Katie: Welcome to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. We're switching things up this week, as my lovely co-host Esther Steinfeld is traveling off to foreign lands - or foreign states as the case may be, out on some speaking engagements because she's just that awesome. But as the Beatles would say, "I certainly get by with a little help from my friends," and have with me in the studio is our guest co-host, Monica Danna, Founder of co.lab. Monica, welcome back to the Overtime Show.

Monica: Thanks Katie. Good to be back.

Katie: It is wonderful. So I'm sure that our listeners are familiar with your voice, as you made a most delightful cameo in a recent Overtime Show addition, actually with a Support Local Grow Together piece at your party, you hosted us.

Monica: We surely did indeed.

Katie: And it was fantastic.

Monica: Thank you so much.

Katie: Hey, well glad to have to back, and I think you've really picked a great show to get drafted at co-host if I do say so myself. We're gonna be hearing a great interview in Chapter 2, with John DeMers, Food Writer, Author, and a man about town who is actually a pretty great pal of yours I believe.

Monica: He sure is, a client and a friend actually.

Katie: Excellent, and so then in today's show, we're also gonna wrap up with a great Chapter 3 featuring a lot of this amazing creating way of planning events and just making things really sparkle, you know, things that may be ordinary events. You know, not ordinary, but -

Monica: Sure.

Katie: - you know, things that everyone may do at some point in their career, like how to make it count and really be memorable -

Monica: Absolutely.

Katie: - and I cannot wait. It's gonna be a good one.

Monica: Yep, looking forward to it.

Katie: (Laughter) But first as always, we're gonna jump into our business week in review. The world that keeps turning, things keep happening, things keep breaking. But one good thing - well, I don't know if you think it's good or it's bad, but it's kind of cool. Google has done a pretty major overhaul of their search results page that just recently was launched. And now Google is definitely a favorite among both geek and non-geeky types because they do funny little Easter egg things sometimes. Easter eggs meaning, you know, they'll have a little surprise that on a certain holiday if you search for a certain term, leprecons will jump out or -

Monica: The logo changes on St. Patrick's Day.

Katie: The logo changes, exactly. Or famous, you know, physicist birthdays, they'll put up something crazy.

Monica: Yep.

Katie: But this is actually a permanent change and I mean, it's pretty cool.

Monica: Yeah, you know, Katie, I was taking a look at this, I live on Google. Google tools are - I mean, Google Calendar -

Katie: Amen.

Monica: - and Google Tasks, anything. If Google makes it, I use it, number one.

Katie: Can we just say we are owned by Google. (Laughter)

Monica: Ja'Monica and Ja'Katie. (Laughter) So, you know, when these changes became effective, I think a lot of us noticed them right away -

Katie: Yes.

Monica: - and it was one of those things that GTalks blew up and

Katie: Exactly. Oh my God!

Monica: - you know, people were on the wave talking about what's going on, and you know, the first thing I noticed with the new search result page is - and not to say that Google is trying to be like anything else - but, you know, when Microsoft's Bing came out a year or year and a half ago or so, I noticed a similar structure to the way that searches were coming up in the results. So, as opposed to rearranging the search results in a way that more sense than just a linear, it was more of a relational search. "Do you mean this? Are you talking about a blog? Are you looking for a image? Are you looking for a video?" Whereas in the old search, you could actually click on those at the top, at the top along Google. Now they actually come up along the left sidebar. So, you know, I'm really curious that that had anything to do with this kind of redesign, if it was, you know, kind of an effort to -

Katie: Can be prompted by.

Monica: - compete with the Bing revolution that Microsoft has kind of push down us, (Laughter) that that's what they're doing.

Katie: Absolutely.

Monica: So, that's curious.

Katie: Well, Bing has done a lot of things right for sure -

Monica: Yep.

Katie: - and I mean, Google is wise to learn its lessons. And it's not often that it is schooled by anybody, so I'm sure they're like, "What?" (Laughter)

Monica: Absolutely. I thought the exact same thing, even to the point where I was hesitant to say it - (Laughter)

Katie: Ah, get her! (Laughter)

Monica: - because I'm such a proud, you know, Googlite I guess you could say.

