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Ever heard of Barney Google? He was the original Google who came along in 1919. A cigar smoking little guy with big eyes, Barney Google was a hugely popular cartoon character created by Billy DeBeck. He was also a horseracing and boxing aficionado. And he started a spawn culture that made many others famous and popular.
From a modest beginning as a King Features comic strip titled, “Take Barney Google, F’rinstance”, Google went on to collect many interesting characters, which became quite famous riding along with him. Spark Plug, a horse, came to Google in 1922 as a gift from a man whose life he had apparently saved. Google was standing outside the Pastime Jockey Club one day when a man came flying out of the window after a fight inside and landed on him. Believing that by landing on Google he avoided a hard landing and thus saved his life, the man gifted Google the horse. Spark Plug became so famous that kids who enjoyed the comics were getting “Sparky” as a nickname--even Charles M. “Sparky” Schulz got one.
In 1934, Google went to North Carolina and got himself entangled with an ornery resident of a hill country community, Hootin’ Holler. After an initial confrontation, the cantankerous resident, Snuffy Smith, became a good pal of Google and their partnership continued to this day. Over the years, Barney Google, Snuffy Smith and Spark Plug entertained and charmed millions of readers. Amazon.com lists over 350 books that have Google as one of the subjects or mention him including a 1994 condensed collection, Barney Google & Snuffy Smith: 75 Years of an American Legend.
Google Spawn Today’s version of Google derives its name from Googol--referring to a figure 10100--a term coined by the kid nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner, but it has also made many similarly interesting entities famous…so much so that a name--Google Spawn--has been given to the culture surrounding Google.
During the heydays of dot-com, it was said that VerticalNet helped launch a thousand business plans. Now it could be said that Google is a business that has launched many thousands businesses. A search on Amazon.com for Google lists 12,925 books. Website MarketZone provides information useful to companies that wish to exploit Google through such features as AdWords and ranking. There are sites like GoogleGuide that provide tutorials to make use of the Google to conduct research. Then there are sites such as GoogleFan where people discuss the happenings and non-happenings related to Google.
Many Larry Page and Sergey Brin wannabees (they founded Google) are also feverishly working to improve upon the Google search engine. Some are still in business and some have shut down. Now defunct, FreshGoo used to allow one to search recent additions to Google in increments of days. Soople promises to soften the advanced features of Google to help those who are not quite familiar with all the possibilities of Google and the required syntax. Many have built consulting practices by offering tips and tricks for getting listed in Google. The website, Google Watch, claims to expose how the privacy of Google users’ is endangered by policies, algorithms and the monopoly of Google.
Google’s own side site lists a number of ideas that it says are not yet ready for prime time. Any creative entrepreneurs can pick any of these ideas and create a business out of it. In short, the Google Spawn has become a lucrative business segment for not only Google, but also for a number of other entrepreneurs and consultants with honorable and not-so-honorable intentions.
A New Kid on the Block Ever since it was launched in 2003, Skype has been flirting with hype, too. Even after it was acquired by eBay for $2.5 billion, analysts were wondering, can it go the distance? The software application allows people to communicate through voice and instant messaging using PC-to-PC connections. With an initial investment of $10 million by Draper Fisher Juvetson, it has become hugely successful--it was downloaded 145 million during a two-month period in 2005--and is available in 27 languages.
Operating on a peer-to-peer model, Skype is quite different from VoIP services as it combines the resources of all of its users. Skype CEO Niklas Zennstrom created the Kazaa software, which enables people to swap music files easily, so it should not come as a big surprise that it packs in the great power of peer-to-peer computing. For a long time, its founders have said that it is more than just a cheap way to have a conversation and it can facilitate many types of communication services. That time has come and we may be witnessing a Skype Spawn.
Big Money Spawns Big Unlike the entrepreneurs wanting to ride the Google wave, the entrepreneurs hopping onto the Skype bandwagon face different types of opportunities, many of which appeal to the venture capital community, too. Google Spawn presents opportunities to the likes of consultants and service providers to help businesses make use of Google’s tremendous potential. Many other businesses have used the affordable and accessible advertising avenues of Google to boost their businesses. However, most of such initiatives do not create applications, products and services with significant growth potential that professional investors look for.
Skype, on the other hand, provides opportunities to create products and services on top of it, thus giving incentives to investors to pour in big amounts of money. Charles River Ventures, Khosla Ventures, ZG Ventures and Jesselson Capital Corp each saw potential when they decided to pour in $7 million in Series B Financing to iSkoot, which is a Skype-to-mobile extender service. This brings the funding total to $13.2 million for the startup. Skype facilitates the communication using internet connection. iSkoot extends the reach of PC Calling services by enabling users to make and receive PC Calls using regular cell phones. It got a boost when 3, he United Kingdom’s mobile media company launched a new service, X-Series pre-loaded with iSkoot’s solution.
This is not the only game in town. Skype enthusiasts are already trying to find different ways to improve their Skype experience. Some of these methods involve using different features of Skype and others employ add-ons like TalkAndWrite, which combines real-time document and voice collaboration. TalkAndWrite is a professional whiteboard for document collaboration, which can be combined with Skype for video and voice conferencing. Another application by Unyte targets small businesses and provides a collaborative desktop solution for a team or project. There are many other applications in various stages of development and implementation. The Skype Spawn is also coming to fruition.
The creator of Barney Google, Billy DeBeck, died of cancer in 1942 at age 52, but his creation lived on. After DeBeck’s death, his assistant Fred Lasswell took over the comic strip. In 1963, Lasswell won the National Cartoonists’ Society’s prestigious Reuben Award, which at one time was called the Billy DeBeck Award. He also won Elzie Segar Award--named after the creator of Popeye--in 1984. John Rose took over the reigns after Lasswell’s death in 2001 at age 84. Even though Barney Google did not stay very active after DeBeck, he has helped many and was even honored by the U.S. Postal Service in its Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative stamps. He also inspired a popular song, “Barney Google With His Goo Goo Googly Eyes”, sung by Billy Rose in 1923.
The success of the early 20th century Google helped many to become famous, leaving an indelible impact on the memories of American readers. The 21st century Google is also helping many to succeed creating a Google Spawn. It is also getting company from another phenomenon, Skype, which is spawning a culture of its own.
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"The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage."
