The big news today is that an AdSense publisher with a PhD sued Google after being kicked out of the program for clicking on her own ads. Why is she suing? Well for a couple reasons, but she claims she spent 100 hours adding the Adsense ads to her site - 100 hours!!! Ha ha. Also, a reminder, we will be conduction the first edition of the Search Pulse this coming Tuesday at 5pm (EST), make sure to tune in! TrueLocal launched their Canadian version of the site. I posted a beginners guide to Google AdWords. I also covered tips on getting into local engines as well as understanding the popular Digg.com. Matt Cutts shocked the SEO industry by saying that keywords in URLs help. Ask.com added smilies to their Smart Answer product. I also covered a post on a Wordpress plugin that beautifies AdSense ads. Finally, there is an excellent WebmasterWorld thread where they rank Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's PPC engines on eight different factors.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Bradley Sues Google AdSense Over Ban & Violation of TOS - You kidding me?
   
2. AdSense Beautifier for Wordpress - ooo pretty
   
3. Ranking Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing & Microsoft adCenter - looks kinda spammy that post
   
4. TrueLocal Launches Canadian Local Search Engine - love the design
   
5. Beginner to Google AdWords? - useful to some
   
6. The Search Pulse Live, Sept. 5th at 5PM EST - exciting!
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Tips On Getting Listed In Local Search Results - useful
   
2. Understanding Digg.com - good work Vwag
   
3. Keywords In URL May Help Rankings, Google's Matt Cutts Says - wow! more here
   
4. Google Uses AdWords Conversion Data To Fight AdSense Fraud? - Punch Out!
   
5. Ask.com Adds Emoticons Or Smiley To Smart Answers - Cute Answers
   

Posted at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

WebMD has an article says 2 Out of 3 Americans Don't Wash Hands. Wow! Shocking!

A thousand Americans participated, evenly split between men and women. All were at least 18 years old.

Here are the percentages who admitted they might not wash their hands properly in these situations:

- After sneezing or coughing: 37%
- After handling animals or pets: 27%
- Before eating or handling food: 10%
- After going to the toilet: 7%
- A bit more than three in 10 said they wouldn't skip or skimp on hand washing in any of those situations. But the remaining 69% didn't make that clean-hands claim.

But Germans have dirtier hands than American's.

So how can you better wash your hands, the article says?

• Wash your hands with soap and clean running water for 20 seconds.
  
• Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap.
  
• Use warm water if available.
  
• Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all hand surfaces.
  
• Continue rubbing hands for 20 seconds -- the time it takes to sing "Happy Birthday" twice.
  
• Rinse hands well under running water.
  
• Dry hands using a paper towel or air dryer.
  
• If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.
  
• If soap and water aren't available, use an alcohol-based product to clean your hands.
  

Or get a singing, music playing soap dispenser. You can buy the Soap Genie™ Automatic Dispenser, which plays a charming musical chime while you wash at, Amazon.com, SkyMall, Sharper Image or other fine retailers.

Posted at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey , Just Funny | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

The Pleobot blog reports that the Pleo's release date, which I thought would be 12/24 is now sometime in March! I want one already! I am a kid! Give me it! Just kidding...

Why are they pushing it off? Well to continue to make it better and more life-like;

At Ugobe, we are committed to making Pleo absolutely right. In pursuit of this goal, we have added upgrades to Pleo's basic design (i.e. Pleo now has a camera, upgraded CPU and microprocessors, more powerful motors and quieter custom designed gears).

So I guess I'll just have to continue waiting.

Posted at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Category: | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Today was a busy but kind of mellow day in search. Let's start with Google topics... Google's CEO joined the Apple Board of Directors, I am very into that. I took a look at some Invalid Click Rates provided by folks at WebmasterWorld and Google. Also, did you know that if someone took your UA from Google Analytics, you can have screwy traffic stats? Also, Google can be taking $285 million from AdWords advertisers. Finally, on the Google front, make sure to catch Matt Cutts and Vanessa Fox on WebmasterRadio.FM tomorrow night.

