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:

This 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:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 30, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Yahoo Search Update Underway : Ranking Changes Reported, Search Engine Journal
• Beware Google PageRank and Paid Links, Fenetre
• Google takes aim at 'cash for links', Times Online
• Google's new PageRank update - what now?, Smart SEO Blog
• Google, Yahoo, Ask.com Do Halloween Logos , Search Engine Land
• Halloween Logos - Google Blogoscoped Forum, Google Blogoscoped
• Happy Halloween 2007, Pink Internet Marketing Blog
• Keeping up with SEO, Admin Zone Forums
• Pilgrim's Picks for October 31st, Marketing Pilgrim
• Search Marketing Trends {Issue 68}, Search Marketing Trends
• Smashing Pumpkins and Halloween Redesigns, Smashing Magazine
• Techmeme: Details Revealed: Google OpenSocial To Launch Thursday (Michael Arrington/TechCrunch), Techmeme
• Today's News: GOOG, Updates and Bunnies, Oh My!, InsureMe Affiliate Blog
• Top Web SEO Resources Sites and Tools, Webtopsource
• Weekly Blog Recap 31/10/07, SiteMost
• Will you stop selling link ads now?, YugaTech
• Yahoo Search Updates Algorithm, Index , Search Engine Land

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

Way 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 | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (3) (0)

I 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 | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (2) (0)

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

52 Week Low: $437.00

52 Week Low: $76.77

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

The 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 | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (4) (0)

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:

This 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:

• Hey Vanessa: My Thoughts About Zillow, Search Engine Guide
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 29, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Weekend Update, BruceClay.com
• Das ultimative PageRank-Tool, S-O-S SEO Blog
• Google Pagerank Update, Jack Humphrey
• Google Slaps Real Estate Blogs in Latest PageRank Update, activerain.com
• LinkRush: October 30th, 2007, www.ginside.com
• PageRank Reduction Caused By SEOs Reporting SEOs to Google, Sphinn
• Preview Of Halloween , Search Engine Land
• Why the world needs SEOs (or - Google only works in an efficient market), SEO'Brien

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

Seems 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 | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (3) (0)

Apple 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 | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) (0)

Email 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 | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (2) (0)

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:

This 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:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 26, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Yahoo To Fix Site Explorer Link Counts, Search Engine Land
• Google Pagerank Gives Everyone A Little Juice, Etienne Teo
• Google's Recent PageRank Penalties, Viral Webs
• Online Advertising: Google silent on major AdSense bug, Valleywag
• Todays Google TBPR Slaps Some, Helps Others, SEM Portland
• Yahoo! Site Explorer's Link Count Explained, SEO Hong Kong
• Yahoo: Pay No Attention To Site Explorer, Revenue Source
• La Loquera Con La Actualizacin Del PageRank, www.ulove-tech.com
• Teaching Sells... Perfect Timing, Successful Blog
• 3 Surprises in the Google PageRank Update, www.searchnewz.com
• 3 Surprises in the Google PageRank Update, Stone Temple
• De grote Google PageRank afstraffingsronde is gestart, Zoekmachine
• Google sac su fusil, blog.adrinavarro.com
• Possible Explanations for the PageRank Penalty Sweep, www.entrepreneurs-journey.com

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

I 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 | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (4) (0)

So 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 | Permalink | Category: Homey , Weather | Comments (4) (0)

After 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?

Notice how I just dragged it to make it bigger:

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

When 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 | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (4) (0)

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:

This 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:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 25, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Amanda Camp of Google does a Video, SEOish
• Google's NoFollow & Small Business Websites, Search Marketing Gurus
• Adsense reports still a mess!, SEO Home
• Google Lockdown - Should You Care?, www.mcbilly.com
• Google straft Pagerank-Linkverkaufer ab, ABAKUS SEO Forum
• Google Tries To Close Pandora s Box, www.searchnewz.com
• Googleblog linking to bad neighborhoods, www.jlh-design.com
• PageRank : punition, avertissement ou communication ?, Search Engine Feng Shui
• Popular websites losing their high Google PageRank, Tom Doyle
• This Is Why You (Comcast) Suck, Kyle Brady

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

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 | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) (0)

I 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 | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (2) (0)

Don'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 | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (2) (0)

Last 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 | Permalink | Category: Computers , Homey | Comments (0) (0)

For 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 | Permalink | Category: Sports | Comments (8) (0)

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:

This 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:

• Google vs. Blogovi, www.blogowski.eu
• Blog News Round Up - 10/24/2007, PPC Hero
• Google Page Rank Shift Hits A Lot Of Popular Websites, www.semspot.com
• Google Penalties O'Plenty, Marx the Spot
• Google PR downgrade hits hard respectable sites, www.layoutgarden.com
• Google Scares The Search Crowd - Forbes.com, Forbes
• Google Toolbar PageRank Losses For Hundreds of Websites, SEOmoz
• Google Updates Pagerank, Shocks Many Leading Publishers, dailyApps
• OakLeaf Blog Gains PageRank Parity with Bigtime Sites, OakLeaf Systems
• PageRank Penalty Hits Bloggers, marketfederation.com
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 24, 2007, Search Engine Land
• 8 Things We Learned About Google PageRank, Search Engine Journal
• A look into the purpose of Google's "PageRank update", Search Engine Watch Blog
• Adsense custom channels broken, www.52cells.cn
• Google October 2007 Page Rank Update Harms Many Link Farms!, Unofficial SEO Blog
• Google October Page Rank Update Harms Many Link Farms, www.searchnewz.com
• Google PageRank and Ranking Penalties Being Dished Out Like Crazy, DigitalPoint Forums
• Google PageRank Update, Pt. 2, Once a day SEO
• Google reduce el PR de los blogs mas importantes, nomadblogs.com
• Major Sites Taking PageRank Hits, WebProNews
• PR ебанулся..., mojohead.blogspot.com
• PageRank Update Another Message To Link Sellers?, WebProNews
• Search Headlines & Links: October 24, 2007, Search Engine Watch Blog
• The Great Google Bitch Slap, Lu Wei
• The Other Side of the Paid Links Coin, SEOish
• Why You Should Not Be Too Bothered With Stats and Ranking, blogsreview.net

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

Yesterday, 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 | Permalink | Category: SEO Tips | Comments (0) (0)

Remember 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 | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (0) (0)

Last 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 | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (4) (0)

I was driving last night and this caught my eye.

Had to look twice.

