Lifehacker offers a good tip for those using systems where they can’t install Adobe Reader (or those who just don’t want the bloated piece of crap): Use Gmail. Just email the PDF to yourself, and Gmail will give you the option of reading it converted into HTML. Cool deal, homes.
If you can’t say no to the Adobe Reader, here’s my handy guide to optomizing Reader 7 to run a hell of a lot faster (70% 90%, if I had to come up with a percentage).
Blogger Buzz has posted that the story from late last week, where a BlogSpot user said he was told to remove the MSN Search box from his blog, never happened. They make three main points: You can use any other company’s legal services, whether from Microsoft or Flickr; there was never a request sent to the blogger; and they did not take down his blog.
So, what happened? The blogger in question, RJ Dohnert, has moved his blog to WordPress, minus the post where he accuses Google. He has posted an explanation, saying that he is quiting all Google services. He says he removed the post from the Wordpress blog because it was getting too spammed.
As far as Im concerned its a dead issue, I gave Google what they requested, I went with a blogging service that neither Google nor Microsoft own and I can link to any search engine I want. Wordpress is a new beginning, Im one of those Im willing to let the past go and move on and not dwell on it.
Obviously, he’s implying that Google asked him to use a different service. I have no idea what really happened, it is a case of he said/they said. While Google’s explanation sounds more trustworthy, and the story never made much sense in the first place, I have to concede that Google has never hesitated to lie in the past, and has used up much of the benefit of the doubt they previously earned. However, I do trust the Blogger folks and I do trust Matt Cutts when he stands up for them, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
I’m huge fans of the Blogger team, and I don’t know too many positive people who don’t like Matt Cutts. And, obviously, I’m a really obsessive Google fan. However, when it comes to the subject of honesty, Google’s previous actions have given me a dark cynicism towards trusting them at their word. Forget how Googlers feel about that; it makes me sad.
Hopefully someone will understand why I cheered audibly when I read this.
Philipp took a look at the pages created by Google’s Page Creator at Google Pages, and listed some of the low quality sites being made with Google’s free tool. All the usual suspects are there: Pills (both breast enlargement and breast reduction), copyrighted MP3s and videos for sale, a list of spam BlogSpot blogs (probably by the spammer), dummy text, stolen blogs, “original” content, and at least one actual legimate page by a family recounting their vacation.
You know what Pages reminds me of? The rest of the internet.
I like the idea that Gary Price has replaced Jeeves as the go-to guy for information from Ask.com. Library Journal has an interview with Gary, where he explains that basically, he thought there should be someone at search engine companies to interact with the library/research communities, so Ask said, “Why don’t you do it?” Gary’s new job is to do outreach/inreach, help Ask learn from libraries their skills in organizing information, and work on product development.
Barry Schwartz says Ask has basically replaced the figurehead/cartoon of Jeeves with the real deal. I like that concept, and agree with it (so much so that I’ve put my Photoshopping lack-of-skills to task).
Take that Opera! I’m clearing you out, baby!
Matt Cutts says Googlers need to pay more attention to feedback, need to realize there is some great opinions outside the Googleplex, coming their way both from blogs and feedback forms. Yes! Forcing Matt to go to all those conferences, plus his blog, have given him the rare talent most Googlers lack: PERSPECTIVE. Cherish it.
Eric Schmidt held a roundtable lunch to address all the recent criticism being flung like turds at his company. He pledged to make Google less secretive, addressed the China issue (”one of the most controversial decisions the company has ever made”), video, Microsoft, AOL and net neutrality.
BBC’s Guto Hari says Schmidt was unveiling Google’s new venture, “Google Charm”. He seems quite enamored with the friendly stylings of Mr. Schmidt, who was very candid. He said Google agonized for a year over the China situation, with over a thousand people weighing in at one point or the other. Google is trying to get access to the Time Warner film archive for Google Video. Google is hiring more in New York than in California (hmm, should I apply? :-)). Google buys a new business every week. He believes Microsoft Office is great, but far too expensive in some cases, so we can expect more personal information solutions from Google to fill those gaps.
This is kinda silly, but Gmail’s spell check doesn’t recognize “גוגל ” What is that? Why, it’s Google, in Hebrew, and the Hebrew version of Gmail doesn’t get it. Whoops.
Mr. Wave Theory suggests Google may be racist and sexist, because out of 13 board members, 10 are caucasian and 12 are male. I disagree. Google’s board is far too new. There hasn’t been time for rank and file company members to get opportunities to be promoted, or for a significant number of outside people to be brought in. No one is getting passed over.