Windows Live QnA is in public beta now, watch out Yahoo! Answers. I pleaded with Yahoo! to add support for a no Yahoo! Directory tag. The 2nd edition of the Search Marketing Standard finally arrived at my door step. Yahoo! has been hiring up all the brains, ahem, I'm still here, wink wink. Oh, and the suit against the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine has finally been settled.

That is all, off to an other meeting now.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, Joins Apple's Board of Directors - two favorite companies
   
2. Google Analytics & Misplacing Code - too easy
   
3. Yahoo! Please Enable a No Yahoo! Directory Tag - NOYDIR
   
4. Second Edition of Search Marketing Standard Released - nocomment
   
5. Google AdWords Customers Share Invalid Clicks Rates (ICR) - so?
   
6. Microsoft adCenter Content Ads Coming Early Fall - I am accepted!
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Windows Live QnA Beta Now Live - Answerbag.com got jealous again
   
2. Google's Accuracy Can Easily Cost Advertisers $285 Million - shocking stuff
   
3. Yahoo Hiring Up All The Brains - old but good
   
4. Internet Archive Suit Settled - makes me happy this is done
   
5. Matt Cutts & Vanessa Fox On WebmasterRadio.FM Thursday AT 1PM (PST) - excited?
   

Posted at 3:40 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

As I said, I live and die by Bloglines and RSS. One of my biggest pet peeves is how Google News RSS is managed. Like I said, if I read something once, I do not wan to see it again. But when it comes to subscribing to a news search at Google News via RSS, it appears that the same articles are updated every 20 minutes or so. Yes, the same articles are updated and appear as new in Bloglines.

I am not sure if this is an RSS bug, a Google News bug or a Bloglines bug - but it is annoying.

Now you can say that the news search itself was updated. I.e. a new source was added but is not displayed, but it was added to the search. But it is down right annoying, just like when people constantly update their posts.

So what can be done to fix this? Can I do something?

Posted at 1:39 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Not much I can say, I knew that Danny was going to announce his resignation from Search Engine Watch and Search Engine Strategies for almost a week now. But it still came as a shock to me when I finally saw the post live at Daggle.com. I have some detailed posts on that in my coverage below.

On other search news, Yahoo! revamped their Real Estate portal, there are some bugs with the new features - maybe they will pull it (just kidding). AOL relaunched their music portal. Flickr added this very cool geo tag feature, a must see. Google AdWords added an opt in and valuable email alert feature. Google fixed their related search command. I covered the forum buzz on Google and eBay's partnership. Finally, I looked at some people who place AdSense ads in their forum signature files.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Danny Sullivan To Leave Search Engine Watch :: Search Industry Shocked - ö
   
2. Using Google AdSense in Your Forum Signature File - not cool?
   
3. Google & eBay Work Together - too funny
   
4. More Changes to Google's Related (Similar Pages) Command - Matt Cutts commented
   
5. Google AdWords My Client Center Adds Email Alerts - Nice addition
   
6. Reaction from the Search Community on Danny Sullivan's Departure - a must read, I think ö
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Yahoo Revamps Real Estate Portal - Um, many shortcuts dont work
   
2. Flickr Adds Geo Tagging - very cool
   
3. AOL Launches New Music Store - The Portal
   

Posted at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

The one bad thing about being so dependent on a free service is that you have no one to hang when it is not operating at optimal performance. I was just praising Bloglines - and how it changed my life along with RSS and now I am barely able to breath without it.

Bloglines has been incredibly slow to update most of my feeds today. They must be having some spidering and index issues.

I don't fully understand the process they have there.

I just hope it gets back to normal, soon.

