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October 31, 2007

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: October 31, 2007

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Daily Search Coverage:

The Google update also impacted some site traffic. Yahoo also do a search update. Google Webmaster Central launched a geographic target tool. Should Google pay more attention to social media? Get AdSense on your Facebook ads. Did the wildfires cause a drop in AdSense earnings? Beta Microsoft Analytics! AOL will allow you to opt out of behavioral ads. AdWords lets you choose your number format. Ask.com earns 40 percent more revenue. The Pulse is out. Happy Halloween!

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

  1. Search Pulse 40: PageRank Paid Links Drop, Yahoo Fixes Site Explorer, Google AdSense Topics & Searching
  2. Google Update Not Just Visible, Some Reporting Major Ranking Reductions
  3. Yahoo Search October 2007 Update
  4. Set Geographic Target in Google Webmaster Tools
  5. Halloween 2007 & The Search Industry
  6. Should Google Take Advantage of the Web 2.0 Dynamic and Follow Links?
  7. Will Facebook SocialAds Compete with Google AdSense?
  8. California Wild Fires Burn Google AdSense Publishers' Income
  9. Want to Try Microsoft Analytics? Gatineau Beta Open to US Residents Only

Search Engine Land Topics:

  1. Want To Opt Out Of Behavioral Ads? AOL Says It Is Your Choice
  2. Google AdWords Lets Advertise Choose Date & Number Preferences
  3. Ask.com Helps IAC Earn 40% Increase In Q3 2007 Media Revenue
  4. Yahoo Search Updates Algorithm, Index & Crawl

Daily Link Finds:

Daily Link Finds GraphicThis is the October 31st issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for October 31st, 2007:

Posted at 4:56 PM | | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

I'm Not Nice: Cold Calls From India Programmers

IndiaWay too often, I get a phone call from someone who has an Indian accent. This person typically says, "May I please speak with your CIO?"

I just got a call from someone who called with that accent and said:

"Can I speak with your head of IT or your CIO?"

I was short on time and responded, "No."

He then began explaining that he was from a programming company in India and they can do work cheaper for us. He asked, "Would you be interested?" I said, "No."

VOIP is great but...

I am not nice, but...

Posted at 11:31 AM | | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Flickr's New Upload Form Doesn't Work on Safari 3.0

Flickr Upload FormI am a huge Flickr user and I have grown accustomed to the faster and smoother Flickr Upload Form.

Ever since I installed Leopard, which upgraded me to Safari 3.0, the Flickr upload form no longer works! I have to resort to the old basic form which is slower...

Flickr, can you make it work in Safari 3.0? Please!

Remember when I was so excited with the new upload picture form? Well, I am almost as disappointed that it doesn't work in Safari 3.0...

What happens? I select the photos link, then it pops open the browse box, and I select my photos, but nothing is added. It just shows "Photos". An AJAX JavaScript issue I would guess...

Posted at 10:58 AM | | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Two Stocks I Love Watching: GOOG & AAPL

I just love watching these two company's stocks move:

GOOG

52 Week Low: $437.00

AAPL

52 Week Low: $76.77

Posted at 10:46 AM | | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

October 30, 2007

Wow, Chris Anderson Blocks PR People: Guts

wiredThe Editor in Chief of Wired threatened to block PR pitches from PR people if they blindly email him press releases without tailoring them to him.

Wow!!!

Chris Anderson, got guts. Chris Anderson is widely respected, and has written some awesome books... So for him to say this, people watch, and they have been!

Chris said:

So fair warning: I only want two kinds of email: those from people I know, and those from people who have taken the time to find out what I'm interested in and composed a note meant to appeal to that (I love those emails; indeed, that's why my email address is public).

Everything else gets banned on first abuse.

He has already banned, what appears to be about a hundred email addresses. Bold!

Chris said he gets about 300 emails per day, mostly PR pitches. He doesn't have the time for it. Duh! How could he. He has a staff that deals with it, so send it to the proper email address at Wired and not his personal email at Wired.

