The Wall Street Journal reviewed the DVR options. Go with a TiVO or opt for the DVR from the cable company.

After reading his review, I am confident over my decision to go with the HD DVR from Cable Vision, because they only have one flaw, the UI. But the flaws discussed in his article about the Comcast DVR, well, that is some bad stuff.

It is funny, because Buy.com is having a sale on . It is very expensive still, about $650 from Buy.com, not including the monthly fee from TiVO of about $20 per month. Heck, all I pay from Cable Vision is $9.95/month for the DVR service, the box was free.

So what to do? That depends on you.

The Wall Street Journal says;

But, for now, the choice is tough. The Comcast high-definition DVR is a cheaper, but flawed product and the TiVo Series3 is an excellent, but overpriced one.

One feature I wish I had was the ability to program recording via the Internet. But it is not worth $700 and $20 per month.

Supposedly my new TV, , is suppose to come today, I hope so. FedEX just changed the ETA to January 2nd, but it says it is on the truck for delivery -- who knows...

Posted at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (4) (0)

Today was a very slow day in the forums, I covered how Google crawls pages. A possible, but unlikely, Yahoo Search update was discussed as well. Brett posted the results of an older survey at WebmasterWorld. I covered a top search stories story. Yahoo Answers ranked number one amongst other Q&A engines. Flight Stats released a mobile flight tracker. Yahoo opened an office in Bangalore. Google Blog Search surpassed Technorati. Google ranked number two in Webster's Word of 2006. And a bunch of search bloggers are sharing stats.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. How Does Google Crawl Pages & Index Them?
2. Yahoo! Christmas Update? I Doubt It
3. Sharing Some 2006 Stats From Search Engine Roundtable
4. Search Can Be Better; Survey Says

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Search Bloggers On Their Most Popular Posts & Stats For 2006
2. Top 101 Search Stories Of 2006
3. Question & Answer Search Engines Ranked
4. New Mobile Flight Status Tracker By FlightStats
5. Yahoo To Open New Research Center In Bangalore
6. Google Blog Search Passes Technorati In Visits
7. Google # 2 Merriam-Webster's Word Of 2006

Posted at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

So I just posted Search Engine Roundtable 2006 stats based on Search Bloggers On Their Most Popular Posts & Stats For 2006 and I thought I do the same with my personal blog. The blog first launched on July 20, 2006, so let's take a peek under the hood.

Top Requested Pages:
1. Home Page with 21,382 pageviews (38.74%)
2. Which Search Blogs Am I Most Likely To Read In More Detail? with 2,133 pageviews (3.86%)
3. About Cartoon Barry with 1,202 pageviews (2.18%)
4. Divorce Via NYC Billboard with 926 pageviews (1.68%)
5. Chanukah (חנכה) Is Tomorrow Night with 783 pageviews (1.42%)

Top Referrals:
1. Direct - 7,462 - 22.34%
2. OddCast.com - 7,345 - 21.99%
3. Google - 6,444 - 19.30%
4. Search Engine Roundtable - 1,526 - 4.57%
5. Bloglines - 645 - 1.93%
6. MSN Search - 585 - 1.75%
7. SEOMoz - 532 - 1.59%
8. Google UK - 485 - 1.45%
9. DigitalPoint - 445 - 1.33%
10. Google Canada - 416 - 1.25%

Top Search Terms:
1. loneygirl15 - 218 - 2.25%
2. scooba 5900 - 101 - 1.04%
3. scoleciphobia - 86 - 0.89%
4. practice parking - 79 - 0.82%
5. brinkmann 4400 - 68 - 0.70%
6. leopard slippers - 63 - 0.65%
7. make google my home page - 61 - 0.63%
8. my typical day - 60 - 0.62%
9. cartoon barry - 58 - 0.60%
10. brinkmann pro series 4400 - 53 - 0.55%

Top Search Engines:
1. www.google.com - 5,848 - 60.44%
2. search.msn.com - 585 - 6.05%
3. google.co.uk - 461 - 4.76%
4. www.google.ca - 413 - 4.27%
5. search.yahoo.com - 339 - 3.50%
6. blogsearch.google.com - 247 - 2.55%
7. google.com.au - 131 - 1.35%
8. search.blogger.com - 109 - 1.13%
9. google.co.in - 97 - 1.00%
10. www.google.de - 85 - 0.88%

Top Browsers:
1. Internet Explorer - 16,853 - 50.46%
2. Firefox - 13,279 - 39.76%
3. Safari - 2,431 - 7.28%
4. Opera - 397 - 1.19%
5. Netscape - 153 - 0.46%
6. Mozilla - 129 - 0.39%
7. Camino - 54 - 0.16%
8. Mozilla Compatible Agent - 35 - 0.10%
9. Konqueror - 28 - 0.08%
10. Loony - 20 - 0.06%

Top Operating Systems:
1. Windows - 29,086 - 87.09%
2. Macintosh - 3,854 - 11.54%
3. Linux - 390 - 1.17%

Top Screen Resolutions:
1. 1024x768 - 13,520 - 40.54%
2. 1280x1024 - 6,686 - 20.05%
3. 800x600 - 2,534 - 7.60%
4. 1280x800 - 2,503 - 7.50%
5. 1440x900 - 1,456 - 4.37%
6. 1680x1050 - 1,099 - 3.30%
7. 1152x864 - 1,053 - 3.16%
8. 1920x1200 - 908 - 2.72%
9. 1400x1050 - 870 - 2.61%
10. 1280x854 - 644 - 1.93%

Top Time Zones:
1. -0500 - 7,765 - 23.28%
2. -0400 - 6,942 - 20.81%
3. -0700 - 4,032 - 12.09%
4. -0800 - 2,720 - 8.16%
5. +0100 - 2,680 - 8.04%
6. -0600 - 2,526 - 7.57%
7. +0200 - 2,238 - 6.71%
8. +0000 - 1,200 - 3.60%
9. +0800 - 532 - 1.60%
10. +0300 - 445 - 1.33%

Top Languages:
1. en-us - 27,292 - 81.83%
2. en - 2,362 - 7.08%
3. de - 876 - 2.63%
4. en-gb - 600 - 1.80%
5. fr - 362 - 1.09%
6. es - 216 - 0.65%
7. nl - 197 - 0.59%
8. it - 138 - 0.41%
9. pt-br - 123 - 0.37%
10. ru - 100 - 0.30%

Visits By Month:
July: 3,689
August: 10,666
September: 8,555
October: 9,003
November: 10,707
December: 12,579

Feeds:
Not sure, I know there are 67 Bloglines subscribers, the rest, I do not know.

Total Blog Posts: 417 (including this one)

There ya go...

Posted at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (5) (0)

Today I wrote about Cre8asite Forums shelling out $1,600 to four organizations. I took a deeper look at the Google data refresh. Google fixed the AdSense ad filter bug. adCenter promo codes aren't all what they sound like. I took a deeper look at paid blog reviews from four different views. Also, Google News, the mobile edition, allows you to customize the page. Google ranked number four on Business Week's hot growth list. Google Shuffle has a little surprising message. People are using Google Code Search to find vulnerable sites. Google is investing in a China based video site.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Cre8asite Forums To Donate $1,600 Towards SEM Organizations
2. Google's Data Refresh; Any Patterns or Commonalities?
3. Google's AdSense Team Fixes Ad Filter Bug
4. Microsoft's adCenter Promotional Codes Not So Promotional?
5. Paid Blog Reviews: ReviewMe & PayPerPost

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google News Mobile Now Customizable
2. Google #4 On BusinessWeek's Tech Hot Growth 50
3. Behind The Google Shuffle
4. Using Google Code Search To Find Vulnerable Sites
5. Google To Invest In China Based Video Download Site

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

Gary Price spotted that the Jerusalem Post has launched a new interactive map of Israel.

