Emad Fanous

The NY Times has an on how news sites are now writing articles for Googlebot.

JOURNALISTS over the years have assumed they were writing their headlines and articles for two audiences — fickle readers and nitpicking editors. Today, there is a third important arbiter of their work: the software programs that scour the Web
…
The search-engine “bots” that crawl the Web are increasingly influential, delivering 30 percent or more of the traffic
…
So news organizations large and small have begun experimenting with tweaking their Web sites for better search engine results. But software bots are not your ordinary readers: They are blazingly fast yet numbingly literal-minded. There are no algorithms for wit, irony, humor or stylish writing. The software is a logical, sequential, left-brain reader, while humans are often right brain.

I hate to see news articles change and become dry because they are optimizing for crawlers. If journalists affect society by picking stories to write, how to write them, taking sides (i.e. liberal versus conservative), etc….does that mean that crawlers and, especially, Googlebot now has that same type of power/influence?

(No Ratings Yet)
 

 Loading ...

Deloitte & Touche conducted a survey on why people shop online versus from their local stores, at the brick-and-mortar store.

(No Ratings Yet)
 

 Loading ...

There have been plenty of online image editors for a while now.

Now I’m seeing more online video editors cropping up.

Both Eyespot and Jumpcut allow you to upload your video or “remix” somebody else (funny they should both use the same term). Then, you can share them with other users.

They limit file sizes and because of performance (network and software), these services seem to be best for short clips (eyespot, for example, allows you to MMS your mobile phone video clip to them and have it show up in your account).

They both have all sorts of audio/video editing features along with using others’ videos and sharing your videos.

(No Ratings Yet)
 

 Loading ...

I think Netflix has been feeling the heat from competitors. Most new entrants have been large offline chains…some already in DVD rentals and some are in other businesses.

Blockbuster, which was an offline DVD rental company, decided to get into the business and provided value-add by offering in-store rentals combined with the online rentals…and they started offering no late fees for both channels.

Netflix was also being threatened by Walmart as a potential entrant. Walmart is known as being the world’s largest retailer that has put many smaller, offline companies out of business. Walmart built their own DVD rental subscription service and run it for a couple of years. They, too, had the added benefit of having many offline locations that someone can go into to rent or drop off. Netflix, however, ended up working with them when Walmart opted to drop their service and promote Netflix instead.

Couple that with the fact that many Cable companies are offering video on demand which offers rentals from the convenience of your armchair…no getting up to rent or return.

Well, it seems Netflix is suing Blockbuster in an attempt to shut down the competing service based on patent infringement.

(No Ratings Yet)
 

 Loading ...

Apple is providing Boot Camp is a public beta:

More and more people are buying and loving Macs. To make this choice simply irresistible, Apple will include technology in the next major release of Mac OS X, Leopard, that lets you install and run the Windows XP operating system on your Mac. Called Boot Camp (for now), you can download a public beta today.
As elegant as it gets

Boot Camp lets you install Windows XP without moving your Mac data, though you will need to bring your own copy to the table, as Apple Computer does not sell or support Microsoft Windows.(1) Boot Camp will burn a CD of all the required drivers for Windows so you don’t have to scrounge around the Internet looking for them.

Virtual PC doesn’t work at all for me on the MacBook Pro. Qemu doesn’t work perfectly, and Open OSX packages everything for you so it is convenient but it doesn’t have an intuitive interface amd also doesn’t work perfectly. I don’t know if VM Ware’s OSX version is out yet and haven’t had the time to check.

more info here.

UPDATE: pictures of boot camp running on a mac and pictures of x86 linux beginning install on a mac.

(No Ratings Yet)
 

 Loading ...

…then check out this guy.

(3 votes, average: 3.67 out of 5)
 

 Loading ...

One of the big problems with the new MacBook was the packet loss on VOIP networks (802.1x).

Looks like someone figured out a solution which basically uses the firmware from a Intel Mac Mini.

If you try it, let me know how it goes…and make sure to back up your existing installation!

(No Ratings Yet)
 

 Loading ...