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SEO contest

January 10, 2006

Just thought I'd share this interesting SEO (Search Engine Optimization) contest created by v7n.com that is creating some buzz on the blogosphere. Essentially, this contest is similar to the famous “Nigritude Ultramarine” SEO contest of 2003 to get it to a #1 Google ranking. And of course there's the famous "miserable failure" Google-gaming which points to President Bush's biography on whitehouse.gov as the #1 Google search result followed right behind by Michael Moore in the #2 spot.

This time there's even an anti-SEO contest to break the rules of the original contest with its own grand prize offering which resulted in supporters of the original contest to up the ante and add more money and an iPod to the prizes. May the luck of the Irish be with you if you participate in the Google SEO gaming contest!

A Google search engine optimization contest organized by respected SEO industry commentator John Scott has created a storm within Internet marketing circles that has competing search engine optimization professionals in a rush to jump aboard the bandwagon.



CES 2006: Annual CE Clambake Kicks Off Tomorrow

January 4, 2006

Just like New Year's Day follows New Year's Eve, the giant annual� consumer electronics clambake in the desert known as the Consumer Electronics Show� (CES) kicks off a few days after New Year's -- in this case tomorrow -- in Las Vegas. With more than 2,500 exhibitors, the show (always huge) has grown even larger as the computer and consumer electronics industries move ever closer together.

In fact, CES is the largest trade show in the U.S. and Canada, according to� Tradeshow Week Magazine.�  Last year, more than 140,000 people from 115 countries attended the CES.

Pixel Ads for blogs

January 3, 2006

Another pixel ad site recently launched called BlogBillboard.com to try and copy the success of The Million Dollar Home Page. Ironically, Vahid Hashemian, TMC's webmaster forwarded me an email about the The Million Dollar Home Page auctioning off the last 1,000 pixels on eBay to "own a piece of history" - in this case the "last" 1,000 pixels of the site that made pixel ads famous. I recently wrote about one copy-cat site called SmashMyViper that is selling pixel ads to key, smash, and otherwise destroy a beautiful Dodge Viper.

Anyway, a few days ago the BlogBillboard's Scott (Sed) King emailed me with the following:

Dear
Blogger,

Happy New Year!
I will be brief in my email. I researched your email because your weblogs are among the top rated on the internet.







Sun's Windows Java update servers down

December 28, 2005

Splogs Go Away Quietly into that Good Night

December 27, 2005

In my post last night titled "Splog Away! Splog away! Splog Away all!" - a pun of "Dash Away! Dash Away! Dash Away all!" - I commented on a recent splogging of several bloggers' content.

Splog away! Splog away! Splog away all!

December 26, 2005


Gee, I can't even take some blogging time off for the Christmas holiday without some major controversy hitting the blogosphere. Apparently, some splogger has been lifting several bloggers full content surrounded by Google Adsense. Andy Abramson, a fellow VoIP blogger included me in an email thread with several other "heavy-hitting" technology-related bloggers, all of which I assume were getting "splogged". Hard to tell if I was splogged since the culprit's website was taken offline after some complaints and strings pulled by someone whose content was stolen.

Andy points out that back in March that Andy, Om, and I were "splogged".


Firefox Flicks Ad Contest

December 22, 2005

Interesting news from Mozilla regarding their Firefox browser and trying to build some buzz by having using a grassroots campaign of having users create video flicks. This contest calls upon professional, student and aspiring filmmakers to join the growing community of Firefox contributors to create innovative, broadcast-quality 30-second commercials for Firefox. Might be time to try out Muvee, the easy-to-use video editing software that even works with Windows Media Center so you can use your TV remote control to edit videos from the comfort of your couch.

Here's the news:

Mozilla Corp. today announced the opening of the Firefox Flicks Ad Contest, which calls for submissions of 30-second ads for Firefox from professional, student, and aspiring filmmakers. Building upon the adoption of the award-winning Web browser, Firefox 1.5, by over 10 million Web users worldwide in less than one month since its release, the Ad Contest continues Mozilla's tradition of empowering its community of users to spread the word about Firefox.



New rootkit virus installs BitTorrent client to download movies

December 21, 2005

A new rootkit installs the P2P BitTorrent client and downloads movies to your hard drive. One of the initial movies downloaded via this new virus included Mr. Bean, which tops my "All-time Worst Movie ever Created" list. I hate Mr. Bean - with a passion. To this day I have not forgotten that my former roommate Harris Sugarman suggested to me and Vic Batsu that we see this movie.

Smash my Viper to earn a million dollars?

December 14, 2005

Everyone knows about the Million Dollar Homepage and the dozens of imitators that let you buy pixel ad space on a web page. It was a clever idea that just about everyone scoffed at, though he claims to have raised almost $850,000 in just a matter of months. Now there are all sorts of copycats out there offering pixels for sale.

However, none of these copycats from the original Million Dollar Homepage have been nearly as successful or drawn nearly the same amount of publicity - until now. Jason Gunther, a 23 year old College Grad is selling pixel ad space on his website in exchange for letting people mangle, scratch, dent, bat, break, and just plain destroy his most prized possession - a Dodge Viper.

New eBay scam

December 13, 2005


Just received an email spam purporting to be from eBay. It's obviously not from eBay or I wouldn't be blogging about it! Anyway, the email looks exactly like your typical "Question from eBay Member" emails. In fact, it sports the same exact subject line. The body of the message looks nearly identical to the legitimate eBay question from member email. The body of the message says, "eBay sent this message on behalf of an eBay member via My Messages.

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