The Beeb reports that Skype is to offer the KishKish Lie Detector as an add-on for Skype users. It apparently analyses audio streams over a Skype call in real time and illustrates the stress levels of the other person, which in theory helps show when the other party is lying. No word on cost yet, but I brilliant idea. I only wish I had it 12 months ago 🙂
Tags: Skype
OK, so some people are going to have some fun with the headline, but I mean it sincerely. I was cleaning up some of my sidebar links today (ok, it’s like spring cleaning in summer) and I realised I was pointing to the old Syntagma Media site, I fixed the link and thought I might drop over. OK, so the some what questionable multi coloured headers are still in place over the individual blogs, but the “network magazine” sites (channel portals)…we’ll they’re looking good, real good even:
The three sites are Phi, Allusionz and LifeTimes. I’m not sure what John paid Thord to design them, but I’ve got to say it was money well spent, and certainly adds a real professional touch to the network. Congrats on a job well done.
Tags: Syntagma Media
Forbes reports on the internet metrics tracking company comScore’s software being installed without users knowledge, not the first time I might add, given my online services treat the comScore software and Malware and Spyware:
“[The] software is sneaking onto users’ computers without the user agreeing to receive it,” says Harvard University researcher Ben Edelman, who documented at least ten unauthorized comScore downloads. Eric Howes, director of malware research at antivirus company Sunbelt Software, and his researchers separately observed hundreds of unauthorized comScore downloads in a three-month period this fall. (Edelman and Howes spend their days patrolling the Internet for new threats.)
I’m sure comScore investor and Director Fred Wilson will deny it again, but Harvard isn’t exactly a backyard research lab now, is it.
(via Slashdot)
The SMH reports that James Kim took a bad road possibly due to the advice of Google Maps, and that taking the road cost him his life.
Certainly if proven true, this could be a world first: Google kills CNet journalist.
From the SMH:
According to Associated Press, drivers are advised not to take Bear Camp Road to Gold Beach in winter, the route taken by the Kims.
“Authorities say the cyber-savvy family may have plucked the route from Grants Pass to Gold Beach from an online mapping service, unaware of the elements,” AP reported.
“Despite its impassable snowdrifts and single lane, Bear Camp Road is offered as the preferred route on some websites and on-board-directions software available on some new cars. And most of those have no business in those mountains in the winter.”
When using the Yahoo Maps, MapQuest and Google Maps online services to plot directions from Grants Pass to Gold Beach, Yahoo and MapQuest both recommend taking the same, safer highway route, while Google suggests a shortcut through roads that become dangerous in winter.
I suppose on a positive note, atleast for the Kim family, Google isn’t short on cash for a settlement.
Michael Arrington writes at TechCrunch that AskCity is cool. It might be cool if you live in the States, but try anywhere outside of the US. It’s not only not happening, it doesn’t exist. Let’s see: crowded marketplace, lot’s of competitors, you’d want to maximise your potential viewing audience, wouldn’t you? and there’s a damn site larger number of people outside of the United States than in it, and yet AskCity doesn’t even have the most basic of service for the rest of the world.
Tags: AskCity
My old hunting ground, The Blog Herald, has been sold again. Although I’ve been aware of it being on the market for 6 odd weeks, I’ve got no idea who Blog Media sold it to.
It’s weird really that the site has sold again. Twice in 12 months. It’s not that long ago that selling blogs was a totally foreign concept to everyone, indeed the marketplace was even fairly limited when I sold the site. As anyone knows who watches these things (I’m still a blog news junkie, although it’s not as bad as a use to be) blog sales are a dime a dozen these days, one only has to take a look at Sitepoint to see blogs regularly coming onto the market and being sold.
Kudos to Matt Craven on his excellent job as editor of The Blog Herald for these last 11 months. I can’t imagine that it would have been easy taking over the 400 pound beast, coupled with the fact that prior to sale The Blog Herald has statistically had it’s best ever 6 months, and secondly with a whole pile of people watching to see how you went. It was a difficult task for which I sincerely believe he rose to the occasion.
Kudos also to David Krug. After the nightmare of using a third person to sell The Blog Herald in the first place you’d think that I would have been dead against the practice, but Krug’s sale of The Blog Herald follows a string of deals he has negotiated, including numerous sales of smaller blogs. If anyone in our industry deserves the mantle of top blog salesman it would be Krug. Indeed, if he can stay out of Mexican jails long enough, I think he may have found his calling.
I guess with this sale now that I’m free to write on blogging news again. There was never a written non-compete agreement when I sold The Blog Herald, indeed it was never really discussed, but certainly I always took it as a fair given, a gentlemans agreement that I wouldn’t compete with The Blog Herald as owned by Blog Media. Naturally that loyalty doesn’t extend to the new owners, who ever they may be. Does this mean I’m going to rush out and start a Blog Herald competitor? no, but it does become an option in the what I’m going to do next list. Personally I don’t think there could ever be another Blog Herald for me, but having said that writing, and reporting still runs through my blood, and news junkies work best with an outlet. Food for thought.
Tags: Blog Herald, Blogmedia
Thought your traffic was good? We’ll I’m not about to add a pinch of salt to everyone’s idea of good traffic, but a f*cking great big truck load of it: Perez Hilton did 3.97 million unique viewers in 1 day. Not page views, not visitors, but uniques. I’d guess that that’s probably higher on average than the entire Gawker Media or Weblogs Inc networks over an average day, and certainly it’s way more that many of the smaller blog networks traffic put together. How in the world Perez hasn’t been either bought by one of the big media companies, or even used this traffic to build his own network is a wonder in itself. Congrats to Perez though, credit where it’s due. Some more perspective:
That’s Perez rising above 2 of Australia’s largest websites, news.com.au, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Tags: Perez Hilton
TMZ.com reports on news that Mario Lavandeira, aka Perez Hilton is being sued by a Hollywood photo agency for $7.5m US for copyright infringement. (I believe I read elsewhere the agency was X17).
Admittedly Perez goes a lot further than other blogs in posting pictures taken from elsewhere, however the case could present a chilling effect moment for bloggers who use photographs from other sites under fairuse if Perez loses. Indeed, success could result in a raft of similar lawsuits against blogs and blog networks who use photographs in a similar way. One to watch.
Steve Rubel writes that the Page View is on it’s last legs, because Ajax and DHTML markup will mean that visitors to a page will no longer necessarily call a page from the server. I don’t agree. Sure, with my Web 2.0 cheer squad hat on, I get and support the idea of attention, however with my marketing trained hat on, as much as attention and not needing to load a page to view more is the future, it also lacks one critical feature: metrics. How do you start measuring attention? with page views you’ve got a tangible, a fairly universally accepted metric to use when selling inventory, or vice versa when you’re buying inventory. Page views won’t die until such time someone comes up with a universally acceptable way of measuring attention. If time the equation? possibly, and I guess one day we’ll see. Personally, despite what the Web 2.0 cheer squad might say, I’m don’t think that time is anywhere in the next year or 2.
Steve Rubel reports on yet another example of Digg coming after mashup and fan sites that dare use the word “digg” in their title. You just can’t be a good Web 2.0 citizen and go around threatening to sue everyone…it just shouldn’t and doesn’t work that way. I’m just waiting till they sue a site with the word “digger” in it. We’ve got a pile of great diggers here, many of which could do a great raid on Digg’s headquarters I guess….and given that with recent reports that US spies are spying on Australian businesses and using this information to benefit American businesses, we’d be edging close to being in some sort of conflict with the Yanks anyway I’d guess. Bring it on 🙂