I get my share of press releases, not nearly 300 per day, but a fair share. I can't stand most press releases, in fact, I delete 95% of them. When I was just writing at the Search Engine Roundtable, I simply deleted all press releases no matter what. Why? Well, on the submission page at the site, I said we have certain criteria. That criteria includes:

We only accept news and article ideas, if they come from a search marketing forum thread. If the community finds your service / news / product to be important, a discussion should and will most likely be started in one of the top search marketing forums. It is our job at the Search Engine Roundtable to discover these most talked about discussions and summarize them for you in a format that is both useful and timely.

If you have content, news, products or services you want to submit to the Search Engine Roundtable, please first find a forum thread from one of the many Search Engine Marketing Forums. Then submit an email to us and we will evaluate the thread and discussion for inclusion into our story board.

If you have a press release, then great! But don't share it with me if no one else cares about it. AKA, no forum discussion, no press release.

With Search Engine Land, I need to be more open minded. I still prefer to find the news through my channels and not be fed the news, with certain exceptions.

Is Chris worried about missing out on some stories? I doubt it. I commend him!

The bottom line is that we are all human. Throw press releases in our faces, as if we are machines, doesn't do it anymore. Tailor them, make sure we care. With Search Engine Land, there are some writers who prefer local articles while some love to cover new features and others love hard core SEO stuff. Tailor your message and be direct! Save yourself and us time, please.

Posted at 3:26 PM | | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: October 30, 2007

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Daily Search Coverage:

Google knows how many days are in a month. I have the answer for dead AdSense publishers. Many Gmail users are still missing IMAP. Use the 503 status code for site down time. Paid link reports aided Google in the PageRank drop. adCenter upgraded. Google moved the negative keyword feature. Starting new with AdWords, we got advice. Are you an AdWords nut? Matt Cutts confirmed the PageRank kill. Australia gives Google the OK on DoubleClick. Gmail launched a new version. Halloween is tomorrow.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

  1. One Month in Google is 30.4368499 Days
  2. Getting Access to AdSense Accounts of the Deceased
  3. Many Gmail Users Still Without IMAP
  4. Site Going Offline For 10 Hours? Google Recommends Returning a 503 Service Unavailable Response
  5. Theory: How Does Google Determine Which Sites Sell Links?
  6. MSN adCenter Adds Editorial Status, Campaign Management & Reporting Features
  7. Google AdWords Negative Keyword Tool Relocated
  8. Starting a New Keyword in Google AdWords? Set Your Bid Price To...
  9. Are You Addicted to Google AdWords?
  10. Matt Cutts Confirms that Paid Links Killed Your PageRank

Search Engine Land Topics:

  1. Australia Gives Google OK On DoubleClick Deal
  2. I Have The New Version Of Gmail, Do You?
  3. Preview Of Halloween & Search Engine Industry

Daily Link Finds:

Daily Link Finds GraphicThis is the October 30th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for October 30th, 2007:

Posted at 2:59 PM | | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Akismet Marking All Comments as Spam

akismetSeems like Akismet, my comment spam filter, is marking all comments on all my blogs as spam.

I installed back in May for all the blogs. It has been wonderful, but it is a pain when things like this happens.

So if your comment is not published, I will try to manually publish it myself. If I miss completely, I apologize!

Posted at 11:25 AM | | Category: Blogging | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I Am One of Two-Million Leopard Owners

leopardApple PR team released a release that says Apple Sells Two Million Copies of Mac OS X Leopard in First Weekend. So that makes me one of two-million!

This may make for the most successful new OS Apple has ever released. Time will tell if they break that record.

Engadget has a nice compare and contrast Leopard vs. Vista: feature chart showdown.

I am just thankful that all my applications are running as they were before Tiger. I tried using Time Machine on my NAS device, but it would not recognize the drive, as expect. The big question is... Do I wait for Apple to support the NAS devices or do I go out and buy an external hard drive?

Posted at 11:15 AM | | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

SpamSieve Saves Barracuda Time & Time Again

spamsieveEmail spam stinks, really stinks. I personally have the Barracuda spam filter sitting on the server level, which is supposed to block email spam. It does block a lot of spam, but simply not enough.

