure headaches.

It's free to get started. Every Google App Engine application can use up to 500MB of persistent storage and enough bandwidth and CPU for 5 million monthly page views.

Bottomline:

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is one of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index. By releasing the Google App Engine, Google now competes directly with Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), another Top 20 Innovator of The Innovation Index. Amazon Web Services provides "open APIs for developers that are robust, reliable, scalable, inexpensive, and easy-to-integrate." Amazon provides Infrastructure, Payments and Billing, Workforce, Web Search and Fulfillment services as part of the Web Services suite.

According to Google Press Release:

Leveraging Google App Engine, developers can:

• Write code once and deploy. Provisioning and configuring multiple machines for web serving and data storage can be expensive and time consuming. Google App Engine makes it easier to deploy web applications by dynamically providing computing resources as they are needed. Developers write the code, and Google App Engine takes care of the rest.
• Absorb spikes in traffic. When a web app surges in popularity, the sudden increase in traffic can be overwhelming for applications of all sizes, from startups to large companies that find themselves re-architecting their databases and entire systems several times a year. With automatic replication and load balancing, Google App Engine makes it easier to scale from one user to one million by taking advantage of Bigtable and other components of Google's scalable infrastructure.
• Easily integrate with other Google services. It's unnecessary and inefficient for developers to write components like authentication and e-mail from scratch for each new application. Developers using Google App Engine can make use of built-in components and Google's broader library of APIs that provide plug-and-play functionality for simple but important features.

Besides the robustness and ubiquity of the Google infrastructure, Google specifically provides tested Python run-time, datastore, user authentication and accounts, URL fetch and eMail applications. Google will eventually provide key Google Apps to integrate into the Google App Engine.

Although Google has a lot of catching up to do with the proven Amazon web services, Google App Engine potentially stalls Amazon's ascent, provides Google a leg up on Yahoo and Microsoft in the web application services market, and ultimately positions Google as the Web's operating system.

Creativity And Innovation in Business eBook

Creativity And Innovation in Business eBook is a 212-page collection of my handpicked 56 Creativity and Innovation best practices, case studies, articles, interviews, and insights on the current state of innovation in business as published on my award-winning Creativity And Innovation Driving Business Blog. The eBook provides real-world examples on how the Top Innovators including Apple, Google, GE, Proctor and Gamble, Yahoo, Toyota, Netflix, BMW, Deloitte, Timex, Frito Lays, Johnson & Johnson, Tata, BMW and more innovate and grow their business successfully time and again, especially during trying times. Use this eBook as a guide to find and create game-changing innovations, unblock creativity, and make innovation successful at your business.

Your contribution of only $9.99 towards buying the eBook will help support the no-nonsense mission of this blog: to provide collective experiences, best practices and insights on Creativity and Innovation driving Business, ask questions and obtain answers on generating, managing & growing Creativity and Innovation through proven processes, and report case studies, ideas & stories on Top Innovators of The Innovation Index creating Disruptive Innovations and growing Market Leadership."

