Today, lots of Google news. There was a PageRank Update - yea, I jumped from a PR0 to a PR6. Google will be updating the query stats section every Monday now. Google released a new Google Reader, very good job. Also, Google's Picasa enabled sharing.

Ask.com is releasing a new PPC platform this Monday. Microsoft's adCenter bulk upload doesn't allow bulk uploading. Live.com is indexing 301 redirects in a weird way. Yahoo is to install its Toolbar on all HP computers in the US. Yahoo! China is suing Qihoo for malware warnings on it's Toolbar. Finally, Yahoo is holding Hack Day today.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

If you sign up for a Google Checkout Account through my affiliate URL then I get paid, so sign up!

I was just accepted to the Google Checkout Merchant Referral Program.

For the next 12 months, you will receive financial bonuses for referring merchants to Google Checkout. For every merchant you refer that processes at least 3 unique buyer transactions and at least USD $500 in sales through Google Checkout, you will receive USD $25. Additionally, you will receive USD $5 for every USD $1000 of Google Checkout sales processed by merchants you refer. Once 12 months have passed, you will no longer receive these bonuses, so get your merchants signed up early!

All the terms and conditions are listed at checkout.google.com/seller/referrals_terms.html.

Again, sign up here to make me money!

Posted at 2:18 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (2) (0)

I have been saving a few stories to blog about, and these seemed appropriate for the weekend.

WebMD named one recent article 26% of Teens Drive Drunk or on Drugs and then a few days later wrote an other article named Teen Drinking, Drugs: Parents Unaware.

More than one in four teens who drive say they've driven drunk or on drugs.

and

55% of adolescents who had smoked cigarettes, 50% who had used alcohol, and 47% who had used marijuana had a parent who knew that they used... About 8% of teens said they had used such drugs, while only 3% of their parents said they knew about that drug use.

So if you have a kid and they have a drivers license, then they have a 1 in 4 chance of driving drunk and you are very likely not to know about it.

If you don't have kids or if you are worried about driving, you can read How To Spot A Drunk Driver and What To Do.

Related stories: Practice Parking Your Car Online

Posted at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

I just posted a new job opening at RustyBrick. We are looking for one HTML / CSS / XHTML Developer at the moment and as many top notch Advanced PHP/MySQL Engineer as possible. :)

One big issue for many is the huge requirement that is must be on site! Yes, in the main RB offices, in Suffern, New York (45 minutes out of Manhattan). Google Maps details here.

So if you are really in to joining the RustyBrick team, then check out the job postings...

1. Advanced PHP/MySQL Engineer
2. HTML / CSS / XHTML Developer

Then apply at http://www.rustybrick.com/contact_job.php.

Thanks!

Posted at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (0) (0)

Many of you know I have been messing with Google Checkout buttons, and even got an all star donation from Matt Cutts, but I am sad to hear that I was suspended by Google Checkout. Technically, I can still accept payments, but I cannot place the "Google Checkout Badge" on my RustyBrick AdWords ads.

Suspended is a harsh word. It should just say "not approved," because technically, rustybrick.com does not qualify to sport a Google Checkout Badge (aka ) on my AdWords listings. Why? Because I don't sell anything. But why use the word "suspended?" It makes it sound like I did some evil or very wrong... At least "suspended" is not in a bold red, green is a nice color for it. :)

Here is the email the Google Checkout Team sent me, I removed the individual's name...

Hello Barry,

During our recent review, we found that you've processed at least one transaction through Google Checkout. However, we were unable to locate Google Checkout buttons or Buy Now buttons on your website http://www.rustybrick.com/. You must place Google Checkout buttons or Buy Now on your website in accordance with our program policies (https://checkout.google.com/seller/policies.html) in order to be eligible to display Google Checkout badges on your AdWords ads.

As a result, your Google Checkout badges have been suspended. However, your account is still active. If you'd like to display badges on your ads again, please respond to this message with the URL of at least one page on your website with a Google Checkout or Buy Now button.

For more information about Google Checkout badges, please visit http://checkout.google.com/support/sell/bin/topic.py?topic=8667.

Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

The Google Checkout Team

I replied, but I doubt I will be able to sport that badge on my ads. In any event, I made my own above, just to make me feel good.

Posted at 9:43 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

Fun day today in search. Matt Cutts has agreed to come on to the Search Pulse, here and there to answer questions. Yahoo! Search Marketing launched in India. Germany has a huge 150+ foot bug attacking it, according to Google Maps. Yahoo! bought a 6 month old remixing startup named Jumpcut. Google won't give Brazil the Orkut data they once promised. AdWords geo-specific data has been explained to us. I found some more Microsoft adCenter bugs. The Click Quality Council was launched today. Finally, Ask.com launched new weather and earthquake features.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Building Links To Rank Well In Other Countries
   
2. Rotating Google AdSense Background Colors
   
3. Yahoo! Search Marketing to Expand to India Soon
   
4. Geographic Specific Words May Override Geo-IP Data in Google AdWords
   
5. Microsoft adCenter Bug Wont Allow Some Advertisers To Save Keywords
   
6. A Serious Google Maps Bug
   
7. Matt Cutts To Guest On Search Pulse Podcast
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Yahoo Acquires Jumpcut To Add Editing Tools To Yahoo Video
   
2. Google Not To Deliver Orkut Data To Brazil Authorities
   
3. Beware: Giant Bug Found On Google Earth
   
4. The Click Quality Council Formed By ClickForensics
   
5. Ask.com Upgrades Weather Results & Adds Earthquake Data
   

Posted at 5:38 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) (0) | Speak

Rocking Horse
Originally uploaded by Brandon Vrosh.

"Laws get passed which at the moment in time made a lot of sense. As you go back and look at the administrative code, it is easy to find parts of the code that are out of date and no longer make sense.

Posted at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

Yesterday I posted an entry named I'm a Google Checkout Merchant - Donate To Me, I honestly didn't think people would donate - but one person I can name by name, has donated. Matt Cutts from Google has donated me a whole $16. He was the first one to send me a payment via Google Checkout. Very cool and thanks Matt - the link only cost you $16. ;-) Just kidding... lol

Here is proof, click on the image for a larger version:

So now I am easily able to create these Google checkout buttons, easy as copy and paste...

Next is I play with the Google Checkout API.

Again, thanks Matt.

Posted at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

A week ago, Ask.com sent me schwag, part of that was a Timbuk2 Commute bag, branded for Ask.com. It is an awesome laptop bag, really is. So much so, I am strongly considering getting about fifty of them branded for RustyBrick.

Timbuk2 has a Corporate Sales Program, so I contacted them. It will basically cost $70 per bag, if I order 50. plus $7.50 per piece for the embroider cost and a one time $150 set up fee.

50 bags
$70/bag
$7.50/bag
$150 one time fee
---------------
$4,025.00

This does not include shipping and tax.

Some of the other powers at the company are not too into the idea. If I can convince them that I can sell the bags to RustyBrick fans, if there are any, for $100 a piece, then maybe they will go for it. If I sell 10 bags, then its $1,000. The rest go to employees, and preferred clients. Oh and maybe a few contests for lucky blog readers.

What are your thoughts? I posted an image of the Mocha/Light Brown/Mocha Wool version, not that I would get it in wool, but the colors go best, I think. I then pasted the RustyBrick logo on the bag, yea, I did my best.

Update 3:30PM (EST):
It looks like I won't be able to get the above Commute in that color above. Custom colors like that are only available for the Messenger Bags, which I really do not want. The closest colors would be the brown/burnt orange/brown combination. I am now thinking of going with a combo of Commute bags and Blogger bags. I am guessing, they will look something like this:

Commute on left & Blogger on right.

Updated thoughts?

Update 3: I am told they cannot guarantee the commute will come in that color. They can guarantee it in black, but not the brown/burnt orange/brown combination. I can always order a custom messenger bag. Errr.

Posted at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (8) (0)

Some of you know I got the Treo 700P about a month or so ago. One of the main reasons I got it was to use the high speed connection with my MacBook Pro. First thing I did, before installing any software on the Treo was to tether the two together via bluetooth and it worked fine. Then for some reason it stopped working and I was only able to get it to work sporadically.

I called Verizon who put me in touch with Palm's Treo Mac support. They had me clean off all the stuff from the Treo - which makes sense, since they felt someone was conflicting with the connection. I did that and I was back on the EVDO network but it only lasted a short time. I then began installing software again, and presto, back offline and unable to connect. Really frustrating.

I think I have finally narrowed it down to the software that was interfering with the Verizon Broadband Connection.

Chatter Email, it is what I use to check email on my Treo. It absolutely rocks, I love pretty much everything about it. The developer is constantly adding new features and it runs so smooth. But it doesn't let me connect to the Verizon Broadband EVDO Connection. But I have a solution, when I want to connect to the Verizon Broadband Connection, I just select "Shutdown & Disconnect" from the "Sys" menu in the Chatter Email program. I wait a few seconds until it shuts off and then I connect via my Mac to my Treo and presto, I got EVDO!

It worked the past two times I tested it. Last night at home, where it never worked. And this morning at the office.

If anything changes, I'll document it. I am actually going to call Palm to let them know. I am sure this can help others.

Posted at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers | Comments (5) (0)

Really slow day today, no idea why. In any event, I decided to sign up for Google Checkout, so I can mess around with it for my clients, even recommend it to them.

So I signed up and I created a button.

Why don't you donate $16 to me as a test?

Here is the button you can click on to donate...

FYI - the button creation doesn't work with Safari. Google, please fix it. Next is, I test playing with the Google Checkout API.