Posted at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

The big new is that Yahoo! simply dropped their blog search feature, just dropped it completely. They did not tell anyone prior that they are doing maintenance or pulling it, they simply just yanked it. Honestly, this seems very strange to me. Yahoo! isn't dumb, if you remove Yahoo! Blog search, it is removed from Yahoo! News, and that means bloggers get less traffic - bloggers are loud and you normally don't want to upset too many of them. Um, Yahoo!, you upset almost all of them! Why won't they give an ETA for a release date? Why remove it if they are going to do an upgrade? Why not leave it and then release a new version when they are ready? The answers I got from Yahoo! to any of these questions were not satisfactory to me. They did not answer the questions. Brian of Yahoo! did say that the speculation that Yahoo! removed blog search due to not being able to handle the blog spam issue, was not true. Honestly, I think something big must of happened. Just not sure yet.

Next, I covered that Google released application for your domain, not just gmail, but Calendar, Talk and Page Creator. GoogleGuy then compared the Pluto update to Pluto's downgrading. eBay signed an ad deal with Google for eBay international. Google is almost done securing office space in Seattle, here we are Microsoft. Oh, Google is getting sued for a patent infringement on personalized search features. Last up on the Google front is a way to view ads as if you are in a different country.

We learned that Microsoft rolled back their update on Friday. We also learned that Philipp Lessen just got married yesterday! Congrats Philipp!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Microsoft Rolls Back MSN Search Update - ouch! But I like the honesty here.
   
2. Google Launches Applications for Businesses & Domains - not too into it
   
3. Viewing Google AdWords Ads in Other Countries & Languages - this may come in handy
   
4. Yahoo! Temporarily Removes Blog Search for Retooling - something very fish about this!
   
5. GoogleGuy Downgrades Google Update Pluto - honesty rocks!
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google Apps for Your Domain Live - diddo
   
2. Yahoo Removes Blog Search For Short Term - again, doesn't add up
   
3. eBay Signs International Paid Search Deal With Google - nice
   
4. Google Blogoscoped's Philipp Lenssen Gets Married - wowee!
   
5. Google Seeks Offices In Seattle Again - Microsoft, here we come
   
6. Google Sued Over Personalized Search Patent - yawn...
   

Posted at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

I am a Mac guy, if you didn't know by now. But I really hate the "Get a Mac" commercials.

They make Windows users look dumb and like victims.

Is it just me that dislikes these commercials?

More ads at http://www.apple.com/getamac/ads/.

Posted at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Advertisers often pay more to have a radio personality read a scripted advertisement live on the radio, then to play a pre-recorded commercial. This morning I was listening to Q 104.3 on the radio on the way to work and heard live scripted commercial for Purina dog food. He was reading off the script and then ad-libbing to the commercial, to make it stand out. As he was talking, you can hear the co-host in the background holding in her giggles. It was pretty humorous, I mean, it sounded to me that Jim Kerr was having way too much fun with the commercial. :)

Hey, I enjoyed it.

Posted at 9:52 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I will be giving an internal SEO pow-wow today. Ill be covering all the basics and then some of the futuristic stuff. So if I am not quick to reply to your emails, that is where I am.

I start in about 15 minutes, 10am (EST) and won't stop until I am done.

Tons and tons of material to cover.

So I suspect I won't be done until 6pm or so. But I will talk as fast as possible.

Update: Burned through about 200 slides in less than 3 hours. Done and done.

Posted at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind , RustyBrick , SEO Tips | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I had on my list of topics to write about, "How RSS ha changed my life." I was going to hold off on that entry but then York commented about Which Search Blogs Am I Most Likely To Read In More Detail?

You see, I have a list of 75 plus blogs I read. York said,

How do you read all those blog? I mean even if you speed 5 minute per blog, you will have to spend 6 hours per day for all these reading.

And 5 minutes is not even long enough for you to type the url and talk a good peek at the details of those blog.

If I spent 6 hours per day reading those blogs, how would I be able to do anything else?

RSS is the answer. I use Bloglines to manage my RSS feeds. I subscribe to blogs/news sites/searches that I am interested and I set it to only show me content that I have not read yet. So if I have read yesterday's blog post from Diamond Vues, Bloglines knows it, and it won't show me the feed if the site hasn't been update since then, it also won't show me anything I have read in the past, unless that post is updated with new content. So I do not read 75+ blogs each day, far from it.

