Daily Search Coverage:

Google has reporting errors in webmaster tools. Google maps adds the fix marker location. Yahoo admits publisher payout mistake. Views in YouTube. Cuil laughs. SEO practices. Live gets redesign. Google Sites get Sitemap verification. Google does venture capital. Googlers at work. UK approves Street Views. Google tests new related searches. Delicious relaunches.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Webmaster Tools Incorrectly Reporting Some 404 Errors
2. Google Maps Reincludes "Fix Incorrect Marker Location" Feature
3. Yahoo Publisher Network Payout Decrease an Error
4. What Is Considered a "View" in YouTube?
5. Is the Search Industry that Cuil?
6. What are the Most Important Search Engine Optimization Practices?
7. How Do You Tell Your Client about the SEO Work You're Doing?
8. Microsoft Live Search Gets an Interactive Redesign
9. Submit Your Google Sites Sitemap to Google Webmaster Tools

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Live Search Adds Home Page "Hotspots"
2. Report: Google To Develop A Venture-Capital Unit
3. Do The Google Webmaster Support Reps Really Work?
4. Britain Clears The Way For Google Street Views; Google Argues No "Complete Privacy" In US StreetView Court Case
5. Google Tests Related Search Phrases Inline With Search Results
6. Del.licio.us Now Delicious.com, With Improvements

Daily Link Finds:

This is the July 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 July 31st, 2008:

• Google Recommends MSN Tools, eBiz Insider Magazine
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 30, 2008, Search Engine Land
• Some Yahoo! Search Schwag, Search Schwag
• TaT: AdWords eBook, Google Sponsored Links und Google Cache mit neuem Design, Internetmarketing News.de
• Google Street View Coming To UK, System0
• Soon, supersoon, I hope., Dushan Wegner
• Windows Live Search mit neuem Design, Prometeo.de
• Yes, Backlinks are The Most Important Factor for Organic Rankings, ankitrawat.com

Posted at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

I have a Gmail account that I rarely use, but it is mine. The Gmail account is barry.schwartz@. But for the past several months, I randomly get emails made out to barryschwartz@, yes, without the dot.

So I figured the people were emailing the wrong person, i.e. not emailing barryschwartz@ but mistakenly emailing barry.schwartz@. I am wrong, they are emailing barryschwartz@, the one without the dot, the one I did not registered.

In fact, Google is clear about dots, saying they don't matter. Here is a screen capture:

Google is being smart and saying, "Yes, this is you." Google links me to this page, where it describes that "If you created yourusername@gmail.com, no one can ever register your.username@gmail.com, or Your.user.name@gmail.com."

So, I guess you can email me at b.a.r.r.y......s.c.h.w.a.r.t.z@gmail.com, if you want. And, yes, it works, here is a screen shot of me getting a test email sent to that address:

The sad part of this is that I cannot reply to this email to tell this company that I am not the Barry Schwartz they are looking for.

Posted at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Category: Computers | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Remember all my A/C issues? If not, here they are in order of most recent:

• Vacuum Out Freon For Air Conditioner
• Level Them Freon
• Losing Trust in One of My Air Conditioners
• Sleeping on the Sofa : Air Conditioning Broke

This Saturday, we had family over for a big lunch. Lunch was in the dining room. The dining room and living room have their own A/C unit. That A/C unit stopped working sometime Saturday morning. So by the time we were all eating in the dining room level, it was a warm 79 degrees in that immediate area.

So I called the A/C people back to fix the issue. Did I tell you that the Wednesday before, that same unit had an issue? So they came to level the freon on that unit. So Saturday it failed again. They finally came back last night. They decided to vacuum out the freon and start fresh, like they did with the upstairs unit. So they did that last night and now it is working again.

So far, the upstairs unit has been working since they vacuumed out the freon on July 1st. It is now about a month later and it has not failed since. I still do not have faith in the A/C working, the question is, will I ever.

In any event, I hope this unit continues to work. As you can imagine, this unit failing was not as bad as the upstairs one. Why? Cause I sleeping in really hot heat is not fun. What I don't understand is how did people do this before there was AC? We are so spoiled!

Posted at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Category: Homey | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I have been talking about remote check deposit for a while. I told you that I was approved for it and then showed you how remote check deposit works on video.

The only issue was that my bank initially told me that I could only hook up my business accounts to it. That was great, because most of my banking was business related. But I still had some personal banking to do. So last night, I sent my bank representative an email, asking if they could please hook up my personal accounts.

