2009 |
Egads, where is the sense of irony?
“We don’t want to create
an army of spammers, and we are not trying to turn Facebook and Twitter
into one giant spam network,” said Joey Caroni, co-founder of Peer2.
“All we are trying to do is get consumers to become marketers for us.”
From the nytimes
online. Isn't that great... |
2009 |
Our favorite hosting company
|
2009 |
Chinese Viral:
Yang tells the story of how a single 12-character message -- "Jia Junpeng, your mother wants you to go home to eat" -- posted to an online forum frequented mainly by bored gamers frustrated with delays in the rollout of World of Warcraft in China, became a viral sensation -- attracting 7 million hits and 300,000 comments in one day -- that received widespread coverage from Chinese media. [Story] |
2009 |
Caution about your WIFI Router:
From a recent article at computerworld.com, researchers discover that a common WIFI security setting is easily hackable.
To quote: "Both attacks work only on WPA systems that use the Temporal Key
Integrity Protocol (TKIP) algorithm. They do not work on newer WPA 2 devices
or on WPA systems that use the stronger Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
algorithm. Users can change from TKIP to AES encryption using the administrative
interface on many WPA routers." Go do this now on your office router! |
2009 |
Monetize that viral video!
This is interesting... copyrighted music used in a home-grown wedding video makes artist and label big money off the viral traffic. Some inside info from google:
Read the case study -- no longer is there a take-down notice slapped on the offending content. Be sure to watch the wedding video, too -- it's fun. For the technically minded, read Wired's technical analysis of YouTube's Content ID system: YouTube's Content ID. |
2009 |
Quote of the week:
Objects can be designed to low price, but they cannot be crafted to low price.... Craftsmanship cements a relationship between buyer and seller, worker and employer, and expects something of both. It is about caring about the work and its application. It is what distinguishes the work of humans from the work of machines, and it is everything that IKEA and other discounters are not. — "Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture" by Ellen Ruppel Shell |
2009 |
BING — But It's Not Google. |
2009 |
Comparison of JQuery and MooTools
Hands down the best review of these two Javascript resources. This is why I say that both frameworks are excellent choices. My effort here has been to highlight the differences in philosophies between the two codebases and highlight their advantages and disadvantages. Read the article. |
2009 |
Webware 100 Winners!
By CNET: Webware 100 for 2009. |
2009 |
Best CSS advice
Write Your Base for Gecko, Then Tweak for Webkit and IE. Save yourself troubleshooting headaches and write CSS first for Gecko browsers (Firefox, Mozilla, Netscape, Flock, Camino). If your CSS works properly with Gecko, it’s much more likely to be problem free in Webkit (Safari, Chrome) and Internet Explorer. From: Web Designer Depot. |
2009 |
Do you have Soul?
I (this is Paul) was just speaking to a resort company's managers about
expanding the resort's purpose and mission first before creating
their new marketing strategy and deciding on tactics. This
"mission work" isn't new of course, but I passionately used the phrase "find
your soul first" –
and I caught a few raised eyebrows. Hmm. Just now I was reading the
former MySpace Chairman Richard Rosenblatt’s essay "Advice To The New Executive Team".
He wrote:
In addition to developing the community experience from the bottom-up,
it’s equally important to think top-down about its core meaning and
purpose. If you do nothing else, define a clear vision for the essence
of the MySpace community experience. At Demand Media we call this SOUL,
and the continuous, organic growth of our owned and operated network
of properties is predicated on it.
Ahh, just when it feels like you are communicating on a foreign wavelength,
along comes the sweet smell of validation. |
2009 |
It's that time of year – Browser share statistics!
Browser Total Market Share
Microsoft Internet Explorer 66.10%
Firefox 22.48%
Safari 8.21%
Chrome 1.42%
From
MarketShare Hitlinks
|
Operating System Total Market Share
Windows 87.90%
Mac 9.73%
Linux 1.02%
iPhone 0.55%
iPod Touch 0.15%
Java ME 0.07%
Android 0.07%
Symbian 0.06%
Windows Mobile 0.05% |
|
2009 |
Quote from an ex-Google designer:
Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that. I’ve grown tired of debating such miniscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle. — Doug Bowman, Goodbye Google |
2009 |
Customer Service, Google style
Now, this is not a typical rant against Google; I generally like Google's products. But we have been reading more about how difficult it is to actually get real customer service from the giant company. Read this business owner's account of Google's stonewalling and bureaucratic black hole that is customer service: Why I Sued Google (and Won). That's scary... reminiscent of once asking to speak to a supervisor at Delta Airlines when baggage was lost, and being told, "you can't, we don't allow that." |
2009 |
Top Internet Registrars: Remember that top
market share does not guarantee the best service or practices from a Registrar. As stated elsewhere, PDG prefers DomainDirect.com, a reseller for the Open Source Tucows. (They're at #3 as of this writing.) Update March 2009: DomainDirect has become hover.com -- the new look and site functionality is excellent... the registrar tools are even better... and this new focus on "hovers" is mystifying to me... please stick to your core service! |
2008 |
Modern Media Strategy - Take it from Obama
How to use the internet for promotion like the Obama campaign: Post 2000+ videos to YouTube. Then, use a cross-posting video publishing site like TubeMogul to publish everywhere, then Live Broadcast on UStream, and archive them in high def on Hulu. |
2008 |
Mac users: open .docx files with your Office 2004! Learn more from TUAW. |
2008 |
What is Grandcentral?