Posted at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (4) (0)

Lots of topics covered today, including one big happy birthday to Google on the big number 8. Speaking of Google, Matt Cutts has an evil twin brother. Indeed launched a salary search engine. Online ad spend surges 37% in Q1 and Q2 of 2006. Text Link Ads launched Feedvertising. Ask.com gets some discussion at WebmasterWorld. Yahoo! seems to be deducting funds from publisher's balances, again. Google was down in the north east US for some Comcast users. Incisive was sold to Apax Partners. And finally, for those that missed it, the archive for the fourth addition of the Search Pulse is now live.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Search Pulse 4 Live
   
2. Apax Buys Incisive Media Owner of Search Engine Strategies & Search Engine Watch
   
3. Google Inaccessible For Users in North East United States
   
4. Happy 8th Birthday Google
   
5. Another Yahoo! Publisher Network Balance Reporting Deduction?
   
6. Ask.com Getting Noticed by SEOs
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google's 8th Birthday
   
2. 2006 Online Ad Spend: 37% Increase in '06 & Search Remains Hot
   
3. Indeed Launches Salary Search Beta
   
4. Evil Matt Cutts: Matt's Evil Twin Brother
   
5. Text Link Ads Launches Feedvertising
   

Posted at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I had a meeting that was cancelled today, so I went with Ronnie to the local Costco to pick up some stuff for the office. Let me tell you, this is the first time I have been in Costco since I was ten or so. This was a bad idea.

What did we buy? Well what didn't we buy?

Keep in mind, Costco pretty much only sells in bulk, so when I say "Kleenex" I mean 20 boxes of family size Kleenex.

(QTY) Product
(2) Kleenex Tissues
(1) Paper Towels
(2) Huge Plastic Cups
(1) Vintage Seltzer
(1) Plastic forks
(1) Plastic knives
(1) Garbage bags
(1) Diet Coke
(1) Coke
(1) Twizzlers
(2) Arizona Ice Tea
(1) Snapple Ice Tea
(1) Plastic Bags Gallon Size
(1) Bags Sandwich Size
(1) QuakChew
(1) Grandmas Cookies
(1) Chex Mix
(1) Hershy Bar Mix

And there is more.

For now we threw it all in the conference room, until we can put everything away in an organized fashion. That is a picture of all the junk we bought, taken on my Treo 700p.

Hope this lasts a while!

Posted at 2:49 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (2) (0)

I absolutely hate the Search Engine Watch (main site) RSS feed. It is the most annoying feed on my RSS feeds list. It updates several times a day on Bloglines, even when the main site only has one new article per day. Note, this is just the main site's feed and not the blog feed, which is powered by MovableType and FeedBurner.

Please SEW, please Stop Updating Your Posts Please! Especially when nothing has changed!

There have been feeds that I have unsubscribed from in the past because of this.

Posted at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Category: Rambling | Comments (2) (0)

Two girls won the legal right to play on the Winnipeg school boys hockey team. In any event, they didn't make the cut in try outs.

The funny part is that now the boys want to be allowed to try out for the various girl teams. The Winnipeg Sun reports;

Joe, a Grade 12 student at a south Winnipeg high school, is one of a handful of boys who have come forward to request tryouts on girls' school teams in the wake of last week's Manitoba Human Rights Commission ruling.

Now that is funny.

Posted at 11:08 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (0) (0)

The other day I posted about my love for nonpareil chocolates, and then this morning I noticed a comment by Matt Cutts of Google who added that nonpareils is also a pattern for marbling. What type of pattern? Well, he links to a Google Images search for the term, which shows this hippish looking psychedelic pattern named nonpareil.

I tried finding pictures of this at flickr but only got the candy kind, and some of those pictures are simply, wow!

Then I thought, maybe this was a hit to my Ask.com post named, Ask.com Image Search Gets Smarter. But I tried an image search at ask on the same words, nonpareil marbling and the results look just fine to me.

So it makes me wonder about Matt's true identity... Matt the search geek or Matt the hippie?

Posted at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (2) (0)

I just wanted to thank James Omdahl for his kind words about the Search Engine Roundtable.

Now I am telling you about Search Engine Roundtable’s (SER) newsletter knowing that there is a distinct possibility that SER’s daily newsletter will give you all of the search engine marketing news you can handle each day – which might keep you from visiting us here at the InsureMe Affiliate Blog, which will make we very, very sad.

How nice of you. So much appreciated.

Thank you!

Posted at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (1) (0)

After the holiday, sometimes Ronnie (my brother) brings in left over junk food. So today, he brought in a bunch of junk, including one of my favorite chocolate candies, Nonpareils. That is a picture of the large amount of mini-nonpareils that was sitting on my desk just a few minutes ago.

I used to like them a lot more, but now, after a few handfuls (um, that means like 400 mini-nonpareils) I kinda get sick of them.

In any event, I prefer the colored sprinkle ones that are full-sized.

I looked up at the Wikipedia if Nonpareils had an entry and they did...

Nonpareils are a decorative confection of tiny sugar balls, traditionally an opaque white but now available in many colors. Their origin is uncertain, but they may have evolved out of the pharmaceutical use of sugar, as they were a miniature version of comfits. The French name has been interpreted to mean they were "without equal" for intricate decoration of cakes, desserts, and other sweets, and the elaborate pièces montées constructed as table ornaments.

But that is not the only meaning for the term nonpareils, it is also used for an open source interactive document editing system, cool!

Tasty treat! Don't worry, I didn't eat too many.

Posted at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (6) (0)

Today in search, I wrote about some solutions on creating dynamic phone numbers for your PPC campaigns. Yahoo! said we are better than Google at loving Canadians. Google's Froogle goes missing, I looked at discussion for Google's long term plan. Google added a dynamic comment line to AdSense code, very weird. Heck, hybrid cars aren't the only things Google is working on, they are working on making PCs take up less energy as well. A Madrid University joined Google's Book Search scanning project. I dug into some of the rumors about Google's Index Bench.

Finally, it was Danny's 41st birthday this past Sunday - and Google was the one that got the phone call from space!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Dynamic Phone Numbers & Extensions For Your PPC Campaigns
   
2. Yahoo! Says They Love Canadians
   
3. Google Product Searches To Be Upgraded Prior To Holiday Season
   
4. Happy Belated Birthday Danny Sullivan
   
5. New Code Added To AdSense Setup Code
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google Aims To Make More Energy Efficient Computers
   
2. Google Gets Long Distance Phone Call From Space
   
3. First Non English University To Join Google Book Search Project
   
4. Google's Index Bench: Build Your Own Google Search Engine?
   

Posted at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I was chatting with Gary this morning and he was pointing out to me some new triggers Ask.com added to limit the search results for some of their image search smart answers.

So a search on images of empire state building bring back what you would expect, pictures of the empire state building. Makes sense and simple.

But it gets smarter... A search on logos of new york jets gives you logos, how do they know they are logos? I dunno exactly, some of that secret sauce.

Yea, it gets even smarter... A search on beatles drawings shows actual drawings. Can Ask.com see that these images of the beatles are line art or something?

What about mountains watercolors, those are colorful mountains.

The smartest of them all, nyc subway sketches, some crazy sketches.

One thing I noticed is how close a search on nyc subway sketches is to nyc subway drawings. Why so close? Hopefully I will have more on that later.

Posted at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (2) (0)

IMG_4751
Originally uploaded by sjd52878.

Posted at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Category: | Comments (3) (0)

Skipped the summary on Friday, so the links below include them. In addition, I only posted two items on SEW today and zero on Friday. Kinda took off those two days. Today I am still recovering. In any event, don't miss tomorrow's Search Pulse, live at WebmasterRadio.FM at 5PM (Tuesdays EST).

In summary, I covered the following topics on Friday and Monday, September 22nd & 25th. Google moved the reinclusion form to the sitemaps console. Yahoo! Publisher Network had a reporting bug. Google AdSense added a 200 by 200 ad unit. Google is accepting beta testers for Google Pages. There was an other credit card error in AdWords. Google fixed the OneBox extractor code that we reported last week. German AdSense publishers got a big optimization book. Andy Hagan wrote a new sandbox secret guide, thing. Google displayed funky long snippets in the SERPs and conversion rates between organic and paid listings are about the same.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Moves Reinclusion Request Form To Webmaster Central
   
2. Yahoo! Publisher Network Reporting Bug
   
3. Google AdSense Adds 200x200 Ad Unit
   
4. Want To Be a Google Lab Rat?
   
5. Continued Credit Card Errors at Google AdWords
   
6. Google Fixes OneBox Extractor Code
   
7. German AdSense Publishers Get Tip Book From Google
   
8. New Sandbox Guide Discussed
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google Displaying Really Long Site Descriptions?
   
2. Organic & Paid Search Conversion Metrics Similar
   

Posted at 4:30 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

tired eyes
Originally uploaded by sesame ellis.

Posted at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Category: | Comments (1) (0)

Matt McGee has an outstanding post named Top 21 Signs You Need a Break from SEO, which then Stuntdubladds 11 more to.

Ok, so I can relate to all 32 items listed. But, what scares me most is...

What does it mean if you are mentioned not once, not twice, but three times in these blog posts? Now I am scared...

You know the URLs for Search Engine Roundtable, and can explain the nuances which make each unique, not to mention rattle off the list of writers for each one, including those who write for more than one of them.

You know the URLs for Search Engine Watch, and can explain the nuances which make each unique, not to mention rattle off the list of writers for each one, including those who write for more than one of them.

Following in the footsteps of Cartoon Barry, your brilliant idea for 2007 is to create an alter-ego for yourself called “SEO Shaft.” Your blog’s tagline will be “Can ya Digg it?”

Eeeekkk!

Posted at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

This morning, we went to LaGuardia Airport (LGA) to fly out to St. Louis and guess who we saw pull up? Jesse Jackson, he was standing outside of terminal, waiting for something. A couple people took pictures with him, while he was waiting. I snapped some candids...

Posted at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (3) (0)

Tiring day...

Google launched a new feature for Book Search that allows you to find a nearby library that has the book you want. I looked at reasons why Yahoo! is seeing their ad growth slow. WebmasterWorld gained a new Microsoft adCenter representative, this one is from the UK. Is Google testing pay per call in India? KinderStart is at it again, suing Google. GooglePray, no comment. Live.com referral bug has been fixed.

