Doc Searls: “For me blogging is a friend to thought.”

Me, too. I typically find I’m a friend to whatever thoughts Doc blogs. Like what he says in the linked-to post:

“I’ve said before that for me blogging is a way to send an email that’s cc:world. But it’s not only that. Sometimes it’s a note to myself. A public reminder I might be able to find again. Insurance against the likelihood of memory loss, which all of us have, even if we don’t always suffer it. Also a way to put a placemark in some distraction while I’m doing real work that’s off-blog (a prevailing condition in my life, actually).

I’ve discovered one of the greatest unintentional benefits of this weblog is the ability it gives me to remember things I’ve filed away on it. Indeed, it is one of my great personal frustrations when I can’t easily find something that I know I’ve written about on this blog. Typically, it’s because I did not use the exact word in a post that corresponds with the topic I’m trying to recall. Or sometimes, it’s because I can’t remember what something is called. For example, I’ve been trying to remember the name of that security thing with the distorted letters. I’m posting it here so I’ll remember that it’s called a captcha. It stands for something I’ll never remember, so I’ll just link to the Wikipedia entry so that one day I can find this post that includes every word I can think of to describe those slanted letters in an image you need to login on some websites.

Technorati Tags: blogging

Jeff Jarvis reviews the movie World Trade Center: Jeff Jarvis, who was at Ground Zero on 9/11, dreaded seeing the Oliver Stone film, but did. While he describes (vividly) how the film does not mesh with his memory, he says, “There is much to praise and little to fault in World Trade Center.”

Technorati Tags: buzzmachine

People don’t know how to search: Simon, a commenter on the preceding post, links to a page on Askthebrain.com that will allow you to see what the AOL search data reveals about search terms that lead to specific websites. On the page, click on a URL to see which terms lead there. For example, what are the search terms that lead people to Google the most? That would be “google” and “google.com.” Indeed, over 250,000 of AOL searches are for the search term “google.” Also, note how this pattern repeats itself on nearly every example of a website result: The number one search term is the URL without the .com and the number two search term is the URL with the .com. In other words, it appears that alot of people type in a URL into the search box on their browser instead of into the navigation field of their browser when they are looking for a specific website. (I’m going to have to admit to some ignorance here, as I don’t use the AOL service where this came from — perhaps this is a commentary on the confusing nature of the tool instead of the user.) However, if this is a practice that users of other browsers exhibit, it explains why the current Pontiac TV ads instruct viewers to find the Pontiac website by typing in the word “Pontiac” on Google, rather than by promoting their URL. No matter what, it seems to suggest there are lots of people out there who don’t know where to type in a URL on their browser, even if they know it. To help AOL users and others with some basics of how to search, I created this (p.s., after typing in the URL, hit return. Also, a “URL” is the web address, like rexblog.com):

Technorati Tags: aol, search

AOL’s history of not smartness: For those who have observed these things for a long, long time (and, frankly, I can’t recall why I have), AOL has a long tradition of doing really dumb things. So, its current blunder in releasing search data for “academic purposes” without considering the obvious result that people can sometimes deduce a searcher’s identity by the terms he or she uses is merely another milestone in a journey of stumbles along the way. One of the first I can recall — and it’s not the first is a 1996-1997 incident where the company could not keep up with its rapid growth and customers became enraged when they couldn’t get online. The attorneys general of 36 states ultimately settled with the company — part of the settlement was for AOL to stop advertising for new customers until they got their act together and could serve the customers they had.

Subsequent to that, AOL’s rises and falls are well-documented.

As much as I was happy to see him exit any decision-making at Time-Warner, one thing about Steve Case is this: he could always figure out a way to re-make AOL into something different when the company ran into brick walls brought on by changing technology or market conditions. (His skills for doing this did not apply to the combined media conglomerate he engineered, however.)

I think AOL has the ability to turn things around, somehow. However, I believe the current private-data fiasco is much bigger than AOL is hoping it is. While most lay-people did not comprehend the significance of recent controversies surrounding the potential for government security agencies analyzing telephone call patterns (although it was never fully confirmed that phone companies cooperated), this AOL blunder may do a service to those who would like to demonstrate to lay-people (non-techies) what type of information we share through the simple act of searching for something on the Internet — especially when people learn how easy it is to play detective.

(Note to the readers of this weblog who don’t follow geek things: If this is the first time you’ve ever heard the word Tor, remember you heard it on the rexblog first.)

Technorati Tags: aol, privacy

I guess they didn’t read the rexblog: Back on the ground in Nashville and clearing out some missed news items when I ran across this curious story in yesterday’s Tennessean: “Retailers reap profit in tax-free weekend - computer, clothing stores surprised by waves of shoppers.” The story explains how surprised retailers were with the magnitude of shoppers taking advantage of a three-day holiday from one of the highest sales-taxes in the country.

Quote:

“MacAuthority, a Nashville Apple sales and service dealer, had sales of $450,000 over the three days, about $100,000 more than anticipated, said Reba Carter, who handles accounting. People waited for hours in line at the Apple store at The Mall at Green Hills.”

All I can say to retailers is this: Listen to bloggers. Last Tuesday, I posted this explanation of how the weekend was going to be a tremendous real-life example of a simple economics lesson on how taxes influence consumer purchasing decisions. I specifically used Apple as an example. When my daughter went to purchase her computer on Friday, she had to take a number outside the store and wait to get in. By Friday, the first day of the tax-holiday, the Apple store had sold out of all MacBooks. (Ironically, even though it was not covered by the sales tax exemption, the iPod she purchased was also sold-out by Friday afternoon, no doubt because of the “free iPod” student promotion Apple is currently running.) For the most part, the employees at the Apple store were merely facilitating purchases through (in essence) Apple.com — with the advantage that all purchases made in the store, even on purchases that had to be shipped, were exempt from nearly 10% in sales taxes.

By the way, Nashville blogger Jackson Miller, who is a partner in a retail store along with his day-job and side-passions as a geek, anticipated in advance what the weekend would bring. (Although I may disagree with him on his stance on the issue.)

Technorati Tags: nashville, tennessee, sales tax