Everyone on the board is there for a reason. I don’t think I need to explain why Sergey Brin, Larry Page and Eric Schmidt are there. All three are white males (although one was born in Russia), but no one would argue that a minority lost a chance because they are there. Of the other ten, one is a woman, one is black, and all have impeccible credentials. And the second-tier Management Group is 50% female (5/10), and contains exactly one whitebread-looking guy who didn’t invent the internet. Now, if after twenty years as a corporation, some talented Googler who isn’t a white male is passed over, we’ll talk, but the company hasn’t been that big for more than a few year. Right now, this is all a load of horse-hockey.
Is that an expression? Jeez…
Getting back on task, Google System says that Google Desktop needs to reinvent itself for Windows Vista, because in the next gen OS, it doesn’t really have a purpose. Very true. I’ve believed Google figures that if Vista fails, it is best equiped to take charge, and if Vista is a success, there’s no point playing their hands now.
This guy got his AdSense account shuttered for click fraud, now he’s offering to host other people’s ads, for free (plus a thank-you link) for a week apiece. While its a nice gesture, I worry that the same click issues will befall the new ads, and more people will have their accounts banned.
There’s a new SEO scam making the rounds, where they warn you that Google will ban your site if you don’t let them fix it immediately. I think some construction guys pulled that crap with my sidewalk a few years ago.
And finally, the Yahoo Publisher Network Terms and Conditions have been updated to prevent ads being put in spyware, and prevent employees of Yahoo from using the system.
17 tabs open, 1439 Bloglines items to go…
Continuing the catching up bandwagon (six posts so far, and I’ve actually lost ground!), this time I’ll look at what’s new.
First off, Google just (and I mean just launched Google Finance. Finance is barely a search engine, focusing far more on content, namely stock market stats and aggregated information. The Finance page for a company contains a Flash (not AJAX! The horror!) stock chart, where you can drag a slider to select date ranges and run the mouse over to see instantly changing stats. There are news articles to the right of the chart, and they are based on the date range, changing when the range changes and being mapped out, Google Maps style, on the chart.
Above the chart is lots of basic numbers. Below it are company facts (profit, revenues, address and phone number), a Reuters company summary, excerpts from financial reports, a management list, related companies, links to other financial sites, blog posts from Blog Search and Google Group posts. Rolling over management names reveals an AJAX (whew!) popout that has a photo and links to the person’s bio, compensation and stock sales.
You can add any stock to your “portfolio”, which means you see headlines and quotes on the Finance homepage. You can also go to your portfolio page, enter how many shares you own and what you paid for them, and track your earnings (or losses). Yeah, how many people are giving up their stock portfolios to Google? God, they really are obsessed with getting your information.
Google also released version 1.0.1.0 of the Google Video Player. It includes clickable preview frames, optimizations, proper menu shortcuts, improved login, fixed audio stuttering, better error handling and a more polished GUI.
(via Digg)
Google Video now has a full-length indie flick for $14.99, or $1.99 for a day pass. Increase the day pass by a few days, drop the buy option to $10-12, and you’ve hit the perfect spot for movie downloads.
Turns out AdWords has been adding some great features I never noticed, including ad keyword popularity graphs, generating keywords based on your content pages, global traffic trends in search volume (for the last twelve months, including the peak season).
There’s a cool bookmarklet for adding bookmarks to your Google Account.
Follow this guide to make red/blue 3D images, for use with 3D goggles. Why am I mentioning this? Because a Digger used this method to create 3D Google Earth landscapes. Nice!
AdSenseBlackList.com has a generator that gives you a list of sites you should be blacklisting for AdSense, so called MFA sites. MFA is the popular acronym for “Made For AdSense” sites that provide zero content of any use, and buy really cheap AdSense ads to get people to visit.
(via Digg)
Turns out Adam Bosworth is working at something called Google Health, probably designed to target the health care industry. They stole my idea! I told some people at Search Champs that MSN should start a search engine to work through the clutter and provide accurate, up-to-date medical information. The elderly could use it to find the prescription drug plan that would be right for them, an impossibility in the current industry. The site could make money through comissions from mega-billions drug companies, instead of advertising (or both). I hope, for the sake of all the confused folks out there, that it is what Google is up to.
(via Digg)
31 tabs open, 1434 Bloglines items to go…
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