Random Stuff

If you pay attention to the tech industry, or more specifically the Search Business, you have seen a lot of hype surrounding both Google and Cuil. Google recently announced they had reached the 1 Trillion mark. Cuil just came in with a bang saying they have indexed 120 Billion web page stating they have indexed more web pages than anyone else. So who is the biggest? Is someone lying?

Neither one is. It’s plain and simple marking. Both are playing with numbers and slight of terminology so that the detail is easily missed.

It is quite possible that Cuil has spent more resources on their crawler to scan web pages. They simply have managed to put a lot more effort into the gathering of data. It is quite possible they have managed to index 120 billion pages. This is no small matter. In my own exploration of indexing web pages, I found that the index really is a gigantic set of data. For 7000 indexed web pages, my index has 12 million records. It’s not optimized in any way, but you get the idea. Put in that context you can see that number may not be representive of what is important to the person doing the searching.

Look closely at the Google statement though. It says “1 trillion URLS”. It does not say they have indexed 1 trillion web pages. Those are two different things. Again, back to my own exploration of search engines. For 7000 indexed web pages, I have 300,000 URLS. Again, what google has done is no small matter, but needs to be put into context. What good are those 293,000 URLS if you can’t find them in the search engine.

So who is right? Which is better? What’s the meaning of all this? Pretty much nothing. It’s all marketing.

My personal opinion is that Google does a much better job of finding relavent data. Period. I do an ego search on Google, I find a few book reviews I’ve done on Amazon. If do the same on Cuil, I get the Amazon results but they are burried under a pile of websites that have hijacked Amazons book reviews. The reason for this could be that Cuil’s index is bigger, or that Google is doing better ranking of the same data. I can’t tell.

I do like the context and suggesting that Cuil does. And it has a slick interface. I also like the simplicity of Google seach.  I think the results that Cuil presents will begin to improve as they gain experience and figure out what is really important to the users. Google will then really have something to watch out for.

Headline today that came through one of my RSS feeds. I have to ask… Is this really news?

“Exercise helps keep weight off.”

This has to be one of my favorite interviews ever! Kudos to the guy being “interviewed”. The TV journalist is asking insulting questions to those waiting in line for an iPhone. He really picked the wrong guy (or right guy in my opinion) to ask “Have you ever seen a woman naked?”

My favorite part starts at the 1:34 mark where the interviewee clearly states “This is journalism to you?!” which strikes me as a pretty big insult to any journalist.

http://googlesightseeing.com/2008/05/26/kid-shooting-other-kid/

The above link is a picture captured on Google streetview. It is a picture of a kid pointing a gun at another kid.  I’ve seen this picture linked to on quite a few different blogs. Most talking about tragedy and violence.

But I don’t think that is the case. Three things make me think differently. The gun is yellow, it’s an odd size, and it is sunny. Who is to say it’s not a squirt gun?

What is it that is causing everyone to assume it is a real gun?

“Great tits cope well with warming.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7390109.stm

Someone, somewhere has got to be laughing that they got that headline past the editor.

It seems that Battlestar Galactica has taken an interesting turn and building on a familiar theme with respect to religion. Specifically it seems that a character who has always been a bad guy is slowly turning into a religious leader. A religious leader preaching one God. Instead of the status quo of many gods.

Despite my  ambivilance about religion, I find their approach interesting. A different view of how Jesus came about.

Grand Theft Auto IV came out today. This is the end all be all to violence, crime, and sex in a video game. I’ve played earlier versions of it. And I liked it. And yes, I would let my youngest son play it. I also wouldn’t say no to my oldest son, even if he was under 18. I have also taken my kids to “R” rated movies. I have let them see movies on cable that had nudity in them.

I’m sure there are some parents out there who shudder at the thought. The first thing to do would be to conclude I must be an awful parent for exposing my kids to such thing. That my kids must be, or will be, violent boys. My response would be to get to know my kids and me before you make up your mind about that. But I doubt that will happen if you’ve already made up your mind.