I want to wish those of you a happy, healthy and successful New Year!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Why Does Yahoo! See Ad Growth Slowing?
   
2. New Microsoft adCenter WebmasterWorld Member Represents Europe
   
3. Google Launches Pay Per Call in India?
   
4. Lingering Reports of a Very Inaccurate Google Site Command Search
   
5. The GooglePray META Tag
   
6. Microsoft Fixes Referral Bug in Windows Live Search
   
7. Slow Over Next Few Days - Rosh Hashanah
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google Book Search Adds "Find It At The Library" Link
   
2. KinderStart Issues An Amended Complaint Against Google
   

Posted at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Did you happen to read Danny's post about a new job opening from Google for a Webmaster Trends Analyst?

Sounds like a perfect job for Barry Schwartz! Of course, if I lose yet another news editor to a search engine, oh vey!

Hmmmm....

Posted at 5:07 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (1) (0)

Rosh Hashanah (ראש השנה), the Jewish New Year, is this Friday night. My wife an I are flying to St. Louis tomorrow morning, to spend the weekend with her family. Blogging will be light this Friday and also I won't be able to blog Monday AM until after about 11AM (EST).

In any event...

Google has put up a Google Doodle with a Shofar in it. The Shofar is typically blown during Rosh Hashanah services. Aish HaTorah has a good article on Symbolism of the Shofar.

You can currently see the logo at google.co.il.

Happy New Year to all you Jews. :)

Posted at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Category: Family , Homey , Travels | Comments (4) (0)

We installed an access control system for our office like three or more years ago. Today, the system went bad. A device shorted and blew up, locking a few of the doors that device controlled. One of the rooms it locked was the main room where the RustyBrick programmers work in.

We tried a bunch of things to get it open, including:

• Accessing the software, did not work
  
• Unplugging the device, it ran off a back up
  
• Unplugging the back up, it was a fail-safe (meaning if everything goes off, they remain locked)
  
• Swapping out a good device for a bad one, but since we had to use one that was in use already, it didn't work
  

In any event, Joe (RB Guy) and I was able to get that door open with a credit card - yea... I also called the company who installed it over to fix the problem, they did. They also did some routine maintenance on the system, while they were here.

To be honest, the system is incredibly old. It is one of those proprietary, old school, access control systems. I wonder if someone will create an open source equivalent. Like with PBX software, we now have an open source solution named Asterisk, we use it here and it is awesome. Would love an open source access control system.

We don't use it for security. We use it for convenience. I hate carrying a dozen of keys around with me. I only need to cary one keychain to open all the doors in my office building. It is convenient, until it stops working.

Guess what, I do have backup keys for all the doors. But for some reason, that one door, the key doesn't work. All the other doors work just fine. So I am out to replace that lock with a new one as soon as possible. Until then, that door remains open.

Posted at 9:59 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (4) (0)

Seriously, a man has taken a bite out of a panda bear's back. The BBC News reports that a "drunken Chinese tourist says he bit a panda who attacked him after he jumped into a zoo enclosure to "hug" the bear."

The man's name is Zhang Xinyan he is 35 years old and you can see a picture of him at the The Sydney Morning Herald. Oh and the bears name is Gu Gu. The subtitle from the picture at BBC News is "Gu Gu the panda is said to have suffered no harm after the event."

The newspaper said Mr Zhang had a "sudden urge" to touch Gu Gu with his hand, so he jumped over the waist-high railing into the enclosure.

"When he got closer and was undiscovered, he reached out to hug it," the newspaper added.

So weird...

Posted at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

I got some cool schwag delivered to my office today. It is Ask.com Schwag & Gear...

The third edition of the Search Pulse is now live, it was a ton of fun! I spotted this cool tool that lets you see Google results as if you are in another country. Gore's CurrentTV has partnered with Yahoo to form "The Yahoo Current Network." Microsoft finalized an agreement with China Telecom to get Live.com some action in China. Google Base dropped the search box to improve usability, not. YPN updated their contextual ads. Google Girls were interviewed. And finally, sad news, Canadians are not wanted to participate in the Google AdWords Professional program.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Search Pulse 3: Live.com, AdWords Test, Intuit & Google, Yahoo! Ads, Supplementals, Belgian Cache, OneBox Spam, Adam Lasnik on Links
   
2. Canadians Not Welcome in Google Advertising Professionals Program
   
3. Yahoo! Improves YPN Ads
   
4. Check Your Google Results in Any Country
   
5. SEO Intern Training Programme by Cre8asite's Ammon Johns
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Yahoo Teams Up With Gore's Current TV
   
2. Google Base Drops Search Box As Part Of Usability Improvements
   
3. Microsoft To Enter Chinese Market With China Telecom
   
4. Google Webmaster Central's Vanessa Fox & Amanda Camp Interviewed
   
5. See Google Results As If You Are In Another Country
   

Posted at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Just got a wonderful gift from my friends at Ask.com, I believe Gary Price is to thank for this, so thank you Gary...

I got this wonderful Ask.com Water Bottle...

Which came in this neat Ask.com Tote Bag...

In the tote bag was an Ask.com T-Shirt and Ask.com Hat, which I am sporting here...

And the coolest Ask.com Schwag, is this Ask.com Messenger Bag...

Thank you Gary and Ask.com - Jim, did you have any part of this?

Update: Yes, I took the pictures with my web cam, iSight. Yes, I was too lazy to reverse them in Photoshop. No, Photobooth does not have a mirror image option. Yes, that is a Timbuk 2 Commute bag.

Posted at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies , Just Funny | Comments (3) (0)

Learning to drive? Parallel parking is a hard thing to do, for new drivers. But parallel parking with a dog in the way is even more challenging.

There is this online flash game that will help you Park Perfectly.

There are only four or so stages.

(1) Park your car in a spot, front forward
(2) Park your car in a spot, by backing in
(3) Park your can in a spot, by parallel parking
(4) Park your car in a spot, by parallel parking and with a dog in the way

You cannot hit an other car, a wall or the dog!

Neat game, play it here.

Posted at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (11) (0)

A stupid thing that kinda bugs me, is when I get to the office in the morning (6:45ish) and the elevator is not at the first floor. Even though my building is only four floors, the elevators are slow. City elevators are extremely quick, but yet, they have between 20 and 100 floors to go between. In any event, it just makes me feel that I am wasting time, standing waiting for the elevator.

Don't get me wrong, I know it is just a minute, but I am crazy like that. Yes, sometimes I take the stairs, but not at 6 in the morning.

One thing I try to do, when I get to my floor and if no one else is in the elevator, is send the elevator back down.

Typically, in the morning, the elevator traffic starts from floor 1 and goes up. So the next person who uses the elevator is typically coming from the lobby. So I send it back down for them. It takes no time, so why not.

Posted at 9:36 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (1) (0)

The Search Pulse is on today at 5PM (EST), tune in at WebmasterRadio.FM.

Yahoo was in the news a lot today. Yesterday they said they will be spending big bucks to promote themselves. Then today, they also said they will be developing an incubator to better hold on to existing employees. Then even later today, Yahoo's CEO said ad growth is slowing, causing their stock to fall over 10%.

Google and Apple have been stirring up some rumors about an ad and content deal. Google also formed a Political Action Committee named NetPAC. Google also had some troubles, where Ben discovered OneBox spam and they finally fixed a reporting error in AdWords. Also on the Google front, I looked at URL queries and also at rotating AdSense ads. Oh, is it possible that Wikipedia is adverting on Google? Finally, I looked at Live.com as a threat to Google and a bug with adCenter conversion tracking that may have cost some sales.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google OneBox Q&A Adult Spam - Sweet Find Ben!
   
2. Is Live.com A New Threat To Google? - Nah
   
3. Yahoo! to Spend Big to Compete - big hit on stock
   
4. Microsoft adCenter Security Warning Cost Sales - conversion issue
   
5. Google Fixes AdWords Reporting Issue - about time!
   
6. Rotating Ad Blocks To Reduce Ad Blindness - nice idea
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google & Apple To Do Content, Ad Deals? - interesting...
   
2. Google's Political Action Committee: Google NetPAC - yawn
   
3. URL Vs. Navigational Queries Explained: AKA, Why Did URL Searches At Google Change? - nice bit of info
   
4. Yahoo Creating "Brickhouse" Internal Incubator To Keep Talent - keep em hot
   
5. Why Is Wikipedia Advertising On Google? - cant be
   
6. Yahoo Creating "Brickhouse" Internal Incubator To Keep Talent - good idea
   
7. Yahoo CEO Says Ad Growth Slowing Down; Ask.com To Increase Market Share - times are changing
   

Posted at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I really like Technorati, at least for the most part. When upgrading to Movable Type 3.x it broke the "Related Entries" feature on the Search Engine Roundtable. I tried coming up with a work around and then decided to utilize the new Movable Type tags feature. Every since the upgrade, I have been adding tags to my posts. So why not display them?

I decided to link my tags to a restricted site (i.e. seroundtable.com) based on the tags of the entry. The following code was what I used to display those tags.

<MTEntry>
<MTEntryIfTagged>
<MTEntryTags glue=", ">
<a href="http://technorati.com/tag/<$MTTagName normalize="1"$>?from=http://www.seroundtable.com">
<$MTTagName$></a></MTEntryTags>
<MTElse>
has no entry tags.
</MTElse>
</MTEntryIfTagged>
</MTEntry>

So it basically links over to Technorati for tags that match on seroundtable.

For example on Rotating Ad Blocks To Reduce Ad Blindness entry I have two tags (I should have added more), they include adsense and google adsense. See that clicking on those links take you to a Technorati search page.

Useful? Want something different? Etc?

Posted at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

So this week I am getting up before 5:30 each morning... Yea, I am tired and that is one consequence. But there are others...

I typically don't dress well, at least I am told that...

