Google PageRank Update August 2007

This interesting post by Garett Rogers at ZDNet talks about the possibility of the a link between the forthcoming Google PageRank update (slated for late July but is imminent now in August 2007) and the outage that many Google Analytics users reported late last week.

He refers to a comment at seoroundtable.com that triggered this thought

When I was reading some of the commentary on this latest problem, I came accross this comment on seroundtable.com:

I would almost swear this happened last time right before they had the last PR update. I think they use that data in the algorithm if a webmaster has it. Either that or they defer the resources used to power it.

What does this mean to us lesser mortals waiting for the latest PageRank update?

Well, it seems like the update is almost upon us and will be very visible across Google's various datacenters in form of fluctuating PageRank of people's websites before the next week is up!

Three cheers to the Google PR update as it enables many of us to rate our own efforts at making our website really count amongst the deluge of millions others in our category!



Tags: Google, Analytics, Google Analytics, Outage, PageRank, Google PageRank, PR, Google PageRank Update, PageRank Update, Google PR, Garett Rogers, ZDNet, SEO Roundtable, Datacenters, Algorithm, Business, Technology

MSN LIVE Gaming Searchers?

I just read this great piece at GigaOm that explains how MSN LIVE has been able to register the gains that it has reported in its search volumes recently. Looks like some executives at Microsoft have come up with some nifty strategies to shoot automated queries based on user actions in their newly launched LIVE Search Club.

According to Hitwise, Microsoft’s share of US searches shot up from 8.46% to 9.85%. That’s a nice little jump. The big question is if these gains are legitimate or this a case akin to Barry Bonds’ pending claim to the home run record, where a promotional offer may have juiced up the search share. The answer is the latter.

We checked with Hitwise, and they explained that June gains include “searches automatically generated from a promotion on club.live.com,” up to June 9, 2007. After that they stopped counting the data.

Seems like MSN LIVE is throwing up search results just to boost up its search volumes. A further research of the LIVE Search Club by Om confirmed his theory!

I spent sometime on club.live.com and realized that Hitwise was being kind. I ended up playing Chicktionary, a word game, which is “powered by Live Search.” Every time you put together a word, the bottom half of the screen produced a page of search results related to that word. I didn’t ask for them – they just showed up. It wasn’t bots that were throwing up those pages. Instead, it was Microsoft showing them to me. When you hit hint, you get some search results that are supposed to be clues.

Shame on MSN!

They can't fight a fair war with Google so they resort to trickery! Too bad.
Google is indeed the king amongst the search engines. No number of Yahoo and MSN put together can even come closer.

What do you say, guys? :-)


Tags: Google, MSN LIVE, Search Engine, LIVE Search Club, MSN, Yahoo, Technology, Business, GigaOm

Holograms to fight counterfeiting

Since time immemorial, industries have been fighting the menace of counterfeit products.

The rampant piracy prevalent worldwide eats into manufacturers' profit margins and also erodes away their brand equity as the consumers inadvertently attribute the bad quality of the fake products to the original manufacturer.

However, hologram manufacturers have continuously been innovating to strengthen the manufacturing industry against a joint anti-counterfeiting movement. These hologram manufacturers produce hard to copy holograms that have become an ever present anti-piracy feature of the products being manufactured in a plethora of industries.

This is just one of the examples how technological innovations help the business and industry.




Tags: Hologram, Holograms, Counterfeit, Counterfeiting, Piracy, Anti Piracy, Anti Counterfeiting, Hologram Manufacturers, Business, Technology

Search Attention - Yahoo loses, MSN & Google Gain

This article reports that since December 2006, Yahoo's share of user attention has declined 22%, while Google's attention share has risen 10%, which doesn't include YouTube's performance. The article further states that MSN has registered a major gain of 57% more attention between December 2006 and June 2007.

One area where Yahoo continues to lead Google is in user attention. But Yahoo is losing ground and Google is gaining it, according to Internet metrics company Compete.

The recently updated Compete Attention 200 shows Yahoo with roughly three times the share of user attention than Google received in June, 6.5% vs. 2.3%. These percentages represent the fraction of time Internet users spent at a given site out of the entire amount of time they spent online.