Sitting on my email client, Apple Mail is a desktop based spam filter named SpamSieve. It works absolute wonders and blocks what Barracuda doesn't block. Here are stats I pulled from SpamSieve just a few minutes ago.

Filtered Mail
33,789 Good Messages
12,826 Spam Messages (28%)
42 Spam Messages Per Day

SpamSieve Accuracy
122 False Positives
185 False Negatives (60%)
99.3% Correct

Corpus
2,348 Good Messages
2,871 Spam Messages (55%)
233,887 Total Words

Rules
486 Blocklist Rules
4,562 Whitelist Rules

Showing Statistics Since
1/1/07 1:17 AM

Not bad for 11 months of work.

Thanks SpamSieve!

Now, if you could only work on my iPhone. :)

Posted at 10:52 AM | | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

October 29, 2007

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: October 29, 2007

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Daily Search Coverage:

Yahoo is to fix Site Explorer issues. Google's keyword suggestion tool has a small outage. Google updated their image index. What happens if an AdSense publisher dies? AdSense publishers, referred to by USA Today, as Gray Googlers. Are 404 errors bad for SEO? Google's behavioral targeting have some kinks? Yahoo's Vice President of Sales Strategy joins Martha. Google Maps coupons gets searchable. adCenter is upgraded again. And more PageRank talk for today.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

  1. Yahoo! Responds to Site Explorer Inlinks Issue
  2. Google's Keyword Suggestion Tool Goes Offline
  3. Google Image Index Update
  4. What Happens When an Google AdSense Publisher Dies?
  5. USA Today Profiles AdSense Moneymaking "Gray Googlers"
  6. Are 404 Errors Bad for SEO?
  7. Is There a Flaw in Google's Behavioral Targeting?

Search Engine Land Topics:

  1. Yahoo To Fix Site Explorer Link Counts
  2. Yahoo's VP of Sales Strategy, Jacki Kelley, Leaves Yahoo
  3. Google Updates PageRank Again? Adjusts Paid Link Penalty?
  4. Search For Google Maps Coupons
  5. Microsoft adCenter Adds Instant Editorial Reviews & More

Daily Link Finds:

Daily Link Finds GraphicThis is the October 29th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for October 29th, 2007:

Posted at 4:23 PM | | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Health Insurance Costs: Wow

Health InsuranceI just got my new statement for how much my new rates will be for health insurance for our employees at RustyBrick.

It just amazes me how much these prices go up so much every year. I do not mind paying more in quantities (i.e. add employees), but the rates have gone up tremendously in the past few years.

Health-Care Premiums Expected To Jump 8.7% in 2008, Study Says from the Wall Street Journal is a recent article on the crazy prices of health insurance. Here is a quote:

Health-care premiums of employers and their workers rose by more than twice the rate of inflation in 2007, and cost increases are expected to accelerate next year, with employees picking up a larger slice of the bill, according to a study released Monday by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources company.

It has been like this for the past several years. Insurance prices just keep going up.

Thing is, RustyBrick currently covers 100% of our employee's health insurance. We also provide a pretty good plan, PPO with a provider that is widely accepted here.

Besides for co-pays increasing, with deductibles, to try to lower the premiums, the WSJ says:

Employees are also likely to shoulder slightly more of the financial burden for their health-care next year. Hewitt predicts that employees on average will contribute $1,859, or 21.4%, toward premiums, compared with $1,690, or a contribution of 21.2%, this year. In 2003, employees paid 17% of the premium.

I have looked into "High Deductible Plans" but they aren't attractive. Yet, insurance is just for that, in case of emergencies. So maybe it is a good option. I still don't like it. This is what the WSJ said:

Hewitt's research also found that more than 20% of employers offer, or plan to offer, a high-deductible health plan with a tax-advantaged health savings account, or HSA, by the end of this year, and almost half are considering offering one at a future date. While just 3% of employees elected these plans last year, most companies anticipate that enrollment will grow to 20% in five years, according to Hewitt.