Posted at 10:26 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (3) (0)

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:

This 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:

• My SMX Social Presentation Recap, 10e20
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 23, 2007, Search Engine Land
• The Great Google Bitch Slap, www.twentysteps.com
• Der Betrunkene und das GeekGirl, seoFM
• Digg Favorites Slapped By Google, andybeard.eu
• Geek links, FARK.com
• Gmail: новые размеры, протоколы, фильтры, www.searchengines.ru
• Google Changing the PageRank Algorithm?, Daily Blog Tips
• Google Changing the PageRank Algorithm? | Crenk, crenk.com
• Google da in cei care vand linkuri, BLOGoree.ro blog
• Google on the Warpath, TechVat
• Google's PageRank Update Goes After Paid Links?, Search Engine Land
• O2 commissions made-for-mobile drama series, Andrew R H Girdwood
• Search: Is Google punishing dirty linkwhores?, Valleywag
• The Ongoing PageRank Massacre Hits Big Players, Fantomaster

Posted at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

As you know, I preordered Leopard and as the days come closer (Friday), I am more and more excited to install the new OS.

The main thing I am excited for is the new feature in Mail that lets you assign To Do's via a mail message.

Simply highlight text in an email, then click the To Do button to create a to-do from a message. Include a due date, set an alarm, or assign priorities. Every to-do includes a link to the original email or note, and to-dos automatically appear in iCal, complete with any changes you make. And since to-dos are stored with your email (when using an IMAP mail service), you can access them from Mail on any Mac.

When I switched from Entourage to Apple Mail, the major feature I missed what that calendaring via email. This is exactly what I needed to fill that void.

Of course, there are tons of other features I am looking forward, such as Time Machine. I am hoping to hook up Time Machine via the network to my office's Systemax Mini-Vault NAS 1000 Case, even though I make mirrored backups via SuperDuper on a separate hard drive a few times per week. I am just not sure if Time Machine will support the NAS, I guess I will find out soon enough.

Leopard, here we come!

Posted at 1:05 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (4) (0)

Here is a funny Dilbert some of you, but not all of you, will appreciate.

Posted at 10:38 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Funny | Comments (1) (0)

I was kind of hoping that I wouldn't have to cut my grass until next season. But it looks like the prolonged summer is making the grass grow even at the end of October.

Thing is, the length of my grass doesn't only impact me, it also impacts my neighbors. Being new to the neighborhood, I don't want people to think I am a slob. And I have a feeling, people who see homes with long, unkempt grass, might get that impression.

So for the good of the neighborhood and to not have to walk with my head down in front of my neighbors, I know what I must do.

I must cut the grass.

Oh, then comes getting rid of the leaves.

Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (6) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Can you sabotage your AdSense competitors? How old are those AdSense publishers? Are all link exchanges bad? Gmail gets 4GB. Libraries shut out Google and Microsoft. Google and privacy sparks up again. Google Webmaster Link Tool is dead again. Google translates drops Systran. StumbleUpon adds search engines. Google's Chef is incredibly rich. Google AdWords shows more details on quality score. Google AdSense is to launch code free changes.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google AdSense Smart Pricing "Sabotage"
2. How Old Are Typical Google AdSense Publishers?
3. Are Link Exchanges All Manipulative of Search Algorithms?
4. Gmail Storage Increases to 4GB
5. Libraries Decline Offers to Place Books on Google and Microsoft Search
6. Will Google Protect Your Privacy?
7. Google Webmaster Tools Link Page Troubles Again

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Translate Drops Systran For Home Brewed Translation
2. StumbleUpon's Toolbar Adds More Search Engines
3. Google Employee #53, Charlie Ayers (The Google Chef) Profiled On MSNBC
4. Google AdWords Adds More Detailed Quality Score Explanations
5. Google AdSense To Launch Code Free Ad Changes

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 23rd 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 23rd, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 22, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Weekend Update, BruceClay.com
• Ask.com oktober 2007 update?, www.dutchcowboys.nl
• Does Google Manipulate Organic SERPs to Improve Ad Income?, DigitalPoint Forums
• Page rank update, SEO Home
• YouTube: Broadcast Your Porn, WebProNews

Posted at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

There is this company that is receiving some buzz named GoodBarry. They basically offers a hosted solution for website creation, lead management, email marketing, online shopping, blogging, and business analytics.

What is with the colors and naming it Barry? Those are my colors, that is my name!

The about page says:

Who is this Barry guy?

Barry is the customer support "alter ego" of our CEO Bardia Housman. Bardia's a customer focussed kinda-guy, so he always liked to get his hands dirty and help out with the customer support and software development - but he'd always sign off as Barry.

Why’d you call yourselves GoodBarry?

As CEO, software developer and customer support rep you can imagine that "Barry" had the powers to grant a lot of our customers' wishes. As the resident online business genie, Barry quickly become loved and known for his quick responses and willingness to help.

This is both cool and a bit worrisome to me.

Posted at 9:57 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Weird | Comments (7) (0)

Yesterday afternoon, the shower door and mirror guys came to install shower doors and mirrors in the bathrooms. I have to say, I was disappointed with the service. Besides for them not listening to my wife's requests and chipping a mirror, see the picture below --- it gets worse.

One of the installers come down and ask to speak to me. I say, "how is it going". He taps on his note pad and says, "its time you pay". I ask him, "are you done?" He said "no." So I said, "why should I pay?" I add, "I already gave a 50% deposit three weeks ago." He said, "Well, most of it is done." I replied, "I am not paying until it is all done."

Those things really make me upset. I wasn't mad, I was just really disappointed and embarrassed for him. It is just not right to ask for payment, when:

(1) I gave 50% already
(2) The work is not done
(3) The mirror is chipped
(4) And the manner he asked for the money

We called the owner today to show him the problem with the mirror. He said he will replace it. Who knows how long it will take.

Now, let me take you back a bit. Remember the The Invisible Shower Door where I told you this company said they already installed my shower doors? See why I am even more upset and not trusting?

This is one problem I had so far with the work that needed to be done on the house. I have been very fortunate.

Posted at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (4) (0)

My sister calls my house last night and immediately asks for my wife. She says its extremely important, blah blah blah. I find out that on Dancing with the Stars, Marie Osmond fainted on live TV. Check it out, the video is on YouTube:

I don't know if you have ever seen anyone faint in real life. It is scary.

She is OK, I hear.

Posted at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Category: Just Interesting | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Is Google Analytics updating more often? Are Ask's ads mocking Google? I posted some Google AdSense channel ideas. Is there an Ask update taking place? Google's blog search is spammy. Google News gets Facebooked. Google cheating organic results for paid results? Yahoo's Chief Marketing Officer says goodbye. Flickr is to add Picnik. Microsoft says display ads are where it is ad. Google does Grouplets. Can you hack Techmeme?