It is very cool, in that you can mouse over areas, it scrolls up and down, you can click to drill down deeper, you can click on landmarks to get more details about them, and during this, they have trains, planes and cars moving on the map (not real stuff, but animated).

Typical of this, is that the map of Israel page shows a URL on the page of http://maps.jpost.com/ but when you try accessing it via that URL, it takes you no where.

The map is powered by Eye on Israel.

In any event, my wife may like this, since we are off to Israel in a couple weeks or so.

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

I am fairly well known for always having my laptop bag with me at all times, especially at SEO conferences. (hence the bag on my cartoon version of me).

But technically, I never have the shoulder strap over on my right shoulder. Yes, I am a right handed man, but ever since some time in college, I stopped using my right shoulder to hold my bag.

One Friday I was playing tackle football in the park. I must have been about 19 or 20 years old. I intercepted a bad pass by the quarterback and began to run it back. This incredibly strong guy picked me up from behind, lifted me in the air, flipped me around so that I was upside down and slammed me down. I landed on my right shoulder.

At first, I thought I dislocated it. So I had a bunch of the guys hold me, and an other group of guys pull my arm the other way - trying to get them to pop it back in. It wouldn't go. But it was for sure out of the socket, I felt my shoulder and it was not connected fully to the arm.

After that didn't work, one of the guys drove me to a local EMT who tried to pop it back in. He failed and told me to go to the hospital.

So I went home, asked my dad to take me to the hospital (this is about 30 minutes later). My dad needed finish a few things, and then he took me (felt like forever). We got there, did an xray and they told me it was a separated shoulder and not a dislocated shoulder.

A separated shoulder is also known as a acromioclavicular separation or AC separation. For now, all I could do it take meds to relax the pain and try to keep it still, so it won't hurt so much. After that, they told me, it will heal, but never go back in place. If I wanted, I can go get cosmetic surgery, but typically, there is no need to.

Here is a picture from WebMD:

Separated AC stands for separating the "collarbone (clavicle) and the end of the shoulder blade (acromion)."

The Wikipedia has a xray of what that looks like, I can't find mine...

In any event, it took a few months to heal, my shoulder is still separated, I never had the surgery, but I typically do not have much pain there these days.

Since then, I had to learn to switch from carrying my bag on my right shoulder to my left shoulder. Took a while to get used to, but I did. Now, I wish I can switch back to my right shoulder, but it just feels to awkward.

Posted at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Category: Sports | Comments (4) (0)

I am putting two days in one, since yesterday was Christmas...

Google is now showing quality score factors to some AdWords advertisers. Google partnered with China Mobile, and won a lawsuite against HyperPhase. Wikiasari is a new search service powered by humans. Google's AdSense filter list is not fully working. Google is testing video ads. I looked at Google crawling, dynamic keyword inserting and AdWords bidding mistakes. Is Panama the answer for Yahoo!? Ask.com released top searches for 2006. I posted an article that explored Microsoft's behavioral targeting system. Finally, some Googlers were busy on Christmas.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google & Search Engines Do Not Mind Bad HTML When Crawling
2. Wikiasari, Community Search Engine; New Search Engine by Wikipedia Founder
3. Screen Shot Of Quality Score Metric in AdWords Console
4. Dynamic Keyword Insertion in Your URLs With Google AdWords
5. Making Bidding Mistakes at Google AdWords ($0.10 Vs. $10.00)
6. Google AdSense Competitive Ad Filter Not Working?
7. Vanessa & Adam Working on Christmas Day

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Wikipedia Founder To Launch Wikiasari Search Engine Early 2007
2. Judge Dismisses Google AdSense & AutoLink Toolbar Lawsuits
3. Google Shows Quality Score Indicator To Some AdWords Advertisers
4. Is Panama The Answer To Yahoo's Problems?
5. Google Partners With China Mobile To Launch Mobile Search
6. How Microsoft's Behavioral Targeting Works
7. Ask.com Top Searches of 2006
8. Google Testing Video Ads "In Stream"

Posted at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I am told this is the last day that Google is offering the $20 Google Checkout instant savings on orders at . So here are some deals I spotted today, again you can vote if you want me to post deals or not at the bottom of this page, all links are through affiliate tracking URLs. I would have posted this earlier, but CJ wouldn't give me the content until now...

The does something, not sure what, but it is currently free.

I own the and spent over $700 for it, now it is $500! Only issues are the remote sucks (no universal remote support) and no HDMI support. But very cheap and be careful with the rebate!

My bedroom TV broke so today I splurged on a new TV, like the NIKO but supports HDMI. I got the for just under $600 with a $20 Google Checkout and a $150 rebate form. I am excited to get it!

Oh and if you are looking for earphones these seem to be a good deal, .

I think the $20 Google Checkout stuff expires today, sorry for late notice, but jump over to and take advantage of it while it lasts. We know Google is paying the bill, around $20 million...

Posted at 9:09 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (0) (0)

I noticed this morning that the stories I wrote at Search Engine Land on Christmas are now in the Google News index. Here is a screen capture of a site command at Google News from this morning:

I have no idea if Danny submitted the site to Google News, I honestly think he did not submit it as of yet, but had plans to.

This is good stuff. Wonder when it will happen with Yahoo! News.

Posted at 8:53 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (4) (0)

Typically, the next two weeks are the slowest for me. So I try to keep myself busy with other things. They include:

• Year End Bonuses
• Year End Contributions
• Closing the Books
• Preparing Tax Documents
• Setting Up Files for 2007
• Putting Away Files for 2006
• Cleaning Misc Items
• Reviewing RustyBrick Performance
• Misc. Items

Today I can cross off two items from the list.

Happy Holidays!

Posted at 3:32 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (0) (0)

Happy Holidays All! Microsoft is reporting 40% higher conversions in adCenter. Should Google One Box Blogger for all search queries "blog" related. Yahoo! Publisher Network's compliance manager is at work. Google may add referrer data to the sitemaps web crawl report. Google said they won't ask to partner with others to compete in China. I listed out some sites that are banned in Digg. Is Google doing an update during the holiday season? I showed off some of the search engines holiday logos.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Microsoft adCenter Showing 40% Higher Conversion Data
2. Blog Like Searches Bring Up Special One Box Result For Google's Blogger
3. Publishers Noticing Yahoo!'s New Compliance Manager At Work
4. Google May Add Referrer Data To Web Crawl Error Reports
5. 2006 Holiday Season Search Logos

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Says They Won't Ask For Help In China To Compete
2. A Google Holiday Update Or Data Refresh
3. Some Of Digg's Ban Domain List

Posted at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

This is a copy of the e-card we sent out to our database for the 2006 holiday season.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Posted at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (0) (0)

First I wrote about a theory on large sites versus smaller sites. I then reported on a method to do dynamic keyword insertion into Yahoo!'s Panama. Microsoft's adCenter is having delays in their reporting engine. I said, if the search engines don't feel you have a duplicate content issue, don't fix one. AdWords normalizes your CTR for the quality score. Google changes the AdSense feedback and violations form. Yahoo! sent out holiday shwag. We opened up suggestions for improvements to the Search Engine Roundtable. Germany left Quaero to France and started Theseus. Yahoo China won the court case against Qihoo. Taiwan's Chunghwa signed a mobile deal with Google. I looked at reasons why Google may have dropped the SOAP API. Finally, Google is sporting AdWords holiday decorations.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Do Larger Web Sites Require More Links Than Smaller Sites To Rank Well?
2. Dynamic Keyword Insertion In Yahoo!'s New Panama PPC Engine
3. Microsoft adCenter Buy Causes Reports To Be Delayed "A Day Or So"
4. If You Don't Have a Duplicate Content Problem; Don't Fix It
5. Google Normalizes Click Through Rate For AdWords Quality Score Scoring
6. Google Changes AdSense Feedback & Violation Form
7. Yahoo!'s Holiday Gifts for 2006
8. Open To Suggestions: Things To Improve, Change or Remove in 2007

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Germany Leaves Quaero To France, To Start Theseus Search Project
2. Yahoo China Wins Suit Against Hongyi's Qihoo For Unfair Competition
3. Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Signs Mobile Deal With Google
4. Why Did Google Stop Supporting The SOAP API?
5. Google AdWords Special Holiday Dividers

Posted at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I take a lot of pride in how everything we do at RustyBrick is tracked through a custom built workflow manager. Not only does our system provide detailed project management, task management, billing solutions, version control, proposal management and more - it also is used to help guide us for the year end bonuses.

