When I switched the DNS for some of my sites I noticed something weird. One such Internet provider couldn’t access my sites. If I went to a proxy site I could access them with no problem, but if I tried to access them directly they didn’t load.
The problem was due to a slow DNS refresh by my ISP.
Anyway, during this time I also noticed that my Google Personalized Homepage also didn’t load widgets from those sites but Google translator and the GoogleBot had no problem visiting them. This means that the Google homepage must have been using some client side technology like JavaScript to load all the widgets and feeds. No big deal right?
After testing some common workplace spying software I noticed a weird fact. Every RSS feed or widget I load on my Personalized Homepage shows up in the logs as if I visited that site directly.
I’m not sure if this is a bug with Google’s Personalized Homepage or if it’s more a bug in the workplace tracking software (I’m willing to bet the problem is with the latter software.)
This can have some pretty bad effects for those of you who use Google Personalized Homepage at work – especially if you have a draconian boss who measures productivity by the amount of keystrokes you type.
For me, my last employer was seeing 15 or so website requests every time I loaded up Google to search for something (which in the course of a workday happened often)
If you work for a company that says things like “well, you took 2 bathroom breaks and a lunch so you need to stay at least an hour after today” then you’re probably better off NOT using things like the personalized homepage at work.
A law firm is asking what we’d like to see in draft legislation about identity theft.
The basis is that companies aren’t doing enough to help victims after their data is lost/stolen/compromised.
Here’s a few of my suggestions:
1. Stop storing information you don’t need. If you don’t automatically bill my credit card number, don’t store it.
2. Encrypt all that data you DO store. There’s no reason my SSN should ever be stored in plain text anywhere.
3. Stop storing my SSN on laptops. If you’re a US veteran, there’s probably 2-3000 laptops out there with all of your personal information on them. Laptops are easily lost or stolen and there’s no reason anybody needs to take my information home with them every night.
4. Make massive fines for data loss. I’m talking a 2nd occurrence should cause any company (including even a Google or Microsoft) to go bankrupt. There’s no reason for a first occurrence to even happen but without stiff penalties companies just don’t care.
5. Require companies send letters in the mail to anybody whose data may have been compromised and offer free credit monitoring for 1 year to all those possibly affected.
I myself had had my SSN and personal information stolen from an advertising company I once used (RMX Direct) and it can be a scary process. Sadly, there’s really nothing you can do once it’s happened. Cops don’t prosecute, nobody looks into it or helps you – you’re on your own.
KATV reports that an Arkansas man is using the local library after his sons found a book on lesbian sex among it’s shelves.
Earl Adams, if you’re reading you might want to include KATV in your lawsuit. Their “Google more on this topic” takes me to a Google search for lesbian sex and oh boy what you can find if you happen to click the “images” after clicking your link. Not to mention where you end up if you click a few of the search results.
In all seriousness though Earl, I really hope your suit gets thrown out and you get laughed at. It’s not the library’s job to shelter your children – it’s your job to supervise them. Libraries are places for information – some of which you may not agree with. Regardless of your beliefs or feelings about certain information though, it still belongs in a library; no matter what it is. If you don’t want your kids reading certain books go to the library with them.
It would seem that the article lists Blacksburg Virginia as one of the top places to live. The brief article on network world chides them for listing Blacksburg in the article so close to the tragedy that happened just a few days ago. It also mentions them listing a New Hampshire town where a professor was also murdered.
It’s things like this that make America weak. Tragedies happen all the time. I’m not trying to take anything away from the VA Tech tragedy – but that doesn’t mean we need to shelter ourselves from mentioning the city.
We did the same stuff on 9/11 by pulling spider man trailers that had the twin towers, editing movies that showed the world trade centers, taking the images off of tv, etc etc.. Sure, people may be emotional after a tragedy – but we can’t ignore a place and forget it exists.
Selectively avoiding bad memories is not a safe way to deal with emotional distress. It’s even worse to stop mentioning a place all together.
The people of Blacksburg Virginia still woke up today. They still made and ate their breakfast before going to work or school, and they still got on with life just like you and I. Sure, they’ll never forget what happened there the other day – but they won’t hide from their daily lives either.
There’s nothing wrong with moving on after a tragedy.
Has anybody else noticed the prevalence of job spam on some of the major job sites?
Check out this screen shot from doing a PHP Detroit search on HotJobs
Of the 35 jobs that it returned, 27 of them were that same mystery shopper job. You know, the one where you pay them first then they send you information about being a mystery shopper. I don’t think anybody has ever made money off of that job except the person offering it.
Come on Yahoo, clean this crap up.
I haven’t noticed nearly as much spam on Monster, and none at all on DICE (of course, compared to monster there are only about 1/10 of the jobs on DICE)
So far I’ve tried Monster, HotJobs, HiddenNetwork, DICE, computerjobs, and craigslist. Are there any other great sites out there that you guys use?
There’s a thread over on webmasterworld right now about how to complain to Google about a competitor using trademarks in their META tags.
While I can understand the frustration here, I see several issues.
Firstly, I don’t think Google is the first company I’d report any type of trademark violation to. The best thing to do if somebody is misusing your trademark is to contact that company and ask them to stop. (disclaimer: IANAL so don’t treat this as legal advice.)
Failing that, I’d contact my lawyer to get them to stop. I’d be more concerned about misuse of my mark than Google’s ranking algorithm. The very nature of the question tells me that they’re more concerned with trying to outrank this person in Google than they are with the use of their trademark. (note: It’s very likely that these META tags have nothing to do with your competitor’s rank in Google)
Secondly, I’m not sure if using a trademark in META tags always counts as a trademark violation. If it only appears in META tags and not in the site title or anywhere else on the site then it’s not showing up to users – so there’s no confusion possible. There’s no way users are going to look at META tags and assume that this website is affiliated with your brand. (in all likelihood, most users will never even see these META tags)
Furthermore, if the site is comparing their brand to yours, reviewing yours, offering information about your trademark, etc then they’re not doing anything wrong. If I recall correctly, a trademark (just like a copyright) doesn’t give you strict control over the term. It just gives you exclusive rights to use it in marketing your product.
All in all, I wouldn’t worry about it. META tags are pretty useless. Don’t believe me? Look at 2 of the most competitive companies in the world: Coke and Pepsi – neither one has even their own trademarks in their META tags.