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Is Google Analytics Updating More Frequently?
2. Ask.com's "Can Your Search Engine Do This?" Commercial A Knock On Google?
3. Google AdSense Channel Strategies
4. Ask.com October 2007 Update?
5. Google's Blog Search Returning Spammy Results
6. Google News Goes to Facebook
7. Are Organic SERPs on Google Manipulated to Increase Ad Revenue?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Yahoo's Chief Marketing Officer To Leave Yahoo
2. Yahoo's Flickr to Add Online Photo Editing from Picnik
3. Microsoft Says Search Ads Will Shift Elsewhere
4. Google Grouplets: Shared Groups of 20% Time
5. Getting on Top of Techmeme

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 22nd 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 22nd, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 19, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Trả Đũa Thời Công Nghệ Thông Tin, Oneviet
• Yahoo Site Explorer's Conflicting Data, Applied SEO
• Dalai Lama Grabs Spotlight From China's Leaders: William Pesek , Bloomberg
• SiteMost's Weekly Blog Recap 22/10/07, SiteMost

Posted at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

So yesterday, I spent some time putting up shades in the house.

Since I spent a heck of a lot of money on the house, I thought we go cheap in certain areas, such as drapery and shades. I actually have a client with the domain Drape.com, not bad... Anyway...

I went with Redi Shades. They are paper shades and can easily be put up.

You can buy them at the Home Depot for about $4 or $5. I got two kinds, the original ones for the downstairs level and the room darkening version for the upstairs bedrooms.

You basically cut them to size with a razor blade and then peel of a stick and stick it to the top of your window. They hang from top down and you can clip them at the bottom to adjust the height.

The main issue is that I have tons of 6 inch, 12 inch, etc. pieces of blinds. Not sure if they can be used or what to even do with them.

Oh, they also make "arch" versions like this one:

Supposedly, you do not need the special arch version. All you need to do is cut the original version down the middle and it works the same way.

Posted at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (14) (0)

Yesterday afternoon, I was driving two of my nephews to my house and they begged me to put the top down. So I said OK.

It was 70+ degrees yesterday. It is the end of October. I am driving with my top down in October in New York. Global warming?

Today it is suppose to hit 75 here and may go up to 80 in some parts of New York. It is nuts!

Am I complaining? Nah, I prefer this over snow. I am not looking forward to the snow season, some of you may remember all the hassle I had with my car in the snow.

I am looking forward to returning my car lease around March, right about the time of Spring. :)

Posted at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (2) (0)

I completed a few items in my Things Remaining To Be Done in House list. By far, the most important item, is now complete.

The networking guy came to the house Sunday to fix the networking wiring that goes up to the master bedroom. The cat 5 cable was simply not working from the basement patch panel, up into the master bedroom wall jack. So he came over with his fancy tools and told me that it appears from his device that the cable is cut somewhere from the basement up about 6 feet. The total cable length he said was about 45 feet and if it was cut in the middle, it would have been a pain.

So he extended the cable from the basement from 6 feet up to the patch panel and within 30 minutes, I was up and running.

Now my FiOS internet connection is also wireless upstairs and running at lighting speeds.

My whole house is covered in strong WiFi, which is great. Not only because of my laptop, but also because of my iPhone.

Posted at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (2) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Duplicate URLs are being found in Google. Google Sitelinks grows to eight. Google released earnings that beat expectations, plus we learned 77% of the content network revenue goes to the publisher. Tamar was in a Forbes article on Social Media. How does one opt out of the content network? Does Google look at click through data? Google webmaster central updates. Viacom kissing up to Google now? Google's Orkut is a major headache. Search in Pictures is out.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google.com Showing Same URL on Page One & Two of Search Results
2. See 8 Google Sitelinks in Action
3. Google Pays Out AdSense Publishers 77% Of Earnings
4. Social Media, SMX, Tamar & Others Mentioned in Forbes Article
5. Opting Out of High-Traffic Sites in the Content Network
6. Google Q3 Revenue Soars 57%
7. Does Google Rank According to Clicks in Organic Results?
8. Google Webmaster Central Gets Updated with Sitelinks and More

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Viacom May Want To Work With Google In Future
2. Google's International Headache: Orkut
3. Search in Pictures: Google Halloween, Yahoo Hack Day, Google Surf Board

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 19th 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 19th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 18, 2007, Search Engine Land
• US search engines 'hijacked' in China: analysts, Yahoo! News
• US websites 'hijacked' by Chinese hackers, Telegraph
• What I Loved About (and Learned From) SMX Social Media, Small Business SEM
• 99 Useful Resources for Graphic Designers, You the Designer
• Hijacking Searches: the Google Gets Baidu-ed, China Business Blog
• Pemerintah Cina Dalangi Pembajakan Google?, detik.com
• SMX Social Media Recap, Techipedia
• Takin' SEO to the Streets: How communication can lead to mainstream discovery, The DigitalGrit Blog
• Techmeme: What do 16,000 people do at Google? (Elinor Mills/CNET News.com), Techmeme

Posted at 2:33 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Just got an invite to ShoppingAds, so I thought I give it a try. If you click on the ads, I get paid. So I thought I test it out. I may use them with Google AdSense on this blog and see how it goes.

Above is an example of a type of ad, it is not targeted to be contextually relevant.

The above ad should have "attitude." No sure what that means just yet. Seems like "attitude" ads the "Hot" icon to the ads.

Posted at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (6) (0)

I pre-ordered the new Apple operating system, code named Leopard.

It is version 10.5 of the OS X family. The features are incredible, with over 300 features including:

• A whole new desktop
• A new Finder
• Time Machine: A new way to back up your computer
• Improved Mail, iChat, & Safari
• Spaces, multiple desktop environments
• and so much more

Posted at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (0) (0)

Google continues to impress Wall Street, just check out these headlines. Profits over profits over profits, more money they know what to do with.

But back when Google opened the ipo bid request form and priced their stock at $85, I thought it was over priced.

Now, $560 plus later, I look back and shake my head... Oh how I was wrong about this stock.

My business neighbor who does some stock trading for fun asked me what I thought back then. He didn't get into the IPO, who knows if it was because I told him I thought it was over priced. He then bought plenty of shares after the IPO to make up for it, I guess. But even today, I tell him, I don't think it is worth that much money.

Why? Their business comes from pretty much one thing. A blue link.

See the above picture, see the things labeled "sponsored links"? If you stop clicking on those, Google wouldn't make money. I am not kidding. 90% plus of their revenue comes from those ads.

Oh well, what do I know.

Posted at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Category: Buddies | Comments (3) (0)

I became ill on October 3rd, a bit over two weeks ago, since then I have been congested and stuffed up.

It just won't go away.

Or maybe it just takes several weeks to clear up.

People are constantly asking me over the phone or in person... Are you sick? Have a cold? Feel ok?

Just a bit annoying, but I shouldn't complain. It can be a lot worse.

I just want to clear up a bit, just a bit.

Posted at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Category: | Comments (3) (0)

I have been using Twitter for a while now, but I really never really got into Facebook. I wanted to leverage something that I use often to constantly bombard people on Facebook with my facebook profile.

So even thought I installed the twitter facebook application, I never authorized it to automatically post my Twitters to my Facebook status.

Today is the day I did that.

You can do it to, start here, click on that link and then add it.