But at 5:30AM, when it is so dark outside and you can barely think, getting dressed is something I just don't think about.

For example, I put on gray pants with white stripes. Then I put on a red, white and black dotted shirt (stripes up, down, left and right). I am also wearing Nike sneakers.

If I was popular, maybe I would make the Worst Dressed List. :)

If you looked at me, you may laugh.

Posted at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (12) (0)

Last week, for some reason I was unable to connect via the Broadband connect service that worked originally. It was upsetting. So tonight I had some time to call Verizon and Palm.

End result, I had to hard reset, and when I tried restoring off my backup, it did not work. But I was able to overwrite all the crazy data from desktop to handheld. Still all my apps and preferences were lost, a huge pain.

But after all is done, I am not able to connect over my phone on my laptop to high speed wireless.

Worth it? I'll let you know...

But I think what caused the original conflict was the ChatterMatrix add on. It is gone for now.

As an FYI - the connection dropped as I was typing this. But I think it will connect again when needed, maybe I had a poor signal or something...

Overall, I have mixed emotions about this. I just hope it works this Friday, when I will need it again.

Posted at 9:03 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , Computers | Comments (0) (0)

Danny was off today, I am sure he will let us all know about his excellent geek trip. Can't say more about it, but I am sure he will.

Google was ordered by a Belgian court to remove the content of a French speaking paper from Google News and the Google Cache. This can have serious repercussions in the European Union in the upcoming months or years. There was a Google update over the weekend, results have shifted. Ever try sending AdSense in an email? It does work for some programs, but is it allowed? I took an other look at the Live.com referral bug. Yahoo told us they will be spending multi-millions of dollars on promotion. Baidu, the chinese search engine, is totally killing Google in China. Looking for an AdWords refresher? Google is sponsoring one. That is all for today.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Cache & Google News Not Allowed in Belgium
   
2. Google Search Update
   
3. Some AdSense Publishers Can Place Ads in Emails
   
4. Google's "AdWords Seminars for Success"
   
5. MSN Says Live.com Referral Bug "Not By Design"
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Belgian Court Orders Google To Remove Content From Google News & Cache
   
2. Yahoo To Run Huge Global Advertising Campaign
   
3. Baidu Holds 62% Share In China
   

Posted at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I heard this on the news this morning, that Yankees Fan Jack Nicholson Refused To Wear Red Sox Cap in New Film. The director of the film is Martin Scorsese and he was the one who could not convince Jack Nicholson to put on the red sox hat on. Deal is, Nicholson is playing a role as a Boston, Massachusetts, gangster. S'more details at NY Mag.com.

Even worse, Jack’s sadistic Irish Southie is so evil that he wears a Yankees hat on the streets of Boston. “First of all, they wanted me to wear a Red Sox hat,” he grumbles, “but I said, all things being equal, I don’t want to.

“My Yanks, they came before the Lakers, of course,” says the Jersey native. “But Kristen [Dalton], my inamorata in the picture, she wore a Red Sox cap both to subtly indicate domestic conflict and to politically mollify the fans in Boston.”

And Yankee fans are proud in this forum.

Posted at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny , Sports | Comments (0) (0)

This week I get up before 5:30 each day. Fun.

I am tired.

And the Jets lost. :(

Posted at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (0) (0)

It has been almost 4 months since my wedding and we are still getting wedding gifts, pretty cool. Side note; we just got in our Thank You cards and have begun writing thank you notes to all of you who have sent us gifts, they should be out within the next few weeks...

The latest gift was this really cool digital photo frame from Philips. I looked it up and it looks like Engadget.com has a detailed review of it from 09/2005, so I won't do the review thing here.

In any event, loading pictures is fairly easy. It has a ton of features. But it would be sweet if it was wifi enabled, so I can tell it to randomly choose images from Flickr tagged with a certain word.

Basically, last night I went through all our images in Flickr with Yisha. I tagged all photos I want to be placed on the digital photo frame with an obscure tag. Then I went to that page of pictures with that tag only and exported them to the Philips 7FF1AW Digital Photo Frame. It was a manual process. It would be very cool to just tag photos and them automatically rotate wireless from Flickr on that frame.

In any event, this photo frame is way cool - one of the coolest gifts we got (in geek terms)...

Posted at 2:58 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (0) (0)

Before the Jimmy Buffett concert I had a meeting with a prospect who has an office across the street from Grand Central Station. He decided he would like to walk to Grand Central to sit down there and discuss business, so we did.

I believe we walked up to a restaurant named the Campbell Apartment and had coffee there while discussing business.

During our meeting, the alarms and sirens kept on going off. We looked around and noticed that people kept on doing what they were doing as if nothing was going on. So we decided to continue our business. They then shut off. But a few minutes later they went back on. Same thing, business as usual there - so we carried on.

Then some woman went on the loud speaker, but she said something that was so hard to hear that no one could comprehend what she said. Did she say, there is an emergency, please proceed to the nearest exit or did she say that it was a false alarm. No one knew...

I figured the place would be swarming with cops if there was an issue, so we stayed.

In any event, I stole the picture above from Wikipedia and tried to trace out the alarms that I saw going off, there were more, but these were the ones I can make out in this picture. I also uploaded one at Flickr and used the "add note" tool to make the sketch of the alarms more interactive, it is cool, check it out.

Posted at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

Flying anywhere soon? If so, make sure your airline doesn't ban your laptop from use onboard. Wired reports that Virgin Atlantic has banned the use of Dell and Apple laptops in-flight.

Why?

Because some past Dell laptops became flamethrowers, for real. And Apple recalled a ton of batteries that were likely to over heat or catch on fire.

Hey, I have a MacBook Pro. As of now, my battery is just fine - but who knows. And I fly frequently enough, I don't fly Virgin, but I am worried other airlines may adopt this.

Posted at 3:33 PM | Permalink | Category: Computers , Travels | Comments (1) (0)

I feel like I sold out. :) This is the first time I repeated everything that I wrote at the Search Engine Roundtable, over at the Search Engine Watch Blog. I honestly told Danny that I feel weird doing that, but he said that this is all we got to blog. So I did it.

So what happened? Can you believe that Live.com is not passing referral data anymore? Oh, and Google's AdWords is dropping the top sponsored ads if it determines that the user does not want to see them, which is pretty cool. Google added editable tabs to the Google personalized home page. Google's Adam Lasnik haiku'ed his way to telling people not to buy links. Finally, Google's blogger was down for over an hour this morning.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Personalized Home Page Adds Custom Tabs - useful
   
2. Google's Blogger Blogspot Down For More Than One Hour - kidding me?
   
3. Live.com Is Not Passing Referer Information - shocking but true!
   
4. Google Testing Removing Top Blue Ads Based on User Behavior - very neat
   
5. Google's Adam Lasnik Knocks on Paid Links - some good comments here
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Windows Live Hot? You Won't Know Since Referer Data Is Stripped - repeat
   
2. Google Adds Tabs To Personalized Home Page - repeat
   
3. See Ads? Now You Don't! Google AdWords Rotating Out Top Sponsored Links - repeat
   

Good weekend all!

Posted at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I was reading one of Rand's most recent posts at SEOMoz, this one was named Email is Still the Key to a Successful Link Building Campaign. And I was thinking, wow he spends a lot of time writing his blog posts. To be honest, most of my blog posts take about 2 - 10 minutes each. Of course the research takes more time. But Rand's long blog posts, wow - gotta figure 10 - 25 minutes. Scroll down the SEOMoz blog and see how many of these long but useful posts Rand contributed recently.

Makes you wonder, how much SEO consulting the man is actually doing. :)

Step back, note, I labeled this post in the SEO Tips section. Why would I do that? I really think that is self-explanatory and that it answers the question...

Is Rand a Professional SEO or Professional Blogger? Hmmm... Both.

Posted at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

So last night I was live blogging Jimmy Buffett Live At Madison Square Garden. I actully attempted to use the Treo to make live video of the concert. But as you can tell, you cannot hear a thing, besides for the crowd yelling. I doubt this would be a copyright issue, since this is barely legible.

The pictures weren't all that great either.

Anyway, Jimmy really looked like he was having a great time on stage. Constantly smiling, laughing and kidding around with both the band and the audience. He actually took one of the life tubes off a prop life guard chair and gave it to one of the fans. He knows how to connect with his fan base. I guess that explains the Parrotheads phenomenon. It was really cool seeing tons of people inside and outside of Madison Square Garden in hawaiian shirts, flip-flops and board shorts. The logo above is from Parrot Heads in Paradise, the character is doing Fins song.

Posted at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Category: Music | Comments (0) (0)

I can't remember the last time I was this mad. You spend a ton of time, money and energy giving a non-profit an awesome, high end web site and it comes to bite you in the behind, not once, but twice!

Like many non-profits, this one has a board. One individual on that board is too lazy to do his job and blames everyone else but him. The deal is, we did our job, documented it and this person keeps seeding lies.

I was about to post on the site a demo on how easily it ease for people to update the web site.

Then I decided to calm down and go to people on the board that are above this person.

I documented everything, the history, the process, added QuickTime videos with demos and clearly showed who is at fault.

Heck, I did this site for free - a site I would charge anyone else $15,000 for.

Just amazes me how some evil people can be.

Posted at 11:15 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (2) (0)

I am here at Madison Square Garden, waiting for Jimmy Buffett to get on stage. In about 15 minutes, he will be on stage. Anyway, Ill try to do some live blogging of the concert. I am up in a skybox suite, slightly behind the stage.

Here are the setlists from the Buffett 2006 - Party At The End Of The World Tour.

Here is the first picture...

More to come...

Here is Here: 8:15ish...

The audience....

Jimmy...

They take a intermission at around 9:20....Pictures are below...Ill keep uploading them and posting them at flickr, but I won't post all of them in this entry. I also have some videos, but not sure how legal that is... I am taking these on my Treo 700p, so the quality isn't too great.

