Saturday, July 31, 2010

Virgin launches film, TV production company

NEW YORK -- Richard Branson is ready to go Hollywood with the help of Ryan Kavanaugh.

"Create. Package. Provoke." That is a tagline found on the website of Branson's Virgin Group, which on Friday unveiled Virgin Produced, its new film and TV development, packaging and production company.

It will be led by former J2TV/J2 Pictures producers Jason Felts as CEO and Justin Berfield as chief creative officer.

Based in L.A., it promises nothing short of wanting of wanting "to break the mold of Old Hollywood by providing a collaborative environment that embraces talent so they can best create and inspire."

Importantly, Virgin Produced has struck a joint venture with Kavanaugh's Relativity Media's Rogue Pictures to develop, produce and market films.

"For 40 years, Virgin has pushed the envelope," Felts said. "With Rogue's boundary breaking approach and Virgin's entrepreneurial strength, the brands are perfectly suited for each other."

"Virgin has always been about doing it your way, expressing oneself through innovation," said Relativity CEO Kavanaugh. "It dares to be different. We believe that their approach to film is suited to do just that, and pairing the Virgin and Rogue brands together to create innovation couldn't be more natural."

"Entertainment has long been a focus of the Virgin brand, and I'm excited for the chance to further grow in this space," said Branson.

In addition to developing and producing original films, it is expected that Virgin will co-produce two to three movies a year with Relativity/Rogue, allowing the studio to use Virgin's marketing capabilities. The first film in this collaboration will be Peter Farrelly's latest.

VirginProduced.com shows off some of the approach and rogue attitude the company plans to take.

Under a section called P.O.V., it says: "Virgin Produced is a new kind of production company. One that is creative, not controlling. One that refuses to cut corners and doesn't use money to buy your love. One that has faith in its projects. Virgin Produced very simply has balls, and we're not afraid to show them. In fact, we're gonna go ahead and apologize ahead of time. You might see our balls. Our bad."

And the site's section containing executive bios is titled "Suits" and even mentions how hardworking and sexy the firm's assistants are.

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Friday, July 30, 2010

About YouTube Play

No other medium is pushing the boundaries of creativity like video. YouTube Play, a collaboration between YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum, wants to recognize and showcase the most remarkable online videos from around the world. To have your work considered simply post it on YouTube and then submit it at http://youtube.com/play. A jury of experts will decide which works will be shown at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.

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Who the heck are you @twitter to tell me who to follow?

This just showed up on my profile today. Why not use the word suggest? That would be much better.

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Thursday, July 29, 2010

YouTube Blog: Upload limit increases to 15 minutes for all users

We want YouTube to be the best place to upload video. Without question, the number one requested feature by our creators is to upload videos longer than 10 minutes. We’ve heard you, and today we’re pleased to announce that we’ve increased the upload limit to 15 minutes.

We encourage you to take full advantage of this new time limit by making a video of your “15 minutes of fame.” Imagine that this video is all the world will ever know about you: what would you want to communicate? What will be the enduring stamp you’ve left on us all? Tag your video with “yt15minutes,” upload it by Wednesday, August 4, and we’ll select a handful of people to truly gain their 15 minutes of fame by featuring them on the YouTube homepage in a future spotlight.

In the meantime, you may wonder “why now?” -- the upload limit for non-partners has been 10 minutes for years. Well, we’ve spent significant resources on creating and improving our state-of-the-art Content ID system and many other powerful tools for copyright owners. Now, all of the major U.S. movie studios, music labels and over 1,000 other global partners use Content ID to manage their content on YouTube. Because of the success of these ongoing technological efforts, we are able to increase the upload limit today. We will continue our strong commitment to provide advanced technology and tools to protect the rights of small and large copyright owners worldwide. We’ll also do everything we can to release incremental improvements like this one that benefit our video creators.

One final note: if you’re uploading a video that was previously rejected for being too long, you’ll have to go into “My Videos” and delete it before attempting to upload it again. Thanks and happy uploading!

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Stripping down the Verizon Droid X to its tech skivvies - Unboxing Porn

You should slip into something a little more comfortable before watching this unboxing. This are gonna get pretty hot with Verizon's Motorola Droid X, the newest iteration of their best selling Droid line.

