GENERAL COMPUTER FORUM TODAYS HEADLINES

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Search Engine use up

According to a press release by Nielsen//Netratings, U.S. search engine use grew by 55 percent in December 2005 over December 2004. Almost 5.1 billion searches in December 2005, with only 3.3 billion in December of 2004.

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Good-looking websites

Over at Web Design from Scratch, there's a nice collection of websites that are "typical of today's best design". Ben Hunt has also put together a list of reasons why these sites work so well. The list includes simple layout, soft neutral background colours, and nice big text.

If you think your website is looking tired and you're in need of some inspiration, this is well worth a look.

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Google Talk and ads

As you probably know by now, Google is adding chat to Gmail. It contains some interesting features, such as the ability to save and search chats.

There's an interesting little post on Search Engine Roundtable about the fact that this could mean that contextual ads lie ahead. In other words, you could be chatting to a friend about wanting to go on holiday to New York, and up pops an advert for an airline or a travel agent.

Of course, this isn't the case yet. But I can't say I'm looking forward to the day when it might happen.

[ftvfatboy]

Security, the uphill battle



No matter how security conscientious you happen to be, the fight to keep your system secure remains an uphill battle. PCWorld.com is reporting on research from Princeton University that claims that many popular programs are creating back doors into users systems.

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Protecting your privacy



Wired.com has an interesting article about how to protect your privacy when you're using search engines. The main reason for this appears to be the ongoing story about Google's refusal to provide the US government with search data. Pointing out that nobody's asking for data that can identify the users - at least not yet - the article explains how to go about protecting yourself should this happen in the future.

Personally, I doubt that anybody would be particularly interested in my searches. Although I might come across as ever-so-slightly obsessed with camera lenses, I don't think anyone would mistake me for a criminal mastermind. Nevertheless, this article does contain some food for thought.

As an example, I was astonished to read that Google has a new cookie that doesn't expires until 2036. In theory, someone could look at the searches I did this morning thirty years from now. Hmmm. I wonder what lenses will be around then?

[ftvfatboy]

Amazon competing with Google?



According to an article on RedHerring.com, Amazon might be creating its own version of AdSense. Details are still a bit sketchy, but a bit of competition is never bad for the consumer.

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Paid-search advertising quality brought into question



An interesting article on ComputerWorld.com discusses paid search advertising and whether companies like Google and Microsoft need to do a better job of policing their ad buyers. One interesting example is the anti-spyware maker that Microsoft is currently suing. They still have adverts on MSN Search. Should Microsoft drop the ads?

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The wrath of Google



Nobody is safe from the keen, spam-spotting eyes of Google. Think you're too big, so important that they wouldn't dare mess with you? Think again. Last week, the BMW Germany website was kicked out of the Google index. You can now search Google.de for BMW and there is no sign of the famous car manufacturer's German website.

According to Matt Cutts, this happened because they were using JavaScript redirecting pages which were stuffed full of keywords. If BMW want to appear in the Google index again, they will have to file a reinclusion request and reveal who created these illegitimate doorways. Ouch. This must be such a bad time to be a black hat SEO - you may have thought you were safe if you were working in a language other than English, but those days are definitely over.

What I can't get my head around is why BMW did this in the first place. They are huge, with one of the best known brands in the world, and really shouldn't need to rely on spammy techniques to rank well and attract customers.

Tsk, tsk.

We ourselves have come across "reputable" companies that set up pages like these for their clients. And there's at least one well-known name within the shareware industry who have created these pages for their account holders. As far as I know, they still do so. If you know what I'm talking about, now could be a good time to get rid of them. Immediately.

[ftvfatboy]

Google in your car



At the moment, the only time that I feel like I get away from the world of Google is when I leave the house. That could change in the future, provided I buy a Volkswagen. The German car manufacturer has partnered with Google and chipmaker nVidia to develop a navigation system that is based on the Google Earth satellite data.

Apparently, they're hoping that the result will be "more real looking than anything that's available today", as it will feature accurate 3D maps that will help the driver recognize the surrounding topography.

Interesting.

Now, what's with Google and German cars today? And what would happen if Google now were to discover that Volkswagen are using spammy redirects? Would they kick their new partner out of the index? I wonder...

[ftvfatboy]

Will web-based services be the end of client software? Not according to Microsoft.



There is a lot of talk nowadays about the topic of Software as a Service. With the upcoming launch of Microsoft's Office Live, many people are speculating that this may be the beginning of the end for client software. According to an article on PCWorld.com, Microsoft thinks that client software is here to stay.