SearchEngineRoundtable: Googler Claims SEO Is Bad For The Internet.
“I thought SEOs helped Google find great content, make it more indexable and provide rich snippets for the markup all over Google’s results today?” Only white-hat.
The Atlantic: The Gmail Logo Was Designed the Night Before Gmail Launched.
If ad-agencies barred last-minute creative sessions, there’d be many fewer logos around.
Gizmodo: Google Just Made Bing the Best Search Engine.
Hate to admit it, but I’ve been using Bing for over a month now. Major annoyance - how they present videos. Takes two clicks to get into Youtube. Other than that, my experience has been good.
More Intelligent Life: In search of serendipity.
I’m not worried. As a committed eclecticist, search engine accuracy has never impacted my rovings. A bookstore is dandy, but slow. With the internet, I can follow a thread of interest by starting at politics and end up in pre-dynastic Hittite footwear. More than the tool, it’s the individual. If schools are not fostering curiousity - God help us in the future.
Bruce Clay: SEO/Google Caught Buying Links.
Gaming their own system? I think it’s time for me to blog on postcards.
CNet: Android, iOS activations hit record on Christmas. Again.
Here, also. I often get grief from my clients for pulling out iPad, iPod Touch, Macbook ... and a (as clients characterize it) ’4,000 year old’ cellphone with no smart features.
I chose Android over iOS for two reasons:
One, most of my clients are running Android and I need to know it better than I do.
Two, the majority of my information is in Google apps rather than MobileMe or iCloud.
After 48 hours with the HTC Sensation, I have to say I really like it.
Better than iPhone? It’s early days yet. The iPod Touch gives me most of the functionality of iPhone, and I run an iPad ... so I know the ‘lay of the land’ on iOS very well.
The Sensation is very fast compared to my late model iPod Touch and iPad 1.
Android’s interface is non-intuitive if you’ve been using iOS. Took me a while to figure things out (if I actually have). Setting up apps and widgets on the home screen is particularly confusing at first. They need to include a link to an extensive Android tips and tricks page or similar in their user guide.
Battery could use more legs, but I doubt it’ll leave me stranded on any given day. With moderate ‘setup new apps’ use, I got a day and a half out of it. There seem to be higher capacity replacement batteries out there. I may pick up a second just to have around.
The screen is quite bright, colorful, and I have not even given a thought to the lack of a Retinal Display.
I wish some iOS apps would move over to Android (Flipboard, Instagram, etc.), but there are plenty of alternatives. I’m surprised that many apps are free on Android, whereas you will always be pulling out your Apple account to pay for apps on iOS. So far I’ve spent less than $10 on apps and am covered about equally compared to my iOS devices.
Compared to the portrait and landscape keyboards on iOS, the Sensation’s keyboards are actually usable for my big fingers. That doesn’t really communicate the feel ... it’s a much more responsive keyboard. If for no other reason, this is a huge dealmaker for me.
The GMail app is superlative, much better than the iOS experience. Once you get the hang of the interface, one can zip through email, label and archive much much faster than in iOS.
Camper app works well for Basecamp. I have yet to fully kick the tires on this, but just accessing it with one click without having to use a little browser, is a plus.
The phone calling features actually work (some of my clients who have iPhones complain of call quality). Call quality’s not as good as my old phone, but I hear all smartphones have call quality handicaps.
Those last three items (email, Basecamp and phone quality) are vital to me ... and for once I feel I can be connected to my business in a small form-factor.
In sum, I had expected much, much less out of an Android phone. So don’t believe the nay-sayers - the experience for an iOS person who uses Google products, is a good one. Fun, even.
Search Engine Roundtable: Google says, XML Sitemaps Not Necessary For Small Web Sites.
Of course, there’ll be a brief brouhaha that will settle on sitemaps as a ‘best practices’ move, whether Google uses them or not.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Google Goggles.
“Have you ever seen a work of art—on a poster, in a book, on a billboard, or even in one of the Met’s galleries—and simply had to know more about it? Now you can. I’m pleased to announce a new collaboration with Google that lets you take a picture of a work of art with your mobile device and link straight to more information on metmuseum.org.” I suppose it’s futile to remind folks that some museums were doing this with the Apple Newton (at least a *form* of this) twenty years ago. Welcome back to the future, improved.
Type “Let It Snow” on Google.
And wait.
ReadWriteWeb: Google Map Maker Opens Its Editing Tools To Everyone.
A lot’s happening in online maps and geolocation these days, desktop *and* mobile. Hard to keep up.
SEO Moz: Wake Up SEOs, the New Google is Here.
“Traditional” SEO seems to be dead. Stick a fork in it, I suspect it’s done. Google’s moved on to prevent gaming of the system.
HuffPo: Google Plus For Businesses - 3 Reasons To Use It.
Hmmm. There’s a whole lot of connecting going on, a great deal of self-promotion (enough to trigger the gag reflex each time I open G+), but not a lot of real business happening. YMMV.
SEO Book: The Decline of Organic Links Infographic.
I do have to admit, I’ve actually clicked more Adwords links lately. I think economy of movement is the issue for me ... if the link’s at the top of the search, and the other link (usually to the identical source, just organic rather than Adwords) is at the bottom of my browser, I think: “Why the extra effort? So what if they have to pay $0.20 for my click?” So ‘screen real estate’ is being used to deprecate organics.
Macworld: Google offers Currents, a Flipboard-like app.
Installed. Feels clunky. Has a disturbing visual relationship, IMHO, to the aesthetically dreadful Scoop.it. Hire some real font wranglers, Google.
SEO Book: Google Admits ‘Organic Results’ Are Filler.
“Google recently ran AdWords ads with the following copy when consumers searched Google for SEO information: ‘Forget about SEO. To be visible in Google today, try Adwords.’” I was just wondering this morning, when Google would tap us for a monthly cost to be indexed. It’s not happening yet, but this article seems to indicate a more focused pursuit of profit than in the past. Certainly they’ve been very generous with their free services so far. I’ve been expecting a ‘big wallop’ for a while now.
BusinessWeek: The Rise of the New Information Gatekeepers.
Screening language? “… it’s a form of censorship, or at least a kind of “algorithmic gate-keeping.”
Google+, Third Party Management Tools.
FYI, for when the audience broadens beyond male geeks.
ReadWriteWeb: How to Bring Back Google Reader’s Sharing Feature.
Well, it’s something, anyway.
9to5Mac: Apple acquired mind-blowing 3D mapping company C3 Technologies.
SERoundtable: Google To Charge Map API Developers For “Excess” Usage.
“Some say that Google gives away an addictive drug and then once you’re hooked, they start charging you for it. To be honest, developers can always switch to Bing.”
10,000 Words: Tool of the Day - Google Refine.
Oooh, and I may have some data sets to manipulate.
WebTabLab: 25 Tremendous Tools To Enhance Your Google+ Experience.
FYI, G+’ers.
CNET: Google Docs bumps maximum file size to 10GB.
Official Google Blog: More wood behind fewer arrows.
Goodbye Google Labs? Not so fast: “To clarify: we don’t have any plans to change in-product experimentation channels like Gmail Labs or Maps Labs. We’ll continue to experiment with new features in each of our products.”