Once it is added, you should see this:

Click it and it will take you to here:

Check the check box and click "Authorize Twitter." You can also annoy hundreds of people in a single Twitter. Heck, this post should automatically be sent to Twitter, which is automatically sent to my Facebook status.

Posted at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (7) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

SMX is now over. China is pretty mad at America. Google AdSense allows other contextual ads on the same page. A new Urchin is coming. Can affiliate images hurt your search rankings. Microsoft launches voice search. Google Maps adds user profile pages. Google upgrades Webmaster Tools. What does your country most search on? Viacom continues law suit against Google. Sitelinks confirmed to be at most, 8 per page.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Search Marketing Expo 2007 New York Recap
2. China Mad at America, Sends Search Traffic from Google, Yahoo & Microsoft to Baidu
3. Google AdSense Allows Other Contextual Ads on Same Page
4. New Features Added to Google Analytics, Urchin 6.0 Coming
5. Can Affiliate Images Affect Google Rankings?
6. Microsoft Launches Voice Search and Live Mobile

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Add Your Google Maps Profile
2. The Big SMX Social Media NY '07 Roundup
3. Google Adds Sitelinks Control To Webmaster Tools & Much More
4. Did Dalai Lama Award Cause China To Redirect Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Search Traffic To Baidu?
5. Top Countries To Search On Sex, Hitler, Viagra, Jihad & Hangover
6. Viacom Will Still Sue Google, Even After YouTube Piracy Filter
7. Confirmed: Sitelinks Grows To Eight Links

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 18th 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 18th, 2007:

• A Shout Out To Some Cool Friends Who Were Mentioned In Forbes, ShandyKing
• SMX Social New York: Conference Wrap Up, Search Engine Journal
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 17, 2007, Search Engine Land
• The Big SMX Social Media NY '07 Roundup, Search Engine Land
• A Search Column About Search Columns, MediaPost
• My BFF's and My Smartphone, Michael Gray
• Seven Mile: Yahoo Enables 'Domain Block' Feature for Advertisers, frankschilling.typepad.com
• Slow Crawler Activity Reported On Yahoo! Slurp, Unofficial SEO Blog
• SMX Social Media NYC 2007 Postlude, AIM Clear Blog
• SMX Social Media, Day 2, BruceClay.com
• Techmeme: Did Dalai Lama Award Cause China To Redirect Google, Yahoo (Barry Schwartz/Search Engine Land), Techmeme
• The Attention Economy: Is it Too Much?, Techipedia
• Why I Volunteer to "Live Blog" Search Marketing Conferences, Cre8PC

Posted at 3:29 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (2) (0) | Speak

As I noted on my Things Remaining To Be Done in the House list, I still have to get the shower doors installed.

Currently, we are using the bathroom with a bathtub/shower and a shower poll. But we have some bathrooms that require shower doors. So I gave a deposit to have those done about two weeks ago. I hear nothing and decide to call today.

What was the status? The shower doors were done, the lady told me. I said, "done?" I said there is no way they were done, I woke up this morning and there was no door on any of the showers. She then asked me to hold.

During this time, maybe, I thought, just maybe, the frameless versions of those shower doors are really becoming so transparent that they are invisible. Maybe, maybe, they installed invisible shower doors. Wouldn't that be cool. An invisible wall that keeps the wetness inside the shower but allows a human to walk directly through.

Guess what? I was right. I called the lady back and no, there were not any invisible doors installed. They said they will install them soon but they have not been installed yet.

There goes my invisible shower door dream.

Posted at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (8) (0)

If you didn't believe search is an incredibly important piece of your life, the economy, the world and the future - then maybe this will convince you.

Earlier this morning, the reports starting popping up that China began redirecting search related traffic from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to Baidu, the chinese based search engine. So if you tried to search on Google China, while in China, the search would automatically redirect you to Baidu.

People at first started blaming Baidu. But Baidu can't make that happen. The only feasible explanation is an organization powerful enough to control your ISP. I believe the Chinese government.

Why would China do this all of a sudden? Maybe because of the US Award to the Dalai Lama? Heck, heck out the coverage on this news already.

Techmeme has a large list and its only been about 2 hours so far. We have titles such as:

• Cyberwar: China Declares War On Western Search Sites from TechCrunch
• Did Dalai Lama Award Cause China To Redirect Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Search Traffic To Baidu? from Search Engine Land
• China Mad at America, Sends Search Traffic from Google, Yahoo & Microsoft to Baidu from Search Engine Roundtable
• China Blocks Everything But Baidu? from WebProNews
• Made in China: Dodging the Internet Censor from eWeek

And many more.

This is not only a big deal for search, it is a big deal for the economy and diplomacy.

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

I still have a list of things to get done in the house, but sometimes I forget what is on that list. So why not blog about it to remind myself.

(1) Hang up shades for windows
(2) Buy shades for sliding glass doors
(3) Hang up art
(4) Get shower doors for non-bathtub showers
(5) Get two mirrors
(6) Fix cat 5 cable in bedroom
(7) Fix some heat issues
(8) Buy ladder
(9) Replace broken light bulbs
(10) Get painter to finish up the touchups

(11) Pay mortgage. :)

Posted at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Is Yahoo Slurp slowing down? Google AdSense slows the payment process of referral ads. Google calls subscriber links, "search add ons." Yang was called to testify in Chinese dissident case. Google is testing more Sitelinks. Plus a ton of conference coverage.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo Slurp Taking a Break? Reported Slow Crawling Activity
2. Google AdSense Makes Publishers to Wait for Referral Earnings

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Groups Coop Subscribed Links Under "Search Add Ons"
2. Jerry Yang & Friends Called To Testify On Chinese Dissidents Case
3. Google Mobile Testing 10 Sitelinks In Search Results

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 17th 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 17th, 2007:

• Linkbaiting, the Art of Mass Link Building, AIM Clear Blog
• Live Blogging "Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites" at SMX Social Media, SEOmoz
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 16, 2007, Search Engine Land
• SMX Social Media, Day One, BruceClay.com
• Internet: Top 7 de Blogs SEO, internetred.blogspot.com
• Live Blogging: SMX Social Media - Evangelist: The Marketer's Role in SMM, Search Engine Land
• Social News Sites: Digg, Diggers, and Dugg, AIM Clear Blog
• Yahoo Search's Slurp Slowing Down, Search Engine Journal

Posted at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Tuaw wrote about a place that built a couch out of Macintosh II computers. Here is a picture:

So, now that I have an empty living room, how do I convince my wife we need this couch in our living room?

Posted at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (3) (0)

Yesterday I wrote My Tree is Gone, My Tree is Gone!. But I lied, it wasn't 100% gone until yesterday.

Yesterday, they came back, removed the tree and the stump and covered up the hole that was there after they got rid of the stump.

Before:

After:

I took the after picture at night, so sorry about that.

This morning, I saw two deer in my backyard, just walking around...