We
here at PDG use Grandcentral for some of our voicemail-to-email capabilities.
After Google bought the company, it instituted a freeze on new signups. That's
too bad... this
article explains why it is so great. It will be called Google Voice. |
2008 |
Quote: Spam accounts for almost 90 percent of all email and increasingly contains links to websites infected with malware. What is the speed of spam? 7.8 billion messages per hour! Learn more. |
2008 |
DNS Cache Poisoning Issue!
The Internet is facing a severe vulnerability in the global DNS system. Check to see if your ISP is still using an unpatched nameserver.
Click "Check my DNS" at
Doxpara Research. Curious about the gritty, fascinating details? Read
here. |
2008 |
|
2008 |
Google lifts the curtain a bit
This blog post from Google describes their search and ranking improvements
and secrets. Read
more at Google's blog. |
2008 |
Google goes Black for Earth Hour
On Saturday, March 29, 2008, Earth Hour invites people around the world to turn off their lights for one hour – from 8:00pm to 9:00pm in their local time zone.
Read more about the cause. |
2008 |
Browser Marketshare - 2008
Microsoft Internet Explorer 74.88%
Firefox 17.27%
Safari 5.70%
Opera 0.69%
Netscape 0.68%
Top Operating Systems on the web:
Month Windows Mac Linux iPhone
Feb 2008 91.58% 7.46% 0.65% 0.14%
Source: http://marketshare.hitslink.com |
2008 |
IM Networks
Image from http://www.michaelrobertson.com
|
2008 |
Looking for a domain name? Beware!
We've been reading about the practices of certain unscrupulous domain registrars who "steal" domain names after
you search for them using their search tools. Verify that the registrar you're using does not do this! Read more on registrars who practice front running, and allow domain kiting or tasting.
We've had trouble recently with Network Solutions. They actively prevent an owner from switching away from them when it comes time for renewal. See more here and here. Beware of them.
While trying to transfer our website name to a better registrar, domaindirect.com, NetSol locked our name for 60 days because we updated
our email address. This is done supposedly in the name of "security". Conveniently, however, it causes us to miss the renewal date, and to avoid losing paulgurney.com, we'd need
to renew it with them! Basically, they are holding us hostage. We've complained to them, and are awaiting
response on 1/28/08.
Update I: after multiple calls, disconnects and debates, they have lifted the "lock" and allowed us to transfer our name away. They absolutely irritate us with their tactics. More info on various practices
here and
some history.
It is unclear as to who the most ethical registrars are, but Domaindirect.com (which uses the openSRS registry) has served us and our clients well for years, and when we requested a statement from them about this topic, they pledged that they do not condone or do any of these things. Kudos to them.
Update II. The registrar GoDaddy has a reputation of being quick to censor its customers, with little or no warning. We reommend staying away from them as well. More. |
2008 |
Who's What in the web profession
Web guru: skilled with building websites using html/css (advanced
css layout techniques required now), some Javascript;
can create and optomize graphics for web (vector
and bitmap). Can be a designer or not.
Programmer: skilled with html/css, php/mySQL webapp
development, Javascript and Ajax technologies.
Flash jockey: skilled with Flash Actionscript,
Flash animation, Javascript and illustration & graphic
production skills. A creative/techie hybrid.
Web developer: combines all three trades,
plus adds knowledge of information architecture,
interface usability and project management. For
additional help with larger projects, a programming
and Flash team can be assembled.
|
2008 |
Flash Player 9, Update
3
Adobe has released the final version of Flash
Player 9 Update 3, which adds the HD video
support announced earlier this year. Update 3
is the first public version of Flash Player 9
to include support for H.264 HD video playback,
which means HD video on YouTube is now within
the realm of possibilities.
It takes around a year for a Flash Player
update to reach the magical 80+ percent saturation that
sites of YouTube's scope want before unveiling new features,
but there's plenty of other video sharing sites that
have already made the HD leap, which puts some extra
pressure on YouTube. And with a subset of YouTube content
already encoded in H.264 for iPhone and AppleTV users,
YouTube may offer web-based H.264 support sooner rather
than later.