But even if I did, the way Bloglines and most RSS readers display the content makes it easy to skim new content within a matter of seconds. Here is a screen capture of Bloglines at this moment in time for me.

Now, on the left hand side, it shows only feeds (news/blogs/searches) that have been updates or not read since I last viewed my Bloglines. It also shows a number by each folder (I categorize my feeds in several folders, some you can see and some are not displayed because they have nothing new in them at this time), and it shows a number by each source.

For example, the "Barry RSSes" folder has 28 items of new items I have not yet read or that have been updates that contain searches I set up for my name or similar names. Also, you can see I clicked on the Slashdot feed, it is now unbolded and has no number on the left side, but it does show I am viewing 3 items, 3 items that are new and I have no seen yet. Next time I go back to Bloglines, it will not show me those same three items for Slashdot.

So in reality, I do not read 75+ blogs each day. I do track 75+ sources (much more that 75) each day, but Bloglines and RSS helps me with that.

Then I can simply scan the updates feeds and decide wether I want to click deeper into the feed. I rarely do, so that is why I came up with my Which Search Blogs Am I Most Likely To Read In More Detail? list. If I click through, then it must have a great title and short description.

So that is how I manage to stay on top of things without those things staying on top of me. RSS is an invaluable tool for me. It has, without a doubt, changed my life.

Posted at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Big blogging day, I wrote over 16 blog entries in all today. Five new blog posts today at this blog, six at the Search Engine Roundtable, and five at Search Engine Watch. So what search news did I cover today?

On the search index update front, all three engines showed some signs of an index update - that includes Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Windows Live Video is found and then put through the tests. A credit card processing bug takes down AdWords advertiser ads. Tim Converse, Yahoo! spam fighter, writes about "aggregation spam." Google pleas with the Securities and Exchange Commission to not classify them as an investment fund company. Google launched the Webmaster Central blog officially today. I looked at link popularity of a specific portion of a page, based on anchor links. And Google seems to be sending out warnings of AdWords keyword maximization limits.

Everyone, have a wonderful weekend!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Keyword List Maxing Out Warnings Sent by Google AdWords - before the fact
   
2. MSN Search Bug Due to Recent MSN Update - 1
   
3. Credit Card Processing Errors Halt AdWords Buyers from Advertising - give me my ads
   
4. Link Popularity Associated With Portion of Pages? - no dice
   
5. Yahoo! Search Update Underway? - 2
   
6. Back Link Update At Google.com - 3
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Tim Converse OF Yahoo Talks About Aggregation Spam - Sweet post!
   
2. Windows Live Video Beta Now Available - streakers rule!
   
3. Google, Yahoo, & MSN Update Search Results - 2 of 3 confirmed now
   
4. Google Has Too Much Money, Possibly Classified As Investment Fund - no comment
   
5. Google's Webmaster Central Adds A Blog - nice info
   

Posted at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

One of the stories I covered today was about how Google may be classified as an investment fund company because they have more than 40% of their assets in investments. While I was covering the story, I was on the phone with someone. We were talking about scheduling something on a Monday. But at the same time, I was writing the title of the blog post.

Original (Typo) Title: "Google Has Too Much Monday, Possibly Classified As Investment Fund"

Real Title: "Google Has Too Much Money, Possibly Classified As Investment Fund"

I bolded the typo to add some emphasis.

So if you did a search in Google News for Google throughout the day you may have seen:

Yea, pretty embarrassing. But also a bit funny. I actually got Monday to be bold by searching in Google News for monday. :)

I was wondering why I didn't get a hundred emails from people who noticed this typo. I mean, it was like that for well over an hour. So I asked the IRC WebmasterRadio.FM chat room and one person said...

that is actually pretty funny.... I saw that in my RSS reader and, while it confused the hell outta me, I just accepted it that you guys knew more than me, and it was some type of weird investemnt-related terminology

Wow, dangerous.

