Sep 30, 2008
Sarah Palin has been all over the news. Ever since her tapping as John McCain's Vice Presidential candidate, the world has been watching her, waiting for her to shine or fail. The scrutiny has gone beyond any other VP candidate in history because she was relatively unknown, she has strong views that are controversial at times, and yes, most importantly, because she is a woman, the first GOP VP female candidate.
With all of the news swirling around her, it can be difficult ... Read More
Sep 12, 2008
Entertainment Weekly put out a surprisingly nice list of the 20 Scariest Movies of All Time. What they didn't do is rank them. So, for our readers' enjoyment and for the convenience of not having to click through 20 pages just to see the whole list, here they are, ranked by scary movie experts from across the globe (or at least by me).
The reason that magazines prefer lists over rankings nowadays is because these are opinions and everyone has a different one. ... Read More
Sep 9, 2008
Local search has become a hot niche within the overall search landscape. Web searchers want to easily access data about what’s around them as efficiently as possible. As a result, more local search tools are popping up.
Whatsopen.com is one of these new local search destinations. Originally released at the beginning of the year in “Beta,” WhatsOpen’s only unique feature was its claim to provide hours of operation data for businesses that appeared for a user’s search query. Unfortunately, upon using the site ... Read More
Sep 5, 2008
Advertising sometimes goes too far. They just don't always understand exactly what they are implying. I'm sure they didn't mean to command people like dogs (or worse?) but that's exactly what they did on this ad that is currently appearing on Digg.
Here is a portion of the original page where it was found:
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Find more odd news here. Read More
Sep 1, 2008
Greenpeace.org has uncovered disturbing information about Nintentdo, Xbox, and Sony Playstation. Their consoles and accessories contain materials that can be hazardous to people and to the environment. According to Greenpeace, there are greener alternatives available to make truly eco-friendly consoles, but they are currently not using these.
The dangers do not stop when the consoles are no longer used. E-Waste, or Electronic Waste, is potentially a greater problem as it is more likely to become an issue during the manufacturing ... Read More
Aug 28, 2008
Advertising on the Internet isn't what it used to be. People aren't falling for the "9,999th Visitor" iPod winner ploy. They are catching on to Google Adsense, and pop-up blockers have destroyed that avenue.
The problem is, they also don't want to pay to visit websites. "Don't make money off of us, AND make it all free." That's the message, and a recent study described in Arstechnica about Web surfers and Behavioral Targeting touches on this fact. Check ... Read More
Aug 19, 2008
Before anyone jumps on me for writing a post that isn't about social media, please read it all the way through. Then you can jump on me all you want!
In 1985, John Hughes wrote and directed The Breakfast Club. It helped push the careers of five rising stars to achieve relative success. These members of The Brat Pack were quoted, emulated, and launched into the yearly playing schedule on TBS 23 years after the film was made.
In this era ... Read More
Aug 15, 2008
Over the past several weeks, I have been privy to many projects in different stages of development. One thing that seems to hold true for many of them is that the developers' idea of "the next big thing" is a hybrid of sorts.
Some are leaning towards social media mixed with social networking. Most of the social media sites have tried to head in this direction to some extent. All have fallen short. Most notably, the Digg changes a few months ago have ... Read More
Aug 11, 2008
A little-known but dangerous epidemic is spreading across members of social media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, Newsvine, and Mixx. Like a secret scourge, SM-FPA (social media front page addiction) isn't making national headines yet, but the effects have been felt in thousands of households across the world.
"Ever since my wife's submission hit the front page of Reddit last month, we only see her on the way to the bathroom," said Jake Dixon. His wife Amber, better known as "diggwho", ... Read More
May 19, 2008
When I stumbled upon a site called Local Buzzer last night, I have to admit that I was skeptical. "Easiest Local Search Ever" is what it uses as its tag line. My reaction to this:
"Oh reeeaaallly."
One thing I liked and probably the only reason I tried it was the homepage layout -- one of the cleanest I've seen. I tried something pretty random - Chiropractor/my zip code. While the results page is nicely set up with Google maps ... Read More