We track so much data through our system that we are able to build out simple reports with cool dials to see how well an employee is producing at any given time. Of course, we do not base the bonus solely on those data points, but they do provide a good guide for us to work off of. And typically, they are pretty representative of our subjective value of each employee throughout the year.

I won't tell you what data values we use in the formula, but I can tell you it takes into account dozens of metrics. Those metrics are categorized into about 15 or so groups. We then normalize those figures on a five point scale.

We base the bonus based on that five point scale, we associate a percentage to each value throughout the five point scale and then multiple the percentage to give our employees a bonus at the end of the year. I provide the check and a print out of the detailed performance review in an envelop and encourage the employees to discuss it with me after they have reviewed it.

One thing that we debated internally here at RustyBrick was the decision to show the data to the employees in real time as they want to see it and if so, how much. We don't want them to freak out by being in the yellow zone, when all it is, is a current snap shot of data that might not be complete at the moment. We opted (I pushed for it) to show one single dial of overall performance, I make it clear to the employees that this number is not finalized until the end of the year. Yes, we do give RustyPoints as part of the end of the year bonus that can increase or decrease the employee's score.

That is a little insight into how RustyBrick's bonus plan works. If you want all the details, you will have to work for us to get it.

Posted at 2:51 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (9) (0)

Last night I spent some time cleaning up my office, not the whole office, just my personal office. I had stacks of magazines I don't have time to read sitting on the file cabinet behind me, now they are all in the trash. I had dozens of proposals and legal stuff to file away, they are filed away. I had tons of old notes, mail and miscellaneous items laying around - no longer.

My desk is so clean, and my office looks like it should.

I am a neat-freak for a guy, I blame my mother. We had to have clean rooms, seriously, nothing out of order, no clothing on the floor, no papers, etc. Most of that transpires to my office and my home. A dirty office in my standards is probably a clean office to most. Just imagine what a clean office is to my standards.

I just feel more organized and streamlined when things are clean.

Posted at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (1) (0)

The first product I spotted on Buy.com was for a personal firewall, not sure how this thing works, all I know is that this one is not supported on Mac. If you run Window it works and it is free after rebates and Google Checkout. It is the and after this $20 rebate and $10 instant savings with Google Checkout, it is free.

The second product, I already purchased from Buy.com last week for $20. It is now only $12.99, so I wasted $7. You can get the after a $50 rebate and $20 Google Checkout instant savings.

Side note: I made 15 different purchases on Buy.com through Google Checkout yesterday. 10 of the same LCD monitors and 5 video cards. I made 15 different purchases to get the Google Checkout discount each time, saving me well over $300. Google Checkout is quick, so it only took about 10 minutes for everything.

Posted at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (0) (0)

This is me on my knees begging you! Well, I tried to put Cartoon Barry on his knees, but I am not that good at photoshop.

Search Engine Journal is having a contest where you can vote for your favorite blog and blogger over here.

You can vote for Search Engine Roundtable and also me, personally, Barry Schwartz.

I hope my contributions show in this vote, but who knows. I love blogging and about 20 posts per day, it shows, I hope.

More details at Search Engine Roundtable and please vote for me and SER over here.

Thank you all!

Posted at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (5) (0)

The 13th edition of the search pulse is archived, get your Ward on linking. Ask.com is testing Ask X. ODP is coming back to life, well, kind of. AdSense encourages clicks on Google referral products. Google will update your quality score, at least monthly. I asked, when will Google devalue links at social media sites? I looked at an article on Google Checkout vs. PayPal (FYI - I placed 15 different orders on Google Checkout today). A case showed how Google searches were used to send a wireless hacker to jail.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Search Pulse 13: Google Link Building, Duplicate Content, CSS Tricks, Images Near AdSense, Yahoo! Directory Tag, Here Comes Panama, & More
   
2. Ask X Allows Users To Interact More With Search Results
   
3. Open Directory Project (DMOZ) Coming Back From the Dead?
   
4. Encouraging Clicks of AdSense Referral Products is Allowed
   
5. Google AdWords Updates Quality Scores At Least Monthly
   
6. When Will Google Begin Devaluing Social Links; Such As Digg.com, Yahoo! Answers & del.icio.us?
   

1. Holiday 2006 Grudge Match: Google Checkout Versus Paypal
   
2. Google Search History Used To Send Wireless Hacker To Prison
   

Posted at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Not many of you know this, but I do not like to sing and I do not like to dance. I figure, I'll leave the singing and dancing to professionals, no reason for me to start messing around with that stuff.

Seriously, I never sing.
Seriously, I do whatever I can, not to dance.

Thing is, at my wedding, I had to dance. But at Jewish weddings, dancing is not real dancing. You basically go around in circles with other men, in a walking pattern. It kinda looks like this:

So I had to pull that off at my wedding. But honestly, it was sad. My wife loves to dance, so she played it up. But since men and women dance floors are typically separated at orthodox Jewish weddings, all the action was on her side - which was cool with me.

Posted at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

Woot.com's deal of the day is the iRobot Roomba Sage with Convenience Pack for only $139.99 plus $5 shipping. I bought the wet brother of the Roomba, Scooba 5900 off of Woot and I have been happy, check it out in action. My brother bought the Roomba for about $150 without the "convenience pack." I know he loves it.

Heck, my cute niece loves it too.

So get yours at Woot.com, it is only good while supplies last and it won't be there tomorrow.

Posted at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (2) (0)

Today I learned that some advertisers have to migrate to Panama by January 10th. There is a method of excluding sites from showing on Google Park Domains. Google defined duplicate content. AdSense banned images near ads. Webmaster Central enables you to check a sites status with no account signup required. Google is testing related searches at the bottom of the results. Google maps added multiple destinations to driving directions. Google dropped SOAP API support. Finally, Ask.com is testing a new interface out at Ask X.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Here Comes Panama; Ready Or Not; January 10, 2007
   
2. Excluding Your Sites in AdWord's Content & Parked Domain Networks
   
3. Google Defines Duplicate Content & Answers Duplicate FAQs
   
4. Google Officially Disallows Images Near AdSense Ads
   
5. Quick & Official Way To Check Your Site's "Status" in Google
   
6. Google Showing "Related Searches" At Bottom Of Search Results
   

1. Google Tests Related Searches At Bottom Of Page
   
2. Google Maps Adds Multiple Destinations To Driving Directions
   
3. Google Drops SOAP Search API
   
4. Ask.com Test New Search Interface With Ask X
   

Posted at 2:59 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Over the years in the search industry, I have met a lot of people. One person I consider myself very lucky to know is Gary Price. As many of you know, Gary Price stepped down as News Editor at Search Engine Watch and I did my best to come in to fill a bit of that role (more on that here). Gary began working at at Ask.com to make search better and he is doing a great job.

In any event, I consider very lucky to have such a close relationship with Gary. It is a true honor to be able to talk to him on a daily basis. Exchange ideas, discuss search trends and talk personal stuff.

I was shocked to find out that Gary bought Yisha and myself a Chanukah gift. Yes, Gary is also Jewish, just not orthodox, but very traditional and knows a heck of a lot about orthodoxy. Gary got us a nice gift certificate to one of my favorite restaurants in NYC, the Prime Grill.

Gary - thank you for such a great gift and thanks for being a great friend!