Sorry about that guys.

Posted at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind , Just Funny , Just Weird | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

When you order something online, they most likely ship it to you via UPS. Sometimes they ship it to you via USPS, the good old government postal service. Now, I have no problems with the service - really. I do have problems with their online tracking system.

Typically I will get the shipment before anything shows up on the track and confirm page at USPS.gov. If at best, I would get a notice that it has been shipped out the day it arrives at my office.

But today, we got a package, that was already marked as delivered, yesterday at 8am in the morning. Ahem, we got it today at 11am. It said, yesterday, that we got it yesterday at 8am.

I just don't understand that one. Maybe it was delivered to the local post office? Who knows...

Posted at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping , Web Development | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

My wife found these tables she wanted at Bombay, so I was like, let's just order them online and have them shipped. At the time it was about $50 less, and then we forgot about them. When we remembered, and checked the price listed on the Bombay site, it just felt wrong ordering them for $50 more.

But we saw a coupon listed on the site, and we tried adding that coupon code at the checkout step, but it did not take. We then called the 800# but they were already closed. So I told my wife to call the next day. Yea, she did call. And it turned out to be a $100 less if we picked it up from one of the local stores. So while at the mall we ordered it from Bombay. I then came back Wednesday night to pick it up, the thing was, I was in my small car.

I have the Lexus SC 430 (2005), although it is a sweet car, it doesn't fit much in it, especially not large boxes. Heck, even their promotional material kind of mocks the space limitations. It says, "still leaving enough room for a set of golf clubs."

Anyway, when the guy from Bombay took the box out of the storage area, he looked at the car and laughed. I looked back at him and said, everything always manages to fit. I first tried putting it in the trunk and tying the trunk down. That didn't work too well. Again, the Bombay guy was smirking. I then moved the top down into the trunk, which kinda made the Bombay guy go 'ooo.' I then moved the passenger seat as far forward as I could, and pushed down the front of that seat into the dashboard. I placed the box in the space behind the passenger seat, it barely fit. I smirked at the Bombay guy and said, I told you, everything always manages to fit.

I then squeezed myself in the drivers seat. Picture the box taking about a 3rd of my seat. My right shoulder was under the forward part of the box. I was completely unable to look through the rear view mirror, and the right side mirror was 95% obstructed. I couldn't look right to see if cars or people were there either. But I drove slowly, I didn't take the highway back, I took the side streets. And I made it back with the box intact that night.

I wish I had a picture of it, also a picture of all the weird faces I got from other drivers on the road.

Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

This morning I drove my wife to Newark Airport, she is flying to Chicago for the weekend. One of her good friends is getting married and she is going to be a bridesmaid. The wedding is this Sunday afternoon, but there is this little weekend the bride and bridesmaids are having before the wedding.

So I drove Yisha to the airport, about 45 minutes each way, this morning. I was shocked, I was expecting a boat load of traffic. There was not one patch of slow down, outside of the tolls. So I drove back and forth in less than an hour and a half. It would have been quicker, but I had to make a pit stop 15 minutes from my office, on the way back, due to a Big Gulp I had prior to leaving. Note to self, go for a little gulp next time you drive long distances.

So what do I do the whole weekend when my wife is gone?
(1) I will be spending about 24 hours of it at my parents, I think the miss me (do you?)
(2) Saturday night, Ill play basketball until well after mid-night (normally do that anyway)
(3) Sunday morning, I do RB work (normally do that anyway)
(4) Sunday afternoon I am suppose to hang up some new light fixtures - let's see how far I get
(5) Sunday evening I will be picking up Yisha at the airport

What will my wife be doing?
(1) Getting her hair done
(2) Getting her make up done
(3) Getting into her dress
(4) All that wedding stuff
(5) Having fun with friends at a big party

So how was that? Two new posts, with personal stuff. :)

Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Category: Family | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

It is the slow season for my wife at her work, I think it runs for about two or three weeks in the summer time. So she has been checking out this blog over the past few days. She complained to me twice already that I do not update it enough with personal stuff that she is interested in. You know, she isn't into that search stuff... Heck, it is that search stuff that is and will be changing our lives and how we live them every day - but whatever. ;-)

So I am now going to write more posts about personal stuff, or at least try to. But at the same time, bring in search topics, as often as I can.