That just amazes me.

In any event, it is just going to get worse next year. I doubt prices will ever go down.

Who is to blame? I am told people abuse their plans and that is why premiums are so high.

Posted at 3:40 PM | | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

What Temperature Do You Set Your Heat At?

WeatherSo the winter has finally arrived, with it being 39 degrees here in Suffern, NY.

I have been asking people in the community what they set their heat at. Most were proud to give answers such as, no higher than 68, 69, etc. But one person shocked me by saying a crisp 65 degrees. Why? Heat and electric can cost several hundred per month.

Every house has its own temperature. It depends on how well insulated the house is, how big it is, the type of windows, siding, etc. So each house needs to find their own comfort level. My question to you, and I have provided a poll below to find out your answer, what do you set your heat at in the winter months?

Posted at 9:51 AM | | Category: Homey , Weather | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Leopard Running Well - Time To Play Later

index_spaces_20071016.pngAfter installing Leopard, I was upset to find that some things simply did not work. But after probing the forums and blogs, I was able to get everything that did not work, working again by this morning. Now that I am now up and running, like I was with Tiger (previous Apple OS), I can not begin to experiment with the new features.

Today I hope to have time to play with Spaces. Spaces are just one of those things that I may never use or find myself using all the time. At this point, I have no idea.

Over the course of this week, I would like to try to get Time Machine working over my network storage device, but that might not happen until the end of this week, at the earliest. Until then, I am hoping SuperDuper confirms that their backup solution does indeed work in Leopard. I would still like to use both SuperDuper (mirror copy) at nights and Time Machine (for incremental copies) throughout the days as a backup solution. We will see.

Here is a neat feature in Safari I may use often. You know how those text boxes are just never big enough? Like in this window I am typing now? See the little drag icon at the bottom right of this window?

Safari Text Box Expander

Notice how I just dragged it to make it bigger:

Safari Text Box Expander

Posted at 9:14 AM | | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

October 28, 2007

Safari Now Working in Leopard

safariWhen I upgraded to Leopard on Friday, Safari would not open for me. It would not open at all.

I tried calling Apple Support, but they were unable to help me.

This weekend I found out how to reinstall Safari at an Apple Discussions thread:

  1. Open the Applications folder and drag Safari to the trash. Don't empty the trash yet.
  2. Insert the Leopard install DVD
  3. Open the Optional Installs folder
  4. Start the Optional Install mpkg
  5. Continue through the Install steps until you reach the point where you can select Applications. Expand the Applications tree and select Safari. Action will change from Skip to Upgrade. Continue with the install until it is complete.
  6. Start Safari

Yes, now I am typing and using Safari.

My main problem now is that my awesome inquistor plugin won't work anymore, due to security issues with input manager. How annoying... Time to switch to Firefox?

Posted at 8:33 AM | | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

October 26, 2007

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: October 26, 2007

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Daily Search Coverage:

Oh, PageRank, what are you? AdSense reporting is now fixed. Google Maps has a bug. Win the AdSense story contest. Firefox cashes in on Google. SEO for E-Commerce sites. Be careful about how you ask for a link. Judge has American Airlines suit against Google proceed. Got Google in your URL, you can't put AdSense on your site. YouTube is testing a new video browse page. Search in picture is out.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

  1. Many SEOs Still Don't Get PageRank
  2. Google Fixes AdSense Channel Reporting Issue
  3. Google Maps Local Business Center Bug
  4. Share Your Google AdSense Story and Be Featured on the Inside AdSense Blog
  5. Firefox Made $56 Million in 2006 from Google
  6. Should Your E-Commerce Site be Dynamic or Static?
  7. Watch Out How You Ask for a Link!