Posted at 2:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (1) (0)

The kind folks over at the Yahoo! Publisher Network have sent me some pretty cool Yahoo! Schwag for the 2006, end of the year, holiday season. They sent me this pretty red box:

The card on top looks like this and it makes the "Yahoooooo" yodel sound, watch the video...

In the box were two things. First a Yahoo! sweatshirt and a Yahoo! CoolIT USB Chiller. It looks like:

Funny, last year, my company gave out RustyBrick USB Mug warmers... Those look like this...

Thank you so much Yahoo!

Posted at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (2) (0)

I was talking to an old elementary school buddy about 4th grade this weekend. Side note: 4th grade may have been one of my favorite years in elementary school. In any event, I told him about how I remember finding a large piece of card board paper. I took that piece of card board paper and made it into a super big paper airplane.

I then opened opened the window in my class room, which was the class room at the highest point in that building. I stick the airplane through the screen (or did I take the screen off?). As I am ready to release the airplane from my hand, out into the playground yard, the school's principle stops in to say hi.

You have to understand, the principle rarely ever stops by. But he did at the exact moment I was about to launch this airplane out the window. He could of walked in 5 minutes before, or a few seconds after, but not. He walked in as I was in the motion.

I actually did not get in trouble for it. Nothing at all happened. Never knew why.

A flash from my past.

Posted at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (0) (0)

Until last night, I did not have a DVR, yea, I know, sounds crazy. But true. I watch TV Monday nights and Sunday nights, and it didn't bother me to not have a DVR. But when I missed the season finale of Prison Break while at SES Chicago, I was upset. Then my wife and her office was on TV one night and I wasn't able to watch that either. So that night, I ordered a DVR from the cable company.

I did not get the TiVO because it is a lot more expensive. The cable company sent me a DVR that records in HD quality about the same amount as the TiVO. I would like the remote ability to control what the DVR records via the web, like the TiVO but I am hoping they will add that feature over time.

Last night I set it up and we were off...

My wife came home, she didn't seem to interested about the DVR, other things were on her mind (and they were more important than a DVR). In any event, I was watching House and she called me, she needed my help with something. I got up immediately and helped her. About 15 minutes later, I came back to the TV, hit the rewind button and picked up from where I left off. I then speed through the commercials and almost caught up in real time to the show. This was all in hi-def, let me add.

So this is not only a cool gadget, it helps with being a good husband.

PS - I hope to use it for recording 24 when it starts airing.

Posted at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (2) (0)

DIY Day by Danny at his personal blog (like that Danny), explains how he spent a large portion of his day doing odd jobs around the house. It included; hanging a mirror, hanging other things up, setting up Christmas lights, and other small jobs. Danny explains he rather pay someone to do this all for him, I agree - but the issue is that no one will come in to do such small jobs. Hence, the job of a husband is to hang up a new picture, set up Chanukah candles (in Danny's case, Christmas tree), install things that need to be installed and so on. What is great is the comment Danny's wife left on his blog. She wrote ins response to "Any task I undertake has to be accompanied by great huffing and noise. This is to establish for my wife what a huge effort I'm undertaking."

My god - if you spent the same effort doing DIY as you do blogging, the work would be done in half the time. The huffing doesn't make me think you're making a huge effort...it makes me think you're plonka. x

First I had to ask what "plonka" meant, and it means "idiot" in UK language. :)

I checked the 30 or so comments my wife made on my personal blog, none of them were that big of a ding to me. Huge kudo's to Mrs. Sullivan.

Why am I not afraid to show this to my wife? Well, I have only been married for a bit over 6 months. I am still in the period where I do stuff around the house. Oh, I did forget to take out the trash but my wife let that slide.

Great comment again!

Posted at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (0) (0)

Typically, towards the holiday season, search news slows at the same rate as forum buzz. But it seems there is a slow down in quality threads but no slow down in quality news. On the forum front, we had discussion on a Google blog post on link building. Yahoo! said they will support the no yahoo directory tag in January. We looked at how search engines like to handle CSS. Finally, we discussed the Google & Orange mobile phone rumors.

On the news front, I covered a story on Google and Russia and Google and Europe. I also wrote how Google acquired Endoxon. A trademark infringement case against Yahoo! has been dismissed. UTube is monetizing off YouTube traffic. Google wrote two posts explaining trademark rules in AdWords. Finally, Google and NASA released partnership details.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Discusses Link Building Strategies
   
2. Yahoo! To Support No Yahoo Directory Title Tag in January
   
3. Using CSS To Hide Text: Search Engine Responses
   
4. Google & Orange To Work On Mobile Phone
   

1. Yahoo Says No Directory Tag Coming January 2007
   
2. Google In Russia & Europe: The International Challenge
   
3. Google Acquired Endoxon: Geo Mapping Software
   
4. Trademark Infringement Case Against Yahoo In Google AdWords Dismissed
   
5. UTube Monetizes Mistaken YouTube Traffic
   
6. Google Explains AdWords Trademark Policies
   
7. Google & NASA Partner To Make NASA's Data More Accessible
   

Posted at 3:06 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I hear that my nephews, sister's four boys, have discovered this blog. So I wanted to say hi to Avi, Jeremy, Zachary and Aaron.

Avi is the oldest, in about a year, he will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah.

Jeremy is second line line, when he was born, I was stuck watching Avi. I decided to dress Avi in black jeans, a black thermal undershirt, black shoes and black sunglasses. I think that is how he met his first brother, dresses all in black. (I may be wrong)...

Then came Zachary. Hey Zachary! He was born in my sister's and brother-in-law's new house. I didn't have the privilege of dressing him to meet his youngest brother (to come soon). But I think I did my share of watching over him, I remember too many times where he wouldn't go to sleep when I was responsible for watching him.

Finally, there is Aaron, the youngest. He gets away with a lot, being the youngest. But don't all babies in the family get away with stuff? I am told I did, and I am the youngest in my family.

Welcome to the blog guys!

This post is approved by their dad.

Posted at 2:05 PM | Permalink | Category: Family | Comments (2) (0)

Growing up, all I did was play basketball. In elementary school, after school and on weekends, we went to my friend, Scotty's house, and played ball outside as much as we could. In fact, instead of going to camp, we went to Scotty to play ball.

During that time, Michael Jordan was an upcoming star in the NBA. He ruined the NY Knicks chances to win a championship a few times. Now, growing up in NY, liking Jordan so much, that I was a Bull fan, was not easy. All my friends called me a traitor, front-runner, etc. But I was amazed at how unbelievable he was at the game. So I ignored the criticism I received, laughing it off by the Bulls stomping on the Knicks, time and time again.

Throughout elementary school and early high-school I collected probably over a hundred Michael Jordan basketball cards. They are now sitting in individual plastic holders, somewhere in my parents home. Reminder to self, make sure to check on them...

It was sad when Jordan starting playing for the Wizards. I was not comfortable watching him play basketball outside of a red jersey. It was also sad to see him retire early, a couple times, and then come back out of shape.

In any event, I continued to play basketball throughout high-school religiously. In fact, I skipped breakfast and lunch and used all my free time in the gym. I was known as one of the "gym rats" in the school, but it was an all boys Jewish school, so I wasn't missing anything. My high-school routine looked a bit like this, if I remember.

- Got to school
- Morning services
- Breakfast; I played basketball
- Before the first class, I grabbed an orange slice for 50 cents
- Classes with 7 minute breaks (I think 7 minutes), so I sometimes jumped in the gym, in between classes
- Lunch, I played ball and grabbed an other orange slice
- Classes
- GYM (twice a week - of course basketball)
- Went home

That was my high-school experience. Playing basketball, and watching Jordan master the game.

Now? I play three nights per week. I am much heavier. I am much slower. But I still enjoy the game. I miss the old games with Jordan in late 80's early 90's.

