2009年12月31日 星期四

Did Google Get A TSA Subpoena Over Security Directive? It Can’t Say

http://tinyurl.com/yakqqjk

Happy New Years 2010 Search Logos & Google’s Surprise

http://tinyurl.com/y8uq6s7

Google Doesn’t Want Searchers To Find SEOs & Web Designers

http://tinyurl.com/yamg8d4

As Verizon Implements Bing Default Search Deal Company Sees User Backlash

http://tinyurl.com/y9xygno

Coming sooon: The Bluetooth Watch

Like Checkbox News, the Social Camera and the Twitter Camera, this product is just around the corner. Someday soon we'll all have watches that do Bluetooth.


Here's the pitch.


Earlier this decade Microsoft started an effort they called the Smart Watch. It pretty much failed. Some people wore watches with keypads, presumably so they could do calculations or write memos. You'd have to have fingers about 1/100th the size of human fingers for that to work. I'm sure there were lots of other early attempts to digitize watches, but in the end, watches are good for telling time and not much more.


The reason -- to be ergonomic a watch has to be small. But to have a decent user interface a watch has to be big. Too big.


That's why the functionality that could have conceivably gone on our wrists is now in our pockets -- on smart phones, Blackberry, iPhone, Droid.


In-our-pocket is the wrong place for quick text messages. They should be on our wrist!


Enter Bluetooth.


wrist watchI don't know the economics but I imagine a digital watch could be made to look beautiful and also to have a mode where it couples with our phone and acts as a receiver for text messages. That way every time someone DMs you on Twitter it could show up on your wrist, with a little vibration only you feel.


I considered calling this the Twitter Watch, but enough with Twitter. They get too much free publicity. smile


Discuss!


PS: I know there are Bluetooth Watches, but they got it wrong. The display should be the whole watch face, not a sliver of tiny text beneath an analog watch face. And it's nice they can show you the caller ID, but I don't get nearly as many phone calls as text messages. A watch could display 140 characters, if you temporarily displace the time display (until you click the face to dismiss). The ones that try to be an MP3 player or cell phone are just as ridiculous and doomed to fail as the smart watches of the 90s.


http://bit.ly/7EdTnW

What is seduction?

Roses in a vaseTo seduce someone is to: 1. Find out what they want. 2. Give it to them. 3. The way they want it.


All three elements are necessary.


I put this together as a response to a well-meaning commenter on my Person of the Decade piece yesterday, who observed that I was an "old" person who had done all the work being honored while in his 40s (and 50s!). I didn't ask for details, but I assume they meant that such accomplishments are usually the province of younger people.


This didn't feel right to me.


So I started thinking.


Not to brag, but I was also very accomplished in my 20s and 30s, and in my teens I was precocious. But as an adult, which I am now, I am capable of seduction. And you couldn't launch something like RSS or podcasting, without the ability to seduce people. Because they won't move unless they get what they want, the way they want it. It never occurs to young males to seduce, because to get what they want they just have to look young and virile. Which they are very good at! If an older male wants to get some action he has to seduce. Therefore evolution taught at least some of us to do this. And that's the skill you need to make something like podcasting work.


So don't be surprised if old (I hate that word) people make great contributions in the arts and technology. There are certain things, those that require seduction, that we do much better than younger folk.


Example: Why it's smart to publish Realtime RSS now.


http://bit.ly/7xttXE

One Page Résumé Site

A friend of mine recently sent me her résumé to look over. I’m definitely not a professional job hunter but I think in these situations any extra set of eyes can help fine tune the final product. As it was, the résumé was a Microsoft Word document, which in itself is fine, but it wasn’t [...] http://tinyurl.com/y8kre22

Year In Review: Local Search & Maps

http://tinyurl.com/y9dax9x

Google Updates Toolbar PageRank For New Years 2010

http://tinyurl.com/yevatc9

Search Month European Edition, December 2009

http://tinyurl.com/ya23scz

2009年12月30日 星期三

Solve Your Call Tracking Problems Now!

Tracking calls has long been seen as a Holy Grail of tracking promotions. The good news? That Holy Grail is available and possible for marketers of every size. ... http://tinyurl.com/y975965

Happiness, joy, and hope with a yellow circle banner for the New Year

Two weeks ago, MSN homepage show a green circle pointing to Bing decision engine, while on the first day of December it used an orange circle. And now, just about 24 hours to enter a New Year of 2010, a yellow cycle with word “Try Bing” appears on MSN homepage for the same purpose as the orange and green circles. Yellow color has several meanings such as: "...it denotes happiness and joy..." "...yellow ribbons were worn as a sign of hope as women waited from their men to come marching home from war..." There is happiness and joy in Bing... http://tinyurl.com/yasmlxo

Person of the Decade?!

