Doctor Recommended

Mike Melvill versus Mike Melville

Being the nerd I am, I wanted to see how my post regarding SpaceShipOne's pilot was doing via Google. I typed in Mike Melville (with that last 'e') and for the life of me, could not find my site. Looking back at my archives I noticed that I had indeed left off the last 'e'. Believing that I had committed a childish spelling error I reviewed the actual Scaled Composites website (the company behind SpaceShipOne and current employer of Mike Melvill). Indeed within two shakes of a lamb's tale the mystery was solved, no trailing "e."

The funniest part of this is quagmire (aside from the fact that I win a dorkwad award) there are currently 10 times as many entries in Google for the misspelled name (247,000) as there are for the correct one (25,600).

So the moral of the story, be sure you have a normal name that is idiot-proof in spelling. Though, maybe I'll go down in history as Swenson instead of Swanson -- or Tom instead of Tim.

Scheiße.

Today's Sky-Is-Falling Comment -- By Andrew Orlowski

Google - the only archive we'll ever need?:

However this brain drain, this emptying of the commons simply isn't what we were promised ten years ago, when the Internet was first sold to the public as, amongst other things, an almost infinite source of information. Ten years on, the reality hasn't lived up to the promise, and as Net Time co-founder Geert Lovink pointed out in a panel on Saturday, and as we've noted too, Internet usage in the West is stalling. The public is not stupid, and is now reaching for the off switch.

Sounds like the beginning of the second part to: Internet Collapses and Other Other InfoWorld Punditry. But alas, that soap opera will not materialize.

After reading this speech, I've come to consider myself a digital librarian -- or better yet, a permanent student perpetually seeking information and answers. I'm not necessarily focused on one or two topics (as noted here), in fact, I view my own surfing habits as somewhat eccentric, which is not necessarily a bad thing -- to wit:

Here's another angle to consider: the library never makes predictions about my general future based on my past reading habits, nor does it hint that my days will be happier if I read Shakespeare rather than Barbara Cartland. The library tolerates eccentric reading habits because it realizes that free men and women are often very eccentric.

Mr. Orlowski quotes a librarian as if he is damning the whole system (Google among others):

"I'm a librarian, and I like Google," said Steve Cisler from the floor. "But I appreciate the point being made that there are different information domains. There is a whole lot of information that's not on the Internet and may possibly be offline."

Very true, I suppose there is a misconception in terms of what is and is not available online – despite my hardest I still had to visit the library throughout college to get books and sources that have not been (in some fashion) uploaded. I’ve heard various numbers regarding how much of human knowledge is now available online, through the Internet, but none of them strike me as the “real” number – however, that is besides the point.

I’d like to take a moment and ask everyone to think back to pre-Google 1997. What was it like trying to find information on the internet? I remember having to use three and four search engines just to narrow down possible entries to information on something as simple as the ‘Y2K Crisis.’

Now think back to before the World Wide Web was created, how did you locate information? You went to a library and had to meticulously scan through the card catalogue or, if it existed, a digital database of the libraries resources.

Today, through endeavors like Project Gutenberg and Wikipedia, knowledge is easily consumable at the tips of your fingers without much work at all.

Additionally, as Dr. Jenkins has pointed out, blogs organize the web. While it might not be the stated goal of each blogger, what does in fact happen is that through our own self-interest we catalogue, index and sort musings, opinions, commentary, lab reports, book reviews, photos, encyclopedias and just about everything we can get our hands on, online.

Google and other search engines (like Teoma and AllTheWeb) need bloggers just as bloggers need them, to collate and organize our own organized data in a way that other humans or programs can access the data easily.

I doubt I will truly ever understand complaints by individuals like Mr. Orlowski, because he himself is aiding in the process of organizing the web, by being the subject of a blog, which is then catalogued, indexed, saran-wrapped and placed on the table for immediate consumption -- just wait a few days and both his "blog" post and mine will be eaten up by Google et al.

Very Important Internet Person

Back in spring, I used to joke around with some friends about becoming a VIIP, suggesting that blogging would bring me fame, fortune and boatloads of women(s). Well, two out of three occured: I got the fame and I got the Imperial Sugar (and everyone knows, once you get the sugar, you get the power and then the women...).