9:31 Jimmy and Friends get back on the stage. Well the lights are now dimmed, a video is playing. So they are not on stage yet...

9:37 a tribute to 9/11 on the video.

9:38 they really come back on the stage...

10:10, I think I am going to put the computer away now. If I take more pics, I'll upload them later. There should be a nice amount of pics here for you to chew on.

I lied, 10:29, Margartiaville is now being played by Jimmy. And I uploaded more pics...

Here is a Flickr Badge that will rotate images randomly from the concert as I upload them...

www.flickr.com More of rustybrick's photos tagged with jimmybuffett

More here.

Posted at 7:44 PM | Permalink | Category: Music | Comments (3) (0)

I am sitting here on an open wifi network in the city, in my car. Some reason my EVDO phone connection is not working, so I am wide open now... Anyway...

Intuit and Google formed a sweet partnership. Oh, so did Yahoo and Acer. MSN finally redirected MSN Search to Live.com. Google did a backlink update and also enabled a way to check supplemental results. Into checking links, Wikipedia has a method of locating all your wiki links. We looked at Google.org's hybrid cars and a mirror to Google.com. Finally, YPN fixed their balance reporting bug.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo! Fixes YPN Balance Reporting Error - good
   
2. A True Mirror Image of Google.com - funny
   
3. MSN Search Redirects to Live.com - So what?
   
4. Intuit & Google Partnership :: Huge For Google - Awesome!
   
5. Another Meaningless Google Backlink Update - LOL
   
6. Checking a Site's Supplemental Results in Google - Useful
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google: Expanding One Start-Up At A Time - Interesting
   
2. Yahoo & Acer Partner: Yahoo Search Default Search Engine on Acer Computers - Nice
   
3. Checking Back Links From Wikipedia Articles - Useful
   
4. Google Fights To Use "Gmail" Name In Germany - Ok
   
5. Google.org Creating For Profit Hybrid Cars - Fun read
   

Posted at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Not sure why I forgot to add this feature on day one, but I just added it now. Like I have on the Search Engine Roundtable for over a year, possibly two years now, you an now subscribe also via email, if you don't like RSS subscriptions.

I use FeedBlitz, which pulls your RSS feed, into an email blast. You can manage your email subscriptions at FeedBlitz also, so it is pretty cool.

How do you subscribe? Here is the form. Enter your email address, it will take you to a page to enter in an image verification code and then finally you will have to click on a link in your email to confirm, once again, that you want to subscribe.

This form is also available near the RSS subscription buttons on the right hand side bar.

Posted at 11:33 AM | Permalink | Category: Rambling | Comments (1) (0)

My company sponsors a local small basketball team, which we named the "RustyBrick Bytes." Yea, we thought it would be a funny name. Bytes, bites, computers, basketball, etc...

We had our first game last night, we won. But I don't think it was a real season game, since the referrers did not show. Some sort of miscommunication.

If you didn't know, I try to play basketball at least twice a week. I hope to play three times per week.

I enjoy the game - I just hope the game enjoys me back. :)

So, what you think of the logo and the name? Pacman look alike? One of the most popular original computer games... Geekfest...

Posted at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (10) (0)

Richard Bell left a comment here the other day, asking me to take a look at his game named TagMan. TagMan is a pretty neat idea, it is hangman, but it pulls from a database of words from Technorati, Squidoo, del.icio.us or Flickr. It looks at the most popular tags from Technorati, Squidoo, del.icio.us or Flickr and randomly selects them for the hangman game. If you win, you "jump directly to that tag's page on Technorati or Squidoo or del.icio.us" or in Flickr's case "you'll see 4 photos." More details at the FAQ, one request, make this Web 2.0 game look more Web 2.0. :)

I played and won the second game.

So give TagMan a try.

Posted at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0) (0)

The second edition of the Search Pulse is now archived and ready for your viewing pleasure, hope you enjoy it. I wrote about the non-differences between MSN Search which will be replaced by Live.com shortly. Google is reportedly looking to buy some real estate in Manhattan. Kim Krause designed a smiley of Danny Sullivan in Lederhosen. YPN ads are now loading fine, but publishers noticed reductions in their earning balances. Is Yahoo! testing out checkout shopping cart icons on their sponsored ads? Site search volume is wayyyy more than web search volume. And finally, Google added some featured content on Google Earth by forming several partnerships.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Search Pulse 2: Google News Archive, Sitelinks, AdWords Preview, Sullivan PubCon, ChaCha & More... - check it out!
   
2. MSN Search to Switch to Live.com: What Is The Difference? - not much!
   
3. Google Coming To Manhattan - can you say "big"
   
4. Yahoo! Contextual Ads Working Now Everywhere - finally!
   
5. Cre8asite Forums Creates Danny Sullivan Emoticons - soo funny
   
6. Yahoo! Publishers Noticing Balance Reductions Last Night - wonder what is up here?
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Yahoo Displaying Checkout Icons In Search Ads - why!
   
2. Site Search Volume More Than Web Search Volume - good stuff
   
3. Google Earth Adds Featured Content Partners - cool stuff
   

Posted at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Fortunately, my business gets several calls and emails per day from prospective clients, looking for services. ~90% of those calls or emails are right off the bat, not something we are interested in pursuing for several reasons. Then there are the other ~10% that are prospects we are interested in discussing business with in greater detail. Let me run down a typical prospective call...

(1) Ring Ring...
(2) I or one of the guys here may answer the sales line (extension 1)
(3) I typically will end up talking to the prospect...
(4) I ask them what they want
(5) They typically tell me, "I want a web site for my business?" (that shows something)
(6) I ask questions to get more details...
(7) I then listen as much as I can and prompt more questions until I am satisfied (few minutes...)
(8) I then ask if the person wants a ballpark figure for pricing and timing.
(9) This can go two ways:
(a) Some say that it is not important, that they want to move on and meet in person. Typically, this is a sign of a larger company who wants to get things done right and not cheaply. But not always...
(b) Some ask for the information, I give it. It scares some away and some it does not. But it saves me time with a meeting, either way.
(10) I thank them, they thank me, and I may follow up with a summary email, if they ask for it.

Today, I went through this call, it went to step 9a. Right, a ballpark figure was turned down. I figured, maybe this was worth it. So we met the same day. But before she came, I knew something was up. One of the first things that came out of this prospects mouth was, "I am a small business, I don't have much to spend..."

So for the next hour, she drilled me with questions about sites, marketing, search, etc. Of course I sat and answered them, showed her examples. But it was such a waste of time for me. She knew it. She just wanted to learn, for free - what one has to do to make her idea into a success.

I personally would never waste someone's time like that. Knowing from the onset that you cannot afford our services and making it sound like you can, to get the meeting. I feel that it is just not right. Again, my own personal opinion - I am sure some will argue.

So how do you know when prospects are wasting your time? I know there are over 200 readers, some may have an opinion?

Posted at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (9) (0)

Something I have been wanting to get for a while, but never got around to doing it was a headset for my Cisco IP phone. The problem with these phones, IP Phones, is that all headsets cost like $150, more than the price of most phones, just seemed like a rip off.

Finally, one of my employees did some research and he found the VXI TuffSet 10.

It cost $50 at VOIPSupply.com, plus you need to get the compatible cable, which is $8.95.

My office has a mix of Cisco and Polycom IP phones, so you can mix and match the headsets.

My initial tests went well, and the sound quality was pretty good.

The real test will be next week's Search Pulse, where I don't have to hold the phone to my face while talking on the radio and sifting through articles, web sites, search engines, my notes and the chat room. More on the Search Pulse at www.seroundtable.com/archives/cat_search_pulse.html you can also catch last nights show here.

Posted at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Category: Computers | Comments (0) (0)

Yesterday, a new type of coffee was announced. The coffee is not something you drink, instead you eat it with a spoon. It is named Espesso, not Espresso. See the difference? Espresso versus Espesso. Ferran Adrià a renowned Spanish chef, who made the Time 100 Innovators list, has come up with Espesso, "a play on the Italian word "spesso," meaning thick."

Espesso takes about 12 hours to make, the recipe is secret but the "mixture is placed in pressurized containers and allowed to set for 12 hours, before being sprayed into a cup to be eaten with a spoon." "The result is a mousselike, cold solid sprayed right out of the canister." It costs costs $2.49 per cup, and comes in three choices; basic espesso, espesso cappuccino and espesso macchiatto.

Lavazza.com has more information on it, and you can watch a video of it by visiting this page. Also, news coverage at ABC Chicago and Chicago Sun Times - oh, yea, you can get this coffee in Chicago.

Posted at 8:21 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

Danny Sullivan has agreed to keynote at the upcoming WebmasterWorld PubCon! I looked at what I call Wikipedia reputation management, interesting stuff. Link Moses gave us his ten linking commandments, funny stuff. I spotted about four bugs. (1) Google site command issue, (2) Yahoo & Google adult contextual ads, (3) Yahoo ads offline, and (4) AdWords stats mixed up. Google released Pack referrals to international AdSense publishers. Also, AdSense is taking feedback on the referral buttons currently available. Finally, I looked at methods of stopping scrapers while saving your search rankings.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Scrape Bots Vs. Search Bots :: Fighting the Battle - swing and a miss
   
2. Yahoo! Publisher Network Ads Still Have Accessibility Issues - tisk tisk
   
3. Google's Site Operator Shows Sites Off Domain - fixed
   
4. Google Pack AdSense Referrals Opens Internationally - ok
   
5. Google AdSense Referral Button Feedback Requested - comply
   
6. AdWords Statistics Mixing the Search & Content Network - not good at all
   
7. Danny Sullivan to Keynote at WebmasterWorld's PubCon Vegas - this is exciting!
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Big Brands: Do You Know What Wikipedia Saying About You Via Google? - Wiki Rep
   
2. Search Bugs At Yahoo & Google - Squash that!
   
3. The Ten Linking Commandments By LinkMoses - answer to a higher authority
   

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

Gabs pointed over to a weird type of memory drive made out of wood. A company in the Netherlands named Oooms, creates, by hand, wooden USB drives.