Android 2.1
4.3 in screen
480x854 screen resolution
TI OMAP 3630 1GHZ Processor
microSD Card 16GB included
8MP Camera with auto focus, dual flash
HDMI out
$199.99 with 2-year contract

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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Support JD's birthday campaign on Jolkona! | Socialbrite

Help enterprising Colombia youths running an Internet cafe

JD LasicaToday is my birthday, and in the tradition of other social media strategists working in the nonprofit space like Beth Kanter (I wrote about her last birthday campaign in January) and Geoff Livingston, I’d like to ask your help in making the day special for some enterprising young people in Colombia.

But first a quick word of explanation. This post comes in two parts: this introductory fund-raising appeal, followed by an interview with the founder and CEO of Jolkona Foundation, which is running the campaign and scores of others like it.

Empower young entrepreneurs in Colombia’s slums

This is the first time I’ve ever directly asked my blog readers and followers on Twitter and Facebook to donate to a campaign of mine, though I’ve spotlighted dozens of worthy causes over the years. So, please donate here — looking for nine people to donate an average of $25. Details:

What: Support young people in the slums of Bogotá, Colombia, as they develop their own community internet cafe business, called MegaRed (pictured above). The cafe provides opportunities for young entrepreneurs to create a better future for their families while providing a safe and positive environment for young people at risk of being recruited or attacked by armed groups.

What’s cool & different: Jolkona.org showcases scores of great causes to help out — and you get individualized feedback and progress reports on how your donation made a difference in people’s lives.

How much: We’re asking for $25, or whatever you can afford.

How: Click the Give button on this page. You’ll be able to track their progress in the months ahead.

Thank you! Please retweet or Facebook it if you can.

Jolkona: One-to-one philanthropy

Imet Adnan Mahmud, co-founder and CEO of Jolkona, during Beth Kanter’s book signing party for “The Networked Nonprofit” at TechSoup Global last month — and was immediately impressed by his seriousness and dedication to helping great causes through one-to-one philanthropy.

Support a library in Tibet that needs $50 to buy books, and you’ll get the list of books purchased through your donation.

Jolkona is at the bleeding edge of this phenomenon, which will become an increasingly important part of charitable giving in the years ahead, as young people in particular want transparency, interaction and accountability when supporting a cause.

Adnan says Jolkona is the first nonprofit “to give tangible feedback on your donation.” Kiva, which pioneered the technique, provides entrepreneurs with loans. And while nonprofits like charity:water and Global Giving often give updates on projects, Jolkona is positioning itself as a technology platform that enables one-to-one philanthropy for nonprofits of any size.

Watch, download or embed our interview on Vimeo

The year-old Jolkona — which means “drop of water” in Bengali (Adnan is a native of Bangladesh) — currently showcases 75 projects in 35 countries, including the United States.

Jolkona’s premise is simple but powerful: Support a library in Tibet that needs $50 to buy books, and you’ll get the list of the books purchased through your donation. Help people in Bangladesh and Myanmar get an artificial limb for $200 — $200! — and you’ll receive a before and after photo. In Iraq, you can save a girl from an honor killing for $120: You get the story of the girl you saved, though for security reasons they can’t supply a name or photo. And in the U.S., you can provide field trips to a classroom of disadvantaged children in Seattle.

In Iraq, you can save a girl from an honor killing for $120.

Says Adnan: “If you ask any nonprofit, Do you want to tell your supporters how their money was used, they’ll all tell you, Yes I do. But they don’t because they’re strapped for resources. Jolkona decided to come in and provide that technical infrastructure.

“Our focus is on youth philanthropy,” he adds. “We’re focused on galvanizing this next generation of givers. We’ve seen the frustration of this generation — that they don’t know where their money is going to. … We want people to feel that their [donation] can make a difference.”

It does, and the Jolkona team has gone out of its way to provide transparency and dispel worries that surfaced after last year’s revelation that Kiva wasn’t being forthright about its donations process.

Jolkona is now accepting nonprofit partners, though there’s a waiting queue. “If you are doing great work and are committed to showing impact, we are your best partners” as a platform solution, Adnan says.

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Dude walks across america, shoots stop motion movie with Canon 5D Mark II « Boy Genius Report

Well, he didn’t actually walk all the way across America, but in his time lapse movie he does. Check out this great stop motion movie created by Peter Cole. There’s over 2,700 individual shots all taken on a Canon 5D Mark II and a 24-70 f/2.8 lens then edited down into a time lapse creation. Apparently there’s a little corporate influence behind the video, because Peter and his company pitched the concept to Levis Jeans, and they sponsored the production. Take a look at the video after the jump along with a behind the scenes one if you’re interested!

