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I know everybody says it but one of the most important parts of Pubcon is the networking. I met Mario and Merrick Lozano of PRLeap and had a great time “talking shop” one night. Merrick was nice enough to do an interview and answer a few questions about himself and his company. Interview with Merrick Lozano of PRLeap.com »

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I’ll admit I’m like the people Guy Kawasaki recently talked with I don’t spend a lot of time watching TV. I watch the occasional Mythbusters, American Chopper and animal planet nature documentary, and a few TV show I run some blogs for, so we’re talking about less than 5 hours a week. Since I spend a majority of my time in front of a monitor I’m pretty comfortable watching video there, especially if it happens to be search engine related news. Looking at Search Video News »

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As I mentioned I was part of the pilot program for the MTV Google Adsense Video Beta test. I’m sure I’m not supposed to reveal the details, but I will say I pulled it down and the main reason was the low click/view rate and low payout.

Here’s a suggestion for improving the program instead of forcing everyone to show the same MTV videos give more control. Why not allow me to pick a video that’s offered for sale in the Google Video Store. Allowing me to choose a category or subject would be a nice option too. I show a short version on my site and if the customer clicks through and pays for the download I get paid.

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I can’t imagine why some people find this an entirely shocking concept? I mean we all try to teach our children to play fair and that everybody gets an equal chance, but the sad part is once they grow up and become an adult at some point they realize it was all a lie, and well the world isn’t the egalitarian utopia they thought it was. Is Digg Rigged? »

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If everything works out according to plan I’ll be a guest on SEO Rockstars on Tuesday August 29th 7PM EST.

Game canceled due to a the hurricane about to hit the studios.

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I will admit when I first stumbled into MySpace I really didn’t think it was much more than a bunch of horrendously ugly pages with really cheezy music. However if you are willing to dig a little deeper you can find some legitimate companies and organizations who are using MySpace. If you’re ready let’s dive in …

Marketing Examples on MySpace »

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In the past week Google played catch-up with MSN AdCenter by offering Adwords Targeting based on demographics ( see Google AdWords Help Center: What is demographic site selection? and Targeting as a Strategy). Maybe I spent a little to much time in AOL chat rooms in my youth (yo ASL roomies), but I don’t place a lot of stock in the accuracy of online demographic data.

Will the Real Online Demographics Please Stand Up »

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So I finally got around to reading Brian’s article on IPTV, which tied in with something I was reading on WebmasterWorld about Dora the Explorer teaching kids to “click” on TV. Now I’ve mentioned before that I think within a few years we’re going to see an internet based TV network. Which made me start thinking how close are we to actually having “clickable TV”?

Clickable TV »

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This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone as it was bound to happen sooner or later, but the US Government wants Google to turn over some of it’s search records and history.

MercuryNews.com Feds after Google data

The Bush administration on Wednesday asked a federal judge to order Google to turn over a broad range of material from its closely guarded databases.

The move is part of a government effort to revive an Internet child protection law struck down two years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court. The law was meant to punish online pornography sites that make their content accessible to minors. The government contends it needs the Google data to determine how often pornography shows up in online searches.

In court papers filed in U.S. District Court in San Jose, Justice Department lawyers revealed that Google has refused to comply with a subpoena issued last year for the records, which include a request for 1 million random Web addresses and records of all Google searches from any one-week period.

The Mountain View-based search and advertising giant opposes releasing the information on a variety of grounds, saying it would violate the privacy rights of its users and reveal company trade secrets, according to court documents.

Good on Google for standing up to the feds, whether they will succeed or not is bit iffy right now. Kinda makes you regret installing that toolbar, webaccelerator, using personalized search, and GMail now doesn’t it?

Categories:( google | google | government | government | privacy | privacy | security | security)

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I came across a report today in InternetRetailer.com E-Commerce It’s Not Just for Rich Broads »

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Is blogging. especially live blogging considered journalism? As the great Jedi Master Yoda said “Difficult to see the future is, always in motion, the blogosphere clouds everything…”. Ok well not exactly but he did say something close. The question still remains though is live blogging journalism? The waters continue to get muddier and muddier when people blog about events that get big media and TV airplay. For example take a look at the Live Blogging The Golden Globes Report Live Blogging the Golden Globes »

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Earlier this week Google launched Google Video, a service which allows you to download and play videos. Some big time players are participating in the distribution like CBS and the NBA. While some of these videos are free many of them have a nominal download fee (currently $$3.95 or less). This puts them on a level playing field with ITunes videos for the Video Ipod. Now I’m not big on TV and don’t have a need for watching a TV show or movie on my IPod but I understand how many people would want this service. Internet Based TV Network »

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I recieved an invite to preview Newsvine.com which is a new service that allows you to read, interact and write about news stories. I knew the service was similar to Topix.net but aside from seeing a few news stories here and there I really didn’t know that much about the service. Newsvine Review »

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My Butt is Big
and round like the letter C …

…. via nikewomen.com

like it or not it hard to ignore and gets your attention.