Posted at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (3) (0)

So I am at the Search Marketing Expo (SMX) conference now in NY. I am sitting in the "Speaker / Press" room, and I spotted two of the people who make SMX work.

Karen DeWeese, sitting on the left-front, basically runs the shows from behind the scenes. Without Karen, I would say Danny is a sitting duck. :)

On the right is Chris Elwell, the Partner & President of Third Door Media.

Those are just two of the many people behind the SMX conferences. For more players, check out the team page.

Posted at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Will SEOs stop buying link? Yahoo enabled the blocked domains feature. Will Google's new piracy feature work? Afraid.org blocks Google. Global search usage stats were posted. Google fixes URL typos. Google Reader stats are false? Google Analytics upgrades. Plus many conference posts, which I will recap tomorrow.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Will SEOs Stop Buying Links in Light of the Risks?
2. Yahoo Enables Blocked Domains Feature For Advertisers
3. Will Google's YouTube Video Anti-Piracy Tool Work?
4. Google Says DNS Provider Afraid.org Blocks GoogleBot

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google To Launch YouTube Piracy Filter Today
2. Block Domains Feature Now Live In Yahoo Search Ads
3. Global Search Usage & PPC Statistics
4. Google Fixing Search Typos With URLs
5. Are Google Reader Stats Correct? Can We Trust Feed Stats In General?
6. Google Analytics Adds Site Search Reporting & Event Tracking, Urchin Software Also Updated

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 16th 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 16th, 2007:

• Abnormal Google Webmaster Tools Activity, Annettes View of Earth
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 15, 2007, Search Engine Land
• SEO Newsletter | Volume 40 | October 15, 2007, BruceClay.com
• SMX Panel Recap: Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites, Search Engine Journal
• Block Domains Feature Now Live In Yahoo Search Ads, Search Engine Land
• business: More Inappropriate Nude Images Found on Google News Home Page, business.reddit.com
• Cre8pc on Usability , Cre8PC
• Foros Seo en ingles, El rincon de Raquel
• Live Blogging: SMX Social Media - A Marketer's Guide to Social Bookmarking and Tagging, Search Engine Land
• Live Blogging: SMX Social Media - Extra! Extra! The Social News Sites, Search Engine Land
• Live Blogging: SMX Social Media - Social Media Marketing Essentials, Search Engine Land
• Multi lingual SEO: Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese and Non Latin Character URLs, www.aims.co.il
• New Features Rolling Soon In Google AdWords!, Unofficial SEO Blog
• Schrankt auch Yahoo die Backlink-Abfrage ein?, SISTRIX
• Techmeme: YouTube rolls out filtering tools (BBC), Techmeme
• Yahoo! Search Now Supports Bogus Webmaster Stats, SEO Book

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

What an awesome surprise. Typically, the kosher food at these conferences are non-existant. But not at today's SMX conference.

Today, they provided lunch meals from Abigails. The assortment included chicken salad, pastrami, smoked turkey and maybe some other options.

Abigails is a nice New York kosher restaurant, so I suspect those meals were not cheap.

We appreciate it!

Posted at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Category: Food , Travels | Comments (2) (0)

Yesterday I come home after work and notice a big tree in my front yard.

Then I walk into my backyard and that the big tree that was hovering over my house and deck was cut down!

I hired a company to remove the tree. It was too close to my new house for comfort. The deck was constantly a mess from the tree shedding on it and I was nervous a branch would fall off, hit the house and damage it. So I removed it.

The stump still needs to be removed and the tree needs to be removed. But almost there.

Posted at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (2) (0)

My brother-in-law and wife work in NYC. So I convinced them to drive in, instead of taking the bus. Why? So I can then get my brother-in-law to drive, while I sit in the back seat and blog.

Here is a picture of me blogging while in the back seat. We were on the Palisades Parkway, almost at the tolls to the George Washington Bridge.

I get nervous about hard drive crashes, when I hit a large pot hole. Just paranoid about shaking the computer while it is on.

Posted at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (3) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Tomorrow is the SMX Social Media conference in NYC! Non US AdWords users are upset with the currency indicator. An image of a penis was found on Google News. Google can find items in your robots.txt file. Google AdWords added new keyword tools. Do you optimize for those long tail keywords? Arabic SEO, here we come. GOOG-411 is out of beta. Google added validation periods to referral ads. Washington Post bought a search marketing company.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Webmaster Tools Link Update More Frequent?
2. Non U.S. Google AdWords Advertisers Dislike New Currency Indicator
3. More Inappropriate Nude Images Found on Google News Home Page
4. Google Can Find Your Robots.txt File
5. Google AdWords Keyword Tool Rolls Out New Features
6. Optimizing for the Long Tail
7. SMX Social Media Coverage Tuesday & Wednesday
8. How Do You Optimize a URL for Arabic Sites?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. GOOG-411 Is Out Of Beta
2. Google Adds Validation Periods To Google Referral AdSense Ads
3. Washington Post Buys A Search Engine Marketing Firm

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 15th 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 15th, 2007:

• Enlaces en Yahoo Site Explorer, El rincon de Raquel
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 12, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Forget San Jose and O'Hare...Can She Get to NYC Without the Drama???, Cre8PC
• Top SEO Blogs on Google Reader, Online Marketing Blog
• The 5 Websites You Can't Live Without, SEOmoz
• Google обновил PR, bloggreenwood.com
• Yahoo! Site Explorer et les differences and affichage des liens entrants, Search Engine Feng Shui

Posted at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I moved into this nice, new house and part of that is new stuff and learning how it works.

I already read the garage door manuals and this weekend I read the security alarm system manuals, but I still have a huge list of manuals to read to master my house.

The manuals include:

• Fridge
• Oven
• Microwave
• Dishwashers
• Verizon FiOS
• Optimum
• Boiler
• Much more...

I learned a ton from the alarm manual, FiOS, not so much. I learned how to program my card with my garage door opens with that manual. Most people don't read manuals. I often don't but some manuals, I really enjoy reading - nothing like finding powerful features that can be utilized in your daily activities.

Posted at 1:22 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (7) (0)

Some of you remember that we have upgraded some of our servers to Fedora last week.

Since then, I have not been sleeping much. The server we upgraded is having these weird kernel panics, even though we tested it. The server reboots fine, and comes back up after five minutes, but it continues to happen every other day or so. So this weekend, the server folks and us did tons of tests over the middle of the night. We think we found the issue, and we are hoping this server holds up, so that we can upgrade the others using the same method.

But I have not been sleeping. Besides for being up with the server upgrades, I have this sick feeling all the time. The feeling of worry that the server may be down from a kernel panic. It is horrible, especially when you have to go offline for a 24 hour period.

Last night I was up since about 2am. I just hope all goes well with the server today, so maybe I can sleep well tonight, for the conference tomorrow.

All in all, horrible to move servers and homes in the same week.