The simple fact of the matter is that I trust my children’s judgement when it comes to telling the difference between what is real and what is not. As well as what is acceptable and what is not. I’ve taken the time to teach them that there are consequences for actions. To think before acting. While I do have some of the typical problems associated with raising kids,  I have on a regular basis been made proud by either choices or direct actions made by my kids.

It is easy to blame video games, television shows, the internet, movies, and even music for the way children behave and how they behave when they grow into adulthood. But the simple fact of the matter is that if your children are behaving badly because of any of those influences, then you are the one who are letting your children down.

Talk to your kids. Talk to them. Ask them what they think. Let them know what you think.  Give them the freedom to make choices. Praise them for good, punish them for bad. Be an example.
Step up and be a parent. Don’t let a video game fill in the holes for you.

I read the news today that Evel Knievel had died. First thought that went through my mind was “hmm, no major loss.” Now listening to all of the glowing comments around the place about, I think I am going to be ill. That may sound mean, but I’ve met him a few times.

From playing the “Don’t you know who I am?!?!” card, to attacking someone I know with a bat when he didn’t get his way.

He was a first class asshole and a drunk.

I’ve mentioned quite a few times that I believe Google is following in the same footsteps as Microsoft. Perhaps more than Google or even Microsoft want to believe. They are just doing it much faster than Microsoft did. There are a number of similarities I could spend time enumerating but for now I’ll stick to just one. How Google’s market share could land them in a battle with the US Government in an Antitrust lawsuit.

Microsoft had (and still has) the majority of the market share when it comes to desktop operating systems. During the 90s they used this as a way to pressure computer manufacturers to not install other operating systems and software on their computers. Not only could Dell not sell you a linux computer, but on the windows computer, Dell was required to ship MSN software installed instead of AOL, and they were not allowed to offer pre-installed Corel software such as WordPerfect, but could offer Microsoft Office. In essence shutting all of competing software out of the mass production market. Dell isn’t the only company Microsoft did this to. Putting all of the manufacturers into the same position of only being able to ship MS software and still be able to compete. Did you know that companies like Dell and HP only pay around $20 for Windows? Now imagine that they had to pay full retail for Windows for every computer they shipped with Windows. About a $200 difference per computer. This is anti-competitive behavior. It is illegal to use your power to prevent a competitor from being sold along side your own product.

Now lets look at Google. Google currently has about %50 market share of the search market. When people want to find something, they “Google it”. It has been proven that where your page shows up in the search results directly impacts views of your page and in a lot of cases, income generated from it. I’ve seen this myself on one of my webpages*. If your pagerank drops, then your views drop, and your income drops. It’s that simple. Google is also an advertising company. They make money off the text ads and now banner ads with the purchase of DoubleClick. In order to make money they count on their ads being placed far and wide*. This means that any form of paid advertising on other webpages directly competes with their adsense program.

Now comes the possible anti competitive behavior. Google is considering dropping the page rank of web pages that contain paid links. Other than google text ads. Companies don’t pay for ads on low ranking web pages. If you want to maintain your page rank, you would be forced to give up the paid links and go exclusivly with google’s ads which pay at a much lower rate. What do you do. If Google did not have such a high market share and such influence, this really would not be a problem. But because they basicly control how popular a web page is, they can make or break a business that relies on ad or link revenue. They were initally noted for not allowing their search results be influenced by their own advertising revenue, but this idea of lowering a pagerank of a site that is using someone else’s advertising flies right in the face of that. The search results will be influence by their revenue model forming a “Us or no one” advertising system. This is anti-competitive.

I suspect that Google will be looked at hard by our Government as their market share increases and it becomes evedent how much power they have.

* notes after the jump. (more…)

The events at Virginia Tech are horrible. My heart and prayers go out to those families who lost loved ones today.

I can’t watch what the reporters are doing any more. They are scavenging. Sensationalizing. Making every last detail big news. Turning tragedy into entertainment. There is something fundamentally wrong when a reporter asks a student who was almost shot how it feels that his best friend is dead instead of him. That was too much. The TV is off.

