• by July 7, 2005

WANT A JOLT? TRY PLUGGING INTO GOOGLE'S NEXT VENTURE -- Ordinarily, we don't associate companies as disparate as Hearst, Goldman Sachs and Google in the same context, but after today's announcement that the three are backing a new, broadband-over-power lines venture, we can't get the implications of the alliance out of our minds. Why would the three partner on anything, much less something as obscure as utility lines? Because it's not a utility play at all, and may just be the future of omnipresent media distribution. In fact, we've been amazed how little momentum there has been on the broadband utility front. It's been a while since the FCC authorized data transmission over electrical power lines and the implications of that decision have seemed fairly obvious to us. Especially after we heard Edmond J. Thomas, chief of technology at the FCC, tell us during the American Association of Advertising Agencies Media Conference in March that, as a result of that decision, "Anything that consumes electricity can have an idea."

That gave us an idea. There are plenty of electronic forms of media that consumer electricity: TV and radio to name two. Could broadband over power lines make TV and radio sets programmable the way PCs with Internet access are? Even more provocative is the notion that any electronic device could essentially become a new media outlet.

Yeah, that's right. Toasters could be programmed to dial 911 when things get a little too toasty. Refrigerators could notify the supermarket the minute you run low on Minute Made. Your reading lamp might also shed light on more than just the printed page, but might be able search and retrieve information online. And that's where Google's investment in Current Communications Group begins to make sense. Current (we assume the pun is intended) is developing a market that would provide voice, video and data services over utility lines in areas where telephone and cable lines can't provide service.

That's the obvious connection for Google. The less obvious one is a play that would make search in general, and Google in particular an omnipresent feature in any electrical device. Hey, don't call us pie-in-the-sky. It's what the FCC's Thomas said would happen down in New Orleans at the Four As' media show. "When and if that goes in, it allows data providers when and where there is an electrical pole," he projected.

That seems to be consistent with Google's own mission statement: "To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful."

Of course, Google first began fulfilling on that mission by giving access to that info to anyone who could link to Google's home page. Next it added a toolbar that could enable such search from anywhere on the Web. Then it added a computer desktop application that literally took online search offline. What's next, the Google wall outlet?