Honestly, I have a list of about 15 items that are off search topic to write about. Whenever I think of something that I think will be cool to share, I write it down in a little note pad (text edit) on my computer.

Oh, did I tell you how my wife mocks this blog? Whenever something funny happens, she says --- "Why don't you blog it?" in a sarcastic tone. One day I will record the voice she uses, it is funny. So babe, I just blogged it. :)

Posted at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Category: Family | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

The esteemed Gary Price documented a Forbes list of America's Drunkest Cities.

1. Milwaukee
2. Minneapolis
3. Columbus
4. Boston
5. Austin
6. Chicago
7. Cleveland
8. Pittsburgh
9. Philadelphia
10. Providence
11. St. Louis
12. San Antonio
13. Seattle
14. Las Vegas
15. Denver/Boulder
16. Cincinnati
17. Kansas City
18. Houston
19. Portland
20. Francisco-Oakland

The list continues, it is a pictorial list of each city and can be accessed here. New York is ranked number 32 out of the 35 cities judged, go NY!

How did they come up with these rankings? Well, they posted the methodology, which basically describes that pulled stats by state laws, drinkers, heavy drinkers, binge drinkers and alcoholism of each city. They calculated scores for each category, added them up and then ranked the cities.

Now, where was Mel Gibson?

Posted at 5:41 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Well, Danny is off to somewhere now, so I got the SEW blog to myself again (of course, there are the other correspondents that do an excellent job). But today, so far, I kind have been solo. So what did I write about today?

Let's start with Google... I spotted a query that does this witty top 5 list, it is pretty cool. I found a thread that discussed folks thoughts on Google's executives selling off boatloads of stock. I looked at how Google Maps are being tested within the search results under listings. Google decided to join a child pornography coalition, but they did destroy a Dutch farmer dating site's chances of keeping their clean name.

On the MSN front I noticed that the API still limits you to 250 results. Also, they have some weirdness going on with a page one and page result duplication of listings. Moving to Yahoo!, there are some signs of a Panama release, but maybe not, I am not 100% sure. Yahoo! also showed some love towards Flickr, vertically showing their images for some queries done at Yahoo! Search. Ask.com hired a big shot from PayPal to get technical. Finally, if you are in search of a SEO Company, I got a post that may be of use to you.

Oh, I am feeling much better right now...

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. MSN Search Shows 1000 Results But MSN's API Still Shows 250? - priorities...
   
2. Yahoo! Notifies Advertisers Of Upgrade - But is this "Panama"?
   
3. Finding the Right SEO Company - Some useful tips for the needy
   
4. Google as a Top Five List - Smart & Witty
   
5. Google Executives Sell Off Stock - Of Course - cashing in while others cash out
   
6. MSN Listing Same Top Five Sites on 1st & 2nd Page Search Results - wow, weee
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Ask.com Hires Former PayPal CTO, Chuck Geiger - AskPay? kidding...
   
2. Google Maps Inline With Search Results - kinda cool
   
3. Yahoo's Panama Release Coming Sooner Then Expected? - same deal...
   
4. Google Joins Coalitions To Fight Child Pornography - why?
   
5. Dutch Farmers Site Loses Court Case Against Google - because...
   
6. Yahoo Search Integrates Flickr Images In Search Shortcuts - It seems like a manual integration to me...
   

Posted at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

I am happy to say that I have finished setting up my necessary Windows applications on my MacBook Pro. Tuesday I set up Parallels Desktop for Mac, activated my Windows XP Pro license, and let it sit. Today, I configured the settings of the OS how I like it, transferred over the applications I need, and tested them out.

