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Archive for February, 2007
Salman Khan, Spam, Potty Training & Mother Teresa
Pick the odd one out. Want a clue? Click on the image below.
Was clearling my spam folder and came across spam from ‘Salman Khan’…i had to hand it to the spammer…he had earned an ‘open’ for sheer creativity…while the mail was loading i was curious about the kind of contextual ads that might get thrown up, and if any would correspond to the brands he endorses…
When the page loaded i laughed so hard, it took me a minute to get my breath back… goes to show that contextual targeting is still a WIP…
PS - No offence to Mother Teresa, i’m still wondering what word the SEM targeted his ad on…Salman Khan? Pheronomes?
Salman Khan, Spam, Potty Training & Mother Teresa
Pick the odd one out. Want a clue? Click on the image below.
Was clearling my spam folder and came across spam from ‘Salman Khan’…i had to hand it to the spammer…he had earned an ‘open’ for sheer creativity…while the mail was loading i was curious about the kind of contextual ads that might get thrown up, and if any would correspond to the brands he endorses…
When the page loaded i laughed so hard, it took me a minute to get my breath back… goes to show that contextual targeting is still a WIP…
PS - No offence to Mother Teresa, i’m still wondering what word the SEM targeted his ad on…Salman Khan? Pheronomes?
The Coolest Video Site of them all
Some sites rock….but some, blow your mind away! I’ve been using StumbleUpon for a couple of years now, and nobody i’ve ever referred it to has complained*. Essentially, stumbleupon is a tool that allows you to channel surf websites, bringing you sites that would interest you to instead of you having to actively seek them out. Channel surfing ensures you spend more time online, expend less energy and have more fun. Stumble is funded by Sherpalo.
Television is a braindead medium (it’s not called the idiot box for nothing), and is ideally suited to the doofus next door who isn’t looking at seeking out information, he’s looking for information to come to him…Stumbleupon does just that…it filters, prioritizes and delivers sites that would be relevant to you on the basis of your expressed interests, surfing habits, ratings and pages being surfed by other people like you…and the most you use it, the most accurate it gets! And so, in the medium term, it stands to be a game changer….loved by the geek and the doofus alike!
Stumbleupon Video takes its proprietary algos and applies it to videos…which it aggregates from multiple sites and then serves on its own interface, the best part of which is the background fades out when the video plays to reduce the stress on your eyes…you need to use it to believe it!
Also, one really nifty feature is being able to search for a new video while seeing another…the only other site that offers that is MSN Soapbox.
* - The only complaint i’ve got about Stumble has been from De. Between search, newsletters and RSS feeds he had enough of an information overload problem, and Stumble is exponentially increasing exposure to new sites/articles etc he just HAS TO SEE.
Expanded Alexa Traffic Rankings
Alexa has added more meat to their traffic rankings page, after about three odd years. I must add that they updated the graphs about a month back, offering more options with data smoothing and time period…
What’s nice are the geo-specific ranks and geo-composition of Alexa toolbar users for any site. The top sites accessed from india can be found here
(Click on the thumbnail for the full-sized image)
Google Apps to start Charging for Services
Trackback:
http://tech.cybernetnews.com/2007/02/06/google-apps-to-start-charging-for-services
Businessweek recently wrote about Google ‘charging a few dollars’ for its ‘Apps for domains’ which would include the entire suite of programs from their Writely Acquisition to their homegrown calendar, gmail and notebook….Since they are chasing SOHOs, Educational Institutes and Public/Private Corporations it takes the Microsoft Office Live Suite which is priced at USD 39.99/month.
Seemingly unrelated, when Toyota launched in India, they launched with an outdated model called the Qualis. Some people argued that lanching with a ‘Multi Utility Vehicle’ was a strategic move primarily to ensure dealerships opened in B Tier towns,district capitals etc. While it was undoutedly a key factor, i learnt later that this was done for a slightly different reason. Reason being…to choke sales of their biggest potential local competitors…Tata (whose Sumo was their most profitable product) & Mahindra (India’s biggest MUV (people mover) manufacturer. Choking sales of the best sellling product would ensure that these manufacturers would have substantially less money for R&D of future launches, and so the beginning of the end of the competitor … classical Art of War stuff that Google is aiming to do to Microsoft.
Web companies are a product of the paradigm shift of computer to network & subscription to advertising…and thats just where MSFT is struggling. Billiions of dollars of R&D, need to be earned back… MSFT either passes the subscription cost to the consumer or advertising ROI to the advertiser. Google is offering lower subscription (the growth-lever is consumer adoption) and already offers good value to advertisers.
We live in interesting times…robust sales of Tata’s low cost Indica & Mahindra’s higher cost Scorpio kept them out of trouble… i wish i knew the answer to the trillion dollar microsoft question!
Today’s Blessings! :)
Aerobics Fees: INR 1500
Air soled shoes: INR 3790
Track Pants: INR 1500
Walk into the gym to find you’re the only male in a batch of 15 people: Priceless!
Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us
This has to be the best UGC video i’ve seen this year…thanks Rajit, this is absolutely brilliant!