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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Mostly Lisa's Tour of the TWiT Cottage on Vimeo

Is Microsoft developing a Xbox360 potable? - The Inquirer

Microsoft pens ARM architecture deal

SoCs on the way
Fri Jul 23 2010, 15:19

ADDING FUEL to rumours that Microsoft will actually design its own computing devices, the company has announced it has signed a new licensing deal with ARM, the IP deity of all things mobile and embedded.

This new deal expands on the original one in that it "gives Microsoft access to the microbarchitecture and instruction set of the ARM architecture", said Ian Drew, executive VP of marketing at ARM.

Microsoft, who was already an ARM partner, will have access to everything it will need to design platforms rather than just the OS. In so far as operating systems are concerned, that was covered by a previous agreement, which enabled Microsoft to basically design SoCs based on ARM and not just the software.

"It is a much broader architectural license, similar to the likes of Qualcomm and Marvell", added Mr Drew. Qualcomm and Marvell design SoCs and full-blown systems that any vendor can build on or simply rebrand - a world apart from what Microsoft does in its labs right now. Put the Vole in the same bag as the others and things may just start to happen. When asked whether Microsoft could design its own devices based on the license, the reply nipped us in the bud "We can't speculate on what Microsoft is going to do", added the exec, due to the confidential nature of the agreement.

The opportunity for Microsoft to design its own SoCs for mobile and embedded computing has not gone unnoticed. After the Kin flop, Microsoft might be looking to doing its kit in-house rather than rely on partners like Sharp to do the work for them. On the other hand, if Microsoft thinks Kin failed because of the way the handset was designed, then we'll beg to differ, creepy ads'n'all. Considering Microsoft is seen as being struck by Iphone/Ipad-envy, access to the ARM microarchitecture may give the monolith more drive to branch out its ED&D division into just about any area of computing, mobile or otherwise.

On the other hand, and contrary to popular belief, porting the desktop version of Windows to ARM is a separate matter entirely and we don't see why Microsoft would need to sign another agreement to get this done. µ

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How to network at a multi-day conference: Tips from @thomsinger

Friday, July 23, 2010

$125 iPad clone - 7" Touch Screen TFT LCD Google Android 1.7 Tablet PC w/ WiFi/Camera

Meritline.com

7" Touch Screen TFT LCD Google Android 1.7 Tablet PC w/ WiFi/Camera

Feature:

  • Operating System: Google Android OS 1.7
  • Processor: VIA WM8505 ARM926
  • Memory: 256MB DDR2
  • Capacity: 2GB NAND FLASH, support SDHC TF card up to 16GB
  • Display: 7" high-brightness TFT LCD wide screen touch display (800*480 pixel resolution)
  • Touch Control: Full size touch operation, sliding menu, functional icon dragging
  • Orientation Sensors With accelerometer, automatic steering display screen
  • Network: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi network connection
  • RJ45, 10/100Mbps network connection
  • Camera: 0.3 Mega pixel camera
  • Photo Formats:JPEG,BMP,GIF,PNG,
  • Microphone: Built-in
  • Speaker: 2 speakers
  • Slots: 1 * Micro SD/TF card slot (support up to 16GB)
  • 1 * 30 pin interface (with adapter can be 2*USB HUB and RJ45 network interface)
  • 1 * 3.5mm Stereo Audio out
  • Music Formats:MP3, WMA, APE,FLAC,AAC,AC3,WAV
  • Video: MKV(H.264 HP), AVI, RM, RMVB, FLV,MPEG-1, MPEG-2
  • Software: Google Chome-lite Browser
  • OS Language: Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously
  • Battery: Built-in 2400mAh rechargeable battery
  • Power Adapter: Power adapter:110 to 240V Input, 9V DC Output
  • USB, Lan port for netbook expansion
  • Power Adapter: 180-240V (US plug)
  • Accessories: AC power adapter, USB splitter, user manual
  • Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    TRON: Legacy Trailer Hits the Web [VIDEO]

    Disney has released the newest trailer for TRON: Legacy at Comic-Con, and it’s spreading around the web like wildfire.

    TRON: Legacy is the much-anticipated sequel to Tron, the 1982 classic that follows hacker Kevin Flynn’s journey into the virtual world of the ENCOM mainframe. Jeff Bridges is reprising his role as Flynn in the sequel, which is due to be released on December 17, 2010.