A picture named tramp.jpgYou aren't going to believe this.


Slate's culture podcast chose three people as Person of the Decade and they were: George W. Bush, Paris Hilton and Dave Winer.


It's the weirdest thing.


They said my name and no one said Who dat?


I don't think it was a joke.


And it was for a good thing, podcasting -- and they're right about how nice it is to have all those great podcasts to listen to.


I didn't make a dime off podcasting, but in a more important way I did get rich from it. There's an incredible wealth of great stuff to listen to. It really took off, and it's something I'm really proud of.


Here's the full MP3. The segment starts around minute 27.


And here's the 3.5 minute excerpt where they talk about the Person of the Decade.


http://bit.ly/8boz35

2009 in Pictures & SEOmoz's Seattle Meetup on Wednesday 1/6

Posted by randfish

What a year! From traveling to software development, saying goodbye to old friends and growing the team with new ones, we've had a tremendously exciting 12 months at SEOmoz. To celebrate, next week, on Wednesday, January 6th 2010, we'll be hosting an informal meetup at the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill in Seattle, WA. Everyone from the Seattle technology, startup and SEO community is welcome to attend, and we'll be hosting a special guest, Distilled's Will Critchlow (who's chosen the worst possible time, weather-wise, to visit our fair city). Please RSVP via the Google form below! 



In addition to the meetup, I thought it would be appropriate (and fun) to celebrate the year with a look back in pictures. Enjoy!




SEOmoz's Mel Gray, Matt Heilman, Gillian Muessig, Nick Gerner, Sarah Bird & Mike Thompson at Seattle's Big Climb Event, raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society


 




The SEOmoz December holiday party at Olive8 - (Left to Right) Arden, Jimmy, Christine, Sarah, Ben Huff, Timmy, Gillian, Adam, Sam, Jen, Rand, Chas, Kate, Darren, Danny & Nick. Why did we all stuff into the dual showers? Umm... I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. You can watch our holiday video greeting and more holiday party photos on Facebook.


 




SEOmoz's Chas Williams and Sarah Bird won most festive attire at our holiday event.


 




Tony Adam, smiling next to his SEOmoz Werewolf/Search Spam card at Pubcon Las Vegas in November


 




Kristy Bolsinger, Kate Morris & Matt Cutts at the SEOmoz Werewolf Party at Pubcon Las Vegas


 




Ben Hendrickson and Jen Lopez, attired in full moz regalia, carrying "link juice" by the SEOmoz booth at SMX Advanced in Seattle


 




Ben, Danny (with a mustache! - he's hidden so look real close), Chas, Scott & Timmy at lunch downstairs from SEOmoz's offices at the Elysian Brewery on Capitol Hill


 




Sarah Bird hard at work in our cramped conference room


 




Sometimes, when we have tough decisions to make and could go either way, we Roshambo. I lost this round, and we ended up spending $5K on some professional services in our search for a new VP of Engineering.


 




Aimclear's Marty Weintraub sent us a singing gorilla for the holidays. Tragically, I was out of town, but got to watch the video on Facebook :-)


 




At the beginning of the year, we had some construction work done on the office to help accomodate new arrivals


 




Mozzers hard at work in the conference room (and apparently freezing cold, too).


 




Ben Hendrickson explains ranking models and how we can "prove" H1 tags don't really matter for SEO


 




Rand, Sarah, and SEOmoz board member & investor, Michelle Goldberg at The Naked Truth (a startup event in Seattle). Leaning on my shoulder is Mystery Guest, who tragically forgot sunglasses (why didn't I give her mine?!)


 




The Conversion Rate Experts squirrel (yes, they have a mascot) at the SEOmoz/Distilled London PR) Training Seminar in October. Must check on progress of the SEOmoz Ring-tailed Lemur mascot costume.


 




Jon Kelly (Quinstreet), Tony Adam (Billshrink), Andy Liu (BuddyTV) and Neil Patel (Quicksprout) at SEOmoz's annual party after SMX Advanced in Seattle at the Garage (photo-bombing courtesy of Matt Cutts)


 




Rand on Hubspot TV with Mike Volpe in Hubspot's Boston offices (Rand: "My grandparents asked what channel I was going to be on.")