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Since the folks over at the Yahoo Buzz Report tell us that some IPod searches are up anywhere from 187% to 646% (Yahoo! Buzz Index - Buzz Log - Apple Swallows Holiday Buzz), they came to the conclusion that lots of folks got an IPod for Christmas/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/Festivus. I’ll bet that even includes some of you out there in Webmaster/SEO blog land. So here are my top recommendation’s for podcasts you should be listening to from WebmasterRadio: IPod Webmaster Free Content »

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While the New York Times has a decidedly schizophrenic approach to online content (making the old stuff subscription based, but publishing a free real estate blog). The Washington Post is at least moving in the right direction (WashingtonPost.com Extends Free Content Window) Washington Posts Extends Free Archives »

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First it was Six Apart/ Typepad going down, now bloglines is shutting down for maintenance, and del.icio.us has been down most of today. It may be true that 99.99% uptime doesn’t scale, but when these things happen to multiple independent services makes you wonder if the blogosphere really is ready for John Q. Public.

Categories:( blog | blog | typepad | typepad | sixapart | sixapart | bloglines | bloglines | delicious | delicious)

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Now I certainly hope this is a case of the reporter misunderstanding the facts, because if it’s not this one may be the tipping point with everybody’s love affair with Google. Check out this report from the New York Times AOL Content Gets Ratings Boost in Google »

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If there is a killer add-on for an Apple IPod it has to be Griffin’s ITrip(aff). For those of you who aren’t familiar with the product it’s a small piece of hardware that plugs into the top of your IPod and allows you to broadcast the sound to a stereo receiver set at the proper frequency within range.

Out of the box the unit comes set to broadcast at 87.9 FM and will probably work for you without any problems. Now if you live in an apartment building or a college dorm where you are likely to run into other people who have IPod and ITrips and are broadcasting, you may want to install the software and choose a frequency other than the default setting.

So you get out to your car you plug your ITrip into the top of your IPod and hit play, you turn on car stereo set it to channel 87.9 FM and you’re listening to music or podcasts. You pull into the supermarket, pause you IPod pull out your headphones plug them into the top clip your IPod to your belt hit play and you’re back in business without missing a beat.

There are few things you should be aware of before you go out and buy an ITrip, you will need to have access to the entire top of the unit. I chose my case with that in mind, but this will limit your options for compatible cases. Secondly the ITrip sucks up power like nobody’s business. There’s a little red light on top that reminds you it’s on and using power. So if you’re going on a long road trip, remember to top off your battery before you go. Lastly with every type of FM broadcaster you will get a bit of static from time to time. If you’re lucky enough to have a car with an audio input jack, opt for that instead the sound will be much better

My mate Cal in the Netherlands tells me these things are illegal over there. Not sure what the reasoning is behind that particular bit of legislation, so Cal either make a comment or drop me an email and I’ll add that bit of info.

Apple IPod - Official Apple IPod Website
ITrip - Official Griffin ITrip Website
ILounge - Best site to read reviews about IPods, cases, and accessories

IPod Review Article Series

IPod Mini Review
IPod Mini Case Review
Griffin ITrip Review

Categories:( ipod | ipod.mini | apple.ipod | itrip | griffin.itrip | itrip.mini)

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I’m doing some research on a new project I’m working on, so I went to the store last week and picked up a handful of magazines. I’ve read through them and now I’m starting to write my content. The problem is magazines don’t have a search function. I have to go to the table of contents decode the eye catching title into it’s keyword equivalent flip to page 127, 201, and 259 to see what I’m looking for. Imagine that I’m doing this from 6 magazines and you have a good idea what my kitchen table looks like right now. Yes it’s easier to read a “hardcopy”, and “print” authors usually write better than online authors, but this flipping back and forth, not finding exactly what I’m looking for, and yearning for CTRL-F functionality, makes me think of magazines as … well … crude, primitive and archaic. I imagine I’m not the only one who feels this way, and if I worked in the print world I might find that a bit scary and unsettling.

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