Anyways, I noticed that someone arrived at this site from Yahoo looking up the name "tim" -- just "tim." Well as Lady Luck would have it, I am the 10th listing on the first SERP.

Bah, you say? You want a real search engine that normal people google with? How about Google? Well, since you're non-me attitudes are getting in your way, let me explain: Yahoo still uses Google for some of it's search enginery. Go ahead, I dare you to type "tim" into Google, double dog dare you.

Satisfied?

So now all I have to do is make a couple posts about Tim Berners-Lee (Father of the WWW, God, wish-he-had-a-blog), Tim Burton (director, producer, blogless), Tim Blair (journalist, commentator, non-me!), Tim McGraw (country singer, lyricist, wants-a-blog-from-me), Tim Johnson (bureaucrat, politician, no-idea-what-a-blog-is) and a few other worthless unmentionables.

Whether it is in the prophetic words of Austin 3:16 or egg-head Steve Wozniak: they're going down, down town.

Google Toolbar Hack

For those of you that don't know about it, Google released a new version (beta) of its IE-only toolbar which has built-in support for blogging through a feature called BlogThis! (which has actually been around for sometime as an independent add-on). The biggest catch, it only works with, yes, you guessed it: Blogger (blogging software that Google acquired in February from Pyra).

As Dr. Jenkins points out, this was somewhat bittersweet. On one hand Google now makes it easier for a larger, untapped market to start blogging, but on the other, Google limits which players can compete.

Blog Herald now informs us that there is a grass roots movement to convince Google to support other blogging software (I can just see the glowing trail of non-Blogger bloggers marching with pitch forks, demanding representation and then carrying Marie Antoinette out of the palace...).

Anyways, Blog Herald points to Voidstar as the original source of these unfolding events:

The new Google Toolbar has a blog this button that is hard coded to work with Blogger. This seems inevitable, but also sad. It would be very cool if someone could hack this to work with other blogging systems.

While we're at it, here's a couple more lazyweb requests.
- A version of the Google toolbar to work with Mozilla and Firebird.
- A version of the Alexa toolbar again for non IE browsers.
- An open method of obtaining the Google page rank.

My thoughts on the requests:

Get an alternate plug-in for the Mozilla-based browsers if you want a Google query field built into the browser. Why use a closed-source bar on an open-source project?

Alexa, utter crap. It ranks up there with pet rocks and the cue cat. It is not by any stretch of the imagination (except maybe by their Marketing Department) a professional or accurate representation for web site popularity or traffic. If you believe it is, then take a statistics class: 77% of the population knows that you are obtuse.

Page rank, currently I do not pay attention to this at all. I do enjoy knowing all the sites that link to a site (as Technorati has popularized specifically for blogs and you don't need to toolbar to find backlinks), however, for all practical purposes it means nothing to the layman. If you want your site to rank high on Google the best way to achieve that: use a blog (no joke). Because Google loves blogs (for better, not for worse), your site will not only be indexed more often, but also within weeks of going live (and then as you post articles, those get indexed which then could drive more traffic to your site).

The goal of this last point of course is to get other sites to link to you. That is the primary (definitely not the only) way that Google ranks pages.

Following this trend, I predict that it will continue to have more features added to it and could eventually fuse with other service providers to add headlines, stock quotes, ads and maybe even RSS-like updates (subscribe to blogs, channels, etc.).

In fact, before biting the hand that feeds you (this comment refers to the Blog Herald post), did anyone think about Google maybe wanting to add Echo support to the toolbar sometime down the line (or into Dano for that matter)? That prediction should be taken with a grain of salt, but at the same time, crazier things have happened: Windows still exists.

Anyways, I personally have no use for the bar, it's proprietary (go build your own, like he did) and is at the mercy of a management team inside Google labs.

Oh, and I guess the only thing that confuses me: why on earth is anyone still using Internet Explorer? Friends don’t let friends use IE.

Google AdSense, Taste It Now

I mentioned that Google has now released a new service called AdSense but didn't discuss what kind of real-world examples there were for its use.