Search Engine Land Topics:

  1. Judge Rejects Google's Motion To Dismiss American Airlines Suit
  2. Got "Google" In Your URL? Sorry, No AdSense For You
  3. Preview YouTube's New Video Browsing Page
  4. Search in Pictures: Matchbox 20, Dr. Muhammad Yunus & Yahoo Parachute

Daily Link Finds:

Daily Link Finds GraphicThis is the October 26th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for October 26th, 2007:

Posted at 3:51 PM | | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Leopard Installed: Screen By Screen Installation

I recently installed Apple's new OS, Leopard. I decided to take screen caps of the whole installation process. Before I post them in a flash slide show below, I wanted to recap everything in text.

  • 10:15 - Started Installation
  • 10:30 - Said 5 hours and change remaining
  • 10:35 - Dropped down to about 2 hours remaining for install
  • 10:40 - 1 Hour remaining
  • 10:50 - Less than 30 mins
  • 10:55 - 15 minutes
  • 11:15 - The install was complete

I started up, everything came up fine. The only thing that does not work, that I am aware of is Safari. I spent an hour or so on the phone with Apple, only current solution is to do a clean install. So instead, I am using Firefox.

I tested and they work:

  • Firefox
  • Apple Mail (with SpamSeive)
  • Adium
  • Snak
  • Parallels Desktop
  • iPhoto (with Flickr Export)
  • iCal
  • iTunes

That is what I tested so far. I'll report bugs on other applications, if I find any. Safari, like I said, is gone. For now, at least. It is probably best I use Firefox anyway.

For the screen captures, I made a single tag at Flickr named installleopard and here is the slide show below (Flash is required):

Posted at 3:00 PM | | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Going to Install Leopard Today: I Hope

Apple LeopardI am like a child waiting for a present to come my way. Leopard is so close now, I pre-ordered Leopard a week ago today and today is the day it arrives.

Last night I received the tracking number, I plugged it into my Delivery Status Apple Dashboard widget. It shipped from Ontario, arrived in Newark this AM and is now at my local FedEx facility. It should be delivered within an hour or so of this post.

Last night, I made sure to do a full mirror backup of my computer. So that is ready.

When I get it, I think I may just install it right away. I can work off my iPhone for the 30 minute installation. If something goes wrong, then I might cry. But I will make sure to do a few things before installing.

(1) Repair disk permissions
(2) Shut down computer
(3) Disconnect computer from all peripherals
(4) Start up computer
(5) Quit all applications
(6) Then install

I once tried installing a new OS when I had all my peripherals connected to my laptop and it didn't work too well. I was told to try again without peripherals attached and it worked.

Wish me luck!!!

Posted at 9:14 AM | | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Slow Drivers: Pay Back

Slow DriveDon't you just hate getting behind a slow driver? I personally cannot stand it, especially when you are in a rush.

Whenever I get behind a slow driver, I typically think of this stupid little thing I used to do. To kill time when I first got my license, a couple friends of mine used to drive around the area.

We actually picked streets that were curvy, long and main roads in the area. As we drove, we decided to drive well under the speed limit, just to annoy drivers behind us. When there was a line of 15 cars behind us, we would turn off to a different street, let them pass and start all over again.

So now, whenever I get behind a slow driver, I think it is pay back for all those times I made others suffer.

Yea, we were bad kids. ;-)

Posted at 9:01 AM | | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Mission Critical Items on Battery Backups

Battery BackupLast night I reorganized the devices I want to have on a battery backup, just in case the power goes out.

I placed low cost battery backups in a couple strategic locations throughout the house. I then made sure the following items still have power, even if the power goes out.

  1. FiOs wireless router
  2. Vonage box
  3. Upstairs WiFi router
  4. My alarm clock

So this way, if the power goes out I still have Internet access for a little while. Plus, I still have phone access for a little while (until the Internet goes out or the Vonage box goes out). Oh, and if the power goes out in the middle of the night, I hope my alarm clock still goes off.

Site note: Buy.com has a great deal on a battery back up... It goes as low as $28 if you buy it under a brand new Google account with Google Checkout, after rebates... Here is my aff link:

Posted at 8:46 AM | | Category: Computers , Homey | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

October 25, 2007

Well, I Don't Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel SyndromeFor the past week or so, my right wrist has been killing me. Certain movements result in sharp pain. It first started hurting after waking up one morning in a lot of pain. I figured I slept on my hand and bent it badly and that I would feel better the next day.