Posted at 10:20 AM | Permalink | Category: Sports | Comments (6) (0)

Here is an other great deal at Buy.com today, the . After a $20 mail-in rebate form and a $10 Google checkout instant rebate the Kensington PilotMouse Optical Wireless is free.

I like free things, don't you?

Posted at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (4) (0)

I was checking out some of Buy.com's great deals today and spotted a .

My company is probably the perfect example of a paperless office. Everything we do here requires no paper on a day to day basis. Why? Because we have built our own internal systems to track, automate and electronically document our work, while in our work-flow.

But even though, I still have the need to make photocopies of some things. Such as legal documents, tax stuff and sometimes even product rebate forms. :) I currently use a scanner device that is hooked up to one of the PCs. I rarely use it because (1) it is a pain to use and (2) I rarely have a need for it.

I think I may buy this puppy because it is small and a self-contained copier and it is only $5 after the $20 Google Checkout discount.

My only worry is that is looks really cheap and there are no customer reviews on Buy.com. Amazon has two five star reviews, but only two reviews... But for $5, I guess it is worth a try. Heck, they make great cameras.

Posted at 9:20 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (0) (0)

As I promised, I told you I would share the gifts I got for this Chanukah. So here are some of them...

My wife got me the Linksys Wireless-G Travel Router with SpeedBooster that I hinted she should get me the other day. I set it up already, without using the CD they gave me (WIndows only). Can't wait to use it at hotels, clients or in random places. Here is a picture from the buy.com site, no need for me to take an actual image of it.

My brother and sister-in-law bought me a Projection Alarm Clock with Weather from La Crosse. Pretty neat and the projection is a very nice feature. Plus, my wife won't ask me what the outside temperature is, it tells us. Plus, for that question... "Is it hot in here? Well, it also tells you the inside temperature and humidity. A picture from the manufacturers web site...

Finally, my parents did not know what to get me so they went to ThinkGeek.com and picked something geeky...

Yes, it is a /dev/pillow. :)

My wife got some other presents, but nothing geeks would be into...

Posted at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Category: Religion | Comments (1) (0)

I posted a few items from yesterday below, because I did them after I wrote yesterday Daily Search Coverage post.

Anyway, there is just too much stuff today, to summarize Please see the links below.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Updates AdSense Payments Page
   
2. Google Registers Domains Through Google App
   
3. Microsoft Switches Rolls With Baidu: Baidu Running Ads on Microsoft China Properties
   
4. Video Demonstrates PPC to PPC to PPC Pages Via Google AdWords & AdSense Network
   

1. Google & NASA To Release More Space Images & Searching Tools?
   
2. Google's Picasa Add Photo Search & Other Features
   
3. Google Applications Enables Domain Registration
   
4. Internet Marketers of New York Hits The Big Apple
   
5. Top Searches At LYCOS In 2006
   
6. Top Searches At Windows Live Search (MSN Search) For 2006
   
7. SES Chicago '06 Comic Reel
   
8. Google On Using Images
   
9. Google On Using Images
   
10. Yahoo Publisher Network Adds Domain Level Blocking
    
11. Google Adds Ad Quality & Ad Performance Documentation To Help Section
    
12. Korea's Top Portal, Naver, Renews With Yahoo
    

Posted at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I was checking some of the old web stats and noticed a number of referrals from hotornotdesigns.com/hot yesterday. I saw we were ranked number seven in the "hottest designs." Credit definitely goes to the designer here and to DaveN (for the cartoon barry).

So for now, I am hot.... hehe. :)

Posted at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (1) (0)

I wrote about Kid Plays Super Mario Theme Song on Acoustic with Help in which Caydel commented with some awesome YouTube videos of great guitarists. One I did not hear of, named Jesse Cook. After watching this video, I decided to buy a few of his songs on iTunes.

Really good. Thanks Caydel and YouTube!

Posted at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Category: Music | Comments (1) (0)

Jon Mendez blog tagged me, but honestly, I do not know five things I did not say that is so earth shattering that will make a difference. So keep reading this blog, and you will learn new things about me, if you care about that. But one thing I found incredibly - um, WOW, to me was ShoeMoney's blog tag.

I never knew he used to weigh 420 lbs. I never suspected it. Shoe wrote a very thoughtful story about it that really made me go wow.

I took some pictures from Shoe's gallery, hope he doesn't mind, for the before and after shot.

Shoe, huge respect from me. I am amazed.

Posted at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0) (0)

There is something about Super Mario Brothers that interests me... Remember I posted about the guy who beat Super Mario Brothers in five minutes? Well, I believe it was rigged, in any event, still cool.

Here is a kid playing the theme song of Super Mario Brothers on his acoustic guitar, with the help of his computer. Still pretty sweet...

Posted at 5:39 PM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (4) (0)

Chanukah (חנכה) is tomorrow night, it is probably the most favorite Jewish holiday for kids. This is the holiday kids are dripping with gifts from their parents and relatives. Of course, the Wikipedia has a fairly nice write up on Chanukah.

That is me, dressed up as a "Dreidel," which is a toy kids play with on the holiday. The four sides of the dreidel (a top) have letters on them standing for נס גדול היה שם. How does the game work? Well, you spin the dreidel and depending on which side it lands gets you something:

• נ - Nun - nisht - "not" - nothing happens and the next player spins
• ג - Gimel - gants - "all" - the player takes the entire pot
• ה - Hey - halb - "half" - the player takes half of the pot, rounding up if there is an odd number
• ש - Shin - shtel ayn - "put in" - the player puts one marker in the pot

Aside for that, we light the menorah eight nights, we sometime eat special food and we give gifts. I'll let you know what I get this year.

Some other good resources for the holiday at OU.org, Aish HaTorah and for the kids TorahTots.com.

Here is a preview of the Search Engine Roundtable's special logo for the 8 days.

Posted at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Category: Religion | Comments (9) (0)

Google release a patent search service on Thursday, December 14th. Google got caught more than approving images near AdSense ads. I looked back at Yahoo Web Rank. Yahoo! and IBM launched OmniFind. An adCenter report can be dead wrong. Yahoo! Cache is mishandling HTML superscripts. Live Local launched easier birds eye view and distance drawing tool. AOL Video was sued for helping distribute a music video in the likeness of Evel Knievel. The Wall Street Journal looked at advertisers views of Google Print and Audio ads. NYC comptroller is putting pressure on Google and Yahoo over China. Microsoft and Baidu are in a search ad deal.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Patent Search
   
2. Google Show Cases AdSense Publisher Using Images Near Ads
   
3. What Happened To Yahoo!'s Web Rank?
   
4. OmniFind: Free Enterprise Search by IBM & Yahoo!
   
5. Microsoft adCenter Average Reported Position May Be Wrong
   
6. Yahoo! Cache Mishandling <SUP> Superscript HTML Tag
   

1. Live Local (Virtual Earth) Adds Easier Birds Eye View & Distance Drawing Tool
   
2. AOL Video Search Sued By Evel Knievel For Distributing Kanye West's Music Video
   
3. Google Advertisers Take On Audio & Print Ads
   
4. Comptroller Of NYC, Thompson, Pressures Google & Yahoo Over Censorship In China
   
5. Microsoft China To Display Baidu's Search Ads
   

Posted at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

This morning, it was extremely foggy. I decided before I pulled into work, I take a picture of the visibility while sitting at a red light. Notice how it is hard to see. :)

1. Extremely Foggy
2. Very Dark
3. Windows are fogged up also from cold

Not only the above three items, but also when it is early, sometimes your brain is a bit foggy. Unfortunately, I couldn't take a picture of the inside of my brain at that moment.