Today, I got an email that they can and have done so. So I tested it out and it worked.

I can officially say, I will rarely ever have to go to the bank again. I am sure there will be times where I need to go, i.e. wire transfers, changing account stuff, etc. But for the most part, I will rarely ever have to walk into my bank again.

I love efficiency and convenience through technology.

Posted at 4:00 PM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

People are not happy with the new Google Maps. Google Webmaster Tools fails the reverse DNS test. Are blog links valuable? AdWords API is fixed. Google suggests you use Microsoft. Google announces new Maps Guides. SMX local is recapped. Google updated their merchant search. A look SEOs at Cuil.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Maps Updates Design & Features But Users Not Happy
2. Google Webmaster Tools Verification Bot Not Passing The Reverse DNS Test
3. Are Links From Blogs As Valuable These Days?
4. Google AdWords API Reports and Fixes Database Issues
5. Google Recommends Using Microsoft SEM Tools
6. Google Announces the Google Map Guide Staffers
7. SMX Local and Mobile 2008: What Did You Miss?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Slightly Updates Google Merchant Search
2. How Cuil Is The SEO Industry?

Daily Link Finds:

This is the July 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 July 30th, 2008:

• Cuil Finally Gets Going, GigaOM
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 29, 2008, Search Engine Land
• Cuil, Google and PageRanks - Oh My!, State & Lake
• Gmail hiteless, elfelejtettk meghosszabbatani, kockablog
• Google forgets to renew Gmail SMTP SSL Certificate, Bloggle
• Google News Archive Search: Look for 30 Days articles, Ditii.com
• Google vs. Yahoo on Paid Links, Search Engine Watch
• Is The Google "Yo-Yo Effect" Due to Universal Search?, Yahoo! Buzz
• links for 2008-07-29, Jon Burg's Future Visions
• The Google Cookbook, MenuPages Blog
• Too Cruel To Cuil?, Mel Carson

Posted at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

So I briefly mentioned that I answer most the calls in my office. Why do I do that?

We have a phone system with extensions. So it automatically answers the call and gives the caller the option to dial an extension, by name or sales/support/operator etc. If a caller is specifically looking for a person here, hopefully they will dial by extension or name. Some clients (very few) are too lazy to press the extension and they will press 0. In that case, it rings everyone's phones and the caller ID will show the client's business name. If the employee sees it is likely for them, they typically answer.

But if the call is operator, sales, support and so on and we don't know if it is a client, I try to answer.

Why? Well, most of the time - I am the one that can answer the person on the other end. Typically, the employees can't make the decision on if we want to buy X or if an ex-employee worked here in the past, and so on. So I would have to get the call anyway.

In addition, I don't want my employees distracted by the phones, unnecessarily. Programming can be very focus oriented and to lose focus over a phone call that doesn't apply to them, can kill 15 minutes - which will cost me and/or my clients money.

Also, I did not hire my employees to be a secretary. I hired them to program, design and so on. Not to answer the phones. Is it below anyone in the office to answer a phone. No way! If I, the "CEO" (I hate titles), can answer the phone, why can't anyone. But I prefer not to make them answer the phone, as I mentioned above.

Why don't I hire a secretary? Like I said above, most calls get routed properly anyway. All of our back office stuff is very automated and a secretary is really not needed here. We seriously streamlined this office like you would not believe. So no paper, no faxes, billing is automated mostly, and so on. So we don't need the cost of a secretary at this point. How big are we? We are about 15 staff members right now.

Posted at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Category: RustyBrick | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I just have zero patience for sales calls. Overall, I am an impatient person, which is one of my many flaws. But when it comes to people trying to sell me something, when I don't request it - ugh... makes me angry.

You know I am not nice to India and don't give them the time of day, but now it is worse.

Yesterday, the operator line rings from an "unknown" number. I answer it, which I typically do, cause I like to answer the phone calls (new post on that later). The person starts by saying...

Hi, my name is ABC, I am from XYZ... Before she goes on, I cut her off and say, I am not interested. Honestly, it could have been someone asking me to sell them my services. I just had this hunch from the voice and the intro that it was leading into them selling me something. So I cut it off and then thought, what if they wanted info on our services. Oh well...

Then this morning, we got two calls. One from a man with an Indian accent, who I shut down immediately. The next from a really nice sounding female, who seemed really nice. I tried to tell her no nicely, but she wouldn't accept it. So I had to be more bold in my "no" and she finally got the message.