The updated Flash Player 9 also has better full screen
support, Leopard compatibility for Mac users, and support
for Microsoft Active Accessibility. Source: Wired
blog. |
2007 |
Just in time for Christmas shopping: Links to search
and buy products from Amazon. |
2007 |
SEO and Meta tags
Here's an explanation from Google about certain meta tags. Summary:
they're not a method to improve your search rankings, but
you need them anyway.
"Why does Google care about meta descriptions?
We want snippets to accurately represent the web result.
We frequently prefer to display meta descriptions of
pages (when available) because it gives users a clear
idea of the URL's content. This directs them to good
results faster and reduces the click-and-backtrack behavior
that frustrates visitors and inflates web traffic metrics.
Keep in mind that meta descriptions comprised of long
strings of keywords don't achieve this goal and are
less likely to be displayed in place of a regular, non-meta
description, snippet. And it's worth noting that while
accurate meta descriptions can improve clickthrough, they
won't affect your ranking within search results."
Read for yourself what Google has to say about meta
tags. Source
from Google. And search
results from a meta keyword tag search at google's
blog.
Despite their lack of importance for ranking, Yahoo
calls them important and offers advice for meta tags: Direct
Yahoo link. |
2007 |
As many of you already know, Flash is a
visual medium, and Googlebot doesn't have eyes.
Googlebot can typically read Flash files and extract
the text and links in them, but the structure and context
are missing. Moreover, textual contents are sometimes
stored in Flash as graphics, and since Googlebot doesn't
currently have the algorithmic eyes needed to read these
graphics, these important keywords can be missed entirely.
All of this means that even if your Flash content is
in our index, it might be missing some text, content,
or links. Worse, while Googlebot can understand some
Flash files, not all Internet spiders can.
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/07/best-uses-of-flash.html |
2007 |
Internet website attacks
Here's an explanation from Ars Technica about "denial-of-service" (DoS)
attacks. DoS attacks typically flood a web server with
thousands of requests per second to try and overwhelm the
server's ability to respond and make it hard or impossible
for legitimate viewers to access the site. Typically, if
a single computer is launching the DoS attack, it is simple
to figure out which IP address is behind the attack and
block it from the server. Thus, attackers tend to use Distributed
Denial of Service attacks (DDoS) from many computers at
once.
Some firms saw attacks from over 100,000 unique IP addresses,
and in May 2007 have recorded over 250,000 IP addresses
involved in "botnet" attacks. The largest
such attack involved over 300,000 computers and was
difficult to stop, as new IP addresses would keep attacking
faster than the company could block them. There is a
general solution to defend against the attack, but the
solution needs to be applied to each web site individually. Source |
2007 |
Current Browser Popularity
Microsoft Internet Explorer 79.75%
Firefox 13.67%
Safari (Mac OSX) 4.70%
Netscape 0.79%
Opera 0.73%
Mozilla 0.19%
Microsoft Pocket Internet Explorer 0.03%
Microsoft Internet Explorer=17 0.03%
PSP (PlayStation Portable) Internet Browser 0.02%
Danger Web Browser 0.02%
Blazer 0.02%
Microsoft Internet Explorer 0.01%
Unknown 0.01%
WebTV Internet Terminal 0.01%
WebTV Plus Receiver 0.01%
Report generated Sunday, February 25, 2007 |
2007 |
The Truth About Coal – There
is a need to put a price on carbon to force companies to
abandon older, dirtier technologies for newer, cleaner
ones. Right now, everyone
is using the atmosphere like a municipal dump, depositing
carbon dioxide free. Start charging for the privilege and
people will find smarter ways to do business. A carbon
tax is one approach. Another is to impose a steadily decreasing
cap on emissions and let individual companies figure out
ways to stay below the cap. February 25, 2007 editorial
NYT. |
2006 |
The top
100 sustainable companies. The Global 100 is a list
of publicly-traded, MSCI World-listed companies that,
based on research and analysis by Innovest Strategic
Value Advisors, have the best developed abilities, relative
to their industry peers, to manage the environmental,
social and governance (ESG) risks and opportunities
they face. The companies were selected from the Innovest
universe of around 1,800 securities. |
2006 |
Netcraft released this survey
of computer monitor screen-size popularity for December
2006. The moral: we still need to design to the screen
space available on 17"
monitors. (FYI, our office displays are set at 1680x1050 )
|
2007 |
Google has released many fine examples of embedded code "gadgets"
– see an example map on
our site. |
2006 |
NYT posts this graphic about
search engine popularity in October 2006:
|
2006 |
"Enemies of the internet" named… "
A list of 13 "enemies of the internet" has been
released by human rights group Reporters Without Borders
(RSF).
