BoingBoing listed this weird post about an animated gif video of a guy who games himself into himself. Nifty cut ‘n paste work.
Image is 230 kb, might take a while to load, depending on your connection.
via [BoingBoing]
Archive for June, 2005
Technorati Out of Beta
21
Jun
2005
I was checking my watchlist on Technorati, which is incredibly inaccurate, and I noticed Technorati just came out of its beta. Well, not quite, the beta went public. Sweet design there. Pretty weird I only have 18 links though. What’s up with this? Also, when do a search for my nick, it almost never shows my posts. I wonder why.
Â
Remark : the url for the search has changed. It used to be :
http://www.technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&url=Coolz0r
but now it’s redirected to http://www.technorati.com/search/Coolz0r
Shorter is better they always say. That should go too for my watchlist. ;)
Coolest feature : they’ve personalized a ping page for every site.
Site-Flavored Google Search In Beta
20
Jun
2005
I was looking for a good search applet to put on this site. I thought I’d seen a Google applet somewhere recently, and I figured it’d be cool to have in the menu of this blog. Instead of the applet I was looking for, I’ve stumbled upon Google’s Site-Flavored Search applet, currently running in beta.
So, what is this beta about ?
“Site-flavored Google search delivers web search results that are customized to individual websites. Simply fill out a profile describing your website’s content, and when you add a site-flavored search box to your site, your users will get search results that are “flavored” to be more attuned to their interests.”
I was supposed to enter my site url into a box, and then Google would try to infer a profile for my site, based on its content.
…’try to’ is indeed very well chosen, because no results show up for this blog’s url.
I’m being suggested to select categories. Feels a bit like Yahoo now.
“Google was unable to derive a profile for your site. You can use the categories below to choose your site’s profile.”
So, here’s the custom Site-Flavored Google Search, especially for Coolz0r.
Should you use it, know that it has been marked to specifically search in the interests with values 44-40-50-49-43-30 and 25. For you to find out what they are.
A cool gadget to offer your users, but of no real practical use. I think if everyone started to offer custom searches, in the end I’d be going back to the main Google search, because I would feel being deprived of much data that would have been enclosed in a regular search but stays left out of the queries.
More about this beta, straight from Google.
UPDATE *** 21/06/05 – 2.51 AM
Jeremy Hilliker writes :
< -- form method="GET" action="http://www.google.com/search">
< -- input type="hidden" name="sitesearch" value="blog.coolz0r.com"> < -- input type="text" name="q" size="30" maxlength="255"> < -- input type="submit" value="Search Coolz0r" /> (remove the ‘–’)
You really should have a comment section, this isn’t the first time that I’ve wanted to respond to something that you’ve written.
Coolz0r writes :
Yeah I know, I should get to it :)
But nothing’s automated on this site, so I’m thinking of a way to integrate it through some sort of forum.
I even write the rss by hand, so the entire comment thing is a bit out of reach, especially when it comes to moderating.
Any help is welcome though.
Thanks for the applet, It’ll serve wel in the archives.
R|Mail Passes 1000 Subscribers
20
Jun
2005
Good news from Canada travels fast. Randy from R|Mail has informed me through a custom for me designed smtp-script that 1070 users are now happily being RSS’d through smtp. Very cool. Let’s see how far we can pull this.
The comfort of R|Mail has been proven to be contagious.
A big thank you goes out to Nathan Weinberg, who went away for a few days and let me blogsit both the InsideMicrosoft blog and the InsideGoogle blog. I used the opportunity to blog about the service Randy Charles Morin had been developing and that sort of kicked it off a little more than it already had. Also thanks to Philipp Lenssen from GoogleBlogoscoped to pick up the news item.
The results on a Technorati Cosmos Search are pretty impressive. A lot of people have got to know R|Mail on a very short notice. Some call it a better alternative or replacement for Bloglet, with the big difference you’ll be informed every hour, instead of a more irregular delivery.
The count on june 8th was 503 users, using 359 feeds, so a small calculation says 567 users have joined in 12 days. I don’t know the exact number of feeds that is being crawled, but I’ll ask Randy for an update on it. Surely it must have grown too.