Katie: Exactly, and also with the changes on the Google search page, they do give you a lot more - not customization of your search, but ways to really control and define the search results better, to the point of allowing you to set a preferred timeframe. So if you want something from last year versus you want the latest in, you know, holiday footwear or whatever it is that you're looking up -

Monica: Hey, hey.

Katie: - you can actually be really, really specific. Also, they're looking at location-based search. To some extent, you know, they're saying, "Do you want it in your local area," or - and this is something that Google's gotten quite a bit of flack for, the whole social circle idea.

Monica: Yep.

Katie: If you wanna search within your circle, meaning you know, within the people that you're friends with you have in your Google contacts, or people that, even if that you've -

Monica: That you chat with, yep.

Katie: That you chat with, that you follow on Google Reader, they're actually opening up their content to your search as well, which is handy, but it's a very solid reminder that Google knows a lot about you and everyone you know.

Monica: Absolutely. I remember when the first time I got a search result back and that you saw the little social circle at the bottom and you thought, "How did they know I was friends with this person?" (Laughter)

Katie: Exactly, and they do. (Laughter)

Monica: Absolutely.

Katie: So yeah, Google doesn't do big, big changes very frequently. But I think that it's so well tested and so well designed, that when it does come out, there's always a little hesitancy and there's always people that are like, "It was good enough, what do they want?"

Monica: Right.

Katie: But it really is pretty solid, unlike our next new story -

Monica: Dunt, dunt, duh. (Laughter)

Katie: - which is a great leeway, yeah, leading into Facebook security flaws. (Laughter)

Monica: Yikes!

Katie: I mean, Facebook is just so hot and cold with, you know - it's just so hit or miss -

Monica: Absolutely.

Katie: - in the updates and the new technology. Monica, tell us about what has recently occurred in the Facebook verse.

Monica: So recently, Facebook has actually come out and admitted that for a short period of time, a timeframe, there was a glitch in their system that actually allowed you to view friends private chats on a Facebook profile.

Katie: Oh my gosh. (Laughter)

Monica: So um, private not being so private.

Katie: No! And what was really ironic was how you got to access, not only your friends chats, but you could also see their pending friends invitations of who they're trying to connect with on the Web.

Monica: Right.

Katie: It was actually through a privacy feature - irony - where you could preview your profile so that you could see -

Monica: How someone else see it, mm-hmm.

Katie: - how someone else sees your profile, and "vuala", you get some crazy information on that person. (Laughter)

Monica: Yep, yep.

Katie: And what kind of freaks me out is that it's not like Facebook was testing, testing, testing and they found it -

Monica: Right.

Katie: - it was discovered by the masses, by the -

Monica: Someone found it, yep.

Katie: s - you know, the people, and Facebook didn't even know until TechCrunch actually informed them. They're like, "Hey, you might wanna look at this thing." (Laughter)

Monica: Yeah; then, you know, subsequently released a statement saying, "There was a bug for a few hours."

Katie: Yes, and chat was down.

Monica: It has been fixed.

Katie: Yeah, but that's so freaky.

Monica: You know, I'm really curious if somewhere is a popped up a rogue website of "Chats Discovered" or "Relationships Broke Up" -

Katie: Exactly!

Monica: - because of the Facebook bug. (Laughter)

Katie: Exactly! That could totally be like an Oprah episode.

Monica: Cheaters! (Laughter)

Katie: Exactly. (Laughter) Or a Montel Williams, you know. (Laughter)

Monica: Absolutely. Suing Facebook for breaking up a marriage.

Katie: Exactly. We were so happy.

Monica: But you were cheating. But my spouse was not suppose to know that Facebook.

Katie: Private chat Facebook, private. (Laughter) So, let's talk a little bit about Continental. So of course, we're based out of Houston -

Monica: Yep.

Katie: - and Continental is a big deal around here.

Monica: Oh yeah.

Katie: A big, big deal.

Monica: Big guns here.

Katie: Yeah. So what's going on in Continental world?

Monica: So, United and Continental, two of the major airlines worldwide, are working on a deal to merge together. There's a lot of questions going on up in the air. "What's gonna happen? What does this mean?" You know, everyone thinks monopoly, you know, what does that mean, higher prices? Does this mean less competition? Usually means a higher price. So I think some of those things - and some of those are confounded. I think that the article that what we were talking about that I guess Katie found on MSNBC -

Katie: Mm-hmm, yeah, exactly.