    This trailer not only shows off the cutting-edge, techno-style special effects that make the world of TRON; it also dives deeper into the storyline and the relationship between Bridges’ character and his hacker son Sam Flynn (played by Garrett Hedlund). Comic-Con attendees got an extra bonus, though: eight full minutes of footage from the upcoming film.

    The film trailer has been a hot item around the web. The movie wins nostalgia points with children of the eighties, and it also wins the hearts of technology and computer geeks. After seeing this trailer, we’re more excited than ever for this film.

    What about you: Are you excited? Are you planning on going to see the film later this year? Let us know what you think in the comments, but please, no reaction videos.

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Tuesday, July 20, 2010

    Hubless Monster Motorcycle Rolls Without Spokes

    The biker boys at Amen Design have built a chopper based around Franco Sbarro’s hubless wheels. And it really rides!

    Hubless wheels work by fixing the rotating parts (brake ring, bearings, hubless rim) onto the outer side of a non-rotating inner ring that attaches to the motorcycle’s swingarm or forks.

    Advantages include decreased unsprung weight, reduced structural stress (no spokes to transmit forces through), increased braking leverage, more accurate steering, reduced vibration and a lower center of gravity. Hubless wheels also look bitchin’, which, we’re guessing is the main motivating factor in Amen’s decision to use them.



    Since this bike is a clichéd raked out chopper, any pretense of performance or functionality is thrown out the window in the name of extremely questionable style. We’re guessing the immense complication, need for extreme precision and high maintenance needs of the hubless design are the least of Amen’s concerns, as this motorcycle wasn’t designed to be ridden.

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Sunday, July 18, 2010

    Today I got into two car accidents. Here are the details.

    First off, I'm OK. I wasn't hurt in either encounter. The first, and worse, accident happened at 1pm today as I was meeting my developer to discussion some details about the platform he is creating for me. If you are familiar with Austin, I was heading from south Austin to north Austin via Ben White, to 360, to MoPac. I was in the far right lane so that I could make the right onto MoPac when some guy just comes over on me. If you know this stretch, there is about two miles from one light to the next, so there was plenty of time for him to get in line. He even had the pebbles to say that I was trying to pass him. Minor damage, but I still have to get it fixed.

    Now onto my second encounter of the oblivious kind. I was leaving my neighborhood to go to the grocery store. There was car in front of me as we pull up to a stop sign. There we were, sitting. For some reason he decides that he stopped to far into the intersection. There is only one thing to do right? Yes, you guessed right. Put the car in revers and blindly back up with out checking the rear view mirror. He slammed right into me. I set my parking brake and get out to inspect the damage. What does he do? Yes, you guessed right again. He drives off. I yell at him and he stops, thank goodness. There wasn't any damage to either of our cars. I tell him he can go, and he apologies and does so. I continue onto the store, hopping mad. Luckily no road rage. On the drive home I see a rainbow, and that calms my nerves and relaxes me a bit. How was your day?

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Saturday, July 17, 2010

    Womens Bathroom Fart Prank

    Want to hear about my new startup? Signup for the newsletter!

    On the 27th of June 2010 I announced that I will be starting my own company.

    The original post is here: http://post.ly/l01G

     

    If you want to learn more about the company, please sign up for the newsletter, by click on this link: http://bit.ly/wesnewsletter

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Ninja Say What?!

    Little's Creatures: Baby monster giveaway to help the National Puppetry Conference Alumni Scholarship.

    Photobucket

    BABY MONSTER RAFFLE!!!

    Have you always wanted a baby monster of your own?

    Well, now is your chance! For just $10 a ticket you can get a chance to WIN a baby monster of your own in the color of your choice.

    This is an amazing opprotunity for two reasons.

    1.Your money will go to the National Puppetry Conference Alumni Scholarship fund. This money will then allow the amazing art form of puppetry to continue to grow for people who may not have the funds to go to the National Puppetry Conference.

    2.You get a chance to win a BABY MONSTER!!


    We have also added an extra incentive to try and help raise money. We will only be selling 100 tickets for each baby monster build.

    What does that mean for you?

    Well if you buy 100 tickets. Then you win!

    If you buy 50 tickets. Then you have a 50% chance of winning.

    If you buy 10 tickets. Then you have a 10% chance of winning.

    So, the more you buy the better chance you have to win. If you are interested in getting tickets just click on the donate button to the right. For each $10 increment you donate there will be a ticket with your name on it. Once we hit 100 tickets we will pull out a name and Little's Creatures will contact the winner for what color they would like their puppet to be.

