Wednesday 29 July 2009 at 7:18 pm
I haven’t posted anything about my
Clearwire saga, because I follow a firm rule to never criticize the hand that feeds you Internet. Today I got new Internet service hooked up, and I’d like to explain why I’ve given Clearwire the boot. For those who have seen my rants about other companies, it shouldn’t shock you that I’m leaving Clearwire because they’ve decided to take on a business model that puts my interests at odds with their own.
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Sunday 26 July 2009 at 3:40 pm
So here’s a shocker. If a visitor to your website arrives via
Bing, they’re over 55% more likely to leave your site by clicking on an ad than if they found you via
Google. This is important information for the millions of people who earn a living selling clicks on ads, but what does it mean?
TechCrunch says it would be naive to assume this means Bing users are more susceptible to ads. They claim that since Google is larger, its customers are statistically less likely to click on ads. This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and is akin to saying that since Toyota outsells Ford, Toyotas should have fewer accidents per mile driven.
No, TechCrunch got the right answer then tossed it aside for feel of offending Microsoft fans. Most people use Google; it’s reliable, it’s powerful, and we understand it. Bing doesn’t add anything for the typical user. Why would anyone switch to Bing? Well, $100 million dollars in advertising dollars attracted enough attention for Bing to be the second-largest search engine after Google. So, now we’re left with the people who listened to Microsoft’s advertisements using Bing, and those who ignored them using Google. Hmmm…
I think I know why Bing users are more likely to click on ads that Google users.
Tuesday 14 July 2009 at 10:58 pm
Hedgehogs in Space? And no, I’m not talking about Hedgehog Launch or the slightly less fun Hedgehog Launch 2. Nor am I actually considering putting a hedgehog into space, because that’s just cruel. But one of the inspirations I took away from ToorCamp was that amateur space exploration, or at least near-space exploration, is well within the reach of hackers here on Earth.
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Tuesday 07 July 2009 at 6:36 pm
I spent the weekend at ToorCamp, which was an outstanding event. If you’ve got the ability to attend the next ToorCamp, take it! This year it was held in an abandoned missile silo in eastern Washington, and was a blast.
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