How much are they? 256 MM Drive is 45 EURO, a 512 MB drive is 60 EURO and a 1GB drive is 70 EURO.

More pictures and details at Oooms.nl.

Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers , Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

Today is the fifth year anniversary of 9/11, I linked to several search forum threads with comments on the day. Google released a preview tool for AdWords that shows you your ads by geolocation. Ask.com launched a German based Research & Development office. I covered more adCenter woes today. Some people noticed adult ads on AdSense. Philipp spotted a Google blacklist for the toolbar. Andy dug into a proposed federal government spend tracking search engine. I laid out several reasons for clicking on an AdSense ad. That was the day in search.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Preview Your Google AdWords Ads Here & There - finally!
   
2. Microsoft adCenter Continues Serving Ads 60 Hours Beyond Pausing Campaign - sad
   
3. Adult Ads Displayed Within Google's AdSense Program? - 2nd time I heard this today
   
4. The Behavior Behind Users Clicking on Google AdSense Ads - fun & enlightening
   
5. Search Industry Pays Respect to 9/11 - ☮
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google GeoTargeted AdWords Preview Tool: See How Ads Look Outside Your Region - Danny changed my title
   
2. Google's Toolbar Anti-Phishing Blacklist - not incredibly interesting
   
3. Track Federal Spending With Government Search Engine - nice Andy
   
4. Ask.com To Open R&D Center in Germany - ok
   

Posted at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Lucky me, I am going to see Jimmy Buffett live for the first time this Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. For those of you that don't know Jimmy Buffett, well, he is a musician that has a groupie following named "Parrrotheads." Like "deadheads" for Grateful Dead fans, like "Phishheads" for Phish heads, etc.. Parrotheads are Jimmy Buffett fans.

Jimmy Buffett has many famous songs, but one of my personal favorites is Cheese Burger in Paradise, no, it is not kosher ;-). For more about Mr. Buffett, check out his Wikipedia entry. The official web site is named Margaritaville, an other famous song.

Finally, I stole the picture above from CMT.com, it shows Jimmy is a Mac user. So he is legit. :)

Posted at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Category: Music | Comments (1) (0)

I have been a Jet fan since I was a little boy. As you can imagine, it was a rough childhood for me, being a Jet fan and all. But we hold on to our hope and faith, "there is always next year." The Jets pulled off a win yesterday, they are 1-0, a perfect record, for now. They beat the Tennessee Titans away, 23 to 16.

First half, the Jets completely ruled the game, well Mike Nugent stunk up and decided to miss his first extra point in his career. But he then missed a few more "easy" field goals after that.

The Titans came back to tie it in the 4th, but the Jets managed to hold on, stopping a 4th and goal attempt by the Titan's Collins at the end with a safety blitz. Phew!

Next week, the Jets play New England Patriots at Giants Stadium (home) at 4:15 (EST) on Sunday.

Posted at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Category: Sports | Comments (0) (0)

I was looking forward to going to both Bob Dylan coming to New York and also attending/covering/speaking at WebmasterWorld PubCon in Vegas. But it turns out they both compete with each other.

PubCon is November 14-17, 2006. I would have to fly out November 13th, to make sure I don't miss any sessions.

Bob Dylan is touring in the NY area on Mon, Nov 13, 2006 07:30 PM in Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY and also at Thu, Nov 16, 2006 07:30 PM at Continental Arena, East Rutherford, NJ.

I just don't see myself making it back for the Continental Arena show, just doesn't seem possible.

The earliest flight out Tue, Nov 14 is at 7:20am, it doesn't land in Vegas until 10:07am (there are other ones but they are not non-stop and they land later). Based on that, it appear I would miss the keynote that morning and possibly all or most of the next session. So it appears I won't be able to do both.

I won't miss the WebmasterWorld conference, so I guess I'll have to miss Bob Dylan.

Posted at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (0) (0)

Sitting here on a Saturday night, baby-sitting for nieces, with Yisha. So she is baby-sitting, I am playing on my computer. I took some photos of myself using iSight & Photo Booth. This one is kinda scary, me in XRay mode:

Here is a flickr bade of me with other Photo Booth effects (including Mirror effect, where it seems like I can make it look like I am kissing myself - yea, I am bored). First time I actually used this program, pretty neat.

Posted at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

Well, I just got sad news - very sad news, but totally not search related. In any event...

Google named what we called "Web Categories", Sitelinks. Justin and Brad sold their LocalLaunch company to RH Donnelley. Google.com was hijacked in Yahoo!'s search results this morning, well kinda. Hey, I found vertical creep of Google's new Archive News Search in the Google results. Did you notice that some error messages in AdWords are funny? Finally, some of the YPN ads may not load, based on your location.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. WebmasterWorld Mod's LocalLaunch Acquired - congrats guys!
   
2. Google Names Web Categories "Sitelinks" - we got a name
   
3. Some Yahoo! Publisher Ads Are Inaccessible - they are fixin it
   
4. Google Offers Up Funny AdWords Error Message - cute
   
5. Yahoo! Shows Different Site's Title & Description For Google.com - 302s
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google's Title & Description Hijacked In Yahoo Results Due To Glitch - yahooo!
   
2. Google News Archive Search Creep - I found it
   

Posted at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I have been trying to find more information on a condition known as Scoleciphobia. I know the National Institute of Health's Office of Rare Diseases defines Scoleciphobia as the fear of worms. But the only page that has content on it is this attractive looking page, which really is just template content spam and offers no more value to me (heck they got all their keywords covered).

I was able to get a definition from MedTerms on "fear of worms."

An abnormal and persistent fear of being infested with parasitic worms called helminths. The technical term for this fear is helminthphobia. The eggs of parasitic worms can contaminate air and water, particularly where hygiene is poor. They can also contaminate foods such as pork and beef as well as pets and wild animals, objects such as toilet seats, and feces (bowel waste).

But that has a lot to do with Parasitism which is about being more tied to the worm, where it kinda breaks through your skin or something and then lives inside of you. Ok, now I am a bit freaked. :)

Anyway, this whole exploration was interesting. I feel a bit itchy right now.

Posted at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Category: Rambling | Comments (172) (0)

All it takes to turn off images while browsing the web on Safari is pressing the apple key and the Y key at the same time. I do this too frequently by accident, without knowledge, throughout the day. And presto, I am surfing the web and the graphics aren't loading. So pages rendered like:

Actually, when it first began happening, I thought it was a problem with a web site, or my DNS or the browser. So I may have restarted the browser or my computer. But all it takes now is a combination touch of the apple key and the Y key.

I feel that this should be made harder, a three combo key.

Heck the T key is right near the Y key and Apple + T opens a new tab, and I use that a billion times a day.

Posted at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) (0)

Honestly, one of the worst parts of blogging so much is all the press releases I get. I honestly can not stand them. It is unsolicited. Who said I want them? If you are news worthy, trust me, I will find it and blog it.

Some are tactful. They ask if they can send me emails about news from company ABC.

Some are not. They just keep sending unsolicited releases to my inbox.

It honestly drives me nuts.

- I do not write professionally.
- I do not consider myself an news writer
- I do not do this full time
- I do not have time for the releases
- I do not care to read 95% of those releases
- I do enjoy blogging
- I do enjoy discovering news as opposed to being feed it
- I do enjoy expanding or recapping other stories

- I do NOT want your releases!

It honestly drives me nuts. I am sorry for being so blunt. Maybe I am just a bit stressed right now. :) Don't you just love that picture? Flickr rocks!

Posted at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (2) (0)

Today, I covered a human guided search engine named ChaCha, great name, no? We saw that a small change in rounding CPC prices in AdWords can have a big impact on some advertisers. The Local Search ad market is expected to double in a year. Do you do any name squeezing? If so, read below. adCenter behavioral targeting is not a reality, sorry. ESPN drops Yahoo! and goes solo on displaying and managing text link ads. Kate Burns of Google joins AdLink. And finally, some Digg users revolt when Digg proposes change to ranking algorithm.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. ChaCha's Human Guided Search - Gotta Love the Name!
2. Can Name Squeeze Pages Rank Well in Search Engines? - diddo
3. Google Makes Minor Changes to AdWords CPC Pricing - Small Changes, Big Consequences
4. Microsoft Behavioral Targeting :: Where Is It? - Not in adCenter
5. Local Search Paid Search Revenue To Nearly Double - Local $$$

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google Adjusts Minimum CPC Rates - see above
2. Google Wants To Launch Google Video In Japan - So what?
3. Digg To Change System To Stem Gaming; Top Digger Quits - This is interesting...
4. Former Google UK Chief Kate Burns Joins AdLink Media Company - Enough relaxing!
5. ESPN To Manage Own Text Ads & Drop Yahoo - Figures, a trend to come...

Community Comments on the Search Engine Roundtable Today: read more...

Comment ID# 164369 at September 7, 2006 1:36 PM:
Michael Martinez commented on ChaCha's Human Guided Search

This guided search concept has been done before. If it were really a workable model, someone would have gotten rich off the idea by now. Like the guy who started AllExperts.com, then sold it for millions of dollars and sent one last email, thanking

Well i think that you should have alot of others webs

Kevin, but that is for inclusion into Yahoo SEarch. This is the Yahoo Directory...

Downloading...

It is VERY difficult to decipher ANY reasoning behind any SEO believing that Keywords in URLs actually HURT the site. Isn't that intuitive to add get a domain name or add an HTML page that reflects the subject of the Website?

I think using their free RSS feature is much more effective with pratically no cost. ================================== Search more efficiently at http://www.searchnology.com

I think it's a pretty entertaining tactic. The question is: does this scale to more competitive keywords? Is it a plausible strategy to aim for not only the first ranking, but the first five rankings? Or the first 10?

