Google

ScottsMoneyBlog.Com's Get-Rich-Click Scheme

The 11-day-old web site ScottsMoneyBlog.Com is selling an amazing money-making work-at-home business opportunity for only $1.98. "Would you like to make $5,000 a month posting a link on Google?" asks Scott Hunter in an ad I spotted today on the Drudge Report. "Get paid $5 to $30 for every website link that you post on Google. No one needs to buy anything from you or Google in order to get paid." I'm not clear on what Scott means by posting links "on Google," but he's wearing a tuxedo, so he ... (read more)

Visiting this Web Site May Harm American Thinker

For 30 minutes Saturday morning, Google displayed the warning "this site may harm your computer" with all search results, including its own home page. Normally, the warning only appears on sites that Google suspects to be infected with malicious programs such as viruses. A data error flagged every site on the web as potentially harmful, as thousands of people noted on Twitter. The situation became so desperate that people began using Yahoo Search. Even though the problem lasted just a ... (read more)

Fixing Page Not Found Errors on FeedBurner MyBrand Domains

Google has begun integrating FeedBurner, the service for publishing, tracking and promoting RSS feeds, into the rest of the Don't Be Evil Empire. As part of the move, FeedBurner users who are employing the MyBrand feature must make a change to the name service for their domain names. MyBrand makes it possible to host your feeds on FeedBurner without losing any subscribers if you decide later to quit the service. I'm using it to host four feeds, including SportsFilter's RSS feed, on my own ... (read more)

Weblogs Win Long Bet with New York Times

The Long Bet Foundation, the group that sponsored a five-year wager between blogging evangelist Dave Winer and New York Times executive Martin Nisenholtz over the journalistic value of weblogs vs. the media, announced today that it has declared a winner. The foundation used the same source I did to pick the top five news stories of 2007 -- a vote by Associated Press editors and news directors -- and reached the same conclusion: Weblogs won. Adding up page rank winners blogs win 4 to 1. Adding ... (read more)

Utah Mine Owner Makes Google News Comment

The owner of the Utah coal mine where six miners are missing has used the new Google News comment feature to respond to news coverage. Robert E. Murray posted the following comment to at least nine stories: Comment from Robert E. Murray regarding trapped miners - 18 hours ago August 22, 2007 - We are totally focused on the recovery of these miners and in administering to the welfare of their families. The trauma from this natural disaster has been great for many, but we will not be deterred, ... (read more)

Google Works in Mysterious Ways

When things are slow on Workbench, activity on this weblog falls to the five subjects of enduring interest to visitors who make comments: Whether lottery winners should be able to hide their identities Whether Best Buy sucks Whether Target sucks Whether Art Bell sucks Whether Orlando Bloom dates outside his race On the first subject, people who support secrecy for lottery winners will enjoy a story from Canada this morning: A guy was caught planning to kidnap, rob and murder a couple who won ... (read more)

Make Google Happy: Weed Out Duplicate Content

I spend a lot of time these days trying to master search engine optimization, the practice of making Google's great and terrible algorithm give you the love you never received from your emotionally closed off, impossible to please father1. A commercial venture like Wargames.Com, which I'm running as a bootstrap with no advertising budget, would be utterly hopeless without search traffic. Towards this end, I've created a sitemap for each of my sites -- an XML file that tells Google and other ... (read more)

Searching for Ways to Move Up in Google

A year ago the RSS Advisory Board moved to its own domain, losing all Google juice associated with its old site. Because the search term RSS is enormously popular, we've found it difficult to attract search traffic and build a decent Google pagerank. It took nearly a year to crack the top 100 for that term on Google; we're currently up to the 80s. I've been using this experience to learn the arcane art of search engine optimization (SEO). The first SEO technique I undertook to make Google happy ... (read more)

Some Maps Advise Dangerous Route Through Oregon

Today's Seattle Times reports that CNET Editor James Kim and his family, who became stranded while traveling from Grants Pass to Gold Beach in Oregon during harsh winter weather, were on a route that's recommended by some online and in-car mapping services. Yahoo and MapQuest offer Highways 199 and 101 as the preferred route. A Google map search, however, suggests the Bear Camp route, part of a web of Forest Service roads used mostly in summer. Authorities suspect that the Kims may have chosen ... (read more)

Googlemilking: I Have a Small Penis

The talk of memes reminded me that it's been a long time since I milked Google. Last year I created Googlemilking, a game where you choose a search phrase that lends itself to off-color or self-revealing results in Google. The game only got as far as one mention in the Scotsman, but it has made me the top result for the term totally straight. My parents must be proud. So here's a new googlemilk. I have a small penis, but ... ... my fiance doesnt seem to mind. 1 ... I think size doesn't matter. ... (read more)