Well thanks to Aaron Swartz, we can see exactly what a Google will generate for a particular site. Here are the ads that would run on my blog if I used it. For those of you too chicken to click that link, the results were: American Red Cross, Peace Corps, Habitat for Humanity and Donate to Charity. If you refresh the page, several others are added: National PTA and American Cancer Society.

Now while I get out a box of organic granola bars and slip on some open-toed sandals, I'll think about the results dished up by this service.

Alright, I'm officially perplexed. Does anyone see a reason for why any of those ads are generated for my site? Now, I have nothing against the ACS, but when was the last time I spoke about cancer? What about donating blood or building a house? What happened to all my talk about WiFi or blogging in general?

And yes, they do have paying customers for those two categories, just type in blogging or WiFi and look at the sponsored links.

So the question is, who do I have to sleep with to generate more accurate results?

Boogle.com: Google With Quotes

Well, I'm sure you are all disappointed with my lack of posting (or maybe happy, depending on your disdain for smart-ass historians), I can explain. I've been moving just about everything plus the kitchen sink for 2 members of my family all at the same time... it is a helluva lot of work, especially the part where I act like I'm working and delegate the actual productive tasks to younger siblings and their hapless friends - who in turn blissfully sing "Gonna wash that man right out of my hair," when I'm not around.

Then I come home to my real world (the virtual world) and see that: the world has not ended, no one blew up downtown Dallas and no one flew a plane into my Casa Blanca off the Red River -- so it was a rather disappointing news day. And the geekiest story of the day was actually yet another rumor about Apple using some uber spiffy chips in their upcoming computer (as reported at Slashdot and Ars). And I know all of you care about Apple (“they still exist?”).

So, to logically end a day of uneventfulnesslyxiusogy, I present a website that practically everyone I know has stumbled into (yes, including my mom), Boogle.com, (edit: not run by Google) generates random quotes by random people.

Here is one that I found quite fitting for myself and/or everyone else that has absolutely no life as a washed-out pseudo-intellectual:

"Not only are you anal, but you are anal about things most people have never even heard of." (Nigel)

Ahh, maybe I could start some trendy day like 'Friday Five' called Boogle Buesday or something based on what Boogle quote best represents your impeccable, unbesmirched and bombastic personality. Timothy's Thermidorians?

Microdoc News Equals Thorough

I've mentioned Microdoc News before, it's a professional blog geared around analyzing Google and other search engines, by Dr. Jenkins.

Today he put together two great articles. The first one rebutted The Register's Orlowski (I have no idea what that particular Briton has against blogs, but that is all he fumes about nowadays). The Doc explains what we can expect from Google's new blog search capability, using Google News as the beta example.

Next, the Lab-Coat Sleuth analyzed the discrepency between the 3 billion pages Google has indexed and the 10 billion that purportedly exist. His conclusion:

To represent what Google Search is, we think of Google as being like a big search light - much like the sun shining on the earth. Its light is pointed at where the action is and what else is going on, such as the more static parts of the Internet, Google index drops references to those. Static means, those pages that are not updated, or changed in any way, and perhaps not searched for through individual searches. Once in the Google Database, you cannot expect that it will always be there. It would appear that pages do get dropped out of the database frequently. The 3 billion or more pages that Google indexes would seem to be the 3 billion most important. What Google drops leaves out are the pages that people do not update or use much -- like my six month old articles.

Hehe, I think he's exagerating a tad regarding the six month old articles (I mean after all, just looking at my summations on Cray and DEC required using press releases that are almost 10 years old now). But nevertheless, if you want to be indexed, keep your site or blog up-to-date and for the love of Zeus, get a real webhost, no more Geocities.

CEO Schmidt Hints at New Blog Search Capability

News.com has a story from Reuters discussing Google's CEO Eric Schmidt and his thoughts on going public (IPO). Like usual, they aren't going to anytime soon (not till next year - a time frame executives at the company continue to reiterate).

Though Mr. Schmidt did mention something interesting:

Google allows people to search Web pages, as well as to search specific types of content such as news sources and shopping sites through its Froogle service, Usenet groups. Soon the company will also offer a service for searching Web logs, known as "blogs," Schmidt said.