I think it would do them all some good to watch this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbVeN13wGFc

As thankful as I am for all of the experience I’ve gained over the years at Microsoft, I have to admit that their tactics have been both aggressive and without restraint when it came to squashing the competition. Something you can do when you have all the money. Today they lost a round in their own game. And hard. By a company they did not take seriously a few years ago.

Microsoft for the longest time had the financial power to beat out anyone. Either through power of persuasion (If you support them, then we wont give you the same deal as your competitor) or just plain throwing money at something (Internet Explorer vs Netscape) or outright buying anything that could be competition.

I had read through various tech blogs I watch that Microsoft was bidding on DoubleClick. DoubleClick is behind about 90% of the ads you see on commercial websites, including sites belonging to Microsoft. After failing at their own ad scheme, and losing more search market share to Google, they needed something they new would work. DoubleClick is just that solution. It is already well established, profitable, and growing. Last year DoubleClick took in about $100 million.

Then I hear that Google jumped in and started a bidding war against Microsoft for ownership of DoubleClick. I had a lot of thoughts about this one. Google already has one of the most successful ad revenue generating streams in the world. Are they just after their only compitition? Are they only doing this to force Microsoft to pay more for it and have no intention of acutally buying it? Do they really intend to buy it just to keep Microsoft from having it?

In the end, Google wound up buying it. The winning bidder. They paid $3.5 Billion for it. Or in more revealing terms, 35 times the revenue of DoubleClick last year. Unless they crank up the revenue DoubleClick generates, it is a money loser for a long time to come, on the order of decades.

This was a purely offensive move on Googles part. Microsoft was put in a position they could not win by the only company in the last 20 years to be able to match their financial strength and agressiveness.

It’s one of those very solid landing blows that lets you know the current title holder may be in for a real fight, and may lose.

“Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.”

“I am a humanist, which means, in part, that I have tried to behave decently without any expectation of rewards or punishments after I’m dead.”

“Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”

 –Kurt Vonnegut     November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007

Well, OK, it was more of a guess when I made the comment.

On this blog I made a comment that it would not surprise me if the founder of the Girls Gone Wild videos landed himself in jail because of something he did or said. (or something to that effect, I don’t remember the exact comment now)

I stumbled on this news article while poking around the web tonight.
http://www.gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070404/APN/704044207

There is a radio show that comes on late in the evening that I don’t listen to. It just happens to air on the local rock station I listen to.  In general I find the host offensive. His total lack of respect towards women is is just appalling. But it is inevitable that I get involved in some late night programming project and forget to change the radio station and notice that this show is on and will hear some argument he is having with a caller. Usually the caller is female, but not always.

They are usually telling the host how horrible he is. How he is such a bad influence. How he is corrupting the minds of youth, and causing violence towards women. The argument usually ends with either the host or the caller hanging up on the other in mid sentence.

I’d like to make a few points on this.

• If you call, you will be part of the show. He is a master at twisting your words as well as carefully couching his words. Right or wrong, you cannot win and you will be used as an example to prove his point.
• If your children hear his opinion and you are not teaching them what you believe is right and having some sort of discussion about it, it is YOU who are failing your children, not the host of a radio show.
• As for violence against women…I don’t know if I want to touch this one, but I think if someone is prone to being violent, against women or in general, a radio show host is not going to change that one way or another.
• Most of all, you have the ultimate control. Change the station. If there are no callers, or no listeners, then there is no show.

My kids have heard this show on occasion. It was my choice to lead by example. At first, being boys (getting to be young men), they thought this show was funny. When they laughed, I didn’t. When they said something was funny, I disagreed and said why. I pointed out how it was disrespectful, untrue or inaccurate. I pointed out flaws in the hosts comments, the supporting callers comments, as well as the arguing caller’s comments. I made it clear that I did not like the show, but I’d let them form their own opinion.

They don’t listen to the show anymore, by their own choice. They just change the dial.