Posted at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (4) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Do you think SEOs can hurt Google's market share? I spotted this cute searching game at Google. Yahoo Site Explorer shows limited data to non-registered users. How should you prepare for your site redesign. Should Google use Google Suggest by default? Google's founders land a 757. Also, publishers are sharing their best AdSense tips. Yahoo is setting up an office near Microsoft in Seattle. Gmail ups their capacity. Search in Pictures is out, this one features Danny.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Can The Webmaster Hurt Google?
2. Cute SEO Game for Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" Button
3. Yahoo Site Explorer Showing Different Counts For Registered vs. Non-Registered Users
4. How SEOs Prepare for a Site Redesign
5. Should Google Make Suggestions a Default for the Search Box?
6. Google Founders add Boeing 757 to Fleet
7. Publishers Share Google AdSense Tips

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Yahoo Setting Up Shop Next Door to Microsoft's Headquarters
2. Gmail To Increase Email Capacity With New Counter Algorithm
3. Yahoo Site Explorer Not Showing All Link Data to All Users
4. Search in Pictures: Yahoo Foozapalooza, Google Rubiks Cube & Danny Sullivan At Yahoo

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 12th 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 12th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 11, 2007, Search Engine Land
• This Week's Highlights for Usability and SEO, Cre8PC
• Emergency hiring and spending freeze at Google, FuckedGoogle
• Maj du pr, Web Rank Info
• Make Money Online with Etienne Teo: The Ultimate Strategic StumbleUpon Bible Guide, www.etienneteo.com
• Yahoo Site Explorer Not Showing All Link Data To All Users, Search Engine Land
• YouTube Comes To Google Earth; Pity YouTube Itself Doesn't Offer Geosearch, Search Engine Land

Posted at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (1) (0) | Speak

You say what? I said, http://friendfeed.com/rustybrick. You can subscribe via ATOM/RSS or go directly to that URL. Here is me embedding my FriendFeed results on this page:

Give it a try, its not bad.

Posted at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (0) (0)

My brother-in-law is a Blackberry guy, yea - I know, one of those...

He downloaded an "iPhone theme" to his phone and I snagged a picture. Here is my iPhone side by side to his Blackberry with the iPhone theme.

But Blackberry users, there are tons of iPhone themes out there for you guys. Just do a search and you too can try your best to be an iPhone user. ;-)

Posted at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Category: Computers , iPhone | Comments (1) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

I haven't been pushing these recaps out recently to do being way too busy, but here we go again. I am only summarizing today's coverage, for past coverage, check the respective blogs.

Microsoft might add a daily budgeting option. GoogleBot can crawl your site, but can you induce it? Google seems to be fixing the proxy hijacking issue. Google AdSense reporting delay seems to be resolved. Picasa referrals were discontinued? Matt Cutts on nofollow. Google Trends can be used for holiday keyword ideas. Google Maps gets a community touch. Google's DoubleClick deal looks promising. Google gets a boeing 757. Microsoft is now serving Digg ads.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Microsoft adCenter to Add Daily Budget Feature
2. How To Ask GoogleBot (Google) To Crawl Your Site
3. Has Google Fixed the Proxy Hijack Problem? Google.com Cleaner
4. Google AdSense Reporting Delayed, Fixed
5. Are Google AdSense Picasa Referrals Discontinued?
6. Matt Cutts Clarifies Appropriate Uses of the nofollow Tag
7. Use Google Trends to Get Ideas for the Holiday Season

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Maps Adds "Community Maps" To Default Map Searches
2. Google's DoubleClick Acquisition Likely To Be Approved
3. Make That Google Jets: Google Founders Add A Boeing 757 To Their Fleet
4. Microsoft Now Serving Digg's Ads

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 11th 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 11th, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 2, 2007, Search Engine Land
• adamap: Gold MacBook Pro, www.adamap.com
• Dicas de Google AdWords direto do especialista, www.htmlstaff.org
• Google and Spam Link Patterns, www.searchenginepeople.com
• The Effectiveness of Writing for the Web, www.justindavy.com
• Bruceclay.com - SEO Experts, Finding Optimization Clients, BruceClay.com
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 4, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Search Headlines , Search Engine Watch Blog
• Tips on how to SEO a non-existent site at Brisbane SEO Blog, blog.sitemost.com.au
• Traffick: Search Marketing Strategy: Don't Look Like a Duck?: Search Engine Enlightenment | Grab the feed: traffick.com/atom.xml, www.traffick.com
• Yahoo Search Marketing Updates With New Features, Search Engine Journal
• Techmeme: Introducing video units (Ryan Hayward/Inside AdSense), Techmeme
• The Big Paid Link Roundup, Search Engine Land
• Yahoo Upgrades Advertisers Console Causing Some Bugs, Search Engine Land
• Google Launches Video AdSense Units - Social Media, Search Engines, Website Marketing, Bill Hartzer
• MediaPost Publications - A Search Column About Search Columns - 10/10/2007, MediaPost
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 10, 2007, Search Engine Land
• GoogleâÄôs Matt Cutts on Appropriate Use of NoFollow, Search Engine Journal

Posted at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

I am a huge GPS fan, I live and die by it. I was curious how you label your home in your GPS?

People say never to put your home as home in the GPS, because then whomever steals your car can easily pay you a visit.

I then took two seconds to think about that, and I was like.... But my registration card, insurance card and other personal information has to be in the car. It is the law to carry these forms of identification in your car. So they can plugin your address into MapQuest, from your insurance card, and drive to your house. So it is a bit easy with a GPS.

So take the poll below. How do you label your home in your GPS?

Me personally, I don't label my home "home," because I am a geek. What is your computer's home address? ;-)

Posted at 2:36 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (5) (0)

Several years ago my Dad got a great offer for a Personal Post Postage Meter by Pitney Bowes, a company he worked at for 30+ years.

My dad was about to cancel his years ago, when I said, hey, Ill take it over. Back then I used to mail a lot of stuff, like checks and more. But now, I rarely mail anything anymore. Taxes, payroll, bills, proposals, marketing, etc are all now done online. So I decided to cancel my meter.

I call Pitney Bowes, I get transfered from three different people to the cancel department. This guy gets on the phone, he is all chipper. He says, hey you have been a customer for several years now. I said, yes I have been. I then tell him the bad news, I want to cancel. He said, are you sure? He then lists all the reasons I shouldn't cancel. I wish I wrote them all down, but here are a few I remember:

• Holiday season is coming up and mailing will increase
• Online identity theft is huge, you are risking your life by paying bills online
• It costs in gas to drive to the post office to mail things
• Your a busy guy, you don't have time to waste for buying stamps

Those are just some. I actually started to enjoy listening to why I shouldn't cancel. Then when I kept saying no and he ran out of reasons I shouldn't cancel (I am sure he has a 10 point list of reasons sitting in front of him), he lowered the price.