While many bloggers have speculated that Google would offer a service, it looks like we won't have to wait much longer. So in addition to 'Dano' (the new version of Blogger) and Applied Semantics (which can analyze sites, in this case blogs, and accurately generate ads geared towards that particular blog audience) Google is rounding up their blog strategy (they could make a killing advertising Blogger Pro and BlogSpot Plus on all the search results in addition to the ad revenue generated).

Anyone want to guess as to what features their new service will incorporate?

In other Google news, Always-On published the 4th and final segment of their interview with Mr. Schmidt in which he discusses Moore's Law and the pace of technological innovation (and whether or not there could be a high-tech boom once again -- here is my brief overview of the other 3 parts).

Inside the Soul of the Web

I came across Amit Patel's site and at the bottom he mentioned he works on several cool projects at Google, including the Zeitgeist. If you haven't seen the Zeitgeist, it's a weekly/monthly/yearly compilation by Google of keywords. Some creative software engineers create colorful graphs and lists describing the hottest (or not-so-hot) words queried. So, if you want to see the latest trends going on not only on this side of the Atlantic, but in those other less civilized, barbaric parts (here are the archives).

Additionally, Mr. Patel linked to a hot-off-the-press story from Wired Magazine (it's a fairly good one this time), which describes what is Inside the Soul of the Web.

My favorite query mentioned was:

? > Symptoms of conception

The '?' represents the city it originated from (in this case, unknown). Hehe, but uhh, 'symptoms of conception.' Oops.

That Numero Uno query was followed closely by:

Sao Paolo, Brazil > Jogos eroticos

Now, you know me and my cosmopolitan adventures. What do you think Jogo means? Yea, it means just that: deep dirty smutty mud wrestling in water. Actually, 'jogo' is Portuguese for "game," "play," or "set." So like I said, you probably guessed what Jogos eroticos was, gutter head.

Note: One reason it is important for Google to maintain a compilation of search terms: for AdWords, their main source of revenue.

Eric Schmidt Interview

I was making my rounds earlier today and noticed the Story of the Day at Robert Loch's blog. It's a 4-part interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google.

Based on multiple news stories regarding several controversial moves on the part of Google, I've tried to maintain a healthy level of skepticism as to whether or not Google has any ulterior motives. I am more reassured now after reading all 3-parts and encourage others that might be skeptical to read the series as well (especially those at Google-Watch).

In part 1, Mr. Schmidt discusses the purchase of Blogger in February. While explaining the diffusion of information, this statement struck my fancy:

"When the Internet publicity began, I remember being struck by how much the world was not the way we thought it was, that there was infinite variation in how people viewed the world. People are amazingly surprised to find out that an awful lot of people think that they're idiots, whether it is the Flat Earth Society or some other variant."

In addition to showcasing fugly sites, SomethingAwful.com (and others) continually expose the: weird, half-baked, sensationalistic and unoriginal thoughts that are somehow created by a fellow human being.

In part 2, Mr. Schmidt mentions his own thoughts regarding privacy and free speech, stating:

"My view is that the cure to the problem of free speech is more free speech, not less. And Google exists in order to further that outcome, which is more communication."

He then touches on the privacy issues several individuals have mentioned:

"In this case, which I'm familiar with, people get confused over what Google knows about people. We actually know very little. We don't know anything about you. We know your IP address but your IP address can be shared. This is all disclosed in great detail as you read into our website."

And the George Zimmer promise:

"And so we have a tremendous debate, because Google has the ability to do many things like what you described, and in every case we decided not to. Because we don't think it would benefit our end-users. And I should be very clear: We will not do that. That's a commitment."

In part 3 he discusses the Google Appliance and the worldwide markets Google is involved with. Nothing very profound or earth shattering though, it could still be news to you however if you don't follow the happenings at Google.

Lastly, if you don't already, be sure to visit Dr. Elewyn Jenkins Microdoc News. It is continuously filled with well-written commentary regarding Google and blogging.

Addendum: Here is the 4th and final part of the Eric Schmidt interview, was just published today (May 5th) -- he discusses the oft-quoted Moore's Law.