Posted at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (1) (0)

Jammed packed day of news for 12/13. We covered Google sending gifts internationally. Which niches should you stay away from when performing SEO? Panama is live to new advertisers. Google logo shouts with Munch. Google announces Transferable Stock Options. Google released version 3 for the toolbar. Daum is to drop Yahoo for Google. Google's print ads are in newspapers today. Google custom search engine made some updates. Yahoo posted a weather report. It is Yahoo Answer's 1st birthday. I gave away $50 adCenter coupons. Finally, the Search Pulse 12th edition is archived.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. International Publishers & Advertisers Receiving Google Holiday Gifts
   
2. Keyword Phrases SEOs Should Think Twice About Before Attempting To Conquer
   
3. Panama Opens To New Advertisers Before Old Advertisers
   
4. Google Remembers Edvard Munch on December 12th With Scream Logo
   
5. Google Allows Employees To Auction Off Stock Options: GOOG TSO
   
6. Search Pulse 12: SES Recap, Versioning SEO, Contact Google, Yahoo, Google, Click Fraud, Duplicate Content, AdWords, Microsoft & More
   

1. Google Toolbar For Firefox 3.0 Adds Great Features
   
2. South Korea's Portal, Daum, To Run Google AdSense
   
3. Google Newspaper Ads Run Again
   
4. Google Custom Search Engine Eases Collaboration Process
   
5. Yahoo Search Update; Google Data Flux & Should We Have Holiday Updates?
   
6. Yahoo Answers Birthday: One Year Old
   
7. Microsoft adCenter $50 Promotional Code For New Advertisers
   
8. AOL's Top Searches Of 2006
   

Posted at 2:57 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I have updated my Resources Link Farm page with the blogs I have been tracking on RSS. If you are not included, feel free to comment.

I will then review your blog. Decide if I should add it to my RSS list. Then next time I update my Resources page, I will add your blog to that page, if you are in my RSS list, of course.

Please feel free to share your blog or an other blog you like.

Update: It is very possible I have you on my RSS feed already but forgot to list you here. If that is the case, also, please let me know...

Posted at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (10) (0)

One of my responsibilities in the house is to take out the trash. Sometimes I am proactive about it, and sometimes I need to be reminded about it.

Last night my wife asked me to take out the trash. I told her I would do it on the way out to basketball that night. I forgot.

I then told her I would do it on the way out to the office this morning. I forgot.

So tonight, I will hopefully do it on the way to basketball. If not, then maybe tomorrow on the way to work?

At what point to I make it to the dog house?

Posted at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (11) (0)

I have been eyeing this travel router from Linksys for a while now, I think this is the best price I have seen it at ever. Buy.com originally sells it for $89.97, and with a $50 mail-in-rebate and $20 off for using Google Checkout, the router costs you at the end of the day only $19.97.

Wife, hint hint, Chanukah... ;-) The looks like a nice present, if all the rebates are taken care of and if Google Checkout is used...

This specifically will come in handy for my trip to Israel, where my Treo's Verizon Wireless broadband connection won't work. But the hotel's internet better work.

Posted at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers , Shopping | Comments (0) (0)

I am running late, I wrote about at Search Engine Roundtable, in short... The Yahoo update, Simon joining Google, Google confirming the AdSense Google Logo, a duplicate content post, the click fraud report by Andy and Microsoft adCenter tips. At Search Engine Land I wrote about Yahoo's Panama release, Google updating their finance page, the State Department and local search tips.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo! Search Update 12/11 Confirmed
   
2. Jonathan Simon Added to Google Webmaster Team
   
3. Google Confirms AdSense Google Logo Test
   
4. Duplicate Content: What Is It 12/2006
   
5. Google Claims Click Fraud a "Fraction of One Percent"
   
6. Microsoft adCenter Tips: Common Pitfalls
   

1. Yahoo Opens Panama To New Customer Sign Ups
   
2. Google Updates Google Finance Home Page
   
3. State Department Uses Google In Cracking Down On Terrorists
   
4. Simple Ways To Get Into Local Search
   

Posted at 6:06 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

This morning I got in a heated debate with Danny Sullivan over the topic of, should search engines update their algorithms during the big holiday season.

It started when I posted about the Yahoo! Search Update that is confirmed and taking place right now. I told Danny, that if Google confirmed the update that some speculate they are doing now, that webmasters and SEOs would be up in arms.

I respect that Google is holding off on an update at this time (or at least trying to).

In any event, Danny told me that he doesn't feel search engines need to push off updating their algorithms for the holiday season. His main reasoning is that search marketers should not be 100% dependent on organic search traffic and dependent that search engines won't make changes at this time. It is bad business practice. I agree with that.

The question then came up, why is Google avoiding an update now? What is the primary intention here for Google?

(1) They don't want site owners to get hit hard at this most important time for their business?
(2) Google doesn't want to get slammed by webmasters with complaints and bad PR over an update at this time (like they did with Florida three years ago).

I suspect the answer is both of them, but I seriously wonder what is the primary reason...

My reporting style is to take a look at the community reaction to changes in the search space, and report based on that buzz (pulse) at the Search Engine Roundtable. So if Google did an update, I would probably have to take a hard stance on Google, scolding them for such an update at this time. Why not scold Yahoo!? Well, currently, the threads (two of them) are not large enough and tempered enough to warrant that. Why is it not large, probably because Yahoo! is not on the top of SEOs radars (like Google) and possibly because the update is not a big one... Time will tell.

When it comes to Danny's reporting style... I would guess he tries to separate himself from both the SEO, webmaster, site owner and search rep side of things and give an unbiased opinion. That being, do not base your whole business on organic traffic - you need a security blanket. Shame on you for not doing your due diligence. (FYI - I am not quoting Danny, just trying to anticipate his thoughts).

Overall, I think search engines should not do updates during this time. They can do a lot of work behind the scenes, and push them through January 1. But between Thanksgiving and Jan. 1 - I would hold off. I believe Danny disagrees with me on that.

Posted at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (1) (0)

Yesterday, I told you about a 2GB SD Card for $10. Today, Buy.com has a 1GB card for free, after rebates.

The is $50, take off an instant $20 for the Google Checkout bit and then use two rebates, one for $20 and the other for $10 and this 1GB SD card is free.

I think I may also buy this one, it is free.

Posted at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (0) (0)

If you missed out on Google's 2005 Holiday Gift you can get something very similar for $5 at Buy.com. The has a ton of mobile gadgets you may need on the go, i.e. search conferences, such as:

• Miny Mouse
• USB Hub
• USB extenders
• Headphones
• and other things I can't describe

With a Google checkout payment and this $25 mail-in rebate, the thing costs $5. That is a good deal.

Posted at 9:29 AM | Permalink | Category: Shopping | Comments (1) (0)

Google added a Google logo to some AdSense ads. Google radio ads are currently being tested. I tried to come to an understanding on the nofollow tag. A e-commerce site owner is mad at a blog owner for out ranking them. Matt Cutts debunked some SEO and Google myths. Pay Per Post was looked at by the search engines. Berkowitz compared Microsoft to Ask.com. Google Plus Box results put Google maps on search results. Google is pushing software in the classroom. Google Earth added a geographic web layer.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Trying Google Logo on AdSense Ads
   
2. Google AdWords Radio Ads Test Under Way
   
3. Does The rel="nofollow" Mean Not Follow?
   
4. Onsite Store Owner To Sue Blog Owner Over Ranking in Google
   
5. Google Update Debunked By Matt Cutts
   

1. Matt Cutts On Google Rumor Debunking Rampage
   
2. Pay Per Post Reviews Acceptable By Some Search Engines
   
3. Berkowitz Describes Steering Microsoft As Cruise Ship & Ask.com As Rowboat
   
4. Google "Plus Box" Puts Maps In Search Results
   
5. Google's Software Making It To The Classroom
   
6. Google Earth Adds Geographic Web Layer
   

Posted at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Li did this thing where she forced (by lethal threat) to where weird hats for her hatbait.com contest.

So you have to vote on the best picture, mine sucks because:

(1) I don't have a TV face
(2) I don't have a radio voice (um, I know this is not related)
(3) I like to type
(4) And the picture is blurry.