Monica: - kind of outlines five changes that this United/Continental merger would bring to the marketplace. And you know, the main question on every traveler's mind is fare, you know. "Are my fares gonna go up?"

Katie: Exactly.

Monica: And you know, basically what the article is saying here is that they're gonna stay the same for most locations. The places that they are going to increase would be where the two airlines have overlapping, non-stop flights; and you know, what the merger's gonna potentially result in is those non-stop flights are most likely to increase because there's less competition.

Katie: Exactly.

Monica: So United and Continental are no longer competing for those rates, and they're just gonna raise that price, and that's what people are gonna go for.

Katie: Yeah, and this MSNBC article also talks about this concept of seamless flying, which means that, you know, speaking of those non-stop flights that we may be seeing quite a few more, including international flight will have a lot more options for, you know, some of the more painful flying experiences may actually get better. We don't have to get stuck in Beijing for five hours.

Monica: That's very true, it's very true. Business travelers are gonna benefit from this way more than casual, what they call, vacation travelers. Which I've traveled international before Katie, I know you have as well. So I know that when you're talking about frequent flyer miles, which is another point on here -

Katie: Oh yeah.

Monica: - is that, you know -

Katie: Oh man.

Monica: - keeping those frequent flyer miles, you know, close to home. (Laughter)

Katie: Yeah, it's like the Holy Grail for business travelers. (Laughter)

Monica: Absolutely. Yeah, exactly. And you know, that's a big issue of contention here, is you know, Continentals miles do not expire. United's has a policy of, they expire within 18 months. So again, focusing on a business travelers who is most likely using business travel more often before 18 months, whereas Continental may be a family that's traveling on a vacation -

Katie: Yeah.

Monica: - you know, once every other year that are counting on keeping those miles for those purposes, so.

Katie: Oooo, so certainly lots in the air - pun completely intended. (Laughter) But so speaking of Continental, this is another great segway into one of our favorite pieces, our regular occurrences on the Overtime Show, the CEOs Say the Darndest Things. So with the United and Continental acquisition on everybody's minds, we have decided to dedicate our CEOs Say the Darndest Things to Continental, the hometown hero of Houston. Continental CEO Jeff Smisek kind of, sort of made a little filpa, not as big as the majority of really angry bloggers that apparently have nothing better to do than -

Monica: A lot of those.

Katie: - to yell at Continental CEOs, but whatever. That's another show. (Laughter) During a press session, Jeff Smisek had this to say. "I recognize that United is the best possible partner for Continental," Smisek said in a conference call, referring to United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton, he said, "I didn't want him to marry the ugly girl. I wanted him to marry the pretty one, and I am much, much prettier." So, it's not the end of the world and it's certainly not the worst CEOs Say the Darndest Things that we've ever had on the show, but it is kind of tricky when you think, he was actually talking about US Airways. So US Airways is the ugly chick at the party apparently.

Monica: Right, right.

Katie: And you know, I'm all for healthy competition, but that's like really lame. (Laughter)

Monica: Right.

Katie: This is such a big deal, like, don't be calling names.

Monica: Be our lesson 101. (Laughter)

Katie: Exactly. Don't make sort of sketchy comments about someone that you just - yeah. (Laughter) So yeah, Jeff, we know you're probably under a lot of stress right now, but just play nice. (Laughter) Be a good boy, be a good boy. (Laughter) Well that wraps up a fantastic Chapter 1 with everything from laughing at large corporate CEOs, which we kind of do regularly - I don't know what that says about us - all the way to excitement on the Google search page. And this is really unusual, we have not covered anything alcoholic or cupcake-related, so I feel like you're a really good influence on the show Monica. (Laughter)

Monica: (Laughter) Do I make you boring? (Laughter) No alcohol, no cupcakes.

Katie: No, you keep me sane apparently, I don't know. (Laughter) You're listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at theBusinessMakers.com/overtime. Stay tuned for a fantastic Chapter 2, where we get to hear great stories from a fantastic author, food critic, and a radio man himself, John DeMers. We'll see you in Chapter 2.