I did not feel better, but I gave it a few more days. Now over a week later, it still hurts.

It hurts a heck of a lot more when I shoot a basketball, which I have been doing three times a week.

It even hurts when I type, but not as bad (or even close to as bad) as when I carry stuff or shoot a basketball.

My wife felt it might be Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, so just now, I decided to read WebMD on the topic:

What Are the Symptoms of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?

Usually, people with carpal tunnel syndrome first notice that their fingers "fall asleep" and become numb at night. They often wake up with numbness and tingling in their hands. The feeling of burning pain and numbness may generally run up the center of the person's forearm, sometimes as far as the shoulder. As carpal tunnel syndrome becomes more severe, symptoms are noticed during the day.

My fingers are not falling asleep. Did you see how much I wrote over the past week? My wrist just hurts.

So I have self-diagnosed myself. I will not go to a doctor, I will just wait it out a couple more weeks and see how it goes.

I just saved twenty bucks on a co-pay!

Posted at 3:20 PM | | Category: Sports | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: October 25, 2007

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Daily Search Coverage:

PageRank, oh PageRank, what shall we do with you? Google fixed the link tool. Amanda goes cinema on us. Google's crawl rate doesn't work on folders. Gmail now works with IMAP. Microsoft invests in Facebook. AdWords gets detailed on quality. Google redesigns for China. Schmidt happy about DoubleClick deal progress. Semel trades in 750,000 shares. Yahoo UK gains search assist. Google made 20 improvements to AdWords last quarter.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

  1. What Does This Google PageRank Message Mean?
  2. Fixed: Google Webmaster Tools Link Page Now Working
  3. Amanda Camp of Google on Helping Webmasters with Webmaster Tools
  4. Google's Set Crawl Rate Feature Works at Domain or Sub Domain Only
  5. Gmail Now Supports IMAP
  6. Microsoft and Facebook Partner for Ads
  7. Quality Score Explained in Detail in Google AdWords

Search Engine Land Topics:

  1. Google To Re-Design Products For Chinese Users
  2. Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, Confident DoubleClick Deal Will Be Approved
  3. Yahoo's Ex-CEO, Semel, Sells Off 750,000 Yahoo Shares
  4. Yahoo Launches Search Assist In UK
  5. Google Made 20 "Improvements" To AdWords In Q3 2007

Daily Link Finds:

Daily Link Finds GraphicThis is the October 25th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for October 25th, 2007:

Posted at 2:49 PM | | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Forbes Called, Interviewed, & Even Cited Me

forbesYesterday, if you missed it, Google (in my opinion) sent a message to publishers who sell text ads on their sites. There was a major shake up in the industry that impacted sites worldwide.

In short, Google has a little thing they call PageRank. They show a PageRank score in their Toolbar and it represents how popular a page is. The other night, they dropped the score of hundreds of sites by a lot. Including sites like Forbes, Washington Post and even my site. Because of that, I had some folks in the press call me (I suspect because Danny is on vacation) and ask me some questions.

So I answered a bunch of Andy Greenberg's questions over the phone. Then he called back and I answered more. I honestly thought I wouldn't be quoted or quoted much because this happens too often and ends up not being much. But to my surprise, Andy at Forbes really quoted the heck out of me.

Google Scares The Search Crowd from Andy at Forbes is the article. A ton of the content is from quoting me and I think he did a good job representing what we discussed over the phone.

But Schwartz, who has tracked affected sites and seen no change in traffic, claims that Wednesday's algorithm shift is simply a public relations stunt. "The bottom line is that people are able to manipulate Google's rankings by buying links, and Google has to do something about that," he said. "Today, they sent a huge statement to some of the most popular blogs on the Internet, and particularly those in the search industry."

I wouldn't call it a public relations stunt necessarily. More of one of the only real ways to handle it.

Anyway, wanted to share my quotes from this article with the people who read my personal blog. Plus it is good to document.