    In case you are unfamiliar with the Baby Monsters. Check out the video below.

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Wednesday, July 14, 2010

    Ever wanted to know who was "Favoriting" your tweets? Check out favstars.fm

    Search Engine Optimization News, Tips and Information: The Controversy of Mentions vs. Links and Other Controversial Ranking Issues

    Wednesday, January 06, 2010

    The Controversy of Mentions vs. Links and Other Controversial Ranking Issues

    Many SEO types today believe the magic bullet to high rankings is links. Ranging from free for all link schemes, to blog links, to natural links to content, to anchor text controlled links.

    While the authors believe that natural links from relevant pages with good anchor and surrounding text still remains a huge factor in search engine rankings, our research has shown that there are other ways in which to maximize the exposure in the SERPs for you target keyphrases. We call this “mentions”. A mention, quite simply, is a mention of your organization that does not include a link, as is further elaborated on below.

    We understand this is highly controversial, and so we polled a number of prominent individuals in the field, which only underscores the controversial nature of this technique. However, we believe it works and recommend a PR campaign that focuses on mentions in addition to a traditional link building/content based campaign.

    Here are the questions we asked of our experts, and their responses.

    What is a mention? Let’s use Arteworks as an example. Would it be a mention of the url arteworks.biz? Or would it also include mentions such as “Arteworks”, “Arteworks SEO”, or even “Matt Foster”?

    Jack Leblond:
    As Google collects and compares information, I think it tries to cross reference topics and phrases. If this is true, then having a business or personal name associated with some specific content could help that business’s site rank better for those terms. But I think the "name" would have to have a strong connection to the domain/site. For example, if arteworks.biz did not contain enough mentions of “matt foster” Google would have no way of knowing it should connect that name to the site if it is read on another site.

    Lani Rosales:
    A mention ranges from an actual URL to a mention of the company name, but the highest value to a search engine is on an actual link to a company website with lower value assigned to a brand name in word only. From a marketing/branding perspective, the company name has a higher value as big money goes toward branding, so theoretically, McDonald's places a bigger value on the word "McDonald's" as it their brand over "http://mcdonalds.com" where capitalization and punctuation do not matter.

    Authors’ Commentary: We believe that “mentions” are by definition not links. A mention is a mention of your name or organization on the Internet without a link. Any of the examples above would be a mention, as a mention can be anything. The question then becomes, do mentions help in the SERPs, and if so, what type of mentions are helpful?

    Do you believe that “mentions” are a factor in search rankings, in addition to links?

    Gerald Weber:
    If the mention is accompanied with a link that is followed then sure. If a mention for example "Gerald Weber is a great SEO" but if there is no link to my company site then it's not going to affect my company's rankings in the SERPs.

    Wesley Faulkner:
    Yes, when searching for a company, Google would use all search terms and see where they rank considering at least in part the aggregated total number of the mentions on the web. Mentions found on sites with high page ranks will obviously help more than sites with a lower page rank.

    Authors’ Commentary: We believe that “mentions” are factors in search rankings so long as the mention is contained in the title tag of the desired URL. It is our opinion that the mention can be without a link, and that the mention of the company or individual name is a positive factor in search rankings. A good PR campaign, therefore, would not be reliant upon the acquisition of links only, but rather mentions with attendant title tags. In other words, if your title tag or possibly even other content on your site contains the text of the mention on the third party site, then the mention should help you in the SERPs.

    Do Twitter mentions “count”? If so, how is that determined? For example, Matt’s twitter is ArteWorks_SEO. Does having your twitter name the same as your company name matter? Or if his twitter name was just something like “SEOGuy”, but had a link to Arteworks on his profile, would that be sufficient? What is the effect (if any) of retweets and @ replies? Does the use of underscores in Twitter names have any effect on mentions?

    Jack Leblond:
    I have argued both for and against company names (rather than using the name of the person tweeting) I think it comes down to how well known your brand is. Personally, I consider in-text mentions to be like a do-follow link, a true vote of confidence. I consider lists of names, like “follow Friday” tweets, to be more like nofollow, blogroll links. Most SEOs agree that Google still follows “nofollow” links, but assigns little or no weight to the link. So, even though Twitter has set its links to no-follow, they still have some value. I do think it's too soon for Google to have tweaked the live search algorithm enough to recognize different types of tweets - yet. But I think they will eventually weight tweets differently depending on how they are written, just like they do links from different locations on a web page.