I so hate sales calls, hate them, hate them, hate them.

Please do not call to sell me something or pitch me something, please!

Posted at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Category: Rambling | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Google keeps yo-yoing, but why? Google AdWords search gets a redesign. Google Maps street views calls home. Google News Archive Search explored. Can the Google keyword tool benchmark your traffic? Can you do SEO with just links? Google forgot to renew their email certificate. Use Google News power filters. Google has logos for NASA and Potter.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Is The Google "Yo-Yo Effect" Due to Universal Search?
2. Google AdWords Search Updates Design
3. Google Maps Street Views Privacy Concerns Hits Home
4. Google News Older Than 30 Days? Look at Google News Archives
5. Can You Benchmark Traffic from the Google Keyword Tool?
6. Can You Optimize Your Site with Just Links?
7. Google Forgets to Renew Gmail's SMTP SSL Certificate

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Power Searching Google News With Cluster Filtering
2. Google Logos For NASA's & Beatrix Potter's Birthdays
3. Google's Send Mail Server Security Certificate Expires
4. Looking For Old News? Use Google's News Archive Search

Daily Link Finds:

This is the July 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 July 29th, 2008:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 28, 2008, Search Engine Land
• 5 Grande warum der Google PageRank Emerbewertet wird, Bloggonaut.net
• Back from vacation, manage to experience
• Friday SEO Links, Jeremy Turner's Blog
• Ganz cuil back on the Roof, seoFM
• Google Introduces Time Stamps for Google Sitelinks in Webmaster Tools!, PageTraffic SEO Blog
• Google PageRank Factors - What Are They Now?, Search Engine Optimization Journal
• Looking For Old News? Use Google's News Archive Search, Search Engine Land
• Testing Cuil, Codswallop
• Ultimos cambios efectuados en el Google pagerank -Julio 2008, Posicionate.org

Posted at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Update: To be notified when the iPhone Siddur is available, please go here and fill out your email address in the box at the top right of the page.

The siddur texts are still being cleaned up and that is going well. But while we do that, we are also working on improving the iPhone Siddur, what we have done so far.

Now the Zmanim (Jewish times) are complete and accurate, up to +/- a minute based on sea-level elevation.

Here is how it works.

(1) Click on Zmanim at the bottom and you will see the program use the GPS or Cell towers or Wireless routers to detect your location and give you a longitude and latitude:

When those are obtained, the Zmanim come up. If they are not found (i.e. your in a bomb shelter or airplane mode on), you will be able to manually add your zip code and specify the date.

(2) Here are the correct times for my area, here is the top of the page:

Bottom of the page:

(3) Clicking on any of those times will give you more detail. For example, here is the explanation for Alos:

yes, we will fix that typo

(4) On the bottom, we added an "About These Times" button, when clicked, it will give you the date for these times and it currently gives you the longitude and latitude, plus the required disclaimer:

List of To Dos:

(1) Continue cleaning up texts for the siddur
(2) Enable the edit button to change your date and location
(3) Add a settings feature for the siddur, so it remembers if you are Ashkenazic or Sephardi

After this is all complete, then we can work on some really cool features.

Posted at 11:32 AM | Permalink | Category: iPhone | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

The one thing I really hated about the email client in the iPhone was that it did not let you listen to WAV formatted attachments. So, my office voicemail system and home voicemail, which both emailed me my voicemails could only be heard on a computer or via calling into the voicemail.

With the new iPhone 2.0 OS, that has changed. I noticed this soon after I first got the iPhone but I decided to blog it now...

When I get a voicemail, it shows the attachment. I then click, download and once it downloads, I see the file below the email, like in this screen capture:

(Oh, that was Dice calling trying to sell me some programmers. Listing their phone number, I assume, is not a big deal. I am sure if you need coders or IT staff, calling that number will be welcomed.)

Now, click on the file and it will open up QuickTime audio/video player and play the voicemail via the speakers on the iPhone:

This feature alone is awesome!