Facebook needs more competition. They are getting corporate backing and running rampant with it. NYU had students promoting a site called CollegeHotList.com last weekend, which is actually pretty cool...but without the money of facebook, it will un

I found another google bomb for sale on ebay! Look auction ends Sept. 13, 2006 ebay Item number: 130024342979 http://cgi.ebay.com/Guaranteed-1-ranking-in-Google-MSN-and-Yahoo-SEO-svcs_W0QQitemZ130024342979QQihZ003QQcategoryZ47103QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrd

u gotta love the google adsense plastered on top of the petition page. classic. http://www.petitiononline.com/faceb00k/petition.html

320,514 members If they open it up to the world like myspace..... They think this is a revolt

Posted at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

The NY Post has an article by Mandy Stadtmiller with a survey of 850 New Yorkers asking them various questions on various question on their morning wake up rituals. I found them pretty interesting, especially the wake up times by region of New York and by profession.

Those in Queens and Staten Island wake up the earliest at 6:34 a.m., the Bronx wakes up on average at 6:40 a.m and Brooklyn folks tend to wake up at 6:44 a.m. New York on average gets up at 6:39 a.m. I believe (even though it is not published here) that if you live in Manhattan the average wake up time is 7:01 a.m., since they have less time required for travel.

Firefighters are the earliest to rise at 5:42, then taxi drivers & Wall Street guys at 5:50, followed by bodega workers at 6:03 and then doormen at 6:24 in the morning.

A lot more interesting stats on New Yorker's morning rituals at the NY Post.

Posted at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0) (0)

I get a voicemail at my home with an automated message from my credit card company that my card has been compromised. They asked me to call an 800 number and dial a special pin. I followed the directions and it took me to a special automated prompt asking me if I give them permission to cancel my credit card and reissue a new one.

Of course, I selected the option to speak with a customer representative. Heck, you are telling me my credit card was compromised. It did say, in the automated message, that no attempts appeared to have been made by an individual to use my credit card fraudulently. But I wanted to know more.

The credit card representative told me that a merchant has compromised a bunch of credit cards and that my card was one of them. She then asked me for permission to cancel the card and reissue new ones. I said, yes, please. So now I cannot use my main credit card until I get a new one, possibly 5 - 7 business days. I guess it is better than potentially having charges on the card that were not mine.

I wonder if closing out a credit card and reopening it has any affect on one's credit rating?

Anyway, it was cool that this was all pretty much automated. It was even cooler that it was fairly easy to speak with a real person, which I did do.

I also wonder which merchant compromised my card...

Posted at 6:19 PM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (3) (0)

Exciting day, the Search Pulse was aired last night live and then was archived this morning, I have a link to the archive below. Microsoft added behavioral targeting features to adCenter, yea - it is crazy. But adCenter has some pretty big technical glitches that advertisers are almost fed up with. Google launched Mobile AdWords, mobile ads are here. Google also released a news archive search engine which search 200 years into history. I feel that the Yahoo! Directory is worth the money, and how you can get it for only $60. Andy Beal came out with a top ten on SEM firm mistakes. Adam Lasnik from Google told SEOs to save their money and not attend his seminar. Finally, we looked at community questions on how search engines treat accented characters.

Oh, you will notice that we are now posting the most recent comments posted at the Search Engine Roundtable in the entry below. Why? Well, because even though we post some great stuff, the response and comments on those articles are sometimes priceless and should be given more attention.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. How Do Search Engines Treat Accented Words & Characters - éîœ
2. Is The Yahoo! Directory Worth The Money? - Yesum
3. Adam Lasnik of Google Tells SEOs Not to Attend His SEO Seminar - Save Your $
4. adCenter Advertiser Center Plagued With Technical Issues - common!
5. Google News Archive Search - Search Our History - Pretty Neat
6. First Edition of Search Pulse Live - whoo hooo!

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Microsoft Adds Behavioral Targeting Features To adCenter - very nice
2. Top SEM Firm Mistakes - nice top ten
3. Google Launches Mobile Ads On Google Mobile - Mobile Ads are here!

Community Comments on the Search Engine Roundtable Today: read more...

Comment ID# 164242 at September 6, 2006 3:04 PM:
Dana Todd commented on SEMPO Adds New Board Members, SEMPO Tahoe Builds Steam; Will SEMPO Survive?

Dana Todd said;Hey, we survived! Not only that, we're doing really well and growing and thriving as an organization that is diverse and global! I was looking at the old 2004 poll on SEW Forums and they said we wouldn't last another year. We're proud to say that we'

Barry Schwartz said;Oopps, I see, notes for "missed topics" - thanks for adding.

Barry Schwartz said;Cool, you got notes! Now people don't have to listen to the podcast, or at least they don't have to listen to you talking on the podcast. ;-) just kidding. Great job again.

chris boggs said;FYI these were my notes for the missed topics: Yahoo! Please Enable a No Yahoo! Directory Tag Good argument by Barry, but it seems as if no response from Y! so far. BTW, Barry, which part of the title is “cute,” as you put it? (lol) * Mic

chris boggs said;hmmm trying to think of a good fake name...

Gabs said;I'll be in the pub by then .. I'm likely to be in the pub by 6pm GMT.. ah well tomorrow..

Andrew Goodman said;I guess that means you should sneak in anyway. :)

Tim Finin said;It seems like many of the documents in news archives were scanned poorly and are unusable. I tried entering a query consisting of a random, meaningless four-letter sequence, GFHD and got eleven results, like this one: The Fitchburg Sentinel (Newspa

Barry Schwartz said;Good suggestion Michael, updated above.

Michael Martinez said;Barry, you may want to update this post to link to the more recent post concerning Adam's request to SEOs not to attend the session, since its focus is more on accessibility.

Michael Martinez said;Slightly disappointing, but it makes sense. I would still like to see Google and the other major search engines offer classes to the general SEO community. That would go a long way toward dispelling some of the myths and nonsense that become popula

Michael Martinez said;Just based on my initial testing, I think this will be a great tool. I've long wanted to be able to search the news archives from a single resource. Two thumbs up, Google!

Barry Schwartz said;Yea, I see that also, not sure when they switched back.

Paul Zhao said;When did Yahoo directory switch back to direct links? I remember a while back (about 6 months ago), they link to a dynamic URL that did a 302 redirect to the actual site.

Gabs said;Spend those $30 on adwords ;)

Barry Schwartz said;Guys, I promise, I'll post a link to it as soon as I know it is up. It takes about 24 hours for it to be archived. So look for it today around 6pm (EST).

Gabs said;Any podcast yet ? http://www.webmasterradio.fm/episodes/index.php?showId=44 nothing yet :(

Ashutosh said;can anybody plz tell me how wikipedia is doing this so that most of the times it tops google search

Hawaii SEO said;Please let us know when we can download the archived version.

shandyking said;Excellent first show!

Posted at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I remember when growing up in my parents home when I was younger. My parents built on an extension to their kitchen, which pushed back the kitchen several feet into the backyard. Soon after the extension was done, the same bird (at least I was told then that it was the same bird) kept on flying into that window, over and over again. I saw it a few times actually fly into the window. Often, one would hear a big bang, and look at the window and find nothing - but sometimes I saw it happen.

The same thing happens in my office building. For some reason, frequently enough, a bird flies directly into the window of my office. I am on the 3rd floor, pretty much in the middle of the office building. The building has been here for about 10 years, so I doubt it is one of those flight pattern things. Maybe it is just dark when I get here.

Did you know that windows are one of the leading causes of bird death? The picture above is from a bird that is recovering from a window accident, for real, click on it and it will show you a caption.

It's estimated that more than 90 million birds are killed each year as a result of hitting windows. Stopping the collisions is a matter of changing the birds' perception of what they see in the window.

So why do birds fly into windows, like my office building's windows? Good question, the answer is at WildBirds.com.

Tall buildings that relied heavily on large sheets of glass surface were especially hazardous. Birds see a reflection of the outdoors in the window and do not realize they are flying into a solid object. The end result is a stunned bird or a bird with a broken neck. During the spring, birds will appear to attack windows. They are really defending their territory from the "other" bird they see reflected in the window. They lunge at the "other bird" and peck it, trying to drive it away.

Preventing this is possible. eHow.com has an article on How to Prevent Birds From Flying Into Windows.

I never thought in a million years I would write about birds flying into my window, go figure.

Posted at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (10) (0)

First and foremost, make sure to catch the first edition of the Search Pulse tonight at 5pm (EST), you can tune in at WebmasterRadio.FM.

Slow day in search news, most likely because it was a long labor day weekend. In any event, I covered most of the weekend news yesterday but I added a few topics. Google will be giving SEO classes, it is true. There is this Google AdSense bug with the competitive filter list. Google has "re-opened" the Tesseract OCR Software to the open source community. Click to call has been launched on Google UK. Finally, Google clarified its terminology for the cache date used on cache pages.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Giving Search Engine Optimization Classes - basic SEO
   
2. Google's AdSense Competitive Filter Not Working a 100%? - what does work 100% anyway?
   
3. Reminder :: Search Pulse Live Tonight at 5pm(EST) - hope to catch you in the chat room
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google Opens Tesseract OCR Software - hope its better than Microsoft
   
2. Google's Click To Call In UK - Hope jet2 isn't getting a ton of test calls
   
3. Google Updates Terminology Of Last Visit Date In Cache Results - clarification is always good
   

I hope I get over this cold before I get on the air, I sound like a frog.

Posted at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I am all about bringing to light some of Microsoft's misfortune, heck why not? Below is a video of Microsoft demonstrating their voice recognition software, and it totally not working.

Microsoft blamed "ambient noises" for the problem, but did you hear anything prior to the test failing? More here.

Too funny.

Posted at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (3) (0)

Are you ever bored and want to keep your fingers active? Well, there is this classic game named Space Invaders you can play online. You can play it at neave.com/games/.

It is nice to see these classic games getting recreated and published as Flash based web games.