    Gerald Weber:
    Having the Twitter name the same as the company name is really a matter of personal choice. If you have ArteWorks_SEO for example you will be more likely to rank for the company name ArteWorks SEO. However I have a nickname @the_gman and my Twitter profile still ranks well for my name Gerald Weber. However the Twitter link in your profile is no followed so I doubt the link itself helps much when it comes to ranking factor for your site it's linking too, but it can still send some good traffic to your site so it still has value. I don't think the underscore "_" makes much difference. One thing I have noticed, generally speaking, is that Twitter profiles seem to rank pretty well in the SERPs. For example, if you Google Gerald Weber my twitter profile comes up on the first page. Also, I actually have some competition in the SERPs for Gerald Weber because there are a few other prominent Gerald Weber’s out there. So even though, as in this example, the actual Twitter link is nofollowed, it can still be used effectively as a reputation management tool.

    Lani Rosales:
    Despite Twitter virtually closing itself off to some search engines, in the eyes of a search engine, mentions on Twitter are valuable just as they are on a blog because they turn up as a result. For brands, it is ideal to have users' names reflect the company such as “@NameAtCompany” as it humanizes the user as well as puts a human face to a brand.

    Wesley Faulkner:
    Yes and no. Twitter mentions count but not all search engines crawl Twitter. It depends on what search engine you are talking about. In the case of Google @mentions and retweets are weighed higher when they come from different users. Google treats each user as a page so it is more effective if multiple users Tweet the same mention than is one user repetitively references the same content. Just like content on a blog, another user is counted as a separate page; retweets and @mentions hold greater weight as they are like a separate url. And just like a blog, a new page is considered new content.

    There is an advantage to using a company's name as a handle as opposed to using the proprietor’s name. For instance, Bill Gates' retweets and @mentions wouldn't necessarily help Microsoft get a higher page rank. The only way that it would help is if the proprietor and the company name were strongly tied together. For instance if Microsoft's website was called "Microsoft: A Bill Gates Company" in the header portion of the site.

    Author’s commentary:
    Yes, Twitter mentions count and are perhaps the most beneficial because of the frequency of mentions occurring due to @ mentions and retweets. We also believe that @ mentions and retweet mentions carry more weight than do self mentions, as they are demonstrative of community involvement and reputation. We have also noticed that having the same Twitter name as your company name really helps, and a lot of referrals to ArteWorks SEO come from Twitter. In Matt’s case he has benefitted because the name of the company is ArteWorks SEO and his Twitter username is ArteWorks_SEO. However we think that people who have not benefitted are people whose title tags do not match the mentions. To achieve the most benefit from Twitter mentions, have your Twitter username in the title tag, or at a minimum somewhere in the content, of your website. The key to maximizing the use of mentions of your site on the web is to include commonly mentioned terms in your title tag.

    About URL shorteners: do you think the use of those can count as a “mention”? In other words, does Google understand that an URL shortener is redirecting to the target site and count that as a mention?

    Jack Leblond:
    If the shorteners use 301's, the links are followable and identifiable. But, text surrounding the link is important.

    Gerald Weber:
    I do believe that Google understand this yes. Google is very intelligent. However, again the links are no followed by Twitter, but it would count as a mention regardless.

    Wesley Faulkner:
    Not all URL shorteners are created equal. It should not be expected that Google can resolve all URL shorteners as it does with 301 redirects. The only sure way for a URL shortener to be effective is if it has been created by the source and is ensured to have a proper ping back.

    Authors’ Commentary:

    We may be giving Google more credit than is due, but we think Google is pretty smart. If the url shortener utilizes a 301 redirect, we believe that the link juice is passed through the shortened url to the target page. Therefore, when utilizing URL shorteners, it is important to use one that utilizes a 301 redirect if you intend to “vote” for or pass link juice to the target site.

    On another note: There has been some talk about Google incorporating clicks on the SERPs as a factor in ranking, i.e. Sites that receive more clicks on the SERPs are deemed more relevant to the query and then could move up. Do you believe this is already happening? If not, do you believe it will or should happen? If so, how do you foresee this changing the game in the way of META description tag optimization, if at all?

    Jack Leblond:
    I don't think the click counts, but bounce rate must. They know if you click to a page and then quickly come back to search results again. When you do this, it’s obvious the page you visited was not relevant to the query.