Posted at 3:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

My video recap is live. Google wants UTF-8 encoding. Yahoo skims publishers? Google bites on trillions of links each day. Cuil launches. Microsoft does BrowseRank. SEO's reputations are damaged? How has Google changes PageRank? Yahoo launches new ad performance reports. Yahoo injects news results into the middle of web search.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Video Recap of Weekly Search Buzz :: July 27, 2008
2. Make Sure Your Robots.txt File is UTF-8
3. Yahoo Publishers Recently Notice Huge Drop in Earnings; Is Yahoo Skimming?
4. Google Recalculates Trillions of Links & PageRank Several Times Per Day
5. SEOs Comment On Cuil, New Google Competitor
6. Microsoft's Answer to Google PageRank: BrowseRank
7. Why the SEO Reputation is Being Damaged
8. What Kinds of Changes Were Made to Google PageRank?
9. Yahoo Search Marketing Announces New July Features

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Yahoo Search Improves News Injection In Web Results
2. Yahoo Improves Search Ad Performance Reports

Daily Link Finds:

This is the July 28th, 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 July 28th, 2008:

• SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 25, 2008, Search Engine Land
• The Sad State Of The SEO Industry, ShoeMoney
• Links u. Tools - PageRank Tools, SEO United
• Could Cuil be a useful tool to check on-site SEO effectiveness?, SEOptimise
• Cuil Finally Gets Going, BuzzYA!
• Google bestigt das Backlink-Problem, SearchLab-Blog
• How Cuil is that?, Search Engine Tigers
• How To Reorganize Management For Social Media, Search Marketing and Internet Advertising , David Dalka
• July 08 Google PageRank update?, Ritualistic
• Matt Cutts and Sex Sites, Ginside.com
• Techmeme: Cuil Launches Biggest Search Engine on the Web (Vince Sollitto/Cuil), Techmeme
• The SEO Guru Defines "Authority Sites" and How to Build Your Own For Fun and Profit, Bob Massa
• Weekly Search Buzz (27 July 08), ankitrawat.com

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

Update: To be notified when the iPhone Siddur is available, please go here and fill out your email address in the box at the top right of the page. Friday afternoon, we launched version 1.0 of the iPhone Siddur. We did so, so we can get it out there and get it approved by Apple, so we can work now on cleaning things up and adding features.

My brother, in Israel, has been working on cleaning up the texts, to make them look more readable. He has been doing an awesome job. Here is a screen capture of Shemona Esrei (or the Amidah) within Mincha, after he cleaned it up.

We got the header color going, we got small text for certain text, we got small italics for instructional text, we shade the background of holiday/special texts that aren't used daily. This makes it much easier to read and follow. So we are almost done going through all the texts to make them all clean. We still have a few more on the Ashekenaz side and then the Sephardi to go. It just takes time to go through all of it. If you want to contribute to the texts and add more, do contact us and let us know.

We also will be working on more features, immediately:

1. More zmanim including alos, tzais, earliest teffilin, and more...
2. Add explanations (on click event) for the zmanim
3. Add calendar feature to zmanim (so it just doesn't show today)
4. Add ability to change your location (so it just isn't based on your GPS location)
5. Add more texts
6. Add a settings feature for the siddur, so it remembers if you are Ashkenazic or Sephardi.

So we will continue to develop the application out. We do hope Apple approves us quickly. In fact, I do not want to change the application (i.e. add these improvements) until Apple does approve version 1.0. Once they approve 1.0, we will release a 1.x version.

Posted at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I was strongly considering waking up later. Well, today was the first day of that trial. I woke up about 12 minutes later then I normally do.

I did the morning stuff, which now includes squinting a few times and rubbing my eyes. Then checking email, then going through morning feeds and then doing the morning bathroom routine.

I left the house 15 or so minutes later then I normally do and went to a later morning services. So my whole day is about 15 minutes lagged due to waking up ~15 minutes later.

I will try to stick to this routine for a bit and see how it goes. If all goes well, then maybe Ill go to the next level. But probably not for a while.

Posted at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Category: Daily Grind | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Update: To be notified when the iPhone Siddur is available, please go here and fill out your email address in the box at the top right of the page.

We have uploaded the first release of the iPhone Siddur to the iTunes Connect system. As you can see in the screen shot below, Apple now needs to review it. When Apple approves it, it will then be available in the iTunes Store for download.

I told you it was coming, and now it is here. We were able to get most the weekday texts in, they do need some cleaning up. We have someone working to clean up all the texts over the weekend. We were able to get most prayer times, but we are still working on "Alos Hashachar" and "Tzais." We cannot get Mizrach (which way is east) working until the rumored iPhone 2.1 software comes out, which is expected very soon. So we will work on that also.

