April 30th, 2007 by Casey
Just an FYI it looks like Google has just updated the pagerank that their toolbar shows. This is not a rankings update but more of an update just for the people who use this toolbar. These updates are typically done quarterly.
This site went back to a PR5 with this update, would be great if it mattered to me. I guess I can sell ads easier now if I want to go that route but probably not going to happen any time soon.
April 23rd, 2007 by Casey
I have been able to see just the initial stages of ManagerAssistant’s new product, HRweb. The site at hrweb.com is down but the screen shots seen below clearly show that ManagerAssistant will be launching a web based hr product.
I don’t have any more info more that the screen shot below but this should be launched within a month or two. ManagerAssistant is one of the leaders in desktop based HR Software specializing in performance reviews and appraisals, this move continues the shift in web 2.0 trends by moving software online.
April 18th, 2007 by Casey
Just when you think the news is over regarding stumbleupon and the eBay purchase Google throws a wrench into the whole thing. Google is launching a stumbleupon feature into their toolbar. Wow.
I think eBay just crapped their pants.
One of the more interesting things about this is the stumbleupon community. The community is one of the more important features of stumbleupon allowing you to see who submit sites and who likes and dislikes them. Without a community the Google product will not be as successful as stumbleupon.
Now if Google is planning on building a community around this then this may be the biggest news of the year.
April 18th, 2007 by Casey
Techcrunch just reported that ebay has purchased StumbleUpon for 40-45 million. Why? It seems the consensus is a large ad buy. If thats this case this is horrible, both from an advertiser on Stumble and a user.eBay hasn’t really shown any innovation nor do they improve any of the properties they acquire. Skype, Paypal and the others are relatively unchanged since they were acquired.
This sucks.
On a positive note I guess I can discard my posts about who would be best to acquire this little gem.
April 17th, 2007 by Casey
With a stunning ruling the CRB denied all motions to keep internet radio in the US afloat. This affects all US based internet radio and specifically the much loved Pandora music service.
There is a lot of information on this subject but the basics are that the RIAA pushed for royalty increases in an attempt to shut down internet radio as they were not in control of the music distribution. The royalty rate hike was approved without much fanfare and once people realized what was going on it was too late, the appeal was just denied minutes ago. This blow to internet radio will force people to go back to the standard methods for listening to music, allowing the RIAA to once again control the music airwaves within the US.
Read more here: SaveNetRadio.org, and here: Gizmodo.com
Im not sure how this affects Last.fm but I will be looking for a replacement as soon as the site is down. Good luck to Tim over at Pandora, it was refreshing for a CEO to be so in touch with the users.
April 17th, 2007 by Casey
There are a lot of tools to build keywords, Digital Point, Word Tracker, Overture Keyword Tool, etc. One that doesn’t get much exposure but is very good at keyword development is GoodKeywords.
This free downloadable software pulls data from Overture and allows you to do many things with that data that Overture does not provide themselves. Much like Statsaholic uses Alexa and provides a supior interface, Goodkeywords does the same.
Main Features:
The thing that I like about this tool is that I can export the data easily to Excel and work with it.
April 17th, 2007 by Casey
Allofmp3 is down again. Is this the final chapter for this company or just another long outage?
They have been under enormous scrutiny and pressure from the WTO, RIAA, and the US government to shut down. They have been on life support for months as it has been almost impossible to add funds to accounts as major credit card companies, paypal and many other sources have blocked the site.
It would be interesting to see what happens with them legally. They have been sued for 1.65 trillion, yes thats right, trillion.
**Update: The site is back up but still has the same financial limitations as before.**
April 6th, 2007 by Casey
Who Killed the Electric Car is a documentary about the birth and death of the electric car in the 90’s. It is a fascinating look at how influential politics, special interests, and money can be. Remember the tax breaks for large vehicles that were going around (Hummers, SUVs, etc), they were being pushed while this eco-friendly electric car was being silently killed.
I wont get into the details of the movie as you should go and watch it but there is good news on the horizon…
Here comes the Tesla Roadster and soon to follow 4 door passenger sedan. It was developed by the co-creator of Paypal, Elon Musk.
These gorgeous vehicles are based on the Lotus Elise and will outperform many super cars in head to head competitions with 0-60 time in 4 seconds. They provide exceptional cornering and handling abilities while at the same time capture energy while braking and reuse the energy created to re-power the vehicle. These vehicles dont come cheap with a starting price point of 92,000 USD. The upside is you no longer need to visit a gas station and will care less if gasoline hits 10 bucks a gallon.