It's debatable how relevant Compete's attention metric is to Google, which measures the success of its search engine mostly by the speed with which users find relevant links and move on.

Still, as Google continues to develop as a service ecosystem, offering online applications, tools, and other diversions, many of its properties are aiming for greater user engagement.

The top 10 sites in terms of attention in June were MySpace (12.7%), Yahoo (6.5%), MSN (5.8%), eBay (2.3%), Google (2.3%), Facebook (1.5%), Pogo (1.4%), YouTube (1.4%), AOL (1%), and Craigslist (0.8%).

YouTube, owned by Google, showed the largest gain between December and June, with a 148% increase. This may reflect both an increase in popularity and the time-intensive nature of video viewing.

And as it is turning out... I do not think that Google can be called just a search engine anymore... it is in fact moving towards becoming the biggest advertising agency in not too distant a future if I am not wrong!

Any which way... Yahoo and MSN must be getting worried and who knows, may be already finalising their own sweet deal after Yahoo's attempt at acquiring FaceBook has resulted in a naught!

Very plausible, no? ;-)

It will be better for these two to sleep together rather than having nightmares alone! ;-)

What do you say guys? :-D


Tags: Google, DoubleClick, Search Engine, Advertising Agency, MSN, Yahoo, Sleep, Nightmares, Technology, Business, Advertising, Myspace, FaceBook, YouTube, eBay, Pogp, AOL, Craiglist

iPhone breaks sales records

Steve Jobbs must be very satisfied at the moment with confirmed reports that Apple has broken sales records (dollar value) in consumer electronics with its iPhone launch! Over 500,000 units within a week and people still trying to get hold of one for themselves with all but two Apple stores in USA running out of the first lot!

Whew... that's some success! :-)

I wonder what will the detractors of iPhone who predicted that it will be a failure now have to say! ;-)

Apple has rewritten the rules in the audio equipment industry time and again. Here is yet another example!


Tags: Apple, Steve Jobbs, iPhone, Audio, Audio Equipment, USA, Consumer Electronics, Business, Technology

Jewelry is a woman's best friend!

Jewelry is a woman's best friend! Now, who can argue with that? ;-)

With news stories like the ones below doing the rounds, one can only marvel at the innovative marketing ideas that jewelry manufacturers worldwide are experimenting with and achieving success at!

A Diamond Is Forever noticed the women's fine jewelry self purchase trend and launched the "Right Hand Ring" marketing campaign. - PRNewswire

Saudi Women to Push Sale of Diamonds
A massive promotional drive involving the opening of 80 showrooms will be launched here under a phased plan to boost the sale of diamond jewelry whose sales have registered a double-digit growth in the Kingdom.

WGC Debuts Consumer Campaign
The new promotion aims to stimulate consumer demand for gold jewelry by increasing its relevance and desirability.--May Is Gold Month Promotion Open to Independents.

What do you say, guys? :-)



Tags: Jewelry, Friend, Woman, Gold, Gold Jewelry, Diamonds, Diamond Jewelry, Marketing, Manufacturers, Jewelry Manufacturers

Aha! Google's Another Acquisition - Feedburner

Wow... not too long a time since the last one... and Google has its engines revved up once again!

Two major acquisitions , DoubleClick and Feedburner in last 30 days... whew!

Now, is it a wonder that Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo? There is literally no other way for these two to fight Google alone. It has to happen sooner or later... the question is, how soon...?

I would like to suggect two more acquisitions to Google... Wordpress and Technorati!
Wouldn't these two strengthen Google's position even more, guys?

Wordpress has some of the best writers writing on wordpress.com and Technorati tags the whole blogosphere. I feel this combination will prove to be very beneficial for Google.

And as it is turning out... I do not think that Google can be called just a search engine anymore... it is in fact moving towards becoming the biggest advertising agency in not too distant a future if I am not wrong!

Any which way... Yahoo and MSN must be getting worried and who knows, may be already finalising their own sweet deal!