 




Rand is subsumed by Kristjan Mar Hauksson's (of Nordic eMarketing) gigantic Viking hands in an Icelandic ice bar in the capital, Reykjavik following RIMC 2009


 




Dixon Jones (Receptional), Adam Lasnik (Google) & Rand go glacier hiking in Iceland


 




Rand at Searchfest Portland with Anne Kennedy (BeyondInk) and Adam Audette (Audette Media) speaking about SEOmoz's history & future (apparently I was a bit more animated than most other folks) :-)


 




On a panel at SES London chaired by Mike Grehan (SES), Rand pictured with Brett Tabke (WebmasterWorld), Chris Sherman (Third Door Media), Jill Whalen (HighRankings) and Kevin Ryan (WebVisible)


 




Outside the Chicago Hilton for SES Chicago with Richard Zwicky (Enquisite), Bill Leake (Apogee), Aaron Kahlow (OMS)


 




Jane Copland (Ayima), Danny Dover, Rand & Richard Baxter (SEO Gadget) in London following the Distilled/SEOmoz PRO Training Seminar


 




Mystery Guest gives Rob Kerry (Ayima) a gift in London on our way back from lunch near the Ayima offices. ("Why is my love always a source of linkbait?" - MG)


 




Rand & Will Critchlow (Distilled), standing under their respective time zone clocks in Distilled's London offices.


 




$5 to the first person who can name the gentleman at the far left, Rand, Sandra & Matthew Finlay (Rising Media), Marcus Tandler (Mediadonis)  at an SMX Munich party


 




Rand with Vanessa Fox (NineByBlue) & Mystery Guest in Bled, Slovenia for a day trip following SMX Munich


 




Rand & Mystery Guest join Nirav Tolia (Fanbase) for lunch in San Francisco during one of Rand's VC fundraising expeditions to the valley


 




Bob Rains (Let's Make it Awesome), Lawrence Coburn (Rateitall), Lauren Vaccarello (Salesforce), Todd Malicoat (Stuntdubl) and Donna Rains in a limo during a (loosely SEO related) wine tasting trip in Monterey, CA


 




Laura Lippay, Mystery Guest, Vanessa Fox, Lauren Vaccarello & Jessica Bowman in San Francisco following the Jane & Robot conference


 




Rand, Tom Critchlow (Distilled), Ken Jurina (Epiar), Dharmesh Shah (OnStartups & Hubspot), David Mihm (David Mihm), Matt Brown (Define Search Strategy), Danny Dover & Nick Gerner at the SEOmoz PRO Training Seattle


 




Mystery Guest homemade retro Star Trek outfits for Halloween this year (and got a wig + Vulcan ears to complete her ensemble)




Rand with his grandparents, Si & Pauline Fishkin at a Broadway musical following SMX East in New York City


 




Rand & Cindy Krum (Rank Mobile) tour Soho during SMX East in New York City


 




Left to Right: Rand, Greg Boser (3Dog Media), Barry Smyth (BSocial), Stephen Pavlovich (Conversion Rate Experts), Rob Kerry (Ayima), Aidan Beanland (Yahoo!7), Michael Motherwell (MMIT Search Australia), Bruce Clay (Bruce Clay, Inc), Greg Grothaus (Google)


 




The SEOmoz whiteboards in our conference room, showing off early concepts of new software (codenamed "Turbomoz") we're hoping to launch this coming June


 




Ciaran Norris (Mindshare) was interviewed by Channel 4 in the UK on social media, search & Rupert Murdoch's threats to shut off Google traffic. Tragically, he appeared garbed in naught save rags, and couldn't be bothered to properly attire with a cravatte. Credit to Jane Copland for the image capture.


 




The SEOmoz crew outside the Garage following our party at SMX Advanced


 




David Temple (SEM Scholar), Gillian Muessig and Barry Smyth (BSocial) at SMX Singapore




Jen Lopez at SMX Advanced with Michael Gray (Wolf Howl)


Oh, and just FYI, the photos above are in no particular chronological order.


 




 


NOTE: If you've got other photos to share, please feel free to link to 'em!


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http://tinyurl.com/yakc6dc

It works!

My tweeting-in-the-river project has yielded a stream.


Witness...


In this screen shot I am composing a tweet to be published. Self-explanatory.


Then a few moments later, it appears, as if by magic, in its own river.


I am speechless.


A picture named cheesecake.jpg


http://bit.ly/4DnoG8