Vote for your favorite one at Search Marketing Gurus.

Posted at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

To make the lag worse, I had a meeting today. Well, actually, it was suppose to be with someone named Jake. Let me take you back to the scheduling of the meeting.

About 1.5 weeks ago, I get a phone call from a person who wants me to meet with someone to develop a new web site. It is urgent. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet with the person until I got back from SES Chicago, i.e. today. I ask if he can describe the site so we can discuss scope and quick estimates before we meet. He said it was too complicated of a site to do over the phone. So we scheduled the meeting for 11am this morning.

11am comes and goes, I get a phone call at 11:06 from a woman who said we have a meeting today. I said, we have a meeting now. She said her "son" told her it was for at 12. I said, OK, let's meet at 12.

12:00 comes and goes.

12:15 I hear some talking on their cell phone loudly as they enter the door. It was her, she comes in, I put away the stuff I was doing and begin talking with her. Her cell phone rings once, really loudly. I wait and then ask her to describe the type of site she wants. In short, she describes a 5 page static site about her business.

What? Scroll back up... "He said it was too complicated of a site to do over the phone." 5 page web site?

I then told her we only develop large sites and that this project is too small. I apologized for her wasting her time. I told her I tried to save you your time, but your son told me it was too complicated. I referred her elsewhere.

Oh, during our three minute meeting, her cell phone rang four times. You would think after the first ring, she would silence it.

I thought I learned from past experiences here; When Are Prospects Wasting Your Time?

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

I started my normal routine this morning, got to work about 6:45am, but things went downhill from there. Something was wrong... But with my nature, I did not let it get to me, I ignored it, continued about my day.

It took me about 45 minutes to find a thread to write about this morning. I slowly found threads, but by the time I was done with "sucking the forums dry" of information from the weekend, it was 8:45am. I was way behind. Danny was cool, he said no rush, but I got RB stuff to do and I know if I don't finish blogging by 9:30, I get slammed with real work.

I first try to email Danny the list of topics I found over the weekend. Finally got things working and Danny got back to me with things he thought I should blog on. We typically match on what we find to be important, but today, he pulled out two things I would not have blogged without his suggestion.

As I begin writing, I am getting pinged via email, IM, several phone calls, three different walk-ins from employees at RB. I am like, so this is what computer lag is all about!

Internet congestion is what causes lag on someone's computers. You typically find it on IRC chat rooms or online games. Anything that involves real time interaction, that is slowed due to Internet congestion, kinda is defined as lag.

I was experiencing lag! Still am, as I write this.

To make things worse, all of QuickBooks online services are not working. So that doesn't help.

Anyway, as I type, I feel the letters and words are about a second or two behind when I click on the keys. In reality, it is instantaneous, but to me, it feels like a delay, a lag, if you will.

So weird. Any of you experience this feeling, while typing?

Posted at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (1) (0)

I often track good deals at Buy.com and some other merchants, so I figured I share some with you, and at the same time use my aff ID (if that is cool). The first deal is a 1GB USB Flash drive for $0 after rebates and using Google Checkout. Buy.com and Google Checkout, is the best thing that happened to me...

Learn more about the .

The next one is a 2GB Kingston SD card, I actually bought this myself last night. For $10 after an instant $20 Google Checkout rebate (you must use Google Checkout when ordering) and then a mail in rebate of $26, it comes out to be $9.99 for a 2GB SD card. I think that is the best price I have seen on an SD card that size.

Learn more about the .

Please let me know if you want me to post more deals like this or not, here is a poll.

Posted at 7:09 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers , Polls , Shopping | Comments (1) (0)

First day back from the conference in Chicago, a bit tired, normally takes a weekend or so to get back into the groove of things - by the way. Anyway, today was a fairly average day.

I found a thread that reported adCenter's data center burned down, but they denied it. Google is possibly doing a index and ranking update before the holidays. Also they are auto dialing potential AdWords advertisers to get their holiday business. Google is using refinements in the wrong places. Google is losing their China President. Baidu launched a Chinese blog search engine. Brady from the Patriots is suing Yahoo! Semel hates bloggers and says, no downsizing. Google has finally done it, they are testing audio ads in AdWords. That is December 8th for you.

Search Engine Roundtables Topics:

1. Fire in Microsoft's adCenter Data Center Brings Down Search Ads For Several Days?
   
2. Possible Google Update Before Holiday Season?
   
3. Google Refinements Applied to Site Command Search
   
4. Google Cold Calling via Auto Dialer for AdWords Customers?
   

1. Baidu Launches Blog Search Engine In China
   
2. Google China's Co-President, Johnny Chou, To Resign
   
3. New England Patriots, Tom Brady, Sues Yahoo For Using His Image In Ad
   
4. Terry Semel Knocks Blogs While Downplaying Yahoo Reorganization
   
5. Google Begins Testing Audio Ads Within AdWords
   

Posted at 1:37 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

So like many folks, I was lucky to get the Google Digital Picture Frame. But like many, I also had some technical difficulties.

First here is a picture of the frame working....

1. What I did was write a piece of code using the Flickr API to pull photos I tag with a certain code off the Flickr server, down to a holder on my server.
2. I then had to drag them over to a PC to connect the frame to something the frame will be recognized on.
3. Then to get it to work, I had to use the Microsoft PowerToys - Image Resizer, you can download it here.
4. Then I had to rename them so there were no spaces or funky characters in the file name.
5. Then I had to upload it to the "Photos" fold on the digital photo frame.

Oh, no one I know, can figure out how to remove that ugly blinking picture of a yellow battery. Removing the batteries, plugging it in, nothing gets rid of it!

Posted at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers | Comments (2) (0)

So I was away this whole week in Chicago, a place colder than New York. But when I got back, my car has been sitting still for about five days. This morning, at about 6am, when it was 17 degrees outside, I got into my car.

The car was ice cold. You know, when you get into the car, it hurts to touch the steering wheel. That cold.

Anyway, I release the emergency break, put it into reverse and the began pulling it out.

It felt cold, so cold the car was stiff. A feeling you feel most winters.

I guess that means winter is here. A cold car.

Oh, I got that image from Google Images the source is no longer live.

Posted at 10:42 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Weather | Comments (0) (0)

It is a historic moment for me. I cannot remember the last time flying on a plane where the person in front of me did not lower down their seat back. It is truly a historic moment.

I had no choice but to pull out my laptop and begin typing. Typing what? I don't know. In fact, this may be one of the first times, an other historic moment, that I started writing without having an idea on topic or a title for the blog entry.

But yet, I am a blogger, so I figure, I can come up with something to write. Heck, I wrote a blog entry named "leaning tower of Snapple." (note to self, remember to link to that entry). So why can't I pull off a post on nothing.

Seinfeld was based on nothing, why can't this be post be based on nothing?

My wife went off to the "wash room" as they call it in Chicago (or Toilet as they call it in O'Hare Airport), maybe I can con her into writing some of this post, about nothing, with me. We will see, more on that later, maybe...

In any event, I am on a flight that was suppose to take off at 3pm but did not take off until 5pm. Which is OK, since I was suppose to be on a flight that was scheduled to take off at 5pm and wasn't going to take off (last I checked) at 7:45pm. Only thing is, it cost $25 per ticket extra to confirm these seats. But based on a number of factors, I feel it was worth it.

She just came back and began reading the post. She said, and I quote;

Don't Count On It

Enough about her...

I now need to think of a title for this post...

Historic Moments: Airplane Tray, Snapples, Seinfeld, Flying, Wife & SEO

You see, my title is not something fun and witty, it is awfully descriptive and a bit too keyword rich. Maybe too many keywords. Typically a post on nothing, won't drive any organic search traffic, unless the search is on nothing... Deep, ehhh? Do people sit and search on nothing? If they do, is it really a search? That is where the SEO part comes in... In any event, we are now in our initial descent, so here is my wrap up in one line.