Very plausible, no? ;-)

It will be better for these two to sleep together rather than having nightmares alone! ;-)

What do you say guys? :-D


Tags: Google, DoubleClick, Search Engine, Advertising Agency, MSN, Yahoo, Sleep, Nightmares, Technology, Business, Advertising, Technorati, Wordpress

Artificial Plastic Blood to help save lives

Scientists in Britain claim to have developed artificial plastic blood. They claim that the artificial blood could act as a substitute to real blood, is easier to store and could be a huge advantage in war zones.

Injured soldiers and crash victims could have their lives saved with plastic blood, the researchers have claimed. The artificial blood is sterile, easily stored and could be given to any patient via transfusion regardless of their blood type.

The synthetic blood is not a long-term substitute for the real thing but can keep patients alive until a transfusion can be carried out. It is most likely to be used where real blood is not available.

Whereas real blood must be refrigerated and has a shelf life of a little over a month and care has to be taken to ensure any used for transfusion is the same type as a patient's blood group, the artificial version is free of such problems. It can be stored at room temperature for months.

The blood, which has the composition of runny honey, was created by experts at Sheffield University of the UK.




Tags: Blood, Artificial Blood, Plastic Blood, Britain, UK, Sheffield University, Health, Healthcare, Scientists, Business, Technology

Yahoo Homepage Goof Up

Yahoo Goofs Up On Katherine Zeta Jones and American Idol Contestant Katherine McPhee Pictures!

I just logged out from my Yahoo mail account and noticed a small goof up on the Yahoo homepage in the Yahoo Search - What's Happening Now section and was able to capture a screenshot.

Check it out!


Apparently, Yahoo's system or designers mixed up the pics of my favorite Katherine Zeta Jones and former American Idol contestant, Katherine McPhee and have displayed Jones' photograph and linked it to McPhee's image search results!

Am sure that they'll fix it soon... till that time, I'd like you guys to check out the Yahoo homepage and leave a comment if you could see it before they made a correction.

Now, I really like it if someone like Yahoo goofs up! ;-)

Know why? Because, it makes me feel a li'l less embarrassed on my innumerable ones and also tells me that they guys at Yahoo are humans after all! :-D

Cheers! :-)





Tags: Yahoo, Goof ups, Katherine Zeta Jones, American Idol, Katherine McPhee, Business, Technology

Gmail Paper - April Fool Spoof

Gmail Paper

I swear, these guys are REAL nuts :-)

If you haven't yet read about Gmail Paper as yet, it's time you did!

Is it free?

Yes. The cost of postage is offset with the help of relevant, targeted, unobtrusive advertisements, which will appear on the back of your Gmail Paper prints in red, bold, 36 pt Helvetica. No pop-ups, no flashy animations—these are physically impossible in the paper medium.

Just notice the font siz and color for the supposed Ads, and of course, the emphasis on "no pop-ups, no flashy animations"... LOL :-)

How about attachments?

All part of the deal. Photo attachments are printed on high-quality, glossy photo paper, and secured to your Gmail Paper with a paper clip. MP3 and WAV files will not be printed. We recommend maintaining copies of your non-paper Gmail in these cases.

Wow... wow... wow.. only if it were true! :-D
Would have been great if Google could deliver the music files on a CD as well... would have made the life of music companies all the more happier... LOL :-D

Is there a limit?

You can make us print one, one thousand, or one hundred thousand of your emails. It’s whatever seems reasonable to you.

But what about the environment?

Not a problem. Gmail Paper is made out of 96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum, and thus, actually helps the environment. For every Gmail Paper we produce, the environment gets incrementally healthier.

This is the best! If this were to be true, Gmail would no more be an email service provider but a physical junk generator! And talk about the environment getting healthier... environmentalists... take a bow!

I just can't stop laughing... the guy who came up with the spoof must get a Nobel Prize or something!

Wad'ya say guys? ;-)



Tags: Gmail Paper, Google, Gmail, Spoof, Email, Environment, Junk, Nobel Prize, Music, Business, Technology

Microsoft takes A Bow To Google Adwords?

Microsoft Advertising On Google

Just noticed a very interesting thing while I was surfing the net looking for some CSS templates and tutorials.