One of the lesser known things about TeslaMotors is the fact they are planning on releasing a passenger sedan and an economy vehicle:
“Without giving away too much, I can say that the second model will be a sporty four door family car at roughly half the $89k price point of the Tesla Roadster and the third model will be even more affordable. In keeping with a fast growing technology company, all free cash flow is plowed back into R&D to drive down the costs and bring the follow on products to market as fast as possible. When someone buys the Tesla Roadster sports car, they are actually helping pay for development of the low cost family car.”
The electric car may have been killed but its coming back stronger than ever.
April 4th, 2007 by Casey
Nearly 70% of people have a “twitch” as they fall asleep. This is most likely the result of your brain misinterpreting the relaxation of your muscles as they prepare for sleep. Your brain, thinking your body is falling down, instructs your muscles to jerk yourself up.
Its best to get out of bed if you can’t sleep. If you stay in bed and do non-sleeping activities (e.g. watch TV, read a book), you can subconsciously train yourself to not be able to sleep in your bedroom. You shouldn’t count sheep either, as counting stimulates your brain.
There is no definitive explanation for why we yawn. One possibility is due to low levels of oxygen in our lungs. When the air sacs in our lungs don’t get fresh air, they stiffen the lungs by collapsing, which signals the brain to instruct the body to sigh or yawn in order to receive more air in the lungs.
Certain animals (dogs, for example) walk in circles before laying down because their ancestors did in order to flatten down grass to make for a comfy bed.
MSN Health studied what happens if you eat right before bedtime. The couple who ate a few hours before they went to bed slept fine, whereas the couple who ate before they went to sleep reported “tossing and turning all night.” The poor sleep was attributed to your body digesting food when it should be winding down in preparation for sleeping, which results in reflux. Conversely, going to bed on an empty stomach will also result in disruptive sleep . The best thing to do is to have a light snack before going to bed, which will provide fuel for your body as it rests for the night.
100,000 to upwards of 10 million mites can live in your mattress. They sustain off dead skin cells. Some people are allergic to a protein found in dust mites’ droppings , but otherwise dust mites pose no harm or health risk.
Falling dreams are typically the result of our sense of balance shifting from laying down in the real world to being mobile in our dreams. Falling dreams can be especially common when you’re drifting off to sleep, since at this time your body is adjusting to the new sense of balance.
Most agree that the simple answer is no. If you weren’t born blind, then you can have visual dreams, as these images can derive from memory; however, people who are born blind will have auditory dreams that are coupled with the feeling of emotion and movement, whereas people who are legally blind will be able to see whatever they can distinguish when they’re awake.
Deaf people can establish an auditory inner voice because of the brain’s ability to develop phonological representations, though these “sounds” may be different than what noises actually sound like. When asked about their dreams, deaf undergrad students responded that sometimes they sign and sometimes they speak, although their speech seems to be transmitted mentally rather than through actual speech.
Children wet the bed simply because their bladders are still too small to hold the amount of urine their bodies make overnight. A lot of children are heavy sleepers, so they may not yet be able to wake up when it’s time to go to the bathroom.
April 4th, 2007 by Casey
Lets start off by saying this post was inspired by an effort to support my favorite music site Pandora. They have come under pressure lately with the RIAA’s push for increased royalties on streaming radio. You can read more about that here. The bottom line is that Pandora and other internet radio stations will no longer exist under the new fee structures.
I love Pandora and felt like I would support their product and their fight with purchasing the Ad-free version for 36.00 per year. That price is a little high, 20 bucks seems a bit more in line but I do use the service and want to help. That said I do not need this upgrade by any means and will not benefit much by purchasing this version, its all in efforts to help them stay afloat.
I start off by going to Pandora.com and try to find something that resembles a button or image with their premium product, I find nothing even close to this. I spend about another 20 minutes going through the site and finally stumble across the Premium information on their FAQ’s. That right, its buried deep in their frequently asked questions page for some reason. Either they really don’t want to sell this paid version or they are making some serious mistakes.
What ever happened to making your product easy to find and easy to buy? You would be suprised at how many sites hide what they are selling for one reason or another and its a shame. Pandora is not the only site that has issues like this, many others do, just go check around yourself and you will be surprised.