When flying on an airplane back from an SEO conference with your wife, make sure to drink Snapple with your tray table down, while watching Seinfeld -- it will truly make for a historic moment.

Posted at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Category: Rambling | Comments (4) (0)

One of the biggest questions I get is why don't I speak at Search Engine Strategies conferences?

Early on, probably 4 years ago, I did ask Danny to speak once. But I didn't make a formal pitch, the way he likes it. But since then, I have never requested to speak since, in fact, I prefer not to for several reasons.

• I am not selling anything, I do not offer SEO services, nor do I sell SEM products
• I have no desire to speak in front of people (although I have spoken several times at other conferences)
• I don't feel I have much to add beyond the current speakers
• I already have a voice via blogging
• I don't want to take a speaker spot away from someone else who may need it
• I get a cool green badge, when the rest either get no color or an ugly red one that says "speaker" on it

Now honestly, which badge would you rather have. It is rare to see the green badge, but the red badge is all over the place. ;-)

Posted at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (5) (0)

The woman in the middle typing away, yea, that is my normal position at conference, is Lisa Barone. She writes at the Bruce Clay Blog.

(1) Click on the picture to see a larger image
(2) Kim Krause is her left, playing with her laser camera ... Back to Lisa (dont get me wrong, Kim rocks also)
(3) Bruce Clay is a lucky guy for having Lisa, seriously!
(4) She is an upcoming A list SEO Blogger
(5) Her session recaps simply rock (so do ours, but new blood helps)
(6) She is humble (very important)
(7) She likes Danny and Myself (I assume)
(8) She is an incredibly hard worker (I respect that)
(9) Her past blogging shows that she has a pretty strict routine (I am a strong believer of that)
(10) Consistency
(11) Continued growth in all ways
(12) Respectful

Respect is the most important thing to me. Not that she is respectful to me, that I do not care about. You can see by her mannerism that she values the people she talks to - no matter who it is. She listens, isn't a huge talker and returns her thoughts in a humble and respectful manner.

Ok, my wife is off the phone now.

Lisa, it was nice to meet you and hope to see you often! Keep up the good work!

Posted at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (5) (0)

10:15AM in Chicago at SES, here are the booths for the major search engines, minus Yahoo (Sorry, forgot to snap your pic). Look at how they compare:

Google

Microsoft

Ask.com

Makes me feel bad for Ask.com - people go talk to them!

Posted at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (1) (0)

Ever wonder what we look like when we podcast?

Photo Credits SmallBusinessSEM.com

I have no idea what I am looking at, but I wanted to thank all those that came and listened and participated live at our show last night. A true honor for Chris and I.

Posted at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (3) (0)

Anyone want to take a guess at what Danny is chewing on in this picture?

Posted at 9:13 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (1) (0)

One thing about these search conference is that too many people have Treos and Blackberrys. That is a recipe for some walking accidents. Picture this, a hallway of people walking back and forth from session room to session room. They all have Treos and Blackberrys in their hands. All looking attentively at their devices, with their heads down. Imagine the number of accidents? Well, all I got to say, good thing some people have peripheral vision. I suspect those with Treos are the ones with better peripheral vision. ;-)

Posted at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Category: Computers | Comments (1) (0)

After we came in to Chicago, we went out with my wife's friends for dinner. Believe it or not, there is not a single kosher restaurant in downtown Chicago. The closest place is about 30 minutes away, in the Jewish area of Chicago (around Skokie). In any event, they picked us up from the hotel and drove us back to eat out.

We took them to Shallot's Bistro. It was really good, I was very impressed. The portion size was huge for a fancy place. The atmosphere was very nice. The service was good. Overall, I was very happy. So much so, that I want to go back again while I am here. But with the crazy schedule, going that far, just may not be possible.

So I called and asked if they deliver to downtown Chicago. To my surprise they said yes, just try to give them enough time to prepare and order a service to drop it off, so call early.

I hope to call tomorrow to get for Wednesday night in the hotel. Very excited for it.

But can someone please open a kosher pizza place in downtown Chicago? This is not San Jose, there are plenty of Jewish people in town, I would think...

Posted at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (3) (0)

Here are my pictures tagged as seschicago06 at Flickr. I just got back from the Yahoo! party, but forgot my camera. Sorry...

I love this slide show Flickr thing.

Posted at 9:13 PM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (3) (0)

I am currently at Newark Airport, just past through security, on my way to Chicago to get to the SES show. And they had these new detection machines, I have never been through one. The machine is named Smiths Sentinel II. They seem to be new at Newark Airport, according to the TSA person.

This is how it works.

You walk in, there is this bar that comes down in front of you, to make sure you don't step forward (like that will stop you). There are two feet imprints, where you are suppose to stand. Then it sprays bolts of air at you, scans you in many different ways. Then it tells you, to exit forward.

There are all these cool lights and stuff around the machine and in the machine. Very cool stuff.

The Smiths Detection site explains;

The IONSCAN® SENTINEL II Contraband Detection Portal has been designed specifically to meet the challenge of screening people for trace amounts of explosives or narcotics in a timely fashion, and without coming into contact with them.

One thing for sure, it makes you feel safer.

Posted at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (1) (0)

Tomorrow is the Search Engine Roundtable's third anniversary. I posted my first blog entry at Search Engine Land. AdWords refunds advertisers for funds returned via AdSense bans. AdWords Quality Score manager was interviewed by Goodman. Google Docs and Spreadsheets released new features. Yahoo! Publisher Network froze the tax portion of the portal. Windows release a mobile search client. Hitwise has a slew of recent data on Google and Yahoo!'s market share. AdWords Editor has some funky bugs. Finally, Google pledged $2 million to Standord. Happy December 1st!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo! Pulls Tax Information Update Function From YPN Portal Temporarily
   
2. Google Docs & Spreadsheets Adds New Features
   
3. Google AdWords Advertisers Receives Refunds Via Banned AdSense Publishers
   
4. We Are Three: Search Engine Roundtable's 3rd Birthday

1. Hello Search Engine Land Readers From Barry Schwartz
   
2. Search Engine Property Stats: Google & Yahoo
   
3. Windows Live Search Beta For Mobile
   
4. Google's Nick Fox Answers Tough Questions On AdWords Quality Scores
   
5. Google Gives Stanford Law Internet Center $2 Million
   
6. Adwords Editor Does Not Always Transfer Geo-Targeting Data

Posted at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I heard this news yesterday, Window Washer Falls Asleep on 20th Floor. A really tired window washer fell asleep while washing windows at the 20th floor.

A window washer working on a downtown Nashville high-rise building apparently fell asleep on the job, authorities say.

The man, whom fire officials did not immediately identify, was cleaning the glass on the 20th floor of the Fifth Third Bank building on Church Street Friday when several onlookers noticed he was not moving.

The man came to after firefighters tugged on his ropes, then held up a sign from inside the window to get his attention. The worker lowered himself to the sidewalk, where he was examined by paramedics.

The question is, do you wake him or wait for him to naturally wake up? What if he is startled and falls off? :)

Crazy.

Posted at 8:59 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (0) (0)

Tomorrow is the Search Engine Roundtables third birthday. I wrote a long post on it named We Are Three: Search Engine Roundtable's 3rd Birthday. We have wrote 4,570 articles at the Search Engine Roundtable, to-date, of that, I wrote 3,880 to-date. More on my personal stats over here.

Today is also a special day because it was my first official post at the new Search Engine Land. The title of the post is Hello Search Engine Land Readers From Barry Schwartz. I hope to get a lot of comments there, but I know TypeKey registration (which is currently required to comment) can be a pain, we are hoping to make that easier soon.

Very exciting times and next week is SES Chicago!

Any worries about SEL or SER? Let me know...

Posted at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (1) (0)