So I heard the rumor about Cingular offering a cheap service plan for iPhone users and while the rumor seems extremely farfetched, it got me thinking.

If I were part of the Cingular/AT&T marketing team, and I was hoping to lure folks from the other carriers, I would offer some sort of rebate or refund of the cancellation fee for those switching from Verizon/Sprint/T-Mobile. I would think this idea would at least make some sense as the people who are least likely to switch are the ones tied to a contract.

Technorati Tags: iPhone, Cingular/AT&T, silly marketing idea

Yet another search engine called OpenISearch, which bills itself as “The Ultimate Search Engine”. It’s not released yet, and the link sends you to a landing page. However, the search engine is already sending out a bot on the World Wide Web.

Host: 216.182.238.75
/2006/08/13/ninth-cleverhack-podcast/
Http Code: 200 Date: Jan 23 18:31:56 Http Version: HTTP/1.1 Size in Bytes: 39974
Referer: -
Agent: OpenISearch/1.x (www.openisearch.com)

Technorati Tags: openisearch, search engine, bots, spiders, crawlers

I had written the following comment in response to a tiny little bit of handwringing about how SEOs are killing Google…

I do SEO oriented Web design for a living, and I’m convinced that backlinks are just one of *many* factors that make a page worthy in Google’s eyes. Just like Page Rank and meta keywords, I don’t get too upset about backlinks. And I just laugh at the professional SEOs who come up with those linking schemes only to see their SERPs dip every so often with the continual Google algo changes.

What makes good optimization (and if you think about it, optimization is just a method of displaying information to the search engines) is a holistic approach. Clean markup, minimizing scripting, simple relevant nav, descriptive labels on buttons and links, use of the title and h tags, strong (I mean really strong copy) keywords that *actually correspond* to the site content.

Also, I have seen evidence on my blog especially that Google does take traffic into effect when determining SERPS. If I have a newsworthy post, I will sometimes see it in the Google Web SERP within a day or two after posting. If the post grabs enough traffic, it will stay on the SERP, if not, it will revert to being on the Google Blogsearch. YMMV, as always.

The Google algorithm has been changing constantly and not only is that due to SEOs gaming the system, but I also think due to the fact that Google’s aims have been continually redefined. Is it good to have product results on Google Web search? What about Blog posts showing on Google Web search? I’ve stopped worrying about specific factors (i.e. PR, backlinks) and mainly look at SERPS for keywords and domains and incoming traffic.

Technorati Tags: Google, SEO, holistic SEO

I do think the trusty PowerBook is going to be replaced before June, when Leopard is supposedly released. I just have a a feeling about that.

Not that I can really complain, the PowerBook has served me well on a daily basis these past 3 and a half years.

Technorati Tags: Apple, Hardware, PowerBook, the keyboard is failing

There is a part of me that is impressed…The NY times discusses blog bling, those little mini application widgets you see on blog sidebars. Like, for example the MyBlogLog widget I display.

Technorati Tags: NY Times, blog bling

Would there be any reason that an Mac OS X compatible FTP client, like, say cyberduck would not be able to view an .asp file within an IIS FTP virtual directory?

For some added drama, if you answer with what I think went wrong, I get to win a bet.

Technorati Tags: FTP, Mac OS X, I hate IIS, I think it is a directory settings issue

Quantcast is a new Alexa like traffic ranking service. In order for the service to work properly, you’re supposed to add a bit of javascript to your site.

For the initial stats on cleverhack, all I can say is that they are way off.

Technorati Tags: Quantcast, yet another traffic monitoring service

With all of the excitement about the iPhone, I believe the operative question here is “How can I get out of my Verizon contract?”

Aside from the phone running OS X, the killer apps for me include POP email accessibility, OS X running natively, and the miniaturized Web browser.

I wonder if I could natively use the Web browser to blog on that phone since the keyboard is virtualized on screen…

Technorati Tags: Apple, iPhone, I really want an iPhone

Well, it’s been a relatively few weeks of quiet at cleverhack with the holidays and all, so here’s a clearing out the inbox post.

1) For those of you hungering to add your blog to even more blog directories, why not take a look at the list that Top Rank Results has compiled?

2) Looking for geeky Apple love songs, you could listen to www.ilovemymacthesong.com or www.ilovemyipodthesong.com.

3) Leafletter is a web based application which enables users to create miniature web sites (”Leaflets”) and embed them into social networks, blogs, and other web sites with ease. Basically, it’s a method to create blog bling containing your content for others.

Technorati Tags: blog directories, Apple, Apple love songs, Leafletter

In case you were wondering, there are no Wiis to be had in SE PA or Wilmington, DE as I found out tonight.

Technorati Tags: Wiiless, Wii

User Agent for the Nintendo Wii Opera powered Web browser.

Agent: Opera/9.00 (Nintendo Wii; U; ; 1309-9; en)

Technorati Tags: Wii, Nintendo Wii, Opera Web browser

Here’s wishing for happiness and health for everyone in the New Year.

(Although 2006 could’ve ended better…)

Technorati Tags: 2007, This Is The New Year