Download the Creativity And Innovation in Business eBook Now

Table of Contents of Creativity And Innovation in Business eBook


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 - The Top 50 Innovative Companies In The World
Chapter 2 - The Innovation Index - Top 20 Innovators
Chapter 3 - Measuring Business Innovation Success - Key Benchmarks
Chapter 4 - Failures And Stumbles Driving Innovation - Five Takeaways
Chapter 5 - Blocking Creativity And Innovation - Nine Processes
Chapter 6 - Six Ways To Find Innovation - "See with new eyes"
Chapter 7 - Five Principles For Successful Business Innovation
Chapter 8 - Is Innovation Cyclical? - Four Common Blunders
Chapter 9 - Can Leadership Create Innovation? - Ten Leadership Ideas
Chapter 10 - Top Ten Creative Leadership Traits - Be The Leader and Innovator
Chapter 11 - Creating Team Innovation - Seven Characteristics
Chapter 12 - Creating Team Innovation - Effective Teams Examples
Chapter 13 - Creating Team Innovation - Ten Principles To Unleash Innovation
Chapter 14 - The Future Of Management, Creativity And Innovation - Upend Business Models
Chapter 15 - How Much Creativity Is Enough?
Chapter 16 - Co-Creation Driving Innovation At Top Innovators
Chapter 17 - Marketing Innovation Creating Market Leadership
Chapter 18 - Consumer Innovation Best Practices - Six Steps To Lead Innovation
Chapter 19 - The Innovation Gap - Disruptive Innovation versus Sustaining Innovation
Chapter 20 - Are Children More Creative Than Adults?
Chapter 21 - Questions Lead To Creativity, Answers Lead To Innovation
Chapter 22 - Expanding Your Business Innovation Capacity
Chapter 23 - Innovation Insights And Wisdom From Greatest Innovators
Chapter 24 - Turn Complaints Into Solutions, Innovations And Success
Chapter 25 - Why Some Ideas Survive And Others Die
Chapter 26 - Ten Answers For Driving Innovation And Growth At World Class Innovators
Chapter 27 - Strategic Innovation At Deloitte - The "Apple" Of Services Innovation
Chapter 28 - Toyota's Innovation Factory
Chapter 29 - Ipod - Apple's Best Innovation
Chapter 30 - Apple Iphone Rising - Top Ten Innovations
Chapter 31 - Google Versus Yahoo - A Tale Of Two Cities
Chapter 32 - Youtube - $1.65 Billion Innovation And Counting
Chapter 33 - Blockbuster Versus Netflix - Winner Takes All?
Chapter 34 - GE And P&G - Innovations Driving Growth & Six Growth Principles
Chapter 35 - Can Dell Turnaround Dell? Seven Thoughts For Turnaround
Chapter 36 - Innovations Brewing At Starbucks ? Five Takeaways
Chapter 37 - Southwest Airlines Flying High With Ten Innovations
Chapter 38 - Innovations At Microsoft - Four Business Pillars
Chapter 39 - Direct Marketing And Direct Mail Innovation At USPS
Chapter 40 - Disruptor Zune Versus Innovator Ipod
Chapter 41 - 100% Electric Ultra Fast Innovation - Tesla
Chapter 42 - Nike Versus Adidas - The Innovation Game Is On
Chapter 43 - People Innovation - We Think Culture Of Innovation
Chapter 44 - Intel - Exponential Innovations
Chapter 45 - Five Innovations In Software Industry - Intuit Case Study
Chapter 46 - Google Versus Microsoft - The Enterprise Battle Heats Up!
Chapter 47 - Launch Of Tata Nano - A Watershed Moment in Indian Autos
Chapter 48 - How Can GM Turnaround The Business? Is Innovation The Answer
Chapter 49 - Doubleclick A Smart Buy For Google
Chapter 50 - Microsoft Walk-Off Home Run With Aquantive
Chapter 51 - IBM's $5 Billion Cognos Acquisition
Chapter 52 - Top Acquisitions By The Top Innovators
Chapter 53 - Will Yahoo merge with Microsoft?
Chapter 54 - Innovation And Stock Performance Correlation
Chapter 55 - The Innovation Index Annual Report
Chapter 56 - $1 Billion Or The Future

Download the Creativity And Innovation in Business eBook Now

I am forever grateful to Creativity and Innovation Leaders, Innovators and Bloggers for helping me drive the readership on my blog, and I am looking forward to my blog readers and fellow blog writers downloading and referring this relevant resource on Creativity And Innovation in Business.

Good Luck Innovating!

Sincere regards,
Sanjay Dalal

Download the Creativity And Innovation in Business eBook Now

References:
http://creativityandinnovation.blogspot.com/2008/02/creativity-and-innovation-in-business.html

Google One Year Performance Beats Microsoft and Yahoo - The Innovation Index

Google 1 year Stock Performance compared to NASDAQ, Yahoo, Microsoft and News Corp

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is one of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index. Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also part of The Innovation Index. Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO) belonged in The Innovation Index in 2007. Google one year stock performance beats NASDAQ, Microsoft, Yahoo and News Corp combined. Although all these innovators are in the negative in 2008 - except for Yahoo owing to the pending acquisition offer from Microsoft. How will 2008 shape out for these innovators? The Innovation Index predicts double-digit gains for each of these innovators' stock performance in 2008. This will be due to strong summer and Fall earnings seasons, and investors returning after the hiatus. This means Google could well exceed the high point of $747 set in 2007. The Innovation Index is long on Google and Microsoft.

