Sunday, January 30, 2011

Google Hotpot

Microsoft-Yahoo search alliance bearing fruit



Bing_Brand_Logo,MicrosoftImage via Wikipedia




This week we got our first glimpse at how well the Microsoft-Yahoo search advertising alliance is performing and while the gains are small, the numbers are at least heading in the right direction. Marin Software, a search marketing services firm, reported Wednesday that the combined Microsoft Bing-Yahoo Search partnership saw its share of paid search impressions increase to 23 percent from 19 percent and its share of paid clicks rise to 21 percent from 19 percent in the four months ended Dec. 15, 2010. To be sure, Microsoft and Yahoo have much more catching up to do as Google’s share of the paid search market also grew to 82 percent from 81 percent.
Still, according to a Dow Jones Newswire report, Marin considers the impressions and clicks metrics important indicators that Microsoft-Yahoo together are getting some advertisers to shift some of their ad dollars to the alliance.


"This is a pretty clear indication they have been successful in what was a very complex exercise," Matt Lawson, Marin's marketing vice president, told Down Jones. "It was a huge gamble they made, but one that appears to be paying off."
Microsoft Tech: Microsoft-Yahoo search alliance bearing fruit | Network World
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How Much Does Identity Theft Cost - INFOGRAPHIC

"Online fraud and related crime is on the rise, affecting more lives and costing individuals and businesses more money year after year.

Not to long ago, we showed you what identity theft and online fraud costs from the criminals’ point of view. For example, a cybercriminal could set up a fake online store, designed to steal e-mail addresses, passwords, names and credit card numbers, for between $30 and $300."
How Much Does Identity Theft Cost? [INFOGRAPHIC]:
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Twitter Blog: The Tweets Must Flow

"The open exchange of information can have a positive global impact. This is both a practical and ethical belief. On a practical level, we simply cannot review all one hundred million-plus Tweets created and subsequently delivered every day. From an ethical perspective, almost every country in the world agrees that freedom of expression is a human right. Many countries also agree that freedom of expression carries with it responsibilities and has limits.

At Twitter, we have identified our own responsibilities and limits. There are Tweets that we do remove, such as illegal Tweets and spam. However, we make efforts to keep these exceptions narrow so they may serve to prove a broader and more important rule—we strive not to remove Tweets on the basis of their content. For more on what we allow and what we don’t, please see this help page."

Twitter Blog: The Tweets Must Flow:

Friday, January 28, 2011

Schmidt Downplays Google’s Competition With Facebook, Apple & Well … Almost Everything

"[Facebook] has clearly stated they don’t want to get into the search business. Facebook users tend to use Google search. Facebook’s ads business does not displace our advertising. I’m somewhat perplexed by the obsession because I don’t think the facts support it. Things are going great for Google."
Schmidt Downplays Google’s Competition With Facebook, Apple & Well … Almost Everything:

Social Media Revolution 2

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

New case may prevent employees from getting fired over derogatory Facebook comments

A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling suggests companies cannot fire employees for things like complaining about their boss on Facebook. This ruling was in regard to a recent case regarding an employee of American Medical Response (AMR) of Connecticut. The case has yet to be fully adjudicated, however.

The employee posted a negative remark about her supervisor on her Facebook page, a remark that drew supportive responses from co-workers. AMR said the postings violated its Internet policies, but an NLRB investigation ruled the postings constituted “protected concerted activity” (activity for the mutual aid and protection of employees, like discussions about wages or working conditions). The company is saying that derogatory remarks about a supervisor do not constitute concerted activity.

New case may prevent employees from getting fired over derogatory Facebook comments | TechRepublic


- YOUR company needs a social media policy TODAY!

Social Media - Eric Swayne - OpenCamp DFW 2010

Friday, January 21, 2011

Using data to fight webspam - THANKS

In an ideal world, the vast majority of our users wouldn't even need to know that Google has a webspam team. If we do our job well, you may see low-quality results from time to time, but you won't have to face sneaky JavaScript redirects, unwanted porn, gibberish-stuffed pages or other types of webspam. Our logs data helps ensure that Google detects and has a chance to counteract new spam trends before it lowers the quality of your search experience.

Official Google Blog: Using data to fight webspam

Google search and search engine spam

January brought a spate of stories about Google’s search quality. Reading through some of these recent articles, you might ask whether our search quality has gotten worse. The short answer is that according to the evaluation metrics that we’ve refined over more than a decade, Google’s search quality is better than it has ever been in terms of relevance, freshness and comprehensiveness. Today, English-language spam in Google’s results is less than half what it was five years ago, and spam in most other languages is even lower than in English. However, we have seen a slight uptick of spam in recent months, and while we’ve already made progress, we have new efforts underway to continue to improve our search quality.