He said, you have been a good customer, Ill charge you $6.95. I then thought to myself, why did you charge me $15.95 for all these years? I said, no thank you. He then gave me two more reasons to stay. I said no. He said, $5.95. I said no thank you.

He then said, maybe you want to give it to a friend to use? I said, nah.

He said, if you cancel you won't get the $5.95 rate again. I said, then I deserve to pay more if I sign up after canceling.

He said OK and finally gave me a cancellation request number.

I then commended him on his efforts and said have a wonderful day.

Wow, what an experience.

Posted at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (5) (0)

Yesterday, I moved.

Moving typically requires a moving company. I was terrified of moving companies. I know so many people who got ripped off by these companies. They load up the trucks, and then seize your property until you are willing to pay up money well above the estimated price. Then they damage your stuff and it is a legal battle to get reimbursed. I finally found someone who had great things to say about his movers.

He recommended a moving company named Santi Express, so I called, scheduled an appointment. The owner came over, she knew the neighborhood well, living in it herself, and gave us a fixed price in person. Fixed price! She then spent the time to go over every step of the process and what to expect. I was well prepared for the move when it came time for that big day.

They sent over four men to do the move. One was the manager, I think, and he led the way. They were extremely organized, professional, courteous and detailed. The process was relatively quick and I would say even a bit enjoyable, believe it or not. Nothing was damaged, no walls were bruised, in fact, I think my wall unit was put together better than the original installation!

So overall, I am happy with Santi Express, very happy. I would personally recommend them, if you are moving.

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

Wow, it was so weird sleeping in a new house yesterday. We moved from a small place to a fairly large home, so it was just weird.

After a long day of moving (which I will blog about later), you finally put everything away and then get ready for bed. Then it hits you. Wow, this is mine, this house, well - it is mine in 30 years, I guess.

My parents brought Chinese food over for dinner last night. We ate in our new kitchen. It was very nice. kind of surreal. Until one of the RB servers started acting up. But then the server issues got better and I was able to enjoy the moment again.

Waking up this morning at 5:40 am (EST), was weird. I look around and its not my old place. But then I go through the routine and get out of the door normal time. I then learn that I am 7 minutes further from my synagogue than I once was, so I now need to set my clock 7 minutes earlier. I will miss those seven minutes, but its for a good cause.

Thank Yous:

My mother was absolutely outstanding. She was with my wife and I most of the day. She helped with all our packing. She was there when the movers came and loaded the trucks. She was critical in last minute packing. Then she was there to unload us and unpack with my wife. She bought us dinner and even more importantly "shepped nachas" from my wife and I. I can't express enough how much we both appreciate that.

My wife. Well, she did most of the packing with my mother. She actually got the whole house done the same day we moved. I woke up this morning and my clothing was in the dressers. Wow. I would say 99% is done, expect for the 1% that I have to finish. So huge thanks to the wife for doing this all and taking the leap to the new house and community.

Also need to thank my dad for helping at the end and at the beginning figuring out all this house stuff. He has helped countless times with this move.

Sister and brother-in-law for the garbage cans, tables, misc items and welcoming us in to their community. Oh, I am sure we will be eating over by them on Saturdays very often. So lots of pre-thank yous for all of that.

My brother and sister-in-law in Israel for providing halachic guidance during this time.

My brother and sister-in-law in America, my brother was critical in helping set up the network in the house last night. Which got my online with FiOS and got my phone line working with Vonage.

The in-laws for their support with all of this. As well as my sister-in-laws and brother-in-law. Friends. Cable guy, Verizon guy, movers... I hope I didn't forget anyone or anything.

Next up, the moving experience.

Posted at 10:40 AM | Permalink | Category: Family , Homey | Comments (3) (0)

Pulled off a 'double closing' today.

Sold my condo and bought a house, all within two hours (not including commute).

Time to move.

Posted at 3:37 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (4) (0)

This blog might be a tad slow this week, who knows...

Why? Not only are we moving servers this week (a huge pain when moving hundreds of domains), but I am also physically moving my home address this week.

Just pure madness between those two and an everyday schedule.

Posted at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Category: Homey , RustyBrick | Comments (2) (0)

Just a quick test post to make sure this blog software works on our new server OS.

Remember, Picking a new server OS from months ago?

Well, last night starting at midnight, was that night.

More on that at a normal time in the day....

Posted at 4:24 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (1) (0)

Remember my ordeal with Five Star Parking?

Well, today I finally got my refund. I think I had to remind them to send it to me. Because it wasn't mailed our until I sent a follow up email saying I never received it.

Well, now I got it. So this mess now costs me a lot of time, and about $450, as opposed to $700.

Nice that they came through with the $150 parking refund, I guess.

Posted at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle , Travels | Comments (1) (0)

That is my garbage can in my office. I feel so sick.

I guess it started last night some time. But now I feel bad. Can't stop sneezing, I feel tired, I feel hot, a bit nauseous, errr.

I got in late this morning because of long services, it put me an hour behind. Then I struggled to focus on researching for both Search Engine Roundtable and Search Engine Land. I am pretty much done now.

Now I need to catch up on RB work. I got two meetings today, not looking forward to either now.

Then I go offline tonight until Saturday night. Ugh... So sick.

What makes things worse is that I know my wife and mother will call me often to yell at me for not taking medicine. That is just what I need, phone calls with an upset tone. I know they mean the best, but still. Got so much to do, so little time, and I am working in slow-motion.

Posted at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (3) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Yahoo Search launched search assist and a form of blended search. Google Referral ads had some display issues recently. Yahoo launched a site blocking feature. Google's index count keeps going up and down. Webmaster's discuss the Google October changes. Microsoft does Google Docs, kind of. All this chatter about "the user," come on. AdCenter changed their top ad algorithm. Microsoft bought a Jellyfish. German privacy man said no to Google's DoubleClick purchase. Paid search grew 44 percent in Britain. Flickr is testing ad placements.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Yahoo Search Launches Search Assist & Blended Search Results
2. Google Referral Ads Now Displaying for Some Users?
3. Yahoo Advertisers Can Block Sites From Displaying Their Ads Soon
4. Google's Index Page Counts Like a "Rollercoaster"?
5. Webmasters Report October 2007 Google SERP Changes
6. Microsoft to Bring Document Viewing Online
7. Should your site be more like Thomas the Tank Engine?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Want That Top Ad Position On Live Search?
2. Microsoft Picks Up Jellyfish, Shopping Search Engine
3. German Data Protection Commissioner Opposes Google-DoubleClick Deal
4. Paid Search Grows 44 Percent In Britain
5. Flickr Testing Ad Placements?

