Freakonomics Movie
The Freakonomics Movie is about to launch! Way to go Levitt and Dubner. If you’ve never heard of their work -or a documentary for that matter- that’s ok… Please keep buying the shit I’m promoting.
Updates from April, 2010 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
NegBox
-
NegBox
Life After Marriage – Saving the Princess
Watching this video was the best six minutes of Wednesday. Whoever did this little video must have been peeking through the keyhole.
-
NegBox
Apple Gives Legal Enema to Leaked iPhone Blogger
Smooth move, everyone, smooth move: Blogger Raided
Now you know, dude… Next time, you get a Halloween voice changer, head to a payphone (if you can find one) and hit up some Chinese ripoff manufacturers – or HTC. Or better yet – play nice and call Apple…
Whatever happened to “Finders Keepers”?
-
NegBox
Managing a WordPress Blog
Fantastic post by Michael Grey on how to create and manage a WordPress site. Killer Article – I’m clipping and saving.
-
NegBox
Geocities-izer
Type in any URL here: Geocitizicer to make it look like a 1996 geocities page. I suggest hiding the address bar and playing a good prank on an unsuspecting non-techie… Really funny how far “The Web” has come… Does anyone remember using gopher too? Am I a dinosaur? Don’t answer that last one…
-
NegBox
Cosmic-Size Me
It’s not just that we haven’t figured out how to travel fast enough to reach other interesting planets, the big problem is we don’t live nearly long enough to get anywhere!
-
NegBox
Canon Rocks – Olympus Sucks
Ended up selling the Olympus 6020 at a small loss. The underwater pics are cool, but not as cool as to merit keeping a total dud. The colors are washed out and the camera is SLOOOOOOW.
So far I’ve had about 6-7 brands of digital point-and-shoot cameras… The only ones that have NEVER disappointed were the Canon cameras. They’re fast, they’re simple, they’re small, and they take awesome pictures. I love the ability to tweak the colors to “Vivid” or customize it – Things come out vibrant and alive, the way I see them – not the way Wall-E sees them.
-
NegBox
I Hope Google Chokes on an Antitrust Investigation Soon
For some reason, I’m slowly becoming more and more bitter towards Google. It all started nice and well – I loved the Prince Valiant air of the early days. These days, though, I’m going deep into Negative Sentiment Override and I’m seeing everything they do as as either self-serving, manipulative or aggressive.
The real trigger here is that I’m pissed they charge “API Fees” to advertise with them using anything but their crap. If askjeeves.com charges API fees, they screw themselves. If lycos.com charges API fees, they screw themselves…. When the dominant (90%+) market player charges API fees, they screw YOU. Catch the difference?
Their latest Blah post includes:
Introducing preferred AdWords API pricing
The Google AdWords API allows developers to build applications that interact directly with the AdWords platform. Agencies and developers of search engine marketing tools use these applications to manage large AdWords campaigns more efficiently and creatively.Today, we’re announcing preferred AdWords API pricing. This gives qualified Google AdWords Certified Partners who manage client AdWords accounts free use of the AdWords API based on managed client spend. To apply, agencies must have an active agency profile page and be compliant with the AdWords API terms and conditions. We’ll evaluate applications for preferred AdWords API pricing based on the criteria listed here.
We hope preferred AdWords API pricing will encourage agencies and developers to experiment with new strategies, expand the functionality of their tools, and build more comprehensive client campaigns without worrying about increased costs. You can learn more about preferred pricing and how to apply at the preferred AdWords API pricing site.
What does this mean? The ones with the big bucks get the big breaks – that isn’t news for anyone, is it? It just doesn’t fit the image of the goody-two-shoes Google: Rob the little advertisers to give the big ones a free ride – all under the auspices of lower cost of maintenance of the relationship and larger business scale.
Oh, so you guys are looking for feedback? Here it is: Stop screwing the small advertisers! I’m starting to regret having given them the power I gave them, even if it was just an ounce of power to a Kiloton machine.
-
Chris Zaharias
You got it all wrong, my man. Small advertisers' growth in spend over the years has been so anemic that it's the single biggest impediment to Google's continued growth. The 3rd-party SEM tool providers have never been able to apply their tool to SMB campaigns because the API charges have been prohibitive. Properly-built SMB AdWords campaigns have extremely high API cost / ad budget ratios.
My recent post Is The Pareto Rule An Understatement in SEM? -
Mike Chiasson
Hmm I took this one as leveraging an intelligent SEM's account to share the CTR pricing on to their other customers.
For example if you have an ad that has a 8/10 quality score, it will cost more cpc than a 10/10. Part of that determination of quality score is CTR.
Since SEMs probably nail more 10/10s than a small business owner, chances are their client's ad can be rated a 10/10 with the increased CTR as opposed to being say a 8/10 from their regular account.
Still bullshit. but thats the way everything works to give incentives for people not to do it themselves. Saves google time from having to respond to emails (not like they do anyways). Health Insurance companies have done the same thing for years, you get it yourself its more expensive than if you signed up with a group of young people.
My recent post The March Numbers-
negbox
Mike, I think we're talking about different stuff – The API fees are what they charge to access your campaign using third-party tools – Like Tracking202 Pro. Unless I misread their guidelines, they already use quality scores to move your cost-per-click up and down. I seem to remember a video from Google explaining that.
Your conclusion is still right, though: Google wants to scale by not spending that much money supporting small advertisers.
Step back for a second and think about that model… Its the exact freaking opposite of the successful Web 2.0 businesses, which finance themselves with the top of the food chain and enable the long tail. You can't entice the "Long tail" advertisers by slapping them with fees!
-
-
-
NegBox
Creepy Virtual People – Sitepal Resurrects Max Headroom
This has to be the creepiest way to promote your site – Virtual my ass… This is a “rubber human” and its as ugly as they come.
I had seen this tech a while back.. Its just now got advertised on one of my sites and I had to check it out… Found the source, its called Sitepal – World’s Creepiest Contest Winner.
I’ve got no clue if this converts better or not. It probably does convert better than just plain text – Not so sure about a video, and I’ll put my hands to the fire this shit doesn’t convert as well as a real actor.
Still – For some uses its brilliant – Imagine Obama endorsing your “Stimulis” subprime loan offers, or Oprah singing praises about your latest Colon Cleansing with Acai berry juice rebill. Creepy, you betcha. Genius, totally!
Can anyone say Max Headroom?
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Gratuitous Eye Candy
Reply