R|Mail has been appearing on blogs all over the world in many different languages. It couldn’t be better. Let’s hope it keeps expanding.
The big comment I’ve heard is that ‘R|Mail would be a step backwards on the technology/history axis’. My comment on this is : yes, email existed already and yes, RSS is a nice way to gather info too. But not every surfer is experienced enough to handle RSS feed readers, and many don’t even know what RSS is for, nor do they know how to use it.
However, everybody do knows how to enter an e-mail address in a subscription box and understands that they’re signing up to be informed of new posts, yet to be released.
That is a very big advantage to promote your blog to the less advanced users. That’s why I think every blogger should add an R|Mail sign-up button on his page. It might look old-fashioned, but it’s just another way to promote your blog on a different way, and to target more ‘distant’ readers of your publications.
Something I frequently do for example, is forward the mail I get from R|Mail with certain important snippets and the links still in, so other readers (recipients of the mail) can see the content in a second, and can click through to your blog to read the entire post/article.
It’s as fast as copy-pasting an url, but it’s far more informative and time-saving when you forward some lines of text with the url, your recipients will instantly know whether or not the article is important to them.
R|Mail and how to use it : [here]
Subscription page : [here]
Google AdSense Leaves Beta
20
Jun
2005
The Google advertisers have asked for the option to target specific sites in Google’s content network, and to reach prospects with compelling ad formats at different points in the purchasing cycle. Users have told Google they are tired of seeing the same banner ads every time they visit their favorite sites. Google listened and now they’d like to announce that Site Targeting is available.
What is it ?
“Advertisers are now able to choose site-targeted AdWords campaigns as an alternative, or in addition, to keyword-targeted campaigns. The site targeting option is designed to meet the needs of advertisers who want to place their ads on specific content sites in the Google network.
Site-targeted ads run only on sites the advertisers select, based on their judgment of the sites’ relevance, reach and appropriateness. These ads do not appear on search result pages.”
“Keyword-targeted ads work exactly as they do now. Advertisers choose keywords to help us match their ads to qualified prospects. Keyword targeting enables advertisers to reach new prospects at the precise moment when they’re looking for particular products or services. These ads appear on Google.com search results, and advertisers can have them appear on our content and search networks as well.”
Also Google announces that additional ad formats for Site-targeted ads can be text ads, static image ads as well as the new animated image ads. Advertisers can run image ads in five formats:
- banner (468×60 pixels)
- leaderboard (728×90)
- inline rectangle (300×250)
- skyscraper (120×600)
- wide skyscraper (160×600)
As always with Google, image ads are carefully evaluated before they are allowed to run on the content network. If Google believes the ads negatively impact the end-user experience, they are not permitted to run.
Philipp Lenssen points out where you can find/activate it :
To enable the feature, you must first select
My Account -> User Preferences -> Campaign Types -> Edit.
It will then be appearing on new campaigns you create.
via [InsideGoogle] and [GoogleBlogoscoped]
Read it chez Google.
Marketing Air – How To Do It
19
Jun
2005
Joe Wilson has seen the future–no small feat considering the future is hard to see. In fact, the future is downright invisible. According to Joe Wilson, the future is celebrity air.
As I’ve reported earlier on InsideGoogle [permalink], there are some weird things being sold on e-Bay, and most likely also on other auction sites. I was drawn to this listing through a post in a Flemish newspaper (DeStandaard), that stated someone was offering the air of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Of course e-Bay closed this aution pretty soon after the appearance, Kingnutter stated : ‘The jar of air captured in the presence of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has been removed by eBay who stated “there was no item actually offered for sale”.
In response to Joe Wilson’s request I’ve sent him the links where his listing had appeared, including the link to the Autralian Newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
In his reply Joe pointed out an interview plus article on e-online in which he explains the strategy behind these weird products. Becaue strangely enough, people bid for these things.
From the story on e-Online :
On June 7, Wilson and cohort Pam DuMond camped out in the bleachers at the Hollywood premiere of Mr. and Mrs. Smith and, as stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie walked the red carpet below, held up a one-quart Mason jar, then sealed the container tight.