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 2nd 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 2nd, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, October 1, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Yahoo Launching "Blocked Domains" Feature For Advertisers, Search Engine Land
• Google en bref - 29 septembre 2007, www.zorgloob.com
• Google Ranking Changes in Datacenter Results, Search Engine Journal
• A MacBook Computer In Pure Gold!, Diamond Vues
• Flickr Image Optimization and the Yahoo Search Update, www.rheadrysdale.com
• SiteMost's Weekly Blog Recap 2/10/07, SiteMost
• Techmeme: From "To Do" to "Done" in One Search (Yahoo! Search Blog), Techmeme
• Will RSS Go the Way of Reciprocal Linking?, SEOpittfall

Posted at 4:47 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Two basketball buddies of mine chatted with me a while back about a new venture they have been working on. One is in the food business another was an investor of sorts. The concept was a vending machine that would produce quality hot foods that were kosher.

Personally, I love the idea. If the food tastes even decent and is in locations where kosher business travelers are located, then this idea can and should take off. Heck, I know I would pump hundreds of dollars into a machine like this over the course of a week's business trip.

The business is named Kosher Vending Industries and they currently service a lot of places, but not enough... One, they need a vending machine locator on their site!

The menu?

• 3 types of hotdogs/sausages
• Deep Dish Cheese Pizza
• Mozzarella Sticks
• Veggie Cutlets
• Potato Knish
• Onion Rings

The New York Times has a write up on them named For Kosher Emergencies, Manna From a Machine and CNBC will be spotlighting them tonight between 7:00pm-8:00pm (EST). To check it out.

Posted at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Category: Religion , Travels | Comments (0) (0)

How about one of these fancy Macs?

Spotted via Tuaw.com, Computer Choppers has gold plated a MacBook Pro with 24kt gold. Soon you can buy one yourself from them.

The service will run about $1200-$1500 and not only includes gold plating the cover, but also will gold plate the keyboard and trackpad. It takes about 2-4 weeks, and the price may change based on the price of gold. Oh, year, you need to buy the MacBook Pro first.

Amazing but crazy, no?

Posted at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs | Comments (1) (0)

Originally uploaded by CinDLin.

Posted at 9:26 AM | Permalink | Category: | Comments (1) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Currency fluctuations is messing with AdSense publishers bottom line. Even some banned publishers get paid. Google is expanding their YouTube and AdSense beta. Microsoft launched a new index and algorithm. AdSense expanded their Western Union payment options. Google turned nine last week. Google is expanding in Europe. Google gave tips on meta description writing. Microsoft is to launch Office Live Workspace. IAC relaunching iWon. Yahoo is to launch block domains feature. FriendFeed goes social on social. Techmeme does a leaderboard.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. The US Dollar at Near Time Low: Impact on Google AdSense Publishers
2. Some AdSense Publishers Can Get Paid After Being Banned
3. Google Expanding YouTube & AdSense Beta Test?
4. Microsoft Launches New Search Index & Algorithms
5. Google AdSense Expands Western Union Payment Option
6. Google Turns Nine... Finally

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Expanding Engineering Staff In Europe
2. Google's Tips On How to Write a Good Meta Description
3. Microsoft Office Live Workspace To Challenge Google Docs
4. IAC Hopes More iWon Giveways Will iWin New Searchers
5. Yahoo Launching "Blocked Domains" Feature For Advertisers
6. FriendFeed: Easy Way To Track What Friends Doing On Social Web
7. Techmeme Launches Leaderboard

Daily Link Finds:

This is the October 1st 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 1st, 2007:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 26, 2007, Search Engine Land
• ¿Llegará algún día la actualización del PageRank público?, leetu.com
• Ranking Changes At Yahoo?, TheVanBlog
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, September 28, 2007, Search Engine Land
• Jason Calacanis Confirmed as Keynote Speaker for Affiliate Summit West 2008, Search Engine Journal
• Top 15 Interviews of Link Building Gurus, www.manishpandey.com
• Google Adsense bovitette a Western Union kifizetesnel az orszag listat, kocka.blog.hu
• Google Changes Reports Interface, Kishor Kumar

Posted at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) (0) | Speak

Over the holiday, Apple released the iPhone 1.1.1 update. So I was able to read a lot of the reviews telling me not to upgrade, if I hacked the phone.

I did not hack the phone, so I upgraded.

The upgrade failed and I had to restore my iPhone to its factory settings. I did not panic. I restored and then it automatically put back most of my settings. I then synced once more and all my data, music, etc were back on the iPhone. The one thing that was not back to the way it was, were my wireless pass-codes for my various locations. So that is annoying, but the backup and restore, worked well otherwise.

So what is new with this upgrade?

The big thing is I have a new icon on my iPhone for the iTunes WiFi store. Yippi, not! :) I think the calendar icon is now a bit more colorful also, just compare it to an older picture and you can see that. Outside of that...

• Louder speakerphone and receiver volume
• Home Button double-click shortcut to phone favorites or music controls
• Space bar double-tap shortcut to intelligently insert period and space (will use often)
• Mail attachments are viewable in portrait and landscape
• Stocks and cities in Stocks and Weather can be re-ordered
• Apple Bluetooth Headset battery status in the Status Bar
• Support for TV Out
• Preference to turn off EDGE/GPRS when roaming internationally
• New Passcode lock time intervals
• Adjustable alert volume

That is about it. Fun.

Posted at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (1) (0)

So last week, I went offline Wednesday night until Saturday night for the holiday of Sukkots. It was three full days of being offline. I did the same thing for Rosh Hashanah a couple weeks before, and I do it one more time this week (starting Wednesday night).

Going offline for three days in a row is really not easy for me. Not easy mentally, not easy physically and not easy when I get back... But it is something that I have to do, so I do it. This is how I dig out from being offline, when the rest of the world is not.

(1) I first download all the email from the past three days. Now this is a lot of email, a ton. Most spam is blocked, the spam that is not blocked is deleted. I then scan from the oldest to the newest and delete, file or reply to things. Anything I can't reply to stays in the inbox until I can reply to them.

(2) Then I check blog comment spam.

(3) I then read blog posts at both SERoundtable and SELand.

(4) Then I will go through all the feeds I missed over the past three days. Most I will skip, because they were covered at either SERoundtable or SELand.

(5) Then I jump on QuickBooks to review billing items.

(6) Scan emails again and then hopefully get read for bed. Keep in mind, I don't start item #1 until it is very dark outside.

The following day, I go to the office. This happened to be Sunday for these holidays. Yesterday, I was in the office for about four hours.

(1) Reply to emails that required me to be in the office but did not require additional help from staff.

(2) Review and pay bills.

(3) Send out invoices to customers.

(4) Go through emails again and file things away.

(5) Review feeds again.

(6) Prep things for Monday.

Then last night, I prepped some stories for SELand and went to sleep.

This AM I was still behind by thirty minutes. Maybe because it was Monday, maybe because Danny is away traveling for the next 6 weeks. Who knows.

I still feel behind.

It all starts again Wednesday night. To make things crazier, I am closing on a new house and moving next week.

Posted at 1:31 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (1) (0)