Official Google Blog: Google search and search engine spam

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Eric Schmidt Stepping Down, Cofounder Larry Page To Be Google CEO

Wow. Just announced, Google CEO Eric Schmidt is stepping down from that position, to become “Executive Chairman,” with Google cofounder Larry Page stepping into the CEO role

Eric Schmidt Stepping Down, Cofounder Larry Page To Be Google CEO

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A Texas Sized Super Bowl Party for Charity

“Everything is bigger in Texas” is not just a saying. Texans are passionate about a lot of things, including football and parties. So, when Texas hosts the 2011 Super Bowl, it’s guaranteed to be a Texas sized celebration.
Local business man & author, Jose Feliciano, is celebrating the XLV Super Bowl in grand style by hosting “The Best Party in Texas” to benefit national and local charities. With 1000 guests expected, the star-studded event promises to be one of the most memorable Super Bowl Saturday parties in football history. In addition to spending the night with hosts, Bill Rancic of Apprentice fame and his wife, Giuliana of E! News, there will be dancing, catered food & drinks, music, and the opportunity to meet some of your favorite celebrities and athletes.



Continue reading on Examiner.com: A Texas Sized Super Bowl Party for Charity - Dallas cultural events | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/cultural-events-in-dallas/a-texas-sized-super-bowl-party-for-charity#ixzz1BXzT00jW

SuperBowl XLV Parties in Dallas 2011

A Texas Sized Super Bowl Party for Charity - Dallas cultural events | Examiner.com

What are some search trends on your radar?

Does indexing a mobile website create a duplicate content issues?

Friday, January 14, 2011

Rockfish named OMMA's Agency of the Year 2010: Best Web Design and Development

Rockfish was recently honored to be named OMMA Magazine's Agency of the Year for Web Design and Development. OMMA is one of the leading magazines for online media, marketing and advertising so it's a great honor to be recognized this year.

Rockfish Blog - Rockfish named OMMA's Agency of the Year 2010:Best Web Design and Development

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

BLITZ hacks Xbox 360 Kinect for Flash/Silverlight/Unity/HTML

BLITZ, the interactive agency behind campaigns for HALO, Nike, Starbucks, DIRECTV, FX and so on, has today released the source code and scripts for hacking Microsoft’s Kinect hands-free motion controller to allow it to output data to platforms such as Flash, Silverlight, Unity or HTML.

A limitation of Kinect is that everything that has to be done with C++, a language that doesn’t lend itself well to creating rich user interfaces. A solution that Noah Gedrich and Yosef Flomin of BLITZ have come up with is to set up a socket server that C++ can connect to and send the output from the Kinect to a listener, such as a Flash application, Silverlight application, Unity, HTML or whatever.


NOTE: This is HUGE!~!

BLITZ hacks Xbox 360 Kinect for Flash/Silverlight/Unity/HTML | ZDNet

Monday, January 10, 2011

Text Message of 'Death' Threatens Phone Security

Security researchers have shown that carefully crafted text messages sent to cell phones via short message service (SMS) can cause them to shut down without the knowledge of the owner. Popular models by Nokia, LG, Samsung, Motorola and Samsung Ericsson are said to be affected by what the researchers call ‘SMS-o-Death'.

Text Message of 'Death' Threatens Phone Security

5 Key Tips for a Successful Social Media Content Strategy

Good, smart, fun and relevant content should be at the core of any social media strategy. Great content should reflect your brand and give people a reason to stay engaged.

That’s why it’s critical to build a content strategy into your social media campaign. Without a framework for what you say and a plan for how and when you say it, you risk leaving your audiences, at best, confused. At worst, they’ll ignore you. Who wants that?

5 Key Tips for a Successful Social Media Content Strategy

Friday, January 07, 2011

How Human Factors May Affect Information Indexing And Retrieval

When you ask a user experience web designer what their prime objective might be, they may explain they want their web pages to convert inbound traffic (likely from search engines) to the completion of a goal task such as purchasing, signing up for something, or getting sales leads.

Ask a person who is not a marketer or web designer what their main wish for information seeking or online ordering is and they could tell you they want their minds read so that their search results offer instant, perfect choices.

How Human Factors May Affect Information Indexing And Retrieval