The work of the so-called “Celebrity Air Collection Squad” was done. And to think, Wilson’s original plan was to go into the ocean air-collecting business.
Previous listings were pulled because, as eBay spokesman Hani Durzy says, “You can’t sell a jar of quote ‘celebrity air.’ ” Such a proffer is a violation of the site’s “No Items Listing” policy, prohibiting sellers from selling what they can’t prove exists.
Wilson and DuMond look to have found a way to abide by the rule by renaming their auction after what indisputably exists: The jar, or as it’s now known, the “Celebrity Jar.”
Doug Norwine, of Heritage Galleries, a Dallas-based auctioneer, says the problem with a jar of air is that there’s no provenance–”first generational proof,” he says, that there’s a there in there.
“Everybody has wishes and hopes, and for $200 you can buy a jar of air and hope it’s them,” Norwine says.
[Read more] on e-Online
Berlage Institute Goes 4D
19
Jun
2005
The Berlage Institute is an international postgraduate laboratory for education, research and development in the field of architecture, urban planning and landscape design. The institute aims to provide a critical environment where spatial planning issues are studied into depth. Social and cultural phenomena relevant to the metropolis of tomorrow are the central focus.
4D Pixel, the exhibition by Daan Roosegaarde is really state of the art.
4d pixel is a smart surface which physically reacts to your voice, music and can write relievo letters. The dynamics of the moving wall is caused by an ingenius collaboration with the human interaction, magnet-technology and intelligent software. The 4d pixels are connected to the human activity and functions as an interface. In this way an active, physical relation is made with the space and the visitor. Currently 4d pixel is further developed as a large façade for a public building.
4d pixel is about how to create a direct human intervention in architecture, not about electronic circuits or mechanisms, ¦ , how can space be adaptive to the needs of its users.
Berlage Institute – Postgraduate laboratory of Architecture
via [Engadget]
Keyword Metrics Tracking Strategy
19
Jun
2005
Some of my clients are experimenting with Pay-Per-Click advertisement campaigns. Here’s a little help on the metrics. First explained are the success metrics you’ll need to define. Next there’s the strategy to follow.
In addition to standard site monitoring, you will need to monitor:
- Total sponsored search traffic to your site – broken down by keyword, source and campaign
- Sponsored search conversions (number and dollar value) on your site – broken down by products/services, keyword, source and campaign
- Sponsored search cost – broken down by products/services, keyword, source and campaign
- Sponsored search profitability broken down by products/services, keyword, source and campaign
- Length of time sponsored search visitors spend on your site
- Where sponsored search visitors go on your site after leaving the landing page
- Effectiveness of sponsored search destination pages
- Sponsored search visitor form/purchase drop-out behavior and rates
- Other sponsored search visitor actions that are important to your main goal and that can be monitored
It may not be possible for you to track a sponsored search visitor beyond their initial visit. You will need to account for this in your analysis.
Once you have determined the Success Metrics that you wish to track, you will need to establish baseline metrics that will be used to judge your performance. Document the values of your metrics at the time you begin your campaign to allow for effective comparisons.
[Read more] About defining metrics.
Keeping in mind your campaign goal and the success metrics you ‘ve just identified it is time to dig a bit deeper into some of the other sponsored search visitor actions that are important to your main goal and that can be monitored. Both Yahoo! MS (Overture) and Google AdWords provide excellent metrics to their users.
Some of the PPC measurements you will want to be tracking (in addition to the Success Metrics you identified for your PPC campaign goal) include:
- Impressions (how many times your ad was shown
- Clicks (how many times your ads were clicked on)
- CTR (click through rate — clicks divided by impressions)
- Cost (cost of keyword)
- Average Cost per Click (cost divided by clicks)
If you do not have a third party tracking tool for visitor conversions, both Yahoo! MS and Google AdWords provide conversion tracking metrics that you can use.
[Read more] About the keyword metrics strategy.
Above snippets are taken from the Enquiro Marketing Monitor newsletter.