The Innovation Index Reports:

Invest in The Innovation Index - Innovation Index Fund tracks The Innovation Index
The Innovation Index closes 2007 at 66% - 2007 Annual Report on the Innovation Index
Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world - 2007 Report on Top 50 Innovative Companies
Annual Report - Chapter One - Total Innovation Activity - 2006 Annual Report One
Annual Report - Chapter Two - The Top Innovator - 2006 Annual Report Two
Annual Report - Chapter Three - The Innovation Insights - 2006 Annual Report Insights
Innovation and Stock Performance Correlation - The Innovation Index and Stock Performance

References:

Creativity And Innovation Driving Business

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America.

The Innovation Index returned 66% in 2007, and returned 174% over the previous five years (2002-2006). This assumes equal investment in each stock of The Innovation Index as of December 31, 2001. An average of $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $454 as of December 31, 2007. By comparison, $100 invested in S & P 500 returned 28% or $129, $100 invested in NASDAQ returned 34% or $136, and $100 invested in the Dow Jones Index returned 30% or $131 through December 31, 2007. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by more than seven times over the past six years.

Alphabetical list of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index for 2008 and their stock ticker symbols:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
America Movil - (NYSE: AMX)
Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
AT&T Inc. - (NYSE: T)
Best Buy Co., Inc. - (NYSE: BBY)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Costco Wholesale Corporation - (NASDAQ: COST)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Merck & Co., Inc. - (NYSE: MRK)
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
NIKE, Inc. - (NYSE: NKE)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)

The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the Top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2008, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index.

Disclaimer: The Innovation Index Group, Inc. invests in the stocks comprising The Innovation Index.

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) innovates with Google Apps Team Edition

Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) is one of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index. Google today announced new edition of the growing Google Apps family - Google Apps Team Edition. According to Google, this is the "the simplest and fastest way for groups of employees and students to collaborate within an organization".

“More than half a million businesses have already chosen Google Apps to collaborate and share information across the organization,” said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager of enterprise, Google in the press release. “With Team Edition, groups of individuals at school or work can just as easily get the benefits of Google Apps by simply signing up online.”

Google Apps Team Edition allows teams to:

• Work on the same document, spreadsheet or presentation (instead of emailing changes in multiple copies of the same attachment)
• Publish documents and calendars for the team to view and update
• Access information from any computer, even mobile phones

Key applications included within Google Apps Team Edition are:

• Google Docs™ to create and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations
• Google Calendar™ to arrange meetings, set schedules, and publish event information
• Google Talk™ for instant messaging and free PC-to-PC voice calls
• Start Page where users can access their Google Apps services and customized content

Bottomline:

Google Apps Team Edition can become a useful alternative to Microsoft Office for small businesses, students, schools, small teams, non-profits and as such individuals looking to create and share basic documents, spreadsheets and presentations. It does not carry the price tag of Microsoft Office, and provides basic collaboration leveraging Docs, Calendar and Talk. Microsoft Office Live services do compete with Google Apps, however require some of the desktop applications. When you combine Google Apps Team Edition with Google Gmail, a team has most of the communication tools to get started. This suite can be quite efficient and reasonable for the businesses to begin their collaboration, and get a jump start. For the longer term, Google Apps may require standalone enhanced desktop editions of Docs and Calendar, so that more users can use Apps without a need for Internet connectivity. Perhaps, the standalone apps are already on Google Apps roadmap and will get launched in 2008. How much new business will Google Apps Team Edition create for Google? Not much in 2008. However, it will create many loyal users and would-be customers of Google Apps Premier Edition.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is also a Top 20 Innovator of The Innovation Index.