    Gerald Weber:
    I personally don't think this is being incorporated into SERPs at this time. If it were you can bet there will be people gaming and exploiting this. However, Google does include CTR as part of its "Quality Score" for their paid advertising (Adwords). Regardless of whether or not Google uses CTR as part of its ranking score, it should not encourage SEO’s to write better META descriptions as any good SEO would already be writing good META descriptions to attract clicks regardless of any algorithm change.

    Wesley Faulkner:
    Yes, sites that receive more clicks move up higher, but, that is a self fulfilling prophecy. Most people don't go below the fold in Google. The story changes dramatically depending on if the user is logged into Google or not. I do think Google measures raw clicks and high CTR sites with low bounce rates and uses that data to help move up more in personal searches when the user is logged into Google.

    As far as the user not being logged in to Google, that's a harder question to answer. For users that are not logged in, you have to consider Google Analytics being installed on the site in question. But yes, sites that receive more clicks will move up in the search, this brings the importance of the meta tag description in line with that of a well written AdWord. If the case is that clicks matter in SERPs, then meta tagging optimization becomes important so as to encourage clicks.

    Authors’ Commentary:

    It does not appear that traffic is a factor in search rankings. We have seen sites with very little traffic (clicks from the SERPs) perform quite well in the rankings. META description tag optimization should not be affected by any algorithmic change to include SERP CTRs, as descriptions should already be written to encourage clicks.

    About the Authors

    Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, a full service Internet marketing firm, who has been active in the industry since 1995. Mr. Foster can be found on Twitter @ArteWorks_SEO. ArteWorks SEO can be found at www.arteworks.biz.

    Krystle Green is a project manager for ArteWorks SEO. Krystle is in charge of strategy development for new clients and research. She is an expert in blogging and social media. She can be found on twitter @krystle_green.

    Contributors

    Gerald Weber is the President and Founder of Search Engine Marketing Group, a leading search engine marketing and web development firm in Houston, TX. Gerald is also a contributing author for Search Engine Journal. He can be found on Twitter @the_gman.

    Jack Leblond is the Director of Internet Strategy and Operations for a large Austin-based educational services company where he manages the web team, focuses on SEO, e-marketing and Social Media. Jack has been involved in Web development and SEO for over ten years as employee, business owner and now as a free-lance SEO consultant working with small/medium sized businesses that want their web sites to perform better in the search engine listings. He can be found on Twitter @JackLeblond.

    Wesley Faulkner is a contributor for Conversations Matter. His experience spans multiple facets of the technology industry, from manufacturing to product development. Recently, Wesley has become a rising player in the social media scene. As a member of AMD’s social media council he assists in the development of their social media strategy and vision for the company. He can be found on Twitter @wesley83.

    Lani Rosales is the New Media Director at AgentGenius.com and was recently named President of New Media Lab, both of which are headquartered in Austin, TX. She has an English degree from the University of Texas (and of course used that to become a blogger). She can be found on Twitter @LaniAR.

    About The Authors:
    Matt Foster is the CEO of ArteWorks SEO, a full service Internet marketing firm, who has been active in the industry since 1995. Mr. Foster can be found on Twitter @ArteWorks_SEO. ArteWorks SEO can be found at www.arteworks.biz. Krystle Green is the Director of Social Media for ArteWorks SEO. She is an expert in blogging and social media. She can be found on twitter @krystle_green.

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    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Who called me? Free reverse phone directory.

    Who Calls Me

    This is a user supplied database of phone numbers of telemarketers, non-profit organizations, charities, political surveyors, SCAM artists, and other companies that don't leave messages, disconnect once you answer, and simply interrupt your day.

    If you received a strange call, unwanted SMS message, or just came across a number you don't recognize and want more information about, most likely you are not the only one. Search for this phone number to see the reports of others. If there are no reports yet, leave your comment to start a conversation.

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Old Spice Owns The Internet | lalawag

    Old Spice Owns The Internet

    If you haven’t been keeping up with the recent Old Spice marketing campaign you are seriously missing out. It started with a few hilarious commercials in which the actor tells you about how awesome he is and if your man wore old spice he too could smell good and be awesome. Some buzz was created about the commercials and then probably forgotten. A follow-up commercial came out and yesterday the Twitter account for @ started answering users tweets with video replies.

    See this is how you do it right people, follow through. All day yesterday and today my stream has been full of tweets trying to get the attention of the Old Spice account to answer them with a video like the ones below.