I also "installed parallels tools" which in affect made everything run smoother between Mac OS and Windows XP. Such as:

• Setting up a shared folder between the two OSes
  
• Enabling copy and paste between the OSes
  
• Ensuring all drivers work (mouse, printers, internet, etc.), mouse even runs as smooth as it does on Mac, which is huge.
  
• Don't have to click off the Windows screen to use OS X, it just scrolls off like two different screens.
  

Here is a screen capture of my desktop state on both OS X and OS XP. I blurred stuff out on the larger version, such as my buddies screen names...

So now I can trash my Dell!!!

Posted at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Computers | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Very international day here in search. I hear that Google will be uploading a Japanese localized version of Gmail. MSN is testing a new design in their UK version. Google's results seem to be bit whacky if you search in the UK.

I also reviewed issues of separating out AdWords on Google Maps. I looked at AOL firing the CTO and others over the their blunder. Also, I learned that MSN does not randomize their search results. Google released an API for Google Base today. I read a few things about Google's dominance. Finally, Microsoft struck a deal with Facebook to serve up ads and possibly search.

Errr, I don't feel too well...

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Brazil Fed Up With Google & Orkut - República Federativa
   
2. Google UK Unique Indexing Issues? - UKy indexes
   
3. How Do You Turn Off PPC Ads on Google Maps - common G.
   
4. MSN Search Doesn't Randomize Results Within One Index - why not? ;-)
   
5. AOL Makes Statement By Letting Go CTO & Two Employees - Æ
   
6. MSN UK Testing New Search Results Layout? - looks familiar
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Facebook Partners With Microsoft In Ad Deal - contextualize me
   
2. Google's Dominance Of Big & Small Companies - watch out
   
3. Google Releases Google Base API - love em APIs
   
4. Gmail In Japanese - 日本
   

Posted at 3:13 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

I hear that if you make the top 100 list at http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs/ that you would receive a t-shirt or something. I have been in that list for like over 3 months now and I got nothing. Oh well. :(

Anyway, yesterday I was at the number twenty-two spot, now I am at the number 28 spot.

The only search blog that ranks higher than me at the moment is the Google Blog at 18. Technorati also has a way to favor a blog. SER currently has 27 people that favorite it, that is pretty cool.

You can also see the Roundtable's "tag cloud" at the profile page, pretty neat. And it shows you the number of links pointing to the blog by authority and by freshness. You may have also noticed I use Technorati to power the search feature of this specific blog.

Oh, please feel free to favorite SER at Technorati:

Posted at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

There are just some things you do not post in public. One of those things are private messages. If someone sends you privileged information in private, you must - without a shadow of a doubt - keep that information private, unless you have explicit permission from the source that you can share that information with the public.

Nintendo posted the full transcript of a private message sent to him via Threadwatch from Adam Lasnik of Google at ThreadWatch (which was pulled), at DigitalPoint forums and at Google Groups. I will not quote it here, but the context is not relevant to my point. The private message was sent privately to Nintendo and was not understood to be posted in a public setting.

Adam replied in the Google Groups area;

Encouraging further e-mails to my personal address and e-mail subjects with my name in 'em probably isn't the most scalably-smart thing to do ;-).

Before Threadwatch deleted the conversation from their site, I caught a few responses from both Matt Cutts and the founder of Threadwatch, NickW.

Matt Cutts said;

I'm also surprised that you're quoting a PM from Adam Lasnik. Doesn't PM stand for "Private message"? Most people I know dislike having private replies quoted without asking.

NickW said:

Obnoxious little shit Nintendo, you are a fuckwit of gargantuan proportion. You snivelly, sneaky little whining shit. How disgusting to post privately communicated info in public, and how much worse to then continue your obnoxious teenage footstomping after being told your a dickhead (in politer terms, but that's what Matt meant.). You twat. PS: Why the fuck is this on the homepage? Hellllloooo.... anyone paying attention?