Looks like Microsoft wants to tap on the vast reach of Google search base by advertising its Embedded Systems products, in the paid-for Google Ads.

And the most interesting part is that it seems like Microsoft doesn't seem to be playing by the Google rules! The title of the ad is not representing truly what the product is - Embedded Systems!

It looks like Microsoft is trying to get the attention of the developer community by bidding for top slots on important keywords that us guys might be looking for.

Check this picture out.


For the record, the ad was spotted at 11.00 p.m. IST (i.e. India Standard Time) in New Delhi, India.

I'd like to know what do you guys have to say on this? Shouldn't Google kick Microsoft's butt on this one, as if it isn't doing that every now and then? ;-)

Now, would Microsoft push Windows Vista through this route as well?

Do let me have your comments, guys! :-)



Tags: Microsoft, Google, Vista, Adwords, Advertising, Developers, India, css, Templates, CSS Templates, Embedded Systems,Business, Technology

Spreading the Z-list blogs

UPDATE: Even after so many months of having put this up, I am disappointed to see no reponse from the network and no backlinks to my blog! Am taking down the links today! Sorry, guys!

It started with Mack Collier of The Viral Garden, who came up with the idea of giving a links boost to us smaller bloggers, the ‘Z List’.

I picked this up from Bhuvan's Wordpress Blog and taking this forward. Follow the steps below to join the gang!

1. Create a new post on your blog.
2. Copy and Paste the entire list of blog links below
3. Add any blogs that you want to include near the top of the list. (Optional)
4. Include the blog where you first got the list from, on the list in your post.
5. Do not include your own blog links on the list in your post.
6. Make sure that all links are copied intact (use the source, Luke).
7. Publish the Post.

Bhuvana Sundaramoorthy
SEO Blog
eJabs
DragonLady’s World
Rob’s Blog
Another Opinion Among Many
CAUTION: girl underway
Webgrrrl
Dr. Mercola
Daily Cup of Tech
Blog-Op
Carols Vault
Blog About Your Blog
Monetize Your Blog
Cosmin PTR
Make Money On The Net
Make$ Money$
Successful Online Money Making
Turn One Pound Into One Million$
Work at Home Blog
Blogging For Beginners
How to earn money online?
Dosh Dosh
Money Money Money
Money Making Quest
Connected Internet
Mike’s Money Making Mission
Time to Budget
Can I Make Big Money Online
Blogtrepreneur
Flee the Cube
Blogging Secret
Blogging to Fame
Million Dollar Experiment heads Down Under
Quest to make money on the internet
Kumiko’s Cash Quest
Calico Monkey
Internet Bazaar
Shotgun Marketing Blog
BrandSizzle
bizsolutionsplus
Customers Rock!
Being Peter Kim
Pow! Right Between The Eyes!
Billions With Zero Knowledge
Working at Home on the Internet
MapleLeaf 2.0
Two Hat Marketing
darrenbarefoot.com
The Emerging Brand
The Branding Blog
CrapHammer
Drew’s Marketing Minute
Golden Practices
Viaspire
Tell Ten Friends
Flooring the Consumer
Kinetic Ideas
Unconventional Thinking
Buzzoodle
NewsPaperGrl
The Copywriting Maven
Hee-Haw Marketing
Scott Burkett’s Pothole on the Infobahn
Multi-Cult Classics
Logic + Emotion
Branding & Marketing
Popcorn n Roses
On Influence & Automation
Bullshitobserver
Servant of Chaos
converstations
eSoup
Presentation Zen
Dmitry Linkov
aialone
John Wagner
Nick Rice
CKs Blog
Design Sojourn
Frozen Puck
The Sartorialist
Small Surfaces
Africa Unchained
Perspective
gDiapers
Marketing Nirvana
Bob Sutton
¡Hola! Oi! Hi!
Shut Up and Drink the Kool-Aid!
Women, Art, Life: Weaving It All Together
Community Guy
Social Media on the fly
Ken Savage
confessions of a freeware junkie
Run PC Run
ScriptingLife
Off-Hook
Purely Technical