We got the barebones up, including:

(A) Texts - Prayers

• Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv and Brachos
• Both Ashkenaz and Sfarad

• Location Lookup for long/lat
• Sunrise
• Latest Shema
• Latest Tefilla
• Chatoz
• Mincha Gedola
• Mincha Ketana
• Plag HaMincha
• Sunset

We tested all the times in our local area, so we hope it works well elsewhere. If it doesn't, I am sure we will hear about it. Here is the official iPhone Siddur page.

Very excited about this and can't wait to show you more. Here are some screen captures:

Posted at 4:26 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Google updates the cache design. Google time stamps SiteLinks. Google needs help on www versus non-www. Google updates PageRank. Posted on search engine reputation management. Microsoft and Facebook do a deal. Do you link to your landing pages? Microsoft does BrowseRank. Search in pictures features Matt Harding. Italy sues Google executives.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Updates Design of Google Cache Page
2. Google Sitelinks Adds Time Stamps in Webmaster Tools
3. Google Webmaster Tool's WWW vs. Non-WWW Issues
4. Google Announces PageRank Update - Thank You
5. Hush Those Complaint Sites in Google Search
6. Microsoft Plans to Advertise within Facebook
7. Should You Link to Your Landing Pages?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Google Updates Toolbar PageRank; Drops Some Penalties
2. Microsoft Goes After Google's PageRank With BrowseRank
3. Search In Pictures: Matt Harding @ Yahoo, Google Chicken Soup & Yahoo Olympics
4. Italian Prosecutors To Sue Google Execs Over YouTube Video

Daily Link Finds:

This is the July 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 July 25th, 2008:

• Business Strategy Reality Check With The Google Adwords Keyword Tool, BPWrap
• Manufacturing Consent: 3 Reasons You Need An SEO, The Milwaukee SEO
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 24, 2008, Search Engine Land
• Techmeme: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's Full Memo to the Troops About New Reorg (Kara Swisher/BoomTown), Techmeme
• Want Online Casinos Search Uncle Sam by Google, Search Newz
• Giving Your Business Strategy a Reality Check With Keyword Tools, Women's Biz News
• Google Maps Walk the Line, Chuck Anthony's Chicagoland Rock 'n Roll Blog
• Google search on educating LOL, reddit.com
• Google Updates Toolbar PageRank; Drops Some Penalties, Search Engine Land

Posted at 3:10 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Just a friendly reminder, that almost every day, this same guy, still can't flipping park his car right.

This is today, but today wasn't even that bad:

Very annoying!

Posted at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Category: Motor Vehicle | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Remember the LED scrolling Kippah that I told you I ordered? Well, I never got it. :-(

In any event, a buddy of mine launched a new site named Vanity Kippah, which is currently selling the 2008 Presidential Kippah Collection. The example on the right is of the McCain Kippah, so if you are a McCain supporter, you might where that one around. Love Obama? Get the The Obamica, which reads, "My Bubby is Voting Obama" on the back of the Kippah.

Heck, they are even selling the The Hot Kippah. Personally, I would still love to get my LED scrolling Kippah, so I can scroll any message I want. World Peace, SEO Rules, "I &hearts Food," and so on.

Would Jews actually where these? I can see some. Would I? Not these, but if there was something really geeked out, I would strongly consider it. I know my wife would beat me if I did... :)

Posted at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Category: Religion | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Yahoo's ambassador program shuts its doors. Can broken links hurt you? High response time errors in Google tools. Microsoft mocks webmasters? Knol launches, officially. Live Search sending bad referrers again? Johnson leaves Microsoft. Blogger is spamming the web big time.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Google Sitemaps URLs Have "High Response Time" Message
2. Can You Be Penalized in Search Engines For Broken Web Links?
3. Is Microsoft Not Serious About Webmasters?
4. Yahoo To Discontinue Ambassador Program As Of September 30, 2008
5. Google Launches Knol: Project Wikipedia
6. MSN Live Sending Odd Referrals -- QBHP -- to Websites
7. Microsoft Reorganization Forthcoming, Kevin Johnson Moves On

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. Yahoo Takes One More Step Away From Competing In Paid Search
2. Google's Blogger Makes Up 2-Percent Of All Malware Hosts

Daily Link Finds:

This is the July 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 July 24th, 2008:

• Google Addresses Cache and Related Concerns, Breaking News US
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 23, 2008, Search Engine Land
• We could have told them that, Office OFFline Web Comic
• "Candy Ass Social Media Goody 2 Shoes"?, Traffick
• Google Maps Now Has Walking Directions, reddit.com
• I have arrived!, JLH Design Blog
• Sadness In The Search Industry : Respect Each Other, Sphinn
• Should You Remove Keywords With Low Click Through Rates?, Get Elastic
• The Google Cookbook, Sphinn
• Want Online Casinos? Search Uncle Sam Courtesy of Google, Bill Hartzer
• Yahoo Takes One More Step Away From Competing In Paid Search, Search Engine Land

Posted at 12:08 PM | Permalink | Category: Daily Link Finds , Daily Search Coverage | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) (0) | Speak

Last night I booked the flight to PubCon in Vegas. Yes, way early, but the price via EWR to LAS on Continental wasn't bad - so I jumped at it. I made the mistake of not booking early enough for SES San Jose, and unfortunately, Tamar and I won't be going to that. So I was eager to get my flight booked for PubCon in November.

I am sure I will regret not going to SES San Jose... Just like when I bailed on PubCon last year, I totally regretted it. The last time I live blogged a PubCon was almost two-years ago. That PubCon was a lot of fun, since Yahoo invited me to Hugh Hefner's Vegas Suit in Palms Hotel and it was very all laid back.

So, in short, bailing on SES San Jose. Hitting SMX East and PubCon Vegas.

Not forget, SMX East is in October (right near Yom Kippur), good thing I am in NY.

Posted at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Category: Travels | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

T3 reports that Creative Coffins has created an iPhone coffin! Here is a picture:

Okay, I am an Apple Fan boy, I admit it. But I am not this crazy to put myself in one of these when I die.

In fact, I don't think it is in accordance with Jewish law to be buried in one of these. In any event...

I guess people say, who cares what people say about you once you die. Or is it the opposite? ;-)

Posted at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Daily Search Coverage:

Happy Hot Dog day! Small business giving up on Google? More porn in Google. Google cache delayed? Google might buy Digg. Google does government search. Google's content network isn't that bad. Patents might disappear? Google Logo, the video. Click fraud holds steady. The BBB calls Google unsatisfactory. Live QnA updates.

Search Engine Roundtable Topics:

1. Happy Hot Dog Day
2. Are Small Businesses Giving Up on Google AdWords?
3. More Inappropriate Images Popping Up in Google Web Search
4. Google's Cache Database Back On Track?
5. Will Google Buy Social News Site Digg for $200 Million?
6. Google's Governmental Search Engine: Uncle Sam
7. The Google Content Network: Not That Bad After All
8. Will Stricter Laws Regarding Software Patents Nullify Search Algorithms and Google PageRank?

Search Engine Land Topics:

1. The Google Logos Video
2. Click Fraud Rate Mostly Unchanged, Says Click Forensics
3. The Better Business Bureaus Rates Google As "Unsatisfactory"
4. Live QnA Adds Features & Firefox 3 Support
5. Now Google Searches For "Educating" Not Safe For Family Viewing

Daily Link Finds:

This is the July 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 July 23rd, 2008:

• Google Maps Adds Walking Directions, Exercise Plans and Diets
• Google Maps Adds Walking Directions, Bad Neighbourhood Caution, Gizmodo Australia
• Google Maps Now Helps You Stroll to Your Destination, Maximum PC
• Google Maps Walking Directions Live , www.goorank.com
• Google Maps Walking Directions Live, Google Blogoscoped
• Google Maps: Google Maps Adds Walking Directions, lifehacker.com
• SearchCap: The Day In Search, July 22, 2008, Search Engine Land
• SEO Headlines, BruceClay.com
• Tamar Weinberg 1 of 5 interviews with Austincast.com, blip.tv
• Are small businesses dropping out of AdWords?, MindValley
• Breakfast Links: July 23, 2008, Dane101
• Google Maps: Google Maps Adds Walking Directions, Bad Neighborhood Caution, Gizmodo
• Now Google Searches For "Educating" Not Safe For Family Viewing, Search Engine Land
• Walking Directions For Google Maps Is Live, Smart SEO

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

Update: To be notified when the iPhone Siddur is available, please go here and fill out your email address in the box at the top right of the page.

Update: We submitted this to Apple for review, more details at this page.

As promised, I wanted to give you a preview of the iPhone Siddur application. I got it running on my phone, to test it. The icon was designed by our design and looks like this:

We need to make the "S" capital.