Invest in the Innovation Index Fund

We launched the new Innovation Index Fund in December, 2007 that invests in Google and the Innovation Index and returned 66% in 2007, and 174% in the previous five years. If you want to learn more about the Innovation Index Fund, fill out your contact information at the bottom of this form: http://www.innovationindexgroup.com/invest.html

The Innovation Index Reports:

Invest in The Innovation Index - Invest in the brand new Innovation Index Fund
Introducing The Innovation Index Fund - Invest into The Innovation Index
Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world - 2007 Report on Top 50 Companies
Annual Report - Chapter One - Total Innovation Activity - 2006 Annual Report One
Annual Report - Chapter Two - The Top Innovator - 2006 Annual Report Two
Annual Report - Chapter Three - The Innovation Insights - 2006 Annual Report Insights
Innovation and Stock Performance Correlation - The Innovation Index and Stock Performance

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America.

The Innovation Index returned 66% in 2007, and returned 174% over the previous five years (2002-2006). This assumes equal investment in each stock of The Innovation Index as of December 31, 2001. An average of $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $454 as of December 31, 2007. By comparison, $100 invested in S & P 500 returned 28% or $129, $100 invested in NASDAQ returned 34% or $136, and $100 invested in the Dow Jones Index returned 30% or $131 through December 31, 2007. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by more than seven times over the past six years.

Alphabetical list of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index for 2008 and their stock ticker symbols:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
America Movil - (NYSE: AMX)
Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
AT&T Inc. - (NYSE: T)
Best Buy Co., Inc. - (NYSE: BBY)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Costco Wholesale Corporation - (NASDAQ: COST)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NYSE: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Merck & Co., Inc. - (NYSE: MRK)
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
NIKE, Inc. - (NYSE: NKE)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)

The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the Top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2008, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index.

Disclaimer: The Innovation Index Group, Inc. invests in the stocks comprising The Innovation Index.

References:

Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) innovates with Google Apps Team Edition

Google Maps - Street View - Unlike anything else out there

Google announced an exciting, innovative new addition to Google Maps: Street View! You are looking at the intersection of Warm Springs Blvd. and Mission Blvd. in Fremont, California! WOW!! Just check out the high-resolution, details, and ultimately, factual informational content that Google is presenting...very soon, I can possibly see my house as my neighbor sees it. For now though, I can check out the new restaurant I'm planning to eat at, or a new place to see, or anything else that Google maps and provides a street view of. No more of I'm going to be on the "right side of the street where you would see the big red building housing the whatever". You know what, just Google Map-it, find the street view, and you would know where I'm standing. Oh and for the web-site developers and content makers, Google also provides Mapplets to integrate into their applications.

Google Maps was dug in a huge way at DIGG:

Google Maps new feature- Street View!!

Here's the official announcement from Google:

"This morning at the Where 2.0 conference in San Jose, John Hanke, Director of Google Earth & Maps, announced new innovations for Google Maps that offer a whole new perspective on search: Street View and Mapplets. Available on Google Maps at maps.google.com, Street View and Mapplets further Google's commitment to provide users with the most innovative maps available online and developers with new tools for creating and sharing geographic content.

"Street View is a new feature of Google Maps that enables users to view and navigate within 360 degree street level imagery of various cities in the US. Street View provides users with a rich, immersive browsing experience directly in Google Maps, enabling greater understanding of a specific location or area. Street View imagery will initially be available for maps of the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, Las Vegas, Denver and Miami, and will soon expand to other metropolitan areas. By clicking on the "Street View" button in Google Maps, users can navigate street level, panoramic imagery. With Street View users can virtually walk the streets of a city, check out a restaurant before arriving, and even zoom in on bus stops and street signs to make travel plans.

"Google also announced the launch of Mapplets, a powerful new tool for developers and consumers alike. Mapplets enables third party developers to create mini applications that can be displayed on Google Maps, much like Google Gadgets are displayed on iGoogle. These Mapplets contain a variety of information, from housing listings to crime data, and tools like distance measurement. Users can select from a wide range of Google and third party Mapplets to display on the Map, essentially creating their own "mashup of mashups" directly on the Google Maps site, while still enjoying the built-in functionality of Google Maps, such as local search and driving directions. A number of our partners, including WeatherBug, Booking.com and Platial have already created Mapplets. This feature is available at http://maps.google.com/preview.."

Bottomline:

Cool!! Way Cool!! Will add more after playing around with the Street View of Google Maps!