Posted at 1:16 PM | | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Brett From GoodBarry Stops By

goodbarryRemember my post on Is GoodBarry Trying to Steal my Brand?

So this guy named Brett stopped by to comment:

Hi Barry!

It's cool that you found us! Love the little cartoon guy you've got going up the top there.

Hey don't you think brown is just such a comfortable, warm color? We all really like coffee and chocolates over here, so you know... must be that great minds think a like =)

I hope you signed up for an invite!

Cheers,
Brett

Not sure what to make of that. No, I didn't sign up for an invite. But thanks for the offer.

Posted at 10:40 AM | | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Bathroom Light Fixtures Installed

Vanity LightLast night my wife picked up a light fixture to go over the new mirrors that were installed in the house.

By the time I got home it was dark. But I don't like to wait on things, as you can tell by my blogging habits.

So I convinced my wife to stand with a flash light so I can install the fixture. Here are the steps I took:

(1) Shut off power the fixture at the fuse box
(2) Read instructions
(3) Took off existing light bulb fixture
(4) Tied new wires to the light source
(5) Attached plate to wall
(6) Took off plate from wall after realizing I forgot to attach "mounting screws"
(7) Attached mounting screws and reattached plate to wall
(8) Grounded electrical to grounding source, attached wiring to light fixture
(9) Removed grounding, removed wiring, detached plate from wall after noticing the screws I used were too long

RANT: Why didn't they say use the shorter screws? Why in the picture are the mounting screws longer than the non-mounting screws? Why are the mounting screws given three different names in the directions.

RANT OFF

(10) Put on new mounting screws
(11) Attached plate to wall bracket
(12) Grounded electrical to grounding source, attached wiring to light fixture
(13) Attache fixed to mounting screws
(14) Capped off mounting screws
(15) Put in test light bulb and turned on lights
(16) Turned on power in fuse and it worked
(17) Installed light covers
(18) Screwed in light bulbs (energy efficient ones)
(19) Leveled the fixture

Then ran off to play basketball. It made me 15 minutes late.

Posted at 10:30 AM | | Category: Homey | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Interesting License Plate

I was driving last night and this caught my eye.

Interesting License Plate

Had to look twice.

Posted at 10:26 AM | | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

October 24, 2007

Daily Search Coverage & Link Finds: October 24, 2007

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Daily Search Coverage:

The 39th Pulse podcast is live. Are SEOs better at searching than normal people? Google updates PageRank and many blogs get downgraded. AdSense is to ad code free changes. Google News stops refreshing. AdSense reports are having issues again. Gmail supports IMAP now. Google's directory of corporate development quits. Yahoo is to partner in Asia on mobile devices. Microsoft and Google both go after Facebook.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

  1. Search Pulse 39: Paid Links, Yahoo Site Explorer, Google Webmaster Tools, PageRank, Duplicate Content & Search Ads
  2. Are Seach Engine Optimization Professionals Better Searchers?
  3. 2nd Google PageRank in October 2007
  4. Code Free Changes Coming To Google AdSense
  5. Google News Bug Stops Auto Refresh Feature
  6. Google AdSense Reporting Discrepancies

Search Engine Land Topics:

  1. Gmail Now Supporting IMAP Protocol
  2. Ullah, Google's Director Of Corporate Development Quits
  3. Yahoo To Partner With Mobile Operators In Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong & Malaysia
  4. Report: Microsoft & Google Compete To Own Stake In Facebook
  5. Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links?

Daily Link Finds:

Daily Link Finds GraphicThis is the October 24th issue of a daily post that will contain links to commentary of the posts over at the Search Engine Roundtable. All links I find throughout the day that ad some commentary to the posts written over at the Search Engine Roundtable, will be in the Daily Link Finds. The purpose is two fold: (1) To help people find discussion around our articles and (2) To thank people for linking to us. How do I find these links? Only one way, via a Google Blog Search link command, so make sure that (1) you are in Google Blog Search and (2) link to us.

Daily Link Finds for October 24th, 2007:

Posted at 2:45 PM |