When you load it up by clicking on the icon, it defaults to the actual prayers. You can select the sect (only two right now):

Clicking deeper will then give you the actual options, morning, afternoon, evening, generic brachot, etc and then this is what an actual text looks like:

Yes, you can expand it by using the touch expand feature and you can change to landscape view.

That is all pretty standard stuff. The cool stuff I demo later, but here is a hint:

Siddur is what I showed above. Clicking on "Zmanim" will automatically figure out your location using the GPS tools. It will then figure out the various times you are allowed to say the specific prayers (earliest tallis, earliest teffila, mincha, etc.), automatically. And the "Mizrach" option is basically a compass, it will tell you which way is Jerusalem, so you know which way you should pray. That will come in handy when I go to conferences and I have no idea which way to stand.

I'll be showing off more previews soon, I hope.

Oh, I have a few more features in mind - that I won't be telling you just yet. But they will make this application a must have for all Jewish orthodox iPhone users.

Posted at 12:45 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (17) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

I have been struggling on if I should write a blog post on the feeling I get that I am losing the deep connection I once had with the SEO industry. I know many of you might feel that even implying this, that you think I am crazy. But honestly, I use to know almost every little thing that was taking place in the industry that was public (and most non public) in nature.

As the industry grows, I have to take on more to be able to properly cover the growth of the industry. The more blogs I subscribe to, the more forum threads I need to read, the more stuff I need to write - leaves me with less time to "participate" in the industry I help document. Not participating as often as I like is sad. Heck, I don't even have the time to reply to most the comments left here or at the Search Engine Roundtable.

So why am I writing about this now and not a week or two ago? Well - Louis Gray wrote a blog post named Bloggers' Interactions With Readers Decrease With Prominence and showed this chart:

I would not classify myself as an "industry legend," I am extremely well read in the industry, but the only "legend" in this industry would likely be Danny Sullivan.

But I honestly feel like I just don't have the time anymore to do be "in the communication," like I once was. I now feel more like I am "reporting on the communication," without always being a part of it. Well, I am a part of it, but not as much as I once was. In the past few weeks I have been trying to be more part of the communication and I will continue to do so.

Louis Gray documents what are "interactions:"

• Allowing blog comments
• Responding to blog comments
• Commenting on FriendFeed about your blog
• Tweeting links to your blog posts
• Digging your blog
• Stumbling your blog
• Pimping your blog on others' blogs

Okay, I am not that bad where I do not allow comments - I do. But I am not always good with responding to them. I try so hard to comment at FriendFeed but I rarely do, I do have it set up to auto post to FriendFeed (but most people do that). I automatically Tweet my blog posts, and I do Tweet a few times a day outside of that. I only Digg my blog posts when they come up on my reader (yes, I subscribe to a site command on Digg). I never use Stumble, never. I rarely "pimp" my blog to individuals.

What I think I have learned from Louis's post is that I am currently a stage three blogger but I am just border line stage four. Louis says, "Two characteristics of Stage 3 bloggers also emerge: The sheer volume of readers makes keeping up with all of them impossible. A new kind of reader shows up, people who exhibit troll-like behavior."

Am I at that point, sometimes I do feel that way. "It's these two dynamics that cause some bloggers to head onto the next stage," explains Louis. But I do not want to head to the next stage - I do not want to lose my connection with the industry. I want to communicate, participate and be like it was three years ago. But is that even possible these days with the volume of bloggers, forums and social networking sites/apps out there?

Is it that there is too much? Or just different methods of participation then in the past? Or maybe it is both. Or maybe I am just crazy and I am participating more then most people and I should not worry about it.

Posted at 8:34 AM | Permalink | Category: Blogging | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0) (0)

Update: To be notified when the iPhone Siddur is available, please go here and fill out your email address in the box at the top right of the page. We, RustyBrick, is now an iPhone developer, and the first thing we plan on releasing is a Siddur with a lot of cool features. A siddur is a Jewish prayer book. It is mostly built, but we have a few neat feature we want to add. I'll blog about that when it is live.

But we are having an issue. The computer that is running the code is bugging out when we try to connect the iPhone to it to load the app directly on the test iPhones. We get an error that reads, "XCRemoteIPhone isBigBear" - yea, descriptive.

Here is a picture:

We are not the only ones with this exact error, another developer posted this issue at Apple's Discussion Forums. I hope we get a response soon.

In the mean time, we keep developing. This Siddur is going to seriously rock.

Posted at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Category: Apple Macs , iPhone | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0) (0)