Belarus
Burma
China
Cuba
Egypt
Iran
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Source: BBC |
|
|
|
Browser Market Share for October, 2006
Microsoft Internet Explorer 82.10%
Firefox 12.46%
Safari 3.53%
Netscape 0.85%
Opera 0.64%
Source |
|
Do you buy music online
from iTunes? Stop! Read this:
...for some music lovers their [digital] music library
could go flat as quickly as a soda. In 2004, Coke launched
an online music store called mycokemusic. They
quickly became the #1 online music store in the UK.
Well, a lot changes in a couple of years on the net
and what was once a shining success is now a distant
player behind iTunes UK. So, Coke has decided to shutter
the service by the end of July. The problem for customers
is that mycokemusic sold digitally restricted
files in Microsoft's Windows Media format. When buyers
play their songs they are required to phone to the mothership
and request authorization. But Coca Cola's announcement
means the mothership is going away. With no authorization
those purchased songs become digital flotsam because
they will not play at all and the consumers entire music
investment vanishes. It's a stark illustration that buying
DRM songs is really a rental not a purchase because
someone else controls your access to the property. Read
a PDF or read
the article online.
The better solution is to buy your MP3s from Amazon or eMusic. |
|
Web users judge sites in the blink of an eye
Potential readers can make snap decisions in just 50
milliseconds. In the crowded and competitive world of the
web, companies hoping to make millions from e-commerce
should take notice, the researchers say. "Unless the
first impression is favourable, visitors will be out of
your site before they even know that you might be offering
more than your competitors…"
Go here: http://www.nature.com/news/2006/060109/pf/060109-13_pf.html |
|
The corporate toll on the
Internet (4-06)
Telecom giant AT&T plans to charge online businesses
to speed their services through its DSL lines. Critics
say the scheme violates every principle of the Internet,
favors deep-pocketed companies, and is bound to limit what
we see and hear online. By Farhad Manjoo. Weblink (needs
account) | PDF
download (free).
As usual, the telecoms are spreading disinformation.
In addition to lobbying, broadband firms have "launched
a campaign aimed at urging Americans to "join
their fight". Large telecom firms back a "coalition" called
Hands Off the Internet, which argues that instituting
network neutrality amounts to government "regulation" of
the Internet. On its Web site, the group -- which
is funded by, among other companies, AT&T, beseeches, "Join
us and say NO to government regulation of the Internet!" "
Opponents say that regulation is the only way
to save the Internet from the likes of AT&T. "They
would have the pipe split between the public Internet
-- which might get 1 Mbps speeds -- and a toll lane
on the rest of the 100 Mbps pipe they're laying…
|
|
Google has released a year-end review of popular
search terms across several categories.
Called the Google Zeitgeist. Yahoo has the Yahoo
Buzz. And Lycos
Search does something similar.
Google has released google chat, google video, and
google financials.
Google market share – April 06:
Google -- 48.62%
Yahoo! -- 12.77%
Google U.K. -- 9.54%
MSN -- 8.66%
|
|
Browser Market Share – April
06: (from http://marketshare.hitslink.com)
Microsoft Internet Explorer -- 84.70%
Firefox -- 10.05%
Safari -- 3.19%
Netscape -- 1.05%
|
|
Trade in your old cell phone: www.oldcellphone.com | www.ripmobile.com | www.phonefund.com |
|
This nifty webtool analyzes
any phone number to identify whether it is a cellular
number, what country of origin, and from what exchange
it originates. Also, AT&T offers free country
and city code lookups. |
|
http://www.techreview.com/articles/05/04/issue/feature_gp_safrica.asp
South Africa has a language problem. Its 46 million people
speak 11 official tongues. Enter the Human Language
Technology (HLT) unit at the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria—one
of the largest R&D, technology, and innovation institutions
in Africa. |
|
Habitus
Homes, LLC specializes in green building techniques. |
|
Wired News reports on a "solar
tower" to be built in Australia. |
|
Jwire is a handy WiFi
(wireless Internet access) search tool. Search
Portland, Maine |
|
Soft and fuzzy: the 10
Laws of Life. |
|
Have a look at this thought-provoking animated
graphic about corporate politics. |
|
Startling information about how much of our privacy is
undermined by the travel industry. Know what a PNR is?
Some reservation databases are so old that they weren't
built with delete functions! Edward
Hasbrouck, the Practical Nomad, writes about this in
his book. |
|
|
|
An outline of Temperament theory from
David Keirsey's book, "Please Understand Me II".
A must read for those interested in leadership and relationship. |
|
Like
Florida alligator wrangling?
View a snippet from a miniDV camera.
Quicktime required. |
|
Links to recommended
products from Amazon. |
|
List of
all Companies accredited as Internet registrars. |
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