    To Kevin Pereira of Attack of the Show on G4 (@)

    To Jim Alden @

    To Peter Shankman @

    So what do you think of the marketing campaign? Will it inspire you to go out and buy Old Spice? Personally, if my man didn’t already wear Old Spice I would buy it for him. Wearing it makes him automatically better than you and have magical abs that appear with no work. Plus he can do a real Swan Dive.

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Compaq Presario Laptop: AMD (2.2GHz), 15.6" Brightview LED, Win 7 Prem $250 - Slickdeals.net

    Compaq Presario CQ62-231NR Laptop: AMD V-Series V120 (2.2GHz), 15.6" Brightview LED (1366x768), 320GB HD, 2GB DDR3, 6-Cell, Win 7 Prem $250

    Staples has Compaq Presario CQ62-231NR Laptop for $300 - $50 off with code 66802 = $250 with free shipping. Thanks allute

    Specs:

    • AMD V-Series V120 Processor (2.2GHz)
    • 15.6" HD HP BrightView LED Display (1366 x 768)
    • 320GB SATA Hard Drive
    • 2GB DDR3 Memory (expandable to 8GB)
    • SuperMulti 8X DVDñR/RW w/ Double Layer Support
    • Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n WLAN
    • 6-Cell 47WHr Lithium-Ion Battery
    • Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Tuesday, July 6, 2010

    Would you pay for a phone rental service?

    With all the hot new smart phones hitting the market these days I think the demand is there for a phone rental service. Renting a phone for, let's say $25 a month is extremely doable. Want that new iPhone, but you're still under contract? No problem. Want to try out an Android phone, but you don't know if you want to keep it? No problem. How about that new Blackberry, or Windows Phone? No problem!

    Tell me what you think by leaving a here: http://wesley83.posterous.com/would-you-pay-for-a-phone-rental-service

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Monday, July 5, 2010

    Storm Pictures

    I took these pictures last week. The storm was just rolling in when I snapped these shots.

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    Sunday, July 4, 2010

    Angora rabbit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    A ruby-eyed white English Angora doe.
    • Weight: 2.0–3.5 kg (4.4–7.7 lb).
    • ARBA-accepted varieties: Ruby Eye White, Pointed White, Self, Shaded, Agouti

    Prior to the 1939, there was one breed of "Angora Wooler". In 1939, ARBA reclassified "Angora Wooler" into "English Type" and "French Type". In 1944, ARBA officially separate Angora rabbit into two breeds: English Angora and French Angora.

    Rabbits of the angora breed are adorned with "fur," growths of wool on the ears and the entire face except above the nose, and front feet, along with their thick body, and wool. They are gentle in nature, but they are not recommended for those who do not groom their animals. Their wool is very thick and needs to be groomed twice a week.

    This is the smallest Angora rabbit of the four breeds recognized by ARBA. This breed is more common as a pet because of the facial features that give it a puppy dog or teddy bear look. If the texture of the wool is correct, the maintenance is relatively easy; if the texture of the rabbit is cottony, it requires a great deal of maintenance.

    The English angora can be bred to have broken colors, (ex: the rabbit is white with black spots.) This is not accepted by ARBA standards and would lead to a disqualification when showing the rabbit. When showing an English angora rabbit the toe nails should also be only one color, the ears could be folded over at the tips, and the furnishings on the face may cover their eyes.The English Angora rabbit is the only rabbit that has hair covering its eyes.

    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous

    15 of the craziest shoes from around the world

    1. Shoes That Mould Your Feet

    chinese-tiny-shoes-2

    chinese-tiny-shoes

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    2. Wooden Stilt-ettos

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    3. Wire Frame High Heels

    wire-shoes

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    4. Bondage Shoes

    bondage-shoes

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    5. Boxing Glove Shoes

    boxing-shoes

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    6. Cardboard Shoes

    cardboard-shoes

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    7. Pikachu Platforms

    game-boy-shoe

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    8. Donated Feet Shoe

    donated-feet-shoesjpg

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    9. Crocodile Converse

    conversecrocodile

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    10. LEGO Shoe

    lego-shoe

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    11. Cork Sandal

     cork-shoes

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    12. Open High Heels

    No toed - but with heel

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    13. Meccano Shoe

    MeccanoShoe 

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    14. Claw Shoes

     claw-shoe

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    15. Spikey Heels

    spikey-shoes

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    Posted via email from Wesley83's Posterous