Now, that is why I have a published Search Engine Roundtable Code of Ethics which I and the authors at the Search Engine Roundtable are required to uphold.

Trust is just so important and it only takes a second to lose it. Be careful!

Posted at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird , SEO Tips | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I am proud to say, I am 99.999% done with my migration to the MacBook Pro. The last item, outside of setting up my Windows Apps was to configure a backup utility to run.

On my PowerBook G4 I used Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) to backup all my data as a bootable drive on an external USB hard drive. I ran the utility about twice per week. But it often wasn't able to back up everything, it did prompt me with errors every now and then. When I was ready to backup the MacBook Pro, I noticed that CCC was not fully supported with the Intel based Macs.

So I found SuperDuper, an other popular utility that creates a bootable version of your computer at any state in time. I tried it out tonight, while at ball and it ran without flaw. With CCC I had to do a bit of configuration to get it working, with SuperDuper, it just worked out of the box. Plus it has a sweet user interface, something anyone can appreciate. The full process from start to finish took a total of one hour and forty-five minutes (about 60MB of data).

You can use it for free or upgrade to add features like scheduling, Smart Update (only updates changes), Sandboxes, scripting and more. I'll probably upgrade.

Next step is to finish up moving Windows applications (really only one application) to my Mac.

Posted at 10:18 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Computers | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Just got off this 2.5 hour conference call, so I am a bit bugged out - those always affect me some how. Anyway...

Five topics on each blog covered today. MSN has added about 750 results to the query results, to their existing 250 results. We looked into some cross site exploits with XSS HTML injection on .gov sites. We dug into how one can create contextual ads that are complimentary to your products (instead of those pesky competitive ads). On the contextual front, we saw some (IMO) racy eBay ads. Talking about racy, how about some of those link baiting ideas - how much are those ideas worth anyway?

Other topics include Google's make-shift audio player, Google and Yahoo! maps saved locations, LibreDigital's Google Book search killer, and some search theory on user generated traffic and search signals.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Flight Maps Games - simple but cute
   
2. MSN Now Goes Beyond 250 Results - about time
   
3. Creating Complimentary Google AdSense & Contextual Ads - neat concept
   
4. eBay Contextual Ads Can Be a Bit Too Graphic - oooo
   
5. Signals & Understanding User Queries - love these topics
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. LibreDigital Warehouse Competes With Google Book Search - publishers duke em up
   
2. How XSS HTML Injection Might Let Others Put Links On Your Sites - ouch!
   
3. How Much Is Link Baiting Services Or Projects Worth? - do tell
   
4. Saving Addresses At Google & Yahoo Maps - "how to" post
   
5. Google's Audio Player - doesn't work on Safari
   

Posted at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Many of you know I got a new MacBook Pro and I have been giving some updates on migrating over from the PowerBook G4 to the MacBook Pro. One of the big +'s of the MacBook Pro is that it is Intel based, which means you can run virtually any OS on it, including Windows.

I downloaded and installed Parallels Desktop for Mac, which enables me to run Windows on my Mac. It is now set up and it runs pretty well. I am still tinkering with setting up a shared folder, so I can drag and drop between the two OSes. Ultimately, I would like to move over the one application I need a PC for, to this parallel desktop solution. I also hear that Apple's next OS Leopard may switch the BootCamp software to run both OSes in parallel, so this application may no longer be needed then.

So a few more days of testing and then Ill move over the application and trash my PC.

Exciting...

Posted at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Computers | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

If your browser resets its favorite icon cache, you may notice that I have added a favorite icon to this site. Favorite Icons are always challenging being that they are typically displayed at 16x16 pixels within the tiny URL bar and in your browser bookmarks. More details on the Favorite Icons at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favicon.

So, I hoped I squeezed a clear representation of this site into that 16x16 space.

If you don't see it yet, this is what it may look like in your browser (downsized to 32KB PNG file).

Posted at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Category: Web Development | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)