Don't waste too much of your time playing Space Invaders:

Space Invaders is an arcade video game designed by Toshihiro Nishikado in 1978. It was originally manufactured by Taito and licensed for production in the U.S. by the Midway division of Bally. Released (at first in its native Japan) in 1978, it ranks as one of the most influential video games ever created. Though simplistic by today's standards, it (along with other contemporary games such as Pac-Man and Breakout) was one of the forerunners of modern video gaming.

Posted at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Category: Rambling | Comments (1) (0)

Last night, the wife and I went to see Invincible, a movie about Vince Papale from the Philadelphia Eagles. Really one of those inspiring movies where a man with nothing; works in a bar, lost his day job, his wife left him and no real foreseeable future. The Philadelphia Eagles holds a controversial open try out and he makes the team.

Good movie.

Of course you can use Ask.com to get more details on the movie and more reviews from others. The reviews were all not great, Average Rating: 6.4/10. So check them out.

Posted at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (3) (0)

Today is Labor Day, I worked most of the day... All the search engines seem to have some sort of representation that it is Labor Day in the US, except for Google. Ask.com has tips for BBQs, Yahoo! and MSN are portals so they have some mention of Labor Day on the home page but Google.com has nothing. I personally came into the office at 8am, instead of 6:30ish, and I hope to leave a bit early today also, maybe even by 4:30pm, we will see. On to the search topics I covered today...

Matt Cutts talked about how mass amounts of URL changes can raise a red flag, something that most ordinary Webmasters can only dream of triggering. I reported on the launch of Google's Click to Call program in the UK. Speaking of the UK, Yahoo! launched the Yahoo! Answers product in the UK today. On the Yahoo! front, their Treasurer left them for the up and coming YouTube. The last bit of impressive news today, I would consider, Google's ability to "fingerprint" a voice to identify the ads to display on a particular PC.

I also covered that Google has agreed to finally hand over the data on Orkut users that has been stored in the US. AdWords has a bug that will linger for the next several days. adCenter allows for 100,000 keywords per account. I caught myself playing that Google Image Labeler game again. And finally, Google handles the cache landing page differently for the supplemental index versus the main index.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google's Cache for Supplemental Results Does Not Highlight Query Words - funky stuff
   
2. Google AdWords Ads Diagnostic Tool Bug - no biggie
   
3. Microsoft adCenter Allows 100,000 Keywords Per Account - 100k * 3
   
4. Google Flags Sites That Add Too Many New URLs - No Worries say Matt Cutts
   
5. Google Image Labeler Addictive - ouch~!@
   
6. Google Launches Click to Call in UK - dialing US numbers seems to work?
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. Google Says They Will Give Brazil Orkut Data - Google, Inc.
   
2. YouTube Hires Yahoo's Treasurer, Gideon Yu - More broadband required
   
3. Yahoo Answers Launches In The UK - nice
   
4. Google To Fingerprint Voices With PC Microphones - shhhh!
   

Posted at 1:43 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

After over three months of not getting a hair cut, I finally got one. Why didn't I get one earlier? Well, I never have the patience to sit in a chair and get a hair cut. Normally I have someone who bugs me to get a haircut. But my wife didn't mind the longer hair. Recently, she wanted my hair to look more "put together," so we went to the haircut place.

Guess what? After the haircut she was a bit upset that I had less hair. Go figure? :)

Anyway, the whole process reminded me of a Crosby Stills Nash & Young song from the Déjà Vu (iTunes link) album named Almost Cut My Hair (Amazon link here.

Anyway, I now have less hair and I also shaved (don't worry, I still have the goatee).

Posted at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Category: Family | Comments (2) (0)

As I said, I recently started on this crazed Super Double Big Gulp addiction. The first step was to acknowledge there was a problem, and I did that. Phew....

Now, I need to do something about it.

I am proud to say I am Super Double Big Gulp free since the day I posted that. Yes, three full days, without a Super Big Gulp. Yea, thank you - thanks for your support.

But to take that to the next step. I think I won't be drinking any soda during the week at all. Only soda on weekends, starting at Friday night and ending at Sunday night.

Hope it sticks.

Posted at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (2) (0)

What is a better way to spend a Labor Day then to have a really tasty BBQ? Yisha, her sister, and I drove to a friend in Southern New Jersey to have a really plentiful and tasteful BBQ. Seriously, no Ask.com barbeque tips needed at this BBQ. Well worth the trip, and traffic was not bad.

If only the the weather man was better at predicting rain. It did not rain at all. Which rocked. Yes, it was suppose to rain.

I think I may come in a bit later tomorrow morning. Expect me in at 8:30am.

Thanks for the great BBQ!

Posted at 7:49 PM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (0) (0)

I am a horrible sales man. It is true, I stink at sales. And guess what? I am the sole sales person at RustyBrick. It is my job to handles business development which includes branding, publicity and, yes, sales. The other ten or so talented people at RustyBrick are the doers, they are developers, designers and system admins. It is my responsibility to do the sales, and I stink at it.

RustyBrick is as busy as ever. Which is maybe why I am a bad sales man.

I go to meetings to meet prospective clients and I:

• don't dress well
  
• don't come to meetings well groomed
  
• don't prepare outstanding presentations
  
• don't compliment the individual I am meeting with
  
• don't research the prospect
  
• don't write powerful, graphical, proposals
  
• don't say why RustyBrick is better than others
  
• don't act like I want the prospects business
  
• don't follow up on those proposals
  

I am sure there are other things I am missing. But it hit me today. I have been sending out proposal and not following up. I hit the send button and that is the last I think of them. Not because I am not able to track if they got it and stuff. That is not true, I capture when I send the proposal, when it was received, how many times the person(s) viewed it, what pages they viewed and at what times. But I haven't been looking at that data for a year or so.

Just an hour ago, I got an email from a big prospect I sent a proposal to, probably two weeks ago. They wanted to schedule a meeting. I was like, hey - I remember sending them a proposal.

Oh, and when I finally close the deal (i.e. the client sends me a check), I don't get excited. I am weird, I honestly, don't get excited about many things.

So why are we so busy with new work and repeat work? I think it is because we care so much. We won't stop until the product is perfect. People trust us, they respect us and most importantly, we respect them and value their business. Sounds like I am selling something, but it is honestly how I and my employees act towards our clients. Hmm... I am honestly thinking of deleting this now, but I wrote so much, so I will keep it.

Bottom line is that I am not a good sales man.

If you are a client, would you agree?

Posted at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (9) (0)

Man, I am tired... So happy the weekend is here. I hope to hibernate for a solid 24 hours.

Yahoo! is messing around and going a bit overboard with their integration of Answers in the search results. Google has changed the way they handle the results for navigational like queries. Matt spilled the beans that Google eats up those keyword rich URLs. The AdWords API will cost you a pretty penny starting October 1st. Brazil is going to get a daily allowance of a measly $23k from Google, nice having a rich uncle. You speak with an accent? Well, that doesn't matter. But if you type with accented characters then you should read on. You have morals and you have AdSense, we got a post for you. Finally, don't miss the Search Pulse this Tuesday night at 5PM!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Keywords in File Names & URLs Do Help - told ya so ;-)
   
2. Yahoo! Answers Tests New Search Integration Interface - mmm beer
   
3. Google to Begin Charging AdWords API Fees October 1st - it can always be worse
   
4. Google Changes Handling of Domain (Navigational) Search - wonder what sparked this change
   
5. Reporting Google AdSense Violations - oh, ethics!
   

Search Engine Watch Topics:

1. How Google Handles Accented Characters - still don't get it
   
2. Yahoo Tests Enhanced Yahoo Answers Integration In Search Results - beer also
   
3. Google Has 15 Days To Provide Data To Brazil Or Be Fined $23,000 Per Day - pay up, lol
   
4. Google Modifies Navigational Search Results - diddo
   
5. Search Engine Roundtable Starts Podcast: The Search Pulse - self promo
   

Posted at 3:18 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

When I got married, I bought a new flat screen LCD high-definition TV. I searched months prior for the best deal; price and quality. I decided to buy the a no name brand, but got some excellent reviews, from Niko. The TV is excellent, it is my first LCD and my only complaint is the remote control. The remote stinks and there is currently no universal remote control handling for this TV.

I bought it from Tiger Direct, they had the best deals, and the reviews were plentiful while the product was in stock. It offered a $100 rebate that would go through OnRebate.com. I filled out all the paper work, handed in all the papers and original UPCs and the email receipts (since that was the only receipt I got from Tiger Direct).

Niko rejected the rebate because it was an email receipt. Supposedly, I had to go to the Tiger Direct web site, login, go to the invoices section and then print out that version of the receipt. No where did it state this... Oh, and get this. Niko does not accept any resubmissions, no matter what.

It looks like I was not the only one who fell for this, here are two others.

Posted at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (3) (0)

I rarely buy music on in iTunes store, if I do, it is normally from store credits. I have loaded up my music collection from CDs and songs I have collected since I was a kid, so I have plenty of music. But when I saw the Bob Dylan/iTunes commercial last night on my high definition TV, the commercial was in HD, I just had to get it. Of course I saw the commercial on Apple's site before, and yes, I almost bought it then. I figured, heck, I have 4 songs in as credit from booking a Continental trip to San Jose, so use 4 and pay the remaining 9 songs.

So now I sit here listening to it.

You can view the commercial at apple.com/ipod/ads/dylan, you can view the album at bobdylan.com and the here is the Rolling Stone review.

Posted at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1) (1)

I think I have a problem. I hear the first step of fixing that problem is to admit it to the public. So here it goes...

Almost every morning during the week, I stop of at the local 7/11 and I pick up a Big Gulp, not just a big gulp, a super duper big gulp. I fill it with Coca-Cola and slurp away even before I leave the store.

I am addicted. It gets me going in the morning. I need it.

So now what?

I know